Below the cut I’ve included the simple steps for this little pair of earrings. Some version of this would be sweet with the crocus beads I make as well. And I probably WILL go do a little fancier version with bead caps and crystals, too.

This assumes you have the standard jewellery making tools like pliers and a basic knowledge of how to make loops or wrapped loops. These guys include 6mm rose quartz rounds (the pink glass in the picture was too large), two headpins, a pair of earring hooks, a tiny amount of seed beads and, of course, tulip beads!

Since I want to have upright tulips, I thread the green beads on the headpins first.

Next up is my tulip beads.

After, I tuck the little pink beads into the cup of the tulip to make the tulips “centre”.

Make wrapped (or simple) loops at the top of the works, snug against the pink bead. Hang your dangles on your earring findings.

So there’s my perfect-for-spring earrings. You could do a whole bouquet and wire them into a necklace or brooch, as well!

These are the picture steps on how to make a small sculpted bead from a cane slice. I use backgroundless canes for most of the beads I do like this but this method works for the canes that need backgrounds – ie: all the fancier flowers!

Once you have the shape, use a toothpick or sculpting tool to trace the veins in the flower or add other detail. That way, once you’ve baked the slice you can stain it a little to bring out the pretty detailing. Don’t forget you can put the hole in now or drill it after or add a small jump ring to back of the flower to make it into a charm.

In the studio, it’s just me and I cycle from chaos to just a little cluttered about every 6 weeks. One part that drives me nuts is how messy my clay table gets. Part of that is the fact that some production scraps are good to use immediately (or almost immediately) in other projects like swirls, scrap mokume gane or new colours. So, I’d leave them out on the table knowing that if I boxed them up I’d have a “look what I found!” moment six months later. Someone said: immediately separate them by colour value in bowls. So I figured, why not. It has made a difference. I may end up with a few bowls on the table or shelf but at least it’s not scattered.

Drilling beads and other dust making work is another bane. I drill on my “dry” table, on a thick plastic mat. This works fine but makes for little curls of clay and dust EVERYWHERE. And since I suck at keeping that table clear I need some strategies here too. I’m thinking a larger mat, that I could roll up when not in use and stash in the corner or a tray to hold most of the crumbs. Probably enforcing the clean table rule would help too as there’d then be less pieces getting dusty.

You see, my mainstay in my bead shop is little six bead sets. Using the six art beads I made a simple Y necklace, a bracelet and a pair of earrings. My style is fairly low key but by adding more spacers, another layer of chain and a few danglies you could have an ornate show stopper for not a whole lot more in cost.

My solution ended up to make it a wrapped figure eight loop in the back. Still using a two inch headpin,  instead of a single loop, make a double one and bend it so it lays flat, parallel to the bead. I still had space to do a wrap at the top of the link, which keeps the bead from flopping around. Now the flower is ready to be added to your chain. One the white flower necklace there are little three or four link sections of chain in between each flower.

I had a fun run of ornament making classes with the whole range of clay folks in town. Grade 1 through adults showed up for classes this fall and we made ornaments. These are from my last adult class based on my free tutorial. I will have to update the instructions to include some of the extra ideas that people have come up with since I released it last year.

Here is a very simple, very fast and very effective little candy cane tutorial. I’ve used thin slices of it to make things like the stud slice earrings above, handfuls of mint beads or longer slices of it to make the candy cane earrings at the end of this post. Enjoy!

All 3 colours are Premo – red pearl, green pearl and white pearl respectively. The red and thin white layers are each the thickest setting on my pasta machine. The thick white is double layers of the thickest setting. The green layer is two spots thinner than the thickest setting.

Have fun!

You could totally do this with the extruder and the ribbon strip dies. I was just in a rush and it worked, so it’s what I kept doing! Also, you get a more (in my er… humble opinion) realistic colour if you mix the red and green with half translucent and use white and half pearl rather than the colours I used here in a rush.

First step is to prep your colours. I wanted the cane to come in around a pound. I drew out my diagram and mixed clay. Having done this before I knew my proportions. I made the component canes first, once I had the colours mixed or the blends done.

This is all of the components done and then wrapped with flesh clay and laid out. It is a little larger than my diagram but not much. Usually I make the eyes MUCH too big and have to reduce them more than this. This time they were just a shade too big in relation to the cheek and nose and I left it alone instead of fussing with it.

The next step is to begin joining your parts. I start with between the eyes with a triangle / wedge shape. Then I jam the nose into it. Then I add triangles / wedges to the cheeks to join them to the nose and the eyes.

Here it is with a little of the scraps of making it. I did well this time – most of my “extra” is just too much highlight or shadow clay. No six inches of eyeballs.

The distorted ends of face canes are some of the best parts. I  packed the cane enough and worked it quickly enough that it didn’t distort that much. Even the actual ends were recognizably still faces which may be a first for me. Very little waste here even at 1/2 the diameter (which is 1/4 of the over all area)

Once I got the cane to 1/4 of the initial diameter, about 1 1/4 inch tall and several feet long, I cut in half and put away half. The other part I continued to reduce until it’s 1/2″. At this size there is some distortion on the ends, enough that I cut an inch or two off each side. At the 1/2″ size, there is about 60″ worth of good cane.

This is my assistant. Since I started this early in the morning and my family was out camping this weekend, he was clingy and trying to get stepped on while I mixed colours. By the time I finished prepping though he was bored and sleeping.

This year I decided I wanted a more custom and cohesive look. I wanted it to fit with the brand I have in mind – to use more of a clean but also nature inspired theme.  I started by making notes of how I could do that using what I already have and adding a few pieces.

I kept my old table coverings but plan on editing how they are used a bit as I accumulate more of them. I’d like the green to get draped and mounded a bit on the table tops to make more of a grass or forest floor feeling. In their previous lives, these were clearance queen sized flat sheets and inexpensive fake satin drapes.

Speaking of forest… these are probably the biggest change. I had been experimenting with wood cut outs of trees to hang items on and finally drew up plans. My dad visited over the weekend and cut a TON OF THEM out for me so away I go. I have two sizes here and they will be excellent for hanging jewelry, ornaments… you name it. When not in use, they pack flat and they are super light.

Next up is swapping out some of my other fixtures for easier show items!

I am always on the lookout for stands for my shows. Current obsession has been a stand that I can hang my masses of pendant on a cord pieces. There are lots of them. Next show is outdoors so I want something with some weight to it, too. Lots of googling and Etsying and mixing various ideas resulted in the above tree prototype. The prototype is made from 1/4″ ish inch trashed plywood backing to a broken mirror. I scroll sawed the shape. Next one will be from less ugly plywood.

These are the rough shapes. Next ones will have changes made. These would pack flat for a show which is AWESOME. You just slot the two parts together and away you go.