Giveaway - Lori Anderson - Five Giveaways!

I love Lori Anderson's blog.  It's always full of inspiration and she hosts regular Bead Soup Blog Parties which are such fun to participate in.  I've only been able to participate in one of the blog parties but it was great fun and I got to meet a wonderful jewelry artist - Kathleen Lange Klik (http://modernnaturestudio.blogspot.com/).  During my last trip to DC Kathleen hosted me at her studio, we had lunch at a fun outdoor cafe, listed to live music and went on a bead shopping trip.  Kathleen has a design featured in the latest edition of Bead Trends (http://northridgepublishing.com/magazines/bead-trends-magazine/) which I found during my last Barnes and Noble visit.  Kathleen blogged about it here (http://modernnaturestudio.blogspot.com/2012/07/walk-in-woods.html).  Check it out.

Back to the giveaway.  Lori Anderson has five giveaways posted (http://www.prettythingsblog.com/2012/07/finally-five-bead-and-button-bead.html) with wonderful items in each.  The giveaway is open until July 13.

Here's a sample of one of the giveaways.

Published and Featured!

This has been an exciting few weeks.  I’ve had my second tutorial published in Polymer Café and been featured on Cynthia Tinapple’s Polymer Clay Daily (http://polymerclaydaily.com/2012/05/24/polymer-and-prismacolors/).  I know it’s a little silly but going to Barnes and Noble and picking a copy of the Polymer Café magazine off the shelves is fun and I can’t resist.  Here’s me, picking up my copy.  PS My first blog picture with blond hair.  J

Artomatic 2012

Artomatic opened on May 18 in Crystal City, Virginia ( http://www.artomatic.org/about).   Over 1000 artists of all types – visual, music, performance, film, fashion and more are showcased this year.  There are over 10 floors of art hosted in a building scheduled for demolition.  If you need inspiration, you’ll want to head over to Artomatic if you are in the Virginia area.  I'll be back to see more floors later in May. 

I’m lucky to know one of the artists with an installation this year – Tomas Tarr.  Tomas is a glass bead making artist who showed off some of his finest work.  Congrats Tomas.  Check out his pictures here.

Travel Projects - Colored Pencil/Polymer Clay

What can you do with a package of white clay, no pasta machine, no roller, no other tools but colored pencils and a bit of burnt umber and gold metallic paint?  I challenged myself to find out.  I do have an oven but only the most basic of materials.  I had been wanting to try colored pencils on polymer clay so while on travel I purchased a small set of Prismacolor pencils (small set, big price) and a package of white clay.  For tools I used pens/pencils and my crochet hooks (see other travel projects, great reuse of tools).  I sculpted a few pieces using the white clay, cured them and began to color with the pencils.  I did use the  burnt umber to darken the crevices before starting.  The colors went on well with no other surface treatment necessary.  I did use a light wash of gold paint to highlight the pieces.  When I get home, I'll use a fixative and spray lacquer to finish the pieces.  I love the depth of color achieved with the colored pencils and will use this technique over and over I'm sure.  BTW I'm using Picasa 3 to make the picture collages.

Pulling Out Stuff FromThe Past - Rock Purse

Because I have time on my hands, I was going through some older photos of past projects and came across these for a rock purse swap I participated in.  A rock purse is formed over well, you guessed it, a rock.  I created this one with a Southwestern theme and used a silver button, leather and silver hollow beads as accents.  I really like the way it turned out.  Custom turquoise, blue and coral colors came together as well.

More Travel Projects

Being on extended travel means being away from the beloved studio.  I miss it.  To keep some creativity going, I've been re-exploring crafts from long ago.  In the last post I showed picking up crochet from my childhood.  Here's another take on crochet - felted crochet.  I had never tried this but in my web surfing I came across felted crochet.  I've tried it and loved it!  So far I've made a couple of practice handbags (still need to work on this) and felted flowers.  I thought, why not?  How about a necklace.  Here's my first attempt. 


It's easy to do, use pure wool yarn, crochet a flower and rope vine, wash it in the washing machine with some detergent and hot water, shape, dry and embellish.  I was going for a red poppy and used black seed beads to create the center of the poppy.  I like the way it turned out and the felting was fun.  Will have to put this away until winter when it's chilly.  I think would look great with a sweater.

Travel Projects

I’ve been travelling quite a bit and have been away from my studio for extended periods of time. I needed portable projects and something to keep me busy and creative, so I’ve gone back to one of my childhood pursuits -- crochet. I haven’t crocheted since I was 12, but it seems, like riding a bicycle, you can pick up where you left off.

So, I’ve crocheted about six scarves and now two pieces of jewelry. These two necklaces were fun and easy weekend projects. Crochet up your motifs, put them together and you have an interesting necklace to wear. Here are two projects. More to come.