International Attendees at Synergy I

Bettina Welker from Germany and Iris Mishly from Israel together at the first ever Synergy Conference in Baltimore, Maryland February 2008.

There are more pictures of Iris and other polymer clay artists on her Flickr site.

Pillow Bead Tutorial

I've moved my popular Pillow Bead Tutorial to two new locations on the web...one is on Polymer Clay Central and the other is on Issuu. It got so much traffic that my band width was getting used up just from that tutorial! Please change any bookmarks and web pages to the new links.

Thanks everyone :o)

Synergy pics...

on Cynthia Blanton's blog.

Here is a picture of clayers that have appeared on the Carol Duvall show. Thank you for the Synergy update Cynthia...you've saved me tonight :o)

Bead storage cigar boxes...

on etsy. I couldn't resist and bought one :o)

Something new with perfect pearls

Did you know that you can mix perfect pearls with water and make paint? I've been experimenting with this the past couple of days and I love it. I had to show you these even though the picture quality isn't that great. Kathi, I was using green from the jewel set that you asked about in an earlier post.

Well, this is just too cool...

Susan Lomuto of Polymer Clay Notes has a sister site Indie Studio Supplies. Maybe you don't "know" Susan or visit her blog...but lots of us do. She's great a giving daily doses (many times a day actually!) of inspiration from cool art, cool photos, cool tips, cool tools...cool everything.

I don't know if her new sister site is actually new or not, but I stumbled on it today, and boy am I happy that I did. What she does is, gives us links to where she buys a lot of her favorite findings, books, beads, etc. and all from indie suppliers. Susan says "It's like having your own personal shopper for your studio!" She changes it up every month and showcases different suppliers...I totally love it :o)

And as Judy Dunn suggested a few days ago...buy American art and craft with your tax rebate. Great idea, no?

Upload a pdf file on Issuu.com

I just signed on with issuu.com a few days ago...I'm still experimenting and checking it out, but it looks like a cool site.

Whew...finished, mostly.

I needed to work with color for a project coming up and I really was getting into the antiquing and weird shapes at the time. So, it was kind of a struggle to get enough of these to make one or two decent necklaces.


The ones temporarily strung and finished are on the left, the last of them to go in the oven are on the tray. They should be strung up in the next few days and pictures taken. Wish me luck :o)

Necklace after antiquing...

Same beads as earlier post...different leaf beads that I'm still not wild about.

I'm trying to add bits of silver gilding (on the leaves) in with the gold on the flowers. I'm one of those people who like to mix things up, so that way you can wear gold or silver earrings with it.

I do really love the warmth and depth from the antiquing and gilding, so I'm pretty happy with the piece as a whole.

Flora bead set with leaves

This is my first try at making leaf beads to go with the flora beads. They look a bit clunky to me, so today I'll try something else. Also, not sure about antiquing and gilding them...they look nice just as they are.

And here is one of the focals from last post with matching capped lentils.

Antiqued, Textured, Gilded Microbead Flora

A bit much for a title huh? Seriously, these will just be called Antiqued, Gilded Flora or Baroque Flora. I'm so much happier creating abstract art. When I have to make things too matchy matchy, like petal size I get uncomfortable. So these are more me...more depth, more complicated. It sounds good anyway! ;o)

Tomorrow is my birthday. Today I'm going to lunch with my Dad and tomorrow I get to have dental work done...how fun is that...getting a crown on your birthday LOL! Have a great week everyone...

Donna Kato big beads

Miss Donna is back to claying again...yay! These may be "back to basics" for her, I think they are almost too delicious for words...! Read about the method Donna used for baking these beads.

Be sure to look around her site. If you have time, you will find some incredible photos from her travels around the world. Cruise around a bit more and see all of the lovely art her hands create. Look for the links on the top left of the page, then wait for the images to load. I promise, it's worth it!

How do you think these compare to the previous post about glass beads? Softer look, but both are alive with color... :o)

I love lampwork...

I admit it. Yes, I work with polymer, but I regularly get inspiration from glass artists. After seeing German artist Melanie Moertel's lovely beads, I'm thinking she may get a bit of inspiration from polymer. Even if she doesn't, she's got me thinking about adding black back into the florals again :o)

More Microbead Flora

Here are my current favorites using the microbeads. I'm not quite ready to share how I'm doing them as I'm considering an article. Thanks for understanding :o)

Micro Bead Flora

No matter how I try, I can't get away from flowers. I like these, except the center is bugging me. I have some different ones ready to go today that I'll show you next week. I have dropped these on the floor many times to see if the microbeads come loose and so far they haven't. I'm going to add a thin coat of kato liquid anyway, I think...

Coloring Mandalas...

I bought this book last summer thinking it would be fun to color these when I was sitting around in front of the TV. I decided to shade each part, thinking how they would look as skinner blends. I really loved it before I added the black center and the black and yellow rings. But I still like it, I think it was a great color exercise. I've got a book full of 'em so watch for more!

Polymer Cafe Magazine...

...has a new editor!

Connie Donaldson's beautiful butterfly wreath graced the cover of the Spring 'o6 issue. Read the news about Connie's new position and some of her plans for the magazine on Kim Cavender's blog.

First class offering ~ Spring '08...

will be on these beads...swirl lentils, capped, antiqued and gilded. More details in the coming weeks!

Multi-tasking used to be easy...

Back when I had "real" jobs...I was an excellent employee. I could answer phones, ship, receive, take special orders, buy, balance the books, train employees, make schedules, meet deadlines, do repairs, etc. I rarely called in sick. I never left a job undone. My desk was very clean. I took notes, I learned.

Now, since I've become a full-time artist...I can only focus on a few things at a time. I'm easily distracted. I'm a bit irresponsible now.

My husband wants me to make more money...and rightly so. He wants me to go out and find a "real" job. The reason that I quit my last job, was that I was bored. I wanted more. I needed to be creative.

So, now here I am, at the beginning of a new year. I've decided that the only way to bring in income and continue doing what I love is to teach others about polymer clay. I hope I'm good at it...

Can I really do this teaching gig? I'm starting small by teaching here at home. Probably only about 5 students or so until I get comfortable.

I suppose it would be a good start to get my "studio" aka dining room cleaned and organized. I'm not sure why I enjoy showing you what a slob I am! But, I have barely been in there in the past two months. What with Rudy's eye problems and surgeries (detached retina and cataract) and the boyz home for Christmas and New Year's, I haven't been able to get much done.

But, I've made a definite resolution to make 2008 my year to dive into all of these things I've been only thinking about for so long...and make this a "real" job! :o)

Happy New Year!!

My flickr favorites of 2007

Here are some gorgeous and colorful photos to inspire you in the coming year...