How exciting is this?

Do you see anyone you know on this web page? (Check me at right to see how the hair has changed since last summer!) Do you see any scaly, turtleneck-wearing aquatic creatures you recognize on this page? Cynthia Tinapple's new book, Polymer Clay Global Perspectives -- a treasure trove of inspiration -- hits the stores at the end of July. Check out the artists and place an order here!

I gotta get my rear in gear and get some stock in the etsy store. Don't want to greet new web visitors with Mother Hubbard's cupboard on my shop page!

Here are a few little fellows I made with scraps left over from another project I'll be able to show soon.

 

 

 

Prepare to be amazed!

I wish I could say that I was going to show you some amazing beads of mine, but insted I'm sharing a link to the Pinterest pages of Sherman Tung. I don't know who Sherman is, but he has an eye for exquisite drawings by artists from the middle ages to the modern age.

I am not even sure exquisite is a superlative enough word for the art he has repinned on his pages. I am in awe of the talent. Even with 1,000 years of practice, I would never be half this good. I have two hands and eyes also, but somehow, these people employ theirs in a much more skillful manner!

Be sure to check out his painting pages also. Get a coffee...you'll be there half the morning.

It reminds me of when I showed a beautiful pastel portrait by JF LeSaint to my brother. Joe said, "What did he do that with?" I said, "Pastels. Just like the ones I use." And Joe replied, "Oh no. Clearly, yours and his are not the same." Ha ha, thanks bro.

Fun finishes

I never paint my beads but after the recent workshop where we used a bit of paint, I still had the bottles on the worktable. The other day, after I had made a set of my usual scribed beads using silver powder instead of black, I thought they looked too bland. So I grabbed the gold metallic paint and voila, now they look pretty. To protect the paint I sprayed the beads with PYM II and then machine buffed them lightly. Me like!

The teal clay below is a dark forest green that I mixed with Ultralight. If you mix Ultralight with regular clay and blend it all up, it results in a velvety matte finish. Usually I leave it as is after curing but I lightly machine buffed these and I like the way they turned out. It looks very ceramic-ish to me.

And more of the usuals...

I guess I'm in the minority but I like the new flickr

I guess I'm in the minority but I like the new flickr.
I can still find everything. The "Recent Activity" page (which is the one I have bookmarked on the computer and my phone) is still the same as it always was.

I love that the pictures are large enough to view without having to click on each one to get a good look at it. If I do want to check it out further or add a comment, I right-click and open a new tab so I can go back to it after I've scanned all the new images.
I can run through all of contacts' latest pics at a glance. Look at those turquoise treats from Wired Orchid and Diva Designs. And the funky little lady face from Alice Stroppel!

I like that I can scan a photostream quickly without having to scroll scroll scroll through pages of photos.

Mixed Media

The other day I did one of my usual "scribed" designs on a circle of clay but the color needed a little boost so I pulled out the colored pencils and touched it up. After I colored it, I discovered that the waxy colored pencils buff up to a lovely satiny shine. So then I decided to make a design on plain white clay and color the whole design (I had already scribed the design in, covered it with Pearlex, cured it, and sanded off the Pearlex using my usual method. Shee how I covered a bead with the Pearlex: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artybecca/4925713644/in/set-72157624802328426/)

This was white clay underneath. All the color is from colored pencils.
I used Spectracolors. I don'think you can buy them anymore...
my set is a box of 100 I've had for 20 years.

Above and below is on white clay.

This one was made of colored colored clay and I added
colored pencil on top, then buffed it.

I used a coiled wire on the back as the loop for the choker wire. I baked the colored top first, then applied raw clay to the back and pressed the coil into it. I put a thin strip of clay inside the loop and pressed it into the coil to strengthen the bond. Then I trimmed the raw clay using the edge of the cured clay as my guide. I cured the whole shebang again, then colored and buffed it.

Slightly Unbalanced

I never feel like I have enough time! I don't even have kids. I have no idea how parents do it.

New scribed thingies below...

I put the loop too low on the back so this tends to flop over from the top.
Now I know to put the loop almost at the top. 

On second thought, I DO know why I don't have
so much free time anymore!