Photos from my recent trip to NYC

I am in love with the cartoonify filter on my phone camera. I made a poster of my favorite pics from my stroll around Manhattan last Thursday morning.

 I kept my finger on the clicker and took a few hundred pictures of the windows and all the things we passed as we walked around. I call it the Andy Warhol* method... make a zillion of something and at least a few will turn out decent. It's fun to look through all your photos after the fact and see what kind of good images you serendipitously caught.

*When you go to the Andy Warhol Museum you see many silkscreened versions of the famous Marilyn poster. The iconic one we all know was  just one of many variations.

Kitchen tip: fast bacon crumbles

I cook an entire pack of bacon at one time. I put it in the pan, chop it with the spatula, and stir it around until it is crispy, and drain it on a paper towel .  Takes about 10 minutes.
(Caveat: I use Oscar Meyer lower sodium turkey bacon, which is delicious by the way. This process may work differently, or not at all, with pork bacon.)

...and presto, 

crispy bacon bits!

Now this is what you call "statement jewelry"

Years ago I saw the movie "La belle et la bête" (Beauty and the Beast, 1946, directed by Jean Cocteau). Belle (Josette Day) wears the most beautiful, asymmetrical pearl brooch/necklace combo. Even in the black and white film the jewels were sparkly and gorgeous. I tried to make something similar year ago but didn't succeed. Beside the necklace itself, the garment under it is a challenge as it would need to be pretty sturdy to hold the weight.
I recently went looking for the image and thought you bead-lovin' people might like to check it out...

Creativity

1999. Grad school. A paper for advertising class.
I chose to write about creativity because I felt like a lot of people think of creativity and artistic ability as the same thing. They also think there's some magic to it rather than understanding that it's a combination of expertise, open minded exploration, and good old hard work and practice. I dug it out of the computer and posted it here if you have any interest. I have to do a speech for Toastmasters and will probably use this as the basis for it.
read the paper

Handy tip for making a gently curved pendant

File this one under: It may not be news to you but I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out.

One day last spring I searched the big neighborhood garage sale for something with a dome shape to use as a curing surface for pendants. I found an old metal gas cap from a car which was perfect, except that I could only do one at a time. Recently I had a need to cure many pendants but they were not round so a dome wasn't necessary. Just a simple curve was required but every bottle or can I found had a tighter curve than I wanted.

After staring at my messy clay table, it dawned on me that the solution was literally in front of me. I realized my bead rack could be used in a different way. I laid my pendants on 3x5 index cards and rested the cards on the "rails" of the rack, allowing the weight of the clay, the gravity and the heat coax the pendants into a gentle curve.

Some of the test subjects are above...no clear winner yet (and some don't fit the assignment but were all part of the mix of this holiday "playcation" on my day off.

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.