What I’ve Been Working On

The above pieces were my contribution for a craft fair that a fellow jewelry maker will have a table at. This brings me just that much closer to having my own table at a craft fair!

A custom order for matching boutonnieres for groomsmen!

Quite a few of the above pieces are already listed in my shop, and the ones that aren't will be soon!

Pastels, Leopard Print, and Darth Vader

So here’s some of the goodness I’ve been working on lately!

I’ve never been huge on pastels, but lately that’s changing! It must be spring.

These piano cameos were made for my friend, Velma. Her and her husband, Steve, are my absolute favorite regulars at the pub I work at. Every year, they visit Las Vegas. They have friends there who are dueling pianists, so they asked me to make a pair of piano pendants for them! This is what I came up with.This was a custom photo cameo for my friend, Sky.One of my lovely Etsy customers requested a pendant with leopard print and Bettie Page. I love both of those things, so of course I was excited to do so! I decided to make the clay setting leopard print patterned, which meant making a clay cane for the first time.In my Polymer Clay class, we were very briefly shown how to make clay canes, so I had some basic knowledge of the process. I ended up getting it right on the first try, and made quite a few leopard print settings. It was really fun to do, and I liked the way it turned out. I’ll probably experiment with canes and patterns a bit more soon!

What I’ve Been Working On

Roses and Cupcakes for rings!

Lots of owl goodies, some of which are for a giveaway over at The Nearsighted Owl! It will be my first giveaway, so I’m pretty excited.

More galaxy pendants! I can’t stop making these. A couple of these were done by miss Stacey. We sat down and made some together while my hair was being bleached in preparation for fresh new bright colors! We actually just put in purple, blue, and pink and I’m currently sitting here waiting to wash it out. The top of my head looks like a easter egg!

This last one is a Rainbow Dash cameo for a friend who loves My Little Pony!

Clay Mouse

So for my Polymer Clay Workshop this week, we got some more practice sculpting animals, specifically rodents. I definitely still have a lot to learn about sculpting and making creatures out of clay. It’s still hard for me to get the clay to look how I envision it in my head. I really like this little mouse I made though.

This picture above is before baking and painting details.

After baking, sanding & polishing, and painting.  Little fingers and toes are hard to make! I tried to give it a red tongue, but it looks a bit more like lipstick. Oh well!The real rodent in the pictures is my rat, Volta. It’s nearly impossible to get my rats to stop moving long enough to get pictures, so she had to be bribed with wheat thins, as you can see in the picture!

Volta and Tesla! I love these little creatures.

A Few Things I’ve Been Working on

Here’s some of the jewelry I’ve been creating lately. There’s not much clay creations in this batch, with the exception of the last picture. I’m starting to make more earrings and rings slowly. The earrings in the third picture down contain some of the tiniest cameos I’ve ever seen! They’re so tiny and perfectly detailed. I’ll be putting most of these items up in my shop over the next week, so keep your eyes open for 'em!

Sewing Day/Clay Workshop

So I had yesterday off work and decided to do some sewing projects! I hit up Joann’s and got some fresh fabric and some felt to make pretty bow hairclips. I ended doing a lot of mending. I had a huge pile of clothes that just needed buttons sewed back on, seams fixed, or holes sewn up. Just by fixing up some clothes I already had, I added two cardigans, three shirts, and a skirt to my closet! One of these was a leopard print shirt that my dryer somehow tore apart last time I washed it. It had some pretty large, unfixable holes. So the obvious solution: Cut more holes in it!

I cut a heart shape in the middle of the back. I’ll probably have to make some stitches around it to reinforce the shape. I liked the way the shirt turned out! It’ll be fun to wear a bright color or crazy pattern underneath, I’m thinking black&white polka dots or stripes!

I also made one of those felt bows that I’ve been wanting so badly. It turned out pretty well and only took maybe ten minutes! I made just one in red, but I but enough felt to do them in grey, black, and blue!

I also started a Polymer Clay Workshop last night. It meets once a week for two hours. I have kinda mixed feelings about it. For one, the teacher started off the class saying “Polymer clay has been forever tainted by the crafters of their world with their dainty little brooches”. Meanwhile, I’m sitting in the second row wearing one of my polymer clay brooches. Ouch. Other than that, the teacher seemed pretty nice; I liked that he got his start in polymer clay by watching Wallace and Gromit videos (Claymation series chock full of British humor, I used to love them as a kid).  Our class only had four people including myself, three of which are older men. We’ll mostly be doing figures and sculpting, so I’m not sure how much of the class will be applicable to my jewelry-making. It should still be fun and informative though. For our first little project, we made cartoony birds. I liked the way mine turned out, except for the comically large feet.
Detachable Peter Pan collar tutorial
So I had a pretty good day off! I still have some sewing projects to finish up, as I had to stop last night when I looked at the clock and realized it was already two a.m! I bought materials to make detachable Peter Pan collars. I’ve been pretty obsessed with Peter Pan collars lately. I’m just dying to wear them with every shirt or dress I own. I’ll be using the tutorial above, doing some with ribbons as closures, and some with snap buttons. Here’s some pictures of Peter Pan collars that have made me fall in love with them: http://pinterest.com/zombot/peter-pan-collars/
 
(How awesome is pinterest?!) A lot of the dresses on that board are from Modcloth. They have some mind-blowingly gorgeous clothes, especially dresses. If I had more money, I would probably buy every piece they have!

new creations

So here’s some of the new stuff I’ve been working on lately. Just note- most of these aren’t finished. Most still need sanding & polishing, a clear coat of paint, etc.

Above are some loose pieces that don’t have homes yet. I love my new scottie dog mold, it reminds of my Bowser the Schnauzer back home in Alaska. The middle cameo also reminds me quite a bit of the Disney Cinderella.

I made a tiny cupcake! I might paint some little sprinkles on it and make it pretty. It’s really tiny (smaller around than a dime) and was a bit tricky to make.

More tentacles! The purple one has been turned into a pendant, while the blue one was just for practice. I also made an adorable little octopus!

I finally made a robot. He’s definitely not done yet, I’m adding some metal antennas and paint details. I’m not sure how I feel about him. I think he’s a bit too happy…like he needs to look just a teeny bit more hell-bent on world destruction, y’know?