There are seven minutes left until I have to get my new beads out of the oven and I will make good use of the time. :) Today I worked with Sculpey III in Blue Pearl and made a bunch of large spiral beads, probably for use in a necklace and/or bracelet. Sculpey III is easy to condition (I did not need a pasta machine) and works well with the warmth of my hands. I have blue fingertips but that doesn't bother me anymore than wearing any of my art does, and this after two (2!) scrubbings of my hands! I believe a working artist can and should wear some marks of what they've been doing, much like the callouses on the fingertips of a guitarist.
I also made a floral design (this clay really holds shape well) as a focal piece for a large piece of jewelry, and some rosebuds embedded with wrapping wire to use as another focal. This is so much fun! I buy almost all of my supplies at B'Sue Boutiques but do shop eBay for beads, but there's nothing quite like the feeling of creating my own beads. I'm only limited by my imagination and I have plenty of that!
Ah, the true test - time to take the pieces out of the oven. &.....drum roll.....they're perfect!! My finer pieces held their shape perfectly and it looks like I'm not going to have to do any sanding. The Blue Pearl Sculpey III has a shimmery effect to it that shows up better after baking, but is still, IMHO, very subtle. All in all, a productive afternoon. The beads are cooling and I'm excited about using them.
Two days ago I made my first wire wrapped tree of life pendant using silver wire (use a thicker one for the frame and a thinner one for the beading and wrapping) and jasper beads that look a lot like an abstract tree when the leaves are windblown. It turned out well. I was surprised that the whole project took less than two hours, and I even handmade a chain for it out of jump rings. Amazing!
Yesterday I worked on a memory wire bracelet that gobbled up my rather extensive supply of beads (no worries, I'll make more, lol) and it was so much fun to do. I have some coral branches and "teeth" - curved large beads in a deep red - and I couldn't wait to use them. So now I have at least five coils of bracelet to wear. I used mother of pearl, several kinds of jasper, the coral, of course, wonderful filigree bead caps from B'Sue and tablet Bali beads that are scrolled. It's heavy, chunky, and perfectly fits my style. I still want to add a few B'Sue charms to the little hoop ends for a little more flow and movement, but I don't think I'm selling this piece since it has so many of my favorites in it. And it's so big that no one else I know would wear it (my mom suggested making two bracelets out of it but I think not), so I'm not in danger of giving it away. Haha!
I will be taking photos of these pieces but I'm losing the natural light today and I still have to figure out the whole image thing so it won't be today. BTW, if you want to see some lovely and very well done Tree of Life pendants, search Ethora at YouTube for some excellent video. She does amazing work and is terribly precise...and Uncommon Goods is now selling three of her pendants, which is great. They are $140 something so I won't be buying right now (why buy when you can make your own?) but they are really spectacular.
Waiting on a large order from B'Sue to enter the Easy Peasy Bracelet Challenge...oh yes, and also to play and have some more fun with the new findings, chain, velvet ribbon, etc. that I ordered, I admit it. But how cool is that? I will let you know when the package arrives...I love their packaging and the goody bags, too. It's like my birthday when an order from Brenda Sue and Shelley arrives.
& I'm just a big kid playing with my toys today. At least I'm creating. There are some deeply disturbing things going on in my life right now that affect my entire family, especially my baby girl Amanda (25), and this is a great distraction. So it's say a prayer and work, work and say a prayer. But I have faith that everything will be just fine with time. In the meantime, thank God for the arts. We all need to make sure we value them more because they are the lifeblood for a human.
My seven minutes of writing time has passed and then some. I should know myself well enough by now to realize that would happen. :)
I wonder if my beads are cool yet.....hmmm.
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