Purple discs

I was playing about with ideas for a present for my mum's birthday. She wears a lot of purple so the colour choice was easy at least! I wanted to incorporate many different shades so it would go with lots of different purple things.  I made a bullseye cane using quite a few different layers in differing thickness's for added interest. I cut some slices and used my favourite texture tool, a texture sponge sheet I bought from the lovely Natalia García de Leániz at Polymer Play Days in Nottingham (UK) last year. There is an email address to order some on the Clay Yo! website and I see Prairie craft are stocking them.

I domed them slightly and pierced a hole through the edge of the domed bit rather than through the middle or at the circular edge so they would hang down showing the circle shape (couldn't quite find the words but hopefully you can see from the photo). I was going to suspend a crystal in the dome at the bottom of the head pin used to attach it but it didn't look quite right. I found some interesting small purple beads instead. The shapes of the polymer were too organic for the structure of the crystal and perhaps the colour of crystal not quite right. Trying to get the beads to hang right on the chain proved to be a bit of an issue but I got there in the end.

Here I am trying it on

I also made a stretchy bracelet of the textured discs and the small purple beads. Mum doesn't wear bracelets so this one will go into my sale stock (unless I decide to keep it, it does go with that top I was wearing.... would have to make myself a necklace to go with it of course!)

This was inspired by Natalia's textured bracelets that I saw at Polymer Play Days too. I always find it strange how things you've seen can lurk around in your head for ages and then pop out with a twist when you least expect it. I knew it was Natalia's bracelets that had prompted this design as I was making it and I thought this was more similar to her bracelets until I looked them up. They have the same texture and the beads are both discs and they are both on elastic but they aren't really that similar. I guess we take inspiration from all the things we've ever seen and have stored up over the years. A great excuse for some trips to beautiful places or to go look at beautiful things! Or just a quick flick through Flickr as you eat your lunch (as I like to on a weekday when I am home alone!)

Cindy Leitz's Teardrop Blend Shift Video free to view this week

For those of you who haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere Cindy Leitz is offering free access to her recent Teardrop blend shift video it's for a limited time, she said a week in her first post. So go check it out now while you can!

Sorry I haven't had much to say recently, April seems to have been a month long holiday this year! I've had an excellent time out and about and hardly touched my polymer clay. That's all set to change in May as I am looking forward to attending 2 events. Carol's Bangle class that I mentioned in the last post and the London Polymer Clay Groups 4th birthday meeting. I look forward to reporting back.

There aren't many photos of me from my recent holidays cause it's normally me behind the camera but here's when I met the Mad Hatter (cause the children were frightened of him for some reason so were hiding under the table) at a character breakfast at Disney World

Carol Blackburn's Beaux Bangles Workshop

I have a very exciting time coming up. First of all we are off on a family holiday to Disney World in Florida (very exciting!!!) Then it's the Royal Wedding which I'm not really that excited about apart from the fact we get a lovely 4 day weekend and are off camping with friends. So I am afraid there will be little clay news for a while.

As if that wasn't enough excitement, in May,  in the same weekend I am catching up with my 2 best friends from school and attending Carol Blackburn's Beaux-Bangles workshop! The workshop has been arranged by the lovely Rebecca who was one of the organisers of Polymer, Pamper, Play so I am sure it will be superbly organised and I know Carol is a wonderful teacher.

hope you are all having fun too!

Cara

Tulips

 This one was a birthday present for my sister in law,  to go with the tiny tulip tile earrings she had bought from me already.

 And then I made a very simple tiny choker which was snapped up at my sale last Friday. Think I will have to make some more!

I've also had enquiries about making another set of cake forks, which I realise I haven't shown you, and worse I realise I didn't photograph! The first tulip set I made were for some dear friends who live in Holland as a wedding present and took hours so I am not quite sure about the price, I will have to make another one to work out the time it takes so I can cost them.

Monkey cake

My little girl was 5 today! Can't believe she's so old, I don't know where the last 5 years have gone!

She wanted a monkey hunting party so we had great fun at her party making binoculars from toilet rolls, hunting for monkeys (pictures of them only but that didn't seem to disappoint the children too much), finding sticks for a fire and toasting marshmallows.

Off course she had to have a monkey cake and as I was short of time at the end of the week (had 2 jewellery sales) decided to make a polymer clay monkey to go on top of a fairly plain cake (any excuse to play with clay!)

Here's the cake at the party

We sang Happy Birthday again to Daisy at home with what was left of the cake!

I was really pleased with how my monkey turned out, until I baked him. He's solid Kato clay and as I turned the oven on I realised I would of been better giving him a tin foil core or something similar as the clay was very thick! Needless to say he cracked. I was distraught until I stepped back and realised it didn't really show. I still think the cracking is often to do with lack of support but also wonder if it's to do with how on a thicker bit of clay the outside is cured whilst the inside is uncured still. Does the clay expand as it heats up or cures? Is the raw clay underneath cured clay too unstable to support it? Some more experimenting required I think as  I would really like to be able to be confident things won't crack!

Anyway hats of to those of you who sculpt with polymer clay - how on earth do you do it without squashing and disfiguring other bits all the time I don't know!

Feeling square

whilst at Polymer Pamper Play I made a square pendant and in one of those happy accident ways it came out of the oven slightly curved (it was baked on fibrefill). To start with I thought I might rebake it on a tile to flatten it then I realised that the curve was actually lovely. It gives it another dimension and means it sits nicely on the chest rather than sticking to you as a totally flat one might. Here it is

Slightly curved square pendant with the frayed demin pattern Carol Blackburn taught us.

I decided I wanted to replicate the curve but wanted to be able to control it rather than leave it to chance so I made myself a domed square curing block.

It seems to work, here are a couple of slightly curved square pendants

The black and white flower inspired by Toni's top again!

This one is in the colours from the Color Palette a Week group on flickr for week 10

The Color Palette a Week group week 10 palette is these lovely colours

I made my  items in the right week but didn't have time to sand and finish them. Here's the other piece I made

My almost entirely polymer braclet

I used the spare toggle set to make another new bracelet for me! There are some glass spacer beads, some tiger tail wire to hold it together and 2 crimp beads to fasten the tiger tail but the rest is polymer!

The discs are curved, partly to match the curve of the pendant with the same design and partly so that it fits the wrist better. I chose a cookie cutter that fitted over my hand and baked the discs on it. I then lay a sheet of clay on the back, cutting out 2 channels for the tiger tail wire and another sheet of black which I textured over that to enclose the channels.

It is very comfortable to wear, it's light and fits nicely, not too tight, not too loose. I think I shall be making some more like this!!