My first online class

I cannot give Stephanie enough kudos for her Homesteader's Metalsmith e-class. I learned so much and had a thoroughly enjoyable time broadening my horizons. If your interested she's opening up registration in just couple days for the November class.

Here is a sampling of the pieces I made over the 4 weeks.

Below are some of the bezels I filled with resin, eventually I'll get around to drilling holes for jump rings. One is a memento with the 'homestead' definition encased, that one will be kept around the studio as a reminder that if I can get comfortable using a micro torch then what else can I attempt.

It will be a feverish week at the job, summer cards come down halloween and thanksgiving go up...probably will take a full 40 hours, this part-time girl is tired just thinking about it. I don't anticipate I'll get much time to create so it may be quiet here.

Angie

Sweet weekend surprise

It always amazes me that as large as Etsy is someone can find one of my listing and place it in a treasury. This one is called Applesauce and Sassafras and it includes my sassafras memento necklace.

Thank you Neesie Designs !

It will be a fantastically busy weekend here. Today we are spending time with family that has arrived from out of town. Relatives not seen for many years, a new baby girl to greet, and lots of kiddos to play together. I hope everyone has a safe Labor Day weekend.

Angie

Polymer clay recipe cards

Do you ever find yourself thinking about something random and it shows up??

I had been thinking for a while I'd like to work with some new polymer clay colors but I have zero interest in mixing colors to see what I can come up with, I just use whatever colors the Premo brand offers.

While browsing under 'polymer' on Etsy I came across a listing from Craftsbychris for recipe cards based on seasonal Pantone color selections. I did a little happy dance and hit the 'commit to buy' button.

I'm so excited to try these and just had to give Chris a shout out because now I don't have to think about it anymore..lol.

Angie

Treasures from afar

A few weeks ago I swapped some of my polymer pieces and sent them on the long journey to Denmark & Germany. Last week my mailbox was stuffed with the most beautiful art.

From Dorthe, this fantastic driftwood angel (already hanging on the wall in my studio).

As a special surprise she also included one of her hanging collages. Dorthe, you are too generous! I am amazed by both pieces, they have such wonderful detail.

I have been reading Dorthe's blog for the last year and have really enjoyed watching her creative process. Every detail is tended to ...just look at her packaging ... a hand stamped organza bag, wonderful old lace/paper, and really sweet wire wrapped beads. Of course I saved it all for who knows where and when I can use it next.

From Renate, an incredibly talented mixed media jewelry artist whom I admire (and probably emulate more than I should admit too)...I got to hand pick one of her hand stamped copper/resin focal pendants. In addition, she surprised me with a sari ribbon/resin charm and perfectly coordinated beads. I cannot wait to assemble this into my very own necklace... already envisioning all the copper wire wrapping I have ahead of me.

Unfortunately that fun will have to wait until at least next week since I'm trying to finish up an online class at the moment (more about that later) .

Angie

New listings in the shop

Interesting 2 days at home...I contracted out the job of painting the basement. I'd been looking at the repaired wall since late March and just had to admit this was one really big project I didn't feel like taking on. So as I sit here among the paint fumes I can admire the hard work done by someone else...it looks so nice and new...not all dinged up by toys or smudged with dirty fingerprints.

Being stuck at home while the painter worked I found myself being productive in the studio creating some pendants from my one inch etched polymer tiles.

These are all glazed in resin so they have a nice dome finish and that pretty shine. I had to rummage though my very sad bead supply to find some quartz and mother of pearl for dangles.

The biggest hurdle on all...getting them onto Etsy. Kinda proud of myself today.

Angie

poor man's 'glass bead' tutorial

Sometime ago I found a tutorial for this style of paper bead but it was done with very colorful scrapbook paper or recycled magazines. I loved the idea and thought about it again after finding the vintage Psalm book over the weekend. Now I promise I only used the badly damaged book not the German version my hubby tucked away on a bookshelf.

Supplies:

Vintage paper

Skewers or dowel rods the diameter of the bead hole you want to make

Matte Medium of clear drying white glue

foam brush

Distress ink (mine is brushed corduroy)

Ranger UTEE (ultra thick embossing powder)

-clear

-platinum

heat gun

clear embossing ink pad (sorry forgot that in the photo)

**Click on the picture series to enlarge**

-Cut your paper into strips as wide and the bead you want to make. (The tutorials I've seen in the past recommend making long triangular strips and the beads would be tapered, but I made mine same width top to bottom.)

-Begin wrapping it around the skewer (no glue here), then while holding the wrapped portion add your glue or matte medium with a foam brush to the end of the paper.

Continue rolling until you reach the end, slip paper bead off skewer.

-To make it look more aged I ran the edges on the bead along my distress ink pad and let dry.

**Click on the picture series to enlarge**

-Slip the bead back on the skewer and coat with more matte medium or glue to seal the paper, repeat at least once more. Allow to dry completely.

-Once dry roll the bead over your clear emboss ink pad until it's nice and wet.

-Dip the whole bead into the jar of clear UTEE and tap excess.

**Click on the picture series to enlarge**

Using the heat gun, heat bead on the stick... twirling...until all the powder is melted.

While still hot drip it back into the jar of UTEE and heat again. I do this usually a total of three times until I get a nice even finish, don't forget to spin the bead while you heat or the UTEE can drip off. Hold and let cool completely.

**Click on the picture series to enlarge**

At this point you can call your bead done but I decided after it was cooled to stick the holes in the clear emboss ink again and get just a bit of platinum UTEE on the edges, then heated until it just started to melt. Try it with whatever color you think will look good with your paper ( for the last picture I tried black embossing powder).

To show you why I seal the bead before embossing, the embossing ink will make your paper transparent and multiple layers will show. it's actually pretty cool, though not the intended result... so now you know.

Thanks for stopping by,

Angie

First day of school 2010

New school, old friends.

I wanted to share with you this very quick snapshot I grabbed of the kids walking out the door at 7:15 this morning. They are both so excited about their new school. We learned as the summer progressed how many kids they already knew who went there so jitters weren't even noticeable, just all smiles.

They're kind of creeping me out with all this maturity and positive attitude thing.

In a few days I'm planning on sharing a bead tutorial using the Psalm book I picked up over the weekend...or if it doesn't work out I post the 'how to create a disastrous bead tutorial'...stay tuned.

Angie