Claggybitz Blog

Another commission finished and despatched

2011-12-14T19:21:00.001Z

I really enjoy creating these wedding toppers and this last one was no exception. It threw up a couple of challenges.

My first challenge was the veil. Veils are really hard to perfect on the toppers and it is very difficult using the clay, they tend not to last long, the clay would have to be so thin it would crack either when fired or while in transit and the second challenge was the kilt. It has to look something similar to the actual garment.

I think I managed on both counts, to see all the steps please follow this link and let me know what you think.

http://tinyurl.com/cm92vme

Thanks for taking the time to look.

2011-11-27T21:12:00.001Z

My daughter Rebecca gets married on 17th December and her husband to be is a Wii addict. I wanted to show this in the Wedding cake topper I created for her.

She chose to make her bouquet from beads, brooches, crystals, pearls and porcelain roses. Her headdress is also jewelled.

You can see all the steps that it took to create this topper on http://www.weddingsofclay.co.uk/blog.html

Please feel free to leave any comments both here and on my website.

Thank you for looking.

Poorly Bertie

2011-11-27T21:04:00.000Z

Poor Bert had an operation to remove his longing for girl doggies on Monday 14th November. He came home as right as rain and then went slowly downhill. He developed an infection and by the Wednesday he was very unsettled, agitated and wanted nothing more than to put himself in the smallest corner of the house. Another trip to the vet took place and he confirmed the infection and gave him painkillers, antibiotics and a buster collar!

For some reason his favourite place was the bathroom.

He looks like a sunflower and I was tempted to draw petals on it but thought it may embarrass him when he went out.

He was on short walks only, no running, playing or jumping, not that he wanted to at the time. Only problem was he wouldn't spend a penny with this collar on and he stored it up for two days, then we stood at one tree for a full five minutes while he got rid of it. Because he couldn't go in the garden we were walking the estate at 5 am when he needed to go out. I have to admit I was a little worried when he seemed to show no improvement.

He had a little difficulty eating his tea so I ended up holding it for him and for some reason he wouldn't stand and I had to hand feed him till he decided he wanted it. I have gone through a load of pasta, he loves it.

You may notice the grey around the collar, we had to tape it up several times to keep it from dropping to bits. He crashed into all the doors several of which have no paint left on them. My legs are covered in bruises, you would think someone had whipped me with a stick, he couldn't judge the distance and would crash into you from behind. He did enjoy loads of cuddles and would sit with his head on your knee and go to sleep.

After several more visits to the vets and more antibiotics he was more or less given the all clear, he is 99% healed. The collar is used only for bedtime and then after another couple of days it is going in the bin. He is running around pinching slippers again and looks forward to his walks and meal times.

Boy am I glad, I have been totally stressed out and worried about him all the time. I have been told off for fussing over him too much, but I am sure all you pet lovers out there can identify with that. It's just so nice to see him back to 'normal'.

Another Holiday, Another Cat

2011-11-20T19:53:00.000Z

Just had a week in Lanzarote soaking up the sun and yet again Steve found a friend. He is not a great lover of cats so why do they take to him so much. It followed him all over the complex.

This poor cat who we christened Fang had a bit of a deformed chin, it was much larger than it should have been and the two front canine teeth were longer than normal, one even came half way down his chin and he found it difficult to pick things up off the floor. He wasn't a skinny cat and he was very friendly, in fact he would sit by your side and lift his paw as if he was begging.

The complex Las Tabaibas was well looked after very clean and tidy and we were very central to shops, bars, restaurants etc and the sun shone the whole week just at the right temperature. Bliss, wish I was back there now.

The old town habour.

View from the patio.

The pool which was deserted much of the week making it nice and peaceful.

Tasty and a bit of Fun

2011-10-27T18:14:00.004Z

Thought I would share with you the best recipe I have ever found for Pumpkin soup. Nice and warming with a touch of curry spice. Lovely at this time of the year. If prepared with vegetable stock it is suitable for vegetarians.

2 pounds ( 900g ) of pumpkin flesh, cut into cubes

1 large onion, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 flat teaspoon of curry powder, mild or medium strength
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground pepper
3-4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1. boil the pumpkin cubes and the bay leaf in some water until nearly tender

2. sweat the chopped onion in the oil until transparent

3. add the crushed garlic, trying not to burn it

4. mix in the curry spice and stir

5. pour the cooked pumpkin into the mixture

6. add potato cubes, stock and salt and pepper, simmer until cooked

Blend to a creamy consistency.

I store this in plastic containers and as soon as it has gone cold I pop them in the freezer. Lovely served with crusty bread and a dollop of Creme Fraiche.

As well as a tasty meal, you can also make an item of jewellery out of the seeds! I cut the pumpkin in half and then scoop out all the soft squidgy bits along with the seeds, a bit messy but necessary. Wash the seeds in hot water, dry and spread them out on a baking tray which has been covered with silicon paper. Pop them into the oven at 100-110 degrees and leave them for about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on them, your oven is not very hot but they can go too crispy.

HEY PRESTO!

I coloured the seeds with alcohol ink, very carefully put a hole in the top, bent an eye pin and put that through the hole, as if you were going fishing and then dipped them in the Melt Pot. I think the orangey ones look a bit like Amber. You could go on and do a number of these and thread them into a necklace. It brought back a few memories for me making these. As kids we used to dry the melon seeds and make ourselves necklaces and bracelets. Mum would boil them with onion skins to colour them brown or use the flowers from Gorse bushes to make them yellow.

Another Wedding Album

2011-09-29T14:14:00.001Z

Here we are again creating Wedding Guest/Photo Albums.

My eldest daughter Rebecca is getting married in December at Horsely Hall near Stanhope. A lovely setting although by then we may be under a covering a snow but we have been assured that the lane will be cleared by one of the many farmers that live around there so no guests should get stranded. Fingers crossed.

The dress has arrived and is now carefully stored ready for the first fitting. Rebecca has created her bouquet out of beads and crystals, unfortunately I don't have a photograph of it finished I will have to update you later on that one, she is also doing the button holes herself. I have created the favor boxes and the wedding guest/photo album, I have also created one for myself, I am guilty of taking photographs and storing them on my hard drive and never printing but with wedding photo's I find it so much better to put a few in a nice little album for friends and family who don't attend to view. I also want to redo her cake topper on a smaller scale with more detail as I now know the design of her dress and headdress.

I have posted some photographs of the finished albums, to view more on this post please follow this link. The full story appears on http://tinyurl.com/5usd88b

Rebecca and Ian's wedding album.

My album.

Favor boxes.

Please feel free to leave any comments on here or my website http://www.weddingsofclay.co.uk/

Thank you for visiting.

Chain Maille Bracelet

2011-09-08T15:05:00.005Z

It is ages since I have updated my blog, I have been too busy with my new website but in an effort to put this right I thought I would show you my latest jewellery project. Chain Maille.

I got all my jump rings together along with the instructions for the piece I was going to make, Dragonscale. Unfortunately I just couldn't get it together. No matter how hard I looked at it and how many different instructions I looked at I couldn't get it to come right. After two days of getting so far and swearing at the jump rings I began to lose my temper so I decided to attempt another pattern instead. For the sake of my sanity.

This time I managed to complete and here is the evidence.

All set to go.

I knew I was missing one step from getting the pattern right but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what that was. I had to admit defeat on the Dragonscale but I can always revisit it at a later date and have another go.

This is the second attempt of getting something right and thankfully it worked out well. The pattern is a daisy and it has a total of six flowers each with six petals.

The rings are made from non-tarnish wire and come from http://www.beadsdirect.co.uk/

Chain maille rings are not just your ordinary jump rings. These artistic wire chain maille rings are precision made and have the ideal temper for making chain maille designs and come in loads of different colours. You can also buy beginners and advanced books showing you lots of different designs and all come with instructions.

I also want to congratulate my good friend Carrie on her new business venture. You can visit her website on http://www.pressfordesign.co.uk/ Affordable web and print design. Carrie is also a very accomplished print maker and dazzles you with the intricacies of her carvings take a look at some of her work http://erasercarver.wordpress.com/ I know you will be impressed.

An Angler and his Bride

2011-02-24T21:22:00.002Z

First things first, we have to have a body and that body has to have trousers, waistcoat, shirt and tie.

Next he gets his jacket and accessories.

He is an angler so he needs his fishing rod and if he has been lucky a fish on the end of his line. A few maggots crawling out of his pocket! and the compulsory camouflage hat.

Got a bit carried away with the bride and forgot to photograph her in stages. She is sitting on a tree stump.

Frying tonight! she is cooking the fish that her Groom has just caught. Need to hurry and get their eyes in before they have an accident!

This is the view from the back, I added flowers in her hair and she is sitting on a tree stump that is surrounded by grass and flowers.

Fish supper anyone! I think it is more of a skillet than a frying pan.

Here they are all done and ready for their tea, after they get married of course.

Hope you like them.

A Wedding Topper Cyclist

2011-02-13T20:00:00.000Z

My consignment of clay arrived and this is the result. Hope you like it. Please feel free to leave any comments concerning anything on my blog. Thanks.

A wedding cake topper for the cyclists among you. I must admit this bicycle took a bit of doing, trying to keep it upright while it was cooking.

Next came his legs, feet and body.

Then his waistcoat, jacket and head.

He is holding onto the back of the bike (this also helped to steady things), he now has his hair and a flower in his lapel.

Handsome!

Now for his Bride, with her cocktail stick neck.

She has a bouquet of lavender and white roses and very small pearl buttons on the back of her dress. She also has the same flowers in her hair. Now all that is left to do is give them both eyes to see the world, hope you like them so far.

Now they can both see, shoes polished, tyres washed all ready for the big day.

Gazing up with adoration!

The back view, I only put a pedal on this side as the other was hidden by her dress. Hope you can see the pearl buttons down the back of her dress.

And this is Fido .................... waiting for a game of ball. Little accessories can be added into the mix.

The Happy Couple. First Wedding Topper

2011-01-31T20:12:00.001Z

These toppers can be placed beside the Wedding cake. Smaller versions can be commissioned for on top.

Bride and Groom, they look a little like aliens at the moment but all that will change........... I promise!

I started to dress the bride, I had an idea what I wanted it to look like but by the time I finished the dress it looked nothing like the picture I had in my mind and sketched. I added small seed beads for detail over the bodice, around the bottom and on the back of the dress. She is armless but getting there.

Next it was the flowers, a bouquet of red and white roses.

Then on with the hair, hairstyles are not my strong point, never let me loose with a pair of scissors but with clay......... I don't think it looks too bad.

and here he comes ...............

A snazzy suit

No hands as yet, but not a problem.

All I have left to do is his hair. The bride has a carrier bag by her side and he is playing on his Wii with the controller in his hand and the console by his side. The people behind these two models are my eldest daughter and her soon to be husband. He is an avid game player, hence the controller and the Wii console and my daughter used to be an avid shopper who loved designer labels but now they are saving for the wedding she shops for bargains at Primark.

The finished happy couple, all ready for their big day.

I can build into any model, hobbies, occupations etc to add that little bit of humour and individuality.

Please drop me an email on claggybitz@yahoo.co.uk to discuss your needs and prices.

Thanks for looking.

New Venture

2011-01-06T19:35:00.000Z

Thought I would show you my new venture.

I am trying to concentrate on the Fimo Clay, I think it is what I do best. I have made models from clay for a few years now and if you should look back to some of my earlier blogs you will find them there. It is something I enjoy, I can get out my little table and my clay box and plonk myself down in front of the T.V. The only thing I have to worry about is Bert running off with a piece, I don't know what it would do to his digestive system!

My first piece of the new decade is a jockey and this one is destined to start his life at Haydock Park in St Helens, Merseyside. Hopefully it will start a trend with jockeys and trainers, the idea is to make the models in the jockeys silks so it is personal to them. Time will tell but I can but try.

Hope you like the photographs, The first one is a jockey I made a few years ago and I think you will agree that I have developed more of a technique with the latest. Please feel free to leave your comments I would welcome any criticisms or feedback.

This is the first one I ever made and at the time I was pleased with it, however I think there was room for improvement.

Faces are always something I have found slightly difficult but it has worked quite well, without eyes it looks spooky.

This is him minus his proper hand and his boots but at least you can tell what he is supposed to be.

The finished item, I have to tell you that this is a prototype, because he is standing I had to develop him around a wire frame and in hindsight there are things that I would do differently on the next one but if you don't try you don't find out what the problems can be. All in all I am very proud of him.

He is 24 cms tall including his base.

Hope you like him.

I am also going to try and develop a range of Wedding Cake Toppers, I am cutting my teeth on my eldest daughter who is getting married at Christmas. So I thought I would give it a go and see what happens. Watch this space!

Pyrography

2010-11-28T20:41:00.001Z

I began by stamping the Butterflies onto the back of the wood icon, got my tool up to heat then promptly burned my arm. I still bear the scare.

With tongue hanging out for concentration I eventually managed to burn the design into the wood. I did find it a bit off putting when you hit a knot in the wood and you 'skipped' somewhere that you didn't want to be. The tool did get a bit too hot and you had to switch it off every now and then.

I coloured them using Promarkers then gave them about five coats of a water based varnish.

I intend to put photographs on the other side eventually.

Wire Wrapping

2010-11-15T21:50:00.000Z

I have been trying to master the art of wrapping a stone without a hole. A few weeks ago Lynn and I went to the Bead Show in Harrogate, armed with plenty of money we went on the rampage!

What a lot of great choice, I came away loaded down with goodies plus a very good book on wire wrapping. I had tried this technique before but did not get the look I wanted. This book gave some very good tips that helped to make it just that little bit easier.

These stones are beautiful and the pendant is actually reversible so I get two looks in one.

I used three lengths of wire and wrapped these in three places with a thinner wire and teased the sides out so I could pull them apart later and twist to hold the stone. I have tried this with a smaller stone but so far I have not succeeded in holding it tightly enough and it keeps dropping out.

These beads are a perfect match for the pendant and with the addition of some bead caps and spacers it makes a very striking bracelet, simply done, threaded onto elastic.

Flash & Corfu

2010-11-12T23:10:00.002Z

We went to Corfu for 10 days at the end of September (was it only then, it seems like such a long time ago). We had seven days of glorious sunshine and three of torrential rain. It was a lovely break and Steve made a very good friend. Flash, (because of the little flash on her head) that's what we christened her. We stayed at the Palmar Corfu Apartments in Sidari and if you ever visit we would thoroughly recommend you stay there. The owners are so friendly, the bar stays open till the last man drops and nothing is too much trouble. The cat apparently wandered in one day and has stayed there ever since.

Steve is not a cat person at all and I found it very surprising that he made such a fuss over her. Every time he sat down she would jump onto his lap and purr very loudly, she followed him all over, if Steve went for a snooze, so did Flash, curled up beside him. She stayed with us for the 10 days. It was quite a wrench to leave her. The morning we packed to come home she sat in the middle of the kitchen and just watched us filling the cases and occasionally she would wander over and jump in to have a look, we discovered when we got back home and unpacked that we had brought quite a few souvenir cat hairs back with us. I have no doubt that once we left she wandered away and found someone else to transfer all the affection too but if there was any way we could have packed her we would (don't know what Bertie would have made of her if we had!) She really was the most adorable cat and so affectionate.

The temperature on our balcony one day hit the 50 degree mark. My little travel clock has a thermometer so we sat it on the table, once it hit the 50 it hit an error and went off.

We took a trip into Corfu Town one night and wandered around the old part, with it's small bazaar like shops and I bought some lovely amber jewellery.

Sidari had a really nice beach and because of the time of year it was not packed with people. The season only had two weeks to go when we left and apartments and businesses were closing down for the winter.

Apparently the whole of the town closes from around 15th October and opens again in April, the place must turn into a ghost town.

I think we may have to go back next year at some point, if only to check on Flash and see how she's doing. Do cat's have long memories?

The view from the plane window coming home, it always reminds me of snow.

Home again, back to the cold and the wind. Never mind, I will keep looking at the photograph of the 50 degrees and sigh with longing.

My Little Wedding Album

2010-07-17T21:12:00.014Z

I am always guilty, like a lot of people of taking so many photographs and either leaving them on the camera, downloading or printing and leaving them in a drawer always with the intention of putting them in an album.

When my daughter Rachel got married last November the camera went into overload. I downloaded the photographs to my external hard drive and when anyone wanted to look at them out came the lap top .

So I decided I would make myself a little album to show people and let the photographs tell the story of what a wonderful day it was.

The outside of the book is made with the Tattered Angel Glimmer Chip Tiles, Nature. I bought these in the Graphicus sale and put them to one side, you know how it is, you will always find a use for them at a later date. I distressed the tiles with Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress Inkpads and gave them a quick spray with Pearl Glimmer Mist. Once that was dry a quick spritz with hairspray fixed the colour.

A pearlescent card was used for the pages and the corners were cut with the Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, Scallop/Cloud. The edges of the pages were gilded with a Krylon gold pen. The book was bound using the Bind-it-All.

This is the first page, the Romance Rub-Ons look really good. I placed vellum pages between to protect the photographs. As you can see the pages overlap each other as the album is bound at both sides.

The photo corners are a Cuttlebug Die and just lend themselves to the photographs giving it all a touch of class. In hindsight (hindsight is a great thing) I should have put the photographs, corners, done the stamping and everything else before I bound the book, it would have been much easier than working with the completed book. In saying that I did take it to bits at least twice. The stamps are from the DL stamp set Hearts and Flowers.

And finally, the back of the album. Two tiles glued onto thick card. The back of the card was covered with one of Glenda's papers from her CD Decadent Brocade.

A little album to keep and treasure.

Published

2010-07-17T18:52:00.000Z

Wow!

My work published in a magazine, I never thought I would see the day, my name in print and with the word 'Designer'.

The Magazine is 'Creative Beads & Jewellery', Issue 1 featured my Devinely Dotty Polymer Clay Bracelet.

In issue 4 you can find my Cupcake Tiara, this was made for the Graphicus Birthday Bash and worn proudly for the two Open Days. I then sent it along to the magazine so they could photograph it. I will pop photographs on my blog when it is returned to me.

I couldn't believe it, a two page spread.

A close up of my printed name and the word 'Designer' alongside for all to see!

I may proudly leave these magazines on my coffee table for anyone who pops in for a cup of tea, I can then casually leave them open at the appropriate page.

Showing off .................. yes I think I might be.

Take one Box ................

2010-05-04T19:16:00.019Z

I really enjoyed doing this project, it lets your imagination go barmy.

Just to whet your appetite I thought I would post some pics for you to have a look at.

Take one ordinary simple box and create a work of art.

Wouldn't this be a great gift filled with chocs.

Melt Pot and Eastern Grasses

2010-05-04T19:11:00.011Z

Just some of the lovely things you can do using the Melt Pot, Memory Frames and Glass.

I used clear UTEE and added Pearl UTEE into the Melt Pot once the clear had melted. It gave a lovely shimmer when poured.

You will find that the first pour is very light and it will gradually darken the longer it sits in the Melt Pot but you can get some very interesting effects from this.

A small amount of colour has been added to the glass before stamping.

Birthday Pressie

2010-02-22T20:41:00.011Z

Thought you may like to see my birthday pressie from Glenda and the gang. She is gorgeous even without her finery.

And lastly a close up of her sequined party dress.

I plan to do some jewellery bits and put her on show at our next Graphicus Open Days, our Big Birthday Bash on Friday 16th & Saturday 17th April.

Hope to see you there.

Bertie's Book

2010-02-09T20:46:00.011Z

I am terrible for taking photographs, printing them and leaving them in a pile always meaning to do something with them, so I thought why not make a book using some of the photographs I have of Bertie or as a friend of ours calls him 'The Black Shadow'.

The front and back of Bertie's book was created using Tattered Angels Chip Tiles Nature which were coloured using a Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Inkpad and given a light spritz of Pearl Glimmer Mist and left to dry overnight. The B is from the Tattered Angels Framed Fonts - Regal coloured with a darker inkpad. These really are a lovely addition to your craft stash. The strap is part of the Zutter Perfect Closure range, the leather strap on these can be coloured using an inkpad and as I discovered the metal clasp takes Alcohol Ink very well.

Inside front cover, well I had to put a Newsflash in there for the day he was born.

I used the Cuttlebug and decorated all the pages using the embossing folders then coloured them using a Versamarker Pen and chalks. I can't remember him being so little, doesn't time fly.

And just slightly larger! posing on the garden bench, I had to be quick to get this one he does not sit still for very long.

On holiday in the Lakes on the banks of Ullswater, taking in the sun.

And lastly his first birthday. How the hat stayed on I will never know but he was concentrating so hard on the muffin that I don't think he noticed it. The muffin did not last very long after that and the hat lasted only marginally longer. It ended up in shreds.

These are just a few of the pages, it could have been the longest post in history if I had put them all in but the nice thing about it you could if you wish take the metal binding strip out add more pages and photographs and re-bind it.

With the additions of a few captions to mark the occasions it will be finished, well for the time being at least.

I enjoyed making this book and intend to make another to use as a journal.

Christmas Holiday

2010-01-01T22:54:00.021Z

We have just had the strangest Christmas. It was a very nice Christmas but most defiantly strange. We have just spent 11 days in Tenerife where the holiday season is very laid back and not as high priority as here which makes it a less stressful period but not at all what I am used to.

We flew out on 18th December, the drive to Newcastle was awful, it was the first morning of the snow, the roads were not very good at all and we were pleased to arrive. Our flight was on time and we arrived in Tenerife at 2.30 pm grabbed a taxi and were safely installed by 3 pm. Not bad going.

The hotel Costa Adeje Gran was fabulous and we would recommend it to anyone who may be thinking of going to Tenerife. The service was fantastic and nothing was too much trouble for the staff.

This was the view on Christmas morning just as the sun was rising, it did beat looking out at the snow. I was very surprised at the lack of festivities but I believe they do celebrate New Year rather than Christmas.

Our Christmas lunch consisted of a cheeseburger and a pint of lager after strolling along the beach, highly strange. The hotel staff made our evening meal special and each guest was given champagne, the wine flowed throughout the meal. The only change to the hotels regime was Christmas Eve when they moved the time of the evening meal to enable staff to get home to have their traditional meal with their families.

View of one of the three pools from our balcony. The standard of cleanliness was very impressive.

Bananas grew in abundance all around the hotel grounds.

Steve thoroughly enjoyed himself, he is not into the commercial side of Christmas at all so this holiday suited him down to the ground. I was very surprised that shops just didn't close for the day and all the restaurants and pubs just carried on as normal.

No houses were decorated and no Christmas trees were in any of the windows. A few of the shops did have a few decorations in the window and a Christmas tree in the corner.

It was strange to see some of the hotel staff sporting Santa hats while they walked around the pool.

Of course as usual on our flight over someone at the front of the plane sneezed and the germs bounce off the walls and home in on me so by the Sunday I was coughing and sneezing and feeling low, so low a visit to the pharmacy was required. On the way home everyone seemed to be sneezing and coughing, I think everyone must have caught a cold.

The reception area in the hotel was huge and the decorations were lovely. This photograph was taken through the mirrored ceiling as you can see from the next photograph.

Poinsettia's featured all over the reception area, at the front of this small waterfall a lovely nativity scene was displayed.

We had a very rude awaking when we landed back in Newcastle, the sleet had us soaked by the time we reached the car and you began to wish you had stayed where you were. I can't get over how many people came back wearing sunshine attire, shorts and t-shirts, they must have froze when they got outside.

We picked Bertie up from the kennels the day after and got a rapturous welcome and he was soon back to his naughty self once he was home. I think he changes into a different dog once he arrives at the kennels as they always praise his behaviour. I did miss him though and couldn't wait to see him.

It has not stopped snowing since we came back and my feet are constantly cold but that's the climate we have been blessed with so I will have to keep putting on an extra pair of socks and make the best of it.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Wedding Day

2009-11-25T20:59:00.014Z

As promised in my last post a preview of the Guest Book that Lesley and I made for my daughter Rachel's Wedding. It turned out beautiful and it was all I hoped it would be. A lot of the guests commented on it as they wrote their messages. There are a few pages left so I am popping in some of the photographs that were taken during the day.

The weather the week before the wedding was atrocious, rain, wind and more rain. We eagerly watched the weather forecast and although they said fine you always wonder if they have got it right. Thankfully they did. The day dawned cold but the sun shone.

Myself and my cousin Maggie rushed about delivering the balloons and decorations to the venue, rushed back to get ready and then rushed to get Rachel and the two bridesmaids ready.

The bridesmaids are David's (Rachel's husbands) two children. The dresses were a mixture of red and russet and when they caught the sun they appeared to change colour.

I was the only one to wear a hat, the others all wore a fascinator but it really added to the outfit and I was pleased that I wore it. Bertie didn't much like the hat he backed away from it and barked, think it was the feather bobbing about. I threatened to wear it sitting in the house if he didn't behave himself!

A proud moment and this photograph made the whole day even more special.

David panicked as Rachel was late, as is the brides prerogative, he thought Rachel had changed her mind, she was standing outside with her Dad having a few tears. She eventually walked down the aisle with tears in her eyes. The youngest bridesmaid took one look at her and burst out crying, she sobbed quietly throughout the whole ceremony but we were on hand to pass the tissues, and use one or two of them myself. When asked 'why', she said it was because she was so happy.

The bouquets and the corsages were stunning.

And this is the motley crew relaxing after the stress of the day.

From right to left Steve's sister Karen and her partner Alan, Steve and myself, my cousin Maggie and her husband Mike.

To Maggie and Mike, thank you for putting up with Steve and I for the weekend.

The Happy Couple

2009-10-25T13:03:00.022Z

My youngest daughter is getting married in 2 weeks, 7th November and I wanted to make something special for them to keep and be reminded of their special day.

Photographs will be taken in plenty and put into albums that eventually will go into drawers and cupboards and only come out on occasions. My thought was something that they would see every day and serve as a constant reminder. So I set about making a Bride & Groom using Paverpol, the idea is once varnished they will sit in the garden and be seen every day.

The Bride

The Bride was a joy to make and only took two hours. Her dress is made from a cotton pillow slip and I mixed Mother of Pearl Paverpol colouring into the Paverpol and it has given it a lovely shimmering effect. I applied lace around the bodice and down the back of the dress. The flowers were bought and I left them grouped together, wrapping some dipped ribbon around the stems to hide the wire.

The hair is made with Paverpol cotton and once dried I dry brushed it to darken the colour.

I made a little tiara out of a few seed beads and wire and stuck it into the hair before it dried.

The Groom

Was a little harder to make. It took me a while to decide just how to go about it and finally I ended up cutting all of the garments out of t-shirt material before I could get started. It was a little like dressmaking without the need for needle and cotton.

I made the top hat with clay and tried coating it with the Paverpol but it just slid off, so I had to take it all off and paint it with black acrylic. I am still not too happy with it and may try to make one out of felt and cover it with the Paverpol.

I chopped a flower from the Brides bouquet and stuck it to his lapel. He does have a grey waistcoat under his jacket but when I laid his jacket onto it the colour seemed to seep up so I covered it with the lapel and just left the bottom of the waistcoat sticking out between the sides of his jacket.

My future son-in-law actually has a very close to the head hair cut but here he has a really good head of hair, mainly to hide the seams on the back of his head. I adopted a little artistic licence when designing them and stressed to my daughter that they were not supposed to be 'look a likes'.

Here we have the Happy Couple linking arms and posing together. Ready to take their place on the table along with the cake.

I am also making their Guest Book with a little help from Lesley, once we get it finished I will let you have a sneak preview.

I have a plea to anyone out there. If you have any old white t-shirts that are over 60% cotton and you are thinking of throwing out, could I have them please. I am running out of the old ones of mine fast.

Paverpol, Pottery & Speedball

2009-08-22T20:28:00.025Z

Another couple of Paverpol models.

The first is a little Tea-Light girl. She wears a little blue dress, blue leggings and has a pink rose in her hair. She carries a Tea-Light held in a basket and sits on a round mirror. Her name is Clara.

The second is Christabel, she sits calm and poised on her plinth. I gave her a dusting of green acrylic paint and then dry brushed her very lightly with gold. It does give her a bronze look.

I was pleased with the way the dress draped both at the front, over her legs and at the back. She needs another coat of varnish and then she can take her place in the garden. (Far away from Bertie, otherwise she will be minus her wooden plinth).

I always find it a problem knowing what I want to achieve when I go to our pottery classes. Sometimes I think my ideas are too complicated and doom myself to failure before I start.

My last project was taken from an item in a ceramics book, it was far more complicated than mine turned out, as the main body of the piece was made from turned clay. As I am no good at throwing pots (only dropping them), I adapted the procedure to produce my Tea Light Castle.

Once it was made and fired I gave it a coat of watered down PVA glue, just to give a good base for the acrylic paint. It was a bit time consuming painting it as it had some fiddly bits to the roof but on the whole I was quite pleased with it and it does look quite nice sitting on the table in the garden with the light coming out of the turrets and the doorway. It did have a nice gargoyle on the top but I am afraid he dropped off in the kiln, may have to get my Fimo out and make another.

I have been watching Barbara Gray on the Create and Craft channel recently as well as our own Lesley demonstrating the Clarity Stamps http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodsearch.asp?search=clarity+stamps&submit.x=15&submit.y=12 and they have inspired me to have a go. So I bought a Speedball Brayer and using some encaustic card that I already had I locked myself in the kitchen away from the kleptomaniac Bertie. Apart from getting a few lines here and there that I could have done without the result was quite pleasing. The photographs are not very good, they look at though they have a bend in them. I need to take more, the one I was most proud of did not take properly, I will have another go. I am now pestering Lesley to give me a couple of lessons with the brayer.

Graphicus Open Days

2009-07-13T20:02:00.023Z

We had a fantastic time at the Graphicus Open Day's, 3rd & 4th July. Our theme for the day was American Independence Day which is celebrated every year on the 4th July. We all sought out our cowboy hats. Denise was a real sport, she dressed for the occasion. Apologies to Vicky who looked just as good but couldn't catch her on camera.

We had David lassoed to the kitchen sink (he doesn't mind, really and I have to say he does a splendid job every time) but when we got to the end of the day he let his hair down!

Lots of demonstrations took place throughout the two days and every one had a 'whale' of a time. I thought you may like to see some of the photographs I took of some of the finished items. There were so many great items that I have popped the links in so you can browse as you read.

We had our resident expert Annette using the Cricut Expression, Create and the Slice machine. A cool scrapbook page. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodsearch.asp?search=cricut

Lynn got to play with all the Tim Holtz, Heidi Swapp's Mega Masks, Distress Inks to name but a few. Some fabulous tags and art work were created. Go to Lynn's blog to see more of her awe inspiring creations. http://inkyartitude.blogspot.com/

Glenda showcased some of the new A5 stamps and coloured them using the Copic Markers. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodsearch.asp?search=copic see them all here. The colours are fantastic and they really do look like prints rather than coloured with markers.

This is from the Seashell Collage A5 unmounted themeplate. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=2962

This is Seaside Ted. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=2963 He really is so cute.

I played with the Melt Pot again, http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=2636 I can't get enough of this and you can produce some really good effects with it. This necklace is made by melting black UTEE with a little white. Take your bead on a headpin and just swirl it around. You can dip it as many times as you like depending on what size you want your finished bead. Then thread onto your chosen material and use any of your other beads to compliment your UTEE creations. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=1430

The Caterpillar earrings were made using Dew Drops, they come in such a variety of colours that you make them to match any possible colour outfit you may have. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=2759

Lesley demonstrated Clarity Stamps http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodsearch.asp?search=clarity+stamps There are some lovely designs and as Lesley demonstrated they flew off the shelf. But never fear another order will be with us over the next few days.

This is the Sketched Lady. She looks really elegant, cool and sophisticated. A nice stamp.

I plagued Lesley for a demo using the Speedball Brayer and an elastic band. I must have a go at this myself. http://www.graphicus.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=2910 it looked fantastic.

Arabella

2009-05-24T14:33:00.006Z

Let me introduce you to Arabella.

Arabella is made from Paverpol, I had seen this demonstrated on Create & Craft a few years ago and thought hmmmm, I could fancy a go at that and then it seemed to disappear and nothing else was said about it.

When we attended the trade show at Birmingham in February we were directly opposite a company called Target International. We got one of their catalogues and there it was. So after a quick Internet search to see who sold it in the UK, I placed my order.

It is a fantastic product, you use 100% natural materials, eg T-shirts, leather, silk etc. You assemble the model around a wire frame which is covered with aluminium foil to pad it out. You then wrap thin strips of material covered in the Paverpol and mummify it. Once dried, this takes about an hour, you can dress it. I had enormous fun doing this, it was lovely and messy. After about five days drying time you can give it two coats of an outdoor varnish and place it in the garden, it is completely weather proof.

I have loads of ideas buzzing around and I have just placed another order with http://www.paverpol-uk.co.uk/ for more. Can't wait until it comes.

Graphicus Open Day's

2009-05-11T21:07:00.026Z

I had great fun at the Graphicus Open Days last weekend playing with my Melt Pot.

I made a necklace to go with the charm bracelet using a couple of the papers from the Guild pack, one had a golden tone to it, the other black & white. I added some spacer beads from my stash and hey presto! two very wearable necklaces. This technique using paper and wire and dipping it in UTEE was invented by Leandra Franich and is called the 'Leandra Bead'.
http://www.paperartsy.co.uk/blog/2008/12/leandra-bead.html

I changed the chain on the charm bracelet and made one using jump rings, a Byzantine chain with an inter linking ring to hang the charms.

Another Melt Pot item, a Pendant, made simply by pouring the left over UTEE from another project into the pendant casing. It reminds me of a fossil.

This is a clever idea to get rid of any unwanted seed beads. I put four onto a head pin and dipped them twice, added a small bead to the top and then strung them onto a leather thong with a few spacer beads. I also made a pair of earrings exactly the same to match.

This is a double Byzantine chain, linked together with jump rings. With a watch chain to match.

Crate-a-Pot & Teapotty!

2009-04-30T19:49:00.018Z

Two projects undertaken at my pottery class.

When it comes to creating an object I can play, play and play. I love to add detail to my objects, whether it is using polymer clay or stoneware. Hence these two. In fact I am sometimes guilty of over detail but with this crate-a-pot, I think I got the balance just right. It is basically just a block of clay spread with a rolled out sheet to represent a table cloth, a vase of flowers was added along with a plate of sandwiches, a teapot and matching cups. A feast for the workers!

Once the glaze is applied, the object comes to life.

A little bit of humour to this one. I wanted it to look like a public loo. I created the block along with the spout and handle and marked the bricks into it. A toilet roll sits on the top ready for use, a huge lump of loo roll is spilling out of the toilet onto the floor.

I have applied the glaze but it does need a firing to give it the shiny glazed look. The wall was done with firebrick red, the toilet will be ivory and the seat grey. The loo rolls will be a creamy colour. I wrote graffiti all over the walls to give it an authentic public loo feel.

I have not seen this teapotty finished as yet. It was fired and put on show in the college with all the others, so I am eager to see exactly how the colours came out. I will post a photo when eventually I get to see it.

UTEE Charm Bracelet

2009-04-07T19:32:00.011Z

This charm bracelet is made from clear UTEE.

I used a few strips of Glenda's paper designs rolled around a cocktail stick. This I dipped and coated with the clear UTEE. I then wrapped wire around the UTEE bead and dipped again. The only thing you have to be careful of, is dipping too much. Wire wrapped beads have a habit of growing too big.

The bead above has a glass pearl inside, dipped and wrapped in wire then dipped again.

I love this manuscript design, the UTEE magnifies the paper and it looks really effective. Some of the beads were dipped once and then quickly dipped in bedazzles, then dipped again, this seals in your embellishments.

Once you have all your beads made, you can add them to your chain and attach a nice fastening. I like to top the bead with a bead cap.

Melting Pot & UTEE

2009-03-09T19:27:00.011Z

I bought myself a Melting Pot last week, well it was part of my birthday present. I watched all of Suze Weinberg's videos on You Tube to pick up some tips and got down to it.

This was made using clear UTEE and a few drops of alcohol ink. As long as you drop the ink into the UTEE and not straight onto the pan it works well. Thread a bead, I used a plastic silver one onto a head pin. You need to use a good amount of UTEE to enable you to swirl the bead around and get a good coating. Once it has melted drop some of the alcohol ink into the UTEE, gently move it around to mix the colour, don't be too vigorous when you mix it as this can form air bubbles. Take your bead and head pin and swirl it around to give it a good coat, don't worry that it goes up the pin you can cut that off later. You can build up the coats to give you the size of bead you want. I think this had two coats. As you use the UTEE be aware that the colour will dilute, so if you want all the beads the same colour top up the alcohol ink as you go. Once you have all the beads you need you will need to tidy them by cutting around the head pin to round off the bead, use scissors and not wire cutters, otherwise you may cut through the head pin. Use wire cutters to cut through the head pin but leave enough to make a loop to thread onto your necklace. Then all you need is all your other beads and thread to make up your necklace.

The necklace below was made in the same way but using clear and bronze UTEE, then a good amount of black embossing powder. It was very satisfying making this one, it had the consistency of chocolate.

Again it had two coats, the bronze and the black formed some lovely swirls and looks really effective.

Cheeky Chappie, Sore Feet and Crackling!

2009-02-22T21:44:00.016Z

This little chappie sat on my wing mirror for quite a while, well, long enough for me to get my camera out of my bag and take the photograph. I had just pulled into the car park at work and he fluttered down for a rest, must have been wanting to warm his feet on the heated mirror! You can just see the reflection of the dashboard in the window.

Trade Show 2009, my feet are just recovering, the photograph below was taken on Saturday, during set up. The stand really did look so good and we had lots of compliments about our jackets. Everyone said how well they looked and how they could pick our stand out from all the others. Even other exhibitors commented.

Lynn's mask was a crowd puller and all the art work was complimented.

Lynn and Helen grab a cuppa and a chat during a lull in activity.

The blue in the jackets was so vibrant, Glenda named us the GLOGGS!

Thought you might like to see an old glass vase I have just revamped. Using Viva Croco Crackling Colour, I am so pleased with the result. If using on glass you first need to give it a coat of the Croco Base Coat transparent, I then used a large paint brush and literally slapped the colour on, I used Platinum. The paint needs to be at least 2mm thick for it to crackle but I gave it an uneven coat which I think added to the overall effect. Once dry I rubbed in some of the Metallic Rub-ons to give it a subtle colour. This colour shines through when a tea light is placed inside. It looks really effective when lit.

Teapots & Bracelets

2009-02-01T20:41:00.010Z

Finished my latest creation at pottery the other night, a teapot . Not that it will ever hold any kind of liquid, it is a solid block of clay. Brought it home and have yet to find a home for it. Must put it out of the way of the honey monster (Steve's new name for Bertie). I have already lost one of my wizards when he knocked it over. Possibly my fault for standing it on the conservatory floor.

This bracelet is made purely from jump rings. Gold, black and silver. It took a few hours to put together but fairly simple once you got the pattern right. Each pattern piece uses 7 jump rings and depending on how long you want the bracelet determines how many you use. I think this one has about 150 rings altogether.

Close up of the pattern detail, it does look very complicated and intricate but really quite simple to put together.

Withdrawal Symptoms

2008-12-24T21:11:00.016Z

I am starting to get withdrawal symptoms from not crafting.

I was itching to get started on something and as I have been promising myself the Dragonfly Faeries and the Gossamer Wings themeplates from when they were first released, I thought how well they would go with encaustic. So finally I got around to laying out my wax and iron.

This is the result.

The stamps lend themselves beautifully with the fantasy quality of encaustic art. So I am raring to go using the other stamps from the themeplates.

If you are into this form of art the Arboretum themeplate would also work well.

Mind you, I had to stand in the kitchen to achieve this, Bertie tries to pull the iron and everything else off the table.

This was done a few years ago when I first got into encaustic.

As I have not been able to put up my Christmas Tree this year, due to an enthusiastic black bundle of fun and mischief, I purchased the K & C0 Swell Noel Advent Calendar Kit, it was a last minute thing and thought it would look nice on the table as a centre piece. I have not been disappointed with it.

It really does look very nice sitting there on my window sill surrounded by cards.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and I would like to wish you all a Happy Crafty 2009.

Bertie Stops Play!

2008-11-23T15:19:00.013Z

Things have come to an abrupt halt in our house, the new arrival has stopped all crafting. I have tried several times to complete a bracelet, but my tools keep wandering off!

We are sharing our lives and home with Bertie an 11 week old Newfoundland pup. He is adorable.

When he is good he is very good but when he is bad, he is horrific. The energy he has is tremendous for one so small and when he does have his nap you find yourself tiptoeing around in case you wake him, cos five minutes more peace and quiet would be wonderful.

He has us up at 6 am to pander to his whims and we are constantly backwards and forwards to the garden, not that we mind as he has now got the hang of going outside to relieve himself. So if he walks to the door we are quickly on his heels.

He had his first little saunter of a walk today, just to the top of the street and back. A neighbour stopped him for 15 minutes for a little talk and a stroke. Everything is so new to him, cars people, other dogs but he walks confidently on his leader, just occasionally getting ahead of you.

He thoroughly enjoyed playing in the snow, rushing around and picking it up. I think he ate a great deal of it. He has found his bark but does not use it to excess (at the moment!).

So far, and I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one, he is not chewing. He will pick things up when you are with him and have a go, Steve's slippers are his favourite. He will sneak up and pinch one then dash off, of course you have to chase him to get it back. It's all a big game to him, and he is just like a naughty child, anything to provoke a reaction from you.

Bertie has his own blog 'Bertie's Diary Blog', thanks to Lynn who gave me the idea. It will be a good record of how he is growing and developing over the coming months. No doubt, I will be heard to say at some point, "Was he ever that little!"

Twisting the Day Away!

2008-10-20T18:13:00.062Z

We held a Wire Jewellery Workshop at Graphicus on the 11th October, if you have looked at the Graphicus blog http://team-graphicus.blogspot.com/ you will have seen all the marvellous jewellery that was crafted during the day. If not then I have posted some of the photographs here.

We had a wonderful day twisting and turning, adding beads and glitz. Everyone enjoyed producing their pieces of jewellery. You would be staggered at the amount of variations you can achieve with a wire jig and a few beads.

There was a lot of concentration going on and a few finger nails were chipped but I think they thought it all worthwhile. I think we may have a few budding wire twisters here.

They inspired me to come home and try something new in the way of twisting wire.

My daughter is getting married next year and she is on the lookout for jewellery to compliment her dress. This is my first attempt. It does look quite delicate. It is 18gauge wire twisted free hand. A wire wrap is made at the top for the chain and then the beads are added to the wire. Next you twist and bend the wire to the shape that pleases you. Remember to place the beads where you want them as you bend otherwise you may not be able to move them when you have finished. Wire is twisted around the pearls for the earrings and finished with a wire wrap for the hook. The pearls are the same colour but they look darker in this photograph.

This bracelet is done with an 18 gauge antique gold wire, it really does look very effective. I have joined the links with a single matching bead and wire wrapped it to each link.

Emma's birthday bracelet was done by twisting a frame for the main part of the bracelet and then beads were strung between the loops. A bead is wire wrapped, and this forms the link to fasten it all together. It is a bit fiddly to wire wrap the bead to the link but it is an effective way to join the bracelet together.

Now what colour will Denise want for her birthday!

I may be inspired to try a tiara next!

Holidays and Sunshine

2008-10-08T19:16:00.049Z

Steve and I had a two week holiday in Gran Canaria, staying in Puerto Mogan in September. It was once a little fishing village but of course with tourists descending on it, it has grown and become a small resort but it is still unspoilt, quiet and restful.

It has a quaint little harbour surrounded by houses that put me in mind of old Colonial architecture. They all looked to have little cannons coming out of the walls, and they were painted in bright colours.

The houses lined the harbour down two sides, the other side little shops and restaurants. There was only one craft shop and they were making candles. You could watch as they dipped the candles in different coloured waxes and while still warm a girl carved, cut and twisted the wax into various shapes around the candle. They looked very nice and were done in various themes, Christmas, Weddings, Nursery Rhymes etc. I was a little surprised in the heat they did not just wilt and merge into a puddle!

We had a day in Las Palmas, shopping and sightseeing. An early start was required and as you leave Mogan on the bus you closed your eyes. The road out is up a very steep hill with sheer drops as you look over the side, as the bus swings out to go around the corner you tend to hold your breath, and the bus drivers don't hang about. Once at the top, if you dared to look, the view was breathtaking.

The old town in Palmas is charming and you would think you had stepped back in history with it's cobbled streets and old buildings. While just over the other side of the road you have a modern shopping plaza. Quite a contrast.

We visited The Casa Museo de Colón which is a very attractive building with ornate doorways, beautiful latticed balconies, large courtyards and carved wooden ceilings, representing numerous aspects of the island’s architecture. This palace was the residence of the first governors of the island and it is claimed that Columbus stayed there in 1492 while one of his ships was repaired, hence the name Casa de Colón (Columbus House).

The courtyard of the house had a paved area with fountain and carved seats for the weary occupants, but upstairs two parrots sat on the gallery rail. They were not too bothered if you walked past them but if you tried to approach them as one man did, they hurled themselves off the rail, screeching as they ran towards you. The gentleman bolted over to the other side of the gallery. After they had had their fun with him, an attendant chased them downstairs to their perches.

The top photograph is of a half eaten Seafood Paella, we stopped for lunch before returning back to Mogan at a little cafe, the Chef came out with a huge pan of it and we could not resist. I should have taken the photograph before we started but ............... it was delicious. I don't think this is one of Christopher's ships but it looked good as we passed on the ferry going into Puerto Rico.

View from the apartment balcony.

After partaking of a very cold beer, we posed beside the Gorilla that guarded the entrance to one of the bars down in the harbour. It must have been one of the most photographed things in the resort. People would walk past and whip out the camera or if they had children with them perch them on his back while they snapped away.

It was a holiday to recharge the batteries, no racing here and there to pack everything in before you go home. We wandered, then stopped, then wandered again. If it is a quiet holiday you need then Mogan is very nice and fits the bill, but then again with all that sunshine day after day, and the constant heat, you begin to look forward to the wind and the lashing torrential rain, er............... did I say that, no you don't, you wish you were back on holiday!

The Collection is Growing!

2008-08-28T20:57:00.015Z

I really thought when I received these watch faces they would be too big and look ungainly but when the bracelet was added it looks stunning. There is a lot of detail in the watch.

The clasps really do finish them off. I have posted them larger than I would normally, just to show the detail on the face. The beads are a pinky colour and silver spacers have been used between.

This is the same style of face but in an antique gold. There are two kinds of beads used, wooden and hematite. The thread was knotted to form a circle in the bracelet, this gives it a nice detail rather than straight.

And, I have made some little BIA books to take with me to Wolsingham Show, thought the children might like them. I have made quite a few more and I did not mess up one wire, I think I may have got the hang of it now. I spent two nights making these nice little notebooks. Just right for going back to school!

New Toy

2008-08-24T12:50:00.013Z

Wow, I have given myself a treat and bought a Bind-It-All, I have been thinking of buying one for quite a while, Lynn is the culprit and the inspiration after seeing the books that she produces.

I have posted my efforts so far but I am am not letting on how many times I got things round the wrong way. Needless to say I will probably need to buy more wires.

The book above is covered with one of the Artylicious papers, front and back. I used polymer clay with a Ten Second Studio mold for the main feature on the front. Once fired and cooled I coloured it with the Tim Holtz alcohol ink and a corner swirl from Maya Road, painted and embossed.

I was quite pleased with this book. I decided I needed an album to store my holiday photographs, usually, I take them and download them and they don't ever get printed. Well, this year it will be different. So when I get back from holiday I am going to print and stick and finish my album.

I have added tags inside so that I can journal where the photographs were taken. The tags were first distressed and then stamped using some of the elements from the Journalling A4 themeplate. I finished the book with the little closure from Zutter, they really are nice and look very good. When the album is finished rather than it gape open with all the bits and pieces that I intend to put inside, I will be able to keep it neatly shut using this ingenious little fastener. You get two little decorative keys with the closure, these I threaded onto ribbon along with a few beads and tied it to the wire binding.

A Collection of Wires

2008-08-18T19:23:00.016Z

In my last post I said I was doing a set to match one of the wire bracelet watches, well ta...da............I got it finished.

All using the same basic pattern, the necklace consists of six of the flower diamonds and is strung together using 6mm jump rings.

The watch is made up from four diamonds with two half diamonds to hold the fastener.

The bracelet is made up using seven of the diamonds.

In each diamond I have placed one Hematite bead.

Thanks to Emma for lending me her neck and wrists.

A Collection of Watches

2008-08-16T19:05:00.022Z

In a previous post I mentioned the fact that I had bought two watch faces and attached them to bead bracelets, well one thing has led to another and I have bought several more, as you can see.

Some have been beaded and others have their bracelets made with twisted wire using the wire jig.

I have combined this watch bracelet with beads and I am currently working on a necklace and bracelet to match.

The bracelet watch above is done from twisted coloured 18 gauge wire, gunmetal, although in this picture the colour is not showing up too well. It is joined together with silver jumprings. The connectors between the watch and bracelet are done with 18 gauge silver wire

Purple and blue beads made this little bracelet very striking.

My favourite is this antique gold watch face which is inlaid with Mother of Pearl. It has tiny black stones around the outer edge on one side. The clasp finishes it off and gives an elegant look to it.

I liked it so much I have kept it for myself!

Black and cream made a lovely bracelet for this watch, the middle two strands in black have been twisted while beading. A close up of the twisting can be seen below.

Coffee and cream beads have been twisted to form this bracelet.

I have no excuse now to be late anywhere with all of these watches!

Time is of the Essence
"I'm late, I'm late..." - White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.

I have a stand at Wolsingham Show on Sunday 7th September, so if anyone is in that neck of the woods please feel free to stop by and say hello, I will have plenty of Christmas gifts for you to buy!

View from a Window

2008-08-07T19:46:00.019Z

Now we all know about Health & Safety and the regulations about spending time at a VDU, you need to have time out to adjust your eyes. Well how's this for a nice view to help adjust your eyes.

We have a lovely patch of grass outside our office window and these little creatures come out on an afternoon and sit and munch away to their hearts content or lay sprawled in the grass sunbathing, until of course you shut the window and scare them away. You can have at least a dozen at any one time, the babies are so cute.

I don't think the people who own the allotments are quite so fond of them, they sneak under the fence and eat the veg!

We visited Hamsterley Forest a few weeks ago, we often stop for a picnic, weather permitting. I took a few photographs while we were there. It is a beautiful place to visit.

This has to be my favourite photograph, the piece is called The Green Man. It is carved logs which are placed at intervals, when you are close to them or at a different angle they don't appear to be anything much. It is when you stand away from them directly to the front that you get the true picture. Good eh!

We do have some wonderful scenery up here in the cold North East of England.

Tunstall Reservoir, Wolsingham.

A rainbow that appeared above the rooftops after one of our heavy rain storms and the hot air balloon that followed shortly afterwards.

Just a few bits and pieces

2008-07-20T14:02:00.047Z

These are just a few of the bits and pieces I have made over the past couple of weeks. Some of the jewellery is made from shell and stones that have been bought and I have added a few other details to them.

I have also become interested in wire working. You can make some very intricate designs using a wire jig and different gauge and coloured wires.

This pendant necklace is made using a foil stone, threaded onto an ornate headpin and the wire is twisted using a wire wrapping device.

A lovely piece of Abalone Shell forms the main part of this pendant.

I recently bought three watch faces, they were so dainty, they cried out for small pearls as a bracelet. This one is coffee and cream. It is strung on the invisible thread and includes the tiny heart and arrow fastening.

This is an example of the wire working. The main bracelet is made by winding 18 gauge silver wire. I used a Celtic pattern on this one. The 'flowers' were then fastened together using silver 7.5 jump rings. The fastener on each end of the bracelet is again 18 gauge wire bent to form the hook and ring. Quite effective.

This bracelet is perhaps a little more intricate. You can see from the close up it is made up from segments that were twisted using the wire jig and again held together with jump rings. I have added small seed pearls to the end of the wires.

A shell pendant threaded onto 2mm leather cord.
and a bracelet and watch made from Hematite beads.

An Evening with Sir Elton John

2008-07-15T21:32:00.012Z

On July 5th, Steve and I went to Darlington Football Club to see Sir Elton. Wow, what a show, he was brilliant.

The day dawned wet and miserable, in fact it did not stop raining till we got there at 5.30 pm. The show was due to start at 7.30 pm. The sun shone throughout the performance, in fact you had to shield your eye's at one point to see anything. We were some distance away but my trusty little Canon took some great photo's and video. He came on to rapturous applause at 7.30 pm and did not leave the stage until 10.30 pm. He sang all his hits, the audience sang along with him and at one point he stood with his foot on his piano stool waiting for everyone to sing. He congratulated Darlington on their new stadium and said he didn't think he would ever visit it as a concert venue, he had visited the old one when he was with Watford Football Club.

Richard Fleeshman was supporting Elton . I think he sang for about an hour before I realised who he was. Oh yes, it's him from Corrie!

It was a great night, I only hope more concerts are held at this venue but how do you top Sir Elton, well perhaps by Rod Stewart!

We had nothing but praise for the way the whole show was organised. Once in Darlington several park & rides were in operation making it easy to get both to and from the venue. We had none of the usual traffic hold up's going home, straight onto the bus, back to the car park and out. Fantastic.

And we even had our photo's in the paper. Not that we realised we had had them taken, that's why I was pulling a face, squinting into the sun, honestly, I wasn't pulling faces at the photographer, in fact we did not even see him. So pleased I wasn't doing something I shouldn't!

Long Time - No Blog

2008-07-15T20:35:00.023Z

It is an age since I have put anything at all on my blog. So.......... to make up for it I have loads of photo's of various items of jewellery, clay figures, pottery etc. May take me several days to get it all on!
Quite a bit of my jewellery is now on show at Bradley Burn Farm shop in the Durham Dales, it is a lovely part of the county and well worth a visit, they do a lovely cup of tea and a scone if you are ever passing. If you would like to visit their site follow this link.
www.bradleyburn.co.uk/

Some of the items that are on show in the shop.

I have just done another 10 weeks at my pottery class, only produced one item but I was pleased with it. The idea is to put a light inside the house so it shines through the windows. The roof should be a nice russet red but the colour did not take too well, so it has to go back with me in September for a make-over.

This is in it's unfired state, it was stuffed full of wet newspapers for weeks to keep the walls from drying out. The paper burned away once it was in the kiln. It is now sitting with a tea light shining through the windows, looks quite nice.

Two wizards from a previous 10 weeks at pottery. Incidently, we have just put our house up for sale, we need somewhere larger to house all of these.

One recent little polymer clay figure is the Indian Chief. This one was made for Derrick, a little get well present. The feathers took a little but of doing, I sat up till 2 am trying to perfect them.

'Getting Back to Our Roots' in Southern Ireland

2008-05-06T18:53:00.110Z

Let me first introduce you to Our Maggie, my cousin and her husband Mike. Our travelling companions.

We have been discussing and promising ourselves a holiday in Southern Ireland for a few years but not got around to it, always something cropped up or somewhere else to go but we finally did it.

'Getting back to our roots' as Maggie would say. My Father's family originated from Ireland so we were eager to pay a visit.

Among other things on this holiday we were going to have a pint of the black stuff. Well two or three probably. Guinness that is.

Well, this is the tale .........................

We set off late on the Sunday evening, about 11.30 pm to be precise. Mike was doing all the driving, so all we had to do was sit back and relax.

The weather was terrible, we drove through several blizzards and each time they advanced we thought, 'Oh heck, we will get snowed in or worse we will have severe blizzards and gale force winds for the crossing from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire. So our expectations of the coming week at that time were not very high. Nevertheless, we made good time and we arrived at Holyhead at 4 am. We were due to catch the ferry at 8.50 am, so a bit of shut eye was in order, by the time we got to 5.30 am everybody was wide awake and needing a cup of tea and the loo. I have never been inside a McDonalds at 5.45 am but were we glad it was open. After a lengthy refreshment stop we headed off to the ferry terminal and eventually boarded. By the time you found your sea legs you had arrived.

We disembarked to glorious sunshine.

Our first stop was Avoca, for anyone that watched the TV series, this little town doubled as the fictional town of Ballykissangel in the TV series. We visited the wool mill, very picturesque and we had our first taste of Guinness in the local pub Fitzpatrick's. Which was exactly as on TV.

The mill was founded in 1723 and it is the oldest in Ireland. Avoca or 'Oboca' was first mentioned on an old map of Ptolomy in the 1st century AD.

Fitzgerald's is probably a little younger.

Our first night we stayed in Arklow in a little B & B, the bathroom was like an ice box, and the shower a sprinkling of luke warm water, you had to run about underneath to get wet, so best not mention too much about that one, but it was somewhere to rest our heads and recharge the batteries. You could say that this is one of the down sides to not booking before you go, but where is the fun and adventure in that.

Tuesday 8th April, we headed over to Waterford and no visit to Waterford is complete without a visit to the Crystal factory. We did the full guided tour. The glass is amazing and we stood transfixed watching as the patterns were cut into it by the staff using a cutting wheel, with only the pattern drawn onto the glass as a guide line. Unfortunately, at the end of the tour Steve and I sort of mislaid the end of our group and we headed off in the wrong direction, the guide eventually found us and we got a ticking off for keeping the rest of the group waiting, we felt like naughty school kids.

Every item and pattern that has been cut at the factory is kept as a record, a huge selection is shown in the middle photograph. Many of the items are made as specials, such as trophies which will never be repeated, in such cases the molds are made of wood, metal molds are used for items which are mass produced.

These are just a couple of the items that really impressed, the engraving was fantastic.

The hotel that night was upmarket from the B & B but the shower was still only a trickle and luke warm, we were beginning to think this was going to be the pattern of all the hotels we were going to stay in.

Wednesday 9th, from Waterford we headed over to Blarney, the home of the famous Kissing Stone. 'There is a stone there. That whoever kisses. Oh! he never misses to grow eloquent'

'All Blarney', Elizabeth Ist is credited with introducing the word 'blarney' to the English language. Her emissary Sir George Carew, was charged with persuading the MacCarthy Chieftain to abandon his ancient rights and accept the authority of the English throne. Every time he tried he was met with lengthy and eloquent protestations of loyalty and honeyed flattery of the Queen - but also with no agreement. In frustration Elizabeth exclaimed ' This is all blarney. What he says he never means'. And a new word was born.

I have to admit Steve & I did 'chicken out' of kissing the stone, it is a very long way down when you are hanging practically upside down but at least Steve made it to the top, I only got half way and I started to panic. So I volunteered to take the photographs.

This is me as a little spec, taking the photographs, much too high.

My intrepid cousin did though, they bravely climbed their way to the top and did the deed and they have the official photograph to prove it. With the zoom on the camera, they look quite close, don't be fooled, but if you are ever in the vicinity Blarney is a very picturesque village and well worth a visit.

That night we stayed at the Blarney Castle Hotel, very posh and the shower was hot. The breakfast was to die for, my choice was a very large poached mushroom with garlic, topped with scrambled egg, it was lovely but did nothing for my fellow travellers who stayed at arms length until tea time.

Thursday 9th. After spending some time and money at the Blarney Woollen mill, and being astounded at the price of the Arran sweaters, which made me want to come home and get my knitting needles out we headed over to the Ring of Kerry. We made our first stop at Derrynane House, the former home of Daniel O'Connell, he was known as "the Liberator," he was born on 6th August 1775. He was active in the movement to repeal British laws that penalized Roman Catholics because of their religion. Catholics were barred from Parliament but O'Connell became the leader of the battle to win political rights for Irish Roman Catholics. The outside of the house does not impress but inside it is very interesting, with many items on show that belonged to him and his family. Photographs were banned inside but while wandering around the grounds which are extensive we came across a stone ringed fort. One of the buildings housed a ceremonial coach.

While I was sneakily taking photographs of the item in question everyone else left and the door closed behind them. When the photo shoot was over I turned to follow, only to find there was no door handle on the inside, Steve had been holding the door open so had not noticed. I panicked, and was desperately trying to get my fingers to latch onto something with which to open it, help! looking out of the window I saw the rest of my so called family just walking away! calm down ..... think. After about 5 minutes I did manage to pull the door open to find a gardener digging not too far away. I felt it was duty to inform him that he should fix a handle to the inside. My family claimed they were just about to come looking for me, I don't think if I believed them at the time.

The Ring of Kerry is a tourist trail in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. The route covers the 170 km circular road, starting from Killarney heading around the Iveragh Peninsula and passing through Kenmare, Sneem, Waterville, this was a favourite holiday spot of Charlie Chaplain that now has a statue of him to commemorate his love of the place, Cahersiveen and Killorglin. Popular points include Muckross House (near Killarney), Staigue Stone Fort and the afore mentioned Derrynane House. Just south of Killarney, Ross Castle, Lough Leane and Ladies View(a panoramic viewpoint), all located within Killarney National Park, are major attractions located along the Ring.

We headed for Kenmare and put roots down for two nights, at last a chance to unpack our bags of a few essentials. Using the hotel as a base we travelled out during the day to all the points of interest, alas we failed to drive around the full ring but what we saw of it we thoroughly enjoyed.

Maggie waiting for her cup of tea (well it was on it's way) in a cafe overlooking the view.

Saturday 11th. We headed back to Dun Laoghaire ready for the return ferry crossing on Sunday morning.

'No room at the Inn', was a familiar cry from B & B's and hotels, until we were finally directed to The Royal Marine Hotel. We trudged into the foyer and looked around in amazement, marble lined the floors and the walls, a huge reception desk with five people in attendance, a pianist playing to anyone who was taking coffee in the lounge. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceilings, it was magnificent. We couldn't possibly afford to stay here! but we did. Room only! the breakfast cost you another arm and a leg. We pushed the boat out and spent our last night in Ireland in splendour. The original plan was to take the dart into Dublin but the heavens opened and we thought best to make the most of this opulent hotel. Our rooms were on the top floor, we were like kids in a sweetie shop, running from our room to Maggie & Mikes, 'have you got one of these', Now I won't say we have not stayed in a posh hotel before but hand on heart this was the tops. The bed was 6' and so comfortable, felt like you could just stay there and never get up again!

Among some of the famous people that have stayed there have been, Queen Victoria, she apparently took a 16 course breakfast in the dining room, Laurel and Hardy and Frank Sinatra.

Even down to the accessories in the bathroom, which now look ever so good in mine!

The chandeliers are taken through a mirror, so it is a reflection of the three down the centre of the room. This middle photograph is of the entrance and the black crystal chandelier.

And a night time view.

All too soon Sunday morning dawned and it was time to rise and head off to catch the ferry home. The weather throughout our stay had not been too bad, the temperatures were a couple of degrees higher than at home, the trees were coming into bud and whereas our daffodils had only just come out, they were dying off in Ireland but the blossom on the trees was fully open. We did have some rain over the week but nothing that spoilt the holiday.

I can recommend a holiday in Southern Ireland, it was relaxing and peaceful, everything seems to happen at a much slower pace. At traffic lights no one seems to get stressed, we got stuck at one set for over 20 minutes, not one car sounded the horn and no one looked distressed or impatient, the only person who looked fed up was one of the workmen, he was standing in the pouring rain. Funnily enough he was still standing in the same place when we drove back through and getting just as wet.

Leaving Ireland behind on the crest of a wave. I can definately say, we will be back.

A Bit of Everything

2008-03-16T21:16:00.020Z

Seems ages since I last blogged, been a bit lazy of late, never mind here is a catch up.

Thank you to everybody who rang to ask how I was after my little accident, I am fine, but the car is a little poorly around her back end but I have her booked in for a little op' so she should be fine and dandy in a few weeks time. I am leaving her in capable hands while Steve and I go wandering around Southern Ireland for a week, no doubt we will do a little Guinness tasting while we are there.

What have I been up to since my last blog. Went to the NEC in Birmingham for the Trade Show, I didn't know my feet could ache so much! ouch. The stand was so colourful, it really did look great. I did enjoy it, it was a completely new experience for me as this is the first one I have attended, it was nice to be able to put faces to names of people that I speak regularly to over the telephone.

Saturday 15th March I went along to one of our Crop Day's and spent a lovely few hours putting together a few scrapbook pages, if you have not been to one I can recommend it. We sat and nattered, drank tea, had a lovely cream cake, courtesy of David, Lesley's husband. I started a scrapbook quite a while ago but I keep putting it to one side for other things but when you attend something like this, it does focus you on your project and you do achieve what you set out to do. I don't profess to be a brilliant scapbooker but I was pleased with the end results.
http://www.graphicus.co.uk/workshops.asp

The Wedding photograph is of my parents, sadly only one person from this happy photo is still alive, one of my Aunts. So instead of it being kept in a shoe box somewhere I especially wanted to include it in my book.

One of my recent projects using the silver clay was a brooch, using the All of a Twitter themeplate. I used the largest single bird on the themeplate, Ermintrude, I think the name suits her very well.

This is a silver bar on a very fine silver chain. I traced the design onto paper and transferred it onto a rubber carving block and carefully carved around the outlines. Simple but effective.
Fridge magnet made using stampbord and Ermintrude from All of a Twitter themeplate, she really does lend herself to some great projects.

I am still attending pottery classes and this is my latest project, a wizard. He is still in his unfired state here.

A friend of ours has just celebrated his 65th birthday and he is a fanatical Everton fan, so I did him a card with an Everton footballer in Fimo clay.

Framed and Hung!

2008-02-05T20:19:00.000Z

At last, the long awaited moment arrived.

The postman delivered the very well wrapped package to work. I have not gone down those stairs so quick since we moved office.

It took me about 15 minutes to unwrap, it was like Christmas all over again. We even had Carrie on the webcam looking in.

The portrait is truly beautiful, the detail is marvellous and she has caught Osker as we remember him. You could almost reach out and stroke him.

Happy New Year

2008-01-12T18:24:00.000Z

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas & New Year.

I just have to share with everyone the progress of a portrait I have commissioned. This is my partners Christmas and Birthday present, although a little late for Christmas but still in plenty of time for his birthday.

Sadly, in September of last year, Osker our rough collie died and we talked of having a portrait done. I spent a week or two looking over the Internet trying to find someone to do this and eventually found Laura up in Edinburgh who's work, to say the least is exceptional.

I will post the finished portrait when I receive it and have it framed.

If you would like to look at Laura's web site the link is below. It is worth checking out. Have a look into the gallery and be amazed at the detail.

http://www.petportraits-bylaura.com/index.html

We can't wait to see the finished portrait.

I did not get any crafting done over the Christmas Holidays, caught that horrible flu and shivered and ached through the holiday, recovered just in time to go back to work!

I got some lovely pressies from Santa, among them some Silver Art Clay, my daughters could not believe my Christmas present request, a fire brick and blow torch!

I think they thought I had gone a little mad.

I have managed a few pieces but did find it slightly difficult to get into the way of using it. It does dry out fairly quickly, however, a quick wipe with a little water helps but I did find myself rushing and consequently not getting the finish I wanted it but I will keep practising and hopefully get better.

My only other crafting endeavour was covering a book using the Fimo clay.

Because the book is made from chipboard you can cover it and put it into the oven and it will not warp. Now I just have to do something with the inside.

Meet Vicky and Harvey

2007-12-18T21:36:00.000Z

Let me introduce you to Vicky and Harvey.

I was asked to make this piece for a Christmas present and was a little doubtful as to whether I could 'do' the rabbit justice. Thought it might end up looking like something from Wallace & Gromit, the Were-Rabbit, but all in all I am very pleased with it. My new toothbrush suffered though, I could not find anything suitable for the whiskers, so I am now missing a few tufts.

Harvey is a little house rabbit and full of mischief and he loves carrots.

Christmas Baubles and Things

2007-12-18T20:50:00.000Z

Thought you might like to see the Christmas Bauble I made to hang in my window. This was made from a light weight clay, then painted with Ruby Red Pearly powders, mixed with Pearly gum with a good sprinkle of glitter to give it the rough texture. I used the flourish from the themeplate Holly Flourish stamped into white Fimo and very carefully cut around. The back has the wording 'Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly', from the same themeplate. Very ornate.

I had to share with you this photograph of my two furry friends. We went to visit friends in Wigan and popped into Southport for a few hours. What a day, the weather was terrible, the rain was persistent to say the very least, the wind howled and we got soaked through, but these two brought a smile to our faces and despite the weather we had a nice weekend.

I have been attending pottery classes over the past year and finally came home with a couple of things I liked. Meet Terry the Tortoise and Sammy Snowman, Terry is destined for the garden next summer. Sammy, alas will probably go into the attic for next Christmas, unless I can sneak him into the conservatory! On the other hand he will probably look very fetching sitting on the table in the garden next year when we have that scorching hot summer we deserve. When it gets dark I can light the candle in his tummy.

I have only made a couple of pieces of jewellery over the past couple of months, again using the alcohol inks and silver metal beads, which look very effective when combined with the Fimo beads.

Charming!

2007-10-09T18:29:00.000Z

Charm Necklace

You can really let your imagination run away with you on this one. The clay beads can be decorated in any way you like, some of these have coils wrapped around, others have a pattern made from a very thin roll of clay draped over the bead. Some are from other pieces that I have made, in fact you could use any surplus beads to make this up.

I have included nine hand made beads, along with approximately eight bought ones but the choice is yours. The only thing I found difficult was getting the balance right. My first attempt was top heavy, the second had a gap in the middle but the third, well I quite like it.

The beads are pierced with a head pin, which can be left in place whilst firing. When cool, give them a coat of varnish and let dry. The headpin can be cut to size and twisted around your long nose pliers to give a coil. This is then put onto a jump ring, you can add a few to each ring but I would only fasten a maximum of two large or perhaps one large, two small, as sometimes they can look overloaded. You will need several 7.5mm and 10mm - 12mm jump rings. One of the larger rings is the centre point and the others hang from this.

Once you have made your jewellery you may need a box, especially if you are giving this as a present and the Groovy Duo is great for making very posh boxes. You can colour and embellish them as you like. The one below I made for the Autumn Leaf necklace. It is coloured with the alcohol inks (where would I be without them!), and the leaf pattern is a 10 Second Studio mold, (oh! dear, something else that I have discovered works exceedingly well with clay). Once fired I used the metallic rub-ons to give the colouring.

The molds can be used quite effectively with polymer clay. You need to dust them first with talc (any perfume but I quite like Lavender), roll your clay to the right length and place on top. Lay silicon paper over the clay and press into the mold, if you don't use the paper you will find that it will lift with your fingers and form air bubbles but the paper stops this from happening.

Again using the 10 Second Studio molds. Some lovely metallic effects can be achieved by colouring with the alcohol inks. These are going to be made into book covers, eventually. The 10 Second tools are great too, they allow you to do loads of lovely patterns and intricate designs. I am now drooling over the whole set!

Stunning Sets and Autumn Leaves

2007-10-04T20:25:00.000Z

Simply Stunning

Sometimes the inclusion of 'shop bought' beads can add a very nice dimension your work.

This set is made up of beads graduating in size that have been coloured with alcohol inks. A small gunmetal metallic bead has been placed between. It really does look very nice, and very easy to do.

Autumn Leaf

I feel perhaps this is my best piece to date and it came about by chance. Glenda brought back from the States a magazine PolymerCAFE and on the front was a picture of a necklace made from a clay blend, inside it gave details on how to make the blend etc and stringing instructions. I am not quite into following instructions to the letter, so decided to make my own version. I sat watching Coronation Street (sad, I know), whilst rolling 60 - 70 small gold beads and putting holes in them using a meat skewer. I next raided three different sized leaves from the Clematis growing on our fence. These were imprinted into the conditioned clay, using a rolling pin to make sure all the veins were defined and cut out using a craft knife. A small hole was pierced into the top of each leaf just large enough to take a jump ring. Everything was then fired.

I coloured the leaves using the alcohol ink, trying to achieve the autumn colours, a drop of blending solution was applied to the points of the leaves, this lightens the colour and gives the leaf a slightly withered look, the beads and the leaves were then given a coat of varnish. (If you are using alcohol ink and you decide to varnish, use a water based varnish, don't use gloss it will take off the colour). A jump ring was then fastened to each leaf.

The necklace was then strung, using the gold and some small bought wooden beads. The leaves hang really nicely, just overlapping when it is worn.

Think I will have to make another, for myself ...........

Beads & Alcohol Inks

2007-09-16T15:10:00.000Z

What a fantastic effect this gives. The beads are made from translucent white Fimo, rolled to the required size and fired. I usually spike the bead on a cocktail stick so it is easier to hold and have to hand a piece of polystyrene to stick this into to dry. Load your felt applicator with your choice of colours and away you go. Just dab the bead. You will find that the ink will form it's own veins. I then dribbled a small amount of the copper mixative and gave the cocktail stick a quick swirl and hey presto! this is the result. You can see the fine veins on the close up, they look rather like marbles. The colours are not done justice in the photograph, they are very vibrant.

Again the bars were made with translucent white Fimo and coloured.

These pieces are not varnished, they have a natural lustre.

Feathers, Glitter and Paint

2007-09-12T20:40:00.000Z

Feather Blend

Made by feathering your sections of clay with a cocktail stick and cutting into triangles, rolling from the widest section as seen below.

Three different sized beads were used in the necklace. The larger rolled triangle, a small round and a tube. Alternating the beads as they were threaded.

One of the more complicated sets I have made contains black acrylic paint, silver leaf and glitter.

This also has a very pleasing texture. Made using layers, one of which was covered with the paint, another with the glitter and another with the silver leaf. It was then compressed and sliced and used to make the necklace and the charm bracelet. The photograph does not do this justice, it really does glitter and catch the light.

Paint is a very good medium for Fimo Clay. I have used the Stewart Gill Metallica paint on unbaked clay, in a swirling pattern using varies colours. Once baked a coat of varnish was applied to protect the piece. A very nice effect.

Don't be frightened to try different mediums with the clay, you will be surprised at some of the effects you can achieve.

Polymer Clay Mosaics

2007-07-25T19:27:00.000Z

Gold Mosaic Pendant

This does look rather good and is very easy to make. Choose your colours, maximum four, otherwise it gets too busy. If you are only making one to two pendants then half a block of each colour should be sufficient. Condition your clay and roll into little fat individual sausages. You then need to choose a 'grout' colour. This is usually, white, silver, grey or for the daring, black. A pasta maker is very handy at this stage, it ensures all your grout is of a uniform thickness. Pass the grout colour through the pasta machine, firstly on a wide setting and then on a narrow and cover your sausages (not then ends). When they are all covered place together and roll to form one large sausage. Now, this is the fun bit. Stand your roll on end and cut through two large areas of colour, from top to bottom. Cover one of the exposed areas with your grout colour, trim and smooth the edges. Now you need to turn this section around and place against your other cut side of clay (the colours should not match as they did before you cut them). You need to do this at least 4-5 times, always varying the way you put the colours back together. Once you have achieved the variation you want, roll gently, be careful not to squash the colours. The next step is to lengthen the roll. Hold it in the middle using your thumb and index finger, gently squash and turn, working your way to the top. Turn it around and repeat the procedure, working your way to the other end. Both ends should now be slightly bulbous. Using your thumbs and index fingers gently squash the end so they are in line with the rest of your roll. Do not squash the roll smaller than you need to, have your project in mind during this procedure, if it is too narrow you will have difficulty covering your pendant. Cut the length into four equal parts and put together again, roll these gently to adhere all the clay, gently, very gently lengthening it as you go. Now cut a slice and look at the effect you have achieved. Good isn't it. You can use this to cover any of your projects.

This piece has been made in exactly the same way. The first four sausages were made using translucent white clay each tinted with a small piece of coloured clay. Scrap clay was used for the bulk of the heart, this was then covered with gold and copper leaf. Very thin slices were taken from the roll and smoothed over the top. Once fired, this was very gently sanded with 1000 grade sand paper and washed in soapy water, this allows more of the leafing to show through, and lastly given a coat of poly clay varnish. Very effective.

The fastenings for the pendants are an alternative to using findings. One part is a square bead with two holes going straight through, the other is a round bead with one hole. The idea is your cord pulls to form a noose to capture the bead, so forming the fastening. Superglue is wonderful for fastening cord to clay. I think I prefer this on a chunky pendant to the usual jewellery findings.

The bracelet is made from large and small oval slices from the same mosaic. Holes were pushed through and then threaded with elastic.

The Double Heart Pendant is a squashed bit of the mosaic simply cut with a heart cutter and a smaller heart laid on top before firing. The colours have a lovely way of blending together and no two will ever turn out exactly the same, you will always find a small variation.

Polymer Clay Jewellery

2007-07-14T10:19:00.000Z

You can get some amazing effects with polymer clay, you can marble, add glitter, stamp into it, use foil, the list is endless and is only limited by your own imagination.

Bracelets, pendants, earrings are all easily made. These pieces are made by burnishing the foil onto white clay using a long thin blade, the pieces are then cut to the required shape and mounted on black clay before firing in your oven. The earrings are simply cut offs from the brooch & pendant and rolled, an eye pin has then been inserted to take the earring findings. Pretty cool.

This is my Fire Pendant, I made a flower cane for the bracelet below and this was simply a cut off, squashed and rolled and a hole put in for the cord (reminds me of flames). Simple and effective. Once the piece was fired it was given a coat of polymer clay varnish to seal it.

The bracelet was slightly trickier. A blend of blue and green clay was passed through a pasta maker (to ensure the same thickness), flower & leaf canes were made and thinly sliced to form the petals of the flower. It was then assembled on the blend. To make the tiles thicker it was placed on a rolled out piece of black clay and cut to make the tiles. Smaller versions of the tiles were cut to form the middle sections. The hardest part of the bracelet was putting the holes in the tiles to thread the cord.

This is a very simple and effective pendant. A small piece was rolled and cut to a rough shape. Swirly clips were then placed on the clay and pressed into place, cut sections make up the rest of the pattern, (once the clay is fired these are very secure). I then cut around the swirls to make the shape and pricked holes for decoration. Instead of a hole or a finding to fasten the cord to the piece, the top was stretched slightly and rolled over to meet the main body of the pendant, a simple, easy way to thread the cord.

Watch this space!

Another Recruit

2007-07-14T09:50:00.000Z

Another recruit to the Jobsworthy Collection, this time a Jockey, complete with his saddle and crop waiting for weight-in. I wonder if he wins!

Our Carrie Anne & Ian

2007-05-18T20:16:00.000Z

I have my friend Kath to thank for these two models, she asked if I could make a hiker, as her husband is very keen on walking. It was very helpful to know what he wore, this way I could personalise the model and make it special to him, which I hope I have.

The second model Kath asked me to make was for a mutual friend. This was slightly easier, because I know Carrie Anne I could add some little extra touches into it.

So I can now post my last two models, as birthdays and anniversaries have past, presents have been given and I believe they were definitely liked.

This is 'The Hiker', complete with his compass around his neck, his stick to help him on his way and of course his lunch, nice and healthy, a ham & lettuce sandwich, an apple and banana. His backpack holds his essential flask and his map. His stripy rugby shirt took a bit of doing but it does look good on him.

Meet 'Carrie Anne'. Complete with her stripy jumper and knitting needles, she has a lovely scarf on her needles, just right for the winter. I have to add that the glasses were a complete pain to make, I just could not get the sides to match, it took quite a while to get right.

The stripy effect is simply strips of each colour, overlaid one on top of the other and rolled gently to fuse together. You do have to be very careful when lifting and modeling, as it easily comes away and if you press too hard when fusing, the colours can look a bit squashed.

Dragons and Pirates

2007-04-16T21:10:00.000Z

Look who I found flying around my garden the other day! Duncan the Dragon.

He's not as fierce as he looks, quite cute actually. He was a little tricky to complete as he has so many bits and pieces, by the time I got towards his legs and talons I was running out of places to hold him without squashing something else!

My only other success of the weekend has been my Pirate! This is the first model I have ever made standing up (not me, him) and until he actually came out of the oven and stood on his own two feet I was very sceptical. The sounds of jubilation coming out of the kitchen on Sunday night would have confused a passer-by.

He has been on the pillage, he has loot hanging out of his pocket and is holding a very valuable gold locket. He also sports a very fetching gold earing.
A closer look at his face, a handsome brute isn't he, right down to the scar along the length of his nose. Hope you like him.

Fantasy Folk

2007-04-10T20:13:00.000Z

Phew, it has been a busy Easter Weekend trying to compose faces out of Fimo clay, and until now I have never been very successful, but in buying the right tools (as opposed to make do ones), and a book, and a patient partner, who did not moan about me sitting with the dinning room table cluttered full of clay for the weekend and with a little bit of patience thrown in, I think I just may be getting the hang of it.

This was my practice piece. It is not supposed to resemble anyone but have been told he looks vaguely familiar, poor soul!

This Wizard took me approximatley 4 hours to complete, I was really pleased with the result. It was also my first go at using an armature of wire, this was inserted up through his neck and went right to his toes. Previous models have usually had their heads held on with cocktail sticks, it works. Because his arms are so close to his body, no wire was required to hold them steady.

A close up of his face.

This is my Jester, very colourful, sitting holding his Jack-in-the-Box, which is just a little face on a piece of coiled wire stuck in his box. No armature was used on this peice, the main body and head were made out of one block of clay, first rolled into a ball and then gently rolled between thumb and index finger to form a divide for the head and body.

All in all not a bad weekend, clay wise that is.

Jobsworthy's

2007-04-03T19:52:00.000Z

I have over the last month or so created some of the models for friends depicting their occupations, so far we have, a painter and decorator, a fireman and a pidgeon fancier. On the horizon there is to be a doctor, a hiker and possibly a plasterer. My customer service person could also fit into this catagory as could the teacher.

A couple of years ago I made two little monks for my sister, she collects wizards and dwarfs etc, so the Mad Monks fit into her collection quite nicely.

Singing from his hymn book, the hardest part of this model was getting his hood to ‘flow’ correctley.

This ‘naughty’ monk has had a little too much of the communion wine!

Winsome Witch pictured here was a special favourite with her multi coloured tights and snazzy star dress. She did not remain in my collection for very long, she was bought for a birthday present.

Christmas is an excellent time to show off your talents with Fimo, you can make tree ornaments, candle holders etc, the sky is the limit.Last year I discovered a new type of clay, Sculpey Ultralite and once baked this can actually float and will not bend the boughs of your tree. The angel is an example of a tree ornament that I made last year. These were incorporated onto Christmas cards. It being so light it does not bend your cards.

The Santa, I could not bear to put him away, so he sits on a shelf all year round.

If after looking at this blog you would like to contact me, please email judith.walton@talk21.com and please add your comments, I would be very interested to read any.

From Small Beginnings

2007-03-27T20:03:00.000Z

HI
My name is Judith and I live in Bishop Auckland with my partner Steve and Oskar, our Rough Collie.
I first became interested in using Fimo Clay approximately 5 years ago when I picked up a book and began flicking through the pages describing the theory behind the craft and how to model and sculpt various items, It gave me the inspiration to ‘have a go’.
My first attempt turned out better than expected and as the story goes ............. I have not looked back. You can see some of my first attempts here.
As you can see one begat another and another and another ............... till I had filled a couple of shelves in the conservatory and there they lived quite happily until the decorating started and they were confined to the attic, I really must liberate them and give them some fresh air once again.

Freddy pictured here, sitting by Millie, did have an ice cream but he seems to have lost it, just in case you think he is licking thin air!

As pretty as a princess.

This is Pansy, along with her pet frog, Fraggle.
They make a hansome couple with her luxurious violet hair and dusky pink dress. Her tights are colour co-ordinated to match her hair and the flowers around her band. Fraggle is a lovely shade of green (he matches her tights). This now sits on my desk at work along with Mickey (in the yellow jumper above). They have also aquired a couple of critters to keep them company.

Pugsley and Peter , you can decide which is which. He guards my desk! gerroff that stapler ................

From Cowboys to Teenagers

2006-11-21T21:59:00.000Z

I get my inspiration in many different forms, this is the result of watching a country singer on TV, it gave me a germ of an idea and this is the end product. Rather like his fetching stetson.

This rather tomboyish teenager reminds me of when my youngest was in her teens, (rather like a Kevin). She could always be found with a skateboard or skates, whizzing up and down the road.

More of the same

2006-11-21T21:35:00.000Z

I created this model when I worked in a large customer services department, it 'lived' on my desk for quite a while and it attracted many comments from visitors to the company.

This was made as a present for my sister-in-law, you can probably make a wild guess at her occupation.