Arabella

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!

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!