Studio Time: Polymer Play

I love custom mixing colors per Maggie Maggio's color smashing guidance. Turquoise is one of my all time favorite colors. I started mixing the turquoise from light to dark. The final results is this Color-ometry Necklace in polymer clay and brass.

The pendant is one of the fun things for me to form. I like just using various geometric pieces like squares, triangles, and circles to make a unique pendant. 

Explorer Earrings

These little earrings are such fun! They have a bohemian flair coral colors mixed with turquoise and greens. They make me feel like an explorer, a wanderer, a traveler... Hand-mixed polymer clay finished off with brass...

Studio News: Clay Giveaway

I've starting playing with clay again. I just started working with ceramic clay after learning from Elizabeth Gonzalez' wonderful e-class on ceramic clay. This is a wonderful way to get started from the comfort of your home. Work in ceramic and polymer can blend some basic techniques, but the feel is much different. I really like the forgiveness and ease of working with ceramic. Here are some of the initial shaping experiments I have done. Now I have to get the nerve to fire the ceramics. I look forward to that! I can't wait to add color!

Polymer Experiments 

I haven't done a giveaway in ages! Well, I haven't been blogging much this year or last year and I'm trying to get my rhythm going again. It's been a bit hit-and-miss because of the migraines this year. Ah, well! I did some brooches a few years ago in polymer clay. I received some nice compliments on these funky brooches. So, I'm trying them out again. I love the geometric designs and the wild color combinations, so I'm calling this collection "Color-ometry." I still have some work on the details to improve, but I'm really happy with the initial results.

Color-ometry Pendant

This baby isn't ready for "the big time" yet (or to be given away). I need to figure out how to get the "pebble cascade" more stable. While the teeny pebbles popped off, the bigger ones have been staying put. I'm going to experiment with resin. I know I only need glue, but I think encasing the cascade in resin might add an interesting dimension.

Here is the Give-Away: The Color-ometry Brooch 

Interested in the above funky brooch? It is approximately 2" tall by 1.5" wide. I did a "test wearing" of it the other day to make sure it wasn't top-heavy and set right. It wore well! Please comment below to let me know if you're interested in the giveaway. Make sure I can contact you in some way!

Thanks for stopping by!

Artfully Meandering: ansas Prairie Adventure in the Flint Hills

There is nothing like getting off the anonymous conveyor belt of a highway. I paid the toll and turned onto the road to Council Grove, Kansas. As my car climbed the first flint hill, I felt the thrum of my heart increase with the thrill of re-discovering the beautiful prairie of Kansas.

Don't you love the romance of a ribbon of road rippling among the swells and troughs of the sea of rich soil?

Iron silhouettes installed on a hill... startlingly lifelike when you first see them...

Washes drizzled through the valleys where the hills meet. Soil eroded from heavy rain... just like I always imagined described in a Louis L'Amour novel.

A derelict home...

Big, beautiful prairie sky. The sweep of clouds was astonishing. I love photographs like this. It amazes me that I was able to capture a mere sliver of the grandeur. This is just how magnificent the sky was... no photoshop, no manipulation whatsoever.

And a glimpse of work yet to be done...

One my friends said she thought the prairie was "romantic..." after today's little adventure, I'm in full agreement!

Artfully Meandering: Resident Adventurer

So, I miss telling stories. I LOVED living in Hong Kong because I got to tell stories of my every day adventures of living abroad. Coming back to the US, it was all "normal" and I lost some of the adventure of everyday living.

Then I moved to Kansas. I'm finding my humor is beginning to return. And the stories.

I had some pretty good critter stories in Hong Kong. It's sub-tropical, so how can you NOT have a critter story? I have critter stories in the south when I lived in Texas and South Carolina. But, they were the nasty fire ants. It's hard to tell a funny story about them.

Right now I have this fabulous "art cave" in the house I am renting. I spend a lot of my time there. It's a beautifully finished basement.

With basements come critters.

I had piled art things on the floor until I found homes for them. I've shuffled the piles around several times. Then finally about a week and a half ago, I decided to get super organized. As I was picking up a blanket off the floor a shadow crawled under the couch. Heebie jeebie shiver. I have a small animal (large spider) living under my couch. Grrreeeat.

The next day I organized everything. OCD organized. The kind of organized where I go to sleep and remember something out of place and pop out of bed to put it in place. And go to bed and remember another thing. Over and over. (I don't live in between. It's all or nothing with me.)

So, I'm living in my art cave with the thought that "the animal" is living under my couch. About Wednesday of that week, I'm doodling and look up to the TV. And out of the corner of my eye "the animal" wanders into view. It kind of did a "deer in the headlights" frozen move. I think it was looking all over for the piles of junk to hide behind. It remained frozen. I'm pretty sure it was in shock with how clean the basement was and not having piles to hide behind. Which gave me time to "take care of it." (Big pad of paper, slap, jump up and down to be sure, careful watery disposal.)

I really don't want to have to tell TOO many stories like that. Really I don't. (Heebie jeebies.) But, an occasional story... well, that's okay.

Artfully Meandering: A little over halfway through BSBP Hop!

So sorry, if I haven't made it to your blog yet, but I'm "pacing myself" so I can truly enjoy the inspiration and eye candy produced by all the talented designers in this hop. Thank you for stopping by and commenting and checking out my soup and final creations!