Catching up....

Hi everyone, 

    Well, I finally got the ok to show you all what I made when I went down to Carol Hamilton's studio to try out some polymer products with metal clay. We got these bracelet blanks from Melanie West and we wondered if they would be ok in the kiln at 1650. And they were! Yeah! I love round bangle bracelets and didn't want to make sterling supports and then cover them with the metal clay and fire at a lower temp. This way of doing bracelets is going to be great! I am way excited! (Can you tell?) I used one of the wider bracelets and laid in the textured PMC and then wrapped additional clay around the joins to help hold everything in place. It was fired at 1650 for the 10 minutes and no distortion in the bangle. The PMC didn't fare as well. You can see the shrinkage in the photos. The ends under the wraps held well and I didn't want to add more clay and re-fire, so I thought about what I could do to make it work.  I still had all me bronze and copper pieces in my purse(completely forgot I had them in there and had been lugging them around for a week) and so I pulled out the little angel that I had made out of the copper and riveted him on and riveted down the loose ends. I also have a hole drilled behind the angel for a little stone drop....just haven't gotten around to adding it on yet! I love wearing it! It is comfortable and has a nice weight and the angel is small enough that the bracelet doesn't spin and put the angel underneath.  I am planning on making a whole bunch of them! Just think how nice that will sound!

   And just a little note...I will be teaching at Coral Hamilton's studio, May 14th - 16th. I will be teaching the metal clay frames filled with with the polymer clay. The first day, we will play with copper, bronze and polymer clays to make little bits to go into our multi-bezel frames and then on the second day, we will design the frames, make and fire them and on the third day, we will assemble the frames with all the little lovelies we made on the first day. Our bronze and copper pieces will be fired on the first night so we can include them in our designs. If you have any questions, drop me a line. We will be figuring out the price as soon as Carol is done re-vamping her studio. She had a leak and then Terresa and Debbie are helping her re-organize the whole kit and kaboodle....maybe I will see it they want to come visit me for a week or three and do mine!  The pirate and the princess! What more could you want? 

    I have also started thinking about the surface techniques for the seminar for the PMC Conference. Barbara Becker Simon and I are doing a hour long demo, so it should be exciting! I am thinking up some fun things to try before so I have examples to show everyone. I hope some of you will come and cheer us on!  So, off to play...I have been in a weird mood and I think it is because I have been doing a couple of step-by-steps and I just need to play....so I am going to!  PMC or polymer?  We shall see....or rather, you will when you come back....have fun till then, Kelly

Master's Muse....

Hi everyone,

     I wonder if anyone saw my bead on Tonya Davidson's website?  I would have posted the photo that Drew took of it, but I don't know how to get it off her website, so, you will have to go and see it there. I think it ended up being a funny little bead!  I hadn't worked in metal clay for a while and forgot to allow for the shrinkage, so during firing, I had the movable object hitting the movable wall and everything moved!  That was on top of having my one saw blade break while sawing out the numbers for the piece! So I only had the number 5 to work with.....thought I would make it into a piece I could wear next year when I turn 50....too bad I will turn 50 this year!  My ex-brother-in-law was nice enough to point out that I was a year behind!  Thanks, Joey!  Guess what he's not getting for his birthday!  I think I saved the bead with my surprise patina.....well, I like it anyway! Let me know what you think!

     On a sad note, one of my fellow muses mother passed away, so if you get a chance, please drop a note to our Vicki Hallmark to help her through. 

     Remember that I told you that I was going to down to Carol Hamilton's studio to experiment with some polymer products and see if they could be adapted to be used with metal clay? Well, I did and we had a great time....the other inmates and I (since her studio is in the old prison, that's what we are calling ourselves!) had a great time! The head cell block leader, Debbie, told us a lot of stories and a one point, I gave myself a headache, laughing so hard! Can you imagine if we had added wine or chocolate?  You would be now visiting us in the hospital! Anyway, I can't show you what we made until we get the ok from Jeanette since it is for the magazine, Metalclay....I think it is going to be in issue four...we were too late for this next issue!  I will say that I had fun with Maureen Carlson's and Melanie West's supplies. I think they will like what I made with them. I got to go to the local group meeting and had a good time there...missed all the traffic for the way home. I am glad I don't like Mexican food, since they had dinner there before the meeting and quite a few of the girls got food poisoning! I think the only thing that saved me was the fact that I am picky! I had chicken fajitas with only the tomatoes and the chicken.....whew! I think I am eating at the Chinese place down the road next time, just to be safe!  

   So, now I am home and wanting to play with polymer and metal clay, fingers are itching!  I will take some new photos over the weekend and let you see....have a fun time in your own studios!  Take care, Kelly        I thought I would show you the kinds of bead/pendants we will be making in the class we will have at Carol Hamilton's studio....I will let you know when the date is set in stone....hope to see you there.  The first piece is "The Hairstylist", the second one is "Robin's Secret Garden" and last is "Pan's Playground".  Hope you like them. Kelly

Time to check in....

Hi everyone,

    Well, I have finally recovered from all the craziness of the last couple of weeks....I had a great time and now all I want to do is play with some new ideas...as if I didn't have enough to be going on with already!  I am trying to settle down to one or two main projects and the other bits will just have to happen when I get some time. I talked with the editors of Art Jewelry this past week and may have three step-by-step articles to write for them...two rings and a brooch with polymer and metal clay....I am still working on my own step-by-steps for myself and am looking into setting up a sale page or getting an Etsy site.  Any advice would be welcome!  

     Tomorrow, I am going back to VA. to play at Carol Hamilton's studio, at The Workhouse (it used to be an old prison, nuff said...) and we are going to try out some of the goodies she got at Synergy to see if they work well with metal clay.  It is going to be a long day! (while I was writing this, my trip just got extended to two days! I will be hanging out with Terresa and the Moth! Yeah! Always fun!) Debbie (my pirate girl) and Terresa are joining us!  We are in trouble if any wine shows up!  

     Well, have to get to work, since tomorrow is for playing....hope everyone is having fun in their own studios (I am tempted to go and sit outside, since it is so nice out) and I will talk with you later this week and show you some photos of what we are playing with tomorrow.....have fun til then...Kelly

     Comments for the photos...The first is our lovely Christi Friesen, being her playful self....next is the lovely Melaine Muir from Scotland (her work was written up today on Polymer Clay Daily....go see!) and last is the brooch idea I will be writing a version of for the step-by-step for Art Jewelry, which now belongs to Carol Hamilton and was commented on by Wendy Rosen.  Thought is was beautiful....I must say, I agree!  The bottom corner is bronze clay! Enjoy!

yes, I know....

   Ok, no comments about that last post of one line!  I said I was shattered, maybe now you will believe it!  I have been in learning mode since two Thursdays ago....12 days running.....I came home last night from the last day of class and slept until 3:30 today.....feeling a little better but I don't trust myself to handle big machinery or drive anywhere....yesterday I tried to go forward by putting the car in reverse!  Lucky I made it home!  

    I started out this crazy two weeks with Gordon's class in VA. and had a great time...then had a day off before starting in with the Synergy Conference....The seminars were fun and the hotel had great food and coffee (which was needed more and more as time went on) but the up and down was a bit much on us old ladies....yes, I am almost 49 and this week I felt at least 30 years older on some days....but there was sooooo much eye candy that it was worth it!  Some really beautiful polymer work. I got a small pendant bead from one of my good friends, Barbara McGuire...mokume gane and in pinks, reds, peach and 22kt gold....just beautiful.  I met a lot of new people and met some that are on my Facebook page that I didn't know before....I was lucky enough to be included in Cynthia Tinapple's slide show about new trends for polymer clay....mixed media section (and then I realized that I have also been in slide shows for lectures at SNAG and the PMC Conferences, and now the polymer conference, so maybe I am not doing as badly as I thought!)... mixed media indeed! Love it!  

   I also got to hang out with Gordon some more since he came up to the conference with Carol Hamilton and the Pirate...Debbie, as we call her! And Tonya Davidson from Whole Lotta Whimsy and Robert Dancik (we missed Mr. Tim McCrieght, god, I hope I spelled his name right!) hung out with us and all the meeting and smooshing and making new friends and new deals...my brain may explode if I think too much on this! I know I have forgotten someone! I also got inducted into the Tabernacle of Clay with a secret handshake. Although, on the last night of the conference, so did everyone else....and I did get a sneaky photo or two of Miss Libzoid! and my dear friend Melanie Muir from Scotland (she even gave me a credit in the British version of American Craft magazine...woo hoo!)  

   I was so tired that for the first day of Dan's class, I just took notes but brought all my stuff for the second day and Libby let me use her pasta machine (no, my Dream Machine didn't come in in time)...and played with some of the techniques that he taught. Can't show you all the photos, that would be naughty but when I get my silly pieces baked, I will show you what I made...right now, the pieces and the toaster oven are in the car, were they will stay until someone (Ed...), brings then back in.  

   And in the last, but not least division, I have been talking with Carol Hamilton about teaching a polymer class combined with metal clay in her studio at the Workhouse sometime this spring and for those of you who live or just want to go to Florida, I may be teaching there also...things are in the wind.  Also, my crazy piece for the Master's Muse (Whole Lotta Whimsy) should be up sometime in the beginning of March!  A step-by-step in don't do as I do, do as I say!  My dad used to always say that to us kids and now I have gone and made something of it....who knows what he will say of that???  Anyway, that is way more than enough for now...might be time for a nap and maybe some meatloaf and baked potatoes for dinner, yum!  Have fun, Kelly  well, here we are being let in by the fancy doorman and then, there is Miss Libby and Gordon, doing what we all should be doing, taking a small nap! So, goodnight, sweet reader!

  

Shattered but alive!