CC7A Reveal for April: Pastel Spring

Yes, the Creative Continuum of Seven Artists are indeed back! Our fearless leader, Alicia Marinache of All the Pretty Things, starts things off with the whimsical colours of "Pastel Spring":

I freely admit these colours were a true challenge (yeah, the best kind). As I admitted in my last post, I cheated by creating custom polymer clay colours. I had so very little in the way of beads in this palette. Even with newly formulated clay in hand, I remained unconvinced I would come up with something worthy. Here is my necklace:

Paired with shell pearls in baby blue and olive, smoky crystals and pewter

OK, I changed my mind. I like this after all ;) I think I was just unused to all that pastel LOL.

Now jump over to these lovely blogs and check what goodies these designers have in store for you.

Alicia Marinache 
(Fearless Leader + this month's hostess)

Christine Altmiller

Cynthia Machata

Emma Todd

Sally Russick

Therese Frank

You are welcome to return on May 26, when Therese Frank will inspire us with the colours of late spring in Alabama... "Tutti-Fruity". Oooh, fruit... I am feeling hungry people!

Polymer Clay Challenge Week 16

For Week 15 of Katie Oskin's polymer clay challenge, I have adapted a cane design from this Cindy Lietz tutorial, which was originally for an "Easter Lily" in these colours:

Y'all know I LOVE Cindy's videos :) I chose to use another colour palette and came up with this (OK, loud and proud colours LOL):

Seriously, I am hoping once reduced a bit more I will be able to use these. I have a monthly jewelry colour challenge on Sunday which necessitates these colours and I had very little on hand, especially in the blue and pink. Custom polymer colours to the rescue!

I noticed this cane reduced unevenly, in particular the leaf area stayed relatively large in relation to the other elements (the proportions started out very close to Cindy's example in the first picture). This problem usually indicates an imbalance in consistency and/or temperatures of the different sections of clay. In this case the green was an older mix and may have been harder. Or the packing colour (blue) may have been warmer when reduced. It's one of those events difficult to predict in cane-making. But given the bright colours and playful design, I think this will still be a fun cane to use for "spring" beads :)

Hope to see everyone on Sunday!

Polymer Clay Challenge Week 15

For Week 15 of Katie Oskin's polymer clay challenge, I am using an old/new technique. It's one of those methods that pops up regularly it seems. I saw it when I first started going online a few years ago (around 2011, I think), on the blog of Violette Laporte,  one of the Quebec-based founders of the Canadian Polymer Clay group, Clayamies. Vio hasn't been active on this blog for some time, but it is still a source of great design ideas and entertaining bilingual commentary. More recently, Vio has been busy on Pinterest, being, as she puts it, "the curator of my own virtual museum".

Here is my first experiment:

I first cleaned the metal with rubbing alcohol, lightly painted the wing areas with Lisa Pavelka Polybonder glue, backed the wings with a medium-thin layer of translucent/pearl Kato, then trimmed off the extra clay. I chose a rainbow set of Alcohol inks and painted the "cells". I then removed all but a very thin layer of the clay from the back of the pendant, hoping the clay would become semi-transparent once baked.

Some messy steps and the finished product: not as
transparent as I had hoped. Next time I'll use just
translucent clay for a more "stained glass" look.

I am always on the lookout for this kind of component, one with lots of small, open areas for polymer insertions. I had ordered these butterfly shapes a couple of weeks ago, hoping to have them for our Butterfly Blog Hop this past weekend. Unfortunately they just arrived yesterday. For another interesting way to use them, please check Kathy's post (I think hers are the same basic component or very similar).

See everyone real soon!

Alenka's Butterfly Birthday Blog Hop and Giveaway

Happy belated birthday, Alenka, and thanks for inviting us to help you celebrate in a special way!

Butterflies represent so many concepts to so many people. Over time, my perception has evolved... of these tiny denizens who live out such short but significant lives. The above maxim sums up my latest reflection on the power of butterflies to adapt. 

I have a serious love/love relationship with butterflies (possibly heightened by our never-ending winter... we see very few in my part of the world). So when Alenka Obid of Pepita Handmade suggested a butterfly-themed blog hop on the occasion of her birthday, I was at the head of the line!  I have been collecting a few goodies in preparation.

Earlier this week. I gave a sneak peak at the beginnings of this polymer clay cane (from this tutorial):

... which has been transformed into this small (2" high) sculpted piece (final design to be determined).

Awhile back, I received some beautiful handmade papers from a blogging colleague, Kathy. I will use some for beads, but I thought recycled paper would be a perfect medium for the chameleon butterfly. I don't do a lot of work in paper craft, so naturally I came up with a layered design which can later be developed into jewelry (surprise!)

Handmade paper coated with liquid polymer clay

My final medium is glass. I have been greedily collecting these awesome little lampwork butterfly wings by Kim Snider (a fellow Maritime Canadian):

My photo is sadly not showing the beauty of Kim's wings. If you fancy owning a few of these sweeties (and to ogle her amazing photos), do check out her online Facebook auction starting Thursday April 23rd and running through Sunday night (click on the JOIN key to take part). *Updated to the latest show date*

I forced myself to choose ONE of these wings and created a necklace with copper-wired pearls and a bit of kumihimo:

And here is the gang all together (well, I did have one other project planned, but my little butterfly-shaped metal components didn't arrive in time. *They finally arrived! See this post):

Thank you so much Alenka for inviting us to be part of your Butterfly Birthday Hop! 

And thank you everyone for reading this far. Please check these blogs for more beautiful butterfly inspiration! 

1. Alenka - hostess  Pepita Handmade

2. Monique A Half-Baked Notion*YOU ARE HERE*

3. Beti Horvath Stringing Fool

4. Kathy Lindemer BayMoonDesign

5. Kepi A little of this, a little of that

6. Christine Altmiller One Kiss Creations

7. Amy S. Amybeads

8. Dini Bruinsma  Angaza by Changes

9. Cynthia (Antiquity Travelers) Antiquity Travelers

10. Alicia http://www.allprettythings.ca/*posting in a few days*

11. Sheilaposter Cats With Beads

12. Therese Frank Therese's Treasures

13. Rebecca White Morganafeycreations

14. Rachel Mallis Mint Monarch

15. Liz E Bead Contagion

16. Ana (ACBeads) AC Beads Jewellery

17. Jasvanti Patel Jewelry by Jasvanti

18. Carolyn Carolyn's Creations
19. Nan Smith Wired Nan

Polymer Clay Challenge Week 14

For Week 14 of Katie Oskin's polymer clay challenge, I can only share a teaser! These rather unspectacular canes were the start of a complex cane, which I will share this Saturday, April 11th on the occasion of Alenka's Birthday Blog Hop and Giveaway.

This was a first for me. I mixed my own mica colours in Kato, using recipes found on the Shades of Clay website, so I am anxious to see how they will look once baked. All will be revealed this Saturday (plus a few more themed surprises).

Hope to see you then!