Archive for February, 2007
Here is the bracelet I made in last weekend’s Sarah Shriver workshop.
The surface design is a simple cane made from Fimo Classic clay in black & cream. The initial cane was reduced, mirrored, manipulated, and mirrored several times again to create the finished design (which looks a bit like an ethnic textile).
Cane slices were placed onto a backing sheet, then put around a clay bracelet form and baked.The inside of the bracelet contains stretch elastic cording and there are cuts on either side of the bangle (hidden by the design) that open up so the bracelet can be slipped on your wrist.I can’t wait to experiment more with this new caning technique! Here are a couple of pieces that I bought from Sarah this weekend for inspiration. 
February 21st, 2007
I had the privilege of hosting Sarah Shriver in my home for the past few days. What a fun & generous woman she is! For those of you that do not know, she is considered the world’s best at kaleidoscope caning in polymer clay. She has been working with clay for 19 years…and her pieces are exquisite. Let me tell you…she truly lives up to expectations! Sarah has been in town teaching a Celtic Cane & bracelet workshop to our local clay guild. We had lots of fun & I learned some amazing new techniques in the process. I’ll post the celtic weave bracelet that I made in the class soon…
February 19th, 2007
Here is the Valentine’s Day card I made for my boyfriend this year, and yes…I have to admit that the homemade version was a day late. He unfortunately had to read a Hallmark card on Feb 14th (bad, Laura! bad, Laura!). Hope he likes the “real thing”. Heart Stamp: Hero Arts, Couple: A Muse, Card: DCWV pre-embossed
I was totally spoiled on Valentine’s Day. Roses, a wonderful dinner, & a ton of wonderful gifts including a new 100m/2.8f macro lens for my Canon rebel xTi camera! I can’t wait to take pics of everything close-up. Thanks, Mike, for making it so special. I love you!
February 16th, 2007
Today, my local polymer clay guild held a demo on making polymer clay bugs at our monthly meeting. Apparently, over the past few years, a number of online communities & guilds have held bug “swaps”. It is amazing the colorful variety that came out of our 3-hour session. I wish I had a picture of everyone’s creations…but unfortunately, couldn’t get any before they were all taken to their new homes. Here is a pic of mine. I created the body of the bug from a mirror image slice of ecru, gold, & black clay. The lower wings are a translucent chrysanthemum cane & the upper wings are a basic checkerboard cane I made during the meeting. The thorax is made of jellyroll canes which were also added to the bottom of the bug. Antennae & legs were made from black twisted 22-gauge artistic wire.
February 11th, 2007
Here is a polymer clay collage tin I made in a CHA class taught by Lisa Pavelka. I’m always impressed with what a wonderful public speaker & teacher she is.
About half the people in my class had never touched polymer clay before. As the VP of my local polymer clay guild, it was great to see so many people excited about working in this medium! We used waterslide decal photo transfers onto pearl FIMO clay, Ranger Perfect Pearls powders, and Lisa’s signature foils & texture sheets to create our tins. The base clay for the lid is black FIMO. Super easy to make & lots of fun. Lisa will be distributing her clay products this year through JHB. They’re not just a button company anymore!
February 2nd, 2007
I took a class this year at CHA called “Functional to Fantastic Book Arts” sponsored by LineCo Inc. I’ve always been interested in bookbinding and have wanted to make books by hand, but I’ve been too intimidated to get a start at it. I was really surprised at just how easy the LineCo kits were to use! In just two hours, we made three pieces made of top notch Asian papers & bookbinding cloth. I was truly impressed! The purple book is a CD-holder, the orange one is an address book complete with refillable pocket, and the pink & green one is a star book. See below for the expanded “aerial” view of the starbook. I think these would make great gifts. Be looking for them at a stationary or craft store near you.
February 2nd, 2007
I’m looking forward to doing some design work this year for a great company called Lasting Impressions. They make wonderful brass embossing templates that give your cards a classy look. The first time I saw them (about 2.5 years ago), I spent about $300 in their booth at a stamp show!
During CHA, they had a great make ‘n take (see pic). This folio contains plenty of dividers for cards, paper scraps, etc. and is too cute! They’ll be available for retail soon in a scrapbook/stamping store near you.
February 1st, 2007
