WOYWW 552 Happy New Year!

Cor Blimey!   Christmas has been and gone and here I am wishing you all a Very Happy New Year - may it be a good one for you all and bring you Love and Good Health in abundance.  

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and got some nice crafting goodies in your stocking/sack.  I got a new Dylusion figure to stamp with from my bff and yesterday some Zinis arrived courtesy of someone on WOYWW who had picked up on the fact that I had missed the PaperArtsy sale earlier.  Thank you - you know who you are, you wonderful enabler you.  

My Dylusion stamp has come in useful already and she will be making her first appearance on here tomorrow when I have to do a journal page for my challenge with one of my crafting friends.  I stamped her several times and enjoyed colouring them all in whilst nursing my back on Monday and yesterday I decided which one I would use but have left the page naked until today when I will be completing it and no doubt stamping those little Zinis so I can play with them in my Moleskin.

My desk (ok, set up)

On the left is what was really on my desk - my journal page painted ready for decoration - and to the right at the top are the new stamps that I will be using, courtesy of Father Christmas (aka my bff, Lorraine).  Below are my Zinis and my one JOFY bought in the sale at Country View Crafts.  In case you are wondering about the green and red at the back - it is a little bag like a pair of legs and feet for a Christmas Elf.  You can't see but there are some striped braces at the top of them.  These belonged to my friend Mary in America and I loved them so much she gave them to me one year.  Christmas without them to remember my lovely friend wouldn't be Christmas.

To finish off I must show you my surprise present to myself.  Was browsing the internet when I saw a friend of mine, from my polymer clay days, had an Etsy Shop and she was showing a brooch she had made - I knew straight away it was me and so I got in touch with her and said I wanted to buy it but could she make some ear rings.  I expected just some white ones with dots on but what a surprise when all these ear rings came through the post.  I really wanted a pendant and so I asked if it was possible for her to make me one - it arrived yesterday.  Now I have all these to dress up in.  I am so lucky to have Irene as a friend.  She is so talented and I have lots of her jewellery pieces (mainly cane work) that she has made over the years, but for the moment these are my new favourites.

Happy New Year again Everyone!

WOYWW 322 - and Results of my Workshop

This was my desk on Saturday night after my workshop.  This is still my desk Wednesday morning as I am not there and did not put anything away (shame on me).  Been too busy.

Some of you asked for pictures from the workshop so here goes:

Bottles covered in clay

underneath - close up of pattern and an embellishment

Brooch/Pendant Heads with left over clay

Decorated Spoons

The morning was spent covering the bottles in clay and then using the left over clay to make embellishments for the bottles - any still left over clay was then used for making the heads using my moulds so they could be turned into brooches or pendants.

After lunch I had taken some old spoons and these were handed out and the group then proceeded to cover them with alcohol inks and fussy cut out some flowers and words I had taken with me on some sheets that I had stamped.  They had been asked to bring ribbon/wire etc and I took some beads to thread on the wire.

The last half hour of the meeting showed everyone having a go at the bleeding tissue technique.  For this I had gessoed some tiny canvasses (my treat - big spender, cost me all of £3) twice as the canvas seemed rather rough.  I had also cut out lots of different sized circles from all my tissue papers that would work to varying degrees.  They just produced the background for a canvas which they could then take home and stamp on or simply put something on top of.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the sort of thing we sometimes get up to at Victoria Stampers and now I think you need to go and see what Julia and the WOYWW'ers are up to today. I hope to join in soon.

WOYWW 229

Here we are again - me half asleep, almost midnight, and a million jobs still to do.

Had a super weekend in Gloucester - stayed in Winchcombe for the polymer clay event in Toddington - met up with some friends from previous courses and had taken two friends with me.  Here's Irene who I haven't seen for a couple of years (she is incredible with polymer)

Jana - one of the tutors

and me with Marta from Spain

But you really came on here to see my desk didn't you?  Well it is not much different from last week but this week it is from my emptying the bag rather than packing it as in last week's WOYWW.

 

You cannot see from the above picture but my Pasta Machine broke - right in the middle of the course.   Had to borrow one from Alison.  Here is a closeup of it

You can see that something is poking out of it.  Chas was fixing it (I did tell him not to) and he cut his finger rather badly.  Those blades underneath are so sharp.  Guess how I know?

Well I will leave you with a picture of something we made - not mine - one of the tutors pieces - Bargello in clay.  More pictures to come when I sort them out.

Fab-U-Lus!

WOYWW 228

This week has gone by so fast - probably because I was working at weekend.  Had the pleasure of working with Margot who makes the most amazing flowers from diecuts.  Pop along to her blog and look at them although I must say they look even better, if possible, in real life.

I am off to a Polymer Clay Workshop on Thursday with a couple of friends and meeting up with Irene who I missed last year because I didn't attend due to a prior commitment.  Should be good fun with a weekend of girly chat and excellent tutors.  Can't wait to do the class with Lindly Haunani as I admire her work so much, her sense and knowledge of colour is fantastic.  Anyway, enough of that here is my desk

 Got most things BUT ...

at this point I dropped a mallet on my foot!  Ouch!  Rubbed it and it seemed ok - until I tried to go shopping.  Still not sure after icing it, resting it and rubbing arnica cream into it but I am pretty sure it is not broken.  Hurts like hell though.

 

spreads a bit to the left

Close ups

Jewellery pliers etc top left, Perfect Pearls brushes, clay shapers, wooden tools, small tile, ruler, knife, blades in carriers (the spotted things - these are what we did with Lindly three years ago).

Light bulb (don't ask), Perfect Pearls plus equivalent, more shapers, soup spoon for burnishing, bits from three years ago for two of my friends.

Still got things to get together, noticeably my tiles, pasta machine, stiff toothbrush, jewellery findings etc.  Just hope my foot is ok in the morning (its kind of gone midnight now).  Guess I had better hit the sack and hope that Julia does not post WOYWW until I have had some sleep.  See you there?

A Little Bit of Crafting

A week of crafting!  Sounds bliss to all you crafters out there.  No cooking either (unless you had drawn the short straw and had to provide a meal).  Actually three cooked last year so the other three cooked this year and I was one of them.  Luckily I did Monday and took it ready and the other two, Mary and Liz, took theirs for freezing so there was no major cook out at all.

The theme for the week was "Trash to Treasure" so a bit of recycling was called for and Monday evening we did some cutting up of old t-shirts.  I won't embarrass the ladies by showing you the poses we did but I am hoping these two will forgive me for putting this one on my blog.  I just had to include it as they are laughing so much:

All the t-shirts looked great after being cut and woven, or whatever

Next day was Mary showing us how to make a patchwork bag from an old cotton shirt.

The squares are from different parts of the shirts, the pocket is the actual pocket, the decorative panel down the front is the button bit cut off and the handles are made from the neckbands with the collars removed.  Is Mary clever or what?  (It's all fully lined too)

In the afternoon and the following morning Wendy led a two part session making books from Lutrador but as mine is not yet completed I don't have a photograph for you.

Then we used Paverpol the next day with Liz and made faces from Cloud Clay to decorate these pots.  It was great fun making the faces and I think we could have carried on into the night enjoyilng ourselves.

Close up of the faces

Mary did hands too

Love this one

The next day we did some clay tiles but I didn't make any but in the afternoon I played with Adrienne's Gelliplate and made some backgrounds.  

Then she showed us a technique to turn card into something that looked totally different.  I loved this but didn't finish it.  Bought some translucent paints on Saturday so hopefully will get it finished later.

Vicky Stampers

Hi Suzanne and welcome!  Hope you enjoy your stay with us here and thanks so much for following.

Right, just thought I would share a couple of photographs with you from yesterday when I did a polymer clay workshop back to back with Lynn at Victoria Stampers.  Got me 'all of a do dah' wanting to do my clay again and make something different.

Anyway, my group were learning how to do a Skinner Blend and then using strips to transform plain beads into fancy ones.  Only got a couple of photographs as I was so busy didn't have time (and forgot about the camera as per usual) so these few will have to suffice, sorry.

This is my necklace - my group were making the rope beads (originally taught to me by Alison Gallant).  You have seen it before as I always think it is a lovely way to use a Skinner Blend and this must be the fourth time I have taught this class.

We had split the group (which turned out to be small anyway with people being on holiday) so we only had six each.  Then there was a problem with the room (they had double booked us) so we had to use the small room but my group stayed for their two and a half hour session with me in the big room.  Here you can see from the left - Lorraine, Linda, Jo and Donna.

One thing they loved was when I showed them how to do bicone beads without the bother of a bead roller.  It's great because you can do them whatever size you want and have them elongated or short and fat.  Think that is what Lorraine and Ann are doing but Linda looks to be doing her rope bead - such concentration on her face.

Most of them got, at the very least, three rope beads (some in my first group did seven) which will make a focal point on a necklace if they want but they then went on with the bicones to use as fillers.  Maybe they will be used as handbag charms or even used on cards for dangly bits,

Then we had to go in the small room - here's the other group  but I won't go into names as it looks a bit confusing.

I remembered my camera at the very end - again - so here is Lorraine packing up and Lynn who had taught them how to do these bracelets.  Nice to see that they did finish these - Lorraine sent me this picture of hers when she had put it together during the evening.

Right, now to clean off my pasta machines which I had taken for those who did not have one, put all my tools away clean my rolling pins etc.  Oh heck - a tutor's work is never done, is it!

A Bit of Clay

When I was on the last Polymer Play Workshop Alison asked us to make "inchies" but these were to be made from polymer clay.  On the Saturday evening we had a buffet and we swapped our inchies with one another.

Now these beautiful inchies have stayed in a bag in my extension craft room since the event (really it is the utility but I have purloined a cupboard and had a free standing one built in to cope with my "overspill") but last night I decided they were too nice to be hidden away and it was time I did something with them.

Looking through my collection of "frames" (yes, I have quite a collection, you know how it is, you see one, decide you will do something with it, take it home - and it stays in a pile with the others you had forgotten about) I found three small photo frames from the Swedish company that we all tend to visit now and then.  Perfect - or at least they almost were when I put my inchies on them.  A few gaps didn't look quite right so I took my Walnut Ink Stain and covered the wood and left it to dry overnight.

This morning I stuck my inchies on and here are my picture frames.

I cannot remember who made all the various inchies, do know that Alex from Spain made the Steampunk one top left and his wife, Noella made the one in the opposite corner.  His mother, Marta, made the fourth along from his and Irene, my friend, did the "face" one next to it.  Val did the Celtic knot at the bottom and the one above it and the one below Noella's were made by Sue.  Now how did I get two from Sue - Lauren, her daughter insisted Chas had one although he had none to swap himself - lucky me!  The one with the circle on was made by Christine Dumont one of the tutors.  After that I am stuck!

Yes, in places on the photos they look a bit wonky but I can assure you they are stuck on straight.  Some are not quite 1" x 1" but you have to remember that some of the participants come from other countries and are not used to the "inch" as a measurement.  We were not given any thickness to roll them out to so the depth does vary and this might add to the wonkiness you see.  I can assure you though, they do not look wonky when you see them stood up in real life.  Anyway, it shows they are hand and not machine made.

OK so there are only two frames, didn't have enough for the three frames but that gives me scope to make one myself as I do other things in Polymer clay.  Now to find some suitable photographs and somewhere to display them.  Perhaps you could do something like this - even if you don't use clay you could do them with techniques in rubber stamping.

WOYWW 124 and Chaos Reigns

I spend so much time trying to find folks when wanting to leave a comment for someone who has been kind enough to leave one for me and life could be so much simpler.  Please, when posting it would be a great idea if you could put the number you are on the list that week.  Straight away we can come and find you (I say "we" because I am sure others feel the same) - we used to do it but it seems to have disappeared and new peeps are maybe not aware of it.  Just a thought and no way is it a criticism,, just a plea from little old me.

Now to the business - what on earth am I on about - why Julia Dunnit and her phenomenam which is What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday.  Pop over and see what I am on about - you will be hooked.   Now to my desk - this week!!!  As most of you know I have just got back from my three day Polymer Clay Workshop and have finally unloaded my bag.  This is my room:

Literally everything DUMPED!  No available workspace and no time to move stuff at the moment.

This is my poorly pasta machine just peeping in at the left hand side, my syrup tin (stripped of its upper and lower seams), a book I bought, my screen printed pendants, canes for the fruit tarts, crushed clay for Natalia's bracelets and other stuff.

Moving along - new clay (I am converting to Premo as I love working with it) and old clay.  The latter of which is perfectly ok but there are bags of Kato, bags of Premo, Sculpey and Fimo.  Now they all have to be sorted out.

A tube bead roller which Val and Craig gave to us all, skewers, tools, rolling pin, liquid clay, screens, cling film, instruction leaflets and a couple more new books and probably loads of other stuff I haven't mentioned.  On the tiles are (top - bracelet and brooch half finished from Natalia's class, black and white brooch from Christine's class and various screen printed pendants/ear-rings cut from left-overs from Alison's class).

Want to see more chaos?

Pop over to Julia's blog and join in the fun as we all rummage around to see what everyone is up to.  Happy WOYWW!

But first of all feast your eyes on the inchies I got from  the swap: (remember these are all clay ones) - I showed you mine last week.

The bottom two rows feature mainly caning and the one to the right of Alex's Steampunk one is also a cane.
Eva did a button rather than an inchie for all of us, Irene did a Sutton Slice with her face (3rd row down), Kim did Mica Shift (next to the end on second row) whilst the next one along is from Christine Dumont the tutor who did the brooch with us (mine is not finished yet - needs sanding etc) and check out Sue's which I love (first and second on second row down).  Don't know the names of the people for all of them (it is rather frenetic when we swap) but do know that the top left one is by Noella and the top right by Marta, both from Spain.  The face cane at the bottom is Diane's and the Celtic Knot is the cane perfected by Val and demonstrated to us so admirably.

Got to show you the brooch I bought from Marta (Marta is from Spain) as I just loved it and thought I might also put a jump ring on it and turn it into a pendant.  I bet some of my friends will expect me to do something like this - but I am not as clever as Marta - not yet!  Must say this photo does not do it justice as I had to take it in artificial light.

Polymer Clay Weekend

Well, this time it was in Alfreton, at the Genesis Centre, which was a much more modern venue than the football club where we usually attend but I did miss the football club to be honest.  This year we had some different tutors from those in the past but here is Natalia, who we all know from the last few years (and love) with her clown's hat on sorry, her mask on her head.  She was shredding some clay in a coffee grinder - that's Diane who has just snuck in the picture.

Here she is dem'ing the bracelets which we all made:  

My friend, Irene, is in this picture (it runs, Kerry, Carol, Kim and then Irene - and you might recognise Debbie the next person as she is on tv with Jewellery Maker) all watching carefully as Natalia decorates her bracelet. 

Danni - Natalia's husband gave us a demonstration of  - well - what can I say - bracelets?  These under the sea type structures are fantastic.  They look so fragile and yet Danni threw one down on the ground and it did not break.  How tough is polymer clay?  How talented is Danni?

Are they fantastic or what?

This is the work of Stephanie.  Now I am so annoyed I did not get a photograph of her as she is such a pretty young girl.  Her workshop was working in miniature and we had to make the minutest canes of fruit.  We could choose what we wanted to make and I chose oranges.  Then we got a bit of other people's canes and put them on a flan which we made.  Here are mine with a pound coin by the side so you can see how tiny they are - actually just less than a pound coin:

Oranges, bananas, kiwi fruit and strawberries

Should I make them into ear rings?

This is the magnificent table that Stephanie brought with her to show off her skills in making these miniatures ...

... and these are some of the ear-rings which she brought with her to sell (you can just see her tiny gingerbread houses on the right of the picture):

I admitted to Stephanie that I had not been looking forward to her class but that I had thoroughly enjoyed myself and would be making more of these goodies.  Can't wait as I have some bits of canes left - just need some pies and flans.  Thanks Stephanie for a most enjoyable workshop.

Think I will leave it there for today but I have lots more to show you so will be back.  Before I go I must show you my lovely friend Cathryn who always comes and looks after the shop where participants can bring their jewellery and sell it.  Here she is by the side of the stall she set up and manned over the three days (love you lots Cathryn):