Katy's Wanderings and Wonderings

Everything's Bloomin'!

2010-04-15T17:59:00.001-04:00

OK, here's my yearly look-it, the flowers are blooming post.

Sweetbrier Studio - Where to find the molds!

2010-04-14T11:39:00.006-04:00

I've just found out that Sweetbrier Studio is no more. But don't fret, Penni-Jo, who created the designs has taken over and the molds are back in production. You can read the story here: http://claylady43.blogspot.com/

There's links there that will take you to the place to buy the molds directly from Penni-Jo..

If you're in a hurry to get your stuff and don't want to read all about it, here's the link to her online store: http://bestflexiblemolds.com/index.html There's more than molds there, it's well worth the visit.

Tenting

2010-04-04T20:25:00.001-04:00

It's been a warm and sunny weekend. The pollen is a deep as the snow was a couple months back. When you walk you leave footprints. Everything is glowing yellow. There's nothing to do but embrace the pollen. There's no rain in the forecast.

I put up a screen tent a week or so ago. We hauled a table and chairs into it. We added a fan and it's a lovely place to be. When the sun started shining in a bit too far, I hung my dupatta (shawl) up and found that it was good.

Then as the day passed, we added more dupattas. We created a most wonderful, colorful tent. And that is where

Marsha and I spent the past 2 afternoons... reading, painting, staring off into space, or watching the pretty dupattas flap in the breeze of the fan.

I'm creating a fancy goat. Anna, a friend requested it after seeing one I had made for myself. This fellow is ceramic and will be heavily embellished before he's done. He will be going to her friend who is a local Doctor.

I did a bit of painting on it while I was in the tent. Mostly though I did 'not much'. Here's the goat in progress....

And here he is inside getting his horns glued on. I'll smooth the connection off with plaster then paint it in to hide any seams.

Wha'da'ya Think???

2010-03-30T19:56:00.000-04:00

....ya think that Matzo grows on trees?!?!?!

Happy Passover Y'all!

Fandango Fantasy... or it's a Jungle Out There

2010-03-28T14:37:00.021-04:00

I went to the Orlando Area Polymer Clay Fandango Retreat again this year. I just finished up our Christi Friesen Project and have it hanging on the wall. Fantasy mirror or some such thing the class was called.

The supply list for the class called for a 6 inch mirror. Marsha and I discussed it and decided that we wanted to work together on a project. When we arrived at Lake Yale we met up with Christi quickly and told her our plan. She said "It's a very 'in' thing to do these days." She called it a collaboration and said all the artists are doing it now.

"Yeah, whatever" we said, "we just want to see if we can actually work together!"

We started with a 12 inch mirror. We figured it would be a challenge to make it work since our styles are so very different. We started off at 9 AM the morning of our Christi class... 'On a roll'. We purposely bickered and fussed at each other as we began to get into the spirit of collaboration. Not sure if it helped the spirits but it was fun as I tend to work tiny and detailed, Marsha works big and bold. We reversed roles. I wanted everything BIG and Marsha kept turning out small flowers and leaves.

Christi kept us encouraged with the idea that there are no rules for this project... this is a Dr. Seuss kind of creation. If the leaves want to be purple they can be purple. If the flowers are striped and plaid... no problem. We quickly forgot to fuss and kept cranking that pasta machine with all manner of strange color combinations.

We were so busy that we took only one picture... and it was when we were coming down the home stretch of the class.... and that's when the panic began. Three pieces of card stock was not going to provide proper support for our mirror's travel home

We'd planned on everything except how to get the unbaked mirror home! We had nothing to set it on to keep it safe in transport.

I searched our room. Nothing.

I searched the car. Nothing.

This was starting to look grim...

We saw a couple of options... beg the cafeteria staff for a box. We didn't have the nerve.

Go to Walgreen's and hope for a cookie sheet or a dumpster dive opportunity. Didn't want to give up any retreat time to take the trip.

Finally, a fellow retreat-er rescued us. She had a mailing box, still flat, in her car. She brought it to us. The mirror fit. We could get it home.

It was back to regular panic. As the mirror grew, we realized that this thing could be a challenge to hang safely. Marsha tracked down Christi for some last minute advice on hangers. "Three wire hangers" she said.

"THREE" we said?!?!

Three hangers on the back?

"Yeah baby" was the answer.

The mirror became the centerpiece of the car when we started packing. Nothing could infringe on our Christi mirror... with or without hangers.

We arrived home and Marsha was given the honor of carrying the mirror inside. She only got that honor because I take better pictures.

The mirror took up residence on a craft table as the story had to be continued.

Marsha took charge of 'shiny'. She spent a day dabbing on mica powders. Then I started adding beads and more leaves. After several consults there was still an empty spot and Marsha said, "Needs another flower of some leaves or something... There." and she poked in the general direction of the top of the mirror.

I looked at her and said. "Fine, I'm tired of working by myself on it, YOU fix it!"

She did... here's her last flower to fill the hole.

Time to bake.

I was in charge of toilet papering it. We decided we really should have brought home a supply from Lake Yale. After all, everyone else had baked theirs there and therefore they used Lake Yale potty paper. Alas, I had to raid my own bathroom.

I got everything supported so it wouldn't sag in the oven. This was a big baby and was going to take quite a while to cook... and nothing was going to droop in the heat. if I had anything to stuff into it. I fixed the shelves in the kitchen oven and did a test run to check the temperature. Reconfirmed that the oven bakes hot. 25 degrees to be exact.

Finally the mirror met the oven. We baked... and we baked... and we baked. I checked the temp and the condition of the mirror every 15 minutes. All came off according to schedule. Except for hangers, the mirror was done.

The orange thing at the bottom is my rendition of a funky fungus that was growing at Lake Yale. We almost convinced California Christi that those strange looking things are where flamingos come from.

Maureen Carlson got in on the story and while she was checking one out up close and personal, she stepped on it. That's one less flamingo in the world. She googled it while we were there and came up with a name for the fungus, but I've forgotten what it is - other than funky fungus. Whatever it is, it all rotted when the weather got sunny.

In the meantime, Maureen had been keeping an eye on the mirror. She asked, "But... who lives there??" I didn't know at the time.

Then Marsha showed up cradling a tiny mouse on a leaf. Christi had made it during a demo and had given it to Marsha.

And look, it just snuggled in... right there.

So today, I added hanging wires to the back of the mirror. Yes, three of them.

Christi, if you ever find your way to this blog and read this far....

I have a question. Have YOU ever tried to get all the nails in the right places on the wall to match three hangers... and then actually get all three nails hooked into all three hangers?!?!

I did it... finally!

The little stone dangling on the right side of the mirror is from Jerusalem. It's a jungle there you know.

Crawling the Labyrinth

2010-03-09T11:33:00.047-05:00

I decided this past weekend that it was time to revive my backyard labyrinth. I know posts here have been few and far between but life circumstances knocked me for a loop. Perhaps I'm back up and blogging now, I'll just have to wait and see.

On to the labyrinth.

It was a beautiful sunny weekend and I was itching to get outside and putter.
I wandered outside to see where I was being led. I soon found myself down on my knees, pulling leaves and grass away from my labyrinth. It was almost totally covered with leaves. The grass was trying to crawl over the walls. It was a very neglected thing.

I was just going to pluck a bit of grass off the outside edge but soon I found myself with a pile of stuff that I couldn't just leave there. I rounded up a trash container - a big plastic flower pot with handles - and began my crawl. I started at the entrance and alternately traveled on my knees or on my butt... dragging my flower pot with me.

I used my fingers as my rake and scooped up the leaves. I pulled out up the dormant grass that was infringing on the structure. When my pot got full, I stood and stretched out the kinks then picked up my pot and took it to the compost pile.

It was a slow and steady scoot.

Slow was good that day, I needed it. I moved so slowly and so close to the ground that I was able to stop and see the bugs. I found a dried up bug carcass. The bugs on the ground and the bugs in my thinking.

Something about that carcass just caught my attention. Bug - been there and gone. Life moves on.

I keep up my scoot.

Thinking...
Remembering....
Stories...

I'm fortunate to be living in my childhood home. That's not an experience that most folks have anymore.

When I crawled that labyrinth, my thoughts turned back to my childhood.
Squealing somersaults in the itchy green grass.
Games of Tag with the neighborhood kids.
Watching as the neighbor boys filled a garden hose with gas, then lit it and spun it around their heads. (I wasn't allowed to play with those kids...)

I remembered that my Father's tomato garden was "right about here". I continued on around the labyrinth circuit. I passed the bunny rabbit and tidied it up. He'd been knocked over during the winter and had been hidden by the leaves.

He's guarding his rocky rocks again.

The ribbon grass in front of the bunny was my Father's pride and joy. It's a variety that's hard to come by and is very slow growing. One time a local nursery owner, driving by, noticed it, stopped and asked my Father if he could dig it up. He'd trade anything in his nursery for it, he said.

Whatever Dad wanted, he could have, if he'd just part with his ribbon grass. My Father answered with a very firm "NO deal." Most of that grass is still in the front yard where my Father planted it, but I've been slowly transplanting it to special places.

Places to remember.
Scooting on... leafy fingers, muddy knees.

I'd forgotten the race horse. He was well hidden in overgrown shrubbery and piles of leaves.

It's Marsha's. I don't know the story, it's hers to remember when she walks the labyrinth.

I push on to the finish line even though it's a long way off and I won't hit it until the next day.

I'm remembering stories now. The stories my Mother used to tell me. Stories of how she and my Father had to tame that back yard. When they moved into the house in 1954 she said... "The trees were so close together that I couldn't stretch out my arms without touching one."

She and my Father cleared the land together. The yard was full of poison ivy. My Father tried to burn it once she said. "Don't ever burn poison ivy," was a very early lesson. Apparently the oils become suspended in the air. My Father ended up with poison ivy itch everywhere... "Yes, even 'there'.

Then I remembered another story... my Mother and Father crawled the whole back yard, planting sprigs of grass and pulling weeds. It was comforting this weekend to crawl where they had crawled... especially since all the poison ivy is gone.

Thinking about moved on to more current events in my life. A little light shiner reminded me that it's OK to be confused.

It's OK to wonder which way to go.

Scoot, pull, rake....
Remember...
Process...
Think...
Sometimes, all you can do is gather up the broken pieces and keep going.

I stopped and stretched out on my back in the middle of the labyrinth. It was a beautiful sky.

Another 'remember' of childhood, lying in the yard with a friend. Finding dogs and rabbits in the clouds. Giggling.
Same yard. Wishing and dreaming, then and now.

On around the labyrinth I went.

Sometimes a bit of wine helps the whine.

Elephant tackles glass boulder.
Bunnies and Elephants and snakes... Oh My!

Tucked under the leaves, I found a tiny pine tree and a scrawny holy bush have taken root.

And the crawl continues back to where it began.

Life in the Tent

2009-11-21T17:04:00.003-05:00

It's lovely having a tented retreat spot. The lettuce has been planted, the bloomers are blooming.

I went on retreat this afternoon. Here's a cactus that is in full bloom now.

S-H-E-D House

2009-11-09T09:42:00.010-05:00

Or Tent City!

We had a busy weekend 'round the house.
I'd planned a work weekend as it's getting cooler and it is time to tuck plants into the green-tent and just generally button things down for the winter. But, mostly I wanted to add insulation under the house and needed help in doing so. Marsha was off work. I assumed Darrell would have some time to help also.

I forgot the part about Darrell being gone to a regional assembly. Oh well.... I scrapped the insulation idea and went forth on a backyard 'save the plants' mission. We have a green-tent. The green-tent is Marsha's territory. It's a tent style greenhouse that I bought on e-bay a few years back. It's a clear, well more like translucent, domed tent that does nicely for shoving the potted plants into. The only problem is, once all the plants are in, you really can't do anything except unzip the door and aim the hose in to water the plants. Simply not fun... we always made Darrell do it.
Sooooo.... I've tried something in addition to the green-tent this year.

There's a 'shed' in the backyard that my Father built. It's actually a nice little room now as I've cleaned it out. There's a twin bed, a couple of chairs and bookcases, and my hot tub out there. There's also an unused treadmill (it does make a nice towel hangar) but we won't discuss that.

The shed has a roofed patio. It's about 6 feet by 12 feet. A few years back, I hung a swing. The only problem with enjoying it is the mosquitoes. So mostly it has swung in the breeze by itself.

The brain gears started grinding in the past few weeks. "I wonder if I can enclose it with plastic for the winter?!?!" I checked things out and saw there was sturdy and ample room to staple plastic up. The only problem was... how to make room for the swing to swing as it is right at the outer edge of the patio. There's gotta be a way.

I decided that if I cut the plastic long enough that I could just anchor the plastic out a few feet away from the patio. It would hang at a gentle angle, but it should drain OK. Figured it was worth the risk. If it didn't work, it was only $20.00 worth of plastic.

Soooo... Friday, I unfurled 20 by 25 feet of plastic in the back yard. I split it into two pieces, each 10 feet wide and 25 feet long. I reinforced one edge with a duct taped hem. That would be my staple edge. Marsha came out to see what I was up to. She thought the project looked like a cool idea. She wandered around a bit then just as I was ready to take the first piece of plastic to the porch she decided to go clean the bathroom.

By this point I had realized just how big 10 by 25 feet is. This called for serious action. I whined. "OK, if you must clean the bathroom, I'll be fine, I'll get this plastic up all by myself.... you go ahead inside...."

It worked, she stayed outside to help. We draped ourselves in plastic and dragged the first piece to the patio. The stapling began. It was a messy job as Marsha soon found out. Palmetto bug turds from the gutter above rained down on us each time the staple gun snapped. I was very proud of Marsha who really, really doesn't like bugs, let alone bug turds.

As I was wrapping the wrapper behind the swing, she was down on the ground pulling the plastic farther and farther away from the patio. Before I knew it she had a tea olive bush inside the plastic. Then a lovely red verbena appeared inside. We discovered that if I pleated the plastic sheet that we could make our 'tent' even bigger. I pleated and stapled as she secured the lower edges with bricks.

Very soon, the first piece of plastic was secured. We stopped to admire. Way Cool! This may actually work! The second piece of plastic went up faster than the first as we had the technique down. We made an overlap door in the front.

We went inside to admire our creation. Getting Way Cooler! Marsha had arranged the walls so that two small flower gardens at the edge of the patio were under cover. It was getting dark so we went inside and washed the turds out of our hair.
Saturday I was on my own as Marsha had to work. I took the pressure washer inside and cleaned.

Probably backwards method... probably should have washed it down before hanging the plastic, but, hey, it worked. It made a really fun fog inside that lasted for a couple of hours. When it was reasonably dry I took in a garden table and chairs and some of the big potted plants that usually go in the green-tent.

Then I cleaned out the little gardens in the front of the patio. Sweet! I was on a roll. I went through the yard and started repotting summer long neglected plants. Got everyone tucked in with good clean dirt. I pounded nails into rafters and started hanging pots. It was turning into a masterpiece.

I sat and swang.

Polymer Clay Wedding Cake Topper and Chuppah Creation

2009-10-20T09:14:00.001-04:00

New Month

2009-07-05T16:43:00.013-04:00

Has it been a week already?

Is it July already?

Guess so.

I've been off work the past few days. Got an extra day off for the Holiday which was very nice. I took a full day of it to get laundry done. I got a week behind as there was a plumbing problem that had to be resolved on my usual laundry day.... I took the cheaters way out and just let it go for another week.

It wouldn't have been too bad except I hit the jackpot on Freecycle... and online, keep stuff out of the landfills by offering it to others for free. There was an offer for a bag of size small 'scrubs' and I thought what the heck, maybe I can be the first one to respond. I was. I got a nice bag full of pants and tops and jackets, perfect for around the house wear. I got them all washed and they're ready for wearing.

I've done a good bit of gardening the past few days also. I stacked a huge load of big rocks up in an open in the middle oval and created a raised garden area in the back yard. Darrell helped get it filled in with dirt and it's now ready for Marsha to plant.

The yard is rather wilted right now, we've had very little rain for a week or so with temperatures near 100. It's spitting rain right now, maybe it will get inspired and really rain soon.

In the meantime, here's my masterpiece of rock stacking. It was fun to do. I had to work in short spurts as I could only last for about 15 minutes in this heat. Marsha had the final say on the top layers of rocks, arranging them for artistic effect. There's more rocks in another spot in the yard, hidden under mulch. Perhaps they'll find their way to the rock garden... or perhaps not!

Today has been a clay day. I've made three little mirrors and two pens to take out to Flamingo Follies. The pens were a special request as this particular 'model' is selling well.

They're all doodle's in clay as creating that peacock necklace was such a major project. I'm ready to just mess around for awhile. The mirrors are all Christi Friesen Style.

The Flamingo is almost a direct copy of a project in her Bird Book. It was silly and fun project to do. The legs don't show up too well in the photo, but they're made out of seed beads, except for the knees. They dangle around nicely.

The next two mirrors are also CF style. I didn't follow any directions in particular, just used some of the methods I learned in classes with her.

The mirrors I used are just little pocket mirrors... two inches by three inches. It was interesting getting pictures of them without having reflections showing up. I held a big white lid plastic bin lid over them so that was all that reflected.

Looked funny, I'm sure but, whatever works!

And finally more of the cane and flower pens. I used a kaleidoscope cane that I made using directions from Carol Blackburn's book: How to make polymer clay beads. Lots of good ideas in her book and the directions are easy to follow.

Gena Jayne, who owns Flamingo Follies called and asked specifically for more of these pens. I've made two others. She sold one, refuses to sell the other one as she says it's HERS. So she's taking orders from people who want them.

These pens are made from Bic Round Stic pens, they don't melt at the required clay curing temperature. They're not retractable which is generally find for the ladies.

I've had some requests for retractable pens for the men. I've melted a lot of pens trying to find one that is 'bakable'. Can't find anything retractable in town.

I've found a source online of retractable pens made specifically for polymer clay artists... they're all metal and won't melt. My first order has arrived, but I haven't done any yet. They're got lots of parts that have to be assembled. I'll give it a go when I'm ready for a challenge again!

Micah Models

2009-06-28T17:47:00.005-04:00

This is Micah, Marsha and Darrell's youngest. She came to town to sing at a funeral at the family's request.

Her voice is heavenly. Before she changed out of her dress-up clothes she took a moment to model the peacock.

CF STYLE PEACOCK!

2009-06-27T18:31:00.008-04:00

Yes, I'm yelling... I think it's done! I crimped and beaded and strung and beaded and crimped all afternoon. I even made a trip out to Flamingo Follies to try it on a few people to check the length.

I must say it was a project and a half but I had a ball making it. Christi's directions are fantastic!

As I was finishing it up, I started to feel like a dragon in her lair... I was turning my treasure this was and that, checking for sparkle and counting beads and in general enjoying my wealth.

Next I will make earrings. They will be a minor project in comparison. They'll be flower dangles with a few dangles and maybe another dangle added for good measure.

Peacock Patina!

2009-06-24T21:47:00.004-04:00

I got the peacock necklace baked and patina-ed. First... I learned that Christi is right as usual(d*%^ it!!!!!!).... crappy sponges are much better than paper towels when it comes to wiping off the patina. I'd been using paper towels, fully convinced that it didn't matter. While I was roaming the dollar store I saw big sponges on sale for... one dollar so I bought one to humor Christi. I tore it into bits tonight and put it to use wiping off the patina. It's much messier than paper towels but it's instant success. The sink is splattered with paint but the peacock was done in a jiffy and is lookin' good.

I was in the bathroom working on it when Marsha came in. I told her about the sponge and also that I was not using browns to patina it, rather I was using bronze. She barely glanced at the color and said, 'No dear, you're using bright copper'. She was right... d*%^ it. She has a much better eye for color than I do. I used bright copper for the leaves and switched to silver; at least I think it was silver, I didn't ask for confirmation; for the peacock. Lovely mixing of metalics and it pops the peacock forward. He was a little too camouflaged before in my opinion.

I've planned the layout, nothing is strung yet, that will have to wait until tomorrow. It's a huge necklace, as Marsha says it's not a necklace, it's a shirt.

Two Kats at the Follies!

2009-06-21T20:31:00.006-04:00

I went to Flamingo Follies to visit Gena Jayne a couple of days ago. There was a lovely couple shopping there. I heard the gentleman call "Kathryn" and I turned to look. Seems the lady's name is Kathryn also and she spells it 'right'. So the only thing to do was to try on feathers and get our picture taken together. We had a blast choosing just the proper ensembles for our impromptu portrait. Aren't we the GRAND Ladies?

Today is my birthday. I'm 55! I celebrated by going to Walmart this morning. I bought a convection toaster oven for the kitchen. When I came home, I played musical toasters. I cleaned up the oven that was in the kitchen and brought it into the craft room. The craft room toaster will go to Flamingo Follies for demos and classes. Gena Jayne is going to let me keep some supplies at the shop so I'll be able to play while I'm there.

I've been making peacocks today. They're tricky little creatures. It took me several tries to get it just right, but he finally agreed to show off his feathers and is he every showy!

I think the necklace pieces are ready for baking but I'll probably wait until tomorrow to give it a last check before it goes in the oven. Then I'll have to figure out how to assemble all those little pieces. Then I'll have to make earrings....

then.....

Ahh well, it's time to move along.

Peacocks are Messy

2009-06-20T23:10:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy day. One last trip to Michaels to use another 50% off coupon. Then it was on to the dollar store. I found mirrors for $1.00. I'll decorate them with clay an put them out at Flamingo Follies.

I went out to Flamingo Follies for Gena Jayne's birthday party. I got to meet her family. I didn't stay for the whole thing, I wanted to get back home and play in clay. I'm going to start taking clay supplies out to the Follies so I can play out there while I'm visiting.

Ah well, I think it's time to head to bed....

Here's a picture of the peacock in progress. It's rather messy looking as there's many parts and none of them are connected yet. I'm trusting Christie that it will all come together! I'm having a bit of difficulty getting the peacock to look like a peacock. I think if I added an eye, it would help.

Peacock Two

2009-06-17T21:13:00.003-04:00

Working on the peacock necklace again tonight. It's growing! I'm not sure how this is all going to fit together but I'm following Christi's directions.... sort of...

Peacock in Progress

2009-06-17T08:24:00.005-04:00

I've started making a CF style peacock necklace. She very generously allowed Fire Mountain Gems to post her directions for this necklace after it was used as the cover photo for their newest catalogue.

I started in on it two nights ago, only to discover that IF I had crimp beads in the house they were well hidden. Since Michaels has a 50% off coupon this week, I knew it would be faster and easier to buy more rather than search my craft room.

Of course I had to skip around in the directions and 'find' my peacock last night before I finished the beads or even started on the dangles. He wanted to watch his home being created he said. So I allowed him to start morphing into the scene.

That's one of Christi's tools to the left. If you don't have one, you should consider getting one. I know that they make plastic ones 'just like it' but really does make a difference to have it in high quality metal. http://www.cforiginals.net/

The directions can be found at: http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/beading_projects.asp?docid=940K&doccat=projects

And now I've got to leave my peacock and scoot off to work!

Big Inro

2009-06-14T19:05:00.028-04:00

New Penni Jo Style Inro is almost done! Find Penni Jo 'stuff' at http://www.sweetbrierstudio.com/
or visit her blog here: http://claylady43.blogspot.com/
The Museum of Aviation Foundation holds an auction every year. Huge fundraiser. I was asked to make something and donate it to be auctioned. I'd worn my portrait inro to work and my boss thought it was really cool. She asked if it could be made bigger and would I make it and donate it.

Instead of a huge necklace I decided to make it as a small purse. It's been in progress for a couple of weeks...

I went to Michaels today to use my 50% off coupon and found a really cool way to display the inro during the auction. It's a wreath hook according to the label. It was in the wedding department. Whatever, I think it makes a good display method, it will get the inro up off the table and make it more visible.

Thank you Penni Jo!

Click on the pictures to see them BIG.

Yes A Blooming Cactus..

2009-06-13T11:48:00.008-04:00

... is an EVENT in my life!

I know this is redundant, but when a cactus blooms once a year, only at night and the bloom is wilted by dawn, I can't help but honor its efforts. We had two more blossoms last night. One of them was very unexpected. Darrell found it when he was taking out the trash.

When Marsha moved the big plant, it's in a pot, a piece of the cactus broke off. She stuck it in the ground and we sort of paid it no never mind. She figured it would either root or die. Last night the little thing bloomed. The flower was as big as the plant! I have to assume that it put down roots, but I'm not going to disturb it after its big night!

When I went outside to check on the big plant, I noticed there was a grasshopper sitting on the 'bud'. It's hard to refer to these buds as buds since they're about 6 inches long and as big around as my fist. I decided it was a good photo op, so I went and got my camera. The grasshopper hung around.

I snapped a few pictures and it was at that point that I decided I had to stay up for the bloomin' replay and settled in for a long evening.

Actually, it wasn't terribly long as Marsha gave me a Thai massage. That's the kind where you get 'walked on'. I bought some "learn how to do Thai massage" DVDs a while back and we've been practicing on each other. She walked on me for an hour. It was very good. I was relaxed enough that she was able to work deep muscles.

By 10:00 we settled in for

"The Event -

The Second Blooming".

We kept check on things and finally around 11:15 it was time for "Smelling the Flowers". As I said last night the scent is absolutely fantastic. We admired the little bloomer and marveled at it's ability to produce a flower "That Big". It opened first as it was in a darker spot in the yard. I took a few pictures of it.... do you want to see? Of course you do, because I want to show you!

The petals are chewed because every insect within a mile seems to be attracted to these flowers. This big blossom was close to the ground since it's on such a small plant. It was tucked behind the log when Darrell found it, so I pulled it out and propped it on the log.

After paying due homage to the little bloomer it was on to check the big bloomer. We danced around it getting the best angle for photos. Yes, it looks exactly like the other bloomers but with such a magnificent flower it just seems necessary to keep records of each flower.

Only.... this one turned out to be a little different. We have to keep the lights dim when we look at these flowers, otherwise they start to wilt. We do use flash on the cameras but otherwise it's dim lighting for this Event.

I downloaded the pictures to my computer to see what I got. I was very surprised to find that not only did I get a couple of good photos of the flower but the flower still had it's friend, The Grasshopper. It had stood guard as the flower opened.

There's still two buds left on the big plant. I think it will be a few more days before they are ready for their debut.

And, just because he's so cute.... Here's the Yo!Fred as I found him this morning. Yes, there's always bottles of paint on the sink, sometimes there's even more than that. You never know when you want to paint something... but first you have to get the cat's permission.

I know, I know....

2009-06-12T19:00:00.016-04:00

I should have updated this long ago. I've been avoiding visiting here as I didn't want to see how long it's been since I last checked in.

OK... the very quick update.. I went to Durham, NC to the GBS/CIDP Foundation International Board meeting right after the previous post. Had a wonderful time. Talecris allowed us to tour their pharmacutical facility to see how IVIG is produced. Very impressive and I darn near froze! Many of the areas we toured are kept at 45 degrees. Fortunately, we only looked at the freezer building from the outside... as it is maintained at -25 degrees. Many of you know that I do not have hot flashes, I have cold flashes. Nothing like 45 degrees in the middle of a cold flash!

As I was returning home from the airport on the shuttle, I noticed I had a runny nose. I attributed it to atmospheric pressure changes and my return to Georgia pollen.

Not.

By that evening, I had a full blown head cold. I was certainly glad I wasn't sitting beside me on the plane. By the time I recovered from that, I didn't even want to see how long it had been since I posted here, so like I said, I didn't come look.

So, what's the flower picture all about you wonder? Could it be that she's been surfing and found a pretty picture to copy and paste as a means of distracting from how long it's been since the last post!?

No, Last night, we had a cactus bloomage... A friend gave us cuttings from her night blooming cereus a few years ago. It's always bloomed in early September before, but I noticed a few days ago that the buds were forming. Last night we had four blossoms open. Heavenly scent, even if we did have to wait until almost midnight for them to open. We had to keep all the lights off in that end of the house so as not to delay the grand opening even more. We're going to have another flower open tonight. I haven't decided yet if I will stay up to honor it or not.

Here's Marsha taking pictures of the bloomers.

I've also been playing in clay.

Hopefully pictures tomorrow. I'm making a large inro to donate to the Museum of Aviation Foundation Auction.

There Phyll, I've blogged.

Oh! Hi Clara!

Flamingo Follies

2009-05-24T08:52:00.012-04:00

http://www.flamingofollies.com/

My wandering Friday took me to Flamingo Follies. I went only to humor Ginny, my ceramics instructor and mentor on becoming a cool senior citizen. Flamingo Follies has apparently been around, on the other side of town for a year or so. They recently moved to 'my' side of town. Ginny had been to the grand opening of the new/old building in Commercial Circle. Commercial Circle was the first downtown area but had long been forgotten as the city grew. It was very run down and neglected. A few businesses had opened in recent years but mostly, the city was aiming to tear down the buildings.... the buildings that are part of the community's early history.

Gena, the founder of Flamingo Follies, seems to be heading up a one woman crusade to provide emergency CPR to Commercial Circle. She doesn't want to see it die. She has opened Flamingo Follies to give local artists a place to showcase their 'stuff'. That's why Ginny told me to visit... she thinks it's high time I start showing off my 'stuff'. She told me that Gena takes 'stuff' on consignment. I told Ginny I'd tried that once before many, many years ago and it had been a disaster. Ginny told me to go look around anyway.

I do as I'm told...

sometimes...

sort-of...

if it pleases me...

Marsha and I left Ginny's ceramics class early to visit the Follies. Figured we'd do it on class time if we had to go. Shhhh... don't tell Ginny that skipping part of class was the only way to get us there!

We walked in the door and were greeted by Gena. Gena Jayne to be precise. One woman crusade to save Commercial Circle and to produce smiles while she does it.

Gena doesn't like shoes.

She showed us around the shop, regaling us with stories the whole time. Stories about her adventures. Stories about her artists. Stories about standing in the street in front of the store - barefoot - while arguing with people who wanted to tear down buildings.

Marsha and I hung around for over an hour, Gena wanted to see some of our polymer clay 'stuff'. All we could come up with were clay covered pens from our purses. We left them for Gena to use at the register and promised to come back later as we hadn't had lunch yet.

Flamingo Follies - Fling Two, took place after lunch with Darrell along for the drive. Gena had mentioned wanting to find a minister who would marry people who had been divorced... and Darrell is willing to do so with premarital counseling. Here's Darrell's church: http://www.fcc-wr.org/. Ya really ought'a check out the pastor's corner link there. The story of the congregation 'peeping' him is there.

Gena has a sweet little area that could be used for small weddings. So Darrell and Gena chatted about wedding options while Marsha and I wandered around.

When we wandered back, Marsha and I pulled out the polymer clay stuff that we'd taken in as examples. Gena is ready to sell. I ended up leaving two of my elf babies there for her to show off, just to see if people would be interested. I am already making pens to take back to sell. I think I'm going to take in Dad's antique, child sized desk to use as a display area for my products. It's small, it's sweet and it's in the attic with no place to go.

There's also an area in the shop that would be perfect for small classes in claying.... Gena has already found my first student, one of her other artists. I think this is going to be a fine new, "to be continued" adventure...

Classy Elfkins

2009-05-23T08:32:00.004-04:00

Here's pictures of the baked elfkins from the classroom. They will be finished next month with hair, wings and faces.

Elfkin Class at Last

2009-05-22T10:09:00.026-04:00

It was a cool and rainy night...
A perfect night for making babies.
It really was.

13 of us gathered for a baby elfkin making class.

Ginny picked up a carload of us and drove us to Lizella in the pouring rain. We arrived at Linda's house, a beautiful 100 year old restored farm house.

She had workspace ready for us.... two big tables. One was her dining room table, which I was really hesitant to use but she said, "She uses it all the time for crafting, it's OK!" So we got our craft stuff unpacked while the rest of the class arrived.

Ginny and Marsha had both had a 'pre-class' so they acted as assistants. Besides them, there were 10 students.

We had two tables of baby makers so Marsha stood at one table and Ginny stayed at the other. I scuttled between the two tables and did demos for each step and just helped as I was needed.
The ladies set to work at making babies. Only a couple of them had done much with polymer clay but they were sculpting like pros within a few minutes. They worked for over two hours and then we took a break. Linda had made scrumptious carrot cake and we all pigged out.
Marsha, Ginny and I packed everything up. The babies were nestled into fiberfill for the trip. Next month they'll be ready to get their wings and hair.

It's COLD

2009-05-18T18:34:00.003-04:00

OK, so here it is May 18 and I wore a coat to work this morning. I know I'm a wimp when it comes to cold, but it's cold. It was 54 this morning with winds of 30 mph and a heavy cloud cover. Tonight it's going to drop into the 40's.... in middle Georgia, in middle May. Of course I took the electric blanket off my bed yesterday and packed it up. Oh well! I'll probably be fussing that it's too hot in a few weeks.

I just finished drawing a diagram page for making (clay) babies. The class is Thursday evening. I'll be teaching a group of porcelain doll makers to sculpt with polymer clay. Marsha conditioned the clay last night and I pushed little cherub faces out of the Sweetbrier mold: Let's Face It. http://www.sweetbrierstudio.com/faces.htm I got them baked so everyone will have a head start on the project.

I expect it will be a hoot of a class as I've never taught a class before and they're pretty unfamiliar with polymer clay. I also expect that there will be 11 sweet elfkin babies well under way by the end of the evening. We'll be making the elfkins in two sessions, the next class will be in the middle of June. I'll take pictures of the fun and post them if the students agree to 'go public'.

I finished knitting my purple sweater from the cotton yarn I dyed a couple of weeks back. I should get up and take a picture of it, but that would mean I'd have to come out from under my blanket. Did I mention it's cold? I've decided that it simple must be adorned with polymer clay beads. I want 'unique' beads, but I'm not sure just what unique looks like yet, but they've got to dangle.

Speaking of unique, I just watched Christi Friesen's latest video... a screwed up heart demo. It's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwiUbF3S09I&feature=channel_page

OK, I braved the 'cold' and got up and took a picture of the sweater. I like the mottled design that happened in the dyeing, but it needs some interest.... hence my idea of polymer beads. Neckline for sure and maybe more at the hem.

The Little Fish Pond Video

2009-05-17T11:58:00.004-04:00

Here's out little garden oasis in action. The goldfish are about a year old, they survived the winter easily and still seem to be happy little campers. I made the birdbath part, that pours water back into the upper pond, out of cement. It was a fun project last spring. Enjoy!

Fishies and Fountains

2009-05-16T16:14:00.012-04:00

I announced last night that today was going to be a yard work day, and so it was. I landed at Home Depot by 9:00 this morning. I needed a new pump for my little pond - or so I thought. While I was in that department I also weakened and bought a small 'water fall form.... yes it's that black plastic fake thing (just like our ponds) but I wanted a way to create a little 'upper pond' and figured I could blend it in.

For non locals reading this... Home Depot is in the same shopping center as Ross. I tried my best to not go in but somehow it happened... so there I was wandering through a clothing store in my grungy, "I'm fixin' to work in the yard clothes". I did my best to keep a low profile and since they had just opened at 9:30 there was hardly anyone there. I was very pleased to find a fully lined pants suit on clearance for $9.99. I'll have to take the pants side seams in just a smidgen in the upper legs but otherwise it's very nice. (Boring but nice and definitely practical as it's washable.) It may find it's way to Durham with me when I go to the GBS/CIDP Board meeting in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, after that little side trip I tripped on home. Darrell was already outside cutting back some over sized bushes in the front of the house. Marsha was at the kitchen table working diligently at waking up. She is NOT a morning person but by 10:00 she was outside getting dirty. I was very impressed.

I stared at the ponds for a few minutes waiting for the fish to tell me where to put their waterfall. They barely made a peep. It appeared the decision was going to be left up to me. I came up with a general location and then let it settle in on it's own. I built up the ground under it to create a tilt for flow and was pleased to find that I had a spot to stick in a few flowers.

The fishies were very happy when the water started to pour into their home. They came up to check it out. Then the pump that I'd bought started making a horrible sound and the fish took a dive to the bottom of the pond. Can't say that I blame them. I pulled the pump out and read the directions. I discovered that it could be disassembled and that it was the same brand as the one that had been declared dead last night. I disassembled and cleaned and it was still noisy.

Hummpphhhh, I thought, I'll have to interrupt my dirty day and traipse back to Home Depot. I got to wondering if the trashed pump was accessible in the garbage can. I went and looked and bless Marsha's heart, she'd arranged it so that the plug was ready to grab in case I changed my mind. I grabbed and the pump came back out. I took it all apart and lo and behold, all it needed was a good cleaning. I put it back in the pond and hooked it up to the waterfall and it was good.

When we 'broke' for lunch, I filled the kitchen sink with water and put the new fountain in it to see if I could figure out how to make it run quietly. I couldn't. About that time Marsha came inside and I told her the problem. She stood and glared at the fountain and told it she did not like that sound at all... and it suddenly got quiet. When she walked away it got noisy again so she went back and glared at it again. We let it run for over an hour and it never grumbled again.

I got the retaining wall in the right spot and finished back filling with dirt... making sure that each grain was perfectly located. :-) Marsha came over and suggested that we fill the waterfall section with rocks for a more natural look and she went and retrieved some pretty rocks from another part of the garden and washed them. It was looking good.

In the meantime Darrell had gone to Home Depot to buy more 'important stuff'. While he was gone the dark clouds started rolling in. Marsha and I commented on the fact that if Darrell were around he'd try to make us go inside.

Sure enough, as soon as he got back home he pointed out that it was thundering and the clouds looked really threatening and didn't we think that maybe we shouldn't be outside.... We merely acknowledged that he was indeed right about the color of the clouds but, "Oh well we thought they looked very nice" and keep playing with our rocks.

Marsha arranged a medicine circle of rocks last year near the ponds. The area where she put it had become overgrown and it just didn't seem like the right place anymore. She wandered around, stamped her feet and muttered occasionally.

Then she announced that it goes 'right here'. And pointed to a spot in front of the ponds. She was considering succumbing to the oncoming storm and going inside. I challenged her to get the medicine circle moved before it started to rain because the rain would help settle the rocks. She took me up on the challenge... within a few minutes she had the basic design laid out and it it lovely. She reserves the right to move things around a bit but I bet it got done right the first time!

If you want to see it better, click on the picture and it will 'blow up' big.

Not Much

2009-05-12T18:38:00.004-04:00

Quarantine is over. Whatever it was that Darrell caught had pretty much run it's course by Sunday evening. I went back to work Monday and am back into the busy-ness of the world. During the quarantine, I discovered how often I go shopping because I need something to do instead of because I need something.

Since I wasn't supposed to go out, I found other things to do... projects that have been sitting around waiting for me to get a round tu-it got started. I pulled out the yarn I dyed and started knitting. I got diagrams drawn for the elfkins to use when I teach the ladies how to make them next week. Sometimes I puttered and putzed and didn't get a whole lot done.

I learned that rummaging in the freezer and the pantry can turn up all kinds of interesting food combinations. I rediscovered the fun of sitting in the window with a cat and watching the weather go by. I now know there's a very young chipmunk that's taken up residence in the front yard. It likes to sit in a patch of sunshine.

The craft room is no longer full of beds. I got the trundle pushed back under the daybed this morning. The spiny dog bones are put away. The cookies are stashed out of doggie reach. The floor's been vacuumed, all in all, it's kind of boring looking.

I took the fairy princess pin to the grandma. She was thrilled. She sat and looked at it for quite a long time. She says it looks just like her grand daughter. Now I must figure out my next project direction for after I have the (clay) baby making class. I've had a request for an inro to donate to a fundraising auction at the Museum of Aviation www.museumofaviation.org so that will probably be next on the agenda.

I'm going to make it bigger than the previous one so I'm not sure it will be by definition an inro but I'll use the technique that I learned at the Orlando Fandango. I'm going to make a very small purse with a shoulder chain on it. I've already found the perfect chain at Hobby Lobby. I think I'm going to decorate it in the Christi Friesen style. Since it's going to be 'large' I'm going to experiment with layers of clay with a wire mesh encased inside to make sure it's durable. I'm thinking on it.

Ain't Life Grand?!

2009-05-09T18:38:00.010-04:00

Alrighty folks, this house has gone to H*ll in a hand basket. As previously mentioned we're quarantined - grounded - stuck. Darrell has some kind of, as yet to be identified, virus or infection that is mimicking Swine H1N1 flu. Swine flu tests out negative but the Doctor grounded all of us anyway. Darrell went back to the Doctor this morning to have blood drawn to check for any identifiable virus and bacteria. He's actually starting to get better, his fever is retreating. He is on three antibiotics now so we doubt that anything is alive in him that would show up in the blood work. Oh well. If Marsha and I don't get sick, we're allowed out on Monday. This started Wednesday evening.

Soooo.... Marsha has moved into the craft room as "She ain't sleepin' with him!". We have a daybed in here, but the cats sleep on it at night. We knew there was no chance in #$%^& that they'd share with her so accommodations had to be made. We pulled out the trundle bed for them so she could have her own bed. The room is pretty much taken up with beds as there seems to be no reason to push the trundle back under the daybed since she's camping out in here again tonight.

See the rubber mallet on the end of the bed? That's what I use for softening hard polymer clay. Yo!Fred, the cat, covets it. It's his favorite toy. It's a strange household. The mallet is on the trundle bed to entice him to sleep there on his little blue towel which he also favors lately. That little blue towel is his new fetish. We're calling him the 'little blue tow'l boy'. He doesn't seem to mind the new name.

I just stepped on the nylon, or whatever it is they make it out of, dog bone that's under the bed. It's well chewed and spiny on the bare foot, but I'll survive. The huge fan is because Marsha is the master of hot flashes. Everybody knows it, so I'm allowed to write it here. I think she's rather proud of being such a good flasher.

Back to the dog... we heard her crunching on the other side of the trundle bed this morning. Didn't have a clue what she'd found. Didn't want to look, but figured we'd best investigate anyway. She'd managed to get the lid off our cookie container and was helping herself. I retrieved the container and the remaining cookies. They didn't look too slobbery so Marsha and I are now eating 'dog cookies' when we need a snack. We've also discovered that the dog has probably eaten the cat's food today. She's enjoying her quarantine, and she doesn't even have a Doctor's note. Let it hereby be know to anyone from work who is reading this, Marsha and I do have Doctor's notes! Darrell doesn't need one as anyone who takes one look at him quickly backs away.

The craft room is the command post of the house right now. It's as far away from Darrell as we can get. Marsha and I both have laptop computers so we've got them set up between the two beds in here. We're both playing the computer game "Return to Ravenhearst". It's a mystery game. It won the Game of 2008 award. Most of the game is a mystery to both of us and we're faking our way through it. We're taking copious notes as we try to find our way around the manor where it takes place.

Here's the daybed where we're camped out. It's covered with bits of papers with strange looking symbols, series of numbers, little drawings and reminders of what's in each room of the manor and how to get to the care-giver's cottage and where the fuel is to get the trolley car running if we could just find the funnel. You'd have to play the game to understand that. We also have a collection of phone numbers. The problem is we don't know which phone numbers are for the game (there's phones to dial in it and all the numbers are secret) and which ones are for Doctors and friends. We just sort of dial in the game and on the phone using the same lists and wait and see if anyone answers at either place. We have a variety of phones mixed into the mess of papers and cookies and computers. If something rings one of us scrounges under the papers trying to figure out which phone it is. We don't care who's it is anymore, we're just happy to talk to anyone.

Marsha just announced she needs a dog cookie.

I've been alternating playing Ravenhearst with writing up directions for making babies. I could just leave it at that and let those of you who are new to this blog wonder about it... or I could explain. There's pictures on down in the blog of little polymer clay fairies. I'm going to teach some ladies how to make them later in the month. I needed some basic diagrams for them to use as 'go bys'. I also took photos of each step of the process of making (clay) babies and they might get posted here. Or they might not. It depends, on what, I'm not sure.

Darrell just reported his temperature. It's on the way back up. Oh well. He just said he'd go away now. He's not allowed in here as this is the uncontaminated room, if you can believe that from the pictures!

Here's what the other side of the room looks like, simply because I want to record the mess.

This is where the cookie container was tossed last night to the dog's delight. This is also the path I have to travel to get to my clay play table. If I'm very careful, I can even sit in the chair. There's a little half baked fairy over there somewhere.

See the pretty box? That had one of Marsha's Mother's Day presents in it. Actually the box is in part of the present. An inflatable foot bath. She hasn't tried it yet. There's my shoes. If I wore them I wouldn't get stabbed by dog bones.

For supper, we scrounged. We had boiled potatoes with carrots. I pulled everything out of the freezer in search of protein to add to it. I was successful. We had a few frozen turkey (meat)balls. I also found two artichoke spinach patties. A search of the refrigerator turned up 4 onion rings. We had a jar of turkey gravy and we feasted... well sort of anyway and there's always dog cookies for dessert.

So that's how our day is going. And you know, it's all good. Marsha and I are not sick and have no signs of getting sick. Darrell is getting better. The dog is happy and well fed... and Marsha just yelled "Olive" at her computer game. I need to go feed the fishies. I wonder if they'd like cookies too?

And the Yo!cat just came in to check on his mallet. He's a happy little tow'l boy.

We are blessed!

Fairy Princess

2009-05-08T14:50:00.012-04:00

It's been a busy, crazy household the past week. Darrell has a vicious flu virus, not Swine - H1N1, not Avian either, according to the tests but nevertheless he's been very sick. Marsha and I have pretty much been confined to the house under Doctor's arrest to see if we're going to get it and to keep us from spreading it someplace else. Our plans are that we will NOT get sick!

I have had the opportunity to catch up on a clay project that I started a week or so back. I didn't post pictures as I wanted the lady I'm making if for to see it irst. She hasn't seen it in person yet, but she has seen a picture of it almost done.

Now, I think the little lady is done... Here we have the little fairy princess.

I used Penni Jo's (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennijo/) tutorial for the oil pencil drawing for the face.

This just in!!!! Her video tutorial is online. You can see it at http://polymerclayproductions.com/videos/

Here's the little princess in progress with a black and white line drawing that I used as a guide for drawing on the clay.

I combined the Penni Jo style portrait with Christi Friesen style feathers.

You can see her 'stuff' at http://www.cforiginals.net/ It's worth the click just to get the free downloads.

Blue Yarn!

2009-05-01T19:04:00.011-04:00

I decided to conduct the great yarn dyeing experiment last week. I didn't get it posted as I was under assault by a new medication. I have lots of cotton yarn left over that I never got knitted for my Mother. It's all very bland colors so I haven't been inclined to do anything for myself with it. Somehow, in a google, I came upon a website about dying yarn so I decided to give it a try.

It started with a trip to Michaels with a 40% off coupon. I bought a tie dye kit. I opened the box and stared into it, then dumped it all out.... there were lots of rubber bands. The cats in this house like rubber bands, they make great toys so there was some cat happiness for awhile. I attempted to stuff everything back into the box for the evening.

I wound my yarn into hanks and tied them off. I used a pale peach color and was planning on using blue dye on it.

Marsha says I have to credit the photo to her, so here's the credit. First photo by Marsha who managed to not cut off my head! I took the second photo though.

The next day, I put on old clothes and even rubber gloves. I usually skip the gloves as I find colorful hands to be amusing, but for once I decided to follow the rules.

I rummaged through the tie dye box and pulled out the squeeze bottle with blue powered dye in it. I added water. It was looking kind of purple to me but I figured with a good shaking it would be blue. Not so, it seems purple dye powder looks blue.

Change in plans. I decided right then and there that I wanted purple yarn. I started squirting and squishing the dye into the yarn. When I ran out of purple dye I declared the yarn dyeing done. I covered the yarn, tucked it in and let it sit over night.

The next day, I uncovered the yarn and untied the hanks and hung it up carefully. It dried beautifully and is waiting to be turned into a summer sweater.

Elfing sighted!

2009-04-24T16:33:00.016-04:00

I went to ceramics class today and all the finished elfkins were there for a photo-op! They posed nicely and seemed happy to be together again. I think Ginny is hooked on polymer clay. She's coming over again tomorrow to play.

Inro Out!

2009-04-21T15:12:00.014-04:00

From Wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inro An inrō was a case for holding small objects. Because traditional Japanese garb lacked pockets, objects were often carried by hanging them from the obi, or sash.

I just finished making my inro. I took Penni Jo's inro class at the Orlando Fandango last month. I used the basic directions and sized up for credit card. Again, a thank you to Penni Jo for coming up with idea of a credit card sized inro and sharing her ideas and pictures online. While she was teaching the inro class, she did a demo for drawing portraits on clay. Amazing is all I can say. After the Fandango, she wrote a tutorial and provided lots personal email and Skype help to get me started doing portraits. You can see her art here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennijo/sets/

I used as inspiration a photo of my Mother when she was eight. It is a tiny, blurry, sepia picture. I enlarged it so I could see it better then started drawing it on a piece of baked clay. I used a 10 to 1 Super Sculpey, white Premo mix. The same that I used for the elfkins. It seemed like a nice sepia toned base to work on.

I wanted the cameo to be the centerpiece of the inro. I attached it to the top half of the inro only so that when the inro is opened, the portrait remains intact. I created the bottom half of the surrounding frame so that it will remain stationary when it is opened. I used lots of cornstarch in the baking to keep the cameo from sticking to the bottom frame.

Here it is closed. I used a ribbon for the neck cord. I bought chain for it but I did not like the look. it was too delicate and too modern looking.

This morning when I was at Michaels I went through their clearance ribbon and found lovely sepia toned narrow ribbon. It worked well. I did attach a section of chain to one end of the ribbon and a clasp to the other end so the wearing length is adjustable. (Click on the picture for the big view.)

Here is the open inro. It is just the right size to hold a credit card, a driver's license, a bit of cash and a key. You can see in this photo how the portrait slides out of the frame.

And of course the back could not be plain....

My next project (besides claying).... I think I will try dyeing cotton yarn. I used my Michaels coupon this morning to buy a tie dye kit. I've googled the process, and I think I'm ready to tackle it. I'll knit it into a summer sweater.

Making Babies (Clay that is!)

2009-04-19T11:20:00.033-04:00

Yesterday, Ginny, Marsha and I got together. I was the designated teacher as I'd been practicing making babies for the past week or two. Ginny is in a group of porcelain doll artists. They want to learn how to sculpt in polymer clay. Ginny asked if I would give it a go.

I had told Ginny that she would have to learn to sculpt a baby before the class so that she'd be able to help. I wasn't going in to the class without an assistant. As it turns out Marsha is off work the day of the class so she too will be an assistant next month at the 'real' class.

We 'set up shop' yesterday afternoon for a trial run. I preconditioned the clay. Ten parts Super Sculpey to one part white Premo. I had a few preliminary diagrams drawn for Marsha and Ginny to use as size guides. We settled into the craft room and got to work.

First we made little balls of different sizes, using the diagrams I'd drawn and positioned them in the right places.

That's the butt ball off to the right by itself. Every baby elf's gotta have a decent little butt.

We were moving right along and I assured Marsha and Ginny that little hands and feet would magically appear soon. After all elves are magical little beings and given a chance they'd pop right out of the clay. I told them that with just a little nudge of assistance here and there, they'd venture forth into the room. Ginny wasn't quite believing me yet, she was still nervous about finding that first tiny hand. Marsha was very quiet, I think she was trying to sneak up on her elf.

Before we knew it though, we all had heads, arms and legs. We did use a Penni Jo Sweetbrier mold for the face to give us a head start. Those were baked first, then the back of the head was attached. That way, nobody lost their noses in the head smooshing.

That's Ginny's on the left, mine in the middle. Notice both our elves are surprised to find so much of themselves showing. Marsha's elf, on the right, is cool and calm. Marsha apparently gently sort of pulled her's out of the underbrush... very quietly without waking her up. She has a calmer little creature who's still snoozing.

Marsha's elf legs were especially cute! I had to take a separate picture. It seems her elf was going to be a bit chunky.

We went on our search for our little elve's bodies. They were still holding out on us. Using the biggest ball of clay, we asked them to appear. It was amazing!

Here's Marsha's fat little elfkin. It seems this little creature already has the sleepy giggles. Marsha must have tickled her elf out into the open.

Marsha and her baby were starting to bond!

Ginny and Marsha were both engrossed in finding their elves.

Ginny's little girl is long and lean... It took a bit of extra attention for Ginny to get her elf's body out of the underbrush. She pulled and nudged and finally got her baby all the way out. Then suddenly, with one last tug, there she was, a cute little butt nekked elf. There was a big grin on both their faces.

Ginny's elf startled her at one point when she suddenly began to develop cute little baby wrinkles as Ginny move her arms and hands around to find out what position she liked best.

The little elves moved to the warmer (oven) so we could convince them to stay around and not go hiding under bushes again, without permission anyway.

As soon as the babies were out of their warmer and cooled off a bit, it was time for a hairy adventure. We asked their opinions on hair color. Ginny's elfkin was adamant, had to be pink. So pink it was. Marsha's elf insisted on a firey look to help her pretend to be awake.

We found their wings hidden in a bottle of Kato Liquid Clay. A bit of wire from under the bushes and some tiny glass beads for shine, all elf babies need shine, and our elf wings were ready for the warmer also.

We used E-6000 glue to attach the wings. It was getting late so we decided to do the eyes on our own later when the hands were steadier. Here's the three little elfkins, all decked out in their wings and hair. If only they could see! I'll post the final portrait soon...

HIgh Hopes!

2009-04-16T14:22:00.006-04:00

Yesterday's wanderings took us to the Lowe's Nursery department. The yard is a considerable challenge because it is so shady. There is an area at the front door of the house that does get a bit of sunshine.

It had been a mess. It's where all the mistreated variegated ribbon grass used to be. The ribbon grass was relocated to bordering the labyrinth in the backyard. Moving it opened up a lovely garden area at the front door. Something had to be done with it before I had a hissy fit. I hiss a lot, sometimes for reason, sometimes for no reason.

Marsha and I traipsed out to find 'filler'. Now of course it had to be inexpensive (read cheap) stuff since it's annuals and it had to be colorful. We ended up with begonias, impatiens, portulaca and marigolds. All tried and true in this area.

Everything was bloomin' in the Nursery and it took quite a bit of time to find just the right pots, this one... no, this one... maybe this one? It also took quite a bit of time looking at all the stuff that wasn't right. Wasn't right meant it required lots of water or a little bit of attention. Put it down. No, step away from that one too, NO way, that thing needs swampland water levels to grow.

I did weaken and buy a water plant to put in the backyard 'pond' to keep the fat goldfish company. I've wanted a lily since I put the pond in. The water lily requires full sunlight, which it won't get, but it does have a bird's nest a few feet above it, so maybe that will work too. The baby birds in it sound quite sunny in disposition. If it really won't grow there, I'll put it in a pot of water and find it a sunny spot, maybe on the roof. But I digress.

Marsha really coveted a bunch of tomato plants, I jokingly suggested she could put pots on the roof to as it's the sunniest spot in the yard. She took me seriously. We may be sprouting tomatoes on the roof soon.

Darrell, called to reel us in from the store around 6:30. Supper was ready. We headed home with our 'stuff'. After turkey bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches we headed outside to get everything planted. Getting everything planted the day it's bought is a record in our house. Generally, we put everything to the challenge of surviving in a too small pot with absolutely no water for two weeks. If it lives, it gets planted. We're giving stuff a fighting chance this year.

So, here we have a picture of the front garden.... everything's planted far apart with high hopes! If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can almost see the tiny plants! Marsha tells me that the rosebush from Pasaquan is out there too, I have yet to find it. Oh well...

Inro at 8:30

2009-04-14T20:32:00.002-04:00

Here's the inro so far. The inro portrait was done on the Super Sculpey 10 part to Premo white 1 part. I decided to go with a bit of cream color instead of a light base to get more of a sepia look. The flowers and leaves are from a Sweetbrier mold. It's a 'special' one that every student in Penni Jo's class at the Orlando Fandango received in the class packet.

The portrait slides out of the bottom half of the framework when the top is opened. I haven't quite decided yet how to 'do' the necklace cord, although it will be attached to the sides of the inro.

My wanderings today included a trip to the Dentist to double check the crown I got a couple of weeks ago. Everything met with her approval. I don't have to go back until July.

Sarah at Eight

2009-04-13T20:06:00.004-04:00

This is a practice portrait for my practice inro. I'm making a credit card inro. This is a portrait done from a tiny school picture of my Mother when she was 8. The drawing is done with Penni Jo's tutorial using oil pencils and a waterproof fine nib pen.

I'm using a piece of balsa wood wrapped with paper for my inro form. When I went hunting for something to use as a form, I was very surprised to see just how big a credit card is!

Spring Blossom

2009-04-12T18:59:00.006-04:00

Here's my little Spring Blossom. I took Penni Jo's advice and mixed Super Sculpey ten parts to 1 part of Premo white. Eyes are painted with acrylics. Body color is done with pastels and a soft brush.

The 'hair' is made from a cane I made at the St. Augustine Fandango. Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg had us all caning like maniacs in her Petalmania class.

I made the wings of wire and Kato liquid clay. I sprinkled tiny glass beads into it before baking. I was surprised to find that some of the beads were not color fast. Not to worry, it provided a lovely swirl of color through the wings.

Next project is a sepia portrait inro... I think.... (unless I get sidetracked and go off on another tangent.)

Today's Fairy Fun

2009-04-12T15:25:00.013-04:00

Yes, I'm obsessed. I've got to 'get it right'. Here's the first fairy for today. I'm finally over the frustration and am finding a degree of satisfaction in the finished fairy. I'll let this one keep her wings.

This little one is made of Premo. I switched back as I simply wasn't satisfied with the Super Sculpey. It darkened too much in the oven. I did find that now that I'm more confident in what I'm doing that I'm working the clay less and the Premo was more cooperative as it didn't have time to melt in my fingers.

Oh! I just pulled the next fairy out of the oven. Penni Jo suggested I make a mix of 10 parts Super Sculpey and 1 part Premo or Kato white. I did. I like the effect. No more little white moons in the clay and no more darkening in the oven. I'll have to figure out a way to add a touch of color as I don't have Genesis paints yet. Perhaps pastel chalks will work with it also. Pictures soon!

Fairy Too

2009-04-11T19:59:00.006-04:00

I've been at it again today, trying to come up with a fairy/elf that I can teach to a group of porcelain doll makers who have no experience with polymer clay. This fairy is about 3 and a half inches long... curled up.

They want to sculpt and I gather they wanted to sculpt yesterday. I wrote down some basic directions as I went along making this little lady. Now at least I'll be able to duplicate the size.

I used a Penni Jo mold for the face. It's the only way to go. It's the #1016 Lets Face It mold.

It's available at http://www.sweetbrierstudio.com/faces.htm.

I've stayed out of the yard today. I 'bout did myself in the past two days, hauling and digging up plants and then digging holes to put the dug up stuff in... in a different spot. I thought I'd take it easy today although I've been puttering around the house all day and am nearly as tired as I was yesterday.

I did get around to a 'remake' of a pants suit that I got on eBay. It's raw silk so I decided it was worth the effort. The pants had an elastic waist that just didn't fit right. I opened the back seam, measured for darts and then put in a zipper. It's a much nicer fit now. I wanted to get it done for a trip to Durham NC the end of May. I'll be attending the GBS/CIDP Foundation International Board meeting.

Other than that, I think I need to shower and get ready to head to bed. I was up late last night. There was a 'crash' in the night that I had to investigate. Never did figure out what it was. Oh well!

Gardening and Labyrinth-ing

2009-04-10T17:11:00.006-04:00

I've been gardening all afternoon and I am tired. I started in the front yard, cleaning out the gardens at the front porch. Dad had planted variegated ribbon grass many (many) years ago. I don't remember the front yard without it. It was his pride and joy, especially when a local Nursery asked if they could dig it up - for a good price. Dad refused and guarded that ribbon grass for the rest of his life.

Well, it had seen better days. I had not taken care of it as he had and the lawn grass was taking it over. Today, I started digging it up to transplant to a better spot. It has certainly opened up the front yard gardens and will make it much easier to keep the area clean. Previously when I used the leaf blower, it was a constant battle to get the grass clippings or leaves up and over the ribbon grass, now it's a 'clean shot'. Without the ribbon grass, small annuals will also be more visible.

The ribbon grass is being moved to the back yard. I'm putting it around the outside border of my labyrinth. It's partway done, it's visible in the picture above, if you click to 'blow it up'. Upper left hand corner and in toward the middle. I like the effect it has, it's pulling the labyrinth and the yard together. The labyrinth feels more organic with it also. There's still a lot of ribbon grass to more, but it will get done.

In the meantime, I'm already in my 'jammies' and am propping my feet up resting. The weather report calls for rain tonight. That will help the transplants tuck in.

Little Elf

2009-04-08T21:38:00.005-04:00

OK, I'm not particularly satisfied but here she is. She's a bit rough around the edges.

Definitely need firmer clay for the next try. I do think the wing method has potential. With this little lady, I was just trying for some kind of wing to finish her. I experimented with liquid polymer clay, mica powder and liquid glass.

I bought the liquid glass at the Orlando Fandango and this was my first experiment with it. It does give a very glassy finish. I think I'll add another coat of it tomorrow.

From top of the flower to the tip of her toes, she's 3 and a half inches long.

Elfkin Alert.... or sleeping

2009-04-06T21:12:00.006-04:00

I've pulled out my polymer clay this evening. I'm attempting to make a baby elf. Here she is in rough draft. Smoothing, wings and detailing to follow.

I have discovered that the 'new' clay is truly very, very soft and mushy. The other projects I've made, it's been OK, but I really missed the 'old' formula tonight. I think if I'm going to try any more babies, that I need to use something besides Premo.

When I made people before I used Super Sculpey. I don't know if they've upgraded/softened that or not. I also noticed that there's a Fimo clay available especially designed for making 'people' or elves too I suppose!

Pasaquan Picnic

2009-04-05T11:09:00.015-04:00

Yesterday was a beautiful, spectacular, warm and sunny day. Darrell packed a picnic lunch for us. We loaded our chairs and ourselves into the car and took out about 10:30.
When we got there we tumbled out of the car, ready to greet our old friend. First into the main house to check in with Penny and John. We met some board members, I tried to sell a few books and then we made a mad dash around, just to make sure the 'haunts' were doing well. We did noticed a bit of deterioration, but we'll all getting older.

We went to the car and retrieved our lunch and headed out to the big pecan tree for lunch. Turkey salad, corn chips, a fantastic 5 grain bread and marshmallow pinwheel cookies for desert. Penny came out and took out picture, wishing more people would make similar use of the wonderful 'tuck in' places that abound at Pasaquan.

After lunch, we soaked in the sunshine and the spirit of St. EOM. All was good.

Bumblebees abounded and we watched them for a long time, wondering aloud about their strange arrangements of flying. Many were flying in groups of three. They'd fall to the ground, then two would fly away leaving the third one to recover awhile before it too flew away. Does it take three bumble bees to mate?! I googled but didn't find out much about the threesomes!

Marsha and I sat and crocheted and knitted respectively while Darrell read. I felt like I was adding a few rows in memory of St. Eom to my sweater. I will think of Pasaquan whenever I wear that sweater now.

When I got tired of knitting, I wandered in to chat with Penny. She told me about her Mother.... 93 years old, still living alone in Atlanta. She said that she is really enjoying her time with her Mother and that when she dies, there will be no regrets... no should haves, no if only's. It's a lovely 'place' to be. I was able to enjoy the same kind of relationship with my Mother.

Before we left, Marsha, Penny and I wandered the ground of Pasaquan. Penny allowed us to take cutting from a pear-apple tree to see if we could root them. It produces the most wonderful fruit. Then I found a small rosebush that had rooted away from the mother bush. She found me a shovel and encouraged me to dig it up. Then she encouraged me to dig up a Canna Lilly from Eddie's garden. Darrell helped with that as it was in a very rocky area.

I left feeling very rich indeed!

Rainy Day in Georgia

2009-04-02T11:31:00.003-04:00

And so begins my first blog. I've been meaning to get going on one but I've been a little nervous about it. I mean, what if somebody actually reads the thing?

I'll be posting all kinds of 'stuff and nonsense'. Hopefully this will provide an incentive to make polymer clay things. That will come under the heading of 'stuff'. Nonsense will be reports about everything else. My first nonsense report will probably be about my upcoming trip to Pasaquan. If you're interested, here's where you can read more about it. http://www.pasaquan.com/

I visited there when I was in College. I tucked it into a blank spot of my brain for many years. I wondered if what I remembered had been a figment of my imagination. Last year, Pasaquan was featured in a local magazine. I went there with friends for the creator's 100th birthday party. He was absent, having left his earthly existence many years before, but a fine time was had by all. This weekend's plans include a return to Pasaquan.