Wha'da'ya Think???

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

Happy Passover Y'all!

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

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

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

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

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

New Month

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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.