Thing a day challenge

http://polymerclaycentral.com is having "a thing a day" challenge. We are making 1 thing a day in Febuary featuring polymer clay and posting it to the website for all to enjoy.

My day 1 project was the teardrop shaped necklace and pendant. The pendant base and the accent beads are made with polymer clay.

Day 2 project is the beads and pendant base all made with polymer clay.

Day 3 project is the beaded pendant from day 2.....

So far I am keeping up, I have the Grandkids the next couple of days so we will see.

Victorian Poinsettia Brooches

I have always liked Victorian styled things around the holidays. I think these 2 brooches have a Victorian look to them.

When I started making them the other day I had intended for them to be pendants on necklaces. By the time I finished the beading and making the ruffles edges they were way to big for pendants. So.....brooches they became. In the end I think it worked out for the best. I'll take the beads I made for the necklaces and turn them into a bracelet and earrings.

The soft diamond one is my favorite. I like how the champagne beads and black opal seed bead ruffle frame the bezel.

on work table......earrings, earrings and more earrings......

Blog Love

I wanted to give my blog a little love today I have been very neglectful.

I have been very busy getting things ready for the upcoming fall craft show season. It is my favorite time of year. The Mid-west has a great amount of festivals. I like the fall ones best because the air is crisp and fresh and people are starting to get in the holiday spirit.

Every year I do a 10 day show called The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival. It is a county wide celebration of arts, crafts and food. If you would like to check it out Google Parke County Covered Bridge festival.

So getting ready is a lot of preparation which I love. It beats the hell out of working a straight job again.

I am posting some photos of a necklace I made today. I am calling it "Bohemian Beauty" or something like that.
When I found the pendant mounting I fell in love with it, I think it has a cool exotic look to it. I mounted some vintage crystals and a polymer clay cabochon to finish the pendant. I made some beads to go with the cabochon and strung them with hemitite rice beads.

In my stash I had the cool brass bead caps and the perfect clasp. I think they all came together to make a pretty necklace. It measures about 23 inches long. I think it would look beautiful worn with a black moc turtle neck or a peasant blouse , it will make a bold statement for sure.

On work table another cool mounting I found waiting for my to make some beads and a cabochon for it.

I love my job!!!!!

Do you wanna win a free bar of handmade soap?

All you have to do to win a free bar of soap is come up with the winning name for this necklace I made today. Think of a name and post it in comments section; I will choose the winning name on Saturday April 25th.

This necklace was fun to design and has what I think is a cool design feature...it is really 2 necklaces in one because it is reversible. The pattern on the focal bead is different on each side as is the beaded bezel.

The focal bead in the pendant is made with polymer clay, ink and gold leaf. I made the free form bezel out of gazillion glass seed beads. The beaded necklace measures 20 inches and is finished with a goldtoned lobster clasp.

Good luck with the contest; I am interested in reading what people come up with.

New Necklace

I have been enjoying beadweaving my lentil beads. I made this necklace with reversable pendant yesterday. It is much prettier in real life; I am happy with it.

Today I am going to make some floral lentils for some pretty spring designs and change the bezel style some. Maybe add some fringe dangles with some of the crystal flower beads I have.

I listed the red one I made the other day on Sunday in my Etsy shop and it sold in less the 10 minutes. I was shocked it sold so fast and pleased because it will be going to someone who really likes it. I am going to list this one later in Etsy and Artfire hopefully someone will like it too.

I got a beautiful fancy professional beading loom today that I am excited to start using and designing for it. This loom is so pretty it's almost a display as well as a tool. I am thinking maybe a floral patterned bracelet would be nice.

I have other looms that are not 1/2 as nice as the new one, I think I'll keep them to teach my Grandkids with when they get older.

Keep on trying

I really like making hollow lentil beads I think they make great pendants and earrings except for one thing...no matter how carefully I trim and sand the beads the seam in the side still shows a little and it bothers me. So I have been working on different ways to design aroud the seam to make it less noticable.

I have made polymer clay bezels they work nicely but still not exactly what I wanted.
I have wire wrapped them that works great because of the channel the joint creates and the wire covers that really well but still not exactly what I wanted.

So last night I was messing with some of my seed beads and I created after much trial and error this bead net bezel in the photo and lo and behold it does everything I want it to do.....no visible seam in bead showing and I think the beads really enhance the pretty polymer bead. The pendant is reversible because the bead and bezel are just as pretty on the other side. I will be using the bezel a lot now for my lentils. I can leave it basic and conservative like this one but it also has a lot of possibility for further embellishment for those times when I feel like going overboard.

I am so glad I didn't give up and kept trying because I met the challenge and am happy with the outcome.