Learning a new technique

 

This past Sunday I gathered with my polymer clay guild and one of our members taught us a wonderful technique by Bettina Welker called The Pixelated Blend Cane http://www.beadworx.de/2012/07/03/the-pixelated-retro-blend-cane/ This is a technique I had been wanting to try for several months and I kept getting distracted, and didn’t make the time to jump in and try it.

 

This is the pattern I made with my guild. I am very happy with how it looks and love the colours. I applied the pattern to a business card case which my husband has claimed.

 

 

Today I attempted the same technique on my own with a slight difference and got this more random design in my pattern. I love this one as well. I also applied this colour combination to a business card case that I may keep for myself.

Some little boxes going to the Prancing Pony

 

I love black and white together such a great contrast of colours I also love colour so I couldn’t just stick with black and white. With that in mind I created a series of 7 boxes that will soon be for sale at the Prancing Pony in Coombs BC.

Trinket Dishes

I had a recent phone call from Morganne the owner of Morganne’s Uniquely Chemainus she told me that she had several customers recently who were looking for a bowl or dish to display rocks, shells and beach glass collected on the beach. This phone call inspired me to create some colourful dishes.
 Front of dish 5.5 inches across and shimmers blue and silver.
 back of dish above
 smallest dish 3.5 inches across with a light blue inside
 back of dish
 shimmery green dish measures about 3.5 inches across
 back of green dish
 grey dish stamped with starfish measure about 3.5 inches across
 back of dish in pink, yellow and white
These four shallow bowls will be travelling to Chemanius either Friday or Saturday I will also be creating several more before I visit the gallery to drop off these new items.

*Edited to add the next 3 bowls

 small textured pink dish inside

    outside

inside view of small blue dish

 outside

 inside view of dish 5.5 inches across

 

back view  
Morganne has also had requests for more crochet hooks specifically in size 5. Here is a batch of 12 hooks with several being the requested size.
 This pink, purple and pearl round box will be going to a gallery soon as well.
 I will be donating this shimmery textured green box ornamented with starfish and shells to a local fundraiser.

Production Work

 

I have made a few sales recently and really need to focus on building more boxes so that I can take more boxes to the 4 shops I am supplying. One shop in particular has sold several small boxes and has requested more. With that in mind I started 6 new boxes a couple days ago. I rarely set myself to do production work but thought it would be a good idea this time.

This may not look like much but its a start to what I think will be six black and white boxes adorned with some flowers.

Maybe these flowers will end up on the lids of these boxes.

Messy table

 

I have taken a bit of a break over the last few weeks and am just getting back to creating. Most of the time I create each box one at a time and rarely have more then one in progress at a time. This week I have 4 unique boxes in the works. So I thought I would share a glimpse of my work table.

 

A square box, a small 6 sided box, a round box and triangle box

you can also see some of the mess on the table as I am working.

The binder on the corner of the table is full of page protectors and my “scrap” clay.

I also completed a third 5x7 canvas last week. It has a purple back ground with black and white petals and pink textured accents.

Pens and Canvases

 

Since dropping of all of my stock with several local shops the muse and I have taken a break. I am resting and spending time with family.

The pens are for sale at two local shops.

Both of these canvases are 5x7 inches. I will be creating at least one more very soon,

Thinking about pricing and my most recent cylinder boxes

 

I was recently thinking about how long it takes me to make one of my unique boxes. Here is a short break down of how long my process takes.

-4 rounds of curing in the oven at 40 minutes each time for a total of 160 minutes

-creative time 3-4 hours

-sanding as needed 40 minutes

As you can see one box is a large investment of time. I truly enjoy the creative process and always look forward to seeing a finished item.

When it is time to price my items for sale I don’t take time or labour into consideration. If I did each of my boxes would be unaffordable for the average person. My desire is to share my art and make it accessible to everyone.

Here are my most recent creations 

 

 

Cylinder box with flowers 4 inches tall and 3 inches wide

Cylinder box with starfish, sea urchin and seaweed 4 inches tall 3 inches wide

A pink, white and black square box 4 x 4 inches accented with a textured black knob rubbed with silver paint.