Just Clayin Around

Well it appears that I've become a little lax in keeping up with my blog, so here's a little update. Last night I spent the night in the Sleep Lab. It's really a misnomer, as with all those wires hooked up to you, flow sensor up your nose, and straps around your chest and belly, you don't get a heck of a lot of sleep! I hope they got enough data to explain why I've suddenly become an ultimate fighter in my sleep and that they can tell me a way to fix it.

I've been working mostly on the items for the clayamies spring flower swap. I think I've got the kinks worked out of the design now. Another batch is in the oven as I write this.

This promo thing is really eating up a huge amount of time. I've been trying to get myself on any search engines and free advertisements that I can. There are endless opportunities, but it sure takes a lot of time. I think I'll treat myself to a break from that this long weekend and do some serious jewelry making instead!

I've promised a jewelry set for the Girls Inc. silent auction, and I really want to make them something special. Maybe I'll get inspired this weekend!

Priorities

Well I did manage to get quite a bit of creating time in yesterday on top of setting up this blog. I had an idea a while ago for a pendant I call the Priority Pendant. It has taken me until now to try it out, and I am quite pleased with the results. It's hard for me to judge, however, what might be successful commercially, as my taste is anything but mainstream. Then again, with the widespread access of the web, there have to be at least a few like minded people out there.

The idea was to make a flower with my (your) name in the center and to write my (your) priorities on each of the petals. There are so many times when life gets crazy and I get bogged down in its minutia. Sometimes I just need a visual/tactile cue to become centered and grounded again. The Prioities Pendant is meant to do this.

I began by making Skinner blends for the center and the petals:

I then rolled them so some had a brown center and some a blue center. The blue centered ones were pinched into petal shapes, and then both blends went into the freezer for a while to firm up while I fed my physical body. Next I sliced the canes into round centers and petal shapes and assembled the flowers. The first was far to big, but the second and third sizes I think are both O.K.

Next the flowers were baked for 30 minutes and left to cool overnight.





This morning I wet sanded them.

I then added my chosen priorities. I've been trying to force myself to test small batches of things, as I have a tendancy to just go whole hog, not like the result, and wish I had taken the time to test! Well I did a test by painting some Future floor polish onto some text. It didn't bleed, so I slapped a bunch on my first pendant. Well by then the future on the tester was bleeding! I dumped the pendant in my jewelry cleaner and hoped for the best. It did clean up. Next I tried Sculpey glaze on the tester. It bled too. Finally I tried a layer of liquid Sculpey. That did the trick. I then baked them for another 30 minutes, let them cool, and finally coated them with future. Here is the result: