For Leone!!! And anyone else tuning in. How to make a daisy cane! To save space, I've moved the daisy cane tutorial to my website...check it out here:
http://members.westnet.com.au/web/melandcurt/polyclay/daisycane/

Especially for Karen, here's a close up of the necklace made as examples for the basic bead making workshop I run...you can see the freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals much better now. There's also a shell type disks there too, forgot what they're called...
Notice the way it closes. In one end I've looped a small string of crystals and shell disks and the other end just threads thru there....
Got a LOT of comments while I was working at the shop wearing this today...might have to make a few more...I'm keeping this one.

Mel

More flowers and springtime colours! The blue focal bead is made from swap flowers and a few of my own. I'm enjoying this flowery theme very much. The pic doesn't do it justice. It's much better in person. Then there's the Kato blossom cane layered on a bead, makes for a very popular focal. And something new I'm trying, a necklace with some canes I made when I was demo-ing for a workshop earlier this week, it also looks a whole lot better in person. It's hard to capture the colours but that subtle green with the purple looks really soft and yummy with the freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals. They're all going in the shop today so I had to snap pics and run...
Till next time...

Mel

A close up!

Aussiepolyclayers, a fabulous yahoo group I'm involved in and now id Delphi format too... http://forums.delphiforums.com/Ozpolyclayers/start ...had our first flower cane swap where by everyone made one large cane which was then sent to the cane swap mistress (Wendy did a fabulous job!) who cut them up into how ever many were in the swap and sent everyone a sample of the flowers sent to her. I made my first peony cane, a beautiful full bloomed flower. I decided on an apricot colour to go with my new hair and thank goodness there were some canes made that coloured really well with it. A really lovely rose and a simple but incredibly stunning white daisy/sunflowery flower. I added a few of my own flowers too...and came up with these little beauties. It's like a little garden on a bead! Have more in my sanding tray but just had to get these onto a necklace straight away! I can't wait to use the blue/purpley coloured flowers I was sent...but it'll have to be next week. They're wanting me to work a few more hours at the winery this week and I have another class to teach...so patience grasshoppers...the blue and purple flowers are worth it...
Two thumbs up for the flower cane participants!!!

Gaawwd. I set up a blog and then I disappear for a week. As promised, here's the pic of those earrings I made from a design Vicki wanted to try. Good one Vicki, it's a little ripper that one! We ended up with a version that has a lovely dimensional look by sandwiching a small square of clay in between two embossed squares. Only problem is that they're a tad heavy...so instead of wasting all that precious silver clay in the middle which you can't see anyway, I think I'll make these into pendants and make matching earrings with...you guessed it...POLYMER clay sandwiched in the middle. They'll be lighter and less expensive that way.

I've just had my first 'all me' exhibition. Our community here in Denmark Western Australia is very artistic, we have more artists (and massage therapists!) than any other place in WA I'm quite sure of it. (It seems that artists and healers often get sucked into the same vortex, normally gravitating to little pieces of paradise such as Denmark.) In line with this, we hold the Southern Art Trail Exhibition every year where local artists open their homes/studios to the public for two weeks over the Sept school holidays. It's a fabulous "window into the artists' life" as well as a great 'eye candy'.
Here's my link
http://members.westnet.com.au/web/melandcurt/polyclay/2005arttrail/
I've been part of other exhibitions before but this time I wanted to see what happened if I had just clay related things exhibited on their own. It went exceedingly well! Besides making some great pocket money, my main aim was to promote polymer and silver clay as something everyone can take to without having go thru years of jewellery and metal smithing and without having to spend a fortune on equipment. I really think this is not something that can be skipped over. It's really built my confidence over these last years and I have a few people who I've taught who are having the same positivity come into their lives as a direct result of this clay. I've been polymer claying for only four years and silver claying for only 6 months and am wowed at the results I'm able to achieve with very little outlay and very little formal training whatsoever. All it takes is love really. I totally LOVE working with these materials. I've clayed just about every single day for the last four years, give or take a day here and there. With that kind of passion and the great versatility of both these clays, you just can't help turning out some lovely pieces.
I also have the support of my husband Curtis which is half the battle won right there! In the beginning he helped pay for the basic equipment which he doesn't have to do these days because I'm making enough to pay for anything I really 'need' now. It's more that he's always 100% behind any question of help I'm asking for. He makes displays, he fixes things, dismatles my pasta machine for cleaning, cooks fabulous meals for us when I'm too engrossed in clay, helps man the stand with any sales related events...there are hundreds of ways he supports my creative endevours. Without that, I wouldn't have achieved as much as I have in these last few years. I once wished upon a star...and look what I got! See, it DOES work!
Well, that turned out to be an epic novel sized post but you'll get to know that's how I am when I'm excited and grateful.
Have just had a fabulous day with my 'slay' friend Vicki (her term, meaning silver clay) this week which I'll tell you about...soon. I'm having a much needed few days off.
Mel

It's Alive!

Da daaaaa! Yep, I've finally done it. I spend a lot of my computer time sharing stories with different clay groups about my clay happenings. I figure having a central spot where I can talk about how different pieces were made would not only save me a lot of time explaining it to the various groups I belong to but would also add to the appeal of the piece by giving the new owner a fuller picture of it's creation.
And so...here we are.