Extruded Patterns

Hi Everyone
Well ........... there is a little order back into my world ! More work needed but at least I can get to my stuff.

I managed a little work too ! The top of my work list was making a range of extruded canes. I chose a few colour combinations and I have two medium sized canes ready for use.
The orange cane was produced with a round extruder.


The pink used a square extruder. I'm not sure there is much difference with individual elements but the pink has a better overall shape (for me) as a cane.


I also had a little left and covered a small bead. This is the bit left at the end of a single cane.










Next - I'm going to produce some larger blank beads and cover with 'fine slivers' of cane. I also need to get some faux wood sorted for the same thing.

I also polished some of my left over clay earrings. Go back to 3/10/14 for the story behind these earrings. They polished up well. I think I will polish a little more and get a higher shine on each of them.




The blue circle earrings have not been polished yet but I did add some green clay in the centre.

Thanks for reading.

Chaos reigns !!

Hi Everyone
This week seems to be stacking up already ! Ive got lots of things spinning around my head (all are priorities ! ). I need to take a deep breath and make a list and look again. I know that everything can't be a priority. However, at this moment, I'm not sure what is and what is not ! CHAOS - a state of disorganisation and confusion. I would like my house to be tidy as well as my workspace - almost the same thing. There are lots of storage issues going on and I need to chuck out lots of stuff - more chaos. 'So' stressful.

My work plan is revolving around putting together my next clay workshop ie Workshop 3. It's all about BEADS, individual beads rather than a piece of jewellery. Ive got lots of ideas and I'm keen to explore and extend my ideas, by testing out the basic plan I'm sure new things will happen. I'll let you know what happens and have some photos to share.
I have some connected work to finish too. Here is a sample of the half finished bead. Still not finished from Friday.



These earrings also need to have their centre filled (in green). These two jobs are at the top of the list.


Other news - we had a lovely weekend ! - quite exhausting ! A birthday lunch on Saturday with my family and a long walk/ meal with our local walking group. We walked all the way around the town followed by a meal. Lovely but quite a walk. I'm aching all over. The weather was great and very sunny. Today, what a contrast, it's raining and very dull. Perhaps, the poor weather will help me to focus on my work and chores ?

Thanks for reading.

Left over stuff !

Hi Everyone
I did achieve a few of my goals from yesterday's list. A few pairs of stud earrings and the beginnings of using my extruded cane pattern for some larger bracelet beads. I'm not sure the last item ie the bracelet beads appeared on the list ! Having made the extruded pattern, I felt the need to make something with it. All the stuff was created with left over clay. I love this aspect of my little production lot.
I also like the idea of a very 'clean' design and did quite a bit of research re stringing methods to build the stringing solution into the initial design plan. In the end, Ive gone for my regular simple, plain back with a groove for the string. Ive made the bead in two stages (to give more of a chance of keeping the edges clean).
Here are a few images of the process.



Each number on the photo relates to a phase through the pasta machine - I went through to number 4. The pasta machine is a way of squashing a length of pasta while giving a lovely smooth finish. Number 1 is the initial bead. Number 4 was as thin as the pattern would go, without distorting too much. The green back is a number 1. I'm planning to add a second green layer to provide a simple, clean bead. I only have five beads and will need to come up with a second bead design to make the bracelet complete.

These are the photos of the stud earrings. A little more work to go on the top pair - added green clay. All the stud beads need polishing and sealing.



Thanks for reading.
Have a great weekend.

The resilience of polymer clay !

Hi Everyone
Although, I was very busy volunteering yesterday, I managed about 20 mins fiddling with clay (in between clearing up after dinner and being a taxi - I was very pleased with myself).
I wanted to create a cane using an extruder. This whole idea came about during a conversation with some of my polymer clay ladies. I was reminded of a previous project when I produced canes using an extruder.
Yesterday, I used a tiny bit of clay left over from a recent workshop and was surprised at how much 'pattern' I could produce. My ladies would like to concentrate on bead shapes (in future sessions) and Im thinking we could use some of the extruded canes to create some surface designs to cover a reasonably sized focal bead. With this in mind, I'm going to make a few later today.
I also want to develop the bead mould thing, my idea from a few days ago, if I have any time left, I will spend some time on with the metal stuff (I'm ever hopeful I can do so much stuff) . Will share my results tomorrow. In the meantime, here are a few photos of the extruded canes.






The second photo shows the canes as they have been formed into a simple bead. My idea is to slice the pattern very thin and apply to a bead. I haven't decided on the final size or shape - I will just give it a go and see what comes out.






I'm going to put these particular shapes through the pasta machine and see how they come out ! Not sure if the pattern structure will stay when it's flattened ? I'm interested to see.
Talking about the resilience of the material ie the clay. I managed to drop a small piece of clay while managing the workshop earlier this week and it stuck on my shoe. I walked about a bit and several days later removed the clay. After a little bit of soapy water and a bit of shaping, Ive created these shapes.






I'm going to make them into a stud earring. I'm amazed how they made it to this point. I have a serious problem with throwing things in the bin !!

Thanks for reading.

Still obsessed !

Hi Everyone
Another day of volunteering today - I must be getting 'brownie points' for all this volunteering ! When will my reward come ?

Ive spent lots of time thinking about what to do next for Workshop 3 of the local polymer clay group. I'm obsessed with bracelets. I started thinking about beads (in general) but keep coming back to BRACELETS. I will need to work through this little problem, no point trying to make my mind go elsewhere. One of my ideas is this :



I made these practice shapes from one of my flower moulds last week and have been thinking about making bracelet beads. I think the stretchy thread would work well on this idea. Ive only got two beads at the moment so will need to make more. Here is the mould I made, it's still got tiny seeds in it. Must get them out.



One other little idea is to make a ring. Here is the most simple ring in the world.



The only thing - if you make it too big (very easily done) it's back to starting again. This one seems OK. I will have a go at some sort of surface pattern before curing.
PS - I didn't do any metal work ! Perhaps tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.