Ebay Auction benefiting Ada!!

Ponsawan Sila and her daughter Ada are traveling a long and expensive road. Ada was injured in a car accident in 2008 while on her way to pick up a friend of hers who was drunk. On her way there her car was hit by a drunk driver. Read her blog if you feel like being inspired. http://dearada.blogspot.com/

Ada is lucky to be alive but suffers severe brain damage and now lives at home with her family. She makes progress every day, and to keep the progress going money is needed. The polymer clay community donated items to help raise money. And I'm talking the INTERNATIONAL polymer clay community! Pieces from all over the world are being auctioned off on Ebay over the next few weeks. Go to http://www.ebay.com/ and put "benefit Ada" in a find box.

This week what I sent in is up for auction (the photo is what's up for auction) and I'm hoping mighty hard that it will help raise some needed funds. http://tinyurl.com/y8fz3bq Also look for pieces by Kim Cavender, Ann Stankiewicz, Deborah Raita and E. Rumsey Bellenot.

Dwelf the Elf

Nothing like a little stone carving to brighten the week! This little fellow is carved out of AMACO's Crea-Stone. He's sort of a cross between the house elves in Harry Potter and our household elf (moi). It is not my life's goal to have my head mounted on a wall, just in case you were wondering. Crea-Stone is interesting stuff. It is soft at first then gets harder so the carving tools change during the drying times. I keep wondering if I could use it to make a nice rockmonster fellow riding a bike. maybe square wheels? Hmmm...

Seabasstiania Warrior Fish!

She was a group birthday gift made for Debra Quartermain www.debraquartermain.com . She started out as a "fish fish", but had an unfortunate accident in the oven when she jumped off her stick during the final cure. Her left fin broke off completely and when something breaks the best way I know of to fix it is to make it better than before. Warrior fish with adorned battle scars was born. She's made from Kato Polyclay http://www.katopolyclay.com and the beautiful Lisa Pavelka stamp for decorating the base https://www.lisapavelka.com . Helen, Frank and Mindy-- Seabasstiania leader of the deep sea bass thanks you!

Ibis is a Color

I always thought it was a bird, but I am assured it is also a color, that looks nothing like the bird. This was made for Ornament Thursday's month of Ibis. The woman is a sculpture that popped out of my hands one day. She's made from polymer clay with a dash of cracked peppercorn added for spice. I'm thinking of calling her Fleur... maybe Pepper? Any suggestions are welcome.
mz

Ornament Thursday Ode to Aubergine

Ode to Aubergine
Just as Julia Childs would say
If she were with us today,
O Aubergine
the colour that is purply black,
O Aubergine
Without you- life would surely lack.

Ok, so there is a reason I’m an unknown poet. Need I say more on this subject?

Helen’s birthday and off to a bead show we went. Armed with $20 I challenged myself to build a showy yet polymer-clay-free aubergine something-or-other from bits at the bead show without going over my $20. I must admit that I’ve seen this style of something on top of something a few places. The unique thing about it is that I made it, and I had enough cash left over for a hotdog, until Helen charged me $1.50 to use a couple of her jump rings. The things we do for jump rings.
mz

Easter door knob?!

Meet Winky, the Easter Bunny’s ne’er-do-well sister. Hide the carrot juice and permanent markers. Winky gets a little crazy helping out brother bunny with the holiday decorations. Warrants have been issued in some areas as a result of some amazing graffiti.

Winky is made of polymer clay and coated with oil paint. I started making a portrait of myself and well, sometimes other characters just shine through the best of intentions.

I’m also not confirming or denying that Winky may or may not be a door knob as I posted in a previous moment of weakness a promise never to attach unannounced door knobs to Helen’s work station again. I’m not confirming or denying that either…
mz

Ornament Thursday is here!

Ornament Thursday requires the use of a special kind of purple (heliotrope) this month and that calls for a special kind of earring. These are made from polymer clay and were made in such a way to show off the mica properties of the clay. One side shiny and one side dark, same clay. A twist is all you need to see both.MZ


My design this month was completed after I raided Michelle's secret box of beads. You see she and her friend Frank were putting up shelves above her desk in the studio and were busy drilling lots and lots of holes working on the principle that if they drilled enough of them they'd eventually hit a stud! They did but in the meantime they were so focused on the holes they were drilling and playing with the (very useless) stud finder that I had time to sift through her box of beads.

The box is full of clay beads she has made over the years. I turned up this set of polished beads - yeah! a perfect solution to this month's Ornament Thursday challenge. I combined them with a huge Bali silver bead I had, lots of silver bead caps and spacers and some wonderful dark purple glass beads. It took me less time to make this than it did for them to get one shelf up. Now that's what I call a productive afternoon in the studio. HB

Here's what the other Ornament Thursday team has been up to this month:


Heliotrope: Purple by any other name
Lisa waffles on what shade of purple is really "Heliotrope"

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Check out Linda's necklace and don't miss the giveaway!

Heliotrope-Ornament Thursday
Did someone say violet?

Shelly...
Michelle shares a heliotrope layout of her her and her fish!

The Lovings

Let me introduce the Lovings. I didn't know their back story until it was explained to me. They were a mixed race couple - Mildred and Richard - who faced all sorts of trials including possible gaol sentences for marrying. The piece is a couple joined at the base - he is Caucasian, she is African American - hence they are "The Lovings".

This piece was a gift from Michelle for Christmas and it's the second in a series of these wonderfully quirky fish faces. The canes for the base were some translucent canes we made one afternoon based on a technique from Donna Kato. The faces for the pieces are molds that Michelle has made. The pieces are polymer clay and they are faces with fish bodies and colourful scales. They are finished with oil paint. We used to use acrylics and then one day discovered how much better oil paint works so the acrylics bit the dust and we now have tubes of wonderfully oily burnt sienna and burnt umber paints to age the pieces with. The oil paint gives the pieces a semi translucent look which is beautiful.



This is the first in the series, she stands on this wonderful crimson heart:



I just love these pieces, they really touch me in some deep place.

Vale Polaroid, Welcome Impossible

If you, like me, am reeling from the news that Polaroid film won't be produced any more, you'll love this news. An Austrian artist is set to rescue the film. So, the news is that Polaroid film will be saved! The idea is that this guy's new company will partner with Ilford to develop and produce something compatible with SX-70 cameras and the 600 series.

You can read more about the news here.

We use Polaroid film in our art. We expose it then peel it apart before the image has developed then develop the image on a different medium. Michelle loves using the film when it has been fully processed. She heats it to release the film from the backing and she can then roll the semi transparent film onto something like these wonderful Baroque Beauty pieces. The mold here, is of course, one from the range of molds she's designed for KraftyLady Art molds.

The Cat’s Attitude of Gratitude

When I was a young thing I fell head over heels in love with the neighbor’s cat. She drooled a lot due to an injury but the soppiness was easily overlooked because she was loving and grateful to be loved.

When she visited I sat out on the stoop, groomed her with my hairbrush (mom never knew that part) and gave her treats from our fridge. Occasionally she’d arrive with treats for me too - like live mice and lizards. We spent many stolen hours together on that stoop - some of them with me screaming!

She was a great cat and I offer this in honor of her attitude of gratitude. I’ve taken the liberty of making sure the mouse used in the piece was NOT alive but made of wood. -MZ


If you'd like to see what the rest of the Ornament Thursday folk are up to this month, here they are:

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's grateful for Ornament Thursday!

Gratitude Screen
Michelle's grateful for OT!

Linda shares her expression of gratitude
Of course there's a story behind Linda's shadowbox on the BeadStyleMag.com blog

Lisa looks at the meaning of the word
Just some reflection this month

Ornament Thursday - Gratitude
I am grateful that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Journals
Check out Brandi Lung-Gill's site too.

There are so many ways to say thank you
Our own Helen Bradley at http design puts wordle.net to work to create these earrings which say thank you in so many ways.

It's not easy being green

I bought a big (to me) screen TV and was singing along with Wizard of Oz while pondering the brew project. Then my favorite character the beautifully green Wicked Witch of the West was before me in 31.5 inch HDTV widescreen glory. I wanted to BE her! I offer you this lovely lapel pin that isn't a doorknob and which strangely looks a lot like me, but with green and oily skin.

From now on
I'll be history,
I'll be his...,
I'll be history
And OT will glorify my name!
I will be a bust,
Be a bust,
Be a bust,
In the hall of fame!

Tra la la la la la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la

-MZ

Now check around and see what the other OT members have "brewed" for you this month:

BeadStyle & Milwaukee's heritage
Linda shares her Amber Bock Bracelet

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
New Beads are Brewing...

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble...
Joolz by Lisa has a "Hairy" Twist on OT Brew.

The Art Bead Scene
Jennifer's Not-So-Scary Halloween Bracelet

Brew'in up a few Witches
Witches born of glass

Strands of Beads
Something wicked is brewing at Melissa's place

Swelldesigner
Alexa stirs it up with this retro witch wall hanging!

Michelle's Edumacation

This month’s Ornament Thursday theme is Academia. Last month’s theme was Red Hot. I thought I’d be smart and redecorate Helen’s work station without her knowledge. Not so smart of me. Turns out I was suddenly assigned the cleaning of that desk including dusting the designer door knob.

This month I have learned the error of my ways and recognize that my first designer door knob might not have been the best choice (or at least putting it on Helen’s desk was sorta stupid). I now offer an innocent yet educated cherub-like face designer door knob using a Krafty Lady art mold. I have graduated. No more door knob redecorations… after this one. Really. I swear. MZ

Check out the wonderful work done by the other Ornament Thursday members this month:

Art Bead Scene & The Golden Rule
The Art Bead Scene editor shares a few words of wisdom for jewelry designers.

Back to School-Make your own Pencils
School is back in session, everyone needs new pencils. Why not glass?

BeadStyle goes back to school
Lindsay Haedt's on her way to the classroom, but not before Linda shares one of her recent designs

Beading Help Web Wires Up Academia
Lynn Kvigne to read! While you can easily use a scrap of paper or an old magazine subscription card for a bookmark, why not whip up a stylish book mark instead?

Check out the "homework" project from Joolz by Lisa
A collab effort works out great when you plan ahead

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Cindy's learned how to Mail!

First Day
Michelle's School Book - it's academic!

Swelldesigner goes crazy over school supplies!
Alexa shows you how to turn pencil grips into ultra funky accessories

Krafty Lady molds save a reluctant jeweller..

Krafty Lady Art Moulds are pretty amazing – they can take a whole lot of abuse and they still come out fighting. This time I blasted them with one of those neat heat guns from Ranger, guaranteed to get the heat in the right place every time without a blast of air to scatter everything everywhere.

So, I was supposed to be making a necklace with Friendly Plastic – which, if you haven't used it is a totally cool product. Since I'm the kind of person who routinely colors outside the lines, I looked at the Friendly Plastic and then at the first of my new designs from Krafty Lady which features my African mask carvings and thought that here was a way to get out of making necklaces sitting right in front of me. How would Friendly Plastic work in my moulds? Giving only a passing thought to the possibility of frying the moulds I placed some pieces of Friendly Plastic in them and melted it by waving the heat gun over it!

Some what to my surprise, I admit, the plastic melted and the mould was fine. I left the plastic to cool in the mould and then, with the help of some cold water, the plastic molded shape popped out. Needless to say the necklace project was left standing in the dust and I spent the next hour molding colorful African masks from Friendly Plastic some of which you can see in the photo.

If you're doing this at home, start with Krafty Lady Art Moulds – they work well because of what they're made of and other molds may not stand this abuse. In deep moulds like the African masks work by layering strips of plastic inside the mould instead of using one big piece of plastic because the big pieces sort of drip into the mould whereas using strips lets you plan stripes, dashes and all sorts of designs. Zap the pieces with the heat gun and watch as they melt into the shape. Then set aside for a few minutes to cool – don't touch them because they're hot! Then pop the mold and Friendly Plastic into a tub of water and pop out the finished pieces. Too easy… and way fun. MZ.

Baroque Beauty

Michelle Zimmerman is one of the creative team behind http-design.com the company that owns this blog.

Today we were thrilled to see the wonderful Kim Cavender take a look at the Baroque Beauty molds that Michelle designed for Krafty Lady Art Moulds. Kim's blog includes a picture of a piece Michelle made for Kim and equally wonderful, samples from another artist who has used the molds in her own work.

Here are two pieces Michelle made. Above is Painted Lady made from a cast Michelle made of her original sculpture and which she 'dressed' with a Polaroid Emulsion transfer of an image of some San Francisco Victorian Painted Ladies. The original sculpture measures over 6 inches in size. Below is Flights of Fancy, made from the Krafty Lady mold that Michelle designed plus three other Krafty lady molds; the Ginkgo leaf, Trojan horse and wings.