Crafting Goodness » Michelle Zimmerman

Ode to Lynne

Helen Bradley — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:05:01 +0000

Odes are good things

An ode is a song meant to be sung.

Since we all dance to a different drummer it’s not a huge leap of logic to think that we also sing to a different beat.

I know a woman who creates her own style with what she wears and what she does. She believes in innate goodness and whenever she can, she helps people see the good stuff that she sees in them.

I think she’s got a great beat! I made this necklace for her a while back at the request of a friend of hers and it’s called Ode to Lynne.

Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg (aka RiverPoet) travels around teaching people some awesome clay techniques. If you ever get the chance to take a class from her you’re in for an enjoyable time.

Whenever I look at this I feel like dancing and wonder what Lynne is doing.

Michelle

Ode to Lynne is a post from: Crafting Goodness

Ornament Thursday Ode to Aubergine

Always finish the back!

Helen Bradley — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:27:22 +0000

When it’s crunch time and I have a line of items waiting to be made, sometimes I get sloppy and should confess that I don’t always finish the backside of things.

Jean Yates once told me that each part of each piece should have a meaning intrinsic to the whole. The clasp, the colors, every little bit should be true to what you’re making.

I so think of her when I cheat.

When I do this “technique” I always get caught. A person emailed and asked if they could buy this necklace to give to their boss who was retiring. She was a cancer researcher and specialized in the potential cures from these two items, frogs and leaves.

Back to the studio to remake a well balanced necklace this time with a finished back and yet again another moment of Jean saying to me in my head “what did I tell you”?

- Michelle

Always finish the back! is a post from: Crafting Goodness

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Ebay Auction benefiting Ada!!

Helen Bradley — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:21:00 +0000

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.

Ebay Auction benefiting Ada!! is a post from: Crafting Goodness

Dwelf the Elf

Helen Bradley — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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…

Dwelf the Elf is a post from: Crafting Goodness

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Seabasstiania Warrior Fish!

Helen Bradley — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:38:00 +0000

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!

Seabasstiania Warrior Fish! is a post from: Crafting Goodness

Ibis is a Color

Helen Bradley — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:25:00 +0000

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

Ibis is a Color is a post from: Crafting Goodness

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Ornament Thursday Ode to Aubergine

Helen Bradley — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:09:00 +0000

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

Ornament Thursday Ode to Aubergine is a post from: Crafting Goodness

Easter door knob?!

Helen Bradley — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:58:00 +0000

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

Easter door knob?! is a post from: Crafting Goodness

Ornament Thursday is here!

Helen Bradley — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:01:00 +0000

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!

Ornament Thursday is here! is a post from: Crafting Goodness

The Lovings

Helen Bradley — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:13:00 +0000

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.

The Lovings is a post from: Crafting Goodness