Big beads

big beads

Summer holidays gave me a chance to get out the polymer clay, and try to recall some of the techniques I learned at CFCF early last year.  I used Sarah Shriver’s reverse inlay technique for the white spotted bead, Lindly’s sandpaper texture for the round beads (not enough color to incorporate Lindly’s other techniques!) and some of Jeffrey Lloyd Dever’s techniques to make the beads (if you’ve done Jeffrey’s class you’ll know there’s a lot of spit involved!)   I actually used Sculpey ultra-light as the core – so they’re not too heavy – but had a few challenges along the way.  The grey to white bead with the white marks on it only got the marks when the bead cracked in a few places when it was baked!  I added a few more cracks and filled them with white.  These are my favorite colors, and I love wearing it.

Printers’ trays

printers trays wp

Better than getting a printer’s tray for Christmas – two printer’s trays!  The design is beautiful, perhaps more so because it was purely functional.  See here for a demonstration of how they were used in the printing industry.  According to this article, which explains the layout, compared to previous designs it reduced a compositor’s hand travel by more than half a mile per day.

I first started collecting bits and pieces, sometimes taking things like cameras apart, with the intention of incorporating them into jewelry and other creations.  However, with more ‘stuff’ than I’ll ever use,  the collecting has become an end in itself  – at least I now have a way to display some of my favorite finds.