Published in Polymer Cafe' Magazine

Thank you Polymer Cafe'! Thank you for publishing my article. It's really exciting to sign a contract with a magazine.

I was so flattered when they said they liked my work and asked me to write for them.

Like I said before, I have always been intimidated and felt insecure about writing or submitting my work. But risking a little bit has paid off.

This has encouraged me to do more and try harder.

It is hard to put into words how happy I am and how blessed I feel. My friend from Chicago is here this week visiting so it is extra special to be able to share this with her. My husband is taking us out to dinner tonight to celebrate. I belong to the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild and they were congratulating me on Saturday. Feel like I have won an Oscar. I know I am tooting my horn, but I guess sometimes it's OK.

Mardi Gras?

The above mask is comprised of all handmade canes and the one below is hand sculpted using a mixture of hand blended polymer clays.

The copper metallic polymer clay was blended with 4 other colors.

Wall Art

The little polymer painting is 4" x 10".   Below is a 7" x 11". I layered some wire between the backing and the center piece.

BIG Canes

Above is a 4-1/2" x 5" piece that I will mount to a backing and frame as an abstract. It came from the bottom two right and left triangles in the BIG cane below.

As I reduced it, I sliced some of the end scraps off and pieced them together. It looked like blood vessels so I kept going with it. I guess my point is even if the cane is distorted or the scraps look wonky, try something with them anyway.

You never know what will come from them.

Alcohol and Polymer Clay

A drop or two of rubbing alcohol dropped into alcohol inks or wet acrylic paint, produces a great color pattern.

I love the variations in color in this piece.

We have a dinner party tonight, so this is short. I'm liking the short ones. We know we just look at the pictures anyway and then, if something catches our eye; we read. Nothing wrong with that. Time is of the essence.

Bead Soup

I was experimenting with alcohol inks and made a few beads, cured them, photographed them and placed them in the box of unstrung beads.

My unstrung beads are accumulating. After our out of town guests are gone, I will need to decide what to do with them.

For all the teeny tiny beads that were leftover from projects or were accidentally spilled on the floor, I put in a crystal jar on my bookshelf.

Bead Soup is an accumulation of various bead ingredients. It can include broken findings and pieces of broken jewelry along with orphan beads. My bead soup is just beads.

Sometimes it sits on the table, but most of the time it is on my bookshelf looking pretty.

Bead Journal March

I was looking through some of my sculptural beaded pieces and came across this one, which I still have not mounted or framed. It's called "Circle of Life".

I haven't mounted or framed it because I haven't decided on a backing or color. Then I came across the below sculptural peyote bracelet with my polymer clay skinner blend leaves. The turquoise flower turned out, but the gold one didn't. I hate the orange Russian leaf and touches of red and orange. I should have kept it in the blues and greens.

Anyway, I was looking for inspiration because I ripped out the fist piece I had for the March Bead Journal Project and started the below piece. It's just the beginning of the process so I will have to give it some time. No sketch or forethought to this one.

My first piece for March did not turn out because I used a material for the base that was not conducive to beading; a sticky backed felt.

What a mess.

Lucky Snake Eyes

I love making polymer clay snakes from canes and adding Swarovski crystals to them.

If the snake doesn't catch your eye, the crystals do.

I just liked the colors and the pattern and think it will be a pendant. The pattern runs through, so sanding and buffing should really make it pop.

Tried more transfers. This one turned out great.

The couple are Z gauge model railroad plastic people. A while ago I experimented baking them in a polymer clay pendant. Didn't work; they melted quite a bit. I cut the pendant apart, sculpted a leafless tree, two birds and a large valentine heart. Hit it with the heat gun and it cured just fine. Probably because I used the heat gun and not the oven. Anyway, there are several scenarios I thought were pretty funny that went with this, but not worth the space.

Candy, Flowers & TOOLS!

MY hand sculpted POLYMER CLAY CANDY! Best kind--no calories.

Candles, roses and.....................

tools for Valentine's Day! I'd rather open a gift wrapped box of doming tools than a gold bracelet! Sad, but true. Oh so true. Delightfully true.

No, not for cheese.......for polymer clay! Oh, and do I love it!

Bucket 'O Polymer Clay Tools.

Dan Cormier's polymer clay peeler.

Texturing tools (above). And, last, but not least the love of my life ordered me a vertical drill stand. I'm in heaven. Have I said that lately?

Rare Polymer Clay Pins

The Heart Bug, now known as The Love Bug (bites only a few times in one's lifetime--sometimes only once and only if you are really lucky).

No strings attached Heart (rare).

Love In Bloom (mostly in Spring).

I'm Wild About You (a term usually used after a few cocktails). But 2010 is the year of the Tiger so it's a given that your heart may go a little wild this year.

And on that "note", I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day.

Acrylic Glazing on Polymer

This is how it looked right before I put it in the oven. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics to glaze it.

After it's cooled down, I'll give it a light sanding and buffing.

Actually, I should go and get it out of the oven and put a couple of heavy books on it to make sure it stays good and flat.

I just thought this was too funny. The hubby is tiling and because I'm not the most coordinated person, he put construction cones around his project. He still makes me laugh after 41 years.

Painted Transfers

I've never made a book cover and thought I'd give it a try using a transfer. I got carried away with inscribing the lines and when I showed it to Tory Hughes, she said ever so sweetly, "Oh no, it's just fine....heavy lining such as this symbolizes rain in Japanese drawings and carvings, so leave it."

I learned that less is more in carving and cutting. Do a little and if it needs more, you can always add it.

But if it's overdone, it can't always be fixed by calling it "rain".

I do like it though. But I think I am going to try lightly painting in some acrylic color in the lower half of the piece (even though I just said less is more). Just a watered down glaze. And now that I am writing, I think it will be beautiful as a tile in a wall hanging with some faux polymer ivory, wood and brass components in the composition.