New Challenge

I made an entry for this month's challenge at The Art Bead Scene's challenge.
June ABS Challenge

Quite an interesting color palette.  After I shopped for beads at JoAnn's, on the drive home I realized just how realistic that color palette was in the nature that surrounded me as I looked out my car windows.  Green grass medians with Crape Myrtle trees with bits of pink peaking through.  Oleanders all lush green with beautiful red flowers.  I saw the different shades of greens in the other trees as well and I really picked up on just how much green is a part of my beloved flowers and tree blossoms.

I tried the mokume gane technique to make my own art bead for the challenge.  It was fun, I will definitely be trying that again.  The white in the bead is not stark white, I added a little of that bluish green color to look more like that of the butterfly in the painting.  Then I distressed it just a bit.

Vintaj Patinas

Hey!  There is a really cool giveaway going on over at Lorelei Eurto's Blog!!  She is giving away two sets of Vintaj Patina inks!!!  She blogged about using them to color metal and posted pictures of four really great looking jewelry designs.  Check it out and enter now the giveaway ends tomorrow morning!

Lorelei's Blog: Vintaj Patinas

Green green green

I can't get enough of this color.  Certain shades of green, I am really liking lately. 

I like the look of those big gum ball type beads so I made a few of those.  I've noticed the polymer clay bakes a little different on the bead rack I put together.  They seem to darken up quite a bit.  So I was careful to tent the beads best I could.  Here is a pic of them on a simple chain.

Sorry for the lousy cell phone picture, I will be getting a better camera soon.

                     Have a lovely day.  :)

I Hacked the Hack

Yes, I hacked the hack.

Now it fits better in my oven, and I can tent it with foil more easily.  I might try using the bottom half instead.  I'll experiment later.  I watched a good video about keeping the rack pins in position using a product called Sugru.  I recieved a nice comment by someone  to check out this video by Cindy Lietz, The Polymer Clay Tutor.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX3fQ9bfIZ0&feature=player_embedded
Cindy is demonstrating the product Sugru.  It's a soft putty type silicone substance that air dries, and can be used in extreme temperatures.  76F below zero (or freezing? can't remember) and up to 375F, I think it was.  Anyway, safe for baking polymer clay. Looks like cool stuff!
I'll have to post again when I have my bead rack right and exact...haha.
Here are a few beads that I made tonight.

Bead Rack Hack

I finally have a bead rack.  I built my own!  I put it together with some wire that I had previously bought from the floral department at a craft store, and a tin/aluminum? pan at the grocery store.  I cut notches in the top of the pan, to rest the wire on.  The package of the stiff floral wire was in long lengths of about 19". I cut four, six inch pieces.  The wire is 18ga so it should work nicely.  I think this bead rack will surpass my previous method of baking beads on a mound of poly-fill.  That was a little tricky finding space and balancing pieces. Plus, after baking beads, pulling the pieces of poly-fill off the clay was tedious.  And the last beads I made had indentations left in them from the poly-fill, :(. I do like the bead racks in they sell in the stores specifically made for baking polymer clay beads, but in an effort to conserve cash, I made my own.  :)

Marble Tile

I purchased a marble tile today.  It was only $2.04! 12x12 I can't wait to try it with my polymer clay.  I am hoping the dark color works out okay, I didn't think about that when I made my selection.  Just went for the cheapest one.  I may have to return for a lighter color some day.  But, it should work out better than what I was using, parchment paper taped to a vinyl placemat.  That worked pretty good, but I'm tired of having to replace the paper every time it gets "dirty" from certain colors rubbing off on it.  Plus the marble is suppose to help keep the clay cooler.  It looks like it will be more convenient to use.  The marble tiles at the store were so gorgeous!  I love how polished the surfaces are and the interesting look of these rocks!
 

Button clasp bracelet

I made another bracelet with the technique shown in this tutorial, by Lesley from The Gossiping Goddess.  I added a some beads that I made a while ago.  Two word beads and a disk bead colored with alcohol inks.  The button is really pretty, looks like macrame, it's from Joann's.  I liked using the waxed cord, it's really  nice to work with.  I want to try making some macrame style jewelry with it.