Thing a Day- Feb 4, 2011

I tend to make post earrings, but since so many people seem to prefer dangles, I will be making more of them.  Here is a pair of mica shift earrings with gold-plated ear wires and jump rings.

This thing a day thing is a lot of pressure!  I want to do something different each day rather than multiples of the same thing.

Thing a Day- Feb 3, 2011

Well, I finished the pendant but I don't like it very much.  I filled the curved piece with scrap clay and baked it, then put another sheet of scrap clay on it and cut a channel for the cord.  I baked that and then put a textured sheet on the back and baked again.  Then I put a strip of clay around the edge, smoothed it into place, and baked it.  I can sand the flat edge of the pendant but not where it touches the image.  Too much risk of marring it.

I really like having the image curved rather than flat, but I'll have to find another way to display it.  
To my eye, it needs a border, so I don't want to just make a lentil bead.  Next time maybe I'll put another domed shape on a flat piece that is a bit larger than the image, and texture it so it won't need sanding.

Thing a Day- Feb 2, 2011

This is a work in process.  I put an image transfer on white clay and baked it on a light bulb.  The next step is to decide how to make it into a pendant.

Thing a Day- Feb 1, 2011

I've joined the Thing a Day project over at Polymer Clay Central, and this is my first day's work.  It's a pair of post earrings made with the crushed velvet, mica shift technique.  These are a kind of bronze color.  I mixed up the clay awhile ago and can't remember exactly what it is.  Sigh. 

I hate it when posts pop off the handmade earrings I buy, so I insist on embedding mine in clay so they will not come off.

More Biker Chic - Woven Faux Leather

I fell in love with these woven leather shoes and decided I needed some tough, biker-style earrings to go with them.  The earrings are all clay including the studs.  They are about one and a half inches in diameter.  I need to find a big, rusty chain to hang them from next time I photograph them.

The inspiration, and yes, I do wear them.

It took a long time to lay out the woven strips just right so that I could cut out a circle and not have any gaps in the outside edge.

Lots of Earrings

I haven't been blogging much, but I've been very busy with a lot of different projects including making a lot of earrings.  Every 18 months, I rendezvous with 11 fabulous women all of whom were in my freshman dorm in college.  We always have a blast and usually exchange small, inexpensive gifts, so this time I'm giving everyone earrings.  They will get to choose from the ones shown in the photos.  These are all post earrings, but I hope to make some dangles this week.



I made these using a crackle technique: pearlescent paint on clay which is run through the pasta machine when dry.  Although they look large in the photos, the trapezoidal earrings are about the size of a U.S. nickel.  The small round ones are less than 1/2 inch in diameter (12.4mm).

My new tool rack

I have a really bad habit of putting down tools everywhere but where they are supposed to be, and if it isn't VERY easy for me to put them away, they can be lost for days.  Since I have accumulated quite a few pliers, I decided it was time to get some kind of holder.  I tried the flat kind with the two rows of  holes for the handles, but a lot of the pliers wouldn't stand up in that.  Since I couldn't find anything else, I decided to make my own.  Not bad for about 3 hours of work - just don't look too closely.  It even has a bottom but it is a thin piece of white melamine and doesn't show up against the white background.