Big Helper: Alyssa

So, I came to my studio and found my cat - happy as can be - asleep in my photocube.  Took a few pictures of him and spent the next half an hour cleaning up all his fluffy cat hair.  I am sure it will still show up in my pictures for a while...

Clay Fest-Cabin Fever Creative Arts Fest 2015, Jewelry with Openwork Canes Class

A few pictures from my class Jewelry with Openwork Canes:

My Valentine's Day Gift: Anhinga

This is becoming a lovely tradition: for Valentine's day, my husband and I give each other a trip to some nice place.  This year it was Southern Florida and it was a few days before February 14, because I needed to be back in time for my class on February 12. 

We spent some time on the beach in Fort Lauderdale and then camped in Everglades National Park.  I will have to write about Fort Lauderdale later.  Now I just want to show a few pictures I took on Anhinga Trail in Everglades.

Apparently, anhinga is a this amazing fish-hunting bird.  When it is done with chasing fish, it sits on the low branches of the trees by the water.  At first, it looks like a wet black bottle-cleaning brush (it's feathers are not water-proof).

To dry its feathers, the bird spreads its wings like a pterodactyl.  In a few minutes light-grey spots start appearing on its shoulders:

After about 10-15 minutes of drying in the sun, the bird turns into this beauty:

Isn't it amazing?  If I did not took all three pictures by myself, I would not believe that this is actually the same bird!

FCFC 2015: Getting Ready

Getting ready for my class at   Clay Fest-Cabin Fever Creative Arts Fest 2015, I made a few new openwork pendants.  While the ones described in my tutorial are all made in white, this time I am experimenting with different colors and finishes.

I just realized that I actually did not work in this technique since the publication of my Openwork tutorial.  I guess I am too eager to move on to experimenting with the new things...

New Tutorial: Convertible Fantasy Flower Brooch and Necklace

Aren't your friends jealous that you can always have a piece of jewelry perfectly matching your outfit?

Here is an idea for your next masterpiece: a beautiful brooch in delicious colors from the Pantone Spring 2015 collection: Marsala, Sandstone, Woodbine, Tangerine, Strawberry Ice, Aquamarine...

In this tutorial, you will find detailed instructions for making all of these colors in Premo polymer clay. I will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a few different brooches.  This project is easy and fun, so I am sure you will want to make these brooches not only for your every new dress, but for your friends' as well!

More Student's Work, Openwork Pendants

It was nice to wake up this morning to this pleasant surprise: Polymer Clay Daily featured the work of Annette Kruger based on my tutorial Openwork Pendants.

Annette's creation is so beautiful!  I absolutely love how she mixed my technique with Melanie West's ideas and came up with her own amazing piece.

Seeing how other polymer clay artists are developing my ideas is one of the greatest pleasures of teaching.

Student's Work, Openwork Pendants

Pendant and post earrings by Linda Britt

I was very excited to see the works of Linda Britt, which she did following my tutorial Openwork Pendants.

On her blog, lindabrittdesign.blogspot.com, Linda shares a number of her creations in this technique, including beads, necklaces and bracelets.

Each of them is interesting in its own way.  I especially enjoyed seeing how Linda is experimenting with this technique, coming up with her own designs and new uses for the openwork elements.

I had difficult time deciding which picture to show in my blog.  Finally I chose this one, because the pendant on the left is my absolute favorite of her works in this style so far.  There is something magical about it!  I hope Linda will continue working in this technique.

By the way, Linda mentioned in her post that she had to be extra patient with this technique.  There is a waiting step, which she said took her much longer than stated in my tutorial.  After a short discussion, I think we figured out what happened.  I hope Linda will try it again and report her results when she has a chance.  Meanwhile I want to stress out that it is important to follow the procedures described in the tutorial exactly as  written (especially for that tricky step).  They are there for good reasons! 

Thanks to Linda, I already edited my tutorial and added an explanation for each step.  I realized, if I explain not only what needs to be done, but also why is that so, than people will more likely pay attention to these particular instructions.  I still need to figure out how to notify everybody who bought the tutorial so far about this edition.