Polymer Clay Etc.

Girlfriend Doll Pin

Yesterday I started playing around with my faces and I made this doll, put a pinback on her and I think she’s pretty funny. She has jointed arms and legs. She’s 4″ tall and 1″ wide. I wanted to make this very cool hat, but I think it looks like a purple Indian headdress, so I’ll have to work on that one.

Last night was fun at my house. My husband and I had some new neighbors in for drinks to meet some of the neighbors from across the lake. Everyone knew what I did, but really had never seen my studio. It’s always fun to introduce people to polymer clay. The guys talked about cars, sports and the quality of the lake water, while the women talked about other stuff and clay. I enjoyed it and I think they did too.

I haven’t mentioned it, but I have a mango tree and for the last four weeks I have been picking and pealing, cutting up and freezing at least 50 mangos a day. Sometime more, you should see my freezer, there isn’t room for food. So I served mango margaritas plus vanilla ice cream with mango sticks and a ginger wafer. (Okay, so the guys didn’t go for any of that, so we had stuff for them too.)

I love it when in the middle of winter I can pop out a bag or two of mangos and make a smoothie, ice cream topping, or a great margarita. It’s the best life.

Anyway, I like this girlfriend doll and I think I’ll work on a couple of friends for her.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Girlfriend Pin #3 - polymer clay

Another trio of girlfriends. I guess you could consider these girls either very fashion forward or graying gracefully.

One kind of looks like Cleopatra if you squint your eyes and hold your head just right.

On their way to my Etsy Shop.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Face Cane Pin

Yesterday, I posted this face cane pin in my Etsy Store. As always, she’s fun and funky and makes me laugh. If you have a minute, take a look.

I also sent out a newsletter yesterday. I was shocked to see how long it had been since my last one. I’ve had so many new people sign up to watch the fish video and receive my newsletter, thank you all. I’ve had quite a few responses from it and I thank everyone for taking the time to open it and maybe click through a couple of links. I’ll try to do better from now on.

Lots of irons in the fire this week. Hope to get a couple of things wrapped up and the first steps of other things started. I have a couple of exciting ideas floating around in my head. At least they are exciting to me and I can’t wait to get started on them.

Summer is over for Moms with kids, but still hot here in central Florida. My clay is sticky, sticky. Don’t which is better, freezing cold so my hands don’t work, or so warm you battle to keep the canes from sticking to each other.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Girlfriend Pin 1

I sold the three girlfriends pin and listed this one yesterday in my Etsy Shop. She’s looking to the future, her future home I think.

Making beads today and packing up my clay things to go the the Florida Gulfcoast Polymer Clay Guild meeting. I’m taking Sherry McKinney with me and looking forward to a day of fun.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Three Girlfriends

Another pin listed in my Etsy Shop. I’ve been working on small pins, beads etc. I’m back to having that fun I’m always talking about.

On Saturday I’m going to visit the  Florida Gulfcoast Polymer Clay Group in Palmetto. It’s only about an hour or so away and I met Sydney Carter and some of the other women at Orlando Clay Fandango this year. They are introducing about 20 kids to polymer clay and I’m going over to see if I can help and enjoy this group.

I’ll let you know how it goes….taking my camera as always.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Marilyn Majorette

Okay, you caught me. Today, I’m sitting there, working with clay and here comes Marilyn. While I was making this pin, I couldn’t stop  laughing, she’s so funny. I was friends with a Marilyn in high school and she was a majorette, in fact the Drum Majorette. She was funny and we had lot of fun doing crazy things. This girl pin reminded me of her.

Okay she could be a ring master for a crazy circus act too. But it made me think of Marilyn, so drum majorette it is. I just listed her in my Etsy shop for only 15.00. What a deal, a pin that you can wear for years to come and I promise you, you will always think of my friend Marilyn everytime you wear it.

P.S. the  cane I used for her hat  is a cane I featured in my video, “What is a Polymer Clay Cane“. So see, you can make all kinds of crazy things with your canes.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Girlfriends

I listed this bracelet in my Etsy Shop today. A funny little bracelet that would make a great gift for a good friend.

I also listed in my Etsy Shop, the girl pin I posted here the other day.

These aren’t the only thing I’ve been doing. I’ve been making beads from the canes that I listed yesterday and I’m truly excited, I really like them. So stop back tomorrow, I hope to have them finished and ready to show.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Friday Girl - Laquita Carter

Here’s Laquita’s Friday Girl from our Friday clay play day. She had to scan her, I think she’s fabulous and am glad to be able to show you Laquita’s pin.

It really is fun to get together with other clayers and be able to create and share. I don’t have many people here that even know what polymer clay is let alone actually work with it. So it was nice to have Laquita make the long trip to spend the day.

Today was full of yard work and swimming in the lake. Our dog loves to fetch in the lake. Wears us all out but good fun. So, sun and work and some hamburger on the grill, that was today.

Tomorrow is a special day!

Popularity: 11% [?]

My friend Laquita Carter came to visit yesterday and we had another fun clay day.

I had an old small face pin sitting on the table and Laquita said she wished I had some of those for sale on my Etsy site. She wanted to buy that one, but I said, “why not make one”. So that’s what we did.

We both used the same face and came up with completely different characters. Mine is the one shown here and I know you will find this hard to believe, but yet another clay day went by and I didn’t take a picture of us, what we worked on or anything. As soon as Laquita left, I did the slap up side of my head move and almost ran down the road to get her back.

I’m going to email her and ask her to send a picture. The most important thing was that we had a great day and enjoyed and learned from each other.

She even brought me some of two really cool canes she made and some color recipes with chips. That was great, thanks Laquita

I have to put the pin back on this girl and then she’ll go in my Etsy shop. I think I’m gonna make some more.  This one is 1  1/2″X 1  1/2″. Little but really catches your eye.

Popularity: 10% [?]

This week has been fabulous and frustrating. So humid all my canes just stuck together like they were magnets and now it’s cool and breezy outside. I like that, the cool part that is.

Good news, I finished my order. Bad news, something was wrong with my oven and several of them had spots on their faces when I took them out. The spots were all the way through and I couldn’t sand them away.

I had quite a bit of time invested in these girls and used lots of canes in the process. In the middle of the night I thought, okay, what can I do with these girls? Freckles are okay on the cheeks, but not down by the chin. I took my Pigma Micron pen and gave a couple of them mask with a bit of hanging fringe. I liked them.

If you want to use the Pigma Micron pens, just be sure to heat set them. The ink will rub right off if you don’t. Either use a heat gun, or pop them back into the oven for a few minutes.

I cleaned the pan I’ve used for years to bake my clay and I hope that that was the problem with the spotting. I also checked the temperature with a gauge, just to be sure.

I have an order in for blue and orange wine stoppers for a University of Florida fan in the oven now and should find out how all my cleaning and checking worked. I’ll let you know.

I still have a several more girls with spots but I’ll have to figure something else out for them as they are the full face girls and I’m not sure the hanging fringe will work. After Christmas maybe I’ll think of something.

Later …I just checked the wine stoppers and they are just fine, no spots. So I guess the lesson for me today is to clean your pan. Don’t know what was on it that could have made spots, but whatever it was, it’s gone now.

Popularity: 14% [?]