April 2008
Monthly Archive
Polymer Clay TV This Friday & Mary Ellen’s Beautiful work
Posted by Ilysa on 21 Apr 2008 | Tagged as:
This Friday we will have a new episode of Polymer Clay TV, we will be showing how you can create your own magnetic clasps. If you have ever had trouble putting on jewelry magnetic clasps is the way to go. They are easy to make and incorporate into your polymer clay jewelry. There might be some bonus footage from some of the events we attended but you will have to check back Friday to see.
This week I wanted to share the work of a very talented artist and her name is Mary Ellen, we were lucky enough to get to meet her in person at the Synergy conference this year. ME’s work is so fun and whimsical that you will most certainly smile when you see it. I love her attention to the details and all of her animals are so great! You can check out more of her work in her etsy shop http://www.beetreebyme.etsy.com
Add your Bottles of Hope photos to our guestbook! With an animal theme this week, the first one features my white kitty.
Posted by Kira on 20 Apr 2008 | Tagged as:
This is part of our weekly BOH inspiration, and we announce it in our podcast. Upload your photos of bottles you made this week, we would love to see them. Thanks to everyone who shared last week, they were quite beautiful.
Next week’s theme is…..Pink!
Polymer Clay Podcast Episode #50 Creating Magnetic Clasps
Posted by Ilysa on 17 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: , Podcasts
In this episode of Polymer Clay Podcast we talk about how to make polymer clay magnetic clasps. Magnetic clasps make putting on jewelry a breeze. These type of clasps are perfect for older folks and for people who are disabled as you don’t have to fumble with a clasp. We also share a book review and share some other news.
Make sure to check back next week for a new episode of Polymer Clay TV & Polymer Clay Classroom. Don’t forget to check out our latest endeavor http://www.craftedonline.com
Polymer Clay Podcast Tomorrow, Big Brother Audition & Moon Journals
Posted by Ilysa on 17 Apr 2008 | Tagged as:
Tomorrow we have a new episode of Polymer Clay Podcast so make sure to come back and listen to that. It has been a quiet week with my husband out of town. He is in the process of fixing up his fathers house in south, FL which is a big job, to give you an idea it still had some of the original carpet and they moved into the house in 1956. Yikes!
The day after Ed left I received an e-mail saying he was one of the first 150 applicants to audition for Big Brother which is a reality show on CBS. It is our all time favorite show and Ed decided he would like to try to get on the show just for the fun of it and I told him to go for it!
If he gets on the show he will be gone for 3 months, I think he would go crazy around all the people, we live on 5 acres out in the country and we can go days without seeing anyone and I know he likes that. I would not call him a people person.LOL There probably aren’t a lot of 40 year old men applying to the show, so it should be very interesting. I will keep you posted.
Yesterday I spent the day with my niece Rachel who is 11 years old and is so smart. We may take a class together to learn how to sew a tote bag purse. A new fabric and quilting store opened in downtown Alachua and we happened upon it. I wanted to make polymer clay buttons to go with some purses. I purchased a ton of fabric and supplies because I wanted to have someone make purses to go with my buttons but it just did not work out, so I am going to learn how to do it myself.
While on this outing with my niece we also happened upon a thrift store and I purchased a copy of Moon Journals Writing, Art, and Inquiry Through Focused Nature Study by Joni Chancer & Gina Rester-Zodrow, I haven’t had much time to check it out but it looks like it is going to be very interesting. I will keep you posted.
Artful Inspiration In Array Of Ways
Posted by Ilysa on 16 Apr 2008 | Tagged as:
I am often inspired to create by an array of things, there is no one source for my creative inspiration it comes from sometimes the smallest of things and sometimes monumental things or life changes. Over the past few years my life has changed and I have found I am inspired by different things now and I think it shows in my art. Lately my focus has been on learning the silkscreening process and I am having a ton of fun. I am posting a few photos for you to see what I have been playing around with.
My main focus over the past years was the millefiori technique and creating items with the different canes to make and sell at the art shows in quantity. I no longer do art shows and don’t need to make tons of things anymore. I find that sometimes it keeps me from doing some of the pieces I would like to do that would be quite large and would be a perfect attention grabber at the art shows. I say to myself what am I going to do with such a large sculpture as my house is full of my artwork already and I am trying to unload somethings. Unload somethings, that makes me laugh because my husband Ed and I used to laugh at the older couples who admired our artwork at the art shows but said they weren’t buying anything because they were unloading. I think as you get older things just seem to get in the way and make more work, like dusting. LOL
I have been making jewelry since I was 5 years old when my mother taught me how to. Recently I had been burnt out on making jewelry and thought that perhaps I might not make jewelry anymore but it seems I always come back to my roots and have made some silk screened beads and pendants of course with the intention of making some jewelry with them.
My mother has Alzhiemers and unfortunately she will never be able to use her beads again so now combined with my extensive collection of beads I officially have more beads than I could ever use in my life. I am OK with that and have shared some of her collection with Etsy buyers but I have to say my mothers collection is absolutely incredible! Her collection spans more than 30 years of visiting antique shows, thrift stores, yard sales and of course arts & craft shows.
Now that I am back on the path of jewelry making I am sure you will see lots of my mothers collection incorporated into my designs. My mother loved to create wire wrapped fused glass pieces she would make herself and I am typically not a fan of wire wrapping but she did some gorgeous work. I will have to take some photos to share with you. My mother was a psychologist not to mention my father was too but her clients would often ask her to buy her necklaces and she hated to sell them and unless someone nagged her she would not sell them and then only for a good price. My mom would spend weeks perfecting just one piece and it showed. I have to say I would go crazy working on one small piece for that long, I like to make something and have instant gratification which I am sure is why I love polymer clay so much.
While going through and packing up my mothers things when we had to sell her house I discovered a bag of pendants that she had made years and years ago and I actually remember her sitting at the kitchen table embedding quartz crystals into this clay to make the pendants. Well the clay happened to be Fimo and I didn’t discover or realize she ever worked with the clay until all these years later. I discovered the clay years later while living in NYC and never even had any idea it was the same clay my mom had used. Too funny!
What got me talking about inspiration is that I received a copy of Artful Blogging & Art Doll Quarterly from StStampington
The magazines are full of inspiration and the photos are beautiful. We will be reviewing these magazine books on an upcoming issue of Polymer Clay Podcast and you won’t want to miss it. Speaking of Polymer Clay Podcast, don’t forget to come back Friday for a new episode. I hope you get inspired to create something today!
