Saturday, April 30, 2011

I Lied

I didn't get back to my beading project like I said I was going to do.  I couldn't stay away from the clay last night and this morning.  I didn't do anything earth shattering, but I had lots of fun.  I played around with Sculpey Bake n Bond, some shell pieces, wire, two colors of clay and 2 colors of Pearl Ex pigment powders.  I also messed around with some alcohol inks, but wasn't successful with it.  I am making a brooch.  I have the main part of the clay done, but I need to embellish it somehow so I'm not going to show you that yet.  What I am going to show you today are the 13 leaf headpins I made.  I took 3 parts of a green green color with 1 part chocolate and got a more subdued green.  I shaped them into leaves, put a little dab of Bake n Bond on the end of a piece of wire and stuck it in the clay.  Then I brushed a green Pearl Ex powder all over, but it was pretty bright.  So I brought it down a few notches by going over it with copper powder.  After baking I coated it in some kind of gloss I got on clearance.  I'd tell you what it is, but it's all put away now and I just don't want to dig it out again.  I almost had a heart attack when I tipped over my little jar of green powder and half of it came spilling out!  Luckily I got most of it back in, and I used what was on the table to cover the leaves with.  Only a little ended up being wasted, thankfully!  That stuff is pricey!  So here's my experiment for the weekend...Leaf Headpins on 22 gauge non-tarnish copper wire.  The leaves are not all the same but they roughly measure 15x8mm on the big end to 10x5mm on the small side.
I need to find some, what's it called? Gum Arabic? to make paint with my powders.  And I need to get a better paint brush.  Anyone know where to get that stuff?  I'm wondering if I can get it at JoAnn's or Michael's or if I have to go to a good art supply store.  Or maybe I can find it somewhere online.

My exciting news (for me) is that this month I sold over $60 in patterns on The Bead Coop!  Woohoo for me!  Can't wait to get the deposit in my paypal account...more shopping is in  my future!  :)

5 comments:

Barbara said...

Thinking you have found your thing with polymer clay, at least for now. ;) We always find new things to become passionate about, it seems.

Anonymous said...

Lisa I love those leaves!!!! They look really awesome. You are really getting in the groove with the clay. I can't wait to see the brooch. And congrats on your sales! That must be so cool to sell something you made.

You inspired me, yesterday at Joann's I got two colors of clay to fool with. I don't have the right tools to use, but I saw instructions for making an easy bead and I wanted to try it out. Not sure if I have the patience for it, but my granddaugher (4) is coming over for a "slumber" party in a few weeks and I figured we could play with it

Craftymoose Crafts said...

The leaves are fabulous! A big congrats on the pattern sales!

Have you tried Ebay for what you are looking for? I know a lot of people don't like it, but they do always seem to have anything you are looking for.

Roberta Warshaw said...

I made headpins as well but didn't glue them and they all came off the wire. I need to go back in and glue the silver wire in.

Juli Cannon said...

Congrats on the sales.

LOVE the headpins!