From a French blog: Hidden Magic simplified
An example of matching yet different.
This post from Stef Créations shows something I want to achieve. All of the beads are different yet they match. Of course I’d rather do them in round than in discs like that but I really like those (helps that they’re purple too.)
Dreaming
I spent my weekend packing and my body is telling me to rest now (my back and shoulders ache). I got to thinking about having a house of my own, a house I own. In that house, no one (cept my DH and he said I can do anything I want) can tell me what colors I can or cannot paint a room. I’ve never had that before. So I’ve been thinking about what colors I’d like to paint various rooms. I’m sharing those thoughts with you.
I love purple, rich, deep royal purple (Premo purple, actually), but that’s a really hard color to paint a wall and live with it afterwards. I’m not so fond of lighter versions of that color. I also love red, both bold blood red and maroon. Gryffindor red, if you’re a Harry Potter fan. Another hard color to paint a wall, tho easier than purple. I like both colors with gold accents. I’ve always wanted a purple bedroom but I’m not so sure of that now. I like a red living room. I painted my parents’ living room red with gold sponged over it and I love it. Not so sure I want to do that again tho, it was a lot of work.
I’ve seen on the decorating shows solid color walls that have a subtle striping effect, like a dull stripe and a shiny stripe of the same color. Mica shift is what it reminds me of. I like that, does anyone know how to do it?
I’ll have a studio in the new house. I’ve always gone with white before so the colored walls wouldn’t reflect color onto my work. But I’m not so sure I want that anymore or that it’s all that important. I think I want something fun and funky. But I have no idea what.
Share with me your ideas, suggestions, and/or examples of how you’ve painted your workspace. Or pictures you’ve seen that might inspire me on what to do with mine. Or tell/show me what you’d love to do to your space if you could.
Show and Tell
These are pods with Ultralight cores. They float (which made sanding interesting). They’re also my self-challenge of “Less is more”. It was difficult for me to leave these mostly undecorated but I do like them.
These are mica rainbow blends with the Nail Art glitter mixed into translcent. The glittery trans was rolled to the thinnest sheets I could manage and then put on the blends. Pendants were cut from that.
Oil Paint beads. The top pic is oil paint, the bottom is Pinata inks. I like the Pinata inks way better. Must try it in Mokume Gane.
My thumbs hurt!
And these are why: (Clicky on pics to see bigger)
Copper wire (recycled) and glass marbles.
Now you’re asking what’s this got to do with Polymer clay? Well, in the future I plan to include these (the balls, not the pens).
Dad and I are planning a little art festival in a few weeks and I’d made the balls and the pens for that. No idea what the balls were for. They’re just fun to make (clay covered wooden balls). Now that I’ve come up with the garden suncatchers and doodads, I’ll use the balls in those once I sand them. No glazing tho, as I don’t have any that’s waterproof.
Another idea I don’t want to forget.
She made 50 beads in a set of colors and each bead is different.
I want to try this. I usually make 6-8 beads that are identical (cept for the usual differences cuz they’re handmade). I think it would be a challenge to make 6-8 (or even more) beads that are all different but coordinate.
Strip Quilt Round 3
I think I’ve got it. Lisa’s suggestion of slicing canes thickly the long way, with my idea of scrap smooshed to the same thickness. Each layer separated by a thin contrasting color sheet. When cutting and recombining, always add that sheet in between. This round turned out pretty good. I like it.
Next to experiment with: cutting sheets of clay (patterned, leaf/foiled, etc) and putting together like you would one of these quilts on a backing sheet.
Strip Quilt Round 2
Round 2 of the Strip Quilt experiment.
Since I used up my old canes, I made several jelly roll canes using some old skinner blends I had laying around. Following Lisa’s suggestion I sliced these canes the long way, about twice as thick as the thickest setting on my pasta machine. I also used some scrap smooshed the the same thickness (ran out of cane slices). The pic above is the results.
They’re better than round 1 but I think I need a thin defining layer between layers. And some patience to let the canes rest before reducing.
Dystini - Polymer Clay 