It's been a while.

So it's been a while since I blogged. I have been so busy with my crochet hooks on Etsy, it's hard to do anything extra. We are also having a wedding in the family. My daughter is getting married in September and we have been shopping, shopping, shopping. She picked out a beautiful Maggie Sotero wedding dress. How much fun we are having though. There's so much to do and everything costs so much today. I'm grateful she found a wonderful young man and so happy for both of them.

Jungle Fever Crochet Hook and Pendant

I have a new direction with beautiful jungle themed crochet hooks, pendants and barrettes.

Mokume Gane Pocket Mirror

Here's a different style pocket mirror I have been creating. Something a little different:

For My Asian Friends

A few more pocket mirrors/compacts - Asian Inspired

Here is another mirrors/compacts - Asian inspired. The images are from ParrishLin at Etsy. This one of a lotus flower.

Image Transfer Pocket Mirror - Two Mirrors

This is something new I am doing, trying to perfect it so that I can teach it in my class in the fall and also put some in my Etsy store. I'm really pleased with the way they came out. There are two mirrors in the compact, a magnified mirror and a regular mirror - Perfect for touching up your make-up!

And another rose cane.

Here another mistake - can you find it? Need one more petal at the top. Where did it go? LOL

The &$*$($*&#&^@^^% Rose Cane

In the past few weeks, I have made 20-30 rose canes from a tutorial I purchased from Yonat from Israel (Thank you Yonat for driving me crazy and giving me a new addiction. LOL). This is not an easy task. If not done exactly right, the outside petals become small and reducing the rose cane is one of the most tedius jobs - gently tugging and pulling so that there is minimal distortion. You can see my mistake on the purple rose on the left. I think after my 10th or 12th cane, I finally got the hang of it. Here's a few I made this week. With the urging of my students, I have placed a few in my Etsy shop for sale. Definitely give this a try, difficult, yes, rewarding absolutely!

The Day The World Changed Forever

On 9-11-2001, 2973 innocent people perished in a horrendous act of terrorism at the World Trade Center. Living in New York, this is very close to my heart. This tin will not be for sale in my shop. It sits on my desk to remind me of the Day the World Changed Forever. Inside the tin is a tiny Flag of Honor with the names of the 2973 victims of 9-11 who gave their life. This is my entry into the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy May Challenge - History/Historical Events. Please go to www.PCAGOE.com from May 1-May 8 at 12 noon to vote for your favorite. You could win a great prize just for voting.

Deb Tuchsen - Rengalsa (Renaissance Gal of San Antonio)

From San Antonio, Texas comes Deb Tuchsen. She is an amazing artist with a knowledge of many different mediums, but her polymer clay art is so unique and different.



She is a true artist having a love also for drawing and photography. One of her areas of expertise is portraiture - taking people's family photos and making drawings or paintings for a family heirloom.



Her polymer clay work involves customizing canes for beads for school and college jewelry and custom face canes. The school and college jewelry has her own design of a school or college logo in the school colors and many of the designs are used for fund-raising purposes. You can contact her to discuss a custom order at http://www.rengalsa.etsy.com/.
She also makes adorable face canes which she turns into wonderful jewelry. The face canes are intricate, detailed canes with varying skin tones and hair colors - some even with mustaches! They are so true-to-life and would make a beautiful custom gift for mothers, grandmothers, or teachers.

Christi of Rivervalleydesign

I promised myself I would start promoting my guild members on my blog and the first person I chose is Christi of Rivervalleydesign. Christi lives in Michigan. She has the most unique and beautiful pendants. She shows how very diverse polymer clay is as an art medium and is truly a great artist. You can see more of her outstanding work at http://www.rivervalleydesign.etsy.com/.

Transfer Focal Bead

Here's a new style focal bead I'm working on with transfers. This will be the center or focal point of a new necklace.

Crochet Hooks Covered with Flowers

Here's a new item in my shop at Etsy - polymer clay covered crochet hooks. They are really fun to make and I have already sold a few.

Please help the people of Haiti

Such a devasting event for these poor people. You can make a contribution to the American Red Cross and be sure that your money will get to Haiti. Let's help them in any way we can.

Some new work

After watching Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg's (Riverpoetdesigns) new DVD three times, I decided to give it a try. What she does with clay is absolutely amazing. She makes it look so very easy and believe me, it's not. I doubt anyone will come close to her beautiful flowers and placement on her pendants. There's a lot of room for improvement, but I'm working on it.

Georgia O'Keeffe Necklace

This is my challenge entry for the October Challenge of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. We had to pick our favorite artist and design something around their art. I chose Georgia O'Keeffe and added Kambaba jasper rounds and tubes and highlighted it with yellow magnesite. I just found out this was accepted into the Customer Gallery at www.turquoisemagpie.com.

Bringing Back the 60s

The peace sign is all over the place, in clothing, in jewelry, on backpacks and more. I decided to add one to my Etsy shop. Here I used a transfer image on polymer clay and finished it with resin. I tried to find one that was a little different and not so psychodelic. This one has the stars, moon, earth and sun. It comes with a black cording. I guess the peace sign was a cool part of the hippy era.

Polymer Clay Book Thongs

These are new to my Etsy Store - polymer clay book thongs - they fit in the crack of your book to hold your place. LOL. The hearts are made of polymer clay with a transfer using magic transfer paper. I then finished them with resin for a lasting, beautiful shine. I'm selling them in my store for $9.95. They would make a nice gift for an avid reader.

Putting some necklaces together

Decided to finish some of my pendants with beads. Here are a few I made this week. The brown one is carnelian gemstones and Swarovski crystals. The green one is adventurine and yellow crystals.

Featured Artist - ToniNZ

http://www.toninz.etsy.com/

Very rarely do I purchase premade canes. I try to do them myself and most times I am fairly successful, BUT, I have recently been following a polymer clay artist in New Zealand, Toni Ransfield. Her flower canes are absolutely the most beautiful I have ever seen. I purchased two of them this morning and I am so excited to make some pendants with the flower canes from Toni.