More quilts, more canes...

So I did a boatload of Snail's Trail quilt pattern canes a while back.  I experimented with color and pattern.  I made two different canes using mostly the same colors and a "fabric" pattern:

The problem with using a "fabric" pattern in a quilt cane is that it can get "muddy" when it's reduced .  I think that's what happened with the top cane.  The bottom one looks less so because the "fabric" is surrounded by white.  It acts as an insulator and is more distinct rather than muddy.

At least...that's my best guess....

Appropriate cane for an ornament...

When I can, I like to make canes that are appropriate to the ornament I make from them.  In this case, I used the "Pine Tree" quilt pattern for the cane for this Christmas tree ornament.  I even put in the brown tree trunk...it's pretty tiny, but can still be seen:

It stands about 4 inches tall and I think it turned out pretty well....

Collaboration....

Clay Days are always fun.  At the last one, I was making those folded angel ornaments I blogged about a couple of days ago.  I cut off the end of the cane, which was a little ragged.  Still, I didn't want to just toss it.  So I made an angel, but I was whining about the hair.  I both love and hate doing hair on my angels.  When it works well, I feel such a sense of accomplishment.  But a lot of the time it's a real chore coming up with a unique hair style (I just can't do them all the same...I just can't), and it can often turn out looking pretty lame.  Hence the whining.

Maria took pity on me and took over the hair styling duties.  Oh my word!  It's fabulous!

Thanks, Maria!

Some thoughts on my latest quilt canes...

I made quite a few quilt canes a month or two ago.  It's odd how different they can look when reduced and recombined.  Here, let me show you....

Take a look at this one:

Now I think that the beige color triangles will make quite large squares when reduced and recombined.  So I thought I'd break it up a bit...I inserted orange and red squares in the corners near the center:

Well, that part worked, but now I have a different problem.  The blue center seems to overpower the rest of the colors and dominate the quilt cane.  That's not exactly what I wanted.

If I did this cane again, I'd probably sswap the dark blue triangles with the light green.  Or just leave the beige triangles alone.

Here's another one:

The blue is predominate, but the white isn't too far behind...they seem to balance each other somewhat.  If you look at the block before it was reduced and combined, you can see that the blue triangle and the large white triangle on the opposite corner are the same size, so it makes sense that they balance each other to some extent in the recombined cane.  Darker colors can overpower lighter colors, even if they are the same amount in a cane.  When I look at this recombined cane, the blue seems to pop out more.

Still, I like it well enough, but it's not my favorite.  I'm not sure what I'd do differently if I made this one again...perhaps break up the large blue triangle.  Maybe put a smaller, lighter blue triangle within the larger blue triangle.  Or perhaps even white?

 Let's look at one more:

I like it best of the three.  It has good balance.  The dark and light areas don't overwhelm each other, yet the quilt pattern doesn't fade into the background and look blah:

A lot of it is personal preference, I suppose.  I don't know--which one do you like best?

Heh.  Bonus points if you know the quilt pattern names....

What a difference a little color makes...

Finally, there is this commission:

I did the one on the right a year or two ago.  It's white and translucent with the thinnest line of gold.  The one on the left was made for a commission this year.  It, too, is white and translucent--but with the thinnest line of silver.  It makes a HUGE difference....

Angel Commission...

Another commissioned piece (well, pieces):

Jewel box quilt pattern

Kaleidoscope quilt pattern

Vespa Scooters...

Another commission came out of the blue...a lady at church and her husband collect Vespa Scooter ornaments and she wanted me to make one for her husband.  A quick google shows that there are a surprising amount.  Here's my version (well, versions...my first turned out awfully big, so I made a smaller one--she wanted both, so Yay!):

 

Sorry for the poor picture quality...I can't seem to remember to get pictures of these things until I deliver them.  Oh well....

For the record, her husband liked them. 

New Computer!

Sorry I've been away so long.  I needed a new computer and they are not easily afforded.  But I've finally got one, and I've updated my photo service, so I should be good to go.

I've been EXTREMELY busy!  I've had several commissions as well as the usual Christmas ornaments.  Now that Christmas is past and the commissions have gone to their new owners, I feel free to post pictures.

Here's the first one:

 

I've gotta say...it turned out much better than I planned!  Isn't it cute?  Here's a couple more views:

 

 

 

More leftovers...

After making the angel ornament from the first limited edition cane I did for the quilt museum, I looked to see if I had enough of my other limited edition quilt canes.  I had enough from the two "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul" canes and they turned out pretty good:

Stars...

I've been trying to come up with an ornament that was relatively simple.  Here's my first go 'round:

Silk Screen Beads

Silk screening on polymer has been around a while.  I finally broke down and bought a small kit and some paint.  There is some really lovely acrylic paints out there, so I bought a nice set of metallic paints.  I hurried home and applied it to a stencil I had, since I hadn't picked up the silk screen kit yet.  I waited for the paint to dry.  And waited.  *sigh* And waited.  Apparently, some acrylic paints do not work with polymer and remain tacky and not very usable for my purposes.  So I bought the kit and used the paint in it.  Huge difference.  And it turned out quite well:

I used two screens on the kimono...one screen with gold paint and one with silver and just silver on the obi.  And oh, I like the way it turned out!

Of course, I couldn't make just one:

And I tried those metallic paints again; this time with a silk screen (I was hoping it would work this time).  Still a little tacky, but it baked okay and didn't smear too badly.  I'm not sure if I'll try it again.  I figure I'll find some use for the paints.  They really are beautiful colors.

I bought some of those cheap little sets of acrylic paints...you know, those ones in the little tiny tubs.  They worked like a charm, so I'll have to use them next....

Hey, look what I did with a leftover limited edition quilt cane!

I had some leftover cane from that first limited edition quilt I did for the Quilt Museum.  It wasn't really usable as an ornament, but there was enough of it to make one of my Kimono Angels:

I used my new stencils and paint for the obi.  It was a little tricky, as the clay was almost four years old and took a while to be made pliable.  So it's a little distorted in places.  I don't care, though...I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

And it's for me!  Although, when I showed it to my mom, she asked if I was going to make her one.  I think I might have enough left....

Beads, beads, and more beads!

I finished that batch of kimono beads I was working on.  I  made some two inch ones:

And some smaller ones, one inch or so:

Boy, when you blow them up and put them on the blog, you can see every little flaw.  I think I need new glasses...I'm still happy with them, though.

New technique...

I got to go to the Vancouver Polymer Clay Guild meeting this month.  They're such a great group of people and I always have a ton of fun.  Joanne and I car-pooled, but I still managed to get lost and make a couple of wrong turns and got there late.  At least we had a great time when we got there.

The last thing I need is for some new technique to grab me and shake me and make me run out and buy a bunch of new supplies.  Oh well, it stretches me artistically, so there is that.  I've been resisting the whole silk-screening/paint on polymer thing, but one of the samples I made looked so much like tapestry cloth that I couldn't resist making it into a Kimono Angel:

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture...I used my daughter's old camera and it just didn't work well.  It's among the ornaments at the quilt museum, so I couldn't get a good picture as I didn't have my new camera yet.  I've made a couple of beads with this process, but I'll save it for another post....

Finally! A camera again...

So my camera died on me a while back and I haven't been able to afford a new one until recently.  It was used, but still works well.  One teensy little problem...no data cable.  I finally got a card reader--so back in business!

I've been making kimono beads in a couple of different sizes.  This one is about two inches tall:

And this one is about an inch tall (isn't she cute?!):

I've got fifteen more in progress:

Hopefully, I'll finish them up tomorrow.  The quilt museum is going to sell them in their gift shop.  It's a bit of a departure from the Christmas ornaments, so I hope they do well.  I took up a bunch of ornaments--there's a quilt show the first weekend in October and there was some room in the gift shop for them.  So excited!