Trying out a new ornament...

I know I tried this out with one of my flat folded angels.  I thought maybe it would work with my bell angels.  I like it, but I need to refine it a bit:

Adapting...

I'm always trying to come up with new Christmas ornaments.  Pinterest has been a source of ideas.  Here's one I used for Sunday School.  The girls liked it a lot and made half a dozen each.

I thought maybe I could adapt it to polymer clay.  My first attempt:

Eh...maybe my second try will be better.  And the photo, too!

Polymer Clay Adventure Virtual Retreat - Lesson One, bracelet four

After a couple of misfires, this is what I came up with:

I think it's my favorite so far...I might tweak it a bit, though.

Sometimes it seems like it's always Christmas...

When you make Christmas Ornaments on a regular basis, it's always Christmas.  I'm trying to get a bit of an early start this year:

Polymer Clay Adventure Virtual Retreat, Lesson One - Bracelet 3

Here's my take on bracelet number 3:

My texture sheet didn't quite work right, so I touched it up with a little bit of paint....

Polymer Clay Adventure Virtual Retreat, Lesson One (bracelet 2)

Here's the second of five bracelets from the first lesson of the PCA Virtual retreat:

I'm not overly fond of extruders, but I've got to admit it made a big difference in making this bracelet.

Polymer Clay Adventure Virtual Retreat -- Week One

So I signed up for the Polymer Clay Adventure Virtual Retreat.  Twenty-Four lessons from twenty-two instructors over the year 2015.  First up...Syndee Holt.  An hour and a half lesson on making five bracelets using various techniques.  I gotta say--it was just packed with information.  I always have put my own spin on things, so here's my version of the first bracelet in the lesson:

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: