exposed wire

Last night I was playing with some scraps on my desk and a design idea I have seen many times in the past. The 'floating' effect of stringing. I find it interesting, what I do not care for is seeing crimps on either side of the item to be 'floated'.



I came up with:

By curing the polymer directly on the stringing wire, the need for an anchoring mechanism is avoided. I see possibilities here with all the colors and precious metals of stringing wires available today!

Let's see where you go with this...

Valerie

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faux pas

Originally I posted a picture of one of my journal pages showing full names, address & emails of the Round Robin participants. I removed it. Sorry folks! The one there now is not legible.

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Round Robin

The Bead Unique online community is again having a bracelet round robin. The idea originated with Kim Ballor. I was fortunate to participate in the first one and had a quite enjoyable time learning and creating.

What is a round robin when applied to bracelets??? The way it is done here: participants choose a theme for their own bracelet. Each begins his/her bracelet with the links and a charm or two. A journal is started to accompany the bracelet on its journey. The bracelet and journal is sent to the next on the list who adds to both the journal and bracelet. The bracelet and journal resume the journey until they return to the originator completed!!

I have begun mine:

This really stretches my envelope! I do not usually work in blues, so thought is would be good for me. Also this round robin has one stipulation ... to include found items.

Really a stretch for me ... never worked with found items/objects before. And so jumped at the chance!

Stay tuned...

Valerie

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even an Etsy shop!

I have boxes and boxes of hollow lentils looking for homes. These are addicting! I have found a way to make a large hollow square. The rounds I've been doing for years and just can't stop. They need new homes. I've been beading them as quickly as I can...then the madness strikes. The beads get pushed to the side, not even put away poor things. Many times they are so abused, they fall to the floor to be swept away never to be heard from again. . . . . and out comes the p o l y m e r . In a fury I find myself with the convection oven full of forms and by 2, 3, 4, ...oh my it's 5am and I have to be at work in a couple of hours! And there sitting amongst the debris are another few dozen lentils and rectilentils!

I do need help! And these lonely, lovely lentils are begging to be freed from the storage boxes to be called home.

Oh, btw, how do I produce so many at a time? I had posted a tutorial on the online Polyzine which is no more. In that tutorial I also taught a simple method of creating a mold from polymer. And I used to have a couple dozen of those molds. T H E N a new tool found its way to my studio: Wilton's Mini Ball Pan . Flip it over and use the bottom. 6 shapes per pan. 4 pans fit in my oven at a time...oh, my addiction is fueled!

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. . . who said this is easy???

After several false starts I am going to give this another go. I am not secretive (as anyone who has taken a class from me will attest to). I simply suffer from an all too common malady...procrastination. (No, I am not lazy!) I have much I would like to share. It is just easier when I have you sitting at my table.

My polymer has taken on new life as of late. Seems to want to be surrounded by seed beads.And the polymer is right...it works! A couple more :
Always listen to what is on your table. Design is inherent in the material as long as we are willing to listen.

While I am here...

I have no thoughts to disseminate links and compete with the grand masters, Polymer Clay Daily, Polimeri Online, Daily Art Muse, to name just three. I do want to share what I have worked out in my little corner.

This past year I have added a flat bed belt sander, jump ring maker, new bead weaving stitches, new techniques and products to my tiny studio. The journey is fun, frustrating, and fatiguing. I work full time to keep the roof on. My studio is a second job that takes the rest of my waking and most of those supposed sleeping hours.

Stop by time to time to eavesdrop....

. . . . . . . . . . . Valerie

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