Making Faux Turquoise ala DivaDesigns

Diva Designs, aka Lynda Moseley does beautiful work with Polymer Clay. She also has worked very hard on producing tutorials so that the rest of us can learn and produce pieces at least almost as beautiful.

I had purchased a couple of her tutorials in the past,  and was drooling over the faux turquoise pendants on her Flickr page, 
when I found out that she was working on a tutorial that would be ready in early January of this year! I was so excited and Lynda did not disappoint. When I checked back around January 8th, I saw that it had already been in her Etsy shop for a few days already.



Of course I had to get it, and now that Etsy offers Instant Downloads of tutorials, I had it asap.

Here are a couple of my pendants made using her tutorial.

Thanks, Lynda for all your help! 

May God Bless and Keep Us.

Lindy's Color Shots and Liquid Clay

While I haven't posted in 3 years, I haven't stopped making jewelry or working with polymer clay.
While I no longer do any rubber stamping/card making, I still have a lot of my rubber stamps and texture plates that I still use on polymer clay. Recently I discovered a cool site for stampers called
Lindy's Stamp Gang. You may have heard of them. They sell wonderful colors in various forms like powders and sprays. I decided to try their Color Shots, in Jamaican Jungle because it was reduced in price, maybe being discontinued, and I liked the colors.

They came in a set of 5 colors, all in not so tiny plastic containers with the colored powders. They are meant to be mixed with hot water, or various mediums like acrylic medium or alcohol. There is plenty of room in each container to add whatever medium you want and to mix and store in.

                                         The 5 colors that came in my set.

                                          I did my first experiment with Tiger Lily Red Orange

                                         This is how much is in each container. But a little goes a long way.


What I wanted to do was mix the powders with translucent liquid polymer clay. I searched the internet and could not really find anything on using the Shots with liquid clay, although their site does say you can use whatever medium you choose and to experiment. 

Now, I do not want to mix the entire amount of each powder with liquid clay- I may want to try other mediums, and this experiment is still in progress. But here I will show you what I found so far.

I took another container that I had with a rubber lid-hopefully it will keep my medium fresh- and squeezed in some Liquid Kato Polyclay in clear.  I took a plastic spoon and added about 1/8 of a teaspoon. I really didn't measure, but I did not use too much liquid clay or color. I mixed it with a toothpick and it mixed in well, no grit that I could see.

                                          The Liquid Kato Polyclay and Color Shot powder mixed. There are sparkles in the Color Shots that did not show up when mixed or in the photo.

                                              This shows how much product I mixed. The container is about 2 inches high and 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Then I spread some of the mixture on a piece of cardstock with the toothpick and baked it according to the manufacturers directions-about 275 for 20-30 minutes. I forgot to set the timer, hee hee.

This is how it turned out. In the photo the sparkliness-is that a word?- does not show too well, but it does come out in reality. Overall I am impressed with the way it turned out. I have an idea for a pendant using 3 of the color shots with liquid clay and "painting" it on textured polymer clay. This time I will mix even smaller amounts of color and clay so do not run out of my liquid clay too fast, or  use up all the Color Shots with one medium.

I hope this experiment can be of use to anyone who likes to make jewelry with polymer clay and trying new things.

May God Bless and keep you.

Keeping Busy

Well, I have been busy helping out my dad, but with my brother here to help these last few weeks I have found time to make more jewelry and to do a couple of my local Farmer's and Craft market.  My brother has now gone back to Chicago, and I am back with my dad, but he will be getting his custom-made knee brace today and I do hope, for his sake mainly but mine as well, that this will really make a difference for his ability to drive or to at least be able to get around safer and with less pain and thus be able to get out of the house. My dad has been, for the most part, inside his house since December 13th. He must be getting batty and this can't be helping his spirits.

In spite of this past month, I have been able to produce a few pieces that I am really proud of.

 Another scale, chain maille bracelet. I just love these things. This one is in violet and gold.

 Lustrous champagne colored fresh water pearls with sterling silver chain and a big, flower clasp.

 Chain maille bracelet in 24K gold plated rings with gold-filled lobster claw clasp.

 Lamp work glass bead, made by Radiant Mind with sterling silver and genuine suede leather cording.

Closeup of the focal bead and my sterling silver metal handiwork.

Visit to White Sands

  So my son, Jason and I went to White Sands National Monument here in New Mexico, about 50 miles from my house. Here are some photos:                                      

                     Pretty sand dunes with desert flora

                Jason writing in the sand, a message to his girlfriend.

                   Jason sledding down the dune.

                   That's me. I'm such a doofus! Good thing it is from the back.

                      This was a great dune to slide down.

                     At the top of said awesome dune for sledding.
We had a really good time. Next visit we plan to see Carlsbad Caverns.

Getting Ready for Son's Visit

I leave in a couple of hours to pick up my 21 year old son Jason from the airport. I am looking forward to his visit, haven't seen him since May. He will be here for a week so I may not find time to write. We plan to visit White Sands. I will post pics. White Sands is a pretty cool place.  I also made my first sale on Etsy. I sold this item:  

I like these earrings, I think I will make more. Don't know why I didn't already. But then again, I rarely make the same thing twice.

Las Cruces Farmer's and Craft Market Day 1

I set up my booth at my local farmer's market this past Saturday. I had a lot of fun and met some wonderful people. I even sold a few pieces and made a little money. Considering that the city only charges $2 to rent your space, it's rather hard to lose money. They hold the market every Wednesday and Saturday year-round. It is outside, but while it can get cold here in southern New Mexico, we stay pretty mild down here in the valley.

Here's some photos of my display. I have a canopy which I didn't  bring-side walls would have been nice, maybe sometime in the near future I can add some.