I've been experimenting with polymer clay (when HAVEN'T I been?) and, despite seeing all the tutorials on unique swirled lentil beads I hadn't come up with one of my own. So today after my L&D staff meeting, I decided it was time to try. Lacking a bit of blue clay, I used Premo! turquoise and Sculpey III yellow to create a malachite-inspired lentil bead. Of course, dummy me...I swirled my bead into my (dirty) desk and it picked up all the little paper and dust crumblies. Ugh. Guess that's what wet sanding is for :) Here's what they looked like straight out of the oven:
Not too bad for a first try. I couldn't find quite the right combination I was looking for, but the colors were bright enough for me without looking too realistic. I'm going to start trying some caning so that I can create a layered bead--possibly with some transparent Fimo and flowered shapes. Not that that has anything to do with malachite, but you never know what you could make!
Another thing that's been stacking up is my growing collection of earrings and bracelets. I've been accumulating the beads and findings that I like for months, but I've made achingly little progress in the way of actually MAKING things until the past couple weeks. Now I have a variety of drop earrings made with a multitude of materials: pearl, tensha, ceramic, crystal, jade, quartz, marble, onyx, and soon to be many more if I can keep up the pace. Here are quite a few that I've made in the past week or so:
I've decided that it's time to start making Christmas gifts. It's a little more than two months away, but if I'm doing anything with clay or paint it'll take a while. So, for anyone who reads....what are YOU wanting for Christmas? :)
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