Gallery!

This is a quick update on my last post.  I took my jewellery in to Arteria, a local shop/gallery, and they loved it!!  
They loved my two favourites, the one with my pink polymer clay beads, and the magnesite and copper one.  They are going to put my jewellery into their summer exhibition, which starts in June and runs till the middle of August.  They want about 10 necklaces, including those two, and earrings/bracelets to match if possible.  They like some of the necklaces in my Folksy shop so I'll make some in a similar style for them.
I'm very excited, this gives me plenty of time to make more items and I'm hoping I can manage to make some more clay beads to include.
 

Jewellery and other musings

Just a quick post as a few people asked to see the necklace I was making.  Also I've been making some jewellery to take into a local giftshop to see if they would like to sell it.  So I thought I'd post a few photos.  If they aren't interested there is also a gallery here that I like so I may try there.  And if they don't like it then I'll just cry. 

This is made with my polymer clay beads - the pink ones, the others are ruby in fuchsite, they are quite rough beads but I love them. It's wired with silver plated wire, and has a sterling silver clasp.

This is made with magnesite most of which has been dyed to look like turquoise, the donut is chalk turquoise, and it's linked with copper.

This is amazonite, with little crystal rondelles, and a sterling silver clasp.

And matching earrings with sterling silver earwires.

I'm not going to think about what I'll do next if the shop or gallery won't take any of them as it will be really discouraging.

I'm going to set to work now to make some little gift bags to go with them.  Ok I'll get dressed first. And maybe have a cuppa. And put some food out on the birdtable.  And I really have to get on with decorating the bathroom..... then the bedroom...... the hall...... and the living room/kitchen.  I have till July to get it all done and I'm dreading having to move furniture so I can get to most of the walls in the living room and bedroom. First things first, try to get the bathroom finished !

Klimt Cane - Polymer Clay

I set out to make a Klimt cane, using the instructions in a lovely book I bought by Donna Kato.

The first step was to condition the clay using a pasta machine (you can of course do it by hand but it takes much much longer) and then make logs with however many colours you want.  I've used pearlised clay made by Cernit, in metallic silver and copper, brown and aqua.  Disaster struck while rolling the second colour, my machine seized up completely and the rollers won't move at all.  Fortunately the clay I was rolling was just about out of the machine so I didn't lose any.  
So I conditioned the other two logs by hand, which took much longer and left my hands really sore.
On to the next stage, making a multicoloured log.

 This stage was straightforward.  Slice up logs and join slices together randomly.  Then soften the resulting log and roll it to size so it will fit into the extruder.

The extruder is fitted with a large square plate.  Extruding was hard work.  I think maybe I didn't soften the log enough, but I did try to soften up the clay for subsequent extrusions and it was still very hard to do.  My hands are very weak so it probably wouldn't matter how soft the clay was.  My left hand, gripping the barrel while I turned the extruder screw, kept cramping up, so it took me a long time to do all the clay. 
The next stage was to cut the extruded clay into sections and join together into a square or rectangle.  I forgot to take a photo during this process,  I cut a slice while it was a square but then I cut the cane and doubled it to make a rectangle.

I took the square I cut, and made a base for it from scrap clay and made a hole so it can be a pendent.
Then I used some of the cane to cover a lentil shaped bead made from scrap clay.

I made 2 more beads for earrings, I'll photograph them when they are finished.

Migraines!

I was hoping to do a Folksy Friday yesterday for the first time, but had a bad migraine and couldn't do it.

I get migraines fairly regularly and have done for over 15 years.  When I was working they were severe and frequent and it was several years until I was given any useful drug therapy for them.  I tried acupuncture and homoeopathy, both of which have helped me enormously for other problems, but neither helped with the migraines.
I now take beta blockers every day and Imigran at the first signs of the headache.  It usually works, in that it gets rid of the headache, but I'm often left with some of the other symptoms which vary. 

So it's a fairly common occurrence to more or less lose a day to a migraine.  They can last up to 3 days, during which the headache returns and occasionally the Imigran doesn't touch it.  Other than that, usually I have moderate to severe brain fog, and can feel extremely sleepy, can't keep my eyes open for long, and doze on and off all day on the couch. Other than that I can get very clumsy, light and sound sensitive, and it usually triggers off fatigue.
Yesterday I didn't get the sleepyness (sometimes I get a few hours of feeling sleepy as a forerunner to a migraine) but I went out to do some shopping and go to the post office and felt really lousy and fatigued the whole time and by the time I dragged myself home the headache was starting and the Imigran didn't really get rid of it.  

This last week I feel like I paid for having had 2 whole weeks without a single migraine.  I had one every day though most of them went off fairly quickly.  I was fatigued all week but didn't want to give into it and managed to get some stuff done, had a play with polymer clay, and even made a start decorating my bathroom. 
I probably did a lot more than I should have and the paint smell won't have helped so I shouldn't have been at all surprised to feel so bad yesterday.
 So this weekend I'm going to stay put, and potter.  I do want to have another go with the polymer clay, and maybe spend a little time in the garden.  I can usually get quite a bit done in the garden if I'm sensible and don't work more than 10  minutes at a time in between rests.
Maybe I should explain, so as not to seem very lazy, that I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, so I have to pace myself to avoid pain flare ups, and fatigue which leaves me unable to function. 
Well that's enough of a rant about the state of my health which I promise won't become a regular feature of this blog - boring!

New Ideas

At the moment I'm experimenting with some new techniques in jewellery making - notably polymer clay.  It's great fun and easier than it looks to achieve beautiful effects.  It's also easy to make a muddy mess!  I'm sure I'll find a use for all the scrap clay.
This was my first effort

 These beads were made with a jellyroll cane.  It's very simple, made by layering 2 colours of thinly rolled clay, and rolling it up, then cutting it up.  I made some of it into a triangle shape, and used up the leftover bits by making a few bicone beads (at the front of the photo)
As you can see, I had some trouble varnishing them - I did it eventually by making another cardboard stand with narrower spaces so the pins stayed put. 
I realise now,  from Maxine Veronica,  that I need to get cocktail sticks or toothpicks, and use some of that scrap clay for a stand to hold up the sticks.
I've also since discovered some rather clever wax polish that buffs them nicely and is a good alternative to varnish.
I've posted this batch of beads off to my 9yr old granddaughter who also likes to make jewellery.
My next attempt wound up looking nothing like the picture in the book but ended up looking really nice so I've made those up into a necklace.  I'll post a picture of it later, and will keep you up to date with my efforts.