Works in Progress

I bought a lovely new book recently - Patterns in Polymer by Julie Picarello.  I had pre ordered it from Amazon some time ago and was delighted when it arrived last weekend.  It was really inspiring and helped to kick start my ailing creativity.
She shows some really interesting techniques as well as really good tips on mixing colours.
I made up four colours, a deep red, lighter pink, pale blue and buttery cream.  They look good together and had enough contrast for Makume Gane which is a technique which works best with plenty of contrast. 

The large piece is made using the mokume gane I made,  I wasn't very happy with most of the slices and ended up using it to make the beads which I think will make a necklace.  The left over stack of colours I sliced with a wavy blade which gives a nice zig zag pattern.  I used leftovers to make what Julie calls a lizard tail which I flattened out and used for the bottom piece in the photo.  I haven't decided yet what to do with these.
I made some earrings with the zig zag patterned clay:

Squirrel Antics

One of the squirrels came back to my garden yesterday.  Well I choose to believe it's one of the same squirrels but it may not be!
He climbed up the narrow metal pole with no trouble and first of all made for the fat filled half-coconut shell.  I was on the phone to a friend at the time and was describing the scene to her.  She told me to put the phone down and get photos for her, which I did.   By this time he had given up on the fat and was raiding the sunflower seeds quite successfully by hanging upside down.   

Unfortunately I will have to disappoint him if he returns as I usually have a plastic lid taped halfway up the pole to stop rats climbing up. 
The plastic lid recently fell off, due to pigeons standing on it to feed on the seed that drops onto it from the niger and sunflower seed feeders.  The only way I've found to attach it is with brown parcel tape, not very pretty and far from permanent, but effective!
A squirrel has, in the past, jumped onto the top of the pole from the slate slab which stands upright nearby, so I may not have spoiled his fun.

Keyrings, a New Line for Averilpam

I'm trying a new line in my Folksy shop, I've listed one so far and have 2 more to go in soon. The first is made with a gorgeous agate slab. It's dyed purple, which shows up round the edges.  In the centre you can see lovely golden brown markings, the photo unfortunately doesn't do it justice. The other two use slices from polymer clay canes with metal charms.

 

June Bugs Listing Club

This month the Folksy listing club is the June Bugs so I've been trying to list an item a day.  I have opened a second Folksy shop, AverilpamEtc selling off some of my excess stock of beads etc.  I'm selling them very cheaply as it is stock sitting around that I'm very unlikely to use since my jewellery making style has changed radically since I started using polymer clay.  So I've not managed to list much in my Averilpam shop, but am getting a fair few beads listed, and I'm glad to say they are selling quite well.
Here are some of the listings from the June bugs today,  click on the titles below each picture to go to the shops.

 

This lovely ring is from Chicita Gimme That Thing. I like the mix of metals.

This beautifully painted aceo is from Wellydog Gallery, I love the colours.

This is a great nautical cushion from Ticketty Boo.  Don't you love that anchor motif?

This is a really pretty flower brooch from Juniper Spools (what a brilliant shop name!)
I hope you like these as much as I do, or maybe you'll find something else you like in one of these Folksy shops.