Red, White and Blue Jewelry

I made several pieces of the red, white and blue jewelry but Apropos weren't taking any new jewelry at this time. I put the pieces on Etsy.

Red, White and Blue Jewelry

I wanted to make some patriotic jewelry to take to Apropos where some of my pieces are for sale but I didn't get them finished in time. I'll just say they are made for July 4. I did finish one of them and decided it was for me. I wore it on Sunday and Monday (Memorial Day).

I'm looking forward to taking a class this Saturday in Columbus with Julie Picarello. I've admired her work for a long time. Robin got me her new book for Mother's Day. Really good book.

Easter

My granddaughter Sierra made me some colored Easter eggs, just plain, no design. When we made egg salad sandwiches, I saved the shells to make a mosaic on polymer clay. I think I had the grout too thin. I've never made a mosaic so didn't know what the grout was supposed to look like. I saved the rest of the shells, but I don't know if I'll ever go back to mosaics again.

After Christmas & New Year's Day

Last week I made a steampunk heart and a heart with the leftover black clay that had silver leaf crackled on it. I wanted to try doing the steampunk heart differently than I had in the past. I need to put the UV resin on it to see how successful it was. I need to buy a UV lamp to cure it because when I put a batch of pieces in the sun, half of them don't cure. They become contaminated I'm told. I hope I can find a lamp around here and not have to send online for one.

New Year's Day we went to Jenny and Bob's. Carly and Tony had gone to Sara and Josh's so there was only nine of us - Chris and Sheila and Austin, Nathaniel and Susie, Bob and Jenny, Clayt and I. The guys went out to the shed to shoot and Susie slept because she has had a bad cold for a couple of weeks and Bob gave her some peppermint schnapps that put her out. Jenny, Sheila and I played Skip Bo and Austin slept.

New Pieces on the Website

I've been putting some new pieces on the website. It has been a long time since I did that. That meant taking photos of some of them that were new. Robin has my light box and when the sun isn't out, I don't get very good pics.

I made a couple of Christmas ornaments for the tree. I covered glass ornaments with polymer clay. They both turned out differently than I had pictured them in my mind before I started.

Now I need to go into my studio and make something new.

Trunk Show

Saturday I did a trunk show at Apropos, a gift shop in Wadsworth. Sally, the owner, had a table set up for me with a black velvet cloth and a large lamp on either end. I thought the lamps would take up too much space and not leave enough room for my pieces, but the table was wide enough that I had plenty of room and the vases enhanced the layout. I only took the very best pieces, which I should do anytime I want to sell. I had four busts raised on two vases with a board between. On top of the board I had a lace edged table runner. I think it was a very nice layout.
About lunchtime Sally asked me if I'd like a cup of tea. That sounded great. I had been snacking on some raw nuts I had in my purse. When she brought the tea, she also had a slice of pumpkin roll on it. That's definitely not on my low sugar diet, but I savored every bite. Later she brought me another cup of tea with some chunks of cheese and said that there was a delicious dip and pretzels out front with the refreshments that would be good with the cheese.
I was surprised at how many people came in to shop the small store. Also, how long people stayed. Most were there for an hour or more. A few friends came in an boosted my sales and at the end of the day, Sally bought seven items.
It was a profitable and enjoyable day.

UV Resin

I tried a new UV resin that you can cure outside in the sun or under a UV lamp. Some people use the lamps like beauticians use to dry nails. I just take mine outside when the sun is shining. Some days I just forget about doing it because the sun doesn't come out.

I see beautiful pieces that have resin coating on them and think it would be easy to do. I always get too much on and it drips over the side or I get too little on and there are spots without a nice glaze on them. It's hard to get a happy medium.

I had a couple of pendants I made using a mold from antique buttons. They are round and domed in the middle. The resin slid off the side and some got under the pendant. When the top was cured I turned it over to cure the resin that had sneaked there. I left it out longer than needed and still it didn't cure. It's still a little tacky. I'm going to have to go to the website of the makers and see if they can help me.