I'm Getting Too Old For This** Part 1

**It's not exactly that, but  being realistic there is NO WAY I can finish all the things I've got some or all of the stuff for, unless of course, I figure out how to live for another 126 years WITHOUT BUYING A SINGLE THING.    Right.     I don't want to refer to them as orphans or destash, because while I've got some of that too, these things have been lovingly kept in my "Someday" place. 

To be completely honest, I don't remember exactly when I made these, though 2011-ish would be about right.  I was very interested in Mokumne gane, rickrack blades and the like, and made all sorts of beads and bits willy-nilly, enjoying myself with no particular end in mind.   

  

OK, so I have these pieces  and they are really pretty, but I know I'm never going to finish the set.  They need new eyes and a fresh heart.  The pendant is 1 3/8" long -- 1 5/8 including bail. It is slightly wedged shaped as so many of my things are, and a bit over 1 3/8" wide at the widest point.  As for the beads, they are somewhat peculiar. Three are drilled only halfway through. I'm quite sure this means they had something to do with the closure as I often did this.  Why three? I don't know.  They are a tad over 5/8" and one is chubbier than the others.   Then there are two fully drilled beads, one short (1/2") and one tall (3/4").  They are all, as I mentioned,  quite pretty, highly buffed with a nice bit of sparkle in the combination of gold and copper clay.

Please adopt them and make something beautiful.  They're in my etsy shop. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/patibannister

They're only $7.50

Last Days of January

The Last Veneer.  Jan 30

It is unlikely I will finish working with this veneer before month's end, but it's a start.  Premo Ultramarine Blue conditioned to Atlas #5, then drawn with small stylus in a Klimt-inspired way until I spotted a pangolin.  So without getting to specific, since this will, after all, be cut into much smaller pieces, I went with the sea.  Once drawn I used my finger to blot in silver, using Liquitex Heavy Body Iridescent Silver.  This metallic family is my favorite: Gold, Silver, Copper and Bronze.  

Jan 31   Acrylics finger-painted on.  Liquitex silver and gold.  Diox. Purple, Cad Red Light, plus Cobalt,  Yellow Green and Turquoise metallics.    Initially I had planned a more controlled application, but as soon as I saw pangolin and some fish, I started to go left brain and that is not what I want. 

Denim-Inspired veneer

Monday I started a new veneer...  and here are some works in progress.

Klimt-Inspired Veneer...a Step Along the Learning Curve ...

I think I'm nearing the end of the road on this veneer, and learned a simple technique for finishing the sides better, using a hair's breadth layer underneath, then burnishing to round the edges.  No great secret but I have rarely worked right up to the finish line without curing the clay before, and certain "refinements" are more difficult after the fact.   I didn't use the technique on the outer perimeter of the pendant because I had already veneered it, and didn't want to sacrifice it.  

COOL HINT:  I don't know why it never occurred to me before because I use them all the time for all sorts of things, but 3 hole page protectors are a fabulous place to store veneers!  I found this hint on a post from 2011 yesterday, and even then "everyone" knew about it.  

Klimt Veneer Continued ... Day 3

Still uncured, going as far as feels comfortable, and finally making notes, something I fail to do, much to my chagrin a year or five later ...Pendants and earrings here ... a trinket box is about to be cured, but not yet photographed. The heart will have a pendant/brooch finding.

....After a Long Hiatus ......

Back to my polymer origins for awhile, when my pleasure was in paint and polymer and fooling around.  I loved veneer before I knew people used such techniques as well as other applications that I discovered for myself.
Klimt inspired, these six pieces of veneer (#7 Atlas) black clay, design drawn into surface, acrylic pigments.  Not yet cured.  Not yet tweaked...if necessary.

Next?  What to do with it?