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

Geek Meets Glam

I wear readers and have for a long time. I'm always misplacing them or juggling sunglasses and readers and I don't know how many times I've had to frantically search through the bookstore or market trying to remember where I left one or the other.
I don't care much for the regular ones as they're hard to change back and forth with those little stretch thingies, so just for the fun of it I made one of these. It worked. I wear one nearly all the time now.
Exchanging readers for sunglasses is a piece of cake.

327 Years and Counting

Just back from a road trip down the Eastern Seaboard from Georgetown SC (a very sweet town) to Key West, less sweet but pretty cool.

 I'm somewhat obsessed right now with turquoise (waters).  I'm always somewhat obsessed by turquoise, but that's another story.

Also, fresh from a vacation, or perhaps I should say a break, since road tripping that distance in just over 2 weeks with six people isn't exactly relaxing, no matter how much fun it might be. 

And it was.  Exhausting.  Fun.

So, upon returning and spending two days doing cat laundry, our laundry, and remembering the most basic of Things Which Must Be Done Daily, I returned to the worktable determined to use up every bit of  clay, beads, findings and assorted I've held on to through several destashings, gifts to local school arts teachers, etc.   This is either before or commensurate with the painting supplies, canvases, oils, watercolors, acrylics and colored pencils, papers, canvases, brushes etc. 

If I opened an art store tomorrow, it would rival Cheap Joe's or Blick's  for at least a week. 

This is where the 327 years come in. It will take that long, at least, as long as I do not buy anything other than fill-in to finish this or that.  Ear wires.  Chain.  The once a year 2 oz block of orange I like.  

That sort of thing. We live long in my family, but this may be pushing it. 

The focal in this piece, as well as the two triangular beads in earrings, were made about 6 years ago.  I made a statement necklace which I then couldn't part with and these remained. (pictured) There are still 3.    The faux faux amber (I wasn't trying to make amber, just the color) are from the red bird pendant I made earlier this year,  the turquoise ovals and heishi from The Stash.  I used 20 including the 2 large beads.  Okay, make that 479 years. 

They don't look like Florida so much as they feel like it, at least to me, and my friend Sheila who is lucky enough to live in St. Augustine, says I got that right. 

Three Maidens Polymer Clay Pendant

Three Maidens Southwest Pendant Necklace.

This is one of my personal favorites, and has never been offered before. I've enjoyed their company.

The pendant is made of polymer clay as are the beads at the toggle clasp. The ivory colored beads are, if I remember correctly, bone -- not plastic and definitely NOT ivory. O-rings figure into the design elements as well.

The pendant itself is 1 3/4 inches wide, 2 3/16 inches long. Overall length approximately 21 inches plus pendant drop.   The pendant is mostly translucent clay "overbaked" which brings up that lovely sienna color and causes imperfections or moons.  For my purposes the development of imperfection is desirable.  A thin layer of textured clay was added then carved with the maidens, the bezel made of black clay, the reverse carved with my mark.  Glazing/antiquing applied for contrast.

Currently, the pendant is available.

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

My Blue ( mosaic) Cross

Added to my Etsy shop today  $24 including shipping in USA. 

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

 

A Bit of the Blues, Cross-Wise

A bit of the blues today: Woke up to find a small waterfall occuring in downstairs entry hall; seems a pipe from upstairs had sprung a leak...end result for now a hole in the downstairs ceiling and a big hole in the wall between the upstairs laundry and master bath. Two fans a'blowin' for the next 2-4 days to dry everything out before repair.

The upside, no doubt had this gone on for another few hours or so, the laundry and maybe part of the bath would have been in the entry hall. Mixed feelings about that as I wouldn't mind a bath remodel...oh well. Stuck, as I was, I took the opportunity to upload this bangle and earrings to my Etsy shop along with a tiny bit of my too-many-beads stash and rephotographed two of my pretty crosses.

David and I went out for a nice lunch.

Could have been much worse.

Autumn Beads .. Soon I'll Hear Old Winter's Song ...

A week or so ago I spent the day building stacks/loaves of colors inspired by the colors outside my window. While we haven't had a spectacular autumn, more one of those one tree at a time things, the colors are still in evidencef, rather like a slideshow when one segment dissolves into another. That said, I've made a selection of beads. Here are two. More to come.

On the Worktable from Monday . . ...

When I started making my color stacks last Sunday, I was inspired by the colors outside; brilliant Carolina Blue skies, autumn leaves and shades in between. This was my greenest stack, comprised of gold, bronze, two blues, two greens, two yellows and a dash of alizarin and pom reds.
I'm especially pleased with two things: The surprise of learning how to make a herringbone or modified bargello design due to an unintended cutting of the stack, and the wonderful way the odd bits, when cut into tiny circles made that delicious focal bead into a complex and rich mosaic.
Some finishing yet to be done...a fragment of the stack is visible; also can be seen, I think, on the larger picture posted earlier.

This Week on the Worktable

For myself more than anything, I have started to take a few snaps of the week...on days when I feel as though I'm accomplishing nothing, maybe this will encourage me.
Sunday I made a bunch of stacks, some, not yet cut into, shown. Each day since (3 so far) I've taken a stack and done something...
A couple of the stacks are really ugly but marbelized into yummy burgundy and port pieces ....
Will have to see where the rest goes.
Am eyeing the bits lower right that might go with vintage Italian millefiore glass beads.
One bunch, not shown here coordinates gorgeously with unakite.

March 13 Gemini

March 13 Gemini,
originally uploaded by pati b.

I modified a piece formerly called gilded fragment, as the longer I looked at it, it seemed somehow incomplete. The other day, I made this little 'stone' out of scraps from my poppy project and liked it. A couple of weeks after that, it occured to me it might work to finish off 'gilded'.
I see planets, stars and creation in this.

April 23 New on Etsy

April 23 New on Etsy,
originally uploaded by pati b.

made these pieces in November, so many of you have seen them before, but as of today, they can be found in my etsy shop (see profile).
Tulum and September Moon, respectively