Special Fun Claypen Chat on September 29th!

Would you like to win a Julie Picarello pendant?

This is an invitation to attend the "Discussions from the Claypen" chat at Polymer Clay Central.

Date: Thursday Sept 29th.

Time: 11:30 AM Eastern Time.

All you have to do is show up for chat and your name will be tossed in the hat!

For a second chance to win, send me a photo or link to a polymer clay piece that uses the Mokume Gane technique as taught by Julie either via her classes or her new book, "Patterns in Polymer Clay". If you can't make the chat but have a photo to share, your name goes in the hat that way, too! It's a WIN-WIN, and somebody IS going to win!

The photos below are some pieces that I've made using Julie's technique... the patterns and the fun are really endless, just wait until you see the Claypen Art album on Thursday! I'm lucky and get to see everybody's photos first.... and they are just fabulous so far, with many more to come, I'm sure.

First is this Imprint Mokume Gane Heart Necklace:



Then, a Hidden Duck Keyring - do you see the duck swimming peacefully there? (Click on photos to enlarge them.)



And a Southwestern look pendant made a couple of years ago:



I hope to get a chance to chat with you all on Thursday! See you then. :)

"Caged Beads" Necklaces from Jae Jewelry

Although I'm primarily a polymer clay artist, I like to make jewelry sometimes, too. I made these necklaces a while back, but just took new photos of them. Click on the photos to see closer views.

I'm including just one photo of a white necklace below, and will take better shots of it for another time.

Above is a blue/black "hologram" look necklace, and also below in two different views.

The fun part of these necklaces are the focal bead and the two smaller "netted caged beads". They are bead cages made with seed beads that hold the larger beads. I have made a lot of these caged bead sets because they are quite relaxing to make and they look so good.


Click on photos to enlarge.


Here is a photo of the white one, which would be just awesome for a bride! It is super gorgeous and would set off a bride's gown beautifully. Click on the photo for the closer view.


Thank you for checking out my jewelry today. I wish you all a fantastic day!

Speaking of Wildlife.... From The House Series

A couple of years ago, I was alone in the house, and I started hearing this deep "wuff, wuff, wuff" sound, it was very strange. So I looked out the kitchen window, and this is what I saw:


Click on photos for a closer view.


I was sure glad I hadn't been outside when I heard that sound! As it turned out, this bear was injured and couldn't step on one of its front paws. I felt really bad for it and I called the Nevada Wildlife department right away. While I waited for them to arrive, I was keeping an eye on it and taking photos. Here are a couple showing the bear trying to make its way down the hill without stepping on that paw.




The story gets interesting because when the wildlife guy arrived and loaded his big scary looking tranquilizer gun, I was fascinated. But this dumb guy decided to wait for the other guy who was driving up the mountain with the cage to put the tranquilized bear into. As you see from the photos, that bear was tagged.... so he already knew about the wildlife guys, somehow. We watched the bear sidle off from a vantage point in my driveway, and I kept asking the guy, "Um, shouldn't you do something before it gets away?", and he kept saying he wanted to wait for the cage guy.

He finally realized that the bear was moving away from my house pretty fast, and decided to go after it. Well, I'm so smart (not!!) that I said, "I'm coming with you!" and since he didn't seem to mind, I went along. There we were, hiking through the mountains above my house, and guess what? No bear. I was amazed! There were large areas of manzanita bushes just above the house and to be honest, that had to be where the bear was hiding out. I'd been watching it move along for quite some time already that morning, and it couldn't move very fast at all.

Well, the dumb guy wouldn't give up, and I just wanted to go back to the house, but there I was, out in the forest with this guy who had the tranquilizer gun, and going back to the house alone with no protection when I knew there was a bear nearby would have been silly. So I had to stick near him for an hour or so, until he finally admitted defeat. Was I ever mad! He had his opportunity when the bear was 20 feet away, and he didn't take it.

So the bear melted into the forest and I went home really dirty and hot and sent the wildlife guy off, hoping someone would give him more training before they sent him out again. The cage guy was by now sitting in his truck down the street waiting to put the bear inside, so he went away disappointed, too.

The bear? Who knows? I'm sure he couldn't do much and since it was already November, unless that paw healed enough for him to walk on it and dig a winter hideaway cave, he may have died from lack of food or perhaps made it through the winter to limp around the following spring on a paw that probably didn't work too well. The best hope I have is that somebody else saw him and called the Nevada Wildlife department, and they sent a smarter person out to deal with this bear. Let's hope that's true. :)

From The House Series

I live in a beautiful place. I really dislike it in the winter but I love it in the summer. It's a huge dilemma for me, without a doubt. :)

Lately I've been seeing really neat photos from the house, and luckily my great camera has been allowing me to catch some of them. So therefore, my "From the House" series of photos is born.

This bird was about 15 feet from me, in the double-trunked Douglas Fir tree we call the Twin Towers that is closest to the house. We've called it that for 24 years, so it isn't a take-off on the 9/11 situation. That tree was small when we moved here, now it's so tall it looms over the house! We estimate that it is around 70 feet tall.

I had to quietly sneak out the door, it took about 10 shots to get a good one of the bird, as it was hopping around in the tree and a little worried about me being there, but finally I succeeded! This species is called "Western Tanager" and they are vibrantly colored in red, orange, yellow and black.

I hope this guy comes back again so that I can get even more photos of him, as he is so colorful and pretty. His "lady" was hopping around in the tree at the same time, only on the far side of it, she was not so brilliant as her man.

Click on the photo for a closer view.

WIN The Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy Summer Promotion

KEEP IT COOL!

The talented artists of the PCAGOE are going to Keep it Cool with a Gift Basket Giveaway from August 8-14!

Win this great basket stuffed with all kinds of one-of-a-kind handmade gifts from the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. No purchase necessary. Enter in one of two ways: Each item purchased between August 8th and 14th from a participating Etsy shop (see list below) gives you one (1) entry. Or you may enter by sending a convo to any of the participating Etsy shops.

GOOD LUCK!!

Young Creative
Polymer Clay Creations
The Pleasant Pheasant
ashpaints
Play Sculpt Live
NK Designs
Hi Girls
Beadelz
Penny's Lane

Summer Storms

It's the end of July... and we are having giant thunderstorms up here in the mountains. Yesterday was the worst hailstorm I've ever seen in my life, really horrendous. I saw the closest lightning bolt I've ever seen, too, and almost fell over flat when the accompanying thunder hit. It was so loud, wow. But afterwards? A rainbow from God...., pretty, isn't it?

CLICK on photos to enlarge.

So when the storm clouds started gathering today, I went out and took some sky shots around me to share with you all. The photo below was taken looking east, and that is Job's Peak in the distance.


Again, the photo below shows Job's Peak, but this time I was looking more toward the south.

Here is a shot of the 10,000-foot Heavenly Mountain with a 75-foot tall pine tree right in front of it. That sky is looking threatening!

Looking toward the west before the hail started, we still see some blue sky:

I pulled this photo out of the last one because it's a really interesting cloud formation, it makes me think of the Loch Ness monster, roaring out loud.

Then the hail came! It was loud, hitting everything with a power hard to explain, watching the hailstones hit the ground, the roof and the deck and bounce 6 feet high was enthralling!

It's quiet now, and it feels as though the world has had a nice washing, and is clean again. Ahhhhhh...

Purple Princess Chutzpah

I have to share this photo with you, because all of us can clearly see that when you're wearing a beautiful purple princess dress and matching high-heel shoes with clear tops, you're just full of what is called "chutzpah". It doesn't matter what you are wearing under that purple princess dress or that your socks are blue, not one bit. Beautiful is beautiful, just ask little Gracie. In her words, "I am a pitty pincess"... that's all there is to it.