“I just want to
cry when I take
them out of the toaster
oven and find them all
cracked.” ~Cheryl-V
These “Spot” features are for you guys to display your accomplishments, share stories of inspiration and even ask for assistance with challenges that you may be experiencing. The projects are based on techniques learned from articles here at the blog, as well as from tutorials at the Polymer Clay Video Library. My hope is for these “Show and Tell” features to help everyone get to know each other a bit better, thanks to this wonderfully artistic medium of polymer clay. And… by participating, you can win some beads too!
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If you are interested in sharing pictures of your polymer clay projects with the community, please follow these 2 simple steps:
1) Email several of your photos to me as attachments. My email address is shown in the “From” line of the weekly Polymer Clay Newsletter that gets sent out each and every Friday morning.
2) Include a description and/or story about your pieces, being sure to reference the tutorial(s) or blog article(s) that provided at least some level of inspiration for your work.
Don’t be shy. Everyone is VERY friendly here.
In the comment section below, please do compliment each other; Offer encouragement; Ask questions about the techniques used; And in general… be social. This is your community! It’s up to you to make it a fun and supportive place to hang out. All of you are amazing and it’s wonderful to have everyone here!
The great thing about polymer clay is that I can stop at any point and go lay down. When I feel good enough I can get right back to it. Such a fun and forgiving medium! ~Phaedrakat
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I wish I had an answer for you but all I can do now is tell you how beautiful your beads are even with the cracks. You can tell you have put a lot of time into them. I can only imagine how heart broken and frustrated you must be. Have you gone back to the last spotlight with all of Ritzs cracked beads. If I remember right she used Kato clay. She got a lot of good advice. I myself have never used sculpey clay in the ultra light or Sculpey III. Hang in there I am sure there will be many willing to help. I sure would if I could. Just remember sometimes our mistakes turn into our best treasures.
Uuuuuuuugggggs, Peggy
Hi me again, I did think of something that might be the problem. When you are covering you core bead you need to make sure you are not trapping any air between your bead and your cane slice. This could cause a crack. I can’t tell from the pictures how deep the cracks are. If they are not going below the cane slice into the core bead itself this might be the problem. Someone else will probably know more about it than I do. Just a thought. I still wish you good luck with your next batch and fixing this batch.
Uuuuuuugggs, Peggy
Did you cook the Utra Light interior heart shape prior to covering it with raw clay. Ultra Light expands when cooked and you cannot just cover it with clay and pop it in the oven.
Hi Cheryl I no how you feel when it happened to my gold and silver beads and I cant really help as I have never used the products that you use.But I must say how beautiful your hearts are I just hope some of the others on the blog can help you.
Anna is right. I remember hearing that you need to cure Ultra Light first if you cover it with another clay because it expands.
Your hearts are gorgeous! Love the orange and yellow one! Good luck with your claying! It’s beautiful!
Sorry I can’t be of help about your cracking problem, but I do want to say how pretty your hearts are – cracks or not..!! The orange and yellow is my fave too.
Hope you find the solution to your problem, sounds like Anna may have figured it out..?
Clay on,
~Lisa :)
Looks like you have mastered the chysanthemum cane before baking because I think the are gorgeous. Good luck in future hearts and in repurposing these.
i think they are right about curing the ultra light first then baking them not to hot and putting them in cold water right away to harden
What beautiful hearts! I would be so disappointed too if that happened to me. It might even set me back for a while being a newbie too!
Still – it looks like some have come up with the answer for you. You know what that means – taking off your beautiful canes and going from there.
Good luck!
Try baking the ultralight first to see if that resolves the issue; if it does not, then it could be the S3 clay, which is notoriously weaker than Premo or Fimo. If you like the colors of S3, then perhaps a mix of 50/50 S3/Premo may be in order to help strengthen the S3. The packaging on the S3 I have and Premo both say to bake at 275.
Oh I bet Anna is right I did some research and the ultra light will expand so that is quite a perfect reason unless you did cook it. You do still need to be carefull about air bubbles when layering though. Great help Anna.
Uuuuugggs, Peggy
@Peggy Barnes: Peggy – you are so right about air bubbles. As I said originally, I am a potter and one time I had a piece in the kiln that I had spent about 7 hours hand painting a scene on and another person’s vase was placed next to my painted piece in the kiln. He had not been careful about air bubbles with his piece and in the course of the firing his vase exploded (because of the air bubbles AND his piece was too thick besides) and my 7 hour hand painted piece came out of the kiln with about a hundred shards of clay embedded in my glaze. Now that time, I did cry – buckets and buckets of tears. The piece I made was supposed to be a gift for the birthday of a very dear friend.
I guess air bubbles and clay don’t mix no matter what the clay is made of. And actually I never thought of baking the cores first so I certainly had not done that. I will do that from now on though AND I will remember your very wise advice about air bubbles because it could easily be both things causing my cracks. Thank you!
Wow Cheryl… you ended up having a lot of people jump in to help you out. This is awesome!
If you have not already done so, be sure to click through to the review article I published sometime ago, about Sculpey UltraLight. You can click on my name to go there.
The problem with the Ultra Light expanding under the other clays was mentioned in that article. As well, it was Anna-S that added some new information she had received at a conference in regards to the importance of baking the base bead of Ultra Light, before covering in Premo or Sculpey. The Ultra Light packaging also provides this information… at least on the new packages.
I mention all this because many of you may have questions and problems just like this, that are often already dealt with somewhere on this blog. Rather than having to wait for the opportunity to have a spotlight done, you may be able to type keywords into the search box at the top left hand side of the page and get your answer right away.
It sometimes takes some effort to find what you need, but most often it has already been discussed already.
That being said, some excellent stuff came up here such as air bubbles and such. So thank you all for your excellent help for Cheryl.
In regards to what to do now with your heart beads Cheryl, why don’t you try slicing one in half and bake the halves separately. The ‘open back’ where the UltraLight Core is exposed, may give the UltraLight a way to expand without cracking the front.
Then you could either cover the back later with a flat piece of clay and/or canes. Or you could try ‘gluing’ the two heart halves back together, after sanding them flat, with Bake and Bond to see if that works. It may not work, but it is worth a shot.
Let us know how it goes!
Maria & Sue F. – Thank you so much for the Premo Frost recommendation. I don’t think I have ever seen any Frost clay at our Michaels but I will go there tomorrow and see what I find. Thank you so much.
Cindy – Thank you for the link to the Ultra Light blog that you did in July. What a great collection of information! I have learned so much today and with all of the gracious and wonderful comments about my hearts, I feel like I can really get back to creating. I’m trying not to let the cracks and clouds and other setbacks keep me from creating, but I have been so nervous about moving forward. Tomorrow is a new day and I’m going for it!
Anna Sabina – I sure am glad you went to that PC conference! Thank you so much for sharing this very important information with all of us. I can’t wait to start over with pre-baked cores.
I was not able to take the ULS cores out of the hearts that are already made. I am going to try splitting one and baking it in two pieces like Cindy suggested. Otherwise, I think I’m just going to take my chances and bake them and see what happens. I have a great idea for re-purposing the cracks. I’ll let you know how that comes out and I’ll try to send pictures.
Everyone in this wonderful, amazing, generous, loving community ~ THANK YOU for all of your shared knowledge, suggestions, advice, compliments and well wishes. What a spectacular group you are!!!!
Hi Cindy,
I am a beaded jewelry maker and a doll sculptor. I have used the Ultra light Sculpey for both. I also learned the hard way about the “swelling” problem. I put the Ultra light over a paper mache skull and then sculpted a finished face with Pro-sculpt over it. I was really unhappy when it came out cracked. I wasn’t sure at the time if the problem was caused by air pressure built up in the closed skull or a problem between the clays. I’ve since learned to bake the Ultra light before the final sculpt and I haven’t had any more problems.
Thanks,
Joyce
@Cheryl V.: I am so sorry to hear about the 7 hr painted ceramic piece. I would of cried both then and today.
One thing to remember with translucent is as soon as your piece is done take them right out of the oven and put them in ice water. This will help clear them a little and every little bit helps. Not sure but I think some people do this with all their beads. Do a search on ice water and translucent and I am sure you will find a lot more information on this subject. Good luck with your beads and cane.
Uuuuuuugggs, Peggy
@Cheryl V.:
Going back to our knowledge of different temperatures for different clays – I have always worked in stoneware or porcelain in a studio atmosphere and was always p*@#iif off when students didn’t listen and thought we were wrong and still put their creations in the kiln, and I am sure you can imagine the results. ;-)
Lower fired clays were so decorative and artistic but not for household use, much like polymer clay.
I like experimenting with our clay (I guess it is a guy thing) to find out its boundaries and how far I can stretch those boundaries to its true artistic abilities.
@Lawrence:
I like experimenting with our clay (I guess it is a guy thing) to find out its boundaries and how far I can stretch those boundaries
It’s definitely NOT just a guy thing! (How can you know where the limits are until you’ve gone past them? ;D)
And to defend your students a bit, I generally want to see things for myself instead of simply taking someone else’s word, since I’ve found “expert opinion” to be inadequate when simplified for the unwashed masses (and sometimes plain wrong for certain situations) often enough that I want to prove things to my own satisfaction.
(I experiment with my own gear and don’t risk other people’s work, however. ;)
@Lawrence: There is nothing like stretching those boundaries, that’s for sure. Have you ever put glass marbles in the bottom of a bisque fired bowl then fired it to ^10? WOW is it ever beautiful. I spent an entire Summer experimenting with glass/clay/glaze combinations and pushed each element as far as I could. I sure learned a lot that Summer.
I am trying to push the limits with poly clay but I am not having many successes. Guess that just means I have to keep learning, experimenting, and having fun.
WOW! Thank you ALL so much! Thank You for your kind words about my hearts and Thank You for your WONDERFUL ideas & suggestions!! I had no idea that Ultra Light Sculpey expands as it bakes but that makes so much sense as to why the hearts are cracking. I’m not sure why I have had about 10 of them come out without cracks but I’m going to just continue to be thankful for them and not be puzzled by that.
Now, a new question – I have 12 hearts ready to bake, all made the same way. Should I slice them open and try to peel the colored clay/cane off so I can bake the cores first or should I just bake them and see what happens or ….. any other suggestions of what I might do to avoid cracking BEFORE it happens with these?
Thank you all again for taking the time to help me with my cracking problem. This is the best family ever! I can’t wait to be able to show you what they are really supposed to look like when I follow your wonderful suggestions. God Bless You All!
Thank you so much Cindy! I sure am glad I found your site!
Dis you cure the sculpey light before covering?
That is probably the problem.
It happened to me and since then no problemo!
I would slice them open and take to Ultra Light out. Not sure why the others did not crack but can almost bet the Ultra Light was the problem.
@Niki: I am going to try baking the Ultra Light first this time. The only reason I used the S3 is because I thought it would be most compatible with the ULS. If I bake the cores first I assume it won’t matter what kind of clay I use. I will switch to Premo for the colored part and I will make a new Chrysanthemum cane with Premo and see if I get even better results. Does anyone know which brand of translucent clay gets the best results – meaning the most transparent, least discoloration?
Thank you all so much for your continued help and suggestions with this problem. You are all so supportive and I am so happy to be a part of this community!
@Cheryl V.:
Does anyone know which brand of translucent clay gets the best results – meaning the most transparent, least discoloration?
Premo Frost is the most transparent, but it has a slight peachy tint to it. Ordinary Premo Translucent is about as transparent but it has even more of a tint.
Fimo Effects Transparent is completely colourless and still very transparent. It is fairly prone to plaquing (“moonies”, or small semi-opaque patches), however, so minimise the amount of handling it gets (moisture such as from your hands is one cause), and be extra careful to avoid air bubbles (minimising handling will help there too).
While I personally like Kato polyclay best, Kato Translucent isn’t as clear as many other brands even though it is colourless, so I normally use the two above instead. The one I use depends on whether it’s more important to be as clear as possible (Premo) or as colourless as possible (Fimo Effects), and also on how I’m going to have to cure my piece since Kato and Fimo are on opposite ends of the baking temperature scale (Kato needs a high baking temperature for proper strength; Fimo needs a low baking temperature to avoid discolouration or burning).
Nice beads, too, by the way! I haven’t liked the chrysanthemum canes I’ve seen in the past, but I like yours, particularly in the top and bottom photos. Good luck with resolving your cracking problem! :)
Ok, here I go I’m going to slice these babies open and see what I can do. Wish me luck!
Cheryl, my personal preference is Premo Frost. So much fun stuff can be done with translucent clay – I love it!
@Cheryl V – your heart beads are beautiful even with the cracks. I love the orange one.
Cheryl, your chrysanthemum hearts are beautiful…what a shame they’ve cracked. It sounds like you’ve resolved the problem for the future.
I am wondering, though, why you wantto make them so light? Just curious. I’ve made several heart-shaped pendants, about 2 inches long by 1-1/2 inches wide, using Premo. I think the weight is just right for keeping the focal bead in the center of the necklace. I don’t have much scrap clay either, so I just use one of the colors in my cane for the center of the bead.
Hi Linda – what originally made me look for a way to make them lighter was my brother-in-law commenting on how heavy the first one was. He said, “That’s way too big to use for a necklace and it’s so heavy most women aren’t going to want to wear it.” So, I went back to the drawing board and tried to figure out what I could use so they would be lighter. Also, I once made a multi-strand beaded necklace for my boss for her birthday and other than the day I gave it to her, she never wore it. After a year I finally got up the courage to ask her why. She said “it is just too heavy for me and after wearing it for the whole day I felt worn out.” That was really embarrassing for me. I asked her to bring it back to me so that I could re-work it with her input. She retired very shortly after that and I never got a chance to make that necklace lighter. I just figured I don’t want to make things that make people feel like they have a weight around their neck. So many of us are already weighed down with the troubles and pains of life. I think jewelry should be fun to wear. So, that is probably WAY more info than you were looking for but…… :-)) that’s my double chin you see under my smile
@Cheryl V.: Cheryl, my heart goes out to you. We get so attached and involved in our pieces and want them to be perfect and loved by others too. I think I would have responded just like you did – keep hoping she would wear your piece and finally get the courage to ask – not easy !!! All I want to say is I completely understand and sympathize with you.
@Maria: Thank so much Maria. I really need to give her a call and ask her one more time to let me re-work that necklace – don’t you think? I know my husband would advise me to “let it go” but…….
@Cheryl V.: I feel bad for you in that situation! No wonder you wanted to go “Ultra Light” with your hearts. Wouldn’t you know — different baking instructions! Lesson learned, at least (for lots of us — you taught me something here, too!) Your hearts are really pretty, and now that you’ve got the “skinny” on how to bake the cores first, your next batch will be gorgeous and crack-free!
I sure hope Cindy’s work-around does the trick; it would be nice to save the remaining unbaked hearts. We just couldn’t have it if your chrysanthemum cane was completely wasted! Thank goodness you ended up with a few beads in that batch that made it through the curing process. :-)
Anyway, I can’t wait to see how it all turns out, both the salvage op (Cindy-style) and the next try with pre-baked ULS. Oh yeah, the “crack re-purposing”, too! Wow, that’s quite a few things to keep you busy — have fun with it all! :D
@Phaedrakat: Thank you so much for your kind words. I can’t wait to see how things turn out either but unfortunately I have had to put my clay aside for a few weeks. I am on a committee that plans the annual retirement party and we are only 1 week away from the party. This year we are doing a Fabulous Fifties theme and everyone on the committee has to dress like the 50’s. I’ve been trying to sew a poodle skirt and crinoline but sewing is not my strong suit. It has been so long since I’ve sewn anything that I spent 2 days trying to find my sewing machine. :-)) So (no pun intended) I guess I better get back to my frustration and see if I can get all this net gathered for the crinoline. Thank you always being willing to share and for always lifting us up.
@Cheryl V.: I can sympathize with you too Cheryl! Although I kind of like things that are heavy, (it feels more substantial to me), many others do not. My Dad broke his neck when he was young and has a hard time with things that are heavy around his neck, like cameras, heavy collars etc. It might have been something like that for your boss.
Have you thought about using your chrysanthemum cane on some hollow Puffy Beads instead? You could do them on a larger scale, by using a heart cookie cutter, if you wanted to. Since they are hollow they are also quite lightweight.
I’ve linked to the tutorial post by my name if you need a reminder of them. I think you do own that volume don’t you? Anyway, hope to hear how it goes for you. Do let us know!
@Cindy Lietz from Hollow Puffy Beads: Thank you for that great idea! Yes I do own that volume so I should get at it. Have I mentioned how happy I am that I found you? I just feel so blessed to be a part of your wonderful community with such awesome, generous and gracious people.
How do I respond to several people without taking up the whole blog by posting one after another after another? Is that something that only you can do as the moderator?
@Elizabeth Kerr: Don’t worry Elizabeth, you’re never TOO late, the web is always open! The website you mentioned has some interesting info; he does lots of tests on his clays. That’s really helpful, especially for someone choosing clay from his shop. Hope you’re doing well. How are those peepers doing? :D
@Cheryl V.: Hi Cheryl, first let me say good luck with your sewing! I hope your 50’s costume turns out well. That sounds like a lot of fun! (The dress-up — apparently, NOT the sewing. LOL)
If you want to reply to more than one person in the same comment, you have to finagle it a bit. You reply to the first person, then copy the comment (including the HTML code generated by the “reply” button) into word, notepad, etc. Then you cancel the reply, and click “reply” for the next person. And so on. When you’re done, you’ll have comments to several people, as well as the HTML code that will allow you to click on their name. This is a bit of a pain, so I only use it in certain circumstances. As for your comments here, it’s probably better the way you did it, at least IMO. 1st, it’s your spotlight; you can take up as much room as you like! 2nd, if someone wants to reply to you, it’s easier to tell WHICH part of your comment they’re replying to. Cindy actually has to do this the same way (she answered this question a few weeks ago, but I can’t remember where and was too lazy to search for it.) Anyway, have fun! :D
@Cheryl V.: Just thought I’d pop in here too, though Phaedrakat answered you quite nicely. If you can’t figure out how to comment to separate people in the same comment, it is OK to post each one separately too. Just do what is easiest for you.
@Everyone: Thanks so much for all your comment participation! I am so busy now that I often can’t respond in every post or with every comment, but I do read and enjoy, every last one of them!!
@Cheryl V.: Cindy’s suggested of a hollow bead is a nice idea. I know how you feel about the necklace. I gave a coworker a pair of earring at the end of my first year. I never saw her wear them. I worked with her for another 9 years and I never asked about them, but near the end she asked why I never made her any jewelry…. She didn’t realize I had made the first pair, and she had no idea what had happen to them. LOL! She missed her chance….
@Claycass: Way to go! LOL If you don’t take good care of ClayCass’ jewelry, you can’t have any more! ;~D
–good rule! (I should have used that kind of logic with my sister long ago.)
@Claycass: That is so interesting. I have two co-workers that I have made several pieces of jewelry for and given them as gifts for one occasion or another. Honestly, they don’t wear them. Then I’ll bring in some necklace/earring sets just to show them what I’ve been working on and the first thing they say it “oh how beautiful. I wish you’d make me something like that.” So I come home and make them a set and they don’t wear those either. People are funny don’t you think? With my former boss, I really believe that she liked the necklace, it was just too much for her. I should have know that, she is a petite lady and even though I used ribbons, it was just too much. I so wish she would have followed through and let me re-work it so she would have a necklace that she could love to wear. Who knows, maybe she will surprise me sometime and stop by with it. I’m still hoping. Too bad for your coworker cause she really missed out! If only…………
Oh, Cheryl, that must have really hurt your feelings.
Just a thought–maybe she had issues with her neck that made her extra senstive to the weight of a necklace.
@Linda K.: Actually I don’t think it was so much issues with her neck as much as it was that she is petite and the necklace was 5 strands of ribbon with beads. It was just too heavy I think. I should have done 2 or 3 strands with less beads maybe. Thank you for your kind words.
Sitting up, leaning forward, paying close attention, getting into Lime Leopard Spots mode. Wheee! Only a few short hours to go. Thanks, Cindy. You just get better and better – best!
Hi all I see as usual I am a bit late in this discussion.
I have had cracking beads especially when I first started claying.
Going by what the manufacturers said. Bake at 275f or130 c which I bake at for 1/2 hr or according to thickness.
Well I have found out by trial and error, and what I have seen here that baking them longer is ok, and so now I nearly always bake 1hr or even more some times and dont have those troubles.
About the clay, The web site I have put here is Garie Sims in Singapore: garieinternational.com.sg/clay/shop/product.html
Since I saw his method of conditioning hard clay I have used it. I take a hammer to hard clay to wake up and aline all the particles and then I can condition it. Any hard clay that crumbles works by this method, I also use a tiny amount of any oils either baby oil or even machine oil when it is so hard and crumbly.
Now, dont now if this is really gospel but it works for me.
Hope you resolve the cracking beads, they were beautiful, and so it is heartbreaking to see that happen.
love
Elizabeth
XXX
I made some hearts the same way you did a while ago using sculpey Ultra Lite with canes made from Premo and mine cracked too, I tried again :- cook the core heart shape first. Let it cool. Now wrap the heart in your desired cane, carefully trying not too smear the design as you roll away the seams. (really important to check that there is no air trapped in between the the core and the new uncooked cane layer.)
Now cook and voila, no cracks!
To repair the cracked hearts: I made little patches from canes and recooked everything, they looked really cute.
@Stephanie F: Thank you so much for your words of wisdom. I have not had any time to work with my hearts but there are only 7 more days of school (I’m an Elementary School Librarian) so I look forward to getting back to it. I am going to try baking the cores first and see if I can still get the hearts to look the way I want them to.
With the patches you made from canes, did you lay them over the cracks and smooth them down or fill the cracks with the canes? I’m not sure what you mean by that.
Just wondering how you got your hearts to look so….. perfect on both sides? They are very pretty. Perhaps you can fill the cracks with some B&B mixed with glitter….
@Brenda: I’m not really sure how I got them to come out the same on both sides. I formed each heart individually and some of them really gave me fits before I was happy with the way they looked. I am a bit nervous about how I will get my heart shape if I bake the cores first but I guess I have to make the cores heart shaped and then, like Stephanie F said, just put cane slices on. I hope I can make them look right. I like your idea of B&B mixed with glitter. I’m going to add that to my list of fixes for the hearts that are cracked. Thank you for you idea and your kind words.
Cheryl, I just now am reading this post. Don’t know how I missed it! You got a lot of suggestions and I couldn’t read them all, so I don’t know if someone already suggested it but maybe you could fill the crack with red clay and present the hearts as “broken hearts”!
@Maureen: What a GREAT idea Maureen!! Thank you so much! I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t done much with polymer clay lately. During the summer I take a ceramics class at my local Junior College and I am there Mon. – Thurs. from 8 – 3 and sometimes on Fridays too. By the time I get home and wash the clay off, I’m lucky to get dinner on the table for my family before I am wanting to veg in front of the t.v. Terrible! I will get back to my polymer though and when I do, I’m going to try adding red clay and see how it looks. Thank you again for your great suggestion. Happy Claying!!!
@Maureen: Clever Maureen! I love it!
@Cheryl V, we’re missing you! Forget about that “earthy” stuff and come back to us… [lol, I know, you have to do what your artistic soul wants, when it wants it!]
@Phaedrakat: That is soooo sweet of you! Thank you for missing me. I was thinking that tomorrow would be a good day for me to switch clay but a friend invited me to spend the day in San Francisco so…. I can’t say no to a trip to the City. I only get to go twice a year. I’m hoping to get some great ideas for beads and focal pieces. We spend the whole day at The Gift Center going from jewelry store to bead store to jewelry store. I’ll let you all know if I discover any new things that we could convert to polymer clay. Thank you for thinking of me :^))
@Cheryl V.: You’re welcome! LOL How fun to go to San Francisco, I envy you! How far from there do you live? I’ve been quite a few times in my life, but not since I started jewelry-making. I’ve wanted to make the drive up so many times since, but I’ve never been able to go for one reason or other. I know the shopping and inspiration must be unreal! I’m so jealous! Have a great time, and let us know if you find any of those great “converts!” :D
@Phaedrakat: Wow! Sorry it has taken me so long to answer your post. Where does time go anyway? I live about 85 miles from San Francisco but don’t get there much(as I mentioned.) We had a wonderful time there although it was freezing cold with biting wind all day. Not what I expected in the middle of June so I was not dressed right for that kind of weather.
I was a little disappointed this time because I didn’t really see any jewelry that inspired me. It ended up being a great day with a friend that I don’t see anywhere near enough so I don’t mind all that much that I wasn’t inspired creatively.
I had a wonderful treat tonight because my husband took me on a date to San Francisco to eat at Joe’s Crab Shack. It is one of my favorite restaurants and the SF one is the closest to us. We had a fantastic time laughing and talking and enjoying great food. And at the end of the dinner he bought me a really beautiful tye-dyed apron that I had been admiring!! I’m beginning to feel really spoiled. I could get used to this.
So where do you live? I assume Southern(ish) CA since you said “the drive up”. If you are in Southern CA, did you feel the earthquake today? I really don’t like earthquakes. How ’bout you?
By the way, I threw a huge, beautiful bowl today at my ceramics class!! I am soooo excited and I can’t wait to trim and bisque fire it so I can glaze it. Have you ever tried ceramic clay?
Heartbreaking to get these results, especially because they were all so beautiful. Wonderful advice here, too. Cheryl, did you crack the nut? Sure hope someone’s suggestions worked.
@Jocelyn: Cheryl’s been on a clay hiatus. Let’s hope we can get her back from that “ceramic stuff” :P — LOL!
LOL@Kat. Soon you’ll have to pull me away from the Viking, just pulled back all my fabrics from storage, and am hand washing, ironing, and storing it all. I so love patterns and color combination.
Think a lot of us here are multi-talented crafters. I’d give anything a whack, and have the stains to prove it.
@Jocelyn: I love trying new things, too. Every time I see a new technique, I think, “I could do that–I WANT to do that.” But this craft-collecting habit has caught up with me, and I have to say “NO” to new things for awhile. I’ve got so much money invested in jewelry supplies; I could open my own bead store. And that’s not counting anything polymer! Although I could just about open a clay store, too.
I really think Viking knit is cool, though, and so gorgeous. I love the way it looks in a bracelet after it’s been drawn & patina’d—rustic and rather “authentic-looking!”
I’ve been doing various crafts since I was about 5 or 6, making things that no one could tell was made by a kid. I used to win prizes at fairs for my garments, ceramics, home decor items, etc., and I wasn’t in high school yet! I’ve always had a knack for learning things—and being a perfectionist. But I never could paint or draw. I’m not artistic in that sense. I create by figuring out how to make things, and then by trial & error until it “looks right” to me. Anyway, very funny about giving anything a whack! And having the stains to prove it?? LOL