1-A: Helicopter
2-A: Maple Samara
3-A: Winged Seed
4–A: Maple Fruit
Well I learned something new today! Did you know that the winged seed pods which float down from Maple trees like tiny helicopters, were actually called Samaras? I didn’t and I am the type of person that is actually into knowing these sort of things.
Just this week, Doug snapped some cool pictures of Maple Seed clusters for this upcoming Summer 2014 color palette. After choosing the colors I needed to name the palette and was a little stuck, since we already had a palette called Maple Pods… a Fall palette from way back in Vol-029.
Now since today’s palette is based on a newly developed (beginning of the growing season) Maple Seed, and is clearly in a different color way, I had to come up with a different name.
After a few Google searches of Maple Seeds, Maple Pods and such, I discovered they were indeed called Samaras and not Pods at all. How cool is that? Such a pretty name for a delightful piece of flora! Very inspiring name for a color too, don’t you think?
So, there you go. Were you already familiar with this botanical information that I just learned about today? Or did you discover something new as well?
Please enjoy this Maple Samara photo as it inspires your for this month’s Vol-074 A-series color palette!
The following Vol-074 A-series Maple Samara Color Palette will be added to the Polymer Clay Members Library at the beginning of July 2014:
- Helicopter (Recipe 074-1A)
- Maple Samara (Recipe 074-2A)
- Winged Seed (Recipe 074-3A)
- Maple Fruit (Recipe 074-4A)
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… Helicopter is the beautiful soft gray of the background in this photo. Plus it seemed like an appropriate name for this color since these little seeds make great helicopters and a lot of helicopters are gray… makes sense right? Maple Samara is a gorgeous soft pink found on these newly formed Maple Samaras. Winged Seeds is a neat greenish tan that rims the edges of these flora & fauna beauties. And Maple Fruit is the rich brown color of the branch that binds the tiny copter to the Maple Tree until it is fully ripened and dried and ready to be released in the Fall.
Can you say MUD!! I have had my fair share of mixing the wrong colors together. I have never had a course in color theory and learned pretty quickly that is is difficult to always get the desired result. But thanks to your color recipes I’m doing a lot better now! ~Katina-K
Cindy, it takes a special person, like you are, to inspire so many others – not only artistically but by touching their hearts. Oh, and I just LOVE your low tech system with the file cards for storing all of the color recipes. I put mine in a binder, instead of a box, for easy reference! ~Lori-F
Well, decided to give polymer clay a try again. Got sidetracked with other things but recently started reading the blog and watching all the videos again. I was just going to start to make the color recipes and like so many here, Cindy’s color mixing video will now make that task easier. I am so glad to read Cindy’s remarks regarding her reason for starting The Polymer Clay Tutor and that was to help beginners. I can see that this is the best place to be-))) ~Catherine-R
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If you would like more information about the Members Library, here are some direct links:
Library Member Benefits and What Others Are Saying
Order Page for Color Recipe and Video Back Issue Packages
Become A Full Member at the Library
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Thank you Cindy for a lovely color palette coming up for Volume 74. Even though I love the colors you produced, those little spinning helicopter leaves are a bane to my existence. I am flooded with them every year since I am surrounded by silver maple trees. I guess now I will have to take a more endearing attitude each spring when they start to cascade down in torrents. I love my trees but not their offspring. A little rain mixed with them makes them extremely slippery when walking across the deck and clean up is never ending. At least now each spring my mind will wander to the lovely color palette you created and I will smile and say “only in nature can you find such beauty and only can Cindy create such lovely colors to go with it!”
I loved your comment Dixie Ann! I can just picture your deck covered in tiny helicopters! (Mine gets covered in cherry blooms from our tree so I know exactly the type of hazard dropping flora can cause!)
It is good to see someone that appreciates these recipes… They are a lot of work to create and with such little feedback from everyone anymore, it makes me wonder if it is worth still making them up for people. People just get used to getting stuff that they take it for granted after a while.
Your words and effort to share them mean a lot!
I love these color recipes! I am behind in making the color chips but I usually make them as I use them. Sometimes I make up several palettes when I want to play with my clay but don’t know what I want to make. Seeing the colors in person inspires my creativity!
Thanks for saying that Catalina! You are right about there being a big difference in the inspiration you get from looking at the picture and actually making up the color chips as well. Dixie Ann spent the time a while back to make every color recipe that we ever sent her and as you can see she is one of the ones to come back and says something nice when the new ones come out. Like her, you also know that the real value in the color recipes and tutorials comes only when doing them. They don’t need to be your favorite color or your favorite tutorial, but just the simple action of doing them, expands your skills, knowledge base and creativity level. And isn’t that the reason why we are all here in the first place? It is important to not just be a collector of information, but a user of information. You guys get that. Thanks so much for participating like you do in this community. You are the reason for its success!
Dear Cindy,
I’m writing at this location because I’m wondering if a message I sent to you on your form went astray! On Weds the 9th I sent a semi urgent message asking advice on doing my very first baking of beads (in 20 years!) in my oven which is the same as yours. If you just have been swamped and not gotten to it, no problem, as I went ahead and cooked up some great beads!
My very first bead, only partly sanded but looking wonderful sat on my bedside table last night where I could gaze on it as I went to sleep. So if you didn’t get that message, don’t worry, those questions are now moot.
But now that I’m at a different stage I do have a question….I am baking lots of flat backed colour samples. First lot was fine sitting on card stock in the metal pan with a tent over it…..next time could I do 2 layers by putting a second card stock ( file folder as suggested!) on top of the ones in the pan,and putting another layer of samples on it, thereby doubling the number I cook? If I can do that but can’t tent the upper layer should I not do it?
Thank you so much for commenting on me noticing your blue steampunk glasses It’s fun to know I’m the only one to say anything! Little touches like hanging those old glasses on your coat is like adding an extra layer of delight!
One other question: as mentioned I’m making many of your wonderful colour recipes, but notice that in several recipes you use colours I can’t seem to buy. What should I do to replace: cobalt blue, red pearl, zinc Yellow, Sea green, violet, blue pearl or candy pink with? I figure Blush is pretty close to candy pink, because I saw you use it once. What about the others which do not seem to exist any more? Feel free to tell me to just ” make do and experiment” but I wanted to run this past you first!
Sorry to take so much of your very precious time. Every time I look at your videos ( pretty much every day!) I learn more, smile more and am more grateful to you for being such a talented and warm teacher. I am also So grateful to Doug for the exceptional job he does in the film and editing…. a HUGE job! He makes everything look clear and sharp and appealing. My husband, Geoff is an aerial photographer with his own business, so I am aware of some of the work that goes into a final product and how stressful ( but wonderful) it is to work for yourself!
That is all ( bet that makes you smile!) keep up the good work!
Clayfully,
Julia….. My user name on your site is: julia1…. Does that mean I am your ONLY Julia? :) Below see photo of how I’ve been making your recipe chips!
Hi Julia, thanks for your comment! We did not get your form email… must be swimming in the sea of data out there! The blog is the best place to ask questions anyway, that way others can benefit from the info as well. The only time you would want to email your question, is when it is of a highly personal nature, something to do with your account, or something in a tutorial that would give away how the technique is done, to someone who has not paid for it. Other than that, here is the best place.
Your question about the color recipes, where the original color has been discontinued… there isn’t much I can do about that. Substituting for a color, means making a whole new recipe. Right now we are working on updating the old videos, but when we are done that we will start going through the old recipes and either retire some of the ones that no longer work, or come up with new recipes to place them. Since there are more than 600 recipes, you can imagine that it will be quite a job !
In regards to the double layer baking, go ahead. You may need to add a little extra time, if the heat has an issue getting into the bottom layer. As for not tenting the top… why can’t you do that? I am assuming you are only layering flat items, right? If that is the case, then you should still be able to tent. If you can’t for some reason. Don’t do the second layer. Tenting is very important.
Thank you for your kind comments to both Doug and I. bringing quality videos is a much bigger task than most people realize, so to have you notice and appreciate our efforts, is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for sending your color chip pics! Love to see you’re getting a lot out of your learning!