Polymer Clay Bead Giveaway Contest – Step 2) Post Your Comments

Photo 14
Oh my, what gorgeous pieces. Can’t believe the talent in this forum. Looking at all of them gives me incentive to spend more time with my clay. Have been having trouble with my camera but hope it is fixed now and I can send in another photo.

Those beads are beautiful. Cindy sure has inspired a lot of artistic creativity. She sure has inspired me.
Wish we could all get together for a week and do clay. Cindy, do you have room for all of us up there?

Photo 005: This one is made with my second sheet of faux-raku. I just love the colors!

Photo 024: This one was actually my very first try at faux-raku. Some of the Pearl Ex came off when I put Future on it… Anyway, this one is attached to my purse and I get nice comments on it, like “it looks like a dragon’s skin” lol

thank you Lisa for your comment on the colours of no 15 beads . idid a rough( Lietz ) blend of Fimo colours ,Gold ,copper, silver and the red perl.
i thoughly enjoyed tearing the bits up for the watercolour techniqe .
All the beads posted are so beautiful it makes me proud to be a part of this talented site

photo 30 are my Jupiter beads. I did not have any old clay so i put the black and red in the freezer for five minuets then added them to the soft clay and then extracted them through the Makins profesionel extractor gun. My friend thought they were loverly so i gave her them as she has been such a support.

Photo 017 This was an “oops” as I had planned on texturing but I love the smoothness. Carolyne, I love the texture you accomplished in your Photo 013. Will have to find the “MACRO” button on my camera as this photo isn’t as sharp an image as it should be. Learning more than claying here.

Photo 027 These beads do not have the definition I was looking for. Another first try leading to making more I’m sure. I enjoyed the technique however, and don’t know why I put off trying it. Its one to put on my list of “To Do”.

Photo 29. My orange, black and white water color beads came out pretty big so I wonkytized them by pinching them into amoeba shapes; kind of look like the candy Circus Peanuts.

Wow! What gorgeous work, everybody! This is so exciting, seeing what everyone has been making! I am going to be going over these photos several times, trying to figure out my favorites. It’s also fun to see who the beads belong to. I’m pretty new around here, but I feel like I’m starting to know some of you. Now I can also get to know some of your beads! How cool is that? And there are more photos to come–this is so, so much fun…

Thanks, Cindy, for this cool contest. I know that you are busier than a–well, you’re probably working 40 hours a day now, right? I know I can’t get it all together in time for this contest, but I sure hope it’s a success (I want there to be a # 2 for me to enter.) I’m feeling positive–it’s going to be a huge success! I mean, look at these beautiful beads that your students have learned to make. You, our polymer clay tutor, are one fan-tabulous teacher! Thanks so much for all that you do.

C’mon, guys! Those of you who’ve submitted photos, don’t forget to post them on other sites. (Don’t forget the comments that point back here to one of the Vol. 14 lessons at this great site.) If you don’t know how to do it, get some help. Perhaps you could get a family member to post your pics for you on their facebook site, or something? As long as they put the appropriate comments, and you let Cindy know where it was posted, you’ll get credit. (Is this right, Cindy?) For those of you who own Vol. 14–what’s stopping you? Don’t be shy, let’s see those purties you made. We love you here, and we’ll love what you made! If it’s not perfect, we’ll be kind. You’ll get constructive criticism ONLY if you want it…

@Anna S.: I love all of your entries. Really beautiful! I love that you “wonkytized” Photo 29. They came out really cool-looking in with this shape.

photo 36 these were made out of the scraps from watercolour beads, i swirrled them into lentil beads( another fun activity) then decided to reshape them for earings.

photo 41 these were a total disaster ,i could not get the clay to crackle at all it just bent.i cheated and cut up tiny bits to try to get it to stick to the
clay .I took the pictures as promised but then i threw them in the bin.
Carlee your beads are fabulous so too are Carolyn and Joyce’s please give me some tips as i am sure Cindy will be up to her eyes in everyone’s entries and comments.
sorry to sound as if i dont like anyone elses beads because i truly think they all are marvelous its just that they seem to have masterd this tutorial so well

What an awesome group of talented artists! Beautiful! I love the variety, colors, everything! I’ve been having some good results with the torn paper watercolor and smooth raku techniques; will get mine submitted. Still plugging away with the deep crackle and jupiter beads. I will persevere! LOL Thank you so much for this opportunity Cindy!

AWESOME JOB Everyone, they all are just beautiful. Of course I knew they would be a good teacher and wonderful students. Way to go!!!!!!!

Photo 6
Lupe, your beads are beautiful- they look like real raku!

@Carole- Thank you for the nice words about my beads. It took me awhile to work up the courage to send pictures in! I think it was even harder to make my first comment post- I’ve been reading everyone else’s comments daily for months..good for you Cindy for appealing to my competitive nature to get me to comment!

Photo 16
Anna, when I first looked at the beads, these are the ones that caught my eye! I’m glad you stuck it out and finished them because they really do look great!

I love everyone’s work, well done guys. You know what the best thing is? I looked through these pictures and immediately my brain started whirring away. “Wow, that’s a great idea! Maybe I could try something similar with another technique… I love those colours, how would they look as a pendant?”

Thank you so much for the inspiration. :)

Oh and I’ve linked to this before, but I have some jewellery pics on Facebook, facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341990&id=61107323

ADDED NOTE BY CINDY: @Silverleaf – a better link to put herd is the “public” one that does not require visitors to be Facebook members or be connected to your Facebook account as a friend: Here is that link:
facebook.com/album.php?aid=2341990&id=61107323&l=08cb20318f

First let me just say that there are BEAUTIFUL pieces of work! I love photo 1! What a pretty idea! I love hair pieces. They are the only jewelry I get to wear to work so I’m especially drawn to them and those are fabulous!
Silverleaf, your watercolor paper beads are fabulous. The colors are rich and bright!
Cindy G., love the pendants in #10.

Photo #1 is a bangle bracelet I made using water color beads I flattened into discs. These are the only beads I sent into the contest that I did not make this month. I made these when the video first came out and I tried some watercolor beads this month but they were horrible so I’m sent pictures of this creation.

Photo #18 This is a bangle bracelet I made using the faux raku crackle technique. The crackle technique the the one I struggle the most with so I made myself create using it.

Photo 25 is a necklace I made from 6 Jupiter beads I made using mostly black and white and just a few drops of color here and there. It’s actually big enough to slip right over your head.

Photo #36 This is a Crackle raku hair barrette. It’s one of my favorite hair pieces now. I love the texture.

I hope the link at my name takes you to my photostream, which I shall update very soon, however, I must let the 5 year old play on Disney Channel dot com for a little while. He ever so patiently waited for me to make all these comments and now is looking over shoulder asking when I will be done.

@DJ:
#006, I used a total of 4 different alcohol inks. The blue ink separated a little (probably due to a little cornstarch residue on my glass), but I liked the outcome. I later added a 4th alcohol ink for an added tint. I sanded them a little and dipped them in floor wax. I appreciate your comment. It is hard to pick a favorite among all of them. They are all amazing! I like them all. Its fun playing with the inks!

WOW -Awesome work everyone. Congrats to all. I’m still not myself so haven’t gotten the energy to work on any beads yet. As I said before, don’t count me out yet. Gonna keep praying I will get the chance to share my work with all of you talented artists. Cindy you must feel like a pretty proud Momma right now. What an honor this will be to share my photos with all of my clay family.
Thanks for the chance to do this Cindy!!!!

@Tiffany:

Please don’t feel intimidated Tiffany. This is for beginners as well as for people who have played with clay for some years now. I know how you must feel because I felt that same way when I joined a Polymer Clay Guild. There are so many gifted artists in our guild, but they are so supportive. I think this bunch would be too! So, enter whatever you’ve done. Remember, Cindy mentioned that this contest is not about who is the prettiest or fanciest… it is to show what we have learned and by practicing. I happen to be my worst critic. It is nice to get some comments on some of the stuff I’ve made. And most of all, I like the sharing that goes on this website. So, start sending some of your work in!

@Carole Anne holt: Carole you aren’t doing anything wrong, the sheet does turn bendy, a little stiff but its not until you run it through the pasta machine that you will see the crackle. Sorry I didn’t follow through with that. I would take another look at the video. Good luck, I’m sure you will come out on top so don’t give up. If anyone else has a suggestion I hope they will feel free to comment.
I’m not all that experienced with lots more to learn too.

Janine, thank you for kind comment about my Jupiter beads. The thing about Jupiter beads is each side is different. Isn’t that cool? The other side was more light blues and grays and I was not sure the crackling would show up well in the picture.

Tiffany-we all had to start somewhere. Please do not feel intimidated. When I first started with PC I joined swap group and entered monthly challenges on Polymer Clay central. This helped me try different things and push myself a little. We are always our worst critic. So, I hope you will soon be sending in pictures too !!! And, the backside of my Jupiter beads look like something the cat coughed up. LOL

Anna-Des Moines, Iowa.

Cindy, how long into Feb. will you accept pictures for Contest #1? I am inspired by these beauties, and I’m jealous that I’m not involved! Is it too late for me now?

I am very impressed with all of the photographs but have a few comments/questions about some particular ones:
Photo #001 – I love the finish on these hair grips. Rachelle what did you use to line the holes?
Photo #002 – Anna these beads are beautiful and the fact you made them just to enter the competition means that Cindy’s idea really paid off!
Photo #005 – Great looking pendant Cindy. Are you able to sand it and not loose the texture?
Photo #009 – This has that “please touch me look”! Lupe is it a hollow bead or a solid pendent and did you use the mica shift technique or is it textured? Great colours too!
Photo #025 – Wonderful Jupiter beads Melinda – still one of my favourite techniques and I am very keen on black and white too!
There are many other comments I could make about the other photographs but they really are all wonderful!

Thanks for asking! The holes are lined with grommets. You can find them at Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc.@Susan B:

Photo n.048
In real life these look like shimmering planets! I am hooked (as you will see) on the Jupiter-bead technique and created these beads by using black, white and silver. I really like the effect that the silver adds to the bead.

Photo n.059
Jupiter Tubes and Jelly Beans – I played around once again with a round Jupiter (what else!!) bead and when these tubes appeared (shortly after Cindy’s “purse charms” blog) I thought they would make great adornments. The look like they should feel rough but a SO silky smooth to the touch which makes them wonderful to handle and hold and play with!

Susan B: You’ve become a Jupiter bead specialist! hehe. What gorgeous beads! I love how you’ve used the technique with different colors & for different bead types. The black and white one is quite gorgeous – just 2 colors! The tubes & jelly beans – well, I wish I could get a closer look. Really intriguing. I like how you squashed #64 & center-drilled. And, of course, the ones with silver are amazing (I’ll bet even more so in “person”). Good job there, lady!

Wow, lots more beauties to look at! Looks like everyone has been creating lovely items. I see lots of you from the first post added more entries – you must have really enjoyed getting your stuff out there. I’m happy about that; I just love seeing everyone’s work. I just wish I could have gotten my own act together in time. Oh, the jealousy! Someone is going to end up with some of Cindy’s own creations. How fun is that?

Hey Silverleaf, sorry I didn’t answer right away my studio was leaking and I had to move everything to the dining room. When I do my bangles I roll them with a flat piece of plexiglas or I extrude the largest circle and then build the pieces on them and continue rolling. When you know what size you want the bracelet to be, cut it at an angle on each end and fit the angles together. It’s easier to smooth that way and you can cover the seam with some of your clay pieces while you are smoothing it.

@Silverleaf:

Yes, it is! I’ve been meaning to make book covers for these daily planners that I picked up for a couple of bucks. They have been sitting on my shelf since December. I thought the Faux Raku would look gorgeous on a book cover. I amazed myself because it turned out better than I anticipated. I also made one using the “Torn Clay Watercolor”. I only covered the front because binding was actually a little tight with just the the front cover done. Thank you for your comment.

Carole Holt, if you’re in Yorkshire you must be pretty close to me, I live in North Derbyshire, about 10 miles south of Sheffield. I’m loving #66 as well!

@Carole Holt: We’re practically neighbours, lol! You know, I’m feeling another Cindy’s (UK) Girls meetup coming on, you interested? Some of us met up a couple of times last year and it was great fun!

Thank you for your compliment, I’m been claying for about 18 months now. I’d like to think that I’m at the stage where I’ve absorbed enough techniques to start developing my own style, hopefully anyway! ;)

You know, there are so many pieces I like I can’t list them all! I’ll just mention a few more: Melinda’s heart (#42) because I love the wire wrapping, Bonnie’s pretty pink and lime necklace and bracelet (#49 and #65), Carlee’s beads which look to me like pebbles (#19).

Not that I don’t like every single piece here! Everyone should be very proud of themselves. :)

Photo n.050
Lisa this bead is so lovely it makes me want to have another go at this technique. My first attempt failed miserably! I love the colour, did you make this up or follow one of Cindy’s recipes?

Photo #50
This is a focal bead(most of my beads are focal), made with my own color mix. (See my post to Susan B) When I first started tearing up the pieces for my watercolor beads I could hardly see the white and black where it was torn and I thought “Oh no, I screwed this up!”. But I kept on, and after I had covered my core bead and rolled it in my hands to smooth it, whaa laa, it looked like it was supposed to! I was so excited it turned out ok, I promptly made a dozen in 6 different colors. This was my favorite color.

~Lisa :)

WOW! WOW! WOW! Everyone has just outdone themselves! I agree with Phaedrakat about the community becoming closer. It is nice to be able to put names/faces to each particular PC work. Just beautiful work everyone! I happen to love every piece! The jupiter beads (#54, #56, #12, #4) are awesome! The Faux Raku (#63, #44, #1) are done in beautiful colors! The crackled clay pieces are so amazing! I am still having a hard time to get my clay to crackle. Photos #36,#47, #53, #005, #32 (to name a few) really pop out! And beautiful colors in the torn clay watercolor. Bonnie (#049, #65), how did you get your beads so shiny? Did you sand them or just buff them. Same comment to Silverleaf…your torn clay beads (#2)…just beautifully shiny and beautiful colors! I must have strong hands, because I tried sanding, and I sanded off some of the color so I decided to just leave them alone with a matt finish and slightly buffed them with my jeans. Awesome work everyone. I bet we make our teacher look good…and proud! Thanks Cindy! I know this must be overwhelming to you and Doug with all the photos, comments, etc., and I know it is more work than you or Doug anticipated. So, I am very thankful to you both for giving us this opportunity to share our work with one another. It really is a community!

ADDED NOTE: … overwhelming in a good way! Feeling very proud and humbled all at the same time. Thank you Lupe and thank you all!!! Please do keep those overwhelmingly wonderful comments coming. ~Cindy & Doug

Photo #56
The Jupiter Beads. I had trouble getting my clay to crackle, so I ran my extruded clay through the pasta machine on setting 3 (1 being the thinnest, 7 the thickest)and wow did I have the crackles! I love the Jupiter Beads, they are just so interesting! I made a couple dozen of these and took pictures of my 4 favorites. My Mom likes them too – I gave her a necklace made with one and she turned around and bought 3 more necklaces from me! She gave one to a friend who put it on a sterling chain and wears it all the time. What a confidence booster!!

~Lisa :)

@Lisa Whitham:

Oh and I forgot to say congratulations on your sales! Nice one! :)

thank you Cindy for the very encouraging comment. I am almost ready and just have to photograph the beads and post the pictures. I was not able to do much for a whole two weeks; had to cancel my piano lessons too. I don’t know if it is a previous back injury I had years ago in India. I’ve had a lot of pain in my back, neck and hands. I’ve got to do physiotherapy and an EMG test (in March) to check nerves and muscle. I have to say I so enjoyed making the beads. Than you so much for the tutorials and this wonderful contest idea to get us all claying. You’re the best!!! Can I email the photos to you ? I can post also on facebook.

ADDED NOTE: Sorry to hear about your pains. Hopefully the physio will help. Yes email me your pictures. You can use the return email address that is used for the newsletters you received from each Friday. And YES absolutely post your photos on Facebook too :-) ~Cindy

Photo 63
I was working on making Jupiter beads and one had picked up a small piece of clay from my work surfaced and it ruined the bead. So I decided to smash it and put it thru my pasta machine and out came this cool looking swirl. I decided to turn it into a pendant.

what a wonderful array of beads,they are all fabulous and so different.
i especially like Susans beads no 59 and no 63 as they look like venetian glass.how did you do them?
Freda your hart no 53. is lovely its crackled beautifully so too is Janine’s no 47. pendant am so envious as i have yet to master this technique.
keep up the good work everyone looking forward to seeing your next entries.

Lisa #56 your jupiter beads are wonderful. I love them! That is exactly how I get the crackles in my jupiter beads too! #50 The color of that torn watercolor paper bead is gorgeous!

Freda #53 is beautiful! The texture is so fabulous! I just want to touch it.

Susan #54 is so pretty!

Bonnie, I love your colors and jewelry designs.

All the entries are beautiful, fabulous, and inspiring! Thank you so much Cindy AND Doug for all the hard work!

Carole: What do you mean? You’ve got some beautiful beads yourself here…! It seems you are talking about the crackled raku that you haven’t “mastered?” I am going to purchase this volume later today, so I can try to enter this contest (very last minute, I know.) So I will probably soon be in your company. This technique seems to be the one people say they have the most difficulty with, so don’t feel bad. I’m sure you’ll get it. If I figure it out myself, I’ll let you know if I get any kind of special insight into your problem… In the meantime, feel proud of the beautiful successes you have shown here. You’ve got some lovely submissions!

@Carole Anne Holt
Thank you Carole — perhaps the venetian glass effect has something to do with living in Italy!! I think was a lucky mixture of colours that sanded and buffed up particularly well. I think there was some translucent mixed in too which probably help create the glass effect. I don’t know if I could repeat exactly what I did so that makes them pretty unique!

@Lynn Watts
Many thanks! It is so safisying when the colours work out so well — all too often I get a dark muddy brown and more scrap clay for bead centres!

thanks everyone for all your comments ,i will have yet another go at crackling this afternoon .in the meantime i will tell you about my latest entries .No 58 i wanted some beads to go with some real turquoise beads that i had brought from Singapour.So i thought that if i did torn watercolour in the similar colours they might make the real ones go further.
no 66. As i have said before i only got a very few crackles on the white clay,
so i re rolled the beads into some more ink and micra powders at lest now they look at least wearable.Wish me luck for this afternoon,i will send in a picture of the resutls however they turn out .

@Lisa Whitham: Yeah, isn’t it great that clay can be so therapeutic, distracting us from pain and life stuff?

I made a kalei cane on Thursday, but haven’t tried Cindy’s way yet. I’m trying to have a “finishing off” day today – baking, varnishing and photographing. I have some more pictures for this competition to send off too!

@Bonnie: Your #43 Bangle is beautiful! So perfectly round! Is it all polymer? Did you make some sort of polymer core first, then cover with your surface technique? I want to learn to make bangle bracelets. Maybe Cindy will do a video (hint, hint…)

@Phaedrakat – Thanks for the reminder. I’ve now got links up to Cindy on my pics that are entered in the contest. :)
Thanks again!
~Lisa :)

@Carole: Hurray! I’m so happy for you! I could tell it was upsetting that your deep raku wasn’t turning out like you wanted. But you persisted — and now you’ve “Conquered that Crackle!” Congratulations, and I can’t wait to see the pictures…

@Lisa: Sure thing! Your Jupiter & Watercolor beads are beautiful, BTW.

@Cheryl Hodges:
Thanks Cheryl H. for your comment. That is an example of the Raku. I mixed several alcohol inks and then I used a textured sheet over it and laid that sheet over another sheet and then cut a circle out. The textured sheets are from Helen Breil and can be purchased off the Shades of Clay website.

@ Silverleaf
Only the front of the pendant is curved, the back is plain. I laid the clay on wax paper and I used the bottom of a marmelade glass to press it slightly down. So I had a beautiful curved top. Simple and easy… for smaller pieces I use a glass from italian olives….
Greetings from Germany
Janine

Thanks Janine, that’s a great idea! I use a metal cup used for measuring alcohol – it’s actually like two cups stuck together at the base, one is 25ml and the other 50ml. I guess it works in exactly the same way.

Cindy, I have to tell you how inspiring you are. I’m still relatively new to polymer clay. I’ve taken a magazine subscription and read everything I have time to that I find on-line, but nothing compares (at least for me) to being shown. My husband (who is my biggest fan and supporter) enjoys watching your videos along with me every week. He’s even dreaming about Premo clay :-)

Your contest gave me the incentive to try different techniques that in the past I didn’t consider. I guess it’s partly because I can’t ignore a challenge like this. That led to me realizing I should try everything you do at least once. When I first tried the Jupiter beads I couldn’t stop! I only have a few hours a day to play with my clay, but every night I found myself making more and more Jupiter beads. It became addicting.

I finally forced myself to stop, for now at least, and also try the other techniques in Vol-014. I don’t think the crackled Raku bug bit me like the Jupiter beads, but I did enjoy the experience of trying to make them. Now it seems I can’t stop making the torn paper beads.

You’ve definitely made this so much fun. Again, thanks for all you do for us.

Bead #83. I think this was my favorite Jupiter bead. It has some gold glitter (yeah glitter again) but doesn’t show up that much in the pic. I love how after sanding and beginning the buffing process how much deeper the colors become!

Bead #94. I wish I could have made more of this one. Trying the Jupiter beads for the first time was a great way to use some of my growing pile of scrap clay, but, unfortunately, I never was able to come up with anything that looked like this one again. :(

Pic #107. Second attempt using crackled Raku and my love of hearts.

WOW! Everyone has done beautiful work with these tutorials! Stunning colors everyone! I especially love the hearts since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. I have to comment on Elizabeth S. #81. Beautiful tile squares! What’s your plan for them? I could certainly see them pieced together for a frame or pendants. They look like they have great texture on them, you just want to touch them.
I am originally from Las Cruces, NM…so I just wanted to say hi neighbor.

photo #101 Elizabeth, that is so beautiful!!! Is it the crackle or smooth raku? All of the photos are great, but I think that #101 is my favorite.

Photo 75; I titled this “my 2 sided heart” because of the asymetrical necklace I made for the pendant. If I had known ahead that I would use this design, I would have made some raku beads for the beaded side, but these are reclaimed from something else…forgot what.

Photos 79 and 86; In one of my jewelry making mags, I read an article about a gold bowl, and how the artist said the gold just glowed inside from all of the reflected light. i liked that. So I thought to myself that I’d try it with a hollow bead. These two beads were made over a bead core, with the deep crackle raku surface treatment. Then I gilded the insides with pure silver (# 79) and 20 kt gold (# 86). I then added copper and silver spirals for the inside charm. It was fun, but more work than I expected. The gilding didn’t want to stay where i put it.

@ Cheryl Hodges; Re: 79 & 86; Thanks! The inside spirals are copper and silver metal.

Oooh, everyone is getting better & better! These newest photos are so gorgeous! This is incredible work. Congrat’s everyone!

Hi, all, my #68 was done using the Torn Clay Watercolor Technique. The metallic purple clay really makes this bead sparkle. It was so easy to do, too. I really enjoyed this technique. Making them oval was my favorite.

This was my first attempt at the Torn Clay Watercolor technique. #104. I actually did it wrong. I reversed the black and white layers but it came out ok. But, it did give it a different look.

@Cheryl, I forgot to mention your “Marbles”! # 105 are amazing!! They really look like glass!

Thank you Cheryl.

This was a mold that I made from a piece of my jewelry with polymer clay. I love making molds. I love your Jupiter beads and crackled raku beads. What is the beautiful golden beads? I have to do mine over after the contest. All of yours are so smooth and shiny. Just beautiful!!!! Honey

Catalina Ledesma’s beads #’s 78, 80, and 104 are beautiful! Great work Diana!

Thank you Helen. The marbles are the jupiter beads – no finish there. I just tumbled them with river rock and then buffed with a dremel. The golden/brown beads are bits of the raku sheet that I used with the brown raku beads. little pieces fell off and I had some clay that I had mixed for the brown raku beads – i just took all the scraps and rolled it together so it has the smooth texture of the background color and bits of the raku sheet in it. I did not sand it, just used future varnish.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

@Cindy, I posted my beads on my facebook page and mentioned your famous blog!! So anyone who wants to see larger pics of my beads feel free to drop in and take a look. Look for: Diana Catalina Ledesma.

@Anna, your #103 is very impressive! I LOVE the colors!!

Happy Valentines Day :-) :-)

Just popping in here to address an email I received last night from someone who was concerned that maybe some of the contest entries are getting “rated” or “graded” as is what happens in other contests and juried art competitions.

Please understand this is not the case. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…. “This is not a competition to decide who can make the most beautiful beads. It is not a popularity contest. And it’s not about being able to submit professional quality photographs.”

In the comments here, when someone references a specific photo with a compliment, a question or a suggestion, please don’t interpret that as a means of jurying the entry in any way.

And even more importantly, please don’t view this as a way to belittle or degrade other entries that may not have been mentioned in the same breath. I’m quite sure that was not the intent from anyone.

Conversational dialog is exactly what I wanted to see happen as a way to encourage you guys to interact and get to know each other better. So please do keep those comments flowing.

I personally think that everything about this contest is working very well to help strengthen the community in a friendly and supportive way. I am so proud of EVERYONE’s accomplishments!

PS: Thank you to person who sent the email. When concerns come up I definitely want to hear about them so they can be addressed. ~Cindy

@ Helen, I love your fan bead earrings and the way the torn watercolor pattern adds an interesting pattern that really suits the shape. Looks very “oriental”!

@Sue W. Thanks, for the compliment! I love your “claw” it is very original. I think I’ll try a “fire” piece and you do the same and we can compare!

Sue Werner-Thanks to you, too. I love your wire work.
did you learn that from that site, jewelry lessons.com? I go on that site too. I love just looking at everything, not buying. I wanted to write somemore but I’m so tired and can’t think anymore. Will write again later. Great stuff!!!!!

So much and each individual and so beautiful. This community is full of creativity that is being developed by our dear tutor, Cindy. Wow! is about all I can say … except that each one of you has given me ideas so that I can develop my talents. You spur me on to greater things and I thank each of you who have submitted photos of your work – and yes, it is so exciting to see that we have come together from literally all over the world! God bless each of you real good! (and me too)

@carolyn: what a brilliant suggeston i would love any of the entries submited, as i am sure would everyone here

Hi Helen

Thank you for your kind words. I hope you are feeling better and stronger. Will keep you in my prayers. I just feel achy and tired and I think as i’ve not been sleeping very well I’ve had headaches sometimes too. It makes it really difficult for me to concentrate on my music students with a throbbing head. I just finished some blood work on Thursday to check for inflammation and I had some xrays done on my lower back too. I really feel blessed to not only have a wonderful teacher in Cindy but a lovely caring person as well as all of you who are such an encouragement and support.

@ Catalina – Trying to find you on facebook. there are so many Catalina Ledesma. Cannot get you.

I’ve only used the peanuts when I have open spaces in the polymer clay. Then I soak them in water and the peanuts dissolve. If some is oozing out, you might try soaking in water and see if the rest comes out.

@Susan Dyson:
Sue and Freda…I came across something you all might be interested in…water absorbing crystal gels. These can be baked inside the polymer bead if you want a hollow bead. I have yet to try it but it sounds pretty interesting and easy. Go to: garieinternational.com.sg/clay/shop/gel_crystal.htm and check it out.

@Cheryl, try: DIANA CATALINA LEDESMA. Diana is actually my first name. I’ll change my avatar back to the one I use here if that will help. I currently have my wedding photo.

Susan D; I agree with Freda. Heart 86 was formed over a ball I made with the soluable packing peanuts slightly dampened with my fingers as I formed it. I then rolled it in cornstarch to keep it from sticking to my fingers and to keep it from sticking to anything else (ie the clay covering) After I formed the heart over the ball I used a circle cutter to remove a “window” of clay that exposed the core. Then I baked it. The bead came out of the oven with the peanut core very hard. I had to soak it for quite awhile in warm water before I could get it out. I have never used the packing peanuts inside of a closed form. Hope this helps.

Imitation is also the highest form of compliment! So, Cindy, each one of our entries is a compliment for you!

@Rose: Are you using all the same brand of clay? Are you re-conditioning any ‘old’ clay scraps?

@Cheryl, try this:
facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1276659888
just copy and paste and see if that will get you to my FB page. You did look for “Diana Catalina Ledesma” – right?

@Catalina: Yes, Cindy has brought us all together at this great site. It has inspired me to clay again — I didn’t think it could be done! Even when I can’t clay, I can come here and see people exchanging ideas and helping each other with their tips and tricks and it’s a great thing to see. Lots of others are very “tight-lipped” about their processes. No help with them (unless you pay a BIG price!) Here, the friendly blog and advice are free. Cindy’s great video tutorials are nearly free. I mean, $3.32 a month is incredibly low!

I think I have an answer to my questions from yesterday. I emailed Premo Sculpey and they think my bamboo knitting needles are the culprit. I was advised to try preheating the needles at 300 degrees for half an hour prior to use in baking the beads as bamboo expands when heated. This sounds as though it could be the answer to why my beads are cracking all the way thru hole to hole. I love your site.

Thanks for sharing the problem and solution with us Rose.
This is definitely a very sharing and caring community and all thanks to Cindy! I have experienced people who want to learn everything from you but when it comes to them sharing anything , you can’t get anything out of them and if they do the information is not correct. We have such a wonderful support team out here, I have learned so much from all of you – thank you so much.

@Dawn – Photo # 115 Love the color and especially the shape. How did you get your ovals so uniform? They look perfect..!

~Lisa :)

@Susan Dyson: Thank you, Susan. I had those stars sitting on my work bench since almost the first week of this contest. I just kept staring at them, wondering what they would become. Then one day I saw the disk beads on my bead shelves … from there it all came together. I love it when that happens. I do try not to push my art (whether wire or clay) into what I think, but rather let it decide. It is kind of like writing a book, many authors find that their characters just take over and lead them in a different direction than they had intended.

@Carole – Photo #120 I love this necklace! It has so much visual interest. Just beautiful..!!

~Lisa :)

The additional beads are just wonderful. The colors and techniques are an inspiration. Love it all. Way to go!

Joyce M

Oh my, I haven’t commented in a while. I’m just so overwhelmed by the beauty of all the work. I love, love , love this contest and I think all the work is fabulous!

Carolyne lovely Jupiter beads119, and Catalina what striking colors for your watercolor beads 111 they relay stand out.
Helen beautiful crackles on your beads 110 and i love your necklace .116

I hope i have not left anyone out because i am truly grateful for this contest , and think that everyone has had a go at each tutorial .and if like me i would never have had the courage to show anyone my efforts if not for Cindy stressing that it’s about participating and not about who’s best.
I have certainly learned a grate deal and have enjoyed it so much that i hope Cindy will do it again.

@Carole and @Lisa, Thanks for the sweet comments on my “Exploding” Torn Clay Watercolor beads!

@Caroyln, you know how I love this bead #119! Beautiful!!

@ Catalina, These look great! As soon as I saw them in the line up I knew they were your “fire” beads. I have to hang my head because the week got by me and I haven’t had time to get in my studio (we are starting a remodel on our kitchen…yuck! (and yay!) Since this is it for the entries, I’ll just have to try your technique. Sorry! I have a flickr account and when I have the necklace done, I’ll send you the link! Thanks for all your work on this.

@DawnB: I, too, am amazed at how round your beads are … and so very beautiful! I was introduced to polymer clay by Kathy Weise in Loveland! That’s not very far from you. You can find her on facebook. It is not often that clay-ers are so close to one another, so I thought you’d like to know about her. If you do communicate, be sure to give her my love! She is a great person with a HUGE heart!

@DawnB: kathie.weise?ref=sgm – should take you to her. Let me know if you connect. I’ll let her know about you, though she can’t find you so you’ll have to find her. Best wishes!

One of the most fascinating things about this contest is seeing where everyone is from … and sometimes I can even see the country influence … like with 059 Susan Bates from Florence, Italy. I love that city – and your work! And even from different parts of this county, like Lupe Meter’s AZ influence. Your work is gorgeous. I mustn’t leave out those in the UK and Canada – all fabulous! We even have members from other parts of Europe and from ‘Down Under’. Cindy you have done such a wonderful thing bringing together this community from literally all over the world!

@Dawn – Don’t you just love happy accidents? Sometimes they turn out to be my favorites…

~Lisa :)

@Sue Werner, I’m glad you like them! I did these because you inspired me! Now if I can take a few moments and try the juniper beads! Good luck on the kitchen remodel! I wish I was in your shoes! We need to work on our kitchen but I already went through a major remoldel on my old house and I known what’s instore!! Plus, I would have to cook everyday. I rather say, “Sweetheart, where are you taking me out tonight?” LOL!!!

@Helen Sperring (honeyclay): Hi, I’m kind of new to facebook, but I was able to add some photos pretty easily. I do not understand what you are asking about email, however. Are you wanting to add photos that came in an email? Or are your photos stored on your computer? If they’re on your computer, you should be able to add them into your fb acct by going to photos, and then creating an album. You can then install photos using their active-x control, or use their “simple uploader.” (I chose the later method.) Let me know if you want more info, and I’ll see if I can walk you through it.

Wow, look an angel of mercy. Phaedrakat, thank you so much for the help. When I send photos to Cindy, I have to email them to her. So don’t I need an email address to mail to Facebook? They’re on my computer so don’t I have to email them to get them into Facebook? I’m new to all of this stuff. I never emailed photos in my life until I joined Cindy’s site. I find it hard trying to explain all this because I’m not computer saavy. I just think it is wonderful that you answered me. Again Thank you , Honey

@Phaedrakat: I can’t remember what YOUR name is, Phaedrakat, but from your knowledge of facebook, it sounds like you are on facebook … where? I can’t find you. You can find my Dove Designs® facebook at: pages/Stateline-NV/Dove-DesignsR/306759126890?ref=pymk Now, I just hope that giving this info isn’t going to throw this post into that blue box that Cindy has to modify. I think I left out all the ‘gunk’ and if you copy and paste the stuff from pages to pymk you should find me there. You can even become a fan if you want to. My personal facebook is: profile.php?ref=profile&id=1387822297 – I think. Then, if you click my name you’ll end up at my website, and from there you can also get to my blog – and to PYM II. Yep, I’ve been busy! On my blog you will even find Cindy under the blogs that I follow. So, now you can get to me coming and going. I feel sometimes like I am going in circles!

Photo #122 Being new to both jewelry-making and polymer clay, I was pleased with how this earring and bracelet set turned out. It basically involved layering alcohol inks and aluminum foil onto black clay, which had been cut into thin square shapes. I finished the pieces with a gloss glaze. Later I made a matching necklace.

Joan

ADDED NOTE: Hi Joan – When you submitted this photo, I assumed your jewelry project was based on one of the faux raku techniques in Vol-014. But now that I’ve seen your description, it really is more in line with the Vol-012-2 tutorial which focuses on alcohol inks and metal leaf. I’ll leave the photo posted for inspiration, but to be fair to everyone else, we’ll have to get you to re-submit this entry in an upcoming contest that will focus on the Volume-012 topics. Your work is wonderful! ~Cindy

@Cheryl Hodges: Cheryl, I was running out of time before my church sale, so I just hung the pendant with large jump rings and ended up liking it. I had already put the holes in the top corners of the pendant before I baked it.

@Linda Kropp – #123 I love the color of your Torn Watercolor beads! Is that your own color mix or one of Cindy’s? Just gorgeous!

~Lisa

Whew, I scrambled really fast to do my beads on Sunday and get them in to Cindy. Photo #121 is my faux raku beads. I need a lot of practice with these beads. I had ink all over me, LOL!

@ Lisa Witham: Re, #121, torn watercolor. That was my color mix. I used 1 part Premo Green Pearl and 1 part Premo Pearl. I wanted the color to be soft because I like watercolor paintings that are done in soft colors.

@Linda K – Thank you for your kind words about my Torn Watercolor bead… I had so much fun making ’em!

~Lisa :)

I just want to say that this contest has been a wonderful thing for all of us. No matter who wins the beads, we are all winners because we have stretched our minds and tried techniques that we might not have had the courage to attempt otherwise. Not only did this encourage me to try the techniques in Volume 14, but it also inspired me to try out what Cindy teaches us every week in the latest video.

I can’t tell you all how much I am enjoying polymer clay since I found Cindy—I am totally obsessed! The new pieces of jewelry that I’ve made with polymer clay beads have gotten quite a bit of attention when I wear them. I used to get a few compliments on my jewelry. Now, my jewelry causes a commotion!

Just wanted to say a big thankyou to Cindy for her teaching, sharing and getting us all excited about this contest and getting us motivated to get claying. I know we’ve all enjoyed this immensely. Thank you to all of you too; i feel we’ve got closer to each other through this creative bond we have. Look forward to many more contests and chatting with all you guys out there.

I’m a music teacher (piano) and I’m off to a power up gospel music workshop Friday – Saturday and we are actuall y performing with the choir on Sunday.

Rachelle, how did you get that unique shape # 001/ The colors are wonderful too – is that the faux raku technique too/

#076 Some more pearl watercolour beads, this time the blend I used was pear/copper/red pearl/blue pearl. The copper seems to dominate so the other colours kind of became accents. I haven’t strung these yet because I didn’t make enough of this batch for a full necklace and I need to figure out what beads to combine them with.

#103 More Jupe beads using scraps of various blues. I don’t like the one in the centre because it’s too “contrasty”, but I’m happier with the others. I find this technique difficult because you never know quite how the beads will turn out, and I’m a person that likes to plan everything down to the smallest detail!

#072 Elizabeth, I love these colours! They remind me of the sweets we had as kids.

@Silverleaf:
Thanks Silverleaf! I have two more books to cover before the end of next week. I will let you know they are a hit with my sisters.

#085 I love how you’ve used the deep red there Carole, it’s gorgeous! And the frames are great too.

#101 Elizabeth, that’s beautiful. It looks a bit like dichroic glass, and the copper chain goes so well with it too.

@carolyn: What a great idea! I hate to throw anything away too, I always thing “it’ll come in useful for SOMETHING…” As a consequence my house is full of stuff, and every so often I have to force myself to have a big clearout!

When I make tube beads I tend to just roll them by eye. Which is why my tube beads are not perfect. ;)

#109 Wow, they look like polished natural stones! Like maybe moss agate or something. (I used to collect stones when I was a kid but I was never very good at remembering all the names!) How did you get that effect Dawn?

I am so glad this blog will be archived. It seems every time I review the entries, or go back to look at one mentioned (thanks, Silverleaf), I see something I’d like to try, or improvements I can make on my own work. This has been such a wonderful ‘contest’ in so many ways. Cindy, this was a stroke of genius on your part. Did you have any idea of the response you got? As of now there have been 255 comments on this blog. Is that a record, Cindy? Again thanks for the idea, and a great big thank you to our whole community for all the entires and thoughtful comments. This has been fantastic!

And I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who participated in the competition – isn’t it cool the variation and diversity of these pieces, considering there’s only 4 different techniques?

I really feel that I’ve take something valuable away from this – firstly I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful pieces made by you lovely people! And secondly as I’ve mentioned before, I only tried some of the techniques because of the competition, and now I have more strings to my bow as I’ve found some new favourites (like the watercolour beads). Thirdly, I’ve been so inspired by the ways people added their own spin – it’s really got my own creative juices flowing! Particularly those of you who have, for example, made a Jupiter bead then transformed it into a heart. I haven’t sent in pictures, but I made several Jupiter hearts and played around with various shapes, one of which ended up as a coiled sea shell (like a whelk or something, coiled and cone-shaped) which I love.

As someone said before, we all win. Even if we don’t get the beads!

And finally, even bigger thanks to Cindy for organising the competition, making the videos to share with us in the first place, and for being so encouraging and supporting of us all. Cindy, you are teh roxxorz, as the kids are saying nowadays! ;)

@Catalina: Hi Catalina, I just wanted to tell you about the reply button, if you haven’t used it (if you already know about this, please ignore me, & I’m sorry for “gettin’ all up in your bus’ness”!) If you want to answer a comment that is further up the page, you can click on “Reply” to the right side of the comment. This will put the (html?) code into the comment box. Then you just write your comment after that and submit. This will make the person’s name underlined in blue in your comment. It’s handy for people like me who are reading everyone else’s stuff (yep, I’m pretty nosy!) When I read your comment above, I had to scroll up to see which one of Silverleaf’s comments you were answering. If you use the reply button, it makes Silverleaf’s name clickable, and will take the “nosy person” directly to the right comment! Anyway, sorry if you already know this. And Congratulations on all of your beautiful watercolor beads (even exploding ones!)

@Catalina: No problem. I tried it once & messed it up; I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. It was actually Cindy who pointed me in the right direction, after fixing another link I had messed up. I thought I’d pass the info along in case you wanted to use it, too. Yep, even if we know a lot about computers, every site is different. You have to learn the way to navigate each one (kind of like how every ATM machine is different at every store. It’s like, do I slide my card first, choose debit/credit first, etc.)

@Silverleaf: You should be confident — your beads are amazing! You made quite a lot of beautiful beads, in amazing colors, too. I also saw some really pretty beads on your Flickr acct. Those pebble beads in the blues, made with embossing powder & tea, gorgeous! And I love your Butterfly cane. I haven’t made one yet — it’s one of the things I absolutely HAVE to learn how to do. I have three different examples that I’m using for inspiration. I can’t wait to put them all together and make my own “perfect” (to me) butterfly cane. I soooo need to get started on a gazillion things. Oh, and I also love your pretty “Pink Candy” glitter beads. What did you tint the trans. with on these? Inks? Clay? Do tell…

Hi all,
here I am lagging along as usual, but so glad I found the page with all the bead competion beads here. I did not get to send anything in, still thinking about it LOL,but not to worry, enjoy all I do here and just love seing everyones work all diffeent but from the same tutorial.
Amazing,
love
Elizabeth K.