1A: Sunbeam
2A: Palm Frond
3A: Desert Palm
4A: Coconut Husk
Summer is not far off for many us. And what says Summer better than the desert sun shining brightly through a cascading waterfall, surrounded by lush palm trees!
This alluring photo was taken by Doug on one of our trips to Vegas. It is the inspiration for May’s A-series color recipes… to be added to the Polymer Clay Members Library in Vol-036:
- Sunbeam (Recipe 036-1A)
- Palm Frond (Recipe 036-2A)
- Desert Palm (Recipe 036-3A)
- Coconut Husk (Recipe 036-4A)
Sunbeam is the Yellow Sand color found within the cascading waterfall as the sun beams its rays through the droplets. Palm Frond is the refreshing light Green of the new palm leaves soaking in the moisture form the falls. Desert Palm is the darker, duskier Green of the older fronds on the palm trees. And Coconut Husk is the rich Brown Black of palm tree trunks in the foreground, which reminds me of a dark coconut shell with its green husk removed.
I absolutely love the color recipe cards!! Just wanted to say thank you to you and your hubby for going to such lengths to teach and mentor all of us. I always get so much inspiration here. ~Tanya-L
I am very new to polymer clay and one of the scariest things to me was mixing my own colors. Your recipes have really spelled it out for me… and makes me less intimidated to try it, now I have the gusto to give it a go and I am really enthused about it. My husband wants to know if you give cooking lessons too… since I am so excited about clay recipes now, he wants me to be this excited about being in the kitchen. Hugs. ~Lisa-G
Something we all love – COLOR. Your recipes are a way to relax and experiment. ~Patt-W
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Nice palette, Cindy! :)
I like it! Very soothing and peaceful…
Like this very much.
Me too. I especially love the palm frond. Thank you!
Ooooh! Love this — very pretty, Cindy!
I am in total agreement oolala Cindy and Doug add another beautiful picture to my list of copies I wouls LOVE to have!!!!
Many Uuuuugggggs, Peggy
I apologize for going off subject but has anyone heard anything from Elizabeth
Schydlower since the 31st of March. I have searched a couple times and not come up with anything. I very easily could of missed it though. Just wondered if everything is all right for her.
I’m here. Just been in and out of town a lot for the past couple of weeks which has definitely put a crimp in my clay play time. You’re sweet to be concerned Peggy.
Another beautiful palette, Cindy & Doug. BTW, I bought my board like Anna’s and I’ve started my magnetized color collection. Can’t wait to add these!
@Elizabeth S.: Yay! I know you’ll love the magnet board. :)
Lovely shades of green. Really cool palette. Hurry #36………
I too love the greens, so relaxing, and BTW Happy 3rd anniversary Cindy, 36 color palettes, WOW!!!!!!
Beautiful palette Cindy and so relaxing. Thanks so much for the many palettes, you make it so vivid with the descriptions and stories. I was born and grew up in Mumbai, and there are a lot of coconut palms. Every part of the coconut palm is used. The leaves for roofs in the villages and woven into trays, baskets, the coconut shell made into ladles,the coir used in mattresses. The coconut milk is used in cooking and the creamy flesh of the coconut is so delicious ; I love the coconut water, it’s very cool and refreshing in the hot summer and recommended for hepatitis.
@Cherie: Yay for coconuts! I love coconut oil – I bought a big jar of it from my local Asian foods shop and I use it all the time on my (dry sensitive) skin as a moisturiser and lip balm, it’s brilliant for removing makeup and a TINY bit rubbed on your palms and stroked over your hair is a great conditioner and antifrizz product for dry hair. I’ve been cutting out stuff like soap and shampoo and using simpler kinder alternatives recently to help with my sensitive dermatitis-prone skin, and coconut oil is something that I can’t live without now.
@Elizabeth S.: I was getting worried about you too! Glad to hear you’ve just been traveling for awhile. As you can see you were missed!
@Ken H: You are so wonderful for remembering our anniversary! Wow, time sure flies when you’re having fun with polymer clay!! Thanks for being with us all this time. Here’s to many more years of bead making adventures to come!
@Cherie: I loved your story Cherie! Makes me want to pack my bags right now and head for the tropics. Or at least head to Costco for some Coconut Water! LOL
@Silverleaf: I didn’t realize you could use Coconut oil for so many things. I have heard recently that people are using it for cooking with. You’re a Foodie, have you cooked with it at all?
@Cindy Lietz from A Bead Blog You Can Call Home: No, but I mean to. The stuff I bought was obviously sold as a foodstuff, but I’ll need to get another jar of it since it’s not terribly hygienic to dig out something you’re going to eat with your fingernails to apply to your hair like I’ve been doing with my jar!
It doesn’t taste of much and can stand high temperatures without burning so I guess it would be good for frying. And I guess you could replace some of the butter in pastry or cake or cookies with coconut oil because it’s solid at room temp so it wouldn’t affect the texture adversely. I’ll have to have an experiment.
Oh, this recipe for almond lime pound cake sounds good! nytimes.com/2011/03/02/dining/02apperex2.html?_r=1
Combined some of Cindy’s tuts and techniques this past week and baked them off….what a treat. Of course, you know the best batch burned, and are covered in bleach awaiting their turn at finishing.
The dark work made me think of manly products, and on whim I added a shot of Axe body spray (Old Spice’d work) into the paper towel with the Dutch canuba floor wax. Gogeous and leaving FASTER than I can believe.
Cufflinks, tie holders, money clips, ahhhhhhh…..
@Jocelyn: Hey girl! :D Are you saying your Axe-scented PC pieces sold quickly? If so, congratulations! And great idea, BTW…! 8~)
@All Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunties, and other motherly figures: Happy Mother’s Day! You do so much to make “your babies'” world a better place, and you give so effortlessly… Hope your day is extra special! You are appreciated more than you know…
@Phaedrakat: Sorry Kat, missed this…yes!!!! That scent is very popular with men and women for some reason. Just checked my samples and can still smell it…..
Some time ago, coconut oil was supposed to be not very good for cooking because of the high cholesterol and olive oil, safflower oil and canola oil were the top choices. I’ve been reading lately that latest research shows coconut oil is very good. Will try and find the info and post it. do they sell coconut water in Costco’s? I haven’t seen it. I know they sell coconut milk. Maggie’s also has coconut powder that you add water to and reconstitute. The canned water I think has too much added sugar. I’ve had coconut water straight from the coconut at the carts downtown Toronto – you’d find it at any Caribbean or Jamaican stall.
@ Silverleaf- Indian women always use warmed coconut oil on their hair- that way it is absorbed better.
@Cherie: Yeah, I rub a little between my palms which is enough to melt it, then apply to my hair. My hair and scalp are way happier now I’ve stopped using shampoo and styling products – now I use a baking soda solution to clean my hair, cider vinegar solution to rinse for shine, coconut oil to condition and de-frizz, and my home-made flaxseed hair gel. Much better and cheaper than the shampoo, conditioner, anti-frizz serum, curl spray, mousse, gel, and shine spray I was using before…
@Silverleaf: I can completely understand your contact dermatitis as I have that, too. I make my own soap now for a few years, and no matter what all the Dove commercials say, it is very much more gentle on the skin than commercial soaps (detergents!). I wash my hair with it, too. Coconut oil is pretty much a mainstay ingredient in making your own soap, great for lather. I use my homemade soap to wash my hair, too, and no more itchy scalp. If anyone is ever interested in doing this, there are lots of resources on the internet to teach you to make soap. I use the hot process using a crockpot. When it’s finished “cooking,” it is good to use. Can also grate it up to use as laundry detergent or make a liquid/gel out of it to use in laundry.
Go to Consumers Report and research all these lotions. The results will stun you, I swear. All I care is getting good green stuff that improves stuff. I don’t even think of over the counter any longer, I go straight to the “How To” websites, as cost is key.
@Becky C.: That’s great to know – I’ve been considering making my own soap for a while now, is it hard to do? I do avoid everything with sodium lauryl sulphate and similar chemicals because they definitely have an adverse effect on my skin. I can’t believe we even put the stuff in toothpaste, just because we’re obsessed with foam!
@Jocelyn: I love all those homemade natural products, they are great fun to make, nice to your skin and like you say, much cheaper. The best face mask I ever used was one I made from fine oatmeal and a little honey mixed to a paste with rosewater. You massage it into your skin to exfoliate, then leave it on til it dries then rinse off with cool water. Leave your skin silky-soft and smells gorgeous too.
Try an old sock inserted and soaked in a warm water oatmeal…..dream land. Noooooooo itching.
Jocelyn I have made this face scrub and a couple others. There is nothing better than taking these items putting them in a pretty jar of which I usually just cover the lid because the scrubs for your face are so pretty. Tie the recipe on with a pretty bow made with PC of course and cover your lid in PC. What a wonderful gift for any occasion. All Of it so much fun to make and even more fun to give…..
@Silverleaf – how do you make the flax seed hair gel? My daughter has very sensitive skin and hair too. I use flaxseed a lot in my cereal.
@ Becky C – do you use any chemicals at all? I’d really appreciate a recipefor soap with coconut oil. What is the hot process?
Do these all natural products spoil since there are no chemicals?
@Cherie: It’s really easy – boil one tablespoon of flax seeds in 1 cup of water for 10 minutes, until the water starts to thicken and get gel-like. Strain the seeds out and cool, then add 5 drops of skin-safe essential oil if you like for the scent. I like varying combinations of lavender, geranium, rose, lemon and chamomile – I always use at least 2 drops of lavender or rosemary because it helps to preserve the gel. Keep in a sealed jar in the fridge and it should last for a couple of weeks before it starts to go off – you’ll know when it does because it’ll smell nasty.
This apparently is what the flapper girls in the 1920s used to hold their pin curls in place. And it’s VERY cheap!
@ Cindy – I’ve used coconut oil to cook with . The people from south India only use coconut oil to cook. I stopped using it and switched to olive and canola because of it being supposedly bad for the health. But new research is saying not so; it’s good unless you have high cholesterol.
@ Silverleaf – thanks so much, Will definitely try it; I have flax seeds. I also have aloe vera plants and I’m trying to find something to use it – a lotion or soap.
Some folks of my acquaintance went for years just squeezing a lemon and applying to their face. Body lotion was their favorite olive oil. Sure worked for them, especially since they lived in the sun.