Monthly Archives: November 2014

A Twisted Tree

‘Tis the season of craft sales… what fun!  I went to two this weekend – they were overwhelming, but I picked up several wee gifties and stocking stuffers.  I did find a little treat for myself as well… odd how that seems to happen!  This is my lovely new ornament/all year around piece of fabulousness… a twisty tree!

Tree of Life

Tree of Life

The artist is Sharen Johnston of Glass Quirks. I had seen her work before and loved it… I’m glad to have a piece of my own!  There is a tree on both sides of the disc, so when the light shines through, there is a real feeling of depth.  She had a selection of colours and sizes, but deep red… one of my favourites…  Yummy!

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Everything’s coming up sparkles!

Everything in my world is sparkly right now… the floor, the counter, me, the cat…  It’s a little bit crazy!  But I’ve had a lot of fun working on the tree.  The clay that I added cracked a bit while it dried, but instead of filling it in with more clay, I went the route of loading the tree up with paint, gloss and sparkles.  Then I sprinkled more sparkles on it.  Sensing a theme?  Some of the cracks still show, but that’s what twisty lighting is for.  Now I guess I need to make more ornaments for it…

Sparkle close-up

Sparkle close-up

Lit and sparkled tree

Lit and sparkled tree

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Air dry clay is fun… so far

One of the things I really like about teaching workshops is the preparation.  Handouts, little bags of supplies, table decor… such fun to put together!

When I found out I would be doing a Christmas ornament workshop, I immediately went to a second-hand store to look for a tree to hang the decorations on. Being that it was July at the time, I was surprised to actually find one.  It was a little sad-looking (and still is!) but I’m trying to make it fit in with what my brain is visualizing.

The tree is wire, and I want it dripping with sparkles. I tried slathering on sparkle paint and sparkle glue, but it wasn’t as textured as I wanted.  What to do, what to do…

Enter air dry clay.  I had worked with it a little bit for one of my costumes (the steam in the teacup), and thought it might be just what I needed.  When in college, working with clay was not something I excelled at.  I think my mom has the few items that weren’t “accidentally” broken… truly they are items only a mother could love!

But this was different… This was building on an existing form.  Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of it before I started working on it, but here it is in progress:

Tree in progress

Tree in progress

Once it dries, I’ll try painting it with sparkles again… Hopefully it works out!  I will post a finished picture if successful.

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Cat’s Cradle

I’m a cat person.  Actually, I’m an animal person… I love them all!  A friend was telling a story today of how we’d be out walking, and she’d suddenly realize that she was talking to the air, because I was a few driveways down, lying on the ground, trying to coax a cat to come and say hello.

Today’s post is about an animal rescue that I volunteer for – Cat’s Cradle Animal Rescue.  I always feel like I don’t do much, but I love to go and help socialize cats who need to learn to trust or to play or to just get used to being around people.

One thing that I can do is help with donations to fundraisers.  There is a silent auction coming up on November 16th, and they are participating in the “Christmas in the Manger Crafts Show” at the Saanich Fairgrounds on November 22 & 23rd, 2014.

Here are some of my donations for the events:

Clockwise from left:  Labradorite Pendant; Dangle Earrings; Sail Pendant

Clockwise from left: Labradorite Pendant; Dangle Earrings; Sail Pendant

I See You!

I See You!

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Filed under Fibre Arts, Jewellery