Treasury Tuesday Summer Games

'Summer Games ' by lakill

An international tribute.

Union Jack Themed C... Lottieoflondon $14.00	ACEO Olympic Rings... pinetreeart $10.00	Crochet Red, White,... craftsbybeck $15.00	Vintage London Brit... iCaseSeraSera $17.99
Fleur de Lis Earrin... lefrenchgem $22.10	Birthday Mini-Cards... CaffeinatedPap... $3.00	Price Reduced -- Pa... MeggieMaysCrea... $22.50	London 2012 cotton ... sugarushuk $9.00
Felt case, purse, p... OverTheRainbow... $22.00	German Flag Scarf colleensulliva... $25.00	Fleur de Lis Post E... RackFocus $15.00	Let the Wild Rumpus... PaperFinchDesi... $17.00
Mother of Pearl But... MissOllieWares $25.00	Guten Morgen Sonnen... rawartletterpr... $18.00	Tri Color Italian F... VGabbiano $60.00	SALE Olympics Beiji... reclaimLA $15.00

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Mica Shift with Polymer Clay

I initially first tried mica shift in my early claying years with little success and on the few occasions I have revisited using mica clay, I have still had little success with what would appear to be a relatively simple technique.

So my first blog post on Mica Clay will be about testing out three differnent brands to see if there is a difference in its mica effect, the chatoyancy.

Polymer Clay Mica from left : Premo Sculpey, Fimo Effects & Kato Polycaly

I will be using the following brands

• Premo Sculpey in Copper
• Fimo Effects in Gold
• Kato Polyclay in Copper

I will testing the clays, using the rubber stamping technique, which many clayers will be familar with and can be found in many ploymer clay books and onine tutorials.

Mica Clay impress with a deep stamp

Once my clay is conditioned and rolled through the pasta machine I use a deep stamp to impress my stamp onto the clay 

Each peice of impressed clay is then taken and I carefully slice away the raised part of the impression on the clay, which will leave an imprinted image onto the clay that appears raised, but is in fact smooth.  Below you can see how each brand faired

Mica Shift Fimo Effects Gold

Fimo Effect Gold

The image is quite clearly visible.

Mica Shift Premo Sculpey Copper

Premo Sculpey Copper

Not a big fan of Premo as a brand but as you can see the image again is clearly visible.

  

Kato Polyclay Copper

As you can see the image is not as clearly visible here.














Now the impressed images don't look all that impressive in my opinion, so I cut some pendants out and cooked the pieces, i then sanded with 600, 1200 & 2000 and buffed with my hobby tool.  The difference once properly prepared and finished is clear and far more impressive.

Mica Shift Round Pendants - Premo & Kato Polyclay

Here you can see that although not as clear as the Fimo and Premo, the Kato Polyclay once finished looks a little better once complete.

Mica Shift Pendants Fimo Effects

Mica Shift Pendant with Premo, Fimo and Kato Polyclay

So overall for future projects I would definitely be using the Fimo Effects or Premo Sculpey, although not a fan of Sculpey for its smell and being to soft for caning, in this case i found its softness aided in removing the slices of impressed clay.


This post is part of Handmade Monday with Handmade Harbour

Are you a fan of Orange

Working Orange into your Wardrobe

This years colour as predicted by Pantone is Tangerine Tango

A gorgeous bright colour, but not necessarily an easy one to wear, however there are ways to wear this colour without going all out but adding splashes or hints of this striking colour to your wardrobe

Tangerine tango works beautifully with a bright turquoise which is perfect for summer.

Here are some more great examples of Orange & Turquoise together

Klimet Spotted Oblate Thong Necklace

Turquoise & Tangerine Ribbon Necklace

Turquoise & Peach Millefiori Necklace

Turquoise Millefiori Oblate Necklace

Treasury Tuesday Coral Reef

'Coral Reef' by Lottieoflondon

Coral reefs beneath the ocean forming colors with devotion, attracting fish from far away... It's an ecological distress when the reefs become a mess so we must pay attention today.   Poem by Charlie Vergara

Gardenia Vegan Soap... twobloomsds $6.00	Turquoise Peach Mil... Lottieoflondon $20.00	Handspun Art Yarn, ... HelloPurl $30.00	Deep Aqua Turquoise... UneekGlassFusi... $58.00
Porcelain Coral Ree... seapods $8.00	Seahorses in love 2... crabbychris $38.00	Porcelain Dish - 12... seaurchin $65.00	Wall decal CORAL RE... decalsmurals $10.00
Ocean Cold Process ... LippincottSoap... $6.00	Coral Reef Vegan Mi... DaisyWares $5.00	Hand painted silk s... LigaKandele $31.00	Dishy fishy fridge ... Alienstoatdesi... $7.00
Silk carrier rods -... therainbowgirl $2.50	Red coral Sea Fine ... arttour $37.99	Sholto the Octopus ... BottledUpCreat... $75.00	Beach Wedding Confe... FraSizzle $11.00

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CraftFest September 1st - 8th 2012

Here are some more examples of the fine stalls taking part in Spetmebers Craftfest on the 1st to the 8th 2012, and don't forget although craftfest offically kicks off on this date you don't have to wait till this time to snap up some gorgeous items.

Personal Space Interiors Craftfest Stall


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The Long Collections Craftfest Card Stall

A wonderful selection of glamorously vintage cards for any occasion. All are made and embellished by hand and can be personalised to your own requirements.


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The Old Button's Craftfest Stall

An eclectic mix of hand crafted items for children and the home, using both new and recycled fabrics embellished with hand embroidery, applique and buttons.


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Kwur-kees's Craftfest Stall


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Mad About Bags Craftfest Stall 



All my items are made using quality fabrics, some new and some recycled here in my workshop in the Essex countryside. I work in a pet and smoke free environment.

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You can find out all about Craftfest here

Don't forget to check back for more previews of what's to come...

Check Out

•  Our first posting on Craftfest

Colouring Mixing Polymer Clay Pantone Fall 2012

So I finally got round to a day of colour mixing for Pantone's colour predictions for Fall 2012.

As clayer's already know polymer clay does come in a vast range of colours, but I've learnt a lot about mixing my own colours using a fantstic book called Polymer Clay Colour Inspirations by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio.

If you are a clayer but haven't come across this book I can highly recommended it as it takes you on a journey of discovering colour with polymer clay, with some great worksheets and beautiful tutorials to boot.

Personally I work with the primary colours of polymer clay being Blue/Ultramarine, Magenta/Red and Yellow, colour mixing to create my own palettes and also working on Pantone's colour predictions for the latest trends in colour.

Colour Mixing with Polymer Clay

To help with my colour mixing I use my sample colour strings created from my chosen primary colours to help me determine the right mix of colour to achieve my new Pantone colours, again you can learn how to do your own colour strings with the book Polymer Clay Colour Inspirations.

My Pantone Fall 2012 Colours in Polymer Clay

Here are my mixed colours for Fall 2012, I'm delighted with the results.  The bottom three colours Tangerine Tango, Pink Flame and Ultramarine Green do need adjusting with a little more white, as with clay the colours can come out darker once cooked.

Source: pantone.co.uk via Clare on Pinterest

Now its time to start incorporating my new colour palette into my designs.

Part of Handmade Monday with Handmade Harbour

CraftFest September 1st - 8th 2012

What is CraftFest?

CraftFest is run by the Creative Connections community social network, unfortunately I missed out on the fourth CraftFest run early in the year, but have eagerly signed up for both Septembers and Novembers CraftFest.

CraftFest is one of the first online craft fairs, much like a virtual craft fair but so much more.  Its not just about the selling, its also about building a community and meeting and making new friends, of which I have already met some fantastic people.

The advertising and promotion of CraftFest is a community team effort, where everyone takes part in helping to promote each others stalls and CraftFest as a whole via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.

 

All About CraftFest

Applications are still open, so If you are interested in joining the community and taking part why not

 JOIN US ON CRAFTFEST

I am still preparing my own stall for CraftFest but some stalls are already up and running for browsing and shopping.  So here is just a taster of some fabulous CraftFester's Stalls up and running

Handmade In Keswicks Craftfest Stall

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Hi I'm Lu, and I make contemporary mixed media art, some of which I feature on handmade sketchbooks, notebooks and journals.  My work is a bit quirky and unusual, but I find that people seem to look at pieces and know immediately who they're gonna buy for.  The books especially make lovely little hostess gifts and thank you gifts for when you don't want to give flowers or chocs.

Elloria's Boutique Craftfest Stall

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Lorriane Dowdle Lampwork Craftfest Stall

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Hand creating gorgeous glass beads and incorporating these original gems into wearable creations is exhilarating! The most rewarding and exciting thing for me, is to bring joy though my work. May My hand created glass treasures bring joy to the receiver whom will create luscious one off pieces of their own

So this is just a small sample of the stalls currently taking part in Septembers CraftFest, keep your eyes peeled as I will be featuring more stalls soon.

Pantone Colours Fall 2012

Have you heard of Pantone?

I discovered Pantone last year, its a great resource for information on the latest colour trend predictions ranging from fashion, home, graphics and more.

Pantone predict the colours they think will be trending for upcoming seasons, now personally for me as a jewellery designer and a polymer clay artist this is a great resource of information to incorporate the upcoming seasons colours into my work and is perfect for colour mixing the wide range of colours available in polymer clay.


So here are Pantones colour predictions for fall 2012

Source: pantone.co.uk via Clare on Pinterest

With a passion for both fashion and colour I enjoy watching the seasons styles come into play throughout the coming months.

So what do you think of this Falls 2012 colour predictions?

Treasury Tuesday She Sells Sea Shells

'She Sells Sea Shells...' by Lottieoflondon

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.The shells she sells are surely seashells.So if she sells shells on the seashore,I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

Shell heart hanging... lishconcepts $10.00	Seashore Art Mixed ... hypsela $18.00	Floral Shell & Pea... Lottieoflondon $28.00	Seashells Cushion VictoriaGolden $24.95
SCALLOP SHELL - Ori... eastwitching $45.00	English sea shell b... PressButtonA $3.00	Sea Shells Lino Pri... EsmeDodsworthD... $15.50	At the seaside - fr... josmithfound $42.50
Pottery brown shell... REDceramics $15.00	Sea Shell Collectio... paperwords11 $10.00	Ariel Bouquet - a b... GeorginaHardyD... $50.00	Beautiful Boutique ... seasideblooms $7.00
Huge Sea Shells, wh... hurstdesigns $28.00	SALE - Natural Shel... calliadesign $7.50	Bracelet Shell Tan ... julietsjems201... $18.50	Seashell Photograph... CarolynCochran... $33.00

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