Craft Test Dummies

Well, I was the April Fool yesterday - I had a class scheduled at Grand River Beads and didn’t even remember it! Fortunately, Eva is the best and pulled me back to earth. I was honored to have 2 class participants yesterday: Dawn, a dear friend and former colleague, and Kathy, a new kindred spirit.

We had a blast making our Lady Madonnas. Each one turned out so differently! Here’s a quick peek of our results.

Thanks so much to Eva, Dawn, and Kathy for enabling me to do what I love.

And check out my “Craft Classes with Jenny” link at the upper left if you’d like to join in the fun!

Val at Val’s Altered Heart Journey has come up with the coolest idea - she uses caulk to create texture in her artwork. She has a full step-by-step tutorial on her blog, so I won’t repeat it here. But I love the texture and flexibility she gets from a non-art medium! Great thinking outside of the box, Val!

The picture I’ve selected to highlight her technique is one of 3 “inchies”- if your a new to them, they are 1 inch by 1 inch pieces of mini art. Yup. ONE INCH ONLY. Why only 1 inch? Well, usually they are made in stages, and the first part is rather serendipitous: you create a large background texture, usually with some layers, and then you chop it up into the squares. You’re never sure just what you’re gonna get. Then, you take each one individually and add extra adornment, paints, embellishments, what-have-you, and make it a little mini work of art.

What do you do with them? Another good question. Make them into mosaics, attach them to altered quilts, books, collage art. Put a hole in them and make them charms or jewelry. Really, they are just small components for other larger pieces of artwork. I keep a few on a small ball chain attached to my quilting tools…that way when I go to a workshop, everyone knows they’re mine.

Here are a couple of pics of other artist’s inchies, fabric and fiber:

And when you make them 2 inches by 1 inch, they are called “twinchies.” How clever is that! Wendy made some great ones, and she even sent me one!

Anyhoo, they’re fun and rather addictive. Get thee to Home Depot and get caulkin’!

(Or sewing, or gluing, whatever!)

I got this e-mail from Beth today:

Thank you SO MUCH! I love them…..meeting with some friends from high school this evening and plan on putting in the middle of the table and letting them each select one! That will inspire me to make more…...

I think they turned out spectacularly! And the bottom one is my favorite. In person, it’s this fabulous pink blush color, and looks like a fairy stone.

Hope we get to do another Faux Dichro class soon!

PS…thanks to those who left comments! I’ll be contacting you via e-mail soon to get your addresses to send out your goodies…..

I taught the faux dichro class at Grand River Beads yesterday (Eva, when are you starting that blog??!!!?) and we had loads of fun. I’m especially thrilled that 3 of my class participants were “repeat offenders”- they had come to an earlier polymer clay class.

I actually really love this new technique- you can never guess exactly how it will turn out. There’s a wide margin of wiggle room. Anyhoo, the basic process is to cover beach glass - or store-bought tumbled glass - with Royal Topcoat by Plaid, and then embed layers of iridescent plastic films. It really is very easy, and the result is fairly stunning.

Check out what we made in class! (Keep in mind that the medium is still a little cloudy on some. It will become clear and glass-like when it dries.)

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I have 4 pieces that I made as samples. The first four folks to leave comments will get one in the mail!

I had another Polymer Clay Art Doll Pin class at Stamplistic on Valentine’s Day. We had 3 players, and their work is stunning. Thanks to Terri, MaryAnn, and her granddaughter Christina for coming to create with me!

Mine is the one with the shamrock… lucky, lucky me! I get to teach cool things to great people!!!

For info on other classes I have scheduled, check out my classes and events!

We had a small but mighty class yesterday at Stamplistic, and a big “Thank You” to Shelly and Alice who come to play with me!

I love facilitating classes…. getting to know different artist/crafters, their approach, and the life stories they bring to the table. Fortunately, Alice and Shelly “got” the project, and brought their creative juices! Here’s what they made:

I’m repeating the class on Valentine’s day…so if you want to attend, just click on link above for registration info. And for the other classes I’m teaching, check out my classes and events.

If you are interested in the “story” behind the pins, I’m telling it over at CraftTherapy.com. Just don’t steal the idea… I’m trying to publish it for a magazine. Thanks!

I’m teaching the paper-bead making class at both Grand River Beads and Stamplistic, so I thought I should work up some more paper bead jewelry ideas. Got simmering in my Somerset juices, and came up with this:

Paper Bead Angel Pin

I wired up some sheet music beads (you can even see lyrics on some of them) and pulled out the poetry tile I had in my stash. I used some Pinata alcohol inks on it to made it match the beads better. I added some metal wings and glass beads.

Think I might try to get it published. You think it’s Belle Armoire worthy?

OK, so now you know I’m on a bit of a paper bead kick. And it’s working out for me, too….I’m going to be teaching a class at Grand River Beads in March. (See my “Calendar and Events” tab for all of my scheduled classes.)

I’m a big fan of trying to stretch your creative muscles, so one of my favorite self-challenges is “Make 3 Things.” Whether it’s using a product or technique, I think it’s important to use or do it a number of times to both explore the medium/process and to try to think outside of the box.

So I wanted to make 3 things with paper beads…. now, they are all jewelry items, but I’ll be working on that next. Anyhoo, this is what I’ve come up with. Today.

Dragonfly Pin

Paper Beads with Sterling Silver Spacers and Swarovski Crystals

Guitar Pick Pendant with Paper Beads & Crystals

I’d rolled a few paper beads a week or so ago, using up some 2-sided scrapbook paper. I jazzed them up a bit by adding a glitter glaze to them. Well, after checking out the links from yesterday, I spend the better part of baby girl’s naptime a-gluing and a-rolling. I even used some sheet music!

I got inspired by the glossy ones, especially, so I tried using some UTEE to add depth…. and then I got crazy with the
Cheez-Whiz and started layering in Pearl-Ex and Judi-Kins psychedelic embossing powder. I also used some Lumiere paints (love, love, love that metallic shine) to dab the ends to both reinforce the ends, and add that extra luster.

Check it on out, now:

Tags: paperbead, jewelry, UTEE, Pearl-Ex