My mom was cleaning out their basement – which used to be my grandparents’ basement – and found a trunk (possibly more than one?) of things from when we were babies. There are a few entirely adorable bits of clothing that almost (but not quite) make me want to have kids just so I can have someone to give them to.

But meanwhile, at the bottom of this fun little pile was this incredibly colourful and delightful crib blanket that my paternal grandmother had made for me. I am so very enchanted with this blanket. I can’t quite take my eyes off it!

Meanwhile – do the colours look familiar?! Check out my website & logo… or my custom purses:

(Both from splatgirl)

Or my choice in jewellery components:

(From sleepingdogstudio)

(From amy houston)

Now check out that blanky again:

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

I just thought that was so nifty.

I’m looking for a suitable place for it in my home but I’m not sure yet!

Also, it gave me the emotional comfort I needed to allow me to toss out this chair that’s been getting really, really gross in my basement. My grandparents covered this chair and somewhere there’s an adorable photo of me reading in it, when I was teeny tiny. I really wanted to keep it and fix it up.

But now it’s just sad and smelly.

Before I lose the chair forever I just HAD to get a photo of the vintage fabric covering it. How delicious is that?!

Meanwhile, polymer clay has been a side interest for many, many years. For instance, check out my little dragon-guy from a million years ago:

I haven’t always incorporated into jewellery though, and it’s been sort of on the back burner for a long, long time. But one day I realized that the best way to use all the miniscule watch parts leftover from my steampunk work – the bits that are too small to wire wrap – was to shove them into some clay. And so, my clay steampunk shells, discs, and hearts were born (the hearts, with a little help from a tutorial by Christi Friessen):

I used to make canes all the time, and I still have a batman logo cane and some fiery leaf-feather things; but I haven’t gotten into anything so complicated for years.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, I woke up wondering what kind of bird-y thing I could make today… and while I snuggled in for an extra 15 minutes of our awesome bed, the idea for a peacock feather polymer clay cane started slowly forming.

And slow it was! I don’t have a clay machine for making sheets of clay, so I was using a hand-roller (ow) – and some of my clay is old and crumbly, and I didn’t have the colours I wanted, so I was mixing over and over (through half a season of Buffy!).

But then, I had what I wanted – a reasonable facsimile of a peacock feather! Sort of!

I squished and reduced the thing – too quickly, as it turns out – but managed to get quite a few perfect little feather slices out of it. And here’s what I made with them!

A series of various-sized slices for earrings and pendants. I used my new pearl-ex powders for this and I am AMAZED at the beautiful shimmer they give:

And what I think might be the coolest thing I’ve ever done, a whole peacock in a pendant:

I’m always happy with my work but this was the hardest (did I mention ow?) and most satisfying thing I’ve done in a very, very long time.

Oh and hey, while I have you here, take a look at my first attempts at 3D wire sculpture, also bird-like:

I think I’m going to dig up my old box of canes and see what leafy things I have that might turn successfully into feathers. Something not peacock-y. I’ve also got to get those single peacock slices into earring and pendant form. Away I go!

A bunch of super-talented local artisans and I are working on a gallery exhibition that opens in about a month. It’s all about birds and there are a LOT of great ideas flying around our intermittent meetings. Working with such creative minds is exhilarating… staring down a deadline, a little less so ;)

Here’s a tiny little update on what I’ve been working on. Eyeballs by Sarah Beck!

No time! Setup is in 12 hours! Gotta run!!

In the midst of unbelievable chaos, I managed to complete a last-minute batch of steampunk flower pendants before the CBCCD show in 4 days!

I especially love the one with the red/orange leather, below:

I had to make some more because I nearly sold out at my last show! These things go very fast.

I was tucked in behind the table at the C200 show and it was fun watching jaws drop from my nearly-hidden vantage point.

I started playing with sheet metal – copper and aluminum – shaped, hammered and hole-punched as a basis for the flowers. It’s working pretty great! You can see it on the left, above, and in the middle, below.

In other news, about a month ago I was building flat, round, upholstered display discs (see turquoise, above!) and in so doing, I think I over-used the duct tape and strained a tendon in my right index finger. It could also have been the heavy wire-work I was doing for ornaments and neckwires.

In any case, working was painful and it seemed the best thing was to rest the finger. So aside from my day job, I’ve been avoiding using that hand for four or five weeks now. Getting back to the bench and being able to create again was a relief! It’s still a little stiff but I couldn’t help myself.

I hope to get a few brooches done before the show, but it is hard to say if I will have the time.

The fancy martini fundraiser party is this Thursday, and you can contact CBCCD for tickets. After that, we are open Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday for only $2.00 admission. Hope to see you there!

Covered one of the presentation boards I got on the cheap with fabric that I guessed at the length for and was an inch shy of being not enough. This process caused me to stretch in ways I haven’t stretched in a while. Today I am paying for it with aches and pains. But it’s totally worth it! Then I loaded the presentation board so I can just slip it into its case and have the world’s easiest set-up.

Completed a wholesale order for… wait for it… Little Mysteries in Halifax!!! Squee! They took one each of my new Focus line, as well as a dozen simpler gemstone pendants with meaning cards attached. I’m so delighted with this I can’t even think straight. The photo below – of simple gemstones with simple meanings – is the culmination of my career. Literally, this is all I’ve ever wanted to do but could never figure out properly.

Printed cards for my rare beach glass pendants that fit into the new boxes I have on hand and loaded them up. They look so fancy!

Created new STEAMPUNK cards and loaded my clay steampunk into boxes.

Loaded some beach glass onto cards.

Loaded my ring tray.

Counted and sorted my inventory.

Did a dance of joy.

Today I need to figure out the final say on my ornament design… I ran out of beads from the very successful ornament from last year, so I had to order new ones but they’re too small for the old design. I posted a new design on my Facebook page, but private and public opinion was that it wasn’t right. So it’s back to the drawing board! I might make a smaller version of last year’s design; I haven’t decided yet.

I DID decide that I will be making a small batch of Christmas earrings, and they will be my Show Special at only $15! I’m pretty excited about that… I was playing with the new beads to come up with the new ornament and have a bunch of too-small-for-the-tree pieces that will be perfect for earrings.

It was fun this week to be someone’s mentor… a friend I showed some jewellery techniques to about a decade ago is finally worked up to her first show, and she had questions for me… and I had the answers! I felt like a rockstar for a second there.

After ornaments, my priority this weekend is to make coal pendants and beach glass pendants.

OK. I have got to get to the studio. Have a great one folks!

Check out how awesome that labradorite is!

Finished up a bunch of rings lately, some even with gears and such!

Managed to get a few gemstones going as well, although I’m not quite able to identify this one.

This rainbow one is totally fun.

And a huge flowery one! So cool.

For the first time ever I’m running a calendar and a production schedule. Today I’m supposed to be making ornaments :)