Polymer Clay: chaos blue

I was trying to make a surface made of strips of sheets I have previously made.  It came out terrible so I scrapped it.  In the mean time I made scrap clay and I made a block and ripple cut it.  I came out with a nice blend and made the slices into pendants.  So for a complete accident this is the result. 

Make mistakes they can be cool
patty

Polymer Clay: Heart two

Well I experimented today to fix the one with too much sanding/polishing and it came out terrible so I trashed it.  This red one came out really well.  I froze the cane and was able to slice thinner and get an overall translucency effect.  The hearts are large pieces, so I will have to find large beads to go with them.  I wish I could finish a necklace right away but just don't have the supplies.  Love this project, and I have a ton of cane left to play with.

Keep experimenting

patty

Polymer Clay: Hearts

I received a large stash of books this Christmas.  And one of them was Polymer Clay Art.  I saw this project and had to try it right away.  This is a cane method of covering a base bead.  The cane uses translucent clay so the base shows through.  My results were not as good as the book because I am not good at thin slicing.  But I am still pleased with how mine came out.

I had a few problems: 1. browning of the clay, did I bake it too long? Temp was ok.  2. Sanded the layer right off and the base color popped out.  Watch what your doing while sanding.  3. There is jeweler's rouge on the buffing wheel and it discolored the clay.  I scraped it off and repolished by hand.  The buffing wheel I have is old, from my grandfather, so the wheel is old and used.  Buy a new wheel.

Also Christi Friesen has a new steampunk book out, I must have it.

Keep experimenting

patty

Cross Stitch: Bambi

One of mom's Christmas presents.

Merry Christmas

patty

Cross Stitch: Marshall Point Lighthouse

My mother brought this cross stitch design home from a trip to Maine. She was charmed by the story "Nellie the Lighthouse Dog".  So she wanted me to stitch up the design.  Which I did and gave it to her as a present.  I just went digging through my designs to find Pemaquid lighthouse, which is near our vacation house in Maine.  I should make this for next Christmas or her birthday in March.

Keep stitching
patty

Cross Stitch: Pilot in Training

I made this for myself back when I was taking flying lessons.  I logged 20 hours before I found out I could't get license because I'm bipolar and would not pass the medical exam.  You can't be on mood altering drugs.
I cobbled this design together with different lettering and a picture of a toy plane from a Christmas cross stitch book.

Keep trying new things
patty

Cross Stitch: Purple dragon

This dragon was started in England where I bought the pattern.  It took a year to complete.  I worked on it during visits to the hospital where my cousin was dying of lukemia at the age of 29. So it is dedicated to him.  This one is hanging in my dining room.  There is a matching design to this but the other is much more Asian design which is not my cup of tea.  I like the medieval style more.  The other thing I like about this design is the border.  Just love borders.  I love TWentzler borders.

Keep stitching

patty

Drawn Thread: Hemstitching

This project was a big experiment as I have never done these stitches before.  The design is from Beginner's Guide to Drawn Thread Embroidery.  This project is one big mistake, the entire thing should be smaller so I had to add filling stitches.  As you can see I have raggedy corners.  I tried to do them correctly but the fabric frayed.  Even so I am very happy with the stitching.

Keep experimenting

patty

Cross Stitch: Towels

Two of the towels I gave away as presents.  Not sure who has them though.  I have no memory.  I kept the two Celtic ones for myself.  Michael's used to have things like this but I haven't seen them around any more.  I should look through my stash to see if I have any but I doubt it.  I see that Charles Craft has some but not in Christmassy colors.  Joann fabric seems to have some too.

Keep stitching

patty

Polymer Clay: Flintstones

I got the idea for these "stones" from my step mother who found some colored stone beads in various shapes and I wanted them but she bought them all.  I got the granite polymer clay by sculpey and made these beads.  You must be careful when mixing the clay that you don't handle it too much or the flecks disappear. As you an see in the green one on the right bottom corner.

Play with clay
patty

Polymer Clay: Shields

The design for these shields came from Polymer Pizzazz by Bead and Button Magazine.  A multi step process which was not too hard.  I guess the hardest thing for me was that I didn't get them to all the same.  I have many irregularitites.  They have some kind of gloss coat finish which I did not put on.  I think they look good with the gloss coat so I am thinking of putting it on.

Play with clay
patty

Polymer Clay: Slates

When I wear this necklace many people think it is made out of metal.  But this is painted black polymer clay.  I got the images from etsy off of other people's designs.  I made a carving in a piece of scrap to use as a stamp.  I painted them with acrylics.  The bunny and the fish are painted with white and then blue.  Then I got very rough sand paper and sanded the dried paint off to give it a used look.  They were easy to make and I get loads of compliments for this necklace.

Play with clay
patty

Cutwork: Bunny

This rabbit pillow is made from a design by Sherri Jones.  I don't know what style of sewing this is but it involves cut work and filling stitches.  All of the instructions came with the pattern and I was able to make the project from them.  This pattern was picked up at the cross stitch festival down at Valley Forge years ago.  The date on the pattern is copyright 1996.  It goes bak 3 yrs before I was diagnosed with bipolar.

keep trying new things
patty

Blackwork: Snowflakes

This design was made with the help of Beginner's Guide to Blackwork by Lesley Wilkins.  The snow is falling on the birds and on the flowers.  I received the fabric from Nordic Needle in one of their grab bags.  I also received the bell pull from them.  Blackwork works up rather quickly and is a constant puzzle solving mission to choose the best path for a return path.  One trick I picked up from a web site somewhere is to choose a main path and do side trips as you come to them then get back on the main path.

stay on the path

patty

Crochet: First attempts

This is my second attempt at crochet.  It is mostly double crochets with some singles thrown in.

Close up of some single crochets.

Close up of some double crochets.

Close up of the puppy, Dr. McCoy.  Who is actually going on 4 yrs.  He will be getting a hair cut Tuesday.  I think he can't see.

I made this scarf once and unravled, frogged,  the whole thing.  It was all uneven edged.  I here it is  common mistake.  My boyfriend told me to count stitches.  So I started it over again and it is better but not as good as I would expect it to be.  Maybe it is tension on the yarn.  The top is still looking bigger than the bottom.  Here is a good website to see how to fix the problems:
http://crochetme.com/blog/demystifying-double-crochet-beginners

but even with that knowledge I am not doing as good as I would hope.
I am trying to finish the thing for Sunday the 13th Dec so I can give it to my grandmother for her birthday. She will be 94.

Keep stitching
patty

Punchneedle: Leaf

here is my first punch needle project.  I framed it myself with no glass.
This is a strange medium compared to cross stitch.  You have to get used to the spacing between rows it is wider than you would think compared from going stitch/punch to stitch/punch.  I have two more projects in the to do pile a horse and a rooster.

The horse did not come with fibers and did not come with a DMC conversion for the fibers listed.  I probabley just have to look around the internet.  The rooster came with fiber and fabric.

Punch away
patty

Beading: Bead storage

Project Tray

Boxes in boxes

Tool sleeve

So this is how I store my beads.  I made the tool sleeve out of a canvas and sewed sections into it to seperate the tools.  I used to keep the tools in a freezer bag so this is a great improvement. 

I bought the other containers from Michael's.  The project tray is from the dump, it is some sort of medical equipment.  It fits the rectangular beading mat.  There is a Klutz Bead loom book in there right now as I am playing around with the bead loom, I started a bracelet which is lying along the left hand side.

Go beading

patty

Polymer Clay: See a Scene

See a scene in a sheet of mixed colors.
Chipmunk, dolphin, spaceship.
Use texturing to pop the image and scratching to make outlines or details.

I saw this method somewhere on the internet or maybe a book.  It is rather interesting what you can get out of scrap clay.  And I am no artist.  I let the clay make the picture for me.

I may give these away mounted on cards or as ornaments or keep them, they are too cool.

play with clay
patty

DnD: The RPGA character sheet for Living Forgotten Realms

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======

Thamior, level 2
Eladrin, Ranger

Build: Archer Ranger
Fighting Style: Archer Fighting Style
Background: Dalelands
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 10, Dex 20, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 10, Dex 18, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.
AC: 18 Fort: 15 Reflex: 19 Will: 15
HP: 27 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 6
TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +13, Nature +7, Acrobatics +11, Perception +7, Athletics +7, Heal +7
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +3, Bluff +1, Diplomacy +1, Dungeoneering +2, Endurance +1, History +3, Insight +2, Intimidate +1, Religion +1, Streetwise +1, Thievery +6
FEATS
Prime shot
Defensive mobility
Level 1: Hunter's Aim
Level 2: Lethal Hunter
POWERS
Ranger at-will 1: Twin Strike
Ranger at-will 1: Nimble Strike
Ranger encounter 1: Two-Fanged Strike
Ranger daily 1: Hunter's Bear Trap
Ranger utility 2: Agile Recovery
ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Longbow, Longsword, Arrows (30), Dagger, Leather Armor, Climber's Kit, Short sword, Tanglefoot Bag (level 2), Alchemist's Fire (level 6), Elven Cloak +2, Potion of Healing (heroic tier), Alchemist's Acid (level 1), Blinding Bomb (level 3), Dragonfire Tar (level 3)

Go adventuring
patty

Tatting: the poor man's crochet

In this picture is a hardanger christmas tree and two tatting projects.  These are the only pictures I have of my tatting projects.  There were a few more but I don't know who has them or what they were.

I call tatting the poor man's crochet because needle tatting (as opposed to shuttle) is not unlike crocheting except you only use one knot over and over in interesting patterns.  Crochet has many different knots.

I learned needle tatting from a book I picked up at the cross stitch convention in Valley Forge PA years ago.  They were available from Nordic Needle for a while also.

I am also the proud owner of several old tatting books my grandmother gave to me.  Many of the projects are needle-tatting-able, although they were designed for shuttle tatting.  What is the difference?  I forget because I haven't tatted in a long while.

Try something new

patty

Polymer Clay: Casablanca beads

These beads were designed by desiree.  They were fun but took awhile to make.  They require a good eye for color which I don't have so that is why I used the original colors from the example.  These beads were hand sanded with four grits and denim buffed. 
I have since aquired/inherited a buffer that belonged to my grandpa and was used by my dad to polish his army uniform silver.  The buff is shinier than hand buffing.  So I will use this from now on. 
I have no seed beads or beading design elements for these beads.  I would like to make necklaces.

Play with clay
patty

Polymer Clay: Butterfly beads

The butterfly beads designed by desiree are fun to make.  Mine came out quite large.  I made one into a necklace of three strands to make it weightier.  I made a silver spiral head pin.  I found matching string and seed beads for the other beads but have not finished another project.  These beads were hand sanded with four grits and hand denim buffed.

Play with lay
patty

Beading: scissor holder

This scissor holder from DMC screamed for a beading.
This was one of the first projects I made.   These are glass beads and seed beads.
This was made with beading wire for strength.

Keep beading
patty

Beading: Surrounded cabachon

This project came in a kit.  The kit instructions were next to useless.  This was hard to figure out but once mastered easy to make.  It took a lot of "frogging" before I finally came up with techniques that would work.
Here is generally how to make this thing:
glue cab down to a hard stiff material (stiff stuff).
sew a base of beads around the cab.
make a wall around the cab using peyote stitch.
using smaller beads sew rows around the cab and reduce at the corners.
cut the stiff stuff close to the sewn base beads.
cover the bottom edge with a fringe of your choice.

The instructions did not include describing how to reduce at the corners or how to peyote stitch or how to start/produce a row of smaller beads.  Everything was guess work and I don't remember what I did and probably can't reproduce it.  Very detailed instructions are needed to make one of these. 

I have seen other examples where large beads are used on top but I have no idea how they did that and got it to hug the top of the cab

The stings can be unhooked and cab worn pinned as it has a pin on the back.

Keep beading
patty

Beading: Chatelaine

This Chatelaine is good for holding 6 tools.  It was beaded with blue stones.
Making one is better than buying one.  To keep it strong use a good beading wire.

Keep beading
patty