Bracelet Blank Project Sheet

I am selling a project sheet on how to use the bracelet blanks that the Clay Factory carries. The link will take you to the page where the blanks are, then scroll down a little. It is a full color photo step by step tutorial, with 7 different bracelets in it. Howard has also agreed to give you the tutorial if you purchase the 20 bracelets quantity. The project will be emailed to you in PDF format and you will need Adobe reader and you can find it here www.adobe.com. I also include in the project sheet the "blanket cane". This bracelet was made with a Victoria James Texture plate and you can Check her out here http://www.victoriajamesart.com/. Click on real texture sheets, and while you are there take a look around.

Here are some of the other bracelets you can make.

The turquoise bracelet and the one in front of it are made with stamps from http://www.eragraphics.com/

There is some great stuff here.

Magic Wand

Remember when you were a child and believed in magic?
I do… I want to feel the magic now; could it be as simple as making a wand of intention? Why not? I made one and I want to share it with you, I want this to bring magic in to your life, in to your creativity, in to your love, in to your awareness and into your heart. Visualize this in your mind and say I do believe in magic, I do, I do.
And so it will be… expect a miracle.

AND THIS TOO WILL PASS…

I think that this should be taught to us as children and explained the way mathematics are, “things change and there is balance to life in opposites". I have experienced creative stillness (or thought I did) and it always returns to a period of physical creative manifestation. If we knew this was a law from a very early age, it might be a reason not to be so hard on ourselves in stillness or inactivity. I call those moments of block (the term that everyone throws around), periods of absorption, when I am assimilating what has happened during activity or physical creation. Life is made up of opposites, black/white, night/day, male/female, ebb/flow, internal/external, sun/moon, give/take, live/die, clean/dirty, and I am sure you can come up with a bunch also. If this is the way things are and the way things are supposed to be, should we even label the stillness as block? If we change the label, like creative block to period of assimilation or absorption and lean in to or embrace it and feed that period with more things to assimilate, would we move naturally through it and not make it pain or self abuse?
Suggestion:
When I am making things or creating, I have a ton of other ideas (especially if I am getting paid for it or it is work), so what I do is I keep a journal next to me and write those ideas and visions down, draw pictures, and make notes in the journal, anything to remind me of that great idea I had in the creative flow. When I have a time of stillness, I go to my journal and start working through the ideas. And before I know it, I am writing in my journal again, because I am too busy making things to be still.

The Intention Experiment

Feel helpless, do something!

Visit The Intention Experiment

Making word molds

Cernit Scrap Clay http://www.clayfactory.net/
Alphabet soup noodles (Found these in the Mexican food section of my grocery store)
Amazing Mold Putty http://www.alumilite.com/
Small piece of Plexiglas or glass (I have one that is 2”x 2 ½” that my fiend Pnina gave me, it is perfect, I can see through it and it is small)
Clay Blade
Piece of cardboard, I use a box top cut to fit in the tray of my oven

1. Condition the scrap clay and make it one color.
2. Run it out in the pasta machine on the thickest setting or 1/8” thick. If you don’t have a pasta machine, place two Popsicle sticks on each side of a flattened with fingers 2” round of clay and roll out with a rolling pin or clear glass jar, make it as smooth as you can or it will show in the mold when it is done.
3. Trim the end of the clay with your blade for a straight edge
4. Find the letters you are going to use, sometimes the letters are not perfect, look for the good ones. Place the letters on to the clay right directly above the cut edge.
5. Place the Plexiglas over the top of the letters and GENTLY press the letters in to the clay. Do not press the letters further than half way in to the clay.

6. Trim all the edges of the clay around the letters and place on your baking cardboard. I like to trim the edges very close to the letters. You can also make shapes if you wish, like thought bubbles and curved pieces, but I mostly use the straight pieces of clay and find that it works best for more situations. Think of word magnets for refrigerators and how you can out them together to form thoughts and statements. Mwaaaahhhhh! Boy can I think of a few choice phrases right now! It is working with phthalate laden clay for all these years that does this to me, wink, wink!

7. Once you have all of your word pieces, bake according to the manufacturers’ directions.

8. When they are cool, scoop out equal amounts of “part a” and “part b” mold putty and mix the white and the yellow together till it is one color about 1 minute to make sure it is completely mixes. Since the words pieces are so small I suggest you use a small scoop-like utensil, like the small end of a melon ball maker or a old ½teaspoon measuring spoon to scoop out the putty. I scoop out one color and then wipe off the spoon with an old towel and scoop out the other color. I get closer to the same amount this way. OR…isn’t there always an or?
Roll a bit of putty in to ½” coils and cut into ½” sections of each color and mix together 1 section of each color together, do not forget to wipe off the knife you cut the coils with, before cutting the other color coil.
Now that you are thoroughly confused…

9. When the colors are thoroughly mixed roll the mixed putty in to a coil that is as long and as wide as the word tile you want to mold. You may be able to make two or three molds from one mixing depending on the size of your scooping tool. Now press the putty down around the tile and make sure it is covering the whole tile and close to the tile on all sides.

10. I press on the top of the putty to press it down and then on all of the side and then down on the top again (not hard, PRESS NOT SMASH). Luckily this putty takes a little time to set up, which is nice so you do have some time, but don’t get up to go to the bathroom once you start mixing this stuff up.

11. After you get them all done, get out of the house for 15-20 minutes, do not do what I do and play with them and move them around and stick my nail in the top. Just go do something else. It is easier on my impatient self when I go away from the putty. If you could see my molds some of them have a ton of nail marks in the top of them. It is fun if you want to do it, just go right ahead, life is short, have fun.

12. After 15-20 minutes you can now stick your nail into the putty and it should not leave a mark that lasts, it will feel like it is bouncing back, then it is done.
13. Release the clay tiles from the putty. I also let them set just a bit longer after I release the tiles to let the inside set a bit more. If the letters stick in the mold, gently pick them out with a needle or a needle tool.

14. Roll a coil of clay about ¼” thick and as long as the mold tile on the inside of the mold.

15. Push the clay in to the mold, the mold will spread a little, so push on all sides of the mold to get the clay strip to be the right size.

16. Slice off the excess clay with your blade by slicing along the top of the mold.

17. Release the clay from the mold gently; try not to smash the letters. I make these molds kind of thin so that when I bend them back they bend easily and the clay releases easily and then I can grab the sides of the clay gently with out wrecking the letters.

18. You can bend the words in to different shapes, if you rub a little Pearl-ex powder just on the surface of the letters with your finger, it will make the letters stand out.

Here are some of the brooches that I make with these word tile molds.

Canna continued...

Here is what came from the canna posting. I used the colors I found in the photogragh and applied them to what I wanted to create.

And so it is.

Sounds like a good holiday

I got a phone call the other day from a lady living in the United States but born in India who was looking for clay. Accents always interest me, so I asked her where she was from and what kind of clay was she looking for. The conversation progressed until I found out she was looking for“natural” clay that would dissolve in water for a festival that she celebrated as part of her religion. I started asking some more questions and this led me on a path to exploring more about this holiday which is celebrated on the 3rd of September for the Lord Ganesh. Then the phone call got disconnected and I did not even get her name, just like that, gone, but I did direct her to another source of earth based clay and also gave her a recipe for food based clay, like bread dough, that would not pollute the environment and would dissolve in water before the call was disconnected.
In my searches about this holiday after this phone call, I found this.
http://foodiememoirs.blogspot.com/2007/09/ganpati-bappa-moraya.html

I like this guy. Anyone who removes obstacles can not be half bad in my opinion.
This is also something I ran into from one of the blogs I read.

http://www.priyakale.com/blog/
“Millions of Hindu’s all over the world celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi today. Ganesh as many know is the pot-bellied, elephant headed God of Wisdom, heralded as “the remover of all obstacles.” He is the God we pray to before we start any new ceremony, or before we pray to any other God. Although celebrated all over India, the celebrations are the most magnificent, vivid and vibrant in the states Maharashtra and Goa. Mumbai, truly comes alive during the Ganapati festival during this time of the year. It’s quite a trip to watch 20 odd feet high clay idols of an elephant headed God, rolling down the main road in rush hour traffic on the back of a truck.”

A beautiful picture… Look at those reds!

http://www.usefilm.com/image/917978.html
“He is our sweetest and very happy god:).In India,Maharashtra's major festival. During the ten-day festivalof Ganapati and for several weeks prior to it, the elephant-headed god,Ganesh, appears to govern the land. The Ganesh is decorated with ornaments, flowers and lights. Puja and aarti are performed every morning and evening using flowers, rice, betel nuts and leaves, turmeric, red powder, coins and oil lamps. Men and women, the old and young all join in. Offerings of sweets, coconut pieces, fruit and other items are made. The blessed offerings or prasad are distributed amongst the devotees.This is a very colourful and Bright festival:) I love Ganapati:)”
prachi patil

Taking a moment to follow a lead, an experience, a feeling can sometimes lead to enlightenment. Thank you to the woman who needed clay and called me.