Playing with Polymer and getting ready for teh show

I've been playing with polymer clay.

I've always wanted to make a gingko leaf pendant.

The gingko leaf is the sign of hope.

Anyway, here are my latest efforts with the gingko.

These leaves remind me of wood.

I like them, but I think I added too much of the gold mica dust.

I'd wear one of these, though.

Since I took the photo, I've taken off more of the gold mica dust.

However, I like these leaves because they remind me of leaves embedded in stone

aka

fossils.

I'd wear one of these, too.

I've wanted to make wings for a long time.

I made these

stained glass wings.

I like them.

I'm keeping one of them, and I'm wearing it!!!

So far, these are my favorite wings.

I have to practice making these a little bit more, but

I think this will be the design I want to develop.

I'm keeping one of these, too!

So what do you think?

Would you wear one?

Melting Stained Glass! That was fun!!!

Whenever I clean, I find so many interesting things.

This time, as I cleaned the basement shop, I found a stack of glass for stained glass that I had bought to melt.

I had forgotten I had it!

I made some beads after I had great fun putting it in a bag, dropping it to the floor, and breaking it into pieces.

Now, since I don't know the COE (coefficient of  expansion), I can't combine the different glasses.  If I did combine them, and their COE's were different, they would crack.

So, I had to use each piece of glass without using the other glasses to decorate.

However, I am pleased with the results.

Let me show you what I made.

This bead was made with a marbled piece of stained glass.  I love how the marbleing came out in the bead.

The blue was streaked with white.

I made these beads using the same glass.  One bead came out almost white.  The other bead showed nice marbling!

Sorry for the dog fur.  Pixie sheds so much!

These beads were made from a very bright red.  You can still see a bit of red in them, but as I worked them in the flame, she became very dark, almost black. 

I was surprised at that.

I might have to use a lower heat on this glass the next time.

Luckily, I do have some left!

Now, I love these beads.  The glass has white, transparent green, and opaque green, of course!

See the bead in the back?

I love the way that bead is transparent and the rest are marbled with opaque white and green.

I was surprised that one was transparent and the rest only had hints of transparent green.

Isn't that fun?

I plan to play more, but for the next couple of weeks, I need to work on BOC beads and my exchange beads.

Stay tuned.

More later!