When to call it a day

 

Hello dear friends!

This is day 3 of my 3-day Quote Challenge (I totally missed the consecutive part of  it), but I did my best to honor the invitation. After finishing the tutorial for my second day, I started something for the third day (hoping even to get it done on time). Except that it didn’t work. And although I felt inside that it wasn’t working, I kept on trying. After three days I had to admit the project was a total failure and it ended up in the bin. My lesson learned: as much as I would want to, I cannot force inspiration and the more stressed I am, the worse the results. So I am glad that I managed to get over my disappointment and my feeling that I ran out of ideas. I also managed to make this project, which might not be my best project, but it is OK.

So, my third quote (inspired by real life events) would be:

I was invited by drowningwings.wordpress.com (https://drowningwings.wordpress.com/2016/01/07/3-days-quote-challenge-3/)  in the 3-day Quote challenge and these are the rules: 

• Thank the blogger that nominated you.
• Share one new quote on three consecutive days on your blog. They can be from anywhere, anyone or anything.
• On each of the three days, nominate three more bloggers to carry on with the fun! No pressure; nominees are free to decline.

Therefore: I nominate:

Lynz from http://lynzrealcooking.com/2016/01/26/a-toy/ Lynz is a woman that I admire, a cook that I adore and her blog is a mixture of the story of her life and wonderful cooking recipes.

Belen from http://arcillayfuego.wordpress.com/blog/ Visit her site and her ceramic works will be a feast for your eyes!

Intraordinary  from http://intraordinary.wordpress.com/category/tutorials/ I loved her owl polymer clay earrings and I am sure you will love her nail art too!

I wanted to mention also that this is my project for week 2 of #2016PCchallenge. 

Materials and tools: scrap clay, soft blue Fimo Professional polymer clay, Bordeaux Fimo Professional polymer clay, gold metallic Fimo Professional polymer clay, clay extruder, rectangle cutter, square crystal beads, memory wire, craft knife, varnish, drilling machine, sand paper, pliers, thin wire, jump rings,  chain and a clasp. 

I conditioned the clay. I am working with scrap clay. 

I am preparing my biggest focal. I made the shape I wanted for the focal. 

I cut the opening where I want to place the beads.

Then I cut two more smaller beads. I used alimentary film (that I put on the clay) and I cut on top of the film (thus the bead would have a nice and curved shape on the top). I cut once again after removing the film. 

Then I baked the three beads  in the oven (30 min. at 110 degrees Celsius).

I conditioned the clay that I used for the cane. 

 

I extruded Bordeaux, Blue and Gold Metallic polymer clay (I used the square disc).

I created the pattern.

I reduced the cane.

And then I cut it in four. I aligned the pattern. 

 

I cut thin slices and rolled them down on a very thin sheet of polymer clay.

I covered the focal with the cane pattern.

It’s better to use gloves for this project (I didn’t and I left a lot of fingerprints and then I had to work harder in the sanding part).

I cut out the part where I will attach the brick stitch.

And now comes the most interesting part: smudging (distorting) the design. The fact that I worked with soft clay and gold metallic (and also that I had very warm hands), allowed me to press slightly on the squares and thus to smudge (distort) the design.

I coated the inside margins with clay and the back of the bead as well.

I smudged half of slice of cane on the back of the bead (near the margins) to have a glassy effect on the back. I textured the back of the focal using the pattern from the clay extruder.

I coated the little beads and then decided to add a blue stripe of clay on the margin and as I liked the effect, I went back to the focal and added a strip of blue clay on its margins as well.

I rolled with the roller  the surface of the beads to eliminate the fingerprints.

I put them in the oven (30 min. at 110 degrees Celsius).

I drilled holes using a drilling machine.

Then I sanded them with wet sand paper (600 grid).

 

 

I varnished them.

I used memory wire to assemble the beads together.

One rectangle bead has holes in the upper part, the other in the middle (I wanted a slightly uneven design). 

I  stitched the beads (using thin wire). 

I put two beads on the wire and passed again through the beads (creating a loop).

I added two more beads and passed the wire through the previous two beads (and did this until I had the length that I wanted).

I added the stitched beads to the focal (I wrapped the thin wire around the memory wire). 

The project is finished (and viable – Thank God!) 

I wish you a wonderful and creative day!

Mihaela 

 

 

 

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