Catching Up

We had a public holiday here on Monday so had a three day weekend, what fun, an extra day to relax and do nothing...yeah right! It was busier than  ever and I didn't get round to doing the things I had planned to do. Which primarily is I haven't got around to making the blinds for the kids rooms but here is the fabric they chose themselves (months ago). I'm showing you because I think if I get it out and share it I might feel that I have to do something with it!

Here are a few beads I did manage to make at the weekend, this I can do while sitting on the sofa after a long day of cleaning, sorting and working in the garden .

And I baked as well, some yummy peanut butter cookies and another egg free muffin recipe, this one tasted good but  the cakes were completely flat, one day I'll get it right if I keep trying and the kids seem to enjoy trying the different variations. No pictures of my baking though as I forgot, here's what's left.

Trying a new clay

Now most of you, even those of you who have bought beads off me, probably haven't even given a thought to the brand of clay I use, why would you? Well normally I use Du-kit, there are a number of reasons but the main one when I first starting using polymer clay was that this is a New Zealand made clay and I love the idea of buying locally when I can. Yesterday, however, I was in one of the local emporiums and they had some Cernit clay. The colours were lovely, lots of pearlescent effects, which are not available in the Du-kit, and they were well priced. I treated myself to three blocks and some other things that I needed, well they just called out to me so I did the decent thing and gave them a home!

As soon as the kids were sleeping I unwrapped those blocks of clay and started to condition them...oh the shock, they crumbled, why? I was horrified, had I been sold some terrible unconditionable clay that I wouldn't be able to use? Well no, but it is very odd. It is crumbly and dry when you first start using it and then it gets soft, VERY soft. I was struggling to get it to stay in one place it was that soft. Finally, conditioned and in rolls I popped it in the fridge for a few minutes. That was much better. So here's a tiny cane I made with it, I only made a little thing to start with as I wasn't sure how it was going to work. The really odd thing about it though is that it slices wonderfully, no drag and yet the blade goes though very easily. I'm looking forward to playing some more, now I just need to find the time.

Canes and Buttons

Last night I made a cute little cane because Gage was asking me how it works. I made one out of scraps of plain coloured clay to show her how one big plain pattern can turn into a really intricate one when you just reduce and then rebuild. She was amazed that something so simple could be so effective, I think it looks like a miniature quilt. I wish I'd taken a picture of the original triangle for a real contrast but alas I thought about that too late!!

Voting closed in Lisa's Big Button Challenge. It turned out to be quite a race for first which was eventually taken by Penny for her fabulous bag, congratulations Penny. My flowery brooch came a respectable second, though obviously I would loved to have won at least now I have entered one thing I may be brave enough to try another.

A Plate Full of Hearts

I have been making my clay hearts by hand previously and although they are quite sweet I was really only manipulating the swirled lentils I had made and they didn't make a statement. Then a couple of weeks a go I bought a latex mold to try something a bit different. The first ones I made I was quite please with, until I decided to double bake them for strength. They ended up overcooked, not burnt but just cooked a little bit too much so that they discoloured. Still Evie thinks they're beautiful still so she has had them for her dress up.

My second batch were much better I just haven't had time to sand a buff them yet, this weekend maybe?

Craft markets and chocolate shops

A friend and I had a stall at our first craft market this weekend. We possibly chose the wrong weekend to test how it would be as it was Labour Day weekend so a lot of people had gone away for the weekend, on top of this it was raining heavily so I suspect people also decided to stay in the dry.

It wasn't a complete disaster, we both sold items just not quite as much as we had hoped, having said that we had both voiced the opinion that we might sell nothing so at least it was better than that! I think we are both prepared to try again, after all you cannot expect miracles and I have been told by other stallholders that it can take time to build up a clientele. All our prep is done now though and we are all ready to try again and see what happens.

On the plus side my partner bought the kids down to see me and stopped at the local chocolate shop so we got yummy freshly made hokey pokey (that's honeycomb to all those in the UK) covered in chocolate and the most delicious honey, strawberry nougat, yum. The market we attended also had a lady making super fair trade coffee, creamy and fresh and not too strong, overall I would say we had a good morning!

I also finished my Bead Swap item. I am a member of a team of New Zealand beaders/jewellery makers who hold regular beadswaps. We send each other a little pack of beads on a theme and then see what each comes up with. To see what we made this time go to https://www.photoshop.com/user/beadhivedivas and have a browse.