Looking forward to those Summer Sunsets

I think I must be looking forward to seeing the sun set somewhere besides outside my window and through the trees. Lately I have been turning towards those colors when my favorites are more in the greens and blues. I found this out when I made my poppy cane and have been experimenting with it lately to see how many ways I can manipulate it and use it. These aren't finished yet but you can get an idea.

I especially like the one in the middle, it is a rectangular piece that is formed with double holes to be a bracelet focal bead. This was actually the end of the cane as I pushed and pulled and beat it to reduce it further from the original size which I made my Necklace from in this earlier post. I cut this away to get a nice slice and saw how the leaves and the flowers were actually popping out from the background of white in a rather interesting way, too interesting to add to the scrap clay boat so I carefully formed this bead from it. I love the 3-D effect it made just naturally!

I can't wait to see what else I can do with this, I'm thinking to shrink it down some more and do some earrings. They are so springy like, but with these colors I am surprised at myself for loving them so much! This cane seemed to have caught the eye of Cynthia Tinapple on Polymer Clay Daily on March 1st as I just stumbled across a link to my necklace on Etsy there on her blog under 'Second Looks'. I was flattered as this was my first cane!

So I will be working with this some more and most likely if things turn out well I will be adding some to the shop. Also I have been experimenting with my leaves, I have been wanting to give them a yin yang look, an all natural and then a more op art look, but not take away from the natural beauty. Since my experimentation with canes I have come upon an idea to give a half and half look, one side the full veining and texture of the live leaf and the other side what one might see under the microscope ( artistically interpreted !).. This is a prototype I thought I'd share and would love to read some comments.

Here it is with a ring I quickly whipped up from the cutaway pieces.

But back to those sunset colors. I got a convo today from Wintergarden ( who does some great things with color in her specialty pieces), who informed me she loves my work and had added one of my pieces to her treasury at etsy. It is titled "Potent! Is the talent of these artists" . When I went to visit it I was pleasantly surprised, it is beautiful and full of the sunset colors. My Edamame leaf brooch sits comfortably along side these fiery hot works of art, and I must say have inspired me more to pursue this colorway! Enjoy!