Another Treasury Feature!

One of our newest members to the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Esty ( she joined when I did), Milica Bubanja of Slovenia who is a wonderful Artist and has many fine pieces in her etsy shop , recently made a Treasury featuring Polymer clay pieces with a nature theme. She graciously included my Edamame Brooch made from copper metallic clay, highlighted with a verdigris finish. I am honored to be among such wonderful artists, each with their own style of nature interpretations.

She Calls it "Top Art Jewelry"
Be sure to stop by her shop at etsy: MilicaBubanja.etsy.com and see lovely and very unique pieces like these:
I love this one, The Butterfly Poem which has a great transfer of a delicate butterfly and a handwritten poem framing it. Very beautiful!

Also this caught my eye, these fabulous 'sponge' beads which she makes into retro modern earrings, necklaces and charming charm bracelets like this one seen here.

I love the colors, so fresh but serene! They remind me of warm Tropical seas in a fresh and modern design.

If you like the wonderful art seen in this treasury, be sure to visit the etsy shops of these great artists: JaelsJewels, studiobijou, laurabeestudios, jkollmann, slavko, scdiva, marciapalmer, beadworx, cocojaneandme, utopiabeads, juliespace

Hunt For Trea sure!

GREETINGS!
I am a member of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy, or PCAGOE for short. This holiday season we are having our first ever Scavenger Hunt. Many of the members are participating in this, so be sure to visit the shops listed below. Why not sit back for a moment and join the hunt and maybe win a lovely prize for yourself!

Here's how it works. See the little snowman image? You will be searching for this chilly little fellow in one of the listings in my shop at etsy. OrganicOdysseys.etsy.com He will be found among the pictures , hidden within a listing. To go on the hunt you just need to sit back with a cup of your favorite beverage, in your PJ's even and just look through the listings in my shop. When you find the little snowman seen here, all you do is click under my shops name where it says 'Seller info', click on contact and this will put you into a convo page. Just convo me ( private message) that you have found the snowman in that listing and you will automatically be entered into the drawing!
Please also include how you found out about the contest too!

The Drawing will take place on Dec 22nd by random number selection. If you are a winner you will be notified through your etsy account by convo and an announcement will also be made on my blog on Dec 22 as well.

This is open to all etsy members ( sign up is easy and only takes a moment if you aren't already a member) but not to PCAGOE members.

The Prize I am offering is a $20 gift certificate ( non transferable) good for anything in my store until Dec 31st. You can use it to purchase anything up to $20 ( no cash given if not all used) or you can apply it to something of more value, just convo me as to what you want and I will make a listing for it minus the GC, just for you!

Happy Hunting!

Shops participating in the Scavenger Hunt:

Chicki

Divadea
Juliespace

Lynnslittlecreations
marciapalmer

SCDiva

PCDiva

OrganicOdysseys

TejaesArt

VAharoni
Angeli


Edited to add Angeli, so make sure you stop by her shop! She make yummy non calorie treats!

Mixed Media Pieces ( my version)

Well I finally got this done! I bought the yarn on Nov 11th after weeks and weeks of frustrated search on etsy to find one of these little neck warmers to display my 80's revision of button covers! First it took me awhile to track some down, hardly anyone carry's them, in fact I found some vintage ones on etsy and snatched them up. I had a few of the smaller size back from the 80's when I used to cover them will all kinds of things and sold quite a few sets.

These however are not just glued on things, but rather the cover is embedded into the clay to lie flat and not giveaway that it is a button cover.

While I was at Joannes for a clay sale, I decided to just make one of these scarfs myself, so I choose three different kinds of yarn, and tried to get some on sale, these new yarns are soooo expensive, more so than when I used to knit and crochet years ago. But then again we had very little selection in those days. I hadn't a clue how to go about this and wanted something totally mine, not someone else's pattern. So I sat down with a couple of pattern books ( for stitches, not articles of clothing and such) and dug out my needles and decided I would not go the knit route this time. I realized why I loved crochet so much, you don't have to worry about dropping stitches! So I choose a hook that I thought matched the yarn and just started in. I just used some basic crochet stitches but with the yarn so variegated and slubby, anything more would just get lost. I finished it off with a ruffled edge and then worried about not placing the button holes.

I searched around through my boxes of fabrics, and trims and found some beautiful hand dyed silk ribbon that matched perfectly. So last night I sat down, figured where I wanted these beauties to sit on the scarf and sewed on the buttons. Then I took the silk ribbon and made buttonholes magically appear!


I then buttoned the buttons, and snapped on the button covers, or Button jewelry as I like to call them and Voila` it was finally done! Actually I had finished the scarf and am currently working on another with a totally different design, but I couldn't find a darning needle to sew the button holes with until yesterday! So now I have taken some pictures, not the best, but it is so dark and dreary today, can't get a good natural light one, but I couldn't wait any longer.

I'll be listing this a little later today, and hope it does well, it sure was a long time in the making and I know it's definitely one of a kind because I am not repeating this one! :)

I do know one thing, If it doesn't sell soon, I may take it out of the store and keep it for myself. I really like how this came out and I love the idea of not having ten yards ( or so it seems some times) of extra scarf you don't know what to do with. This serves it's purpose, to keep your neck warm and not hinder your movements, it's bad enough it's winter and you have to bundle up with bulking winter clothes, no need to get frustrated in the middle of it all!

Oh I forgot to mention. This Scarf is beautiful, functional and artistic, but it doesn't' end there. As I said there are buttons sewn to the scarf and they are buttoned like regular buttons, through holes, then the 'Button Jewelry' is snapped on over the buttons. But when you get to your destination, if you've planned right, you can remove the Jewelry from the buttons on the scarf, and now add them to your blouse! The only requirement is that the buttons on your garment will fit the button cover. The one in the leaf is for your average shirt button, while the one for the eggplant will take a bit bigger button. So now you have cool looking button jewelry to wear throughout the day, so you don't have to leave these lovelies hanging out in the coat closet! Pretty cool, huh?

Holiday Treasury

I put this together so early in the morning and went to bed immediately following that, I forgot to mention it here. I got a Treasury in Treasury West the testing version at etsy.com.






It features many talented polymer clay artists of etsy From A to V!, such as ArzuMusa, FolkArtFromtheHeart , laurelsteven, marciapalmer, PolymerClayforaCause, RadicallyRiley , VAharoni.

Polymer Clay for a cause highlights a conglomeration of polymer clay artists pieces sold in this store for a special memorial charity started by one of pcagoe's members ElementalDragons .

And I just learned recently that Valerie Aharoni of VAharoni, Has won the Grand Prize Winner/Best In Show in the Bead Star contest chosen by viewers at Beading Daily.com, and First Place Winner in the Seed Bead Division of Fire Mountain's Beading Contest! From what I understand this is the premier issue of the magazine and a true honor to be picked for that! Congratulations Valerie!

There are many other great polymer clay artists showing their wares at etsy and the best belong to the PCAGOE, please take time to check it out here, many wonderful gifts for the holidays and beyond can be found in their shops!

PCAGOE has its own blog where you can find interviews with the member artists as well as monthly contests where you can win wonderful pieces of Polymer clay art, check them out here. Stop by to see all the wonderful offerings and sign up for the newsletter to keep abreast of all the news, while your there.

Skinner Blends for Botanical Color

I have had an ongoing love/hate relationship with the Skinner blend. I love how Judith executes it, using it with beautiful metallics or blending it to make it look like fabrics in her new book on clay quilts, but I hated the way mine looked, not quite blending as seamlessly as my perfection personality would like. I have tried using the blend on a few of my pieces with the botanicals from the farm, such as the Nasturtium soap dispenser, this pendant of Nasturtiums as well as this one done early last summer with Summer Savory. I choose the bright colorway for the Nasturtiums by their natural state, the orange-y reds, and deep butterscotch yellows. I think it worked, I sold a cheese shaker recently with that blend on there that came out really cute. In working with the materials sent to me from Pointy Paws ( as I wrote about earlier here ) I had started to make a brooch from one of the Live Oak leaves. When I got to the third stage of making it I decided it was a bit too big and it should be incorporated onto a vessel of some sort. My eyes fell on a prepped six sided horseradish jar and started pondering how to cover it to highlight the medallion best.



I decided to try a skinner blend again and choose a color palette I have not seen done before, ecru and a sagey green from the new line of Scupley, Studio. I mixed these a bit more than the usual runs through the pasta machine and am glad to report I am happy with the results. I had a bit left over and decided to try to do a covering for one of my new acquisitions, stainless steel money clips. I have had these savoy cabbage leaves from the farm ( believe it or not! ) and have been dying to imprint them and finally got the chance. I just knew they would impress, impressively! :) I took a few pics to show you, using my new(est) photo set up, a vintage ( I've had it for 30+ years) Tupperware cake holder and two reveal lights. I am happy with how both turned out and may just continue to experiment with how the skinner blend can work with my botanicals.


In my work I usually spend just as much time on the finishing of the piece with paint, pastels, or other color options to get the look I am trying to achieve as I do on sculpting the piece first in the clay. I used black paint over this skinner blend on the vase, a ecru on the Oak leaf and a medium sage on the black leaves surrounding the cameo and the rim. I think that they work well together and look forward to trying out more combination's to offer my customers.

I've also been working on a whole series of new buttons in various colorways. I think I shall try some soon in a skinner blend to see where that leads. Stay tuned!