PCAGOE October Challenge - Day of the Dead

There are some interesting entries in the PCAGOE monthly challenge for October, the theme of which is Day of the Dead. Vote for your favorite, including this decorated skull from Tejae of Tejaesart, beginning October 1 through October 3 at PCAGOE.

!naM detnelaT ylsuoireS enO teeM

My fellow PCAGOE member, David Vanover, a/k/a Revanov, IS a seriously talented man. He also has a wicked sense of humor, so if no one else gets the title, I'm sure he will!

David is based in Washington, D.C. He works primarily with polymer clay and precious metals as a medium for his jewelry design. The results are really stunning, the purest examples of form and function existing harmoniously in one piece. David has only been designing jewelry for the past year, and it just goes to prove what I've always heard, that you either have "it" or you don't, and David has "it": Talent in spades.

I have many favorites among David's work, and have spotlighted his Sunspots bracelet (which I think is sheer genius), here on the blog and in an Etsy treasury, but I'm bringing it back, along with a few more of my favorites from his shop.



I love the way the toggle closure is part of the bracelet design. I could have wracked my brain for a hundred years and not come up with that little twist. Fabulous!

David is one artist whom I am certain will always remain true to himself and his truly unique vision. It won't be long before everyone will know the name Revonav. Talent like his won't stay hidden for long, and I hope his star burns white hot bright for a long, long time.



Distant Red




Soft Thunder




Wife On Mars

Friday Favorites September 26, 2008

I created this treasury, which I call October Road, for my Friday favorites this week.

The weather outside today is crisp after a good, soaking rain last night, the wind is blowing, the leaves are turning and stirring, and I was compelled to seek out some Autumnal inspiration.

The Adluh Flour Mill is a landmark in Columbia, South Carolina, and was created by fellow South Carolinian Hilariagalleries. I'm a sucker for vintage advertising signs and labels, and this treasury features some really splendid ones, and some classic graphics in the Dick and Jane book from fleaflyflo. Who over 40 doesn't remember Dick and Jane and Sally and Puff (I always loved Puff!) and Weekly Readers. This nostalgic treausury makes me think of Autumn and Vintage Americana, but it also takes me back to my childhood. It's a sentimental favorite for sure.

At Tara In This Fateful Hour

This is my new treasury, titled "At Tara In This Fateful Hour", after Madeline L'Engle's poem, Patrick's Rune. It was inspired by ara133photography's stunning photo of the same name. I love the smoky blue and teal colors, and how the items have more than their color in common, which I think gives it depth.

I featured another of Ralph Nuara's pieces. I just love his work, and I always find something in his shop to inspire me when I'm creating treasuries.

The photographers took center stage in this one, however. In addition to ara133, I included Studiolyon's Sunset Palm 2 and metaleyelash's Cheerio Concerto No. 5; and Eyeful's Seed. They are all on my Christmas wish list!

Here is the full text of the poem, Patrick’s Rune by Madeleine L’Engle:

At Tara in this fateful hour
I place all Heaven with its power
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness:
All these I place
By God’s almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness

Please help me get this treasury to Etsy's front page! If you love it as much as I do, please visit it and give it some love and clicks! It is steadily moving up the list, but more clicks combined with more comments will send it to the top! Thanks so much!

PCAGOE Artist of the Week - Pollyhyper

This week, I am delighted to get to interview Holly of pollyhyper, a member of the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy, or PCAGOE. Holly is in charge of our monthly newsletter at the guild, and she does a wonderful job.

So, Holly, tell me a little about yourself.

I'm 32, married, with 2 dogs and 2 cats. I'm obsessed with contrast and find the extremes of light and dark very visually appealing.

How long have you been crafting, and besides polymer clay, what kinds of materials do you use in your creations?

I've been crafting forever - I was one of those children who LOVED to make things - anything - and, if possible, sell it. I had a friendship bracelet and sticker business in grade school. Needless to say, it was not the path to prosperity.

Who or what inspires you?

PCAGOE members inspire me, showing me how far one can take polymer clay in so many different directions. I'm inspired by everything around me - nature, man-made items, light and shadow, great films and directors like Jim Jarmusch who bring the beauty of a great photograph to every frame of his films.

What is your favorite technique?

I'm a little obsessed right now with light and dark and creating silhouettes of all kinds.

What do you like best about being part of PCAGOE?

Constant learning, camaraderie, exchange of ideas. If I have a question, or am thinking of trying something new, someone in the PCAGOE always has an answer for me!

Other than Etsy, where could someone find your work?

Right now, you can see some of my photo restoration work at my website, secondimpressionphoto. In the near future, I'll be working with hippiecrap on some collaborative jewelry.

When you have free time, how do you like to spend it?

Free time? What is that? I have vague memories. When I do have free time, I like to spend it at home - I'm a homebody - crafting, cooking, gardening, or just spending time with my husband.

What are your goals for your craft, and where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I'd really love to get to the point where I can take this craft to more of an "art" level. I'd also love to be able to at least supplement my income with money made doing art so that I can go part-time at my day job and be able to devote more time to art.

Now for the fun stuff!

Favorite Food or Cuisine? Indian

Favorite Color? Purple

Favorite Song or Musical Artist? Jeff Buckley (although it's hard to choose just one!)

Favorite Book or Author? The Time Traveler's Wife, also anything by Neil Gaiman or Christopher Moore.

Favorite Movie, Actor or Actress? I admit it, I have a big thing for Vince Vaughn.

Thanks, Holly! Great interview, and amen on brother Vince. He's a hottie! To see more of the featured items and other items Holly created, click these links.

Love Potion #9 Necklace
Victorian Miss Framed Pin and Pendant
By The Seashore Mixed Media Necklace

Friday Favorites September 19, 2008

I was able to get a treasury last night for my Friday Favs for this week. This was a very easy one to fill because Autumn is the most awesome season of the year and showcases some of my favorite colors: aubergine, burnt orange, mustard, pumpkin, golden yellow, sage green, etc. While I was putting together the items, a quote by George Elliot came to mind, and I used part of it for the title "Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the Earth seeking the successive Autumns."

This treasury features a gorgeous natural brass, copper and gemstone bracelet by tizib, two of my favorite prints Cinder and Smoke by ojmjakon and Country Chickens by thewishingwell; a fabulous coral and turquoise mermaid necklace by my fellow PCAGOE member Sarajane Helm and a soulful "Seek" pendant from fellow PCAGOE member Tejae.

Black and White and PCAGOE All Over!

I snagged a new Treasury last night for PCAGOE members and filled it with some beautiful pieces for a black and white showcase. Aren't they gorgeous?









The featured artists are:

Juliespace
Clayangel
FolkArtFromTheHeart
ChickieGirlCreations
Artsyclay
MarciaPalmer
MarpleArtWorks (one of our newest members!)
LynnsLittleCreations
Peggers
SilverGate
Polyclarific

The World is Going To Hell In A Handbasket

Or so says my Mother. She is convinced we're going into a depression, and after this weekend, I might have to agree.

Wow, what a wild weekend. Thursday afternoon my sister called and said I'd better get gas before the price jumped to $5.00 a gallon. It was then at $3.79 for regular unleaded and I had half a tank, but I went to the station and filled up anyway. Boy, was I glad, because by Friday afternoon, regular unleaded was going for $5.25 a gallon and stations were quickly running out of it. Several stations here even had Sheriff's deputies on site to prevent price gouging and looting. Tempers were high and I was actually afraid for the first time since the economy started going downhill.

I hurried home and turned on the news to see the reason behind the spike in gas prices was Hurricane Ike bearing down on Houston. The offshore refineries had been shut down. All weekend I kept hearing reports that no one between my home and the town in which I work, 50 miles away, had gas to sell and wouldn't for at least two weeks.

I spent most of the weekend glued to the TV, watching for news of Ike and checking on relatives in Houston and Galveston and hoping that come Monday morning, things would be back to normal. Still no gas in town, but I have enough to get to work for the week.



I did manage to make a few things Saturday, including these brooches.

Bad To The Bone Treasury

I snagged a new Treasury today, and included a new polymer clay and sterling silver "Sunspots"bracelet created by my friend David of Revonav, as well as personal favorites from Ralph Nuara and Webb Pottery: Ralph Nuara's Smoke gray, orange, and cream bumpy bag and Webb Pottery's Celtic Spirals Bank Raku Pottery.

My Entry in Art Bead Scene's September Filigree Challenge - Medici

I was thrilled when Heather Powers of Humblebeads, and one of the creators of Art Bead Scene, asked to include my Medici necklace in the photo pool for the September challenge, which is Filigree, and I immediately tagged it so it could be entered in the contest.

The polymer clay pendant was made by me from black Kato clay and embossed with a baroque texture sheet and burnished with gunmetal and antique copper mica powders. I enhanced the pendant with gorgeous mother of pearl facted pillow beads, polished black agate rounds, copper spacer rondelles and 2mm sterling silver spacer beads; and finished with a filigree clasp.

Wish me luck, y'all!

A Treasury West for Friday Favorites September 5, 2008

I snagged a Treasury West this morning and decided to upload it instead of my Friday Favorites this week. I'm running behind on my Artist of the Week Feature, too, hope to have one up for you by tomorrow. I'm featured in several treasuries and wanted to get photos of them up as well, so they are taking up the slack this week! Thanks, y'all!

This treasury features my fellow PCAGOE member JanZio and my fellow SEUS team member beachcottagestudio And one of my very favorite items EVER on Etsy, arunnion's The Last Mare.

This beautiful treasury was created by my fellow SEUS team member Teresa from TheTopCat

This is the second time this week my Tusk necklace has been featured in a treasury.
My friend and fellow PCAGOE member Jael of jaelsjewels also featured it in her new treasury. Thank you, my friends! It's an honor to be included among such wonderful artists, and picked BY such talented artists, too!

Jael's treasury also features my friend David Revonav, another awesomely talented PCAGOE member, and his seriously gorgeous Sunspots bracelet

Update: My Textured Brooch Won 2nd Place in the September PCAGOE Challenge!

I am so thrilled! My Ebony and Faux Turquoise Textured Brooch placed 2nd in the September, 2008 PCAGOE Challenge, the theme of which was Texture.

1st place went to Marcia Palmer's exquisite Textured Mosaic Tiled Box

3rd place went to Bettina of Beadworx and her gorgeous enro box.

To everyone who voted for my brooch, thank you so very much! I am on Cloud 9!

2 SEUS Team Treasuries in One Day - An Abundance of Riches!

Wow, three of my necklaces are featured in a new treasury today at Etsy. Thank you so much, Feelin' Fibers from SEUS Team, the Southeastern US Etsy Street team.

I worked all weekend on new designs for the shop The Autumn Gold Necklace is one of my favorites. I love the fall palette, and the gemstones I used are my favorite tertiary colors.

Gaia is from my Powerful Women series and also features some of my favorite colors.

I do a lot of pearl and Swarovski crystal sets for wedding parties, Sweet 16 (yes, girls in the South still love their pearls, but now we wear them with flip flops!). This peach set is a very popular color combination.

This newest SEUS Team treasury features my Smoke and Fire Necklace. It is my tribute to NASCAR's #20 Drive, Tony "Smoke" Stewart, my FAVORITE driver. He's a Yummy Bad Boy and I love him!

As you can see, there are some very talented folks in the Southeastern U.S.! I am so happy to be a part of this brand new team!

You Could Have Me Wrapped Around Your Neck! No? How About This? You Could Win One Of My Necklaces!

I'm so excited, and I'm not even a Pointer Sister! You can win this necklace just by visiting my shop at scdiva.etsy.com!

Here's how it works! My friends Carrie and Kathy, the Ametista Girls, are having a contest. Visit my shop during the month of September and pick your favorite necklace from my designs. Then, go visit the Ametista Girls at ametistadea.blogspot.com, make a comment on the necklace you liked the best (gushing sentiment strongly encouraged), and you are automatically entered in the drawing for the necklace shown above! Isn't that FABULOUS? The winner will be picked at random when Carrie and Kathy draw the name out of a pocketbook (bless their little hearts!) at the end of the month.

Have a great time looking at my shop. I cleaned and rearranged the furniture especially for you this weekend. There are lots of shiny new things to see, too.

Thanks so much, y'all!

Lynda

PCAGOE Challenge is Live! Vote For Your Favorite and Win A Prize!

The September challenge sponsored by the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy is live. Here are the entries. Visit our website at www.pcagoe.com and vote for your favorite entry. Two lucky voters will be chosen at random to receive beautiful handmade, one-of-a-kind polymer clay pieces by some of our talented artisans. My entry is #10, the Ebony and Faux Turquoise Textured Brooch I agonized over for two, okay, three weeks, but there are some stunning entries from which to choose.

Polymer clay is an endless source of possibilities, as you can see from the imaginative and innovative works of our artists.

#1 Diversity by laurelsteven
#2 Kayla’s Pink Wish Box by NKDesigns
#3 Inro by beadworx
#4 Reef Romance by beetreebyme
#5 Textured Faux Opal Rings by clayangel
#6 Dragonfly Whimsy by jaelsjewels
#7 Texture Icon Pendants by lucybluestudios
#8 Texture – Real and Illusion by JanGeisen
#9 Dreamweaver by paperpam
#10 Ebony and Faux Turquoise Textured Brooch by SCDiva
#11 Ancient Fossils Textured Bead Set by thecolorofdreams
#12 Night and Day by divadea
#13 Smooth is a Texture by polyclarific
#14 Asian Chic Set by chicki
#15 This Rocks! by pipsjewellery
#16 Climbing Vine by laurabeestudios
#17 Pocketful of Sunshine Mirror by juliespace
#18 Textured Tile Box by marciapalmer
#19 Texture Trees by blockpartypress