PCAGOE October Challenge - Favorite Art or Artist

It's almost time again! Voting starts October 1 for our PCAGOE October Challenge, the theme of which is "Favorite Art or Artist". Our members could choose a favorite painting or artist to depict, and their entry could be an interpretation of a painting or something based on the artist's life, or they could be inspired by the style or colors of their favorite artist's work. Man, do we have some GORGEOUS entries this month! I am so proud of everyone who entered.

1) Pendant by BeeTreeByMe - Inspired by Edgar Degas' Ballerinas

2) The Scream Pendant by SpiritMama - Inspired by Edvard Munch's The Scream

3) Calla Lilies Pendant by NKDesigns - Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's Calla Lily Series

4) Red Poppies Miniature Polymer Clay Painting on Easel by ArtistTooStudios - Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe's Red Poppies Series

5) Study in Color Necklace by TheColorofDreams - Inspired by Wassily Kandinsky's Farbstudie Quadrate

6) Iris Pendant by Jencom72 - Inspired by Claude Monet's Garden at Giverny

7) Meditatoin Polymer Clay Sculpture by Ashpaints - Inspired by Don Li Leger's Garden of Meditation

8) Lady In Waiting Framed Polymer Clay Sculpture by Studioschiek - Inspired by Gustav Klimt

9) Lighthouse Polymer Clay Painting in a Polymer Clay Frame by PolymerClayCreations - Inspired by Thomas Kincaid

Vote for your favorite entry at www.pcagoe.com between Oct. 1 and midnight, Eastern US time of Oct. 7, 2009. Five lucky voters chosen at random will also receive one of these beautiful polymer clay prizes created by our member artists!

#1 Pendant created by LaurelSteven
#2 Pendant created by KDollDesigns
#3 Pendant created by SCDiva
#4 Pendant created by NKDesigns
#5 Pendant created by Worthington Fox

Fall 2009 Fashion Color Forecast

I was so excited to see the colors predicted to be big this Fall, because they are some of my favorite colors to wear and the ones I am drawn to create with, too.

According to the Fashion Industry's Pantone Report, the "in" colors this Fall will be:

American Beauty, Purple Heart, Honey Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Iron, Creme Brulee, Nomad, Rapture Rose, Warm Olive and Majolica Blue.

The Pantone Report says American Beauty is a patriotic, wonderfully balanced, true red; that Purple Heart connotes a sense of refinement and sensuality; Iron is the new black; Warm Olive adds a touch of elegance and sophistication to fall; and Majolica Blue is a deep, mysterious teal blue with more vibrancy than the usual navy.

Lovely!



So, I got busy last night and made some pendants I hoped would compliment the new Fall colors nicely for our weekly PCAGOE Clay and Play Thursday. The pendants are all image transfers depicting a vintage William Morris fabric. The gemstones I used, particularly the gorgeous Tiger Jasper, a chameleon stone which literally goes with everything and adapts to almost any color palette; and these stunning, handmade, hollow fumed glass beads created by Aja of WanderingSpirit (yes, I know, more Aja beads, but I can't seem to get enough of them!).



I think I'm set for Fall now.

Whooda Thunk It?

I made some pendants this weekend with a vegetable peeler. Yep, a vegetable peeler. Whooda thunk it? Of course, many of you probably already know about Dan Cormier, PC artist extraordinaire, and his SHARK and cutting edge techniques and tools. I had heard of him, too, you'd have to live under a rock in the pc world not to know his name, but I had honestly never really paid much attention to him or his technique, mainly because his workshops were waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy out of my price range. If I'm going to spend that kind of money on a workshop, it had better be held in Paris!

Well, anyway, some of my fellow PCAGOE members were discussing his SHARK and cutting edge techniques and the tools, and one mentioned something about a vegetable peeler. Hmmm, I have vegetables, and ergo, I have a peeler! A nice, wide Gilette razor kind of peeler, so I decided to give it a go. I layered a think sheet of platinum colored clay on a base of espresso colored clay and embossed it with my favorite gingko texture sheet, then whipped out the vegetable peeler (well, actually a potato peeler...potatoes aren't one of those fruity vegetables or vegetably fruits, are they?) and proceeded to mow it down to a flat surface. Viola, as I am fond of saying! This is really cool, and now I want to go visit Mr. Cormier's website and see how much money I can spend on his various types of veget..er, tools.

Nifty swell, huh?

I went ahead and made a necklace with this pendant and a smaller one in the same pattern, and I made a couple more necklaces for the shop. Autumn's a comin' and I'm focusing on the Fall 2009 Fashion Color Forecast and trying to get some compatible designs in the shop to accessorize this year's predicted color favorites.



Small Platinum Gingko Leaves On Espresso Background with Palm Jasper, Fancy Jasper, Ocean Jasper, and Snakeskin Jasper gemstones



Large Platinum Gingko Leaves on Espresso Background with African Brown Rhyolite, Grafic Feldspath/Feldspar, Picture Jasper, Bronzite and Hidden Valley Jasper.



Dressed Up Denim polymer clay pendant with handmade Hollow Fumed Glass beads, handmade borosillica glass studded with pure silver, Sodalite spacer beads, copper filigree end caps.



Creme Brulee Butterflies image transfer polymer clay pendant with handmade Hollow, Fumed Glass beads, Tiger Iron coin beads, Blue Tiger Eye, Desert Jasper, faceted Smoked Soochow Jade Barrel beads.




These last two designs also feature some seriously gorgeous, handmade, hollow fumed glass beads created by Aja Vaz of WanderingSpirit. I'm addicted to Aja's beads now and have resorted to stalking her frickr photostream waiting for pictures of new beads to be posted. Absolutely gorgeous, stunning creations. I am seriously jealous of anyone who can do this. I would burn all my fingers off and the house down if I tried.

Have a great week, everybody!

Wow, What A Weekend!

I got so much done this past weekend! I completed all my custom orders, made several more Christmas ornaments, AND got all my necklaces packed and ready to ship to Baltimore for the Baltimore Clayworks show, Adornment Adored!

If any of you are in the Baltimore area between October 3 and November 6, please stop by the clayworks and take a look at all the gorgeous polymer clay items in the exhibit. I am just thrilled to be included in the same show as several of my fellow PCAGOE members, not to mention Louise Fischer Cozzi and Elise Winters!

The Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy is well represented in the exhibit. The PCAGOE members who will be exhibiting are:

Angela Hickey of PolymerClayCreations
Wandie Ortiz of BijouxHibou
Kira Slye of StudioBijoux
Jill Kollmann of Jkollmann
Eugena Topina of Eugena777
Jan Geisen of JanGiesen
Lynda Moseley of SCDiva



As for the polymer clay work I did this weekend, I was especially pleased with this little verdigris gingko leaf pendant made for my friend Sue at SueBeads. This blend of copper clay is my absolute favorite to work with. It is a gorgeous, rich, deep antique copper color that sands and buffs beautifully. I love adding a stamp and verdigris to it. The turquoise in the verdigris "grout" goes perfectly with the copper color. Sue makes the most gorgeous glass beads and I can't wait to see what she pairs with this pendant!



I made this Turquoise Tree of Life Pendant for my friend Lynn, one of the Lima Bead regulars. I have done this design in antiqued copper clay, but I really, really love the Turquoise with the chocolate brown accent. The clay has copper embossing powder in it and just a touch of pearl metallic clay for a teeny bit of shimmer. I can't wait to see what Lynn does with it!

I'll post more of the Christmas ornaments later. They are already very popular, so I'm off to find more designs!

Julz, Your Pendant Won 1st Place!

Thank you everyone who voted for my pendant in the PCAGOE September challenge. It won 1st place! This piece was sold before the voting began to my friend Julie Doust in Australia, and hopefully, she has received it by now. Julz, enjoy! I want to see photos of the necklace you make with it, too!

And congratulations to Angela of PolymerClayCreations, who won 2nd place in the challenge with her gorgeous millefiori necklace and earrings set; and Arlene of Ashpaints and Marcia of MarciaPalmer, who tied for 3rd place in the voting. Arlene created this beautiful covered tin and Marcia this beautifl bangle bracelet.

And may I NEVER see Turquoise, Purple and Yellow together again!

Stay tuned next month when our challenge theme is "Favorite Art/Artist". I can't wait. I think it will one of most popular and exciting challenges we've had in awhile!

I'm the Featured Designer of the Week at Art Bead Scene!

I was thrilled to wake up this morning to find that my entry in the September challenge at Art Bead Scene was chosen by Heather Powers to feature on the ABS blog and I am the Featured Artist of the Week this week!



The theme for September's challenge is based on Wassily Kandinsky's painting, Improvisation No. 23.

I am a huge Kandinsky fan, so to be chosen is very special for me. I love the bold, vibrant, fluidity of his work. Every time I look at one it makes me wish I could fly. Energy just pours from them.

So thank you, Heather, and all the ladies at Art Bead Scene. And if you haven't visited their blog, please do so. It is a source of constant inspiration for me.

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

PCAGOE September Challenge Is On!

The September challenge sponsored by the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy has begun! This month, our challenge was a doozy. The members voted on their top 3 choices on this color wheel. The winners were blue-green, blue-violet and yellow-orange. We had to combine these colors, plus our choice of either a) 1 color of our choice or b) 1 of the following colors (although technically, black and white are not colors): Black, white, silver or gold, so that our entries could only have a maximum of 4 colors! It was harder, a lot harder, than it sounds.

I trashed about 20 pendants before I settled on this one as my entry. I added a custom blend of platinum clay to the required colors, which are basically sunshine yellow, turquoise and purple. I embossed the platinum base with a groovy circles stamp which reminds me of tie-dyed pattern, baked and sanded it and set it aside. Sounds like a cake we're about to frost, doesn't it? I then added alcohol inks to Kato Poly Paste to get my required colors, and backfilled the depressions from the stamp with the paste, carefully trying to avoid getting it outside the dots. I then baked the piece again, sanded and buffed.

If you like my entry, please vote for it beween September 1st and midnight, EST on September 7, 2009. There are 11 entries this month, very diverse entries and beautiful too. To vote and to see all the entries, please visit our team website at www.pcagoe.com.

THANKS!