Back In Gear

It felt so good to get my hands on a bunch of polymer clay again.  I spent the weekend trying to get the cobwebs out of my brain and back into creative mode.  

I don't know about you, but when I get back into the studio after being away from it for awhile, I try to keep my expectations low for the first couple of pieces.  I call them the throwaways.  They usually don't even make it into the Butt Uglies jar.  They go straight to the trash can.      

I started with two basic color batches:   One with tomato red, olive green, white, black, and a touch of lavender.   The other batch was slate blue, tan, brick red, black and white.   

The first color batch was intended for more pieces to add to my Southwestern Landscapes series.  


I love the tertiary colors found in the Southwestern U.S., including mustard yellow, tomato red, sage green, turquoise, aubergine, burnt orange, etc.  


The series is very popular with my local customers and my Etsy shop customers, and I can always use more inventory, so I started with some simple marbled earrings.  favorite.  Making earrings has become my new favorite thing to do with polymer.  


I used to resist them, because my OCD tendencies would kick in and I would get very frustrated if both pieces in a pair weren't exactly the same.  


Earrings are also popular with my customers, and I can't make too many to have on hand, so I decided this past weekend the Studio would be Earring Central.  


I changed the color palette a little and deleted the olive green and added some slate blue and a good bit of translucent clay.  

This "bargello" pattern is a favorite I've used several times.  It's a rounded bargello, not a zig zag pattern, but I still think it qualifies.  

These little heart earrings are really sweet, unfortunately, the photos don't do them justice.  


Next weekend, I hope to get started on some new tutorials.  I'm still taking suggestions, if anyone has any ideas for topics.