I spent the weekend surrounded by image transfers. I had big plans to work the entire weekend to get some Spring themed items in the Etsy store. I got up at 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning and started cutting and trimming a few hundred images, picked 50 of my favorites and dived in, only to come to a screaching halt when I ran out of Premo Pearl clay about halfway through the first batch. So I had to stop, take a shower, get dressed, put on makeup, fix my hair (I don't go anywhere without hair and makeup, people. I would scare small children!) and make the 215 mile, round trip from the boonies where I live to the nearest craft store, a Hobby Lobby, only to discover their inventory of Pearl was hard as a brick. I bought 2 small packages anyway and some Premo clay softener, which I had never used before, and crossed my fingers it would work.
It worked, but put me behind about 6 hours, so I ended up pulling an all-nighter Saturday night. I'm sure you know how it is...when you get on a roll and forget time and food and the doorbell and phone...you're in THE ZONE.
It took me awhile to get my momentum back, but I ended up making 30 new pieces brooches and pendants and bird beads from my new collection of vintage book illustrations of flowers and shells and Japanese postcards. I ended up going to bed about 5:00 a.m. Sunday.
The only bad thing about making so many new pieces at one time is that they all have to be sanded and buffed, which I normally don't mind. In fact, sanding is very cathartic, but 30 pieces took all day Sunday to complete, but my elbows and arms feel like lead weights this morning.
You can see more of my weekend efforts at my
flickr photostream. And I ordered several one pound blocks of Premo Pearl this morning with express delivery, so I should be good to go again by Thursday! Next up, those vintage shells on ephemera backgrounds I didn't get to, and some historic places images!
Several months ago, when I first started experimenting with using embossing powders for texture, I made a series of beads I called "Gunpowder and Gold". They were made from Black and Gold clay, and I rolled some Gold snakes in black embossing powder to make this little pendant, which measures about 1 1/2" by 1". I made myself a necklace from it, and my friend Catherine saw it, she asked me to make a necklace for her with a bigger, more squared pendant in the same pattern.
This is what I came up with, after my mind shifted gears from image transfers. I hope she likes it.
