Posted on 13 Comments

C is for Clay

I love the guild workshops. It’s 3-4 hours once a month that I know I can set up my clay supplies and crank out a few things. And while I’m not all that good at explaining things, I enjoy letting people look over my shoulder while I do what I came to do. I seem to attract a small gaggle of onlookers when I make canes, and that’s perfectly ok with me. I like to share what I know.

So today I brought my new bird skirt and set about to make some coordinating canes. My final goal was a pendant that I can wear with the skirt, and the first step was mixing the colors. I underestimated how much yellow I was going to want to add to the brown, and I didn’t bring enough (Thank you, Pat, for giving me some and saving the day!)

Color matching

The colors came together pretty quickly with very little experimentation, and then I was able to build a few canes. I started with my favorite Triangle Cane, which I have demoed a few times but have yet to give written instructions for. Maybe someday, but in the meantime, check out the School Spirit Cane – it works in much the same way, it’s just squares instead of triangles, and it’s got an extra step of adding stripes, which is not necessary for the triangles.

After the Triangle Cane, I moved on to a Chenille Cane, which I haven’t done in some time. I came up with the idea of the Chenille Cane after watching Donna Kato on Carol Duvall. The first several steps of the Chenille Cane are identical to Donna’s Spiral Cane Pendant, but it deviates in the assembly stage.

I then made a striped cane, which I think kind of speaks for itself icon_wink-flickr-2-3 followed by an extruded cane

[Oh, brother – I just had to take a 45-minute break from blogging because son #2 broke a glow stick in his bed. A glow stick! What will that boy do next?? I cleaned up the kids while Neil cleaned up the room – I’m told the splatter pattern was impressive… Son #1 was more than a little bit freaked out to see his brother glowing, and frankly I was a little freaked out myself. While Neil cleaned the walls, I sat down with the kids and the laptop to do a little research and make sure the glow stuff wasn’t going to permanently harm them. Once we all felt better, I tucked the kids into my bed and went to change their sheets. Now the kids are cuddled up, hugging each other, asleep in my bed, and Neil and I are back downstairs playing “dueling bloggers” to see who can blog about it faster. I’m sure he’s going to win because I have to get back to talking about clay. But before I do, I just need to thank God that son #2 wasn’t drinking the stuff or anything – he may have itchy scalp in the morning, but at least he’ll be alive. I am going to be very very gray before I turn 40 if he keeps this stuff up.]

Ok, back to caning.

[Geez – who sleeps with a glow stick? And tries to bend it in half? …I’ve got to let this go.]

You can find instructions for extruded canes in various places online, including Kathy Weinberg on HGTV.

[Ok, couldn’t let it go. I just went up and checked on them – they’re sleeping peacefully, not glowing. I gave them each another goodnight kiss and now I can get back to clay. Really. I’m letting it go right now. There. It’s gone icon_smile-flickr-1-2]

Color matching

So, anyway, I made those four canes, and I’m very pleased with how nicely they complement the skirt. I can hardly wait to make my pendant. I got started making one at the workshop, but wasn’t able to bake it. I’ve decided that I am going to make several things with these canes, since I clearly have more than I need for a single pendant. Stay tuned to see what I come up with. I predict a bevy of buttons, pendants, earrings, and posies for my Etsy shop.

C is for Clay (and for Children who glow)

Lisa

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Posted on 13 Comments

13 thoughts on “C is for Clay

  1. Sounds like an interesting night. Here a great website for your curious duo. http://www.Willitblend.com They fill a blender with glowsicks. Very cool, but maybe not for tonight. – Robin

    http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe&video=glowsticks

  2. OH, that site is really funny – Neil and I watched a bunch of their videos on YouTube a few weeks ago. If I show that to my kids, I think I’ll make sure I don’t tell them where I keep the blender…

  3. OMG, do not show them that site. It is funny, but sometimes kids take things a bit too literally. (Sometimes big boys do, too. Hubby was horrified to see that iPhone go into the blender. . .)

    I love watching you make canes, Lisa. One day I’ll get the hang of it, but you have an enviable speed and precision. Say, do you think glowstick goo would make a good inclusion?

  4. Now, see, this is the difference between Neil’s friends and mine. They’re all commenting on his blog about the mutant powers the boys will develop, and my friends are discussing how to add glow goo to clay 😉

  5. so who won the blogging contest? you or Neil?

    and…are the boys still glowing?

    I love the extruded cane with those colors Lisa….yummy!

  6. Tell Neil and his friends that since they’re his kids, they were already born with all the mutant powers they’ll ever have. Heh.

  7. Kathi – Neil won, as predicted, and the boys are glow-free 🙂 I’m all over those colors, too!

    Alison – if I’d had been drinking the cup of coffee I wished I had, I’d have probably spat it all over the screen after reading your comment 😉 What a perfect comeback (not to mention TRUE)!

  8. Lisa you do live a very fun filled life or should I say a glowing life. I know, I know not funny.
    When I read your blog I couldn’t help but laugh.

    Thank you for the demo you showed us that leaned over your shoulder, and thank you for the glowing laugh. I too went through many boy moments. My son is now 35 and he has a 7 year old son and guess what history repeats its self and you get to laugh a lot more watching the grand children.

    So enjoy those “glowing” moments you will have a lot more believe me!

    Kathay

  9. Oh, yes, I’m sure there will be plenty more of these moments to come – good thing they’re so entertaining!!

  10. You have to laugh, really. I know that when my siblings and/or I did something like that, their first reaction was to get upset and punish, and it wasn’t until years later that it became a funny story. My kids haven’t done a heck of a lot (I guess because they didn’t manage to escape my supervision often enough) but when they did, I would laugh at it right away, and make the girls help clean up. (Making them clean up was a much more effective lesson on why not to do it again than just getting yelled at. They still hate to clean up their messes!)

  11. […] worked on finishing up the jewelry that’s supposed to coordinate with the bird skirt this weekend.  Unfortunately, the orange darkened somewhat during the second baking, and the […]

  12. […] been planning to sand, but haven’t. Or the half-finished necklaces that I made to go with Alexander Henry’s Birdseed fabric, which can’t be completed until my jump rings get here from Fire Mountain Gems. Or the other […]

  13. […] pictured are on flickr here and here.  If you’re lost, I wrote about the work-in-progress here, and the skirt that inspired all of this here […]

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