The shawl pins
My time at the Clayathon ended up being all about the shawl pins. I’m so glad I tried making a few that first day, because I really loved the way they turned out. Particularly once I’d spent some quality time sanding them smooth. And even more so, when I sat down at the buffing wheel and gave it a spin for the first time.
Ooh, they are just so unbelievably smooth, and have such a beautiful satiny shine!
(As an aside, I have got to add a bench buffer
Many of these will be finding their way into my shop this week. Others that I’ve grown fond of will stay with me until I have finished knitting my sweater and can decide which one looks best with it.
A few of you expressed an interest in these – if you’d like one and want to save me the trouble of photographing it and creating a listing for it, leave a comment or email me. I’ll be happy to let you have one for $24. I haven’t quite made up my mind what the final price of these will be once I put them in the shop, but I do know it will be more than $24.
I made a lot of other little doo-dads with leftover pieces from the shawl pin extravaganza, and I did a little experimenting with scrap clay, and some other experimenting with the pearlescent Liquid Sculpey that Polymer Clay Express was kind enough to share with everyone. I made myself a pair of earrings that has me completely smitten, and a small pile of similar earrings that I plan to sell.
Just about everything else still needs to be sanded and buffed. Whether that will happen soon, or six months in the future, remains to be seen 
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You know, you should come down for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in May. Maybe one of these years you could even be a vendor if you wanted — I’ve seen others selling shawl pins and the like there. But even if not, it’s a lot of fun just to walk around…it’s like a county fair full of yarn (and other crafty stuff, and animals(*), but mostly yarn).
* Animals that yarn comes from, like sheep and alpacas.
That sounds awfully tempting (and potentially expensive – hee hee!) I should talk to Neil about that, though. Might be fun to make a weekend out of it.
Love them all. I’d be interested in buying the 1st, 3rd or 5th one.
Libby
Neat! Check your email
Yum!
.-= See KarenLR’s latest blog post: happy birthday to sewandsowlife =-.
looks like a fun time was had at the retreat. you always come home with wonderful eye candy! Got a q for you Lisa…are the shawl pins just clay are do you use an armature?
.-= See Kathi’s latest blog post: A little break from claying =-.
They’re all clay – Premo.
And yep, I always have a pile of baubles when I’m done. Probably because I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to make, before I actually get a chance to sit down and do it. Once I’m there, I can just start cranking them out
ooooo, yummy delish!
Beautiful! I’d love to have the grey basketweave one…
They look so yummy! I love your color palates. Clayathon was so much fun and relaxing. I’ll post some more pictures on my blog in the next few weeks.
Martha
I definitely agree. Even if I’m not on a clay kick, those few days away always put me right back in the groove. Such a nice time.
I’ll keep an eye out for your pictures – I don’t think I saw what you were working on this time.
We do have a guest room, if that’ll influence your choice any…thing is, there are potentially two other people who might want to come to the festival, so I think I will probably go with “whoever asks me first gets it” for that weekend.
Stunning shawl pins – fantastic idea!
(Oops, sorry, my last reply re: MDSW apparently posted to a totally different comment thread. Not sure if that was my fault, but if it was, my apologies!)
Oooo. These are so purty! I would love to take one off your hands. I like the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th ones. I have some yarn darker green/ blue yarn that I want to make a shawl or cardi out of and these would be great!
I love, love, love your shawl pins. I’m a big time knitter and a polymer clay artist too. Knitting came first and then I started making matching polymer clay buttons for my knits and it grew from there. I currently have more passion for my knitting and have often thought about making matching shawl pins but have just not gotten around to it. The only thing that I have made so far is a faux bone shawl stick (shaped sort of like a shepherd’s hook) for the Botanica Cardigan that I knitted in Knit Picks organic cotton (color Marshmallow). You have definitely put me in the mood to make shawl pins for my shawls/wraps. I love how your shawl pins are rounded to make catching the knitted fabric easier. I also love your sticks. Would you mind sharing what you used for your sticks? I have some hair sticks but they seem too thick.
Botanica Cardigan Ravelry Link – http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/04-botanica-medallion-cardigan
I came to knitting and polymer clay in the opposite order of you, but I thoroughly enjoy both. I’m still a newbie knitter, but I’m having a blast learning new techniques.
I’m glad you got some good ideas by looking at my pins! For the sticks, I used very thin metal knitting needles and cut them in half with a wire cutter. Each stick is a half needle covered in a layer of clay. Wire in a decent gauge would work, too, (and probably be less expensive in the long run) but I just grabbed what I had handy at the time – the needles were in my clay toolbox for poking holes.
That’s a beautiful cardigan! I can see how it would look nice with a faux bone stick.
Is the second one still available? The lime green with spots – spots seem appropriate after this week!
.-= See Mousy Brown’s latest blog post: On the road to recovery! =-.
I love your shawl pins, Lisa! What a great idea. I had first seen pins like these when I attended Jane Thornley’s free-range knitting retreat in Taos last September. She had a collection of pins with her that were perfect with her style of wraps and shrugs. Hers were flat circles though. I much prefer your curved ones for ease of stick insertion.
Thanks for sharing and for the great inspiration!
.-= See Karen’s latest blog post: Saturday Morning Tea =-.
It’s funny – I never really looked much at shawl pins before I made these. I just felt that they were supposed to be curved like that. I have to hurry up and finish my sweater so I can see what I think of the curviness in practice!
I love your shawl pins and just came across them on your website. Do you still have some available?
Unfortunately they are all gone. The good news, though, is that I will be away on my annual clay retreat this coming weekend, and I am planning on spending three days cranking out as many as I possibly can. Any particular color families you are interested in? As long as I’m making them from scratch, I’m happy to take requests!