Posted on 11 Comments

Eye candy

Donna Kato Class


Please forgive the less-than-stellar photography on these – I plan to spend some time making them look pretty in pictures after I’ve drilled the holes and strung them on cords.  I don’t know how long that will take and I didn’t want to wait to post these!

So this first image is of the pendant we were taught to make by Donna Kato this weekend.  The class covered construction of the box, embellishment of the decorative layer with image transfers, inks, rubber stamps & gold leaf, and attaching the end caps.  I’m very happy with the way this turned out.

Donna Kato Class


The process involves multiple bakings, so while my inro baked at each step, I worked on a second one.  I was interested to see how the technique worked using my canes for the decorative layer.  I’m happy with it, but I don’t like it as much as the version I made “to spec.”

Donna Kato Class


After the inros were complete, I decided to see if I could make one of my usual pendant styles incorporating an image transfer into the mix.

Donna Kato Class


And then I did it again.  I think the idea has potential.  I have visions of my new key chain dancing in my head – every year I make myself a keychain with one son on each side.  I’ve been carrying the same one for over a year now, and I’m ready for a change.  I’m excited to think I could make a non-flat key chain and still use images of the boys on it…

As expected, my mind is full of things I want to try.  I knew I should have taken next week off so that I could indulge my muse.  I hope I don’t go out of my mind while I attempt to ignore my creative impulses and be a responsible adult this week icon_smile-flickr-6-2

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Posted on 11 Comments

11 thoughts on “Eye candy

  1. Love the way you incorporated the transfers into your pendants. I can see lots of ideas coming from this. can’t wait to see the new key chain. Thanks for being so creative. good eye candy and good for the soul. My creativity is in the garbage right now 🙁

    1. Thanks! I’m feeling really inspired now that I’ve seen an easy way to make transfers that wrap around 3-d objects. All I need is a color laser printer 😉

  2. Amazing work!

    1. Thank you! It’s great to be surrounded by creative people all weekend – good for the soul.

  3. I hate having to put the creativity on hold. I’ve had to pretend that I’m being creative by sanding and painting walls for months now, and it’s awful. If you can set aside the time and space to play, you should – grownup obligations notwithstanding.

    1. Aw, you need a day off 🙂 I am definitely in the midst of a creative explosion right now. The last one of these I had lasted an intense 4 months or so, and after it was over, I didn’t touch an ounce of clay (or anything else creative) for a long time. I go in bursts. I’m enjoying riding this creative wave, and I’m hoping I don’t crash before I’ve used all of my recent craft supply purchases. Heh.

  4. Your inro and pendants are wonderful. I am going to be taking a Kim Cavender workshop on October 6 and am looking forward to it. I’m not a caner at all—in fact I avoid it anyway I can—but I do have to cane sometimes and hope this workshop will be what gets me past the idea that I don’t like caning.

    1. Thank you! I’ve heard Kim Cavender gives a very fun class! You could end up feeling a lot better about caning – I am not generally fond of using inks, stamps, etc, but I loved decorating that inro, and now I’m thinking maybe there *is* a place for those techniques in my repertoire.

  5. When I started with polymer clay, I would not use anything with the clay—no paints, no armatures, nothing. Try making an 18″ polymer clay doll figure with no armature. (I have done it and it is still intact—but I would never recommend it!) It took me a few years to try anything and everything with polymer. Now I don’t even think about limiting myself. In fact, I constantly think—what would happen if I used this? that?

  6. Whoo hoo! Love these inros and pendants Lisa. Must’ve been FABULOUS having Donna Kato as your guide. Did you have any probs with the black ink leaking? Mine went well too except for that and there’s no Donna here to ask? I’ll post pics too when mine are finished.

    Mel

    1. Oh, yes, it was fabulous. I just love her teaching style – I’m not sure what it is, but she’s very empowering. You see her do something and just accept that you’ll be able to do it, too. And the results are so impressive! (I can’t seem to duplicate my success at home this week, but we don’t have to talk about that, right? LOL!)

      The only black ink I used was with the “post card” rubber stamp. It was a permanent stamp pad that we used, and it was dry almost instantly. So, no problems there. Maybe you were using a more fussy ink?

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