Polymer Clay

I moulded some faces on the Labour Day weekend.I finally painted and varnished them a couple of weeks ago and thought I had ruined them by spraying with too much varnish. They were horribly tacky. Luckily, bought some Liquitex at the paper craft show I went to last weekend. I had tried re-polishing a couple of faces but that didn't help. The next stage was to try and sand the varnish off as these are my best faces yet. I was dreading the sanding, so my friend Phyllis suggested the Liquitex. Great results, no more tackiness. Here are the faces I made. This is about the 5th lot of faces I've made in the last year and my painting techniques are definitely improving.

Beaded Art Doll - Shoe Challenge

I finished my shoe challenge. It stands 2 1/2" high by 4 1/2" long. I didn't think I would make it but the extra weekend for March has helped a lot. I seem to have found more time anyway. Hope you like her.


Lovely fabric to start with

I found these square millefiori beads at a market stall selling junk (someone's treasures)

Right side



Ready for the heel





Spring is born



Left view of heel



March BJP

This month I have used larger beads to create my 9cm x 5cm picture of a Kangaroo Paw, backing it with ultrasuede. The 11s I've used for the background are rather too dark as they overshadow the stems. I used 3mm bicones for the stems and rounds and bicones for the flowers. The Kangaroo Paw is the State flower of Western Australia and, has mostly all red or all green flowers.

Needlefelting

I've been playing with the felting needles this week, I'm determined to improve my technique. I tried another armature, this time a dog which is rather a sad little thing, black isn't the best colour to use when you are learning.  You can just about make out his eyes which are 3mm beads. I didn't have any black core wool so used white and then used merino to cover. This proved a mistake as the merino fibres are just too long to blend in well on such a small doll.

I also made a couple of Kay Petal characters, Pixie and puppy. I'm pleased with how Red the dog turned out, I really worked hard with the finishing needle and I think I have done a good job except perhaps the feet could be a better shape. The pixie is a cutie. You may be interested in looking at the work of Bea Brodka, a Polish artist who, like Kay Petal,  is truly inspirational. Now I really must get on and finish my BJP which is waiting for a backing and finishing off.

Doll Swap

I'm taking part in a doll swap with the Beaded Art Dolls Yahoo Group. I will be posting my completed 'Spring' doll to my swap partner Sherry,  tomorrow. We have a public holiday today(Labour Day) so I intend spending the day painting some polymer clay faces. I've been trying to make time to paint these for ages. I can't post a picture of the doll until 1st April so I will just show a couple of tasters of what is to come.

Bead Group
I had a lovely day on Saturday with my bead buddies from the Embroiderers Guild. Glenys showed us some gorgeous beaded fabric swatches she had been given to make up into a crazy patchwork bag. Phyllis and I gave a show and tell on the supplies we bought on our visit to Easybeads in Seymour. Christine has a huge stock of Czech hanks and Fire Polish as well as a good range of Japanese seed beads. It took us an hour and a half to get there but it was lovely to see and handle the beads before we bought them.