More making... while Friday Cat Blogging!

Although I've been working with polymer clay for around 7 years now, I haven't experimented with a lot of canes. I have, however, made my share of makizushi or sushi rolls though. I guess I could make a really humungous one so that I don't have to make another one for some time, but this one will take me through the summer anyway.

Here it is assembled, filled with spinach, carrot, egg, gourd strips (kanpyo) and pollack / fake crab stick. The rice is thin noodles of transluscent clay wrapped with white.

And for the Friday Cat Blogging... You know I love my cats, they make me smile when no one else or nothing else can. Impossible to look at this face and NOT smile.

This is Chibi a couple days ago, trying to ignore me and the camera. I don't know what it is about the camera, but she hates it. As soon as she hears it being switched on, or sees me point it at her, she's off in the other direction. She is truly the world's sweetest kitty.

Making, making...

Hard at work the last few days, getting some new stock ready for Ladyfest's Tarts 'n Crafts in Ottawa next week-end. I recently rearranged my workspace with JF's help and it feels great to actually look forward to go to work in there every day. It's already back to its usual cluttered state, but I know now I'm just not cut out to be neat. As long as I know where everything is and it feels good to work in, then I'm ok.

Here's some of the chiyogami pendants and earrings I was working on yesterday. The paper is cut and then laid on a layer of polymer clay; now they are waiting to be put on their second layer/base clay, which will also be hand-cut. Thank-goodness for my trusty pasta-roller! I'm also testing some glue-on bails, using different adhesives to see which one sticks the best. I'll post some photos of the finished product when they're done.

This is a prototype of a bead I've been fiddling around with for awhile, with varying versions. Other ideas are a-brewing!

My favourite tools

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, after first seeing a favourite tools post on Cicada Daydream's blog. So here it is - finally! I spend a lot of time in my workspace and it is thanks to these tools that make my work a little easier, that I can be really productive.

Jewellery making:
Awhile back I wrote about my new Lindstrom pliers that I use when making jewellery. Still loving them, although my favourites are now the fine tipped round-nose and the OHM bent-nose pliers. The grip on these is great.

Paper:
My indispensable tools when working with paper are definitely my Dahle rotary paper cutter, Olfa craft knife and my trusty bone folder.

1- This rotary cutter is one of the best investments I've made - this isn't the exact model I have but it makes life so much easier when you have large sheets of paper to cut, and large amounts of it! I've been using it steadily for almost three years now and the original blade is still going strong.
2- The little Olfa craft knife is great for cutting smaller pieces and for cutting out shapes from larger pieces of paper; I use these in my craft classes so I've got lots of them!
3- Oh how I love my bone folder! Great for folding cardstock (although I tell craft class students to use the underside of a spoon, or a butter knife handle), but I use it constantly for burnishing paper that is being glued to cards, or applied to clay for pendants (gets any air bubbles out). Also wonderful for making crisp origami folds.

Polymer clay:
My gotta-haves for polymer clay are definitely my pasta roller and an assortment of tools for handling small pieces of clay.

1- My Marcato pasta roller never makes noodles. It's permanently clamped to the edge of my clay work table and conditions all my clay, and rolls it into even sheets for pendants and sushi platters. Although the motorized ones are more pricey, a good quality manual one is around $35 to $50 (my husband says the cranking of the roller sounds like a medieval torture device); if you work with polymer clay on a regular basis, this is your wisest investment.
2- I've got a bunch of small detail tools that I like to use, some from the dollar store like this needle poker thingy, that's great for poking holes or making little indentations in uncured clay.

If you thought the other two tools look remarkably like dental hygienist's tools, it's because they are! And yes, they are sterlized! They're great for placing and positioning tiny pieces of clay, and for scraping off imperfections from cured clay; these tools' edges have blades that clean tartar off your teeth, and since the hygienists change them the minute the blades are less than perfect, they end up sending tons of these tools back for recycling. So I'm sure most dentists will just give them to you for free. I've got a whole set of them - love them!

Not pictured are my assorment of surgical blades for cutting into clay, which I use all the time. I try to mark the top, unsharp side of the blade to avoid cuts, although I forget sometimes!

There you have it - my most indispensable tools of the trade(s)...

A fresh batch and new tools...

It's still snowing here in Montreal. It snowed all day yesterday, just lightly, but aaaaaall day. We were supposed to get 15cm, but I'm sure we got a little more than that since it's still falling.

Half of yesterday was spent making some chiyo pendants and earrings and I'll be doing that again today. Here's the fresh lot that went in to cure last night.

They need a final inspection and then their coats of varnish. I know there are a lot of people making chiyo pendants now on Etsy and out there in general, but I'm very happy with my design and their finished, framed look. Each is individually handcut from polymer clay and I also make the pendant bails myself. I've got some in my shop for sale right now :)

I received some new tools in the mail yesterday. I have been using pliers in the $5 to $8 range and I could not quite believe that tools that were 6 times the price were going to make any difference. How much better can they be?

The short answer: A LOT. A lot better. Thanks to a pretty good month, I splurged and bought these Lindstrom flush cutters and chain nose pliers, and also tried the OHM bent nose pliers.

Over the very busy holiday season I developed terribly crampy, tight hands and forearms and I know it was partly because I had to squeeze so hard on my hard-handled, badly-made tools. I put together some jewellery pieces yesterday and these felt great. I will let you know how I feel with my new tools as time goes on, but I already feel like I made a really good investment.

Have Lindstrom or OHM tools been good for you in your experience? Or any other kinds of tools? I'd love to hear about them ☺

Off to make more pendants... gotta feed the cats first!

Custom work...

I've been working on a custom order of pendants for four little girls - two pairs of sisters - whose families will be separated for a couple of years due to a job transfer. The moms are best friends, the dads are best friends, their four daughters are best friends. Needless to say, this is going to be tough on both families.

To make the separation a little easier on the girls (ages 3 to 5), one of the moms asked me to design a necklace to express the powerful bond the girls share. I immediately had a bird in mind as part of this project, to act as a messenger between the girls. My birdies turned out exactly as I had pictured them in my little brain. Colours are hand-mixed Kato polymer clay, in pearly pastels.

The rest came together pretty organically. Four amazing little girls, four lovely hearts for the top part of the pendant. Turquoise symbolizes communication, so I added a small turquoise stone dangle from the birdie's underside to keep communication open and thus, the friendship ever-growing.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. The moms seem to like them; I hope the girls will too. Children are the scariest customers since they cannot or will not lie. We will see...