CaBezels

My apologies go out to Wendy Orlowski for not writing about this sooner. I don't know if y'all know about cabezels or not. I was introduced to them at a retreat I was attending and fell in love with them right away. Wendy was nice enough to send me some to try out. I keep meaning to post some pictures of some of my finished pieces but I keep selling them before I get a chance to take pictures. I know I really need to work on that. I promise I will get some up on this site. If you have been following my blog you know that finishing is not my strong point. But I am getting better. Cabezels are nifty little molds that come in different shapes. They give you you the cabochon shape and then its corresponding "bezel". I like them because they are clear which lets you see thru them to aid in positioning your work before pressing them into the mold. If you find yourself "finishing challenged" like me give them a try. They can be found here.

Oops!

Well I am 1/6th of the way thru with my next mosaic. Can you tell what it is? I have worked two weeks on it and this is what I have to show for it. Look back at my earlier post about a "leap of faith". I am tackling this cane in a different way. Instead of making the whole thing which will be too large for the slicer I have decided to build it in 6 segments. I can then take slices off of each segment before I put them together. Keep watching here for further segments to see if you can see her face take shape.

I have learned that there are times when the exact color of the selected extruded piece isn't that critical but there are times that it is. I decided that there were a couple of pieces that I didn't like but it was about 4 rows back in the cane. Fortunately I was able to pull it apart and replace the few extruded pieces with better ones. Hey, it's why I make the big bucks. (Insert alphabet code here like LOL or :) or OMGTFFW (OK I made that one up))

Happy New Year!

So it's 2011. As I tell my kids...Odd years are always better than even. I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year's eve. Although it appears from my blog that I haven't been doing anything, I have been very busy. I leave tomorrow for Dallas, Tx to teach my face cane class. I am glad it was this weekend instead of last because I think both Charlotte and Dallas got hit with a snow storm. I know it may not seem much to you Northerners (which I was once) but for us Southerners is can be crippling. Everyone runs to the store to buy bread and milk. Whereas I know the two things I can't run out of are toilet paper and diet coke. But I digress...as far as my claying I have been in copy mode. I made a necklace for my daughter-in-law for Christmas that I stole the idea from Carol Blackburn. It was one of her spirally (is that a word?) type. I did write and tell her that I was stealing her idea. As I told her I thought my daughter-in-law would like her art better than mine. She did like it but I forgot to take a picture of it to show you. I have also been channeling Carol Simmons and her kaleidoscope canes. I have pictured several of the disks that I have made from a Carol inspired cane. My plan was to make some pendants for some friends. I got behind. They got nothing. Geesh what kind of friend am I?

I have started work on a new mosaic cane. I am excited about this one. It will be a few weeks before it is done. I am constructing it a little differently so that I will be able to get some slices of it before it gets reduced. I will keep you posted.

I also have pictured a collaborative piece that I worked on with Hollie Mion. Sorry it's not a better picture. I was too lazy to pull out the lights. I gave her some of my da Vinci cane and she mounted it in silver. I love the way it turned out. I am hoping to get into silver work. The silver clay kind because Santa brought me a kiln for Christmas. As I tell my children when they see all their loot under the Christmas tree, "I (They) must have been better than I remember this year!"

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. I will try to be better this year.