Mosaic in progress

Everyone has been so nice with the comments about my latest cane. I thought I'd share this picture with you. It's not the greatest photo but you can see the scale of the cane a little better. The piece in the chair is the "dimensional" slice that I made with each row as I completed it. You can see the actual cane on the table to the right of the chair. When you see it in person it is much harder to see the image of the face up close but when you step back from it there it is.

Thanks again for all the nice words.

Success!

Here is the reduced cane. The cane originally was about 7 by 8 inches. With less than 2 inches in depth. The slice on the right is about 2 inches high. I am happy. (I guess I have to go back to unpacking now!) Of course my next obstacle is slicing the booger. I am going to see a friend who has come up with a new slicer. I am going to bring some of my cane in hopes that she needs one to demo on. I'll let you know how it goes.

A Leap of Faith - DaVinci Mosaic

Here is my latest mosaic cane. I am very pleased with the way she came out. I went with a more artistic interpretation with my use of colors. When I was building this cane I had to take a leap of faith that it was coming out right. At first when you just have a few lines it is hard to see the face. I remember when I had about 1/4 of the cane finished I had it sitting on my work table. When I came back to work on it and I turned on the light, from across the room I could see the face clearly. Of course up close it was difficult to see. Fortunately I had faith and kept working. As I said I am very pleased with the way she turned out. Since I had so much trouble with my last mosaic with taking a slice of the full size cane that this time I decided to save it by cutting off each line as I built it and saving it onto a sheet of clay. This resulted in a mosaic made up of uneven bits and pieces. I have included some pictures of this. One you can see from the end how uneven it is. Again from across the room the face is visible. I like the way the pieces are uneven. I hope you do too. I will try to reduce the cane tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I got my fix!

Hooray! I got my fix of clay last night. I unpacked my dream machine and some clay. Unpacked enough boxes so I could set up my table and I got back to work on a new mosaic face cane that I started last May. Boy it felt good. For awhile I could forget the pile of boxes looming all around me.





Registration will begin soon for Clay Fest in Wisconsin this year. I will be teaching there for the first time this year. Jeff Dever is have a pre-conference workshop. I took his class at Cabin Fever last year and it was WONDERFUL! He was wonderful too. Very sharing with all of his techniques and he was also an excellent teacher. If you get a chance I recommend his class. (After you sign up for mine that is) I will be teaching a class I call "Falling for Caning". It will cover my new kaleidoscope technique using fall colors. The Festival takes place Oct 21-24. Go here to read more about it. I hope to see y'all there.

The Move Is Over - But not the work!

OK first I must apologize for the look of my website. Something got screwed up and I can't seem to get the background image back up.

Now on the more non-clay related news, I have moved into the new house. 95% of the boxes ended upstairs in my craft room. That's because that's where they belong. OK 95 is a bit of an exaggeration. If you look at the pics you can see why I NEED 25 ft of heaven. I can't wait to get it unpacked but so far I haven't found my toothbrush yet so there are a "few" higher priorities.

I hope to post soon about teaching at the Fall Clay Fest in Wisconsin this October.

The Price Is Right!

I have a free tutorial posted at Craftedu.com. It is on cane reduction. Go here to learn everything that I know about cane reduction. Ok not everything but a lot! Nothing earth shattering in it but for those new to polymer clay I think it will be helpful. I am still working on my 5 from 1 cane class. In between packing boxes. I can't believe how much s#!t I have accumulated over a mere 28 years. Although I was glad I was a saver when I found a note written by one of my sons when he was little. It said "You are the best Mom I've ever had". Awww! I love that boy. And yes I did keep the note! To Hell with throwing things away!

Come Join Me in Vegas

As you know I am going to be teaching in Vegas this year at the Clay Carnival. Here is the class that I am going to be teaching. I am calling it "Kaleidoscope - the Next Generation". We will "boldly go" where no cane has gone before. I will show you how to make a simple cane and then turn that cane into several other canes. It is similar to my 5 from 1 Cane class that I hope to have up on Craftedu soon. Of course with the time and clay constraints I had to approach it in a different way. You will still end up with several coordinating canes that I think are quite special. So make you plans to come to Vegas Nov 4-7. Registration is now open. Go to ClayCarnival.com for more information. If you have never been to Clay Carnival you don't know what you've been missing. This is the year you should go. If you've been before (and I'm talking to you Rowdy Room) you already know what fun there is. I hope to see y'all there.