Craft Therapy

And now onto Polyclay Jewelry!

I'm teaching my first class at Grand River Beads at the Silverthorne Gallery in Rocky River. It'll be on Friday, September 28th, from 6-9 PM. The cost is $38.00-- and I'm supplying the clay, mica powders, stamps, and all tools necessary. You may bring some extra beads to finish off your necklace, or pick from the beautiful selection they have there. I'm so excited! This will be my first "formal" (not really) class- and The Gals at the Silverthorne Gallery are fabulous.  More pics to come..... all of my samples are at the store.

My Favorite Things- Castaway pad

We've just completed the rainbow swap of 6" quiltie pages for CPS, and I've gotten quite a few queries on "how did you DO that?" So, let me introduce you to the Castaway pad. Another Jacquard product (no affiliation, but I love those folks), it was designed to work as a discharge pad for paper. Instead of working with bleach to lift color, you have a stamp pad instead. It's non-toxic, non-smelly, and it's a lot like using a Versamark pad. The "ink" is clear, and leaves a watermark effect on the paper (or fabric.) Once it's dried- usually 3-5 minutes, you hit it with a hot iron the the color lifts.

As with any technique of this sort, it requires some experimentation. My first "draft" of my pages (which can be viewed in the mini-quilt photo album) was using a Batik fabric in a pinky-purple, and it lifted beautifully. However, I only had enough to make 5 - but I needed to make 8. I ran out the JoAnn's to pick up more fabric- their version of a Bali- but alas, not all Batiks are created equally. NONE of them lifted the dye. So I had to make a special trip to Janie's Sewing Corner to pick up the "real deal"- Hoffman Batiks- and voila! Great results.  Of course.... um.... it works on paper, too.....*Grin!*

Favorite Things- Twinkling H2O's

Cue the music... more favorite things! We were having a discussion about Angelina Fibers on the CraftTherapy yahoo group, and I mentioned one of my favorite things- Twinkling H2O's from Luminart. One of our members had never heard of them, so I thought it was worth a mention. So, what are they? They are pots of watercolor paint, sold individually or in sets, and they have the most magnificent shimmer to them. Not quite metallic-y, they are iridescent  and shiny and sparkle like Pearl-Ex. The fun thing is that they are potent and a little goes a long way, and come in lots of colors, from pastel to jewel tones.  You can use them just like watercolors, with a brush, but I prefer a water brush. Here are some of the ways I've used them so far:

* As a background. Use broad washes for a sparkly background... intense or subtle.

* To watercolor rubber-stamped pieces. If you stamp with a non-water based pad, like Ancient Page, you can color in the images with your Twinkling H20's. Don't even THINK of making fairie or dragonfly images without them! Or, they can be applied the same way to heat-stamped Angelina Fibers... and they color marvelously. You'll find examples of this in the Postcard photo album; both the Flower Fairie and the Spring Crocus fabric postcards are colored with them.)

* As a pigment for rubber stamping. (Direct to Rubber) Actually brush on the color ON the stamp, then make the impression on your paper... it looks just like an original.

OK, so there are probably 100 other ways, but this is what I've done so far. I can't imagine my studio without them. Click on some of the links for more info, step-by-steps, and inspiration!

Fun Site o' the Day

I just found this site via Sue B. (an awesome fiber arts artist, check out her "Threads" link at left) and my heart is happy! Sassy Art Goddess has works for sale, kits, an online journal, and a cafe press store. Personally, I think we should all have an Art Goddess tee-shirt... or at least a "Shut Up and Make Art" pin. There is so much eye-candy on this site, you will want to immediately make an Sassy Art Goddess doll of your own... (I feel a weekend Zen coming on!) Enjoy!

Favorite Things- Glaze Pens!

Cue the music! Here's another of my favorite, gotta-be-on-my-studio-table-must-haves: Glaze Pens by Sakura. They write like traditional Gelly Roll pens, but the major breakthrough is that the color stays wet-looking and slightly raised. (Hence: Glaze!) They are marvelous in coloring in those frame-type stickers (Like Magenta Peel-offs) and you get a great stained-glass effect. Or, like in my Zetti project, you and just add dimension and highlights.. and the images literally jump off the page at you. So much drama in one little pen. Well worth the coin.

Favorite things, part one...Pinata Inks

Cue the "Sound of Music" soundtrack! There are just some products/books/techniques out there that I love so much- or use so often- that I have to share them. So my first "Fav" is Pinata inks, which I referenced earlier.  Made by Jacquard, they are a solvent-based ink. (Another brand is Pantone, but I don't like them as well...)

Why are they so fabulous? Well, first of all, the colors are VIBRANT and we love that. Secondly, they are potant, and one drop goes a long way (which makes it a great deal, and we love that.) And thirdly, they work on non-porous surfaces, like glass, leather, plastic (i.e, shrinky dinks), vellum, and metal and WE LOVE THAT!!! They come in a little dropper bottle, usually for 4 bucks are so. But like I said, a little goes a long way.

The way I like to use them is to take one of your kid's wooden blocks (or hit a garage sale) and attach the "hook" part of hook and loop tape. Then cut a small swath of cotten batting and stick it on the hook tape. Dab a color, or two, or three... and you're set. It is glorious on glossy cardstock, where you can "smoosh" the inks around, blending them a little. (NOTE: not so good on non-coated papers, which just absorb the inks too quickly.) You can also just drop the colors onto the glossy papers, or vellum or transparancies, and then smoosh them around w/ the blending block. Add a little Krylon leafing pen, now you're making granite textures... yum... This is the best stuff to use on plastics, and I highly recommend buying the starter pack. You can thin/extend them with rubbing alcohol- also useful for clean-up, but they lose a bit of the gloss. The "claro" extender keeps the inks vibrant and shiny. Ok, enough gushing... but they are wonderful treat yourself to a few, and let me know what you did with them.

Why not?

I really enjoy my CPS yahoo group. Got me thinking- why not start one? (!) What I hope to do is to promote crafting for personal meaning....as a therapeutic outlet for one's self. And I know that others out there feel the same way. So! I started a yahoo group today, "Craft Therapy" at yahoo groups. All you have to do is sign up, and we can begin our show and tell!  I still have the first piece of art I made that went beyond basic "crafting." A life changing moment, indeed. Got one of those? Join the group....I can't wait to meet you!