Angels

Playing with some jewellery this week in an effort to practice making loops on headpins. I think they are getting better. I have a home for these little Angels to go to. I haven't worn earrings for years, and when I did only ever wore the type with a post and backer because my hair pushes these shepherd style ones out of my ears. I might go and look for an old pair of earrings to see if the piercings are still open.

I've seen the little wing beads in the past and wondered what on earth they would be for. I got this as a little kit and when I opened it up the penny finally dropped. D'oh

Today I made...

Pendants with clay.

I made some of these a while back. I really enjoyed it and now that I have a little time I've made some more.

I have been experimenting with different designs and techniques.

Unfortunately my camera (more accurately Me the operator) can't quite get the colour represented right, the colours look nicer in real life. I really like how most of these turned out... even if some aren't quite right.

Can you see the little chain on the square purple one? I think I can see that one hanging on my temari scissors in the future.

I think my DH is a little frustrated with all the crafting going on in our house lately. He'd prefer I spent my entire day cleaning and cooking treats to eat. So yesterday I did a bit of folding... and now I can see my family room sofa again. I also baked a delicious salmon impossible pie for dinner.

Today I made...

Stamped pendants.*
Remember the Sculpey clay from a few weeks ago? I finally got to play with it last week. Apart from using this type of clay to make handprints of Mr W's hands when he was a baby, I have never clay played.

One thing I realised was it is really (I mean really) hard to get to a workable texture if it is a bit old. I think I may have bruised my palms trying to get it to squish together. Another thing is that it takes longer to bake than you'd think. I had a few misfires along the way.

I have discovered that using a special conditioner helps get the clay back to a more workable texture. I think I'll invest in some for next time. My Mum wants one of these made with a silver butterfly. The blue/white combination makes it looks a bit like a piece of delft pottery.

I am having a bit of fun with these and learning as I go along. I also made some really nice pendants with black butterfly scene (larger) and a deep orange blossom scene (smaller) which I strung together for a friends birthday a few weeks ago. I didn't get a photo but I think they looked really cool.

* Small correction... this post has been sitting as a unfinished draft for a few weeks (since 30/8/11) as I couldn't make time to take the pictures.

Now for something not temari....

I have been mentioning my other pursuits in recent posts so I decided to pop up a couple of pics.  Here is a little icypole soap I made for my son.  He loves icypoles and thinks this one is great even if he can't eat it.  I made 4 altogether this day but only photographed one.  The others have red and orange in them and they all smell like crushed strawberries.

Here are a few pics of the rings I made recently.  The sparkly one is with a 12mm swarovski crystal and the others are made with stones or glass pearls.  Everyone I know really likes them and I keep having them stolen off my finger... even though the photos aren't too fab they look nice in real life.

Like temari, even if you hope to make two identical pieces it never happens.  Each one is 100% unique.

Well hope you like this diversion from temari making as much as I have.  But my next post is going to be about Christmas preparations.... surely that will involve temari?!