The Saga of Moebalone

As you have seen, I have been on a faux kick lately.  So... I am telling my pal Chris that the next faux thing is going to be abalone.  She knows the trauma I went through trying to make faux amber.  You know... the stuff I wound up calling "Moestones" because they didn't look anything like amber but were cool anyway?  So, Chris sweetly says to me, "Why don't you call it Moebalone?"  Is this because she KNOWS I am full of baloney?  The vegetarian variety, naturally. Or is this because she knows it will look nothing like the real stuff but will be fun anyway?  So, I start thinking about it.

Moebalone.  I like it.  It sounds like Italian candy.  Then I REALLY started thinking about it! Yikes......

"Did you hear that Mrs. Lottaclay had to have her moebalone removed?  No? OMG!  She was in the hospital for 12 days!  And that insurance company only paid 1/87 of her cost!  My Aunt Farbelucent (good old Auntie Farbie) had HER moebalone removed and she's just never been the same!"  or....

"Just because you are my boss does not mean you have to threaten me with your moebalone every time I am 6 seconds late!  Haven't you ever heard of employee harassment?"  or.....

"OMG!  Did you guys see the latest MUST HAVE tool?  It's a MOEBALONE!  My aunt Polymer has one and she just loves it!  Never minds that it costs several hundred dollars.  You just gotta get one!"  

And speaking of Moe.  Here's another fun thing that happened.  Brian and I were driving the other day and I see this bumper sticker that says, MOE.  Ok, I like this.  I have been Moe for more decades than I care to think about.  How NICE that some guy makes bumper stickers for me.  :D  The I get home to find an email from my pal Anita who sends me 3 links to MOE. There is actually someone out there using my name!  OIKS!  The horror of it all!

But, methinks, this is ok.  He is doing my advertising for me.  He plays music (I think) and I clay.  No problems.  Now, I look at his site and see he has t-shirts for sale.  They say, "M is for MOE."  Hah, I think... you betcha, Brother!  Maybe I will send him a thank you note.  :D

Even More Goodies!

And here are some more things I have been making.  The turquoise and coral came out really well, methinks.  I am happy.  I used sterling and wire wrapped the turquoise.  I also put a leaf texture on the turquoise but I don't think it showed up too well in the pictures.  

The spoon is half of a salad set I had in a drawer for ages. For some reason a piece of clay just kind of fell off after curing so I pretended it was drywall and plastered it!  :)  I used clay for those of you who are twitching thinking I used dry wall paste.  When I get brave I will do the fork to match.  Ok, so it won't match.  It'll go with the spoon.  Howz that?

And the orange necklace is most likely going to wind up in my drawer.  I love orange.  I'm having approach/avoidance with this necklace.  I want to put it on Etsy but I also want to keep it.  SUCH a dilemma!  

Some New Goodies

Lately I have been caught up in making faux stones.  I was trying amber.  Because the beads were so big, I was unable to get that honey translucent look.  So, mine came to be called, "Moestones". This turned out to be a good thing.  I was knotting them the other day and one of my massage clients said she wanted to buy the necklace as soon as it was done.  Yay!    What do you think?  Do you like the knotting with the big beads?  

More On Name Calling

My cousin Ian's fertile brain is at it again!  Today he came up with "farbelucent" from the German "farbe" meaning "color" and "lucent" meaning "bright".  It's a great word and the FIMO people will love it.  Might be too hard to say, though.  Then he came up with "polylucent".  This is good, no?  It would be really nice to have something to cll clay that sounds better than "polymer".  I like "Artist Clay".  If we are not naming a new product, is there any problem with calling it that? I know it is close to Art Clay but we are not going to do anything but refer to all polymer clay, right?  As Art Clay is the silver clay, it's not polymer, is it?  Maybe I need to go to law school.  

A New Piggy Bank

My friend sent me this cute little ceramic piggy bank.  So, I decided to cover it with cane slices.  It came out really nice so I hope you'll go look at it on my Etsy shop.  The pictures are just too big to post here.  

Also, I am really interested in what make people read blogs.  What brought you here and why do you read other blogs?  Do you post on blogs or just read what they have to say?  What interests you?  I know I will go read a friend's or one that's talking about clay but I've always wondered what brings people to a stranger's blog.  Any suggestions and comments will be vastly appreciated!

Wednesday Musings

The first thing I have to says is... What's the matter, Kathi!  You didn't like being a dragong? SOOO hard to please this girl!  :D 

Today I was setting about covering this adorable little ceramic pig that my friend gave me.  So, I go into my cane stash and find that one of my favorite canes has this black stuff all over it.  BecauseI live in Hawaii the first thought is, " YUCK!  Spors, mold and fungus."  Ick.  So, I pulled it out and looked.  I was SO sure green crud would be growing all over.  But, it was an intelligence crisis!  

I had purchased some canes for the fabulous canemaker Sue Castle.  Sue wrote on the bubble wrap with a black marker.  So, I rewrapped my cane in that bubble wrap but didn't pay any attention to the marker.  It very nicely transferred itself onto my beautiful cane.  We are NOT amused!  If only the transfers we want to happen were so easy!  

More Names For Clay

Another fun thing happened today.  I was chatting with my cousin in Houston.  He said that he, too, thought of plastic when he hears the word "polymer".  Ian suggested "Brilliant Clay" or "Smart Clay".  Or even better, IMO, "Clay Brilliant".  Is this guy terrific, or what!  I love that name!  What do YOU think?  Chime in here, ok?  The more thoughts, the better.  And let's hear it for my cousin Ian!  YAY, IAN!  ::::::Hands are clapping and smooches are bestowed::::::

The Goodies of Clay Pals

This afternoon I received my order from Gingerbell's Gifts.  (go look at her site, ok?)  Now, this Ginger!  She is SOOOO talented.  Sigh..... Lately Ginger has been making creams and soaps instead of or in addition to clay things.  So,  good friend that I am, I bought some.  WOW!  Great stuff!  The other day I got sunburned on the tops of my shoulders.  I have been putting Ginger's cream on and not a peel in sight!  I can't remember that ever happening!  Over the years we have all tried all the remedies.  Sunburned skin always peels, right?  Ok, I just checked... no peeling! Not only does her stuff work great but it smells wonderful.

A couple days ago I opened a new soap and threw away the packaging.  A couple hours later I walked into the kitchen and thought, "wow, what is that wonderful smell?"  I finally realized it was the soap wrapping!  WTG, GF!  She can open a store and sell soap wrapping!  :D

A Really Cool Site

A few days ago I ordered some textures from Victoria James Art.  They came today.  I want you all to know that they are just wonderful!  Beautiful, unusual textures in this nice soft pliable silicon stuff.  They are a good size and beautifully done.  I think Victoria makes them all herself.  VERY nice!  So, I recommend that you go look at her site.  It's www.victoriajamesart.com.  I can't wait to make some great stuff with all my nice new textures!

More On The Name of Clay

There are good thoughts in these responses.  Thanks you for posting!  I'm thinking just "it's clay" might be the answer.  I agree totally with the low firing clay suggestion, tho.  Hmmmmm.  I like just saying it's clay.  Of course, the next question will be, "Ceramic?" So, next time someone asks me I will try both of these suggestions and see what reaction I get.  And let you know!  

It's funny how words can make such a difference.... or not.  When I have craft fairs at our home, I get lots of people, many of whom want to know what my creations are made of.  Most don't seem to care.  But, I have noticed that the few who did turn up noses at the words, "polymer clay", went ahead and bought stuff anyhow.  Maybe we can just tell them it's solid gold and we painted it!  :D

Another Musing

The other day a client of mine made the comment that he thought clay artists would sell more if we didn't have to call it, "Polymer clay".  He said when he hears the word "polymer", he thinks, "plastic".  And, he is correct.  That's basically what polymer is.

The more I thought about it, the more I think he's on to something.  Joe said that to him, the words, "polymer clay", sounded less than elegant.  We are all so used to it, it's doubtful that we even think about it.  I sure don't.  But, it did make sense... what Joe was saying. Personally, I don't see what else we could call it, though. 

Now, I know the arguments for... so what! It's the end result. And that is certainly valid.  And... WE know that.  But, do people who don't know what clay is and can do, think "plastic", too? Any thoughts, friends?

Muses and Stuff

The wonderful and extremely talented Naama had a post on her blog about muses and what inspires people.  That's a super question.  Lots of people can say, "well, this thing happened and I never looked back..."  or something close to that.  In actuality, I have NO idea what inspired me. 

When I sit at my clay table, whatever happens, happens.  It's a rare thing that I decide I want to make a particular thing then sit down to make it.  The only time I've done that recently is with the faux things.  I had been reading about them and thought I'd like to make some.  So, I did.

What do YOU do?  Just whatever happens or do you sit down with a plan in mind?

I have to ask Naama is she wants to trade links.  That woman is SOOO talented.  She lives in Israel.  I wish she were closer.  She's a person I would love to get to know!  But, if you have time... go look at her stuff on PCC!

Some New Goodies

I have been slaving at my clay table.  And I finally finished my faux amber necklace!  And my Asian Collection.  Yay!  I hope you'll all go and check out the new creations I have just listed in my Etsy store!  And feel free to tell my what you think.  Thanks!

Life With Brian

It's Friday night and I am happily knotting some cord for the faux amber I made.... minding my own business... happy as the proverbial clam.  Then I make the grave error of walking into the room where the DH is watching TV.  We had the following conversation:

Me: Is that new kitty litter we bought more or less expensive than our regular one?

He: More

Me: More? Why do you suppose that is?

He:  Death Star

Me:  WHAT?!  Death Star?????

He: You asked why it's more expensive.  It's the remnants of Alderon.

Is this guy a keeper, or what?  :D

Sucess!

Here are the rest of my various colors of mokume gane.  I can not BELIEVE I didn't see the cat hair in the picture with the heart.  Hence the name Hair Heart.  I think their hair just floats around until I need to take a picture, then it lands conveniently in the photo.  :)

I Never Give Up!

Here I am trying again.... well, it let me do these three then died.  Better than none, though!

Second Try

Ok, here I am again.  I will try this again.  Ginger told me to reboot so...drrrrrummmmmroolllllll!

Nope, it's a bust.  After several attempts I finally got a message that there was internal trouble... do they mean THEM or me?  And there is a message "Could not contact blogger.com."  Gee.  Me, either.  :-(  Ok, one more try....  Bah....

The Mokume Gane

YeeeHah!  The MG came out great, methinks.  Take a look and tell me what you think, ok?  I used trans and white.  A little glitter on the trans then dabs of LuminArte powders.  I then layered those now colorful trans pieces with white and did the MG thing.  It looks really nice with the powders.  This is a new thing as I have always used just clay and foils and stuff.  Did any of you use powders?  And how did you like it?  You could probably use PearlEx, too.   Some of the pieces are layered over trans and some are over some coral colored clay.  What fun to just mess around and see what happens!

Hmmm, apparently there is some problem.  It keeps giving me a notice that they can't perform my request ( which is to post my photos) and says to report it but there doesn't seem to be anyplace to report it TO!  

A Fun Thing

Well, I have discovered a fun thing.   Quite some time ago, my pal Stormy, sent me her sleeve.  How cool is that?  :)  One sleeve.  What a girl!  She sent it to me so I could make a buffer for my handy Dremel.  I did this thing.  It was a mess.  I buffed and it looked.... ok.  Just ok.  So, I said, "Self?  WHAT is everyone raving about?"  Self had no clue.  Then Chris took pity on me and sent me a buffer that she painstakingly sewed.  It even has little blood spots to show her devotion.  (NOT!)  I tried it.  It was.... ok.  Self was NOT amused.  There MUST be something to all this buffing self cried!  I mean, I have this GORGEOUS pin from Seana.  All buffed and glossy.  

So, I says,"Self, listen up.  We are going to buff our little hearts out."  I got down on my hands and knees on my floor, trusty Dremel in hand and resolved not to get up until I had GLOSS!  I had just made some exceedingly cool mokume gane beads.  You will get to see them tomorrow. Anyway, I buffed and buffed.  I kept buffing and lo and behold!  What did I see but GLOSS!  Oiks!  It worked!  I am a happy girl.  Not only do I have wonderful MG but now I have wonderful glossy MG.  This could easily put the Fimo corporation out of business!  The saga continues tomorrow!

A Correction

Well, it appears that I have made an error.  Can you imagine that?  I was under the impression that Blogspot was affiliated with Etsy.  I was wrong.  So, under my Thanks! I was saying thanks to the wrong company.  Blogspot, I apologize and can only plead temporary insanity.  To Blogspot I say mahalo nui loa!  Thank you very much.  Whrew, I feel better now.  When Chris told me I had screwed up I was afraid of the Blogspot knock on my door!  :-D

The Pendants!

Well, some of them.  This has been hours of messing around trying to find the right sizes and all.  And every time I tried to X out of a window, I managed to X out of everything and had to start over.  Yikes!

The Almost Pendants

Well, here it is, day two of my blogging.  Are we having fun yet?  :D

I was going to tell you all about my fun new pendants I have been making but I realized they are no fun if you can't see them.  SUCH a great brain I have!  So, I will go take pictures then maybe tomorrow I can brag.  I know you are waiting with bated breath!  See you tomorrow!

On Saying Thank You

Often times others help us through situations we can't handle. And we often forget to give them a heartfelt, THANK YOU!!  So, I'd like to take this opportunity to be squishy and huggy.

Now, I can't handle techno stuff.  Stop laughing!  If it is more than emailing, I am in BIG fat trouble.  But, lucky girl that I am, some great and wonderful and terrific folks have showed up more than willing to help.  

The first person who comes to mind is the world famous Kathi Gose, AKA, www.dragonsglass.com.  Poor Kathi has spent untold hours leading me step by step through the tortuous maze of computer things.  Did I mention that I am the computer doof of the universe? So... here's to you, Kathi!  Wine is raised, hugs are bestowed and thank yous are all over the place!

Next is my hanai sister Chris.  Hanai is the Hawaiian word for "adopted".  Chris lives in not-so-sunny Scotland.  She, too, has spent hours getting gray hair helping me understand the ins and outs of computer things.  Poor baby.  She's mostly failed as I STILL don't understand but I can follow directions. :D  So.... here's to YOU, Sis!  Wine is raised, smooches are bestowed and thank yous and mercis are all over the place!  (Chris speaks French, among other languages).  

There are a bunch of others, too.  So, to all you Polymer Clay Forum pals... you're all the best!

And so is Etsy for giving us the opportunity to have blogs.

Ok, enough.  Wasn't this fun?