Polymer Clay Extruder Class

So I've been working with polymer clay for some time now.  It will be 17 years this June.  I couldn't even start to try to count all the different designs/styles/techniques, because it's an ever-evolving process for me.  Some designs, like Stacker beads, are something I could make until the sun blows up.  But others are fleeting...I may get 5 beads of one design that I can never replicate.  That's one of the things I adore about polymer clay.

One tool that I have always associated with "playing" is the clay extruder.  It's like a large metal syringe that pushes clay through small, different-shaped holes.  It's kind of like the Play-Doh people with the holes on their bald skulls...and you press the dough through and voila'!  Hair!

With the clay extruder, there are many shapes that you can use in cane building or direct application.  The extruders have really helped me when it comes to experimenting and broadening my concepts of how to put the pieces together.  I could line up 10 beads in front of you, none of them would look alike, and they'd all be the result of using an extruder. 

ANYWAY, I'm teaching a class in Cincinnati...the first Extruder class for me...because I want to turn people on to this great tool.  I know I don't use it nearly enough.  Perhaps I'll learn something too!

The class is in the Karen Trimble-Shell Studio at the Brazee Street Studios in Oakley.  Date:  Sunday, April 22.  Time:  noon-4pm
There is a limit of 4 students.

REGISTRATION: Contact me directly via email at ovenfriedbeads@fuse.net. Cost of class is $65 plus $10 supply fee. Payment may be made by check (I will give you my address after you contact me) OR by Paypal to ovenfried@hotmail.com. Students are not officially registered until payment is received by me.  Don't wait until the last minute! Register today!

Final Friday and a FREE PDF

Hey-lo....

After a long, soggy hike yesterday, I'm ready to just chill out in the studio and finish up some projects to have ready for this Friday.  I will be showing my work this Final Friday at the Pendleton Art Center in Cincinnati, which I have done dozens of times.  The only difference is that this time I will be doing a "Best Of..." show that will feature my very very very best work.  Normally I spend a few hours organizing little bowls of loose beads and buttons, but this time I'm sticking to my greatest jewelry I have.  People who visit Final Friday want to see and buy art that will appreciate in value, so that's what I'm going to give them!  Amazing bead embroidery, Stacker jewelry, big chunky colorful necklaces and bracelets, and some framed bead art is what's on the menu.  I will be located in my friend Nancy Gamon's studio on the 4th floor in studio 400-A.  It's a beautiful corner studio.  Nancy is an amazing fiber artist with a very distinct style to her work.  She makes multi-media wall collages, art quilts, altered clothing, scarves made out of all sorts of materials, and even some great fabric-wrapped furniture!  Come visit to buy or just look and chat.  6pm-10pm on Friday, March 30.  Click on the Pendleton's link above for directions if you've never been there and would like to go.  It's a really amazing building with even more amazing artists!

ALSO, now through April 7 I am offering a great deal on Etsy.  I will include a FREE Stacker bead tutorial PDF with any purchase over $50.  I will email it to you upon receipt of payment, and will then mail the loot you purchased.  You won't have to enter any promo codes or tell me you want it...it will be automatically sent.  One of the greatest things about making Stacker beads is that you DON'T need a pasta machine, clay extruder, or any fancy tool to make them.  All you need is a blade and your hands.  This is a great project for those who want to make awesome-looking beads but not invest in a ton of "bells and whistles".  Not interested in buying any other items from my shop?  No problem...the PDF is available for $16.

Unemployed, but working like mad!

So as of today, I have not gone to a job in 7-1/2 weeks.  There is a job on the near horizon, but it's still in development and won't probably suck me in as a real, regular employee for about 3-4 more weeks.  I didn't expect this to last so long...as with any renovations on an old building, you run into unexpected delays. 
This time off, which in my working career is totally unprecedented, has given me a chance to really dive into my art...specifically Bead Embroidery.  I've completed some complex bead embroidered pieces, started making buttons again, and have started using my loose polymer beads (normally set aside for shows) in finished jewelry.

My two recent favorite items have been brooches from my "Space Nugget" series I just started.  While claying with a friend, I started poking these little scrap balls of clay.  Then they turned into cabochons.  These are just so much fun to make, and I can use my favorite color pallettes.  I haven't started a third yet, but I can say that the picture to the left sold within a week.  The bottom one is in my Etsy store for $55.

I also finished a collaborative piece that my friend Heather and I worked on.  She hand-sculpts and builds wonderful characters and the small worlds they live in.  For a short time she created larger faces...still all hand-sculpted and painted.  She gives them to me and I mount and embroider beads around them.

At Halloween last year, she gave me some straight-up white skulls. One large and 3 small ones. Instead of making a few brooches like the others, I made a large flat piece and attached a 2-strand necklace.  It's pretty wicked.  It's my last BIG piece to finish, so now I have to start something else.  Don't ask me how many hours it took to make this, because I don't keep track.  It's $155.....and if you are REALLY interested in it (or anything in my store for that matter)....enter the promocode BLOG15 to get 15% off your order, which expires March 31.  Only readers of this blog will get this promo code.  In the meantime, I'm going to go get busy!  Thanks for checking this stuff out!

HALF OFF everything in my Etsy store

Hello Fans...

Surely this Over-the-Rhine piece, now framed,
has to be worth $98 to SOMEONE who loves
the neighborhood!  Come on, buy this!!  :)

I'm going to be honest with you ...  I'm halfway between jobs in the middle of 2 months of being unemployed, and I need money for April rent.  Everything in my Etsy store is 50% off.  That includes the Stacker Bead Tutorials, bead embroidery and Stacker jewelry. 

This not working thing is driving me crazy.  I can't wait til the new jobs starts up.  I'll be working for a new fine fabric/yarn shop in College Hill in Cincinnati.  Can't wait to get back into the creative retail community again!  Until then, it's Etsy sales and babysitting.

What's up?! Been a while.

Sheesh, it seemed like for months the "publish post" button couldn't get touched by my curser. I wanted to update the grand public with all the shows, classes, sales, and new items, but just couldn't! No matter what!

Well it works now.

So here's what's going on:

Saturday, March 24 I'm going to teach a 4 hour class (10am-2pm) on the basics of polymer clay beadmaking. We'll dabble in some fun techniques...students will get to use a pasta machine to flatten sheets. I'll bring all sorts of doo-dads and such. It's going to be in the Karen Trimble-Shell Studio at Brazee Street Studios in Oakley, Cincinnati, Ohio.  If you are interested in taking the class, email me so we can set up payment arrangements.  The class is $65 (due by March 22) and there's a $10 supply fee due day of class.  You have to pay me directly, not register through Brazee. 

On Etsy, I posted a monster of a beaded necklace that kind of took me by surprise. I joined the Etsy Bead Embroidery Guild a couple of weeks ago and was prompted to challenge myself with their Bead Fest theme: Filigree. The picture of the piece is up there near the top...if you are interested in seeing more, go straight to the Etsy page for it.

On Friday, March 30th I'm going to set up for Final Friday at the Pendleton Art Center in Cincinnati on the 4th floor in my friend Nancy Gamon's studio (400-b). Last month was pretty amazing....had an impromptu buy-one-get-one-free on the earrings and sold a lot.  A couple hundred artists have studios open once a month. Pretty sweet. I'm going to have the sale again.
If you would like to know more about sudden Etsy sales, classes, new work and whatnot, please "Like" my Ovenfried Beads page on Facebook. I'm pretty unpredictable and will often toss out some unbeatable deals or great announcements.

Thanks for coming back!

Other People's Stacker Beads.....Part 6

(Note: There is an issue with some formatting today, so I cannot present direct links through my text or make the end of it look particularly easy-to-read. Just check out my Etsy shop, which is listed on the sidebar, if you want to get a tutorial of your own.)

So my Stacker Tutorials have been selling like crazy, but I've been getting very few responses as far as follow-up photos by buyers. I suppose some folks just don't want to send pix for whatever reason and that's okay. Some may be taking their time to perfect it before they send them, and that's fine.

Well last week I received photos from a buyer who had received the tutorial less than a week prior. I thought I was looking at my own Stacker beads! I looked at them and marveled at how well she fine-tuned the technique in such a short amount of time.


This "she" I'm talking about is Marty McGraw, of Indiana. She says, "I sell my finished jewelry at Of Switzerland County in Vevay, Indiana (www.vevayin.com), The Artisan Gallery in Madison, IN, Shoppe on Main in Warsaw, KY, Arts-a-Poppin' in Indianapolis, and The Enchanted Sleigh in Centerville, IN. I used to have an Etsy shop, but it's currently not open. I don't have a very impressive web presence!" She may not have much of a web presence, but she does get her stuff OUT THERE where people can touch and feel and see it in person.

There are a couple of things that she demonstrates in the photos that is something I point out in Step 3. If you switch around the order of the 5 colors that you choose, you will get different beads. She also had some great feedback about some other steps. If you don't have the tutorial, these steps will mean nothing, but if you decide to get it, refer back to this.

~ In step 6, pretend the stripes in the ball are going from left to right, 90 degrees compared to the picture in step 5. That is the position that you will roll the ball so that you get the great long striped cone in Step 7.

~ After you cut and created 2 stacker beads, go back and continue step 6-8 with the remaining fat end of the cone. You will get more stacker beads that way. Any small scraps can be rolled into tiny balls to complement the rest, as Marty demonstrated in the second photo.

Thank you VERY much Marty for sending me your pictures and feedback! (And for the excellent feedback! I hope to edit the directions once my current stack of printed tutorials is sold out)

Right now my tutorial is on sale....as of posting this blog, I have 6 left at 20% off!

Beaded Boombox with a New Friend

This first photo is a picture of Kathy Brannigan. She is an artist from Visionaries and Voices, an art studio in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio that provides a place for adults with disabilities to create and sell their original art.

Kathy is one of many artists who are being paired up with established artists of many mediums who are creating collaborative pieces of art to be auctioned at a gallery fundraiser on April 23. She is holding the finished piece that we made. I took one of her existing drawings, copied it exactly onto some heavy interfacing, then embroidered it with colored seed beads. I worked on it between 45 minutes-3 hours per day for 3 weeks.

This second photos is a picture of me and Kathy, taken about 2 weeks ago during a followup visit. I sat and embroidered the piece while she worked on other art.

Here is the first photo I took of the beading process. The boombox on the left is a photocopy of her original drawing. You can see on the piece on the right that I got about 2 beads on there.

This photo shows where I beaded the main outline. There are also some long waves of white beads on the white interfacing, which is kind of tough to see in this picture. I beaded the entire white background before I was going to start ANY color in the picture itself. I thought it would never end.

Here you can see where I started the red. She wanted the segments to be solid colors. I used small shiny dark red seed beads and shiny bugle beads in a broad horizontal stripe pattern. She was able to be confident that metallic corners would be nice, but I had to move forward on color selection due to some schedule conflicts. I always thought, "What would Kathy want?"

I did a LOT of beading between pictures. In this photo you can see the stripes in the red sections, the metallics in the upper corners, and the green center area and the handle. Notice how the antenna stops at the top.....it didn't stop there!

Here is the gold!

And here is the finished piece. I filled in the very round center with metallic silver and grey beads inside a blue-violet square. The antenna popped right out of the top and extended beyond the 6"x6" limit I imposed. It will be professionally framed.

Today (March 10) I dropped it off and was surprised at the small twinge of sadness I felt. It was so great to get to know Kathy during our visits and become intimately familiar with this drawing of hers. While she thanked me over and over for beading it, I had to thank her for drawing it. I plan on visiting her and hopefully doing some more collaborative work with her. Her drawings speak to me, so translating them into beadwork is a cinch.

I really hope to be invited to do this again. With the success of the piece combined with the new friendship with Kathy, I'm sure this won't be the last time! Thank you V+V (Nick, specifically) for inviting me to do this.

If you would like to purchase this piece, attend the Double Vision gala in April and be the highest bidder!