Sneak Peek and the Gifted Hand Show

I've been furiously working to make a few new things for the Gifted Hand Show,which is tomorrow and Saturday at the Ramada Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn) in Ellsworth.  Click here for more information on the show.


Here's a sneak peak.  I've made some new designs as well as a few of my most popular pieces.  Some of them go quite fast at shows, so be sure to get there early if there's something you might be interested in. 

I will also be doing something slightly different for some of my pendants.  They will be available to purchase separately from chains for those who have their own necklaces.  There will also be a selection of sterling silver chains and rubber and leather cords for purchase with the pendants.

Hope to see you there!

Gratitude

 

Gratitude Wood Letters by Such Simple Gems

I have something I really need to say... Thank you!

Who am I thanking?  You.  If you are reading this, I'm thanking YOU!  Why?  Well, because you are reading this.  You're either reading it because you follow my blog or you are a Facebook fan and for both of those things, I want to thank you.  I do keep an eye on the numbers of followers I have both here and on Facebook and both those numbers have been steadily increasing.  Thanks to a good friend who shared my Facebook page with tons of people, I have a whole boatload of fans on my Facebook page.  I thought it would reach a point where the numbers would stay steady, but they have continued to slowly climb.

I have fewer followers of my blog, but still many more than I ever imagined I would have.  And I appreciate each and every one of you.  Some of you I know through my Etsy teams:  the Etsy Maine Team and the Metal Clay Heads Team, while others I don't know at all.  I'm not sure how you found me or what your reasons are for following  my blog (or fanning me on Facebook) but I want you to know that I certainly am grateful.

And I would like to hear from you.  What would you like to see on my blog and on my Facebook page?  I try not to overdo the spammy sort of things, and try to post things that will either be informative or entertaining to you.  When I try a new technique, I like to let you all know of it, but are there other things you would like to see?  On my Facebook page, I try to limit my postings to things metal clay or jewelry related and any new items I list on my Etsy shop.  Would you like to see more?  Or maybe less?

I am truly interested in your opinions and value each and every one.  Please feel free to post suggestions and opinions in the comments section on my blog or Facebook page, or you can email me if you prefer:  info@willowandme.com.

I wish there was a way to thank each of you separately, but I respect people's privacy and don't want to spam you so I thought this might be a better way to do so.

Appreciation Cards by Little Gracie Cards

Finally!

That's "Finally!" for two reasons: Finally, I am updating my blog because FINALLY I had a bronze clay firing that actually went right. Prior to this, I've done two batches, with a total of four pieces and only one actually came out useable. One over-fired and melted and the other two cracked and are unfixable. So it was with fingers crossed but without high hopes that I put this last batch in.

I should say that I'm using the new "Fast Fire" BronzClay.  You can read about my first attempts at using it here.  I have not used the original BronzClay so I can't compare the two.

So what did I do differently in this firing to make it successful?  Absolutely nothing that I can tell.  I think it was just luck or happenstance.  Other than that the only difference was size and shape of the pieces.  The larger pieces were completely flat and the other pieces were quite small.  I made some plaques that are to be Christmas Tree ornaments.

And here is a photo of a couple that I have finished.  The round plaques are about 1 3/4 inches in diameter.

I also made some bells.  Ever since I went to Haystack this past summer, I was inspired by Donna Penoyer's whistles.  I have though it would be really interesting to make my own type of musical instrument and after having read that large bells are generally made from bronze, I thought the bronze clay would be a good medium to try for bells.  My favorite is previewed at the beginning of this post and all are shown below.  They do actually ring and each makes it's own sound, apparently dependent on the size and shape of the bell.   The tallest of these bells is about 1 1/2 inches. These were experiments but I had so much fun making them I would like to make more, maybe even some that could be tiny earrings!

It's great to have a medium that doesn't limit me as to the size of pieces.  PMC is and will always be my favorite, but I can't imagine making large Christmas ornaments out of it - they would have to be so expensive!  I can only hope that my future firings will be this successful because I would love to experiment more.