New experiments - updates

Remember my previous post about my air-dry clay and candy mold experiments? This pic?

I spent a Sunday afternoon painting the little critters, rubbing on some gilders paste and sealing them. Basically seeing what would work and what wouldn't. Only 3 turned out passably well. I was aiming for 'stunning' but they came out more 'weatherbeaten' than anything else. 

One turned out frankly hideous and will not be photographed - ever. Another is pretty dodgy - I added a layer of Diamond Glaze on top thinking it might improve matters. It didn't. You're not getting a pic of that either. And the last one I quite liked, but then I dropped it and its little paisley tip broke off.....

I'm going to keep on experimenting with the clay and molds. Hopefully, I'll have nicer stuff to show the next time.

Bead soup has landed......in Malaysia!

Yes, my bead soup package has reached my partner Carmen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Carmen will be blogging about the beads I sent on her blog Little Maketto this weekend, so be sure to check out what she says about them.

But in the meantime, here are some pics of the beads I chose for her. Carmen shared that she has difficulty using pink beads in her designs so of course, I couldn't pass that up. My bead soup to her has lots of pink!

Here's a closer look:

Btw, that resin pendant was one of the very first I made when I started experimenting with resin. It turned out pretty well - no bubbles! no smudges! - and since it's pink, I thought I would add it to the soup just for fun. The real focal of course is that beautiful lampwork glass bead by Susan Farley. I can't wait to see what Carmen does with all that pink! Tune in to both our blogs on Aug 11 when we'll reveal our pieces.

Amazing giveaway by Lori of Pretty Things

The fabulous Ms Lori Anderson - yes, she of Bead Soup Blog Party fame - is having a fantastic giveaway. Actually, she's having FIVE giveaways. How's that for generosity?

You can go here to see what you stand to win. But hurry, you'll have to comment on her blog and on yours by 13 July (today!) to have a shot at the giveaway. Good luck!

Bead Soup's here....Part 2

As promised, here are pics of my bead soup from Carmen. Earlier than expected. Yay!

The beads in their neatly packaged little bags. And a pretty little note card with a glitzy car charm attached (you'll see it up close later). Clearly, Carmen has a very good relationship with all things neat and tidy. She's nice and thoughtful too - see pretty notecard + sachet of sweeties (pic in yesterday's post). 

The beads after I broke them out of their plastic homes and got my dirty little paws on them. Carmen sent me a ton of ingredients. 

The focal:

Which is grey/silver with blobs of blue, pink and maroon-brown. All colours I never work with. And which also has no bead hole (ie. it's a donut). Help!

The clasps; Carmen sent me two - a toggle as well as a box clasp:

Kind, generous person that she is, she also sent bead caps, some butterfly spacer beads, 3 charms, 2 leaf connector components, a length of cable chain and two beautiful heart beads that I am sorely tempted to hoard for myself and not use in my reveal pieces. 

The coordinating beads:

Carmen really mixed things up when it came to materials. Here you have dyed shell teardrop beads, cherry quartz squares and freshwater pearls. And if that weren't enough, she also sent some faux pearls, Korean and Chinese crystals, wonder beads and Czech pressed glass. 

Finally, here's a closeup of that cute car charm she added to her note.

Phew! What a load of pics! Massive thanks to Carmen for sending me such a generous and challenging bead soup. I foresee a fun (but possibly painful) old time ahead of me as I try to figure out what to create from her varied ingredients. Those of you playing in the BSBP, I hope you get your bead soups soon - if you haven't already. Happy creating!

Bead soup's here!

Yes! My bead soup package from Carmen, my BSBP partner, arrived safe and sound this afternoon. As you can see, apart from the beads - no, she didn't send Swarovskis; Carmen's eco-conscious and uses recycled packaging, which I think is fantastic - she sent me.....candy!

A whole sachet of marshmallows and sour gummies that turn out nice and sweet after the initial face-grimacing sourness. Thanks Carmen! The candy will come in handy when I try to figure out what to do with your bead soup. Sweets always help me to think :-).

From the pic above, you can see that Carmen has been most generous with her bead soup. The 2 bags were stuffed full of beads and charms and other good things. I love the little card she sent, along with the tiny sparkly charm that was attached to it. And I have to say I was most impressed by the neatness of her penmanship. I just hope she's able to read what I wrote on her package; my handwriting is admittedly atrocious. I knew I should have been neater. 


As for the actual beads themselves, well, you'll have to wait. I want to photograph them in natural light to do them justice. Which means you'll get to see them tomorrow at the earliest - or more probably, at the weekend when I'll have more time to take pics. So check back soon to see what Carmen sent me!

Signed, sealed, delivered

Well, more like sealed and mailed. Yup, I finally sent off my bead soup package to my BSBP partner. Phew! I was a couple of days late, but I got it done in the end. 


I'm hoping the package will reach my partner, Carmen Lau, in a few days, since she lives just 5 hours or so away up north in Malaysia. You can find Carmen at her blog/blogshop Little Maketto where she sells the cutest girly accessories. 


Carmen shared that she usually works with ready-made chain, metal charms and simple wirework. Hey, kinda like me! She also said that she usually gravitates towards colours like white, black, blue and red. So I took all that into consideration and spent a happy weekend putting together a bead soup that would (hopefully) challenge her.


I hope she likes the choices I made. Below is a teaser pic of what I eventually sent her. 

New experiments

Paisley-shaped pendants made from air-dry clay using a candy mold. And one little hand-shaped polka-dotted heart. I had to pry the pendants out of the mold so they're all a little wonky at the top near the hole. I have to figure out a way to get them out of the mold without denting/tearing up the clay. If I let them dry in the mold, would they pop out easier? I know they shrink a little when they cure but I have nightmares of them being bonded to the mold. That happened to the resin I poured into a few of the molds. I didn't think I'd need to use mold release and happily poured resin into 5 of the little paisley molds only to find out a day later that the resin was now part of the mold. Sigh...