Serendipity

I got an email from a new customer a few days ago.  She had found a picture somewhere on the web of a soap dispenser I had made for a PCAGOE challenge which I had named the "Make Mine Blue" soap dispenser.  I had not listed the soap dispenser in my Etsy shop because someone saw it at my Flickr site and purchased it before I had the chance to get it listed.  The new customer is redecorating her bath and wanted to know if I could make a soap dispenser in a design similar to the challenge entry.  She loved the colors and the design. 

I, of course, responded that I would be delighted to make another soap dispenser.   The first picture is the original dispenser.


I did not have another dispenser in exactly the same shape but sent my customer pictures of three styles so she could select the one she liked best.  The second dispenser is tapered so that it is smaller at the bottom and has a silvertone dispenser.  But I think beyond those minor factors, I was able to recreate the Make Mine Blue soap dispenser that I made for the PCAGOE challenge.  What do ya'll think?  Close enough?  So much of what I do is one of a kind that it is really a challenge to do a repeat.  I think I'll call this one Serendipity!

Introducing the Finger Painted Mosaic tutorial

I have a tremendous admiration and respect for the people who write tutorials on a regular basis.  It sounds easy enough.  Right?  As many tiles as I've made and mosaics I've put together you would think it would be a fairly simple process.  Right!  Wrong!!!

What I have found out is that it takes a lot of patience to make it happen.  It's been an interesting process of writing and taking pictures and pulling it all together.  I have to remember that people who purchase my tutorial may be anywhere between beginner and expert and that I need to have content that will meet the needs of clayers of all experience levels.

I'm also trying out a new feature that Etsy has for tutorials... an instant download feature.  Supposedly once I load the original PDF file, Etsy will take over and send the file out when a sale is made.  I sincerely hope that this works smoothly but if any of you have trouble with it, please let me know. It is now available in my Etsy store.

The Mosaic Challenge

Every month the online guild that I belong to - Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) - issues a challenge to its members.  This month's challenge is mosaics so I've been working on a new design for this challenge.  As most of you know, I've been working on what I call mini-mosaics for a while.  These are small mosaics build on a 3  1/2  inch square wooden block and backed by a self-easel.  But for this challenge I wanted to go bigger!

I recently bought some cross forms from Hobby Lobby and liked the fact that there was a frame around it.  You can see that project in my previous post.  So my challenge was to figure out how to create a base with a frame around it.  I found thin trim pieces at Lowe's that I could strip down to the size I needed and used wood glue and my pneumatic nailer to attach the pieces.  A bit of sanding and it's ready for the mosaic tiles!

I found this really cool stamp at JoAnn's that says "Life is art.  Paint your dreams... Sing your songs... Enjoy the dance."  This just spoke to me so I decided to use is for the challenge piece.  This piece is much larger than the ones that I've worked on in the past - measuring 9 inches tall by 6 inches wide.  The warm brown frame around the piece finishes it nicely and ties in with the color used for antiquing the tiles. 

I found that I really enjoy working on the larger pieces so I'm sure you'll be seeing more of these listed in my Etsy shop. I'm also working on the tutorial for my method so keep watching for that.  I'm getting close....

Fun with Mosaics

I've been working on a series of mosaics this spring and have come up with some interesting designs.  This particular design is one of my favorite.  I found this cross shape in the vacation bible school section at my local Hobby Lobby and thought it might be a good base for the mosaics.  What do y'all think?

I'm  thinking about writing a tutorial for my method of creating the tiles and assembling them.  I call this finger painting mosaics and would love to share the way I create them. 

Today was a good day!

Today was a good day. My mother is out of the hospital, home and slowly regaining her strength.  I'm finally recovering from the crud that I've been dealing with for the last three weeks and I've had a busy week in the studio working on finishing up some orders while playing with some ideas for spring.  I'm working on some pretty neat bracelets that I'll be posting soon so keep checking back.

I'm also trying to decide whether to submit an application to participate in a juried craft show that is held in mid-August.  Last year was its first year and a friend went with me to check it out.  We were pleased with what we saw.  In addition to being all Mississippi artisians, the organizers are being very selective about who they let in.  The items to be sold in each booth must be handmade.  If they maintain this requirement as well as they did last year, this might be a show worth getting into.  Plus the door fees are used to support a local animal rescue organization!

It has been a lot of years since I last did a craft show.  It's a lot of work and sometimes you do well and other times you don't.  So do I want to get back into it now that I'm retired?  What should I look for in deciding whether to participate in a show?  Any suggestions? Comments? Ideas?  I'd love to hear from some of you who do shows.

Oh by the way, the picture here is of the mini-mosaic that I made for the PCAGOE March Challenge.  The theme was "celestial" and could feature the sun, moon and/or stars.  I call this one Aim For The Moon and it is now available in my Etsy shop and can be purchased as it or personalized just for you.  

Well, so much for good intentions!

One of my great plans for 2013 was to post something informational or at least interesting to my blog at least twice a week.  And yet here it is, January 31st, and this is my first post.  What happened???


Long story short - my Mother who is 83 years old and diabetic - had flu which turned into pneumonia and wound up in the hospital with congestive heart failure.  She was admitted on New Years Day and was in the hospital for three weeks before being transferred to a rehab facility to continue building strength so she can go home.

I am, fortunately, from a large family so we've been able to share the caretaking duties - both for Daddy at home and for Mama in the hospital, then the rehab facility.  But it still takes a bite out of every day plus driving time so studio time has been limited to filling orders and preparing to teach at our local polymer clay guild.  The pendant shown above is an example of one way to use alcohol inks with polymer clay which was our focus for this guild meeting. 

I told a friend recently that I really needed some serious studio time because that's my way to reduce stress.  Do any of you find that creating art in whatever media helps you reduce stress?

Tapestry Snowflake Spinner Christmas Ornament

This is my selection for the 2012 Art Bead Scene Christmas Ornament Blog Hop and it has been quite a journey from concept to completion.  Once I decided to participate in the Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop, I had to come up with a unique design for my art bead and since I was making snowflake shaped ornaments, what better design for my art bead than snowflakes.  These were created by making a reverse image mold of one of my favorite snowflake stamps so that the snowflakes would actually be raised above the surface of the bead itself.

The next challenge was figuring out how to make the spinner portion of the bead work correctly.  If the hole down the center was not perfectly lined up, the art bead would not spin!  It took me several attempts before I got the details worked out on that one but everything fits nicely now and spins!

So folks, according to Lisa Pavelka "If it's a spinner, it's a winner!"  What do you say? Is it a winner?

This ornament along with my personalized Tapestry Spinner Christmas ornaments can be found in my Etsy shop at http://ashpaints.etsy.com.    

Here are links to other artisans who have participated in this Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop.  Be sure to click on each link and check out what each of them has designed for this annual event. 

Art Bead Scene
Humblebeads
Treasures Found
Song Beads
Viki O'Dell
Sue Beads
Modern Nature Studio
Diane Hawkey
Suburban Girl Studio
Jen Judd Rocks
Ellie's Bijoux
Island Girl's Insights
Life By The Seat Of My Pants
Too Aquarius 
Shelley Graham Turner
Artfully Ornamental
Charis Designs Jewelry
Harrison Hollow Designs
Silver Nik Nats
Bead Soup Mix
Toodles and Binks
Bead Recipes
Play Sculpt Live
BeeTree by M.E.

My entry for the Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop

The time is almost here‼!  Back in late October I heard about something called an Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop. In checking further, I learned that this is the third year that Art Bead Scene has hosted this Ornament Blog Hop.  I was intrigued so I investigated further and learned that to participate I would design an ornament using an art bead.  My first thought was I love making Christmas ornaments.  My second thought was what exactly is an art bead – so I went to the Art Bead Scene website and learned that: 

An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist.

I clicked on some of the links and saw that art beads range from very simple to very complex and can be made of just about anything!  But my best discovery is that I make art beads‼!  Who knew????  Since I do make beads of all sorts, sizes and forms from polymer clay based on whatever project I am working on at the time, I decided that an ornament made using an “art bead” would be a great challenge so I signed up!

Now the time is drawing near for my Art Bead Scene Ornament Blog Hop entry to be revealed.  It’s been an interesting and productive challenge and involved working through several prototypes before I was happy with the end result.  The creation of my art bead involved working with alcohol inks, gold leaf, metallic paint, custom mixes of polymer clay, deeply etched rubber stamps and a handmade mold. 

The inspiration for my ornament goes back to a polymer clay cruise I took in August with a group of  polymer and metal clay artisans. Each artisan was invited to make charms to exchange with everybody else.  One of those charms was based on a Lisa Pavelka design that involved using two elements that were independent of each other so that they could “spin”. 

 My ornament is unique in that it hangs flat but it also spins!  To quote Lisa Pavelka, “If it’s a spinner, it’s a winner!”  Check back on December 4^th to see if you agree. 

Personalized Tapestry Spinner Christmas Ornament

Yes, it's been a long time coming.  I was inspired to make this ornament back in August while on a polymer clay cruise to Alaska.  Part of the cruise fun was that each participant could choose to make charms to exchange with the other participants.  This is always fun because with such a diverse group, you get samples of so many different styles of polymer clay and metal clay.  One of the charms that I received, from one of my local guild members, Annette Harris, was a "spinner" charm based on a design by Lisa Pavelka.  It had an outer circle and an inner circle which turned on an axis. 

For the past several years I've designed a new personalized ornament based on new techniques that I'd learned during the year.  When I saw the spinner charm, it set my mind to working on how that could be developed into a personalized ornament.  I could see this ornament in my minds eye, but the process of getting it out and into clay was not a smooth process.  The first few tries went into the trash can.  Then the convection oven that I used in my studio to cure clay crashed and burned - literally!  Scared the stew out of me and smoked up my house with nasty fumes! 

But finally, after many trial runs and trashed prototypes, I'm happy to introduce the Personalized Tapestry Spinner Christmas Ornament.  This ornament starts with a creamy white clay backed by a solid colored clay cut in a snowflake design, then "tapestry clay" (made using a technique learned from Tina Holden) is used to add color and sparkle.  Gold leaf is added for more richness and a tiny crystal is added to the spoke of each snowflake. 

The personalized disk rides on the center wire and spins freely to add movement to this unique ornament.  Each ornament is handmade at the time the order is placed and has the initial of your choice on the front and the year on the back banded by matching tapestry clay.  If you don't want the year on the back, I can replace that with a snowflake.  Each ornament also has my name and the date stamped on the back.  You can select the color for your back and I'll coordinate the tapestry clay with that color for a one-of-a-kind ornament. 

You can order yours by going to https://www.etsy.com/listing/114353163/personalized-tapestry-spinner-polymer or send me an email to arlene.harrison (at) gmail.com.  Deadline for Christmas delivery is December 10th so please get your order in early. 

Make it personal - Mini- Mosaics

After a couple of months of packing up, renovating and unpacking, Harrison Hollow Designs is finally back in full operation.  I’m working hard and heavy on custom orders for some of my mini-mosaics.  These 3 ½ inch square mosaics are small works of art and each and every one of them is different.

Each mini-mosaic starts with the personalization tiles.  Some like the short messages – like my personal favorite “Dance To Your Own Music”, while others tell me what they want the piece to say.  One recent customer requested the phrase “Make Things Happen” and added her initial.  So you can see where these can be designed specific to you or whoever you want to gift one to.

Another fun design element is a focal tile featuring the breast cancer ribbon, a puzzle piece for autism, a painter’s pallet, etc.  Then an appropriate phrase is added and the design finished with coordinating tiles and beads. 

Wouldn’t a custom mini-mosaic designed specifically for someone special to you make an excellent birthday or Christmas gift?  If you would like to work with me on a custom design, leave a comment with contact information or go to my Etsy shop at http://ashpaints.etsy.com and send a convo.  Let’s create something beautiful!