Orange and the Polymer Clay Smooshers

The Polymer Clay Smooshers guild on ArtFire disappeared briefly.  But, now the Smooshers are back! Actually, they have been back for a few weeks now. I was pretty upset when the guild up and disappeared, and I'm so happy to be part of it once more.

Each week we have a "blog roll" and this weeks topic is "orange".  To me orange say three things - citrus, Halloween and autumn.  Considering the time of year, citrus just didn't seem to fit the theme.

I found many lovely fall and Halloween season items from my fellow Smooshers. Here is a small sampling of what I found.

This first item is one stylish looking cat! This lovely pendant, Orange Halloween Cat was created by Sassy Clay Creations.

Orange Halloween Cat by Sassy Clay Creations

Love the rich orange and flowing colors in this next piece.  And with a touch of black, the colors are so yummy! This Asian Inspired Oval Pendant was created by Dream Weavers Designs

Asian Inspired Oval Pendant by Dream Weavers Designs

My favorite part of fall are the colorful leaves.  The fiery colors of autumn are captured perfectly in this Autumn Leaf Brooch created by Valerie's Stuff.

Autumn Leaf Brooch by Valerie's Stuff

Write in style with this lovely autumn inspired pen. This Fall Leaves Pen  was created by Artmakers World.

Fall Leaves Pen  by Artmakers World

For more about the Polymer Clay Smooshers, check out our blog.

Halloween (sort of) Hearts

I've been trying to get some Halloween things finished and I'm sure cutting it close!  I should have had them done a good month ago.  I'm not really big into Halloween, but I had an idea I wanted to try out.

First I made some Halloween colored (more or less) beads:

I made 3 leafy/floral hearts:

Before curing I dusted them with mica powder to make them more interesting and to make the details stand out.

Here they are on my work table:

The heart on the left is orange highlighted with copper colored mica powder.  The one in the middle is black highlighted with copper mica powder.  The copper gives it more of a faux metal look than Halloween.  The last one is black highlighted with purple mica powder.

So far, I am liking how they are turning out.  But, I did not make enough beads! I might be able to finish one necklace, but it might be a little short.

I better quit web surfing and get to work making more beads!

Autumn/Halloween Knitting

Love the colors in this scarf!  It came out looking a little bit Halloweenish, but I love the combo of orange and purple. The colors are much better in person.  I futzed with Photoshop and the colors in the photos are still not right.

I haven't completely finished the scarf yet. I haven't decided how I want to do fringes and deal with the dangley bits.

I started a wrap in the same colors and I want to finish it and see how much yarn I have left.  I might knit some leaves and other random stuff if I have enough yarn. However, the wrap is using up a lot of yarn.  It's a great stashbuster.

The pattern (more of a guide than a strict pattern) is from Jane Thornley and is the "Organic Wrap" in the booklet "Feather and Fan Club".

I'm loving the cooler weather!  And getting back to knitting. I have a mess of stash I hope to use up during the next few months.

Autumn Leaves

I finished this necklace a few days ago.  The leaves are from this blog post: Autumn I should have made more, I used almost all of them.

I plan to make more leaves.  I'm thinking earrings, more necklaces and some leafy bracelets.  It seemed like a lot of leaves when I made them, but I guess it wasn't.

But, I've just started some Halloween items that I need to finish first.  In a week I've made maybe 6 beads.  And no, they haven't been cured. At the rate I'm moving they might be ready by next Halloween.  Maybe.

It Must Be Getting Cooler Because...

I've been working on some knitting.  Yesterday, I started a Jane Thornley freerange scarf.  It is based on a scarf "recipe" for it that is free on her website.

Most of the yarns I'm using are wool, plus a few novelty yarns.  The blue in the picture below is actually very purple.  The combination of purple and orange is giving it a bit of a Halloween look.  I wasn't really trying for that, I just like the combination of purple and orange.

I also photographed some things that I had finished earlier this year.  One of the items is this shawl which is mostly acrylic.  I like how it turned out, but I'm seeing that natural fibers sure do drape better than acrylic.

Also, wool breathes better than acrylic and retains it's insulating properties if it gets wet.  I would like to move away from acrylic and work more with wool. But sometimes price gets in the way. 

More Spinning With a Drop Spindle

Here is my latest attempt at spinning yarn.  It turned out much better than my previous two attempts, but far from perfect.  It has a lot of thick and thin but the yarn is not as bulky as my first two attemps.  There are also some spots that are a bit twisty from being over-spun.

I used the roving I had dyed with Kool-aid and I really like how the colors turned out.  It reminded me of the honey spiced peaches I canned last week.

With my first two yarns, I made some bulky hats.  Once the weather turns cold, they should be nice and toasty warm.

I'm going to pick up more fiber and I especially want some of the brown.  I have some more hat projects in mind to try.

Autumn

It is nearly autumn.  Hopefully, this will be the last week of 90+ degree weather and next week I can get some serious work done in the garden.

This last week, I spent most of the week dealing with canning peaches.  Ugh, the peaches beat me up and nearly won!  But, more about that in another blog post.

I have four small apple trees in my garden.  And the best of them are the honeycrisps! Big, beautiful, crispy, juicy, sweet.  Perfect apples.  I thin them a lot and then bag them with plastic baggies in the spring.  The baggies keep the nasty coddling moth out of the apples.  Hubby and I decided we need to plant a larger honeycrisp tree in the spring.

This week, I plan to focus on my ArtFire shop a little more.  No more major canning.  Maybe a project here or there but no more marathon sessions this year.

 I have some autumn colored polymer clay leaves I've been working on.  And I have clay mixed to make a few more.  I'm thinking some sort of necklace, but I haven't really got it completely thought out yet.

I want to get these finished up and move on to some Halloween ideas that I have.  Things I should have been working on a month ago. At the rate I'm moving they should be done for next year.  Maybe. . .