Art is a Blessing: Polymer Play and Mixed Media Musings

by Staci Louise Smith

Art is such a blessing.  I think someday's I take creativity and that I get to do this for a living for granted.  Art is such a huge part of who I am.  I see art in almost anything.  I take in colors, and textures and composition no matter what I look at.  It leaks into all parts of my life, and for that, I am grateful!

It's that time of year, where I have spent the entire year making beads and jewelry.  I try to allow myself some playtime around the holidays.  It allows time to make gifts for people and get out some of my other art supplies.

One of the blessings, is that my children get to be creative too.  they learn the fun of play, and the business of selling their work too.

To start off the season of creative playtime, Julia and I worked on some polymer pendants for the Hereford Bazaar.  It's a craft show her school puts on.  All three of my kids made stuff for it and I got them a "real" crafter table there!  

It was a lot of fun to prep for a show that was NOT my own.

Now, Julia (age 11) is not known for her organizational skills, and she brought me these bags of polymer clay.  They contained every color of the rainbow and then some.  So I said, how about we mix them up and swirl them, and then she could use that as a base to stamp her designs onto!  

We had a blast putting odd colors together and running them through the pasta machine and finding the  surprise patterns that arose.  She is a color junkie, so she was in rainbow heaven!

After that was done, she stamped them and cut out the circles to add to her bezels.

I had so much fun with the kids in the studio.

Collin (9) made little owls and got to use alcohol inks for the first time.  I showed him how to make these easy little "squish" owls and he picked it right up!

My oldest, Aiden (14) makes jewelry.  

Here they were at the show- they all did really good and had a blast, and I must say, IT WAS THE MOST FUN SHOW I DID ALL YEAR!

Here they all are, and yes, I am a proud mama!

Here are Collin's key chains and bracelets he made

Here is Julia's set up, with magnets and necklaces in polymer

 And here is Aiden's work.  He loves working in gemstones and beads, but has started doing more wire work and polymer too

So, that was a great week to get the creative juices flowing.

As you may know, I have dabbled in mixed media before.  But I have wanted to add more of my polymer into the mix.  I have had ideas, but no time to try them.  

So finally I gave myself a week to play.  It's almost up, and I am almost done these piece.  They are finished, all but the three in the lower right corner.  I hope to make a few more today and finish these, and then its back to business for a week.

I love being able to pull from all the different media I have worked in to create art.  It is such a blessing to my soul to be able to freely make what is in my head and heart.  It is also nice to know that I get to use all those things I have learned through the years, a million different ways.  I REALLY encourage you to always keep learning new techniques and mediums.  You never know when the skills you learn will pop back up!  

So be blessed and create art!  Never stop learning and playing.  It's all part of the process.

In the Wild

by Staci Louise Smith

I am really blessed to live near two awesome caves (that are open to the public, there are more around here then that) in Eastern PA.  

We have Lost River Caverns and Crystal Cave.  I have visited both throughout my life, but it had been a long time since I had been to Crystal Cave.  

Crystal Cave is located in Kutztown PA.  So my parents and the kids and I went out to spend the day exploring it all over again ( we had all been there before except my two youngest).  

I fell in love all over again.  I brave cave tours, because the rock lover in me is stronger then the claustrophobic little person in me!

Anyhow, I love the entire site of Crystal Cave......they haven't changed a thing.  It is outdated, but I love it, because its a piece of small town history.  It was the first cave in PA to be made open to the public, and everyone from around here knows the story.  

So, without further ado, here are some pictures from my day.

The Family (my parents and kids)

CRYSTALS IN THE WILD

Also known as Arragonite

You may be used to seeing it like this though

or in bead form like this

www.firemountaingems.com 

There was so much texture and variety in the stone.  My first love in jewelry making was a love of stones.  :sigh:  I felt so energized this afternoon.  Being surrounded by stones "in the wild' was just so inspiring.

The only downside was that the tour went pretty fast, because it was crowded.  I wish we would have had a bit more time for pictures at each spot.  I didn't get to fully take everything in.  Maybe next time........

I am not one to buy kitchy souvenirs, but I did want to get something to remember today.  So I thought these were just perfect.  They had a whole bin of these narrow little geodes, 

and what I saw when I looked at them...............was caves.  So,we each got one, and this is mine.  The kids already ran off with their treasures.

Anyhow, I know we are way off topic of jewelry and all, but I thought my day around rocks was close enough.....I know it made me want to play with stones and rocks and crystals!

The kids ended the trip panning for gems.  Such a cute set up, and I must say, its fun.  We were all digging through the gravel!

I am so ready now, to make some nice, organic beads!  Inspiration has set in......and I am antsy to get into that clay!

And that is the great little cave not even an hour from me. 

Someday I will get to Larray Caverns.  someday..........

How about you guys?  Any awesome caves that you live near?  Or want to share that we must visit?  I know I am not the only rock hound in this group!  Please feel free to share in the comments- your stories and favorite places to visit.

Contrast: Blinging up my Rustic

by Staci Louise Smith

I finally decided to try adding a little "bling" to my rustic.  I love contrast, and I am surprised at myself, for not trying this sooner!

I love how Gaia Copia uses crystals with her natural shapes, like her ammonite and crystal earrings.  Her rustic bling has always inspired me!

you can check our more of her work here- while her website is under construction

https://www.facebook.com/GaiaCopia

So I ordered me some crystals and got into it.  

I spent a day making these before I left for our trip, and just could NOT wait to paint them and see how they looked finished.

So then of course, I painted a few before we left too, because I am so impatient.

(they are mid-paint here)

So when I got home from vacation and went to clean off my desk, I could not just put these to the side, they were begging to be made into something right now.  

So of course, I obliged.

So now I can move onto other things on my list.  

Do you ever have that happen?  That you can't move onto what you are supposed to be doing, because you just HAVE to finish something that sparked your creativity?  Happens to me all the time!

The rest of the beads are not done, but the necklaces are available through my Facebook page (below) if you are interested, just message me.  Otherwise, they will venture to my next show with me. 

https://www.facebook.com/stacilouiseoriginals?fref=ts

The Bead Soup Blog Party

by staci louise smith

Every year, Lori Anderson of Pretty Things hosts the Bead Soup Blog party.  It is a creative and social whirlwind of beads, jewelry and artists.  Lori created the Bead Soup Blog Party for a few reason, one, to swap beads with someone who has a different style from you, so that you can be challenged to create with beads you may not normally choose for yourself.  Another reason, is to give artists a nudge to branch out socially, to try blogging, to meet new people, and of course, to plain old have a great time.  If you want to read more about it, here is a link to Lori's bead soup page.

 

So, the beads have been swapped, the jewelry has been made, and today is the first Reveal Date- blog hop.  Grab your tiara(cause this here is girl time) and a cup of coffee or tea, and enjoy the eye candy that is the Bead Soup Blog Hop.

photo by Lori Anderson- property of Lori Anderson

I participated in this round.  So you can get the list of links here www.stacilouiseoriginals.com .

 

Here is some of the "soup" I recieved this year from Emily Greer of Gaia Copia. 

 

 

She sent me lots of fun beads, but you only need to use the focal and clasp.  Again, hop over to my blog if you want to see what I created with these guys!

 

I am also offering a special discount in my shops this week in honor of the Bead Soup blog Party. 

 

Use code beadsouprocks13 in either shop to save:

 

give you a 25% discount in my jewlery shop

 

gives you a 10% discount in my bead shop

 

Have a great day, and have fun hopping !

 

 

Boot Camp: Alpha-Texture

by Staci L. Smith

I think that when people decide to try out metal stamping, the first thing they buy is a set of letters.  I know I did.   I got this very basic set ages ago. It's capital letters, and numbers and a few symbols.  I didn't use it very much for letters though.  I'd like to share with you some of my favorite ways to use my letter to make patterns and textures on metal.  Remember- using letters as letters is NOT part of this challenge.

Here are my stamps, very basic.  I think I got these at Cool Tools many years ago.

 

Here is the hammer I like to use for stamping.  It's shorter, which gives me good control, (I hit my finger a lot less) its heavy, and its cheap, so I don't care if it gets marred from striking the steel stamps.  I got this one from Melinda Orr of Orrtec.

I took some discs I had lying around, they are made from about 24 gauge copper sheet.  Then I took my capital letter I.  In this simple set, it is just a straight line, and I use it a lot!

I hammered it over and over in some random patterns to create a sort of trail across my disc.

Then I took my letter O.

And I filled in the gaps, randomly changing the direction of the O so it gave it more natural look.

 

So using two letters, I created a kinda modern organic pattern on my metal.

 

Now we will get fancy. You can use a whole bunch of letters to make a really cool Boho like pattern.

 

I started with the period. I love using this as a dot texture.  I stamped it around the entire outside of my disc.

 

Then I did the same thing using my S going side-ways.  For the next inner ring I used the letter W.

After the W's were done, I took my letter X and stamped it, turned it on its side, and stamped it again in the same spot, to create these little star bursts in the center of the disc.

I thought I would show you one more thing I love to use as texture.  It's not an alphabet stamp, its my awl.  It's just a steel awl from the hardware store, sharp point on one end.  I use it with a rubber block, ILO a steel block to get the effect I want.

 

 

I hammer it hard into the metal (a brass strip this time).  It will curl as you do this, and that is fine. 

 

 

Then you can take your rawhide or rubber mallet and hammer it gently flat on a steel block.

 

 

I like it for the reverse side texture, with the bumps sticking up.  Sometimes I even break through the metal on purpose to create a rustic torn up effect.

 

Here they are, all done, I used Liver of Sulfur to antique the copper discs and then cleaned it off the high points.  It really brings out the textures that way.

 

 

If you didn't get to see Barb's post and video from last week you can view it here.

 

The blog hop will be on April 8th- so get those creative juices flowing.  Remember, we hope you will not only try to hand texture metal, but then, use it in a design, be creative with it.  Let's inspire each other!