Organization

Yesterday I made a huge push to organize my studio and am happy to say it's 90% there.
I actually have a photography station, a computor station and a designated work area! And a beading corner with all my beads easily accessible as I usually bead in a comfortable chair watching some TV. I'll take some shots in a few days when it's finally complete.

I started working with polymer clay again this weekend. I used to make jewelry with clay years ago....in fact, my Mom dug out a brooch I made her 25 years ago. I didn't know she still had it, I'd forgotten about it, and I was quite surprised to see how it still looked great after 25 years. Of course, my style has changed in those years and today I'm more interested in making beads than brooches.

I got a Sculpey conditioning machine on sale at Joann's and some clay and started experimenting. I had seen a tutorial on making bicone and lentil beads so I thought I would give it a try. I was quite pleased with my first attempts and I don't think it will take too much practice to get back up to speed. I do need to get one of those bead rollers as I really want to make some oval beads, I just designed a bead using some vintage oval beads and want to recreate that bead in clay. All these great tools weren't available 25 years ago, I think the only tool I had was a Kemper(?) clay extractor which I gave away with my beads stash to a single mom who was making jewelry to help pay her bills. I'll have to replace that and I do need to invest in a little toaster oven though so I can bake the clay in my studio, maybe I'll pick that up today.

I got a little off track with the studio overhaul but hopefully I'll catch up this week. It was a pretty good week, my classes were slow but I may have a couple of new students, I got a check from the gallery for a piece that sold, was asked to put my jewelry in another gallery in a great location and the scales say I lost a couple of pounds. Positive things to keep me positive!