Move over Movember...

So I didn't grow a 'stache' for Movember this year...I figured why try!!! But there were some things I did try, like making some rolled paper beads for my books.  I have made paper beads before, but not from this type of paper.   I had purchased some very pretty mulberry paper in huge sheets a couple of months ago, and eventually found time to try making something from it.  (Not to mention I thought the paper would make a spectacular liner page for my book cover.)  I had purchased four or five colorful sheets and this one just happened to catch my eye this morning, and it seemed to blend in with the rust (hmmm, don't know if I go with that name) Lumiere paint I had used on some upcycled book boards. 

After painting the covers on both sides, I lined the inside with some torn bits of the mulberry paper and then proceeded to make a focal piece for the front of the book.  Actually, it's just some shards of textured polymer with a button in the middle that I will be sewing onto the cover through the holes when everything is complete.  The unfinished covers will be bound in the Coptic style (what else) and adorning the spine will be a few scrap beads along with two of the rolled paper beads that I bedecked with some wire, ribbon and a few glassbeads.  I hope it all comes together well.  I will be using a co-ordinating color of waxed binding cord and it should be good as I've used that color before with the brown-coppery tones of the book.

Unfortunately, the colors are not the same as they are in real time.  I am finding that the settings of my all in one printer-scanner (the one I bought to accompany my laptop) will have to be adjusted, but I haven't the time to play with that now.  Also, the quality of the scan is not as precise as the other scanner that I use with the big computer.  This does present other problems as well. The other day, I had sent a  sample scan of some light switch plates I was making for a gal, and after I compared the actual colors to the printed scan, they were significantly different. Even different from the picture on the computer screen.  So I had to do some quick clay blending and come up with a batc/blend of colors that was sort of in between the color of the scan and the actual sample.  I hope the colors I made are okay. 

So now with this busy month almost over, and only one more sales event (tomorrow), I can finish the remainder of my custom orders and start getting my own year end preparations ready.  December will be another busy month.  But then, that's the way. uh huh, uh huh, I like it.

Fish going mobile

This morning we heard what we hope were the last flocks of Geese flying south for the winter  Most of the rivers are frozen here and there's not one bit of ground that isn't covered with white stuff, so those geese who slept in over the weekend are going to have some rough weather ahead on their big flight.  We had a big dump of snow Saturday and Sunday, and it required four hours of shovelling to get the driveways, walkways and Molly's Happy Trail paths cleared.  Of course that shovelling wasn't all at one time; we prefer to do it gradually and not wear ourselves out. 

On the polymer clay front, I have been making a lot of fish...some for gifts, some as decorations, and some larger ones for galleries.  This one is a three part mobile with some fish not swimming in the same direction as his/her buddy fish...but when the mobile turns sometimes they all swim in the same direction.  It's not unlike the geese who take turns being the leader.  I had to lay the mobile flat so that all the fish could be seen because any slight breeze really makes them turn every which way. 

I've also been busy this weekend getting ready for a couple more shows and working on commissions.  I made a bunch of 'headdress canes' (my name for them as there really isn't a name...it's my own creation) in several different colours so that I could make some buttons, bracelets, pendants and a few other accent pieces from it.  I worked on a blue one, a green one, a purple-alizarin one and a darker one. I had to substitute some colours as my clay reserves are dwindling. I hope the colours work well when the items are baked.  They look good in the raw state of the cane and I hope they don't turn too dark.

Just before the big snow on Saturday, I tried to stock up on clay that was on sale, but sadly most of the colours that I needed were all sold out.  It never fails.  When I need clay, it seems so does everyone else.  Whose law is that?  Paula Merkeley's?

Speaking of substituting, I will be busy the rest of this week teaching middle school...filling in for a gal who is going to a conference in the south, probably near where the rest of the Canadian Geese are headed. Hope they enjoy the sun and absence of snow...if they miss it, I know where they can get some.