New Bracelet Set

Pink Simplistic.

Took awhile tonight and I had some assistance.

I listed to bracelet set on Etsy. It's affordable. $.9.50 + basic shipping.

Pink and Aqua Paper Bead and Glass Bracelet Set - 3 Bracelets - $9.50

Discovering Some New Stuff

Now, I'm not trying this right now. I don't have the supplies or the money. I have a hideous headache, so thought I'd just link this stuff to check back later. Due to a group I'm in for chronically ill crafters and artists, I discovered...Viking knitting.

Viking Knitting by Awesome Cool and Quirky artisan

This girl is so cool, I've subbed to her channel now. I want to keep watching her speed dry brushing vids and her tutorials.  One thing other than wire that one needs is a tool for stretching. She made her own.

Here's her website: Blue Kitty Creations
Check under Gallery and Sindri Collection and you can see exactly what Viking Knit is. Her bracelets are stunning.  I do want to try this eventually. I don't have....well I might have wire that's appropriate. I'm not sure. She sells her stuff on Etsy and is working on more as well.  We had a blast watching her tutorials and videos last night for A.) the stuff she shares is cool and B.) she's quirky and FUN.  Love her personality. Makes me miss having a webcam though. Someday we will. We've wanted to vlog.

Here is where you can buy a Draw Plate

I've heard people use the circle wrenches, key holes, anything they can to stretch the jewelry.

And look! It's a cat :)  Zoey is my art assistant. I'm in too much pain to function today, but she's keeping me company. Ignore the dirty carpet. It's our art space. There are fuzzies, string and who knows what lost beads one might find.

Finished Necklace

Necklace Available on Etsy - $25.00

The beads are paper, of course. They have a daisy floral pattern with shades of green, gold, black and white. I made the necklace with black, teal, green and gold beads.

Had fun setting up a way to make this. It fits about the same as the one I made for myself, so slightly longer than a choker.

Just Waking Up

I crashed out at a reasonable time for once. I've had a lot of difficulty with sleeping of late. Took part in Sketchfest a little bit last night. With Sketchfest you choose from prompts that are posted and spend only one hour on a sketch. It was my first time, really. Problem is, I loved it so much that after posting the image, I've been working on it.

The Prompt:  Owl Princess.
Feathered Regalia on Sketchfest

Here's the image pre "mess around with the colors to get it to look brighter."

It has been a very high pain/fatigue day, so I can't sit at the desk for long. I settled in on the floor for a little bit with my tools and my freshly charged iPod. Had some Tool going on.  Then later I moved to the desk. Too tired to finish it last night. Maybe more will go into this today. 

Something a Little Different - Owl

Awhile back I made up this little concept of an owl. It's fairly simplistic in that it's easy to crochet. What I like to do that is different, however, is add on some fabric and hand-beaded accents. I thought about sculpting beaks, but decided the little chip would be better. I think they're just glass chips, not actual amethyst or anything, though. I'm working on more of these.

I plan to finish the necklace featured in the last post, but I haven't had the chance yet to just sit down and do so. I'm in that mentally non-functional arena today.

Too tired to have words

Still in progress.

Now For Something Completely Different

OKay...not completely. It's still on a papercraft theme. I decided to see if it would be possible to do a bookmark using a similar technique to the paper beads. I can also try pendants like that later. I used Prismacolor indigo blue and Prismacolor watercolor in goldenrod to fast sketch a dragon doodle onto normal mixed media paper. I then coated it with Elmer's school gel glue. Right now it's drying. I'll add more coats and then coat in the triple thick when I'm done. The idea is to figure out where my hole punch went, and then add paper beads and regular beads in a tail to the bottom of the bookmark. I don't know if this will work out, however. It's an experiment.  This is all leading up to the large bust sculptures I have planned for "Dolls."

Finally finished!

I finished the medallion necklace. It's a head with a dragon buddy, wings and all. This is made with cotton crochet thread woven together with glass beads and handmade paper beads. The beads are water resistant (not waterproof, they're paper, after all) and varnished to protect them. The only metal is the wire through the medallion itself.

I really need better photos. This is choker length, however. Great conversation piece, doncha think?  Now I need sleep. Badly. My schedule is a wreck and we have a birthday party to go to. Do believe I'll make this one around $20-25.00 with shipping about $3-5 depending on area. Hmmmm.

A Mini Update

I wanted to kick it up a bit. I have so many packets of beads now and I want to make them into pendants. I also plan to list some on Etsy and give some as gifts.  Last night I sculpted an odd face pendant. Today I'm finishing out the barrel beads that will go with the regular small bicones. I plan to pair these with black beads and a nice matte set of larger seeds.

 Here is the pendant. It's a dragon type creature with a dragon pet atop its head. I have no clue who would want to give this type of thing a home, but hopefully someone will.

Here are the strips of paper for the barrel beads and the beads I've already made to go in this set. I'll update tonight if I manage to get a complete pendant going. 

Little more work and fun

I find that the main task I can perform right now with my hands like they are is still making of beads. Here's my little area right now. I did locate some incredible magazine pages and scrapbook paper to get to work. I want to make the jewelry pieces soon as I can.

Here, I went all out and made a lot more of the little pegs to work on. The clay has now been baked to suit as holders for the pegs. It's a whole bead factory.

I'm in love with these beads. The scrapbook paper I used has an ombre effect. 

This is an experiment. I want to make pendants to go on necklaces. This is an attempt at a pendant. 

More Beads!

I really do a lot more than just beads. I paint watercolors, make dolls, sculpt dragons and various other things. I'm just limited right now due to my shaky hands. These bring me peace.

I got Triple Thick and I have to say, it wins. It really does have great strength and coverage. I let the beads hang overnight to fully dry out. They were dry, but I like to make sure they cure entirely so they don't get tacky and stick together. Triple Thick has minimal odor. It's also cheap, which fits my nonexistent budget. I love this orange and green set. They were made from two magazine pages from a cooking magazine. I need to get more magazines. I need to also varnish all the beads I've completed until now.

Hobby Lobby also had a sale on scrapbook paper so that it was around a quarter a sheet (25 cents.)

Remainder of the Goth Princess set and tonight's endeavors

Once awake, this is all I've been able to work on. I finished the necklace and earrings yesterday or the day before. The new bead sets are in the works in shades of green and red/orange.

Goth Princess - First Paper Bead Bracelet

It's random and chaotic;  the bracelet is a free-spirited creation with no intended plan. I haven't decided if I should sell it or keep it. It's my first, so I think I might just keep it.

It's a rainy day and though I love the sound of the water hitting the sidewalk outside and the smell of the pavement mixed with the sky's tears, the rainy days are often the hardest.  I'm home due to this. I cannot handle any sound at all today other than the lightest whisper or any full body movement. Though squinted eyes I made this bracelet. I can't do "nothing" unless I'm asleep. :P

I'm proud of this. I haven't decided what I think of how it lays, yet I think it'll work well with some black jelly bracelets.

Back to Paper Beads...Varnishes and Links

Some of us started this as children, so keep in mind this is a great craft to do with kids. You can also take some scribbled art that little kids make and turn those into memento beads for mommy.

I wanted to post some of the links I'm finding useful. It's a lot of trial and error with paper beads. I find I love white glue (Elmer's) first, then the clear blue gel type elmer's after. The final varnish is where I'm still fighting for a solution. I like acrylic nail polish, but it becomes goopy fast so isn't an ideal solution. That's my main search topic tonight. This is some of what I've found:

Paper Bead Making 101
What do you use to vanish your beads? Paper Beads What do you use to vanish your beads?
How to Protect Your Paper Beads
Paper Beads - Beading Daily

Why link to other sites rather than making my own experiment? Why reinvent the wheel?  I'm still experimenting for what I prefer. I plan to locate the Triple Thick or the Minwax stuff. The last link has a gorgeous photo of very glossy beads with Triple Thick.

For papers:

I already have a book I plan to use to make a certain type of cylinder bead. I love scrapbooking paper and magazine pages the most, however. These provide some of the prettiest colors. The tougher feel of the scrapbook paper creates a sturdier bead, though. The color play of the magazines, though....I LOVE that. I'm sculpting the pendants in polymer clay. I have three dragons from years ago that I might use. They haven't sold on Etsy yet, so might as well. I made a weird little face pendant the other night to use with some black and pink beads.

On that note, it's beyond sleepy time.

What this blog is about...or rather, Who writes this stuff

I switched to allow the Google+ so that I could do some additional bloggy features, but it also gets rid of your entire profile.

So this blog is about....Art! Whimsies! Jewelry! Dragons and fairies and cats, oh my.

Who writes this stuff?

Shelah is a 38-year-old artist who works a daytime (well sorta) job in a call center and spends her top secret nights (sort of) playing MMOs and doing more art styles than she can keep up with. She also attends college on a semi-full-time basis. Shelah lives with her sweetie-peetie and they two feline "daughters" since her own kid opted to grow up.


Enough third person here.
As for challenges, time is an obvious one, but so is energy level. I deal with fibromyalgia and migraines, all the fun stuff that goes right along with that. Wanna buy some art? Just kidding. I sculpt ooak art dolls, dragons of varying sizes, create beads in clay and paper as well as craft a lot of different jewelry styles. I paint in watercolor and draw in graphite. My best topics are fairy felines, fairy fairies, and dragons. I sometimes toss in a little oddity of course and I'm always developing my style. You'll get to see all the random things I enjoy doing.

Back to work...

What to be when I grow up...

It's a common enough question that we all ask ourselves at some point in life. I'm 38-years-old and started originally at one college at age 35. That was a Computer Forensics degree. Life happened, which left me seeking a different college to attend. I went into Digital Media, but decided it's not for me. I want to create for myself, not for a designed plan another has set forth. I shifted my degree again to Computer Info systems with a focus on web development. The idea is, I can branch this wherever I want it to go and work for different companies. This is to keep food on the table. I do love solving problems, but these fields are not my passion.

I finally have really thought through what I want to be when I grow up. I have to have a job for food. Having a place to live is nice. Clothing is kind of essential. Extras would be cool, and art supplies are top of the line of necessity. :)

I sculpt at a small scale because A.) I can, and B.) it's what I can afford.

What I want to do is just be what I am, an artist. I mainly enjoy sculpting and that's where my ideas and passion are. The other stuff is just fun and relaxing to try or do. I love clay. Primarily, this covers polymer clay although I'm starting to try other kinds. I love paper mache and am just starting to learn that. I have a fondness for fabric and beads, feathers and different types of hair. I love art dolls, busts and fanciful creations. I have ideas for larger creations, yet not the means to create them yet. I'm thinking of trying some paper mache because it's more affordable, until I can get the supplies I need.

Today I chose the fabric for my current doll and the feathers. I need to select the beads and other decor. I need to design her wings. Feathers are for the hair.

I live to create. I have to create. It's what brings me peace among all the stresses of the world. School starts again very soon and I have to create. All I want to be is...

an artist.
That's what I already am.
Does this mean I'm grown up?

Nothing Witty Tonight

I went home with an allergic reaction to my migraine medicine..and a subsequent headache and lots of sleep. Headache is still here, but I needed to DO something, since that's just how I am. Relaxation? Not so much. I had this little lady on my desk for a long time. The green doll in the back is my original of the 'species' and the white one will eventually be decorated, given hair, and some dragons to play with.

I had to remake the head a time or two due to hot hands.

The little scales also do not stick well at first.

I love to evolve the species as I go.

I'm happy with her. I really wish this blog would let me post two side by side. Maybe I'm missing that functionality somewhere.

And now she's in the oven to bake. 

Much more relaxing

There we are. I'm all settled in and "dragon" my way through the day. This is a project a started a bit ago. I've already poked my finger a few times sewing the dragon body. The head and feetsies  are fully sculpted in polymer clay.

It's time for a break...and it's crazy when you...

cannot decide which craft you want to do in the meantime. I spent what time I was awake last night working on more paper beads. First I worked on painting some scrapbook paper with gold acrylic paint, then cut the strips. The beads will be lovely. The second set of beads presented challenges. They were from a magazine page so that I could get some smaller beads with a variety of color. However, I had to lengthen the strips by gluing on some extra paper to create the fuller bead.

This is the page I used for this set of beads. I thought it had some great colors to work with. The strips are narrow and lengthwise. I'll post some tutorials tomorrow. 

I love the colors that these presented, until I reached all the black. Below you'll see I had some help. This is Zoey, my fuzzy assistant. These strips are the blue ones I started with. 

Can we say....Obsession?? My fingers hurt! That's why I'm taking a break from beads today. I cannot decide which craft I want to work on however. I might just take in my dragon. Photos tomorrow perhaps?  We shall see! That one requires sewing and beading. Wish me luck. Oh and glue. Calls on Thursdays are often more intense, however, so I might not get very far on the work. Fairly fatigued today, so wish me luck on that too! :)