Two Bracelets and a Dragon

Working on some gifts and I'm really not sure what I think of these. Thoughts? Paper beads as the central focus. 

This one is a dragon I'm working on. It's slow. I can't do this too much right now. It's acrylic too, which I've not really used since school. (Jr. High) 

Working on Swaps!

It's been a little while since I was able to do much arting stuff. I didn't take photos of the envelopes I'm making also. I've been slowly working on some jewelry for swappies. Swappies are basically other people who are sick with chronic illnesses. We just try to cheer each other up. :) I'm very slow on mine because my left hand is still extremely numb/hurty. I have no idea what it'll take to get that to work again. I've been checked for carpal tunnel and don't have that, last we knew, but I'm fairly sure there is a nerve pinched somewhere around my elbow.

Welcome to my messy craft area! This is our art desk. Justin asks me what I'll do whenever he's ready to actually create art. Um...guess I'll be packing my stuff up then. :)  I want this to be usable by both of us. I'd love to see him create art. 

Here is just one bracelet set for swapping. I'm working on a lot more. I can't wear metal, but I might do some with metal closures too. These are loop and bead ones, 7 inchers with a little give.

Addendum:

A few hours later, this necklace is done as well. It's a 16 inch choker. I hope I find the right swap partner to receive these bits of jewelry. I worry I'll send to someone who will hate it :( 

Paper beads, black cotton cord, peridot-colored glass chips and hemalike beads. 

Just a Preview

I spent yesterday mostly on the couch with my sweetheart, since I was so heavily fatigued. It allowed me time to draw and decorate two homemade envelopes for two of my penpals (I'll show them after I send them) and to start this 11x14 drawing in pen and ink. I didn't realize how much my hands were shaking when I took the photo, sorry. This is only one third of the picture, a dragon triskele of sorts. It hasn't gone quite as planned, but I plan to make another after this to see if I get the form a bit more the way I desire. 

No arting today. Neck is in knots and the headache is severe. I'm proud of where my art is going, however. Any fellow artists know an awesome paper for pen and ink with added watercolor elements that won't buckle? I'll use the color in this one, but probably mostly dry color.

Taking Time, Blues and Candy Sweet

I'm slow even on working on beads right now. Here are my current pieces. They're watercolor painted on paper then cut and rolled. Unique and all one of a kind.

This set is a random cut set, an experiment. I didn't measure any of the pieces and am using 2 types of scrapbook paper. 

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. 

Too tired to have words

Still in progress.

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.)

Back to work...

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! :) 

The Paper Bead Journey

It all began with a simple post from my friend, Nicole. Once she posted about paper beads, I had to google them. I saw a facebook page link she put up to Paper Beads.  One of the first tutorials I found described using old newspapers and magazines to create paper beads.  This is my journey so far:

These ^ are my first paper beads. They are a bit too long, too narrow, and even though they have uber cool colors, I really won't use them for anything. I actually threw them away. The original plan was to make a bracelet out of them. I scrapped that fairly quickly and tried to find tutorials for usable beads that were pretty as well.

Thus, these ^ were born.  This became an addiction. These are made of scrapbook paper and are measured neatly with a ruler.  I plan to use them along with some similar colors for a multi-strand necklace. I want to make a dragon pendant to go on the necklaces I make with these beads.

So Addicted!!! 

Between calls at work, this is what I spent my time doing. I perfected a good drying "rack" out of a simple piece of unbaked scrap polymer clay. I use cotton swab plastic sticks with slits cut in them to roll the beads and to dry them. Multiple layers of glue are used, then on the blue ones I tossed on some sparkle acrylic paint. A layer of acrylic topcoat has been used for the glossy sealant. Unfortunately, it also smells bad when you first use it. It dries fine, however. I did get permission from most of my coworkers in the immediate vicinity first, though. This did result in an amusing facebook post. Thanks, Chris.  You're great!  :)

In the end...(Linkin Park, wonderful song) I've finished with some beads that I kind of like. I'm sort of iffy on how I created some of them. However, the blue ones are mostly complete. I have a few more to roll and gloss. I might save all of the glossing for when I'm at home, though.

The End of this post, but not of this journey. I did mention addiction, right?