Burning down the house...

It was a productive evening, as I sit here picking polymer clay out of my fingernails. I probably have pearl ex powder on my face also because I had a little "issue" with the lid not screwing down all the way. It's a lovely color blue, probably compliments my skin tone well! :)

I worked on three new beach journals, finished binding them and spent the rest of the evening making the polymer clay and beach glass ornamentation. I was scared to death to bake them due to the day I had (more on that in a minute). I was certain I was doomed to burn them, but they turned out well.

I've burned polymer clay one time, about fifteen years ago, and hopefully will never do it again. I made the mistake of asking my husband to turn on the toaster oven for me and he misunderstood the temperature I said. Instead of 275, he put it on 375. After about five minutes, I noticed black smoke coming out of the oven and ran over to unplug it. Mistake number 2 was opening the door! One puff of those noxious fumes sent me gagging and weezing outside to the porch as fast as I could run! It was as if I couldn't breathe, even though I was taking in air. All my hard work was scorched, but I only had myself to blame...I should have checked the temperature before I put my pieces in.

Anyhow, on to my day, which ironically involved burning something else. I decided to make vegetable soup today. This is the first time I've made soup on my new stove, which is one of those smoothtops. I really like the way they look, just not the way they cook. It takes forever to boil water, but once it gets going, it really goes. As for the soup, well, it went. All the water cooked out of it after only an hour, despite that I had it on low, and I was left with a burnt mess by the time I smelled it. I thought I was going to have to throw out my pot, but I managed to salvage that. As for dinner, I wasn't as fortunate!

Then I had some book binding issues while the soup was cooking/burning, which is why I didn't smell the burnt soup sooner as I was in my studio. I stuck myself pretty good with the needle while sewing signatures together, miscalculated how much thread I needed and ran out with one hole left to sew, and ripped a signature cover and had to replace it. Grrr...and then came the soup. And that was my day!

A Wasted Afternoon

During my free time this afternoon, I decided to try a technique I saw in a magazine. It was a dye & salt nature printing technique. I should have been working on finishing up my books, but I thought I'd take a little break from that. Besides, if the technique was successful, I may be able to incorporate it in my art.
So, after much preparation, gathering my dyes, watercolor paper, drop cloth, newsprint paper, and so on, I walked around the garden with clippers in hand. I came back into the kitchen with a collection of fern fronds, grasses, leaves, and flowers and was ready to go. I followed the instructions step by step, only to become more and more puzzled as I went. It seemed there were some details left out of the instructions. I got so frustrated I just gave up. So much for that project. I should have just worked on my books...*sigh*
Well, NOW I will go work on my books. I have three more beach journals in the works, one using the same color scheme as the photo below. I'm trying different colors with the other two. My goal is to have them ready to list this weekend. Good luck to me! I just need to avoid magazine projects and I think I'll be okay!

One of my beach glass journals

At Last!

I am hoping I have found my niche on Etsy. I sold my beach glass journal within 20 minutes of having listed it! This is the second one I've made, the first one sold within 24 hours. Obviously there is something about this journal that connects with people. I'm glad because it was a lot of fun to make and I enjoy picking out the beach glass to use in the project.

I'm so tired I'm getting giddy and incoherent, so off to bed I go. I keep writing things and then deleting them because I don't think I'm making sense. I'll quit while I'm ahead. More tomorrow.

This is so cool!

I had to post again tonight, just to get the excitement out of my system so I can sleep peacefully. I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to do this. I've just successfully added thumbnail photos from my shop and found a template I like!

Now to just meet some folks...I'm all by myself here in blog-land. :(

In The Beginning...

Ok, so here I am, my very first blog. I have no idea what I'm doing or what to expect! I suppose the only thing to do is take it one step at a time and figure it out as I go along.

I'm starting this blog because I want to meet other artists and stretch myself creatively. I'm already a few steps down the path of being stretched--I took that treacherous first leap and put my creations up for sale on Etsy. Initially it was a great success, my first item sold within 24 hours, but things have come to a standstill since then. I'm testing the waters, trying to find my niche as a professional artist and what resonates with buyers.

Any feedback would be quite welcome!!