The perfect Valentine

Need a Valentine this season that's a little less with the mush and a little more with the snark?




Don't have anything nice to say? Say it with confidence.

http://thepaperwhisperer.com

tarot card of the day

Regarding a situation I'm fairly nervous about.

Tarot Card: Major Arcana, 20. Judgment
Character: Warren
Upright Meaning: Finality . Outcome of a situation. Hard work rewarded. A rebirth or new start.
Reversed Meaning: Delay in final outcome. Indecision and stagnation. Loss or separation, but not necessarily permanent.
Question: Are you delaying making a decision out of wise judgment or out of fear of the new?
Advice: Go ahead and make the final decision. For better or worse, it’s time to move on.

Well, then, Warren is scary. Let's hope for the "hard work rewarded" scenario, shall we?

Polymer clay workshops!

I (hopefully with assistance of my brilliant sister Bird) will be teaching polymer clay project workshops at St. John's Coffee Cafe in Camp Hill, PA, one Saturday each month.

To register online, go to http://www.divadea.com. To register not online (I hardly know what that means anymore...) go to St. John's at 115 St. John's Church road, Camp Hill, PA 17011.

The class dates so far are Saturdays 2/9, 3/8 and 4/19, from 1:00 PM to approximately 3:30 PM.

The first project is a darling mokume gane photo frame for Valentine's Day. This is a terrific and accessible project that anyone can do. (Well, anyone who can follow instructions, that is...)

The workshop fees are very reasonable - just $25, and that includes materials and use of tools.

So sign up and bring a friend!

Questions? Feel free to email me at admin@divadea.com.

WIP - love challenge #6

Here it is! The last steps of my pcagoe February challenge project, the lovers tarot wall hanging.
(See all the steps.)

After making all the pieces for the picture and the background, I fit them together carefully, and smoothed every seam with gloved fingers.





Here's a close-up of the still unbaked project.



Then I made a border with brown clay. I mixed in the ends of the brown hair cane to ensure a nice match and to use clay that might otherwise be wasted.




After a simple border was made, I re-smoothed and re-checked the whole piece inch by inch. And then it went into the oven to bake (on cardboard on a cookie sheet). I bake my beads in their own little toaster oven, but at approximately 9 inches square, this one had to go in the regular oven.




After it cooled I did a bit of sanding and buffing - notice how the mica shift apple's pattern shows now - and mounted the whole thing on cardboard and felt. Now all that's left is to add hanging apparatus to the back, post it for sale in my etsy shop, and enter it in the challenge.


Project completed!


I plan to scan the project and alter the image digitally to add the number and title of the "card," and this will be the start of what could be a pretty fabulous tarot deck. So, 1 down, only 77 to go...

WIP - love challenge #5

The next step in my Lovers tarot challenge project for pcagoe is to make the background. I used the mokume gane technique, first making the cube, then cutting thin slices. I started with a red/black/white/silver theme and decided these really don't fit with the project - so I'm saving them for the Queen of Hearts.




I used some better (well, more appropriate, anyway) colors on the next try. I made a mokume gane square and sliced it both directions to get some abstract pattern and some stripes.




I then carefully laid alternating pieces on another sheet of clay, rolled the whole thing smooth, and cut out equally-sized squares by laying a square of cardboard on top of the clay and cutting around it with the "magic knife."





These squares will make the background of my picture.






Stay tuned for the last step and the finished product!