Let's Get Caught Up!!!

First I'll start with the Precious Metal Clay class I took. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a very soft clay that comes in little tiny, weighed packages. You roll it, mold it, carve it, and sometimes (twice for me) break it, before you fire it in a kiln and it magically becomes pure silver!

Now, I thought, hey, I've played with Polymer clay. It can't be THAT difficult to make a ring! Ha! Boy, was I, and everyone else in the "beginners" class, totally wrong. This stuff dries out very quickly, cracks and breaks very easily, and is soft enough to make it difficult to make it into a completely even ring.

BUT, it was a real learning experience, and I'll go back for more. Teresa Kodatt the owner, taught the class, and she is AMAZINGLY talented as well as patient. Boy is she patient!!!

She fired the rings. Then we dropped it into Liver of Sulphur to add the etched color, polished it, and off I went.

It's a bit crude. But I love it. The texture is pretty cool, I think. Not at all what I envisioned, but really, really a fun piece.

Moving on......Tutorial on UTEE Embossed Metal Numbers!!! Yay!!! No, I didn't forget that I promised. (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)

1. Take a Numeral and push into embossing pad.

2. Using tweezers or just holding onto the sides, drop it into a jar of UTEE. Here I used Gold. Push it down all around to adhere UTEE.

3. Remove from the jar carefully. It will look like this. Not completely covered, but NOT to WORRY!

4. Using your Heat It Tool, heat on your Craft Sheet, until it all comes together. Don't overheat too much or it just slides off the number. See it starting to melt at the top? Scrape off extra from sheet with the Craft Scraper.

5. Add sprinkles of Platinum and Bronze as shown while it's still hot. Take Heat Tool away from this process or you will blow the UTEE all over the place. TRUST ME, I know from experience!

6. Add as much or as little as you like. Remember, this is metal, and it will get VERY hot!!! So let it cool a tad before touching. Clean off the edges with your fingernail or a wooden skewer while it's still warm. It cleans off very easily.

And you are DONE!!!

We're going to use these numbers in the Embossed Metal on Canvas classes I'm teaching.

Good news from Linda at Creative Cuts and Crafts today. The classes are 1/2 to 3/4 full already!!!!! I am so excited to get to go up there and meet all you great people. Getting kits ready to go as we speak!!!

So a fun little book I found yesterday while shopping with the Watercolor Chicks. Now I won't have to call my daughter and ask what the grouping of letters on FB meant in a post. Worth every penny.

Just a few of the bits of Tim goodness I got in on the doorstep Thursday. Whoo Hoo! Fun times ahead......

And this....my dear friend Ann's husband Phil has a museum of Farm Tractors from the family farm down in Southern Illinois. He is always finding me little bits of things that just make my heart race. They both think I'm WAY too EASILY amused, but that's OK!!!

I've gotten tiny metal purses, vintage cabinet cards, vintage buttons, cattle tags, print blocks, etc, etc, etc....but I nearly dropped my teeth when she handed me this little gem from Phil!!!

Can you believe it????? Grungy and broken. It's almost identical to Tim's reproductions. The head is a little smaller, but I know Ann thought I'd lost my mind until I showed her the new ones from Tim. Strange, very strange.....

So that's all I got! Just working away making up the kits for classes. Cutting paper, Grungeboard, Grungepaper, ribbon, chipboard, and all that fun stuff!!!

It's snowing on my tulips for Pete's sake!!!

Take care and be good to each other.

Linda