Polymer Clay Canes

Valentine's Day Cane

2012-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

Have a heart - this did not exactly turn out the way that I had intended, but it still is a cute little heart flower cane. I have a couple other variations in mind for it, so this is not the last that you will see of it. :)

It is on sale and available in my Artfire and Etsy shops.

Firefly Ridge-Artists in the country: A Buffalo Gift Catalogue to admire

2012-01-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Firefly Ridge-Artists in the country: A Buffalo Gift Catalogue to admire: Oh Give Me a Home ... Curated By: bluemorningex... ArtFire.com Handmade Jewelry & Gifts

The Blu Print: Firefly Ridge-Artists in the country: It's Talente...

2012-01-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

The Blu Print: Firefly Ridge-Artists in the country: It's Talente...: Firefly Ridge-Artists in the country: It's Talented Tuesday! : Today's Featured Talent is BluemorningExpressions.She is one of the most tale...

Valentine’s Day Raw Polymer Clay Heart Cane for Bead Making

2012-01-19T08:54:00.001-08:00

I have been wanting to do a heart cane for awhile now and finally took the time to sit down and do just that. This little flower is white with a red heart on each petal and has been centered around a spiraling red and white center. This cane has been done in both premo! and fimo and I only created this one cane. I do have a couple variations of this cane planned, but don’t know if they will be done in time for Valentine’s Day.

Here is the cane and a bead for an example so you can see how the translucent disappears. The bead has been handsanded through one grit and then lightly varnished. I only have 15 of these available for sale and they are in my Artfire shop.

Here is the listing for them:

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day bead making and the listing explains some of the uses for this versatile cane.

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: millefiori canes,heart beads,heart canes,canes for bead making,raw polymer clay canes,fimo canes,polymer clay canes,clay canes,blue morning expressions,valentine's day canes,valentine's day beads,beads for Valentine's day,valentines day,artfire,#afpp,#ckdin,CAPS

Caramels, Beads, Polymer Clay Canes and Other Goodies

2012-01-14T16:17:00.001-08:00

I love Caramel Nips; they are a smooth caramel hard candy that slowly melts in your mouth and is full of milky, sweet caramel and comes in a box of maybe 15 or 20 for about one dollar. I don’t have them very often, but when I do, they are a blissful moment of yum.

When I created these polymer clay beads, I did not notice the caramel color too much, but once I started my sanding and then glazing, they were the same smooth caramel goodness. The polymer clay lentil beads were so similar to the those candies that I wanted the beads to just glow with the caramel color.

My polymer clay cane flowers are all bright and colorful. I used all my own canes except one flower I happened to have in my stash of polymer clay goodies.

The little round beads are all 10mm beads and the small roundels are in the same yummy caramel color. I did one set of beads with my pale blue star flower on them and one set with the purple violet polymer clay cane.

The lentil beads will be great as bracelets and they are in two different sizes. The lentil beads with all the color flowers on them are 20mm in size and I created six of those and the other lentil beads are 15mm and I created eight of each of those sets.

I thought the lentil beads with the rose and pale green flowers on them would be perfect for a Victorian themed bracelet.

All of these wonderful beads are just waiting for the right project!

Enjoy!

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: polymer clay beads for sale,polymer clay beads,blue morning expressions,polymer clay canes,raw polymer clay canes,lentil beads,roundel beads,purple flower beads

Winter Earrings – The Canes Dangle from the Ears

2012-01-05T13:20:00.001-08:00

This exercise was actually two-fold, if not more. I wanted to make 10mm polymer clay beads using my winter series of polymer clay canes. I was going to set them up for sale as earring pairs and just leave it at that until I actually finished the beads and held them in my hands. I knew as soon as I touched them that I wanted to create the earrings from them myself.

I had been working on getting the technique for wire-wrapping down and had yet to try the closed loop for bead attachment. In fact, I have been totally intimidated by the closed loop – no matter how many times I looked at the instructions, it just did not click with me. But, in order to create the earrings that I envisioned, I was going to need to close the loops and not work with a wrapped end.

I wanted to create dangling earrings using chain and knew I did not want to open the loops and then attach the wire wrapped beads. That did not stop me from creating a couple wire wrapped beads and assembling them that way. I did sit down and took out one of my many beading books and looked at the instructions over and over again. Any standard beading book will include instructions for wire wrapping and simple closed loops for your beads.

I did not get them all right, but I did get them to work the way I wanted them to, which allowed me to create 8 pairs of dangling chain earrings.

Here are the earrings using the winter cane series in 10mm bead format.

What fun they were!

I will create some more 10mm for the earrings pairs that I originally started out to create. Hopefully, those will make it to the shop for sale, but I can make no promises. :)

Enjoy the beads, canes and earrings,

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: blue morning expressions,artfire,polymer clay beads,polymer clay canes,winter canes,flower canes,polymer clay earrings,handmade beads,raw canes,millefiori canes

Winter Jewelry from Winter Canes

2011-12-17T11:42:00.001-08:00

You’ve seen the canes, you’ve seen the beads – now see the jewelry.

I sat and looked at these beads for a long time before I decided what I wanted to do with them. I thought about selling them separately as focal beads for wire wrapping, I thought about just putting together the usual eight bead pillow set and letting it go at that. Then, I thought about creating jewelry myself with them.

I rarely get a chance to sit down and just bead, but I decided to take a day and just make necklaces and bracelets from these beads. I had a lot of matching glass and pearl beads in blues and greens and I thought I might just make sets of my own. I might even keep them for myself.

I have them in my Artfire shop and I may still take them for my own; I particularly like the cat’s eye bracelet :)

All photos link to the store items!

I had a lot of fun putting these together and hope you enjoy the pretty colors :)

Happy Holidays

Julie and Blu

A Winter’s Morning Polymer Clay Pillow Beads

2011-11-28T15:49:00.001-08:00

You have seen the raw clay, you have seen the raw canes and now, see the finished beads.

I did three sets of polymer clay pillow beads – they are approximately one inch in size and have been created from complimentary golden clay as a base and some beads have a baby blue inlay. The entire three sets have been adorned with slices from my Winter Morning flower canes, as well as my geometric clay cane as an accent. Each bead has been hand drilled and then hand sanded when they were done baking. I hand sanded up to 1000 grit wet dry sandpaper.

I put a light glaze on these beads using Minwax Waterbased polyurethane gloss; just enough to give them a shiny surface.

I haven’t decided yet whether I am going to sell them as sets or individually this time. I think they are pretty enough to make a nice focal bead in earthy tones and can be wrapped in warm copper or shiny silver. Even gold would look good on these beads. I might do one in each!

Either way they are wrapped or strung, they will make a great set of beads for someone who wants to make a unique necklace or bracelet. There are enough beads to create a whole set of jewelry, including polymer clay earrings. String them with your favorite spacers or Czech glass beads for a bright holiday piece.

Enjoy the beads:

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: polymer clay beads for sale,polymer clay beads,pillow beads,polymer clay canes,blue morning expressions,fimo beads,premo beads,flower beads,flower canes

A Big Box of Kaleidoscope Canes - Raw eBay Auction

2011-11-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

I have a huge box of my kaleidoscope canes on eBay up for auction - there are almost 3 pounds of canes with a starting bid of $3.99.

A big box of my canes are on ebay for a starting bid of $3.99 Raw Polymer Clay Kaleidoscope Canes Bead Making Premo - Here is the link

Here is the photo

Winter Morning Canes – Now Complete and Ready for Sale

2011-11-22T18:22:00.001-08:00

It took me all day to wrap these canes with fimo classic translucent and reduce them. I ended up with over 85 canes at two inches apiece. I kept a few of them for myself and one of the Klimt canes that I did in the same color theme. I want to create a few sets of polymer clay beads and I think I will use all these flower canes.

They are all for sale and have been loaded up in my Artfire store and www.bluemorningexpressions.com – both sites are running a 35% off sale on all my canes.

Here are the new flowers – enjoy them!

Enjoy a winter morning :)

Julie and Blu

Winter’s Morning

2011-11-18T16:28:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, big heavy and wet snow fell from the afternoon until evening, blanketing me in almost a foot of soft white snow. Branches bent under the weight and the white made the night bright and crisp.

This morning, I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise on the snow. The blues, greys, browns and pale oranges began to shed light over the fields and because this was a treat for my eyes, I grabbed my camera and tried to capture the colors.

The mountains lit up with the morning sunlight and because it was still a little bit warm, I took a lot of photos.

The colors were the inspiration for pale pastel palette that I selected for today’s flower canes and geometric blocks.

I have not wrapped them in translucent yet, but I used all custom colors for these polymer clay raw canes.

They are sitting on my messy workbench :)

Have a great winter morning.

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: polymer clay canes,flower canes,polymer clay flowers,fimo flowers,blue morning expressions,raw flower canes,clay flowers,polymer flower

Three Boxes of Raw Polymer Clay Canes Being Auctioned Off on eBay

2011-11-15T07:56:00.001-08:00

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raw-Polymer-Clay-Cane-Flower-Leaves-Premo-Fimo-/270853538199?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f10210197

Auction 1 – These are all part of one box of canes – this auction will end November 21. The starting bid is $3.99 with No Reserve

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raw-Polymer-Clay-Cane-Flower-Leaves-Premo-Fimo-/270853538444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f1021028c

Auction 2 – This is an auction of all these canes. The auction ends on November 21 and has a starting bid of $3.99. There is no reserve on this auction.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raw-Polymer-Clay-Cane-Flower-Leaves-Premo-Fimo-/270853538754?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f102103c2

Auction 3 – These are all in this auction with no reserve. The starting bid is $3.99 and the auction will end on November 21.

These boxes are the last of hundreds of flower canes that I created and now I need room for more canes. I have new designs that will take the places of these canes and I need to move these out to make room. This is an opportunity to get a box of great flowers for a great price.

Happy bidding!

Technorati Tags: ebay auction,raw canes,polymer clay canes,cane auction,raw cane auctions,flower cane auction,flower canes for sale,flower canes for auction,flower canes cheap,cheap flower canes,polymer canes for sale,polymer clay auctions

New Polymer Clay Flower Canes for November 2011

2011-11-02T18:35:00.001-07:00

New canes!

I have been so busy doing so many silly things that I have gotten zero clay work done, so, I made it a point to take a lot of my extra clay pieces that I have had sitting here and make flowers. I ran into some problems with sticky clay when I started working on my kaleidoscope canes, so I went with flowers, they were not annoying me. :)

I have a half a dozen kaleidoscope cane designs created and I am determined to get them done, but I have to leach my clay and that requires me to know what the heck colors I am going to work with first. This is more trouble than I want to get into right now, so they are sitting in my design book and not on my work bench.

Here are the raw polymer clay flower canes that I just finished. I really like the pinwheel flower cane that was a very happy accident.

In addition to these canes, I created another 50 flower canes using my standard patterns of orange and yellow flowers, as well as blue and purple. I wanted to do some different flowers, so I am working on creating new patterns and experimenting with different cane shapes.

Look for new canes soon!

These canes are available in all of my stores now.

www.bluemorningexpressions.com

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/bluemorningexpressions

http://www.etsy.com/shop/polymerclaybeads

Most of these canes are extremely limited and I will not be repeating them as they were custom colors, but I did like the styles, so those will be repeated in the future.

Have fun with flowers!

Julie and Blu

2011 Handmade Christmas List

2011-11-01T10:59:00.001-07:00

I posted this on the bluprint.
http://bmebluprint.blogspot.com/2011/11/handmade-christmas-gifts-for-2011.html
Get all of your shopping done with Handmade Artists from both Artfire and Etsy.

New Posts - BluPrint Blue Morning Expressions Blog

2011-10-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that I have updated my other blog with polymer clay goodies and other posts.

I found that I have been updating that more lately than here, but only because I have not had the time to do the canes that I was doing. I will get more done soon, but until then, go to Blue Morning Expressions http://bmebluprint.blogspot.com/ for the latest clay updates. Like my facebook and favorite my blog :)

Winner of a Personlized Penguin Polymer clay Christmas Ornament

2011-10-23T14:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.pacountrycrafts.blogspot.com/

Here is the winner of the polymer clay Penguin ornament.

Enter to Win a Polymer Clay Bracelet

2011-09-07T06:22:00.001-07:00

Win a Polymer Clay Bracelet

Yummy Chocolate

2011-06-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

I am a bit off my polymer clay track but I saw these yummies and had to post them!

Go and Get Some!

These cute, cute, cute chocolate flip flops are just begging to be enjoyed with a cup of tea. I want someone to buy me these adorable chocolate suckers in the pretty summer colors.

Borrowed description from ButterflyBlooms
Nothing says "Summers Here!" like flip flops do!

So why not get in the summer spirit with these awesomely adorable Flip Flop Chocolate Suckers?

As the Flip Flop trend continues strong, these suckers will be a hit for any summertime event. Whether its a BBQ, beach party, tweens /teens birthday or even a bachlorette party you can simply not go wrong with these Flip Flop Chocolate Suckers.

Add a personalized custom gift tag to create a unique and unforgetable party favor.

CANDY DETAILS
Measurements: 2.0" W x 3.25" L
Weight: 1.7 ounces
Flavors: Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate, Vanilla Flavored Candy
Sets: Sold in sets of 4 (or multiples of 4)

**Gift tags are not included in the sucker purchase price. If you would like to include custom gift tags to your purchase, please add your customized request (i.e. color scheme, wording) in the "Notes to Seller" section of your order. Please do not exceed 40 characters in message. Gift tags are 5 / US $1.00.
A visual proof of gift tag will be sent to you for approval prior to a custom listing for your purchase.

**Don't forget to include your custom requests in your order, you can use the section titled "Notes to Seller". If no custom requests are received your order will include a variety of chocolate flavors and a variety of color schemes similar to those pictured.

Custom for this order: include sucker flavor (i.e. milk choco, dark choco, white choco, vanilla); flip flop strap color; flower color

Product Materials
Materials Used:

Chocolate

Heartsy Deal on Artfire

2011-06-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in getting a great deal on my clay canes and beads, then click over to heartsy, which is the artists' equivalent to groupon.

This is for my artfire shop, which has over 1000 different items in it, from jewelry and beads, to xstitch and beaded loom patterns.

I only have a few hours to get all the needed votes before this goes to a final approval stage.
The discount is $14 for $30 voucher, which DOES include shipping.

http://heartsy.me/deals/4164/like

Backgroundless Canes

2011-05-05T06:29:00.001-07:00

As I previously posted about the backgroundless canes, I told you I would post some photos of them as I finished them.

I was surprised at the size of the purple flowers when I finished them. They were smaller than I had anticipated, although ALMOST the size I needed for the project. The thing that keeps throwing me, and I mean throwing me, is the bulk of the play-doh in addition to the outer wrap of scrap clay.

When I cane now, I use a thinner wrap of translucent or color that I can not only see, but can visualize as my project. I know how much clay it takes to get a 20mm face or a 10mm face. And I know when I am done reducing it.

With the backgroundless, you lose sight of your core and it is easy to over reduce. I was shooting for a 15mm five petal daisy and ended up with a 5mm five petal daisy. Yikes!

Since I don’t do nail canes or nail art, I am not sure what I will use these for. I will find a home for them though, no cane is unloved here. Maybe there is a thimble that needs some pretty daisies on it.

So I went back and started over.

The finished daisies are 20mm petal to petal – the cane was much larger than that before I started peeling away the outer layers of it.

I have had some ups and downs and with the soaking and the removal of the play-doh, but I have been able to get it all off.

If you are baking them for rods and beads right away, it isn’t as much of an issue as if you are selling the finished canes. The play-doh can be flicked out with a toothpick after the rod is baked.

On a raw cane, the play-doh can become dried if it sits on your workbench overnight and I talked with another clay artist and she had trouble with the play-doh leaving dried bits in her raw cane which made it unusable for selling.

Don’t use a toothbrush to clean the raw cane in the water. <--- voice of experience here!

Do use a soft bristled clean paintbrush to gently brush the clay away as it dissolves. It’s kinder on the clay. Unless texture is your thing.

I sliced my cane for beads and because I didn’t want to distort it – because I can’t remember which of my blades is the newest one – I stuck the cane in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I started slicing.

I don’t know if it is me or if anyone else has noticed this, but the clay – I used premo! – is tacky feeling after all the mangling that I did to it. I don’t know if this is a result of the play-doh against it, the soaking in the water that I did, or just the usual premo! consistency that I haven’t been paying attention to. Their black is odd at times for some reason. It’s definitely tacky.

I will keep working on this project, I have a lot of reasons to have backgroundless canes and I know that there is a way to do it.

Here is my first real attempt at doing the canes.

Technorati Tags: polymer clay canes,blue morning expressions,daisy beads,millefiori canes,raw canes,polymer clay beads for sale,how to make a cane,backgroundless canes

See this post for instructions on how to create canes with play-doh - Backgroundless Canes by Idit Zoota.

2011-04-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

I was web surfing and found this simple tutorial with a rather cool outcome. I rarely do any tutorials or get a chance to really play, but today was a perfect day for this.

Spliced Cane

This is a single skinner blend in pearl blue/white cut in half. One roll light to dark, the other dark to light. I used the scrap to outline the jellyroll - light on the dark outside and dark on the light outside.

Stuck the remaining scraps in snakes between the pieces.

I think I will make some more and create some beads :)

Photos of canes

2011-04-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Backgroundless Canes

2011-04-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

I am trying my hand at the backgroundless canes using the play-doh as seen on
Backgroundless Canes by Idit Zoota.

I needed a boatload of little 10mm flowers that I could cut for small beads and this is perfect for that.

I had to go out and buy play-doh and should have shopped price before I picked it up at Jo-Anns when I got my micro crimper today. I paid too much for it and used my 40% off coupon and still paid too much. It's less than 2 bucks at Walmart and I paid 3 bucks WITH the discount.

But I digress.

The smell of play-doh will take you back to your childhood, but the real shock is the difference in consistency when you switch from building the flower cane to actually wrapping the flower in a sheet of play-doh. My first instinct was to condition it! It is so smooshy and soft that I thought maybe it needed to be leached!

Anyway, the little flowers are in the oven now and when I get the rods out, I will shoot a photo of them and see how that turned out!

Polymer Clay Pillow Beads with Floral Canes, Butterflies and Transclucent Canes

2011-04-17T16:32:00.001-07:00

April 17, 2011

Polymer Clay Pillow Beads with Floral Canes, Butterflies and Transclucent Canes

Polymer Clay Beads Filled with Flowers and Butterflies!

My all time favourite beads to create are pillow beads. I don't know what it is about them, but I can't resist creating them. I like the way they feel, I love the size of them - most 20mm - although I do have some 15mm sized beads as well.

To me, it is hard to resist what I consider a blank canvas.

I start with a blank sheet of clay; either in a tinted colour - I rarely use a colour out of the package, or a neutral.

If I am using a neutral, I will take one of my kaleidoscope canes and cover the sheet of clay before I cut them to the size of bead that I am creating. The base on the kaleidoscope cane beads will not be a part of the design so it isn't that important to me what colour it is. I will tuck it under when I assemble my bead.

When I am creating a garden of beads, I use my tinted clay as the background and generously slice thin pieces of my leaves, flowers and butterfly canes onto the background. It doesn't matter where they go, I will be cutting them all up anyway.

Before I cut my beads up for assembly, I make sure that they are smoothed out. This helps me not to have to do as much sanding as I would if there were hills and gouges. I have carpal tunnel and hand sanding is a bit hard on my hand, so I do the best to keep it at a minimum.

Once I have cut my beads and assembled them with their pillow stuffing, I smooth my edges, doing the best that I can to make them seem seamless. I usually add a 1mm hole to them before baking, but lately, I have been uping the hole to 3mm. I have been reading beaders that are requesting a slightly larger hole, so I have been doing that for them.

Polymer clay is soft enough after it is finished to allow for hole enlargement if needed.

Once my beads are baked, I drop the flower ones into a bath of ice water immediately, it clears the translucent clay right up and makes it clear.

I handsand the beads through three grits and then add a nice little shine of varathene on them before putting them up to dry.

Once they are dry, I do my photos and the next thing you know, they are here as a new item in my store.

I hope you enjoy the beads and the work that goes into them.

Must go bead,

Julie and Blu

Purple Blue Disk Beaded Necklace Pearl Polymer Clay

2011-04-12T14:30:00.001-07:00

Purple Blue Disk Beaded Necklace Pearl

Hoppy Taw

Yeah, that's what I named this polymer clay piece featuring my kaleidoscope canes on large cookie shaped disk beads.

The Hoppy Taw was a staple of my childhood. No self respecting 3rd grader ever played hopscotch at school without a Hoppy Taw of one's own. They seemed to be magical and could make you stand on one leg a lot longer. This silly thick rubber disk was some marketing genius's bread and butter. In fact, it wasn't until a couple years ago that I even checked to see if it was really called a Hoppy Taw or if that was some misheard lyric type situation of childhood. It was in fact called just that.

When I created these disks, that was the first thing that came to mind. They are large, colorful and can probably make you stand on one leg longer than anyone else.

Each disk has been double drilled and hand sanded smooth and had a light coat of varnish added for some shine.

The potato pearls both between the beads and hand wrapped on the chain have been dyed to an iridescent blue and purple which is one of my favourite colour combination.

I merged the sets of cable into a single strand and loaded it up with delicas, plated chain and wire wrapped additional potato pearls and Czech glass beads.

The clasp is a pewter rose and the ends have been double crimped and double crimp covered. I used E6000 cement on the crimps and covers to secure the ends.

This has been designed to curve and will automatically do that when you wear it. The length is a comfortable 24 inches.

It is a lightweight piece but it does have a bit of bulk to it due to the size of the disks.

©jcleveland

2011-04-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

Playing Through

When you live in Florida, you are surrounded by both the beautiful waters of the Atlantic Ocean and miles and miles of golf courses.

Like a lot of my goodies, these started by those wonderful three words that we all love to hear, "Do You Have ....." which is a variation on the theme of "Can You Make..."

A friend of mine needed a gift for a lovely lady golfer and she saw some ladybug pot holder magnets that I had done and asked how hard it would be to create golf balls for her friend's kitchen. I thought about it a minute and said, "well, I could do a set of two for your friend, if you give me a couple of days to get them done".

It was a mutually beneficial exchange, she had a set of magnets that couldn't be found anywhere else and I had a new product line that given my locale, made for a popular gift.

I used Fimo Soft to form my golf balls, I added my hook and glued it in before baking. I attached a heavy duty thick magnet on the back, and now these are ready for a place of honor on any golfer's refrigerator. Priced right and fun, those are two things that I strive for in my creations.

Most of all, fun.

See you on the 19th hole.

Julie and Blu

Polymer clay heart lentil bead dangle earrings

2011-04-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

Polymer clay heart lentil bead dangle earrings

Heart Lentil Beads - I created a set of these on a whim for the Peas and Carrots bracelet that I did and was so pleased with the results that I decided that I would create a couple dozen little earring sets.

My idea to create earring sets has been spurred by my adoration of the lampwork artists and their earring pairs. They are just affordable enough for me to buy a set of beads and create my own crystal and glass earrings. I wanted to do the same thing with polymer clay for folks that didn't want to get a whole set of eight beads. These earring pairs work up quickly and nicely - just in time for an evening out with friends.

I seem to be drawn to anything shiny, so I have a natural affection for Swarovski crystals and try to use them in all possible ways. These earring beads just begged to be dressed up a bit with dangling and shiny crystals.

I wrapped each crystal with wire so that I could attach them to jump rings and waterfall them down from the bottom of the heart. I used a lot of 4mm crystals in these earrings - they seemed to be the best size for the 10mm hearts.

Because I love black as a design option, I chose the black, yellow and red clay to use as my base bead. I knew that the yellow would contrast nice in the bead and give me the possibility of an orange combination. That also gave me an excuse to use my all time favorite Swarovski color - Fire Opal.

These earrings are fun and affordable and I know that I will be making a lot more of them, they just will all look different due to the combination of the clay used. I have a huge box of crystals in dozens of different colors, so I am not worried about any of these earrings looking the same.

See a pair of beads that you would like created into a similar set of earrings? Just let me know and I will create the earrings for you.

Enjoy shiny things,
Julie and Blu

Happiness is a box of flowers!

2011-04-08T15:01:00.001-07:00

Polymer clay canes have a way of both multiplying and scampering off to far away corners of a drawer somewhere. There they get forgotten, overlooked, a bit mangled or abandoned. For awhile now, my boxes of flowers have been conveniently sitting under my desk, where I prop my feet up on them, drop my blade on them, drop my clay on them, and many times, drop all my beads on them. But, I knew where they were if I got the time to create more beads.

In perusing ebay and etsy, I see people selling beautiful floral canes and I admire them and favorite them, and ooo and ah over them. Occasionally, I will buy some canes from a few of my favorite cane artists. I see the destashers and the other day I saw someone selling off this huge pile of flowers, butterflies and odds and ends. I recognized some of my favorite artists in the mix and decided to bid on the lot. I drove the bid up and set my timer to go into a bidding war over my favorite flowers and butterflies. Well, I promptly forgot about it and when I saw it again, there was no more bidding on them and I would have gone a lot more than what I did.

The whole idea of destashing canes made me think of my boxes under my desk. She had admitted to not taking very good care of her canes and that they might have some bits and pieces of other clay on them and that she was sorry. I thought about my canes and how they were tossed in the boxes, totally uncared for and unwrapped. How they were unfinished – the ends were still on them and they were still in the “creation” stage. I would just slice off a couple pieces and toss the rest in the box. I was bad.

So, in shame, I decided that I should not spend hundreds of dollars on new canes, no matter how much I coveted them, but I should take care of the ones that I had. I dumped both boxes out and began the long daunting task of trimming, rolling and wrapping all my flower canes. I spent over 12 hours cleaning them up. And the funny thing was, once I finished that, I only had ONE box of flowers!

Other than a Tami Shavat cane, all the canes are mine. I left the photo large so you could see everything up close.

Once I did all this, I realized that I was in need of a lot more flowers!

Time to get busy.

For the last three days, I have worked on florals canes and kaleidoscope canes. I learned my lesson about taking care of these right away and created another box full of flowers. Again, I left the photo large so you could see the details.

The large round thing in the corner is one of the largest kaleidoscope canes I have ever done. It got a little out of hand! Literally!

I don’t know what I am going to do with all these canes but apparently I have no self control and clay needs to be rolled, slapped and banged on the table, which was exactly how I managed to get this large cane together.

Enjoy the canes.

Julie and Blu

A Quickie Update!

2011-03-17T17:26:00.001-07:00

Left over pinks, purples and blues that were added to white to create a simple kaleidoscope cane became the background for these latest polymer clay pillow beads.

Smiles waiting to happen,

Julie and Blu

Pretty Floral Pillows

2011-03-15T16:50:00.001-07:00

First of all, my heart and prayers go out to all of those folks who have been affected by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. May you and your families be safe and may the nuclear threat be minimal.

Hugs

Julie and Blu

Kaleidoscope Polymer Clay Cane Bracelet

2011-03-04T15:42:00.001-08:00

This bracelet has been filled with slices of my kaleidoscope cane and then sanded and polished to create this one of a kind bracelet. The blanks have some weight to them and they are finished off with a heavy duty toggle.

Pretty cool, huh?

The bracelet blanks I have had for a few years and I can’t seem to find anymore. I have a couple left, if you want a blank set, email me and I will get you one.

Julie

A Little Bit O’Flowers

2011-03-04T14:45:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: polymer clay,millefiori canes,blue morning expressions,pillow beads,flower cane beads,floral pillow beads,beads for bracelets,beads for necklaces

Here are some spring offerings for you to enjoy. Grabbing a bouquet of flowers, I spread them all over my latest pillow beads. This is not all though, I will be adding many more polymer clay floral pillow beads.

These fat beads are perfect for creating lanyards, chunky necklaces and colorful bracelets. Some pink flower beads and some blue flower beads. Then a whole rainbow of colors on the other sets.

Now, I am off to create more millefiori canes so I can add more flowers to the bouquets.

I had a lot of fun playing with ghost and translucents as well.

Enjoy the flowers,

Julie and Blu

Floral Canes and the Pillow Beads That They Create

2011-02-26T05:54:00.001-08:00

Spring fever!

Enjoy :)

Julie and Blu

Offerings!

2011-02-21T17:17:00.001-08:00

These simple bracelets are the most recent thing that I managed to get photo’d

The cane bracelet is done completely in my pink dove cane, while the cuff bracelet is an exercise in pretend lampwork. I was experimenting with both the ability to cover the cuff smoothly and then the addition of the left over clay pieces from caning. I got started on it and couldn’t stop until it was done. I didn’t have a plan going into that bracelet, so the end result was a surprise!

It’s actually not uncomfortable, it is sturdy like I planned and a bit on the outrageous side. I am sure that I can find a fun function to wear it at.

The pink bracelet is a bit heavy, but makes a great statement. I have several bracelet blanks like this that I plan on filling with both flowers and canework.

Enjoy!

Julie and Blu

Pillow Beads from Kaleidoscope Cane Remnants

2011-01-23T05:51:00.001-08:00

The canes that were created from Margie Deeb’s beautiful book are still sitting in a coveted state in my cane drawer – yes, I have a cane drawer :)

However, the scraps and end pieces which I thought were too pretty to toss into my cane end bucket – yes, I have one of those too – I scrambled together and created some of the following pillow beads.

I also took all the left over bullseye canes, filler canes, jellyroll canes and odds and ends and created another kaleidoscope cane which I found most appealing! All of the canes created in this colour exercise were compatible enough that they made a happy accident, which most of my caning is!

Here are the results of those left over canes along with a few other goodies.

Now, I have lots of new canes to create – flowers are blooming all over my workbench!

Julie and Blu

Playing With Palettes

2010-12-12T14:56:00.001-08:00

I have a book that is fast becoming worn around the edges as I spend a lot of time simply leafing through it. I take it with me when we go somewhere and I glance through it while riding along in the car. I like to look at the photos and the different beaded images and then look at the scenery around me and find a palette based on what I see.

Margie Deeb has put together this book, The Beader’s Color Palette, to inspire us to take a good look at the world around us and find the natural palettes to use in our art. Whether beading or playing in clay, I am always trying to find new ways to do things. Sometimes, I can not think of a single thing to create. (That’s why I like this book so well!)

I had on my to do list, some kaleidoscope canes, as I have almost exhausted my entire collection. I sat here and stared off and fiddled around and couldn’t think of a single thing to do with my hundreds of brand new packages of premo! I got carried away when they went on sale and have boxes of clay now.

So, I sat on the couch and watched the news and picked up Margie’s book and started leafing through it again and suddenly I thought of the artist grade clay that I have recently switched to and how it closely resembled the oil paints and their unlimited ability to create every colour we know.

I began to look at the book and try and imagine what colours it would take to create the ones I was seeing in the photos. I tried to be picky about what colours I wanted to work with and the canes that I would make from the clay. That approach wasn’t working, I still couldn’t decide.

SO! I randomly opened the book and made myself create from the colours on the page.

This was the first cane that I did with this new thought process :)

Ecru is now my new favourite colour!

This fruit dove was on the adjacent page and I figured that with only 4 colours, it would be an easy cane. However, there were certainly MORE than 4 colours by the time that I was finished.

I never left the page with these two sea inspired pieces.

I think these two might just be my most favourite for the moment.

I did something a little different with these canes, I have nearly zero left over clay. I used every little bit of mixed and blended clay to either wrap or add a dot or outline a cane. I have 4 chunks of end pieces from these but for the most part every bit of clay was used.

I suppose the next step is to make some beads from these! I already have plans for the first cane, I think I will make a necklace set with matching bracelet from it.

If you are interested in the book, here is the book with a link to Margie Deeb’s site. It is well worth picking up.

Have fun!

Julie and Blu

New Bracelets

2010-12-07T16:58:00.001-08:00

As promised, here are the new beads!

Polymer Clay Flowers with Swarovski accents, fun peas and carrots beads and lots of lentils.

Julie and Blu

Some Early Christmas Gifts!

2010-12-07T12:00:00.001-08:00

A few weeks back, I was sitting at my kitchen table staring out over the top of my laptop. From my kitchen table, I can see out into my backyard through the sliding glass windows. (I actually can sit and watch the shuttle launches from that vantage point)

I noticed this huge cat in my backyard, it took the brain a few moments to realize that it was a Florida Panther come to visit. I was so astonished that the only thing I could think of was to hiss/whisper to my husband, “Bill, come quick and see the cougar.”

We watched it walk across the yard and then hop over the 5 foot fence into the neighbors yard. I regret that I didn't get a photo of this beautiful animal while he was here.

But this weekend, I looked up and these two characters were prowling around the backyard so I was sure to get their photo! I followed them around until they climbed a tree and I snapped their cute little faces staring at me through the oak leaves. They were juvenile rocky racs out for a Sunday stroll and they made me smile.

New beads – I have been experimenting with a few new bead shapes and will share those as soon as I get them finished. I did complete a couple new bracelets and will also post those as I get the photos done.

In the meantime – here are new beads:

Enjoy,

Julie and Blu

November Beads

2010-11-07T07:34:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: polymer clay beads,penguin christmas beads,christmas beads,floral round beads,coin beads,lentil beads,pillow beads,millefiori canes,blue morning expressions,holiday beads,beads on sale,beads for necklaces,beads for bracelets,handmade beads,beads for sale,how to buy polymer clay beads,polymer clay beads for sale

A little bit of Holiday cheer and with Christmas right around the corner, I put together a nice holiday kaleidoscope cane which I promptly sliced up to create the latest pillow beads for sale.

The hardest part was capturing the metallic shine and shimmer of these beads. The green is pearl green, the red is pearl red and the gold is, well, gold. I worked completely in premo! this time around and the cane is not a very large one. I should be able to get a couple more sets of these pretty beads out of it before I have exhausted it. The off slices made a nice set of lentils as well. I think I will make a few more of those as well.

I have added a dozen more floral rounds and a few tab beads. I haven’t quite geared up my bead making yet. There have been a lot of other personal issues going on right now that have taken time.

The poinsettia beads are one of a kind and I will not repeat them. I happened to be fiddling around with some extra red pearl that I had left from my skinner blend and added some gold veins and put a yellow and brown bullseye cane in the center and “voila!” poinsettia beads! :) They are amazingly lightweight and they will make a great necklace bracelet combination. Add some extra red and green beads, some glass green leaves and you are ready for the holidays.

Here are my latest focal beads, they feature the latest waterslide decals that I have. They are on pearl, which is for my use only. They are sold on white beads.

These will become 6 new necklaces with blue and white beads and red and green beads.

That’s all for this week.

Stay warm and toasty, we are chilly in Florida and we are planning a move to Montana in the next couple of months, so I am appreciating the warm weather now.

All beads and finished jewelry are on sale at www.bluemorningexpressions.com – take 25% off all items.

Have a great weekend,

Julie and Blu

Almost Forgot!

2010-10-27T17:40:00.001-07:00

All the items at www.bluemorningexpressions.com which include these and many other beads and canes are all 25% OFF for the next couple of day!

Pillow Beads with Appliqué Style Millefiori Canes

2010-10-27T17:20:00.001-07:00

Had to try something a little different and this was out of the ordinary for me.

I ended up with over 150 new bead sets this month. My ad will be in the next Stringing Magazine and there will be an ad in both the Handmade special magazine coming up and I will have an ad in the Tucson Bead Show special edition. I thought I might should have a lot of new sets of beads ready to go.

I have a bunch of new ones to make that are not finished yet. I have to get myself in gear and create ten or fifteen new kaleidoscope canes for more pillow beads. I have too many things to do :)

Enjoy the beads!

Julie and Blu

Buckets of Beads!

2010-10-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

Off on a bead kick! I have all these beautiful floral millefiori canes that were just begging to be used up so I could create LOTS more. I didn't even make a dent in my huge inventory of canes. The end result was a bucket of beads. Almost all of them are floral round beads with a side order of pillow beads and lentil beads.

I still have a lot of beads to create and will get them done and up as fast as I can, until then, enjoy the bead show. :)

There were a total of 78 bead sets that are new in the month of October. The one kaleidoscope pillow beads shown here are a one of a kind. I created this kaleidoscope cane and this is the only set of beads from it.

The florals are all bright and shiny and I hope that you enjoy them.

All are available at www.bluemorningexpressions.com

Have a GREAT evening, Julie and Blu

My latest polymer clay rondelle beads as earrings

2010-10-12T18:47:00.001-07:00

I have been working on new bead styles and I have been a purchaser of many different lampwork earring pairs from some of my favourite lampwork artists. I thought maybe I would add a new style and a new product to the line of beads that I work with.

These beads were so much fun to make that I got the whole family involved!

Blu is usually involved anyway but I got my hubby to break out the dremel and help me drill the centers. He is now in the process of building me a stand for the dremel and we went and bought some fine bits. These earrings are just the start of some great new sets! :)

Enjoy!
Julie and Blu

New Bead Style

2010-09-26T15:26:00.001-07:00

New rondelles are now in stock. I created a few sets and then decided that I needed to create a couple of earring sets. I have two sets done and now and working on finishing more sets!

What fun little beads!!

Technorati Tags: polymer clay beads,polymer clay canes,rondelle beads,floral round beads,flower cane beads,earring set with swarovski crystals,blue morning expressions

Some September Beads!

2010-09-14T17:58:00.001-07:00

I tried a new style. I originally intended to create small 13mm beads for earrings, but I think I got a little carried away in the squishing! I have not tried them out yet in a set but I think they might be a bit bigger than I had planned.

I also created several sets of lentils using my flowers and such for a change.

I have so many bits and pieces of flower canes strewn all over my work space that I can’t hardly move, so my next project is to use up every bit of the flowers that are scattered all over so I can start on entirely new sets of canes!

I put these up for sale in BME under the floral rounds and lentils sections.

Enjoy!

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: polymer clay beads,polymer clay canes,floral canes,floral beads,lentil beads,blue morning expressions,clay beads,millefiori canes

My Scrap Buttons as Promised

2010-09-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

I am sending over 2 pounds of buttons to the scrappers.

Technorati Tags: scrapbook buttons,PS 37 PTA,polymer clay canes,millefiori canes,blue morning expressions

Happy Labor Day

2010-09-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

Blu and I would like to wish all of you a happy and safe holiday weekend. We are a little early but I think I might be a bit busy this weekend.

I recently got another great deal on premo! clay and managed to add 36 pounds of new clay to my already bulging stash. This new clay is just begging to be incorporated into beads, canes, buttons and anything else I can think of.

I am in the process of finishing up a stash of buttons for a scrapbooking get together where all of the proceeds go to help PS 37 , which is a special education school in Staten Island that services children with all forms of disabilities, including Autism, Down Syndrome, MS, etc. The proceeds from the 2nd Annual ALL DAY CROP FOR EDUCATION on September 25th. I took a lot of my larger kaleidoscope canes that I could no longer use for covering beads and sliced them into funky buttons for the group.

Then, I went overboard a little and just started slicing canes and leaves and flowers and the next thing I knew, I had over 2 pounds of buttons to send them. I will post photos once I get them taken.

You can read more about this PTA here. They are a pretty remarkable bunch.

In the meantime, I am working on another batch of blends like I did on the 4th of July and will create a lot more flowers. I guess I only do these on holidays!

I used a gold and translucent cane to slice onto a set of black beads. I was looking for a faux wood look and I am not sure if I got it or not but this set with the blue Swarovski worked out just fine.

Added silver bali-style spacers and a toggle clasp and I was happy with it. I created two of these and only have one left.

Again, stay safe during your holiday weekend!

Julie and Blu

Technorati Tags: polymer clay,millefiori canes,PS 37 scrapping,PS 37 crop,blue morning expressions,polymer clay canes,scrapbook buttons

Necklace from my Mokume Gane block

2010-08-29T07:33:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: blue morning expressions,polymer clay beads,polymer clay canes,clay bracelets,mokume gane,millefiori canes,lentil beads

I have had these beads in my bead box for quite some time now and I just haven’t taken the time to create from many of my extra beads. When I create a set of beads, sometimes I will see a set that I think I can’t live without and I put them aside.

These are the creations that those beads and canes became.

I have a lot more beads that I want to create. My workbench is filled with canes just waiting for me to slice them and I can’t wait to get to them!

Have a great weekend, Julie and Blu

Southwestern Fantasy

2010-08-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Not Canes but they came from canes!

I like to use as much as I can from my clay and sometimes just a few lentil beads can become something more than the cane itself.

I liked these beads so much that I kept them for myself and I didn't follow my usual varnishing procedure and just left them in their baked state. There was just something that lent them to stay matte. I combined them with more earth beads by adding dyed bone beads and some potato pearls.

Czech crystal beads add shine and glamour to the necklace. It isn't "heavy" but it is a piece with some weight to it.

Finally! I have my project board cleaned off.
Off to create more beads!
Julie

Some Beads from the Latest Canework

2010-08-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

Two New Sets of Lentil Beads with the Latest Canes:

I wanted to try some different style beads so I have been playing with lentil beads. This month has found me busy with finishing a website project up that I have been working on and so the beads haven't been on the forefront. I did get a chance to sneak off to the bead and gem show in Melbourne, FL last weekend and a LOT of money later, I came home happy, loaded with new gems, stones, bead caps, findings and flat broke! Of course, I had to go back the next day to re-stash after I finished a couple projects for special orders.

This set is a special order that I finished up from some of that stash. I recreated the black and white geometric cane and did this set. I took my latest bracelets and beads to work and the necklaces sold out and a few of the bracelets found new homes! Plus I took special orders!

I look forward to having more time to create more beads :)
Have a fun weekend,
Julie

My Latest Beads

2010-07-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

New Canes, New Bracelets!

I have been meaning to put a few bracelets and earring sets together using my latest beads and I just now have gotten the chance to do that.

I have 5 more sets that I need to finish up, but this is the preview of good things to come!

Have a fun weekend,
Julie

Latest Canes

2010-07-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

Sunflower Inspiration

I was creating some sunflower earrings for a customer the other day and I thought about how much I loved this colour combination and that I didnt have any of it in cane form. So the first thing I did with my excess clay is do a geometric cane that I sliced up and made beads out of. More of that project later when I get the bracelet done.

The next thing I did was do a little bullseye caning and then some stacking and then some squishing and then some slicing for beads. I used all my extra left over clay and I enjoy the colour combination.

Cheers!
Julie

Latest Bead Offerings - Currently on Etsy

2010-07-09T18:20:00.001-07:00

4th of July Offerings

2010-07-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

Blu decided to help me and when I got the camera out to take the photos, he was there front and center to say hi to everyone :)

I found premo! on sale a couple times lately and stocked up with tons of it. In an effort to get some of my clay under control, I took up all my old Fimo that was getting older and made 17 Skinner blends to use in some fresh canes. Here is the result of most of them. I still have a couple dozen more blocks of Fimo that I want to get used up, but my hands hurt!! :)

Enjoy

Julie and Blu

Pink Pearls

2010-06-14T17:33:00.001-07:00

Pink Pearls and turqouise cane flowers.

I have been wanting to create a bracelet something like this for awhile now. I wanted to try my hand at building a peyote woven base bracelet and then embellishing it with my cane beads. Well, I didnt know how many beads I was suppose to have to start with so the canes just kept coming and I ended up with a large aspirin bottle FULL to the rim with little turquoise beads and spiral fillers. I drilled them after the fact so they are center drilled and then sewn onto the peyote base.

I created the base to be 6 beads wide (6 ebeads) and it is about 6 inches long. I made the clasp too long to start with and so I had to redo it. I still am not happy with it, so there is a good possiblity it will become a toggle clasp at some point.

I have so many little beads left that I am sure that they will find their way into another bracelet!

The pink pearls seemed like a great added touch!

Have a great night!
Julie

PS - I have some fantastic new lentil beads to share with you as soon as I finish sanding them and creating earrings out of them!

The Year of the Tiger

2010-06-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

The Year of the Tiger

This beautiful matinee style heavily beaded necklace and earring set is truly a one of a kind set. I have created the tiger beads individually by hand and they are a one of a kind set.

All the dangles that you see here have been individually wrapped using tiger eye chips, Swarovski crystals, Czech glass beads, gold seed beads and round red tiger eye beads. Each strand was created by hand and then mounted on the necklace.

The necklace is strung with more round red tiger eye beads and gold tone spacers.

To finish the piece off, I placed additional tiger eye chips giving it a lot of sparkle and richness. It has a toggle clasp at the back of the neck.

The weight is surprisingly light and it feels great on while the loads of sparkle and movement makes it catch all the lights in the room.

The earrings are a lush mix of tiger eye chips and red tiger eye rounds with Swarovski crystals and seed beads to round them out. They are mounted on a leverback set of earrings.

This is a fantastic piece and it can be worn as a jean piece or as a stunning piece for a formal night out.

The Latest Kaleidoscope Cane Beads

2010-05-21T13:38:00.001-07:00

Premo! was on sale at Michael's last week and I couldn't resist buying as much as I could carry. And of course, to make room for my latest stash, I had to clear out some of my older clay so it was cane extravaganza!

Well, maybe not really an extravaganza, but it was one cane and one left over clay cane.

I did the above orange kaleidoscope as the main cane but I had all this red/orange blend that I didnt really have enough to make anything out of, so I kind of wadded it up and then tried another skinner blend on it. It became a flower that I fielded in white and outlined in red and black. I fiddled around with it until I had a handful of canes and then added a couple black/white spirals and the top cane was born. It was enough to roll out and slice to make the double sided padded pillow round beads. I didnt much care for the edges, so I popped black/white jelly rolls all around it. I got enough beads to create a necklace, a bracelet and two smaller ones for earrings.

Not too bad from the scraps and bits and pieces.

I am working on doing some colour schemes and will post what I come up with when I am done!

Now, I am off on vacation for a week :)
Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.
Julie

Floral Explosion!

2010-05-15T10:48:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to create a bracelet like this for awhile now and just never sat down with my oodles of canes and done it.

Well, now I have!

This bracelet is full of flowers and leaves that have all been wire wrapped and attached to a curb chain. The bracelet has a toggle clasp and is very lightweight and fun to wear.

I do believe that I have a few more canes that I can use to create a lot more flower bracelets.

Have a super weekend!
Julie

Newest Patriotic Cane

2010-04-30T17:07:00.001-07:00

Fresh off the workbench!

I needed a few new canes for my next batches of beads, so this one is the newest!

Since I had sold all my other red white and blue canes, I thought I should have one too.
More new canes are in the works and then a whole new batch of beads!

Enjoy
Julie

Patriotic!

2010-04-25T18:07:00.001-07:00

You're a Grand Ol' Flag .......
Just getting ready for the Fourth of July with these Red White and Blue Canes.
Each cane is 2 inches long and 1 1/2 in diameter. Not really big canes but fun ones all the same.

I spent the day doing some beading and getting my next necklace ready for sale and then I decided to relax by doing some cool kaleidoscopes. These canes are already spoken for but they were a lot of fun to do and I just might need to do a couple sets for myself for my pillow beads.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Julie

April Beads from March Canes :)

2010-04-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Taxes are over and I am in the mood to create more beads and canes!

I have only one kaleidoscope cane left and it is defiantely time to make more.

I have been busy doing other beading lately and finished a large beaded project using a beautiful lampwork bead that I purchased quite some time ago. I had reworked it to death to get it to where I finally wanted it.

I now have taken out all of my other couple dozen lampwork focals and am working on those to follow suit. I also have completed my blank beads which I am putting my waterslides on and now I have a whole new huge set of focals! :)

I will post photos as the new canes emerge from my new clay bin!

Check out the blanks!

Have a great weekend, Julie

Still Recycling

2010-04-07T17:34:00.001-07:00

Still in the recycling mood, the yellows and lavendars keep getting reduced down to other colours and then shifted into something else. The little rose was a simple bullseye that I flattened and cut into sections and then reassembled into a rose. The yellow flower was the same thing only stacked.

Just more little flowers to add to my growing collection for my next set of beads.

Julie

April Showers and May Flowers

2010-04-06T16:39:00.001-07:00

A lavendar ribbon flower (the lavendar is a complete mix of five or six scrap polymer clay chunks) which I used both Premo! and Fimo soft for the transparency. I allowed this to distort and used a flat lavendar center just for something different.

The other yellow mixture was another mix of polymer clay left overs which ended up being a simple daisy type flower that has a bit of contrast through it and should work well as a background flower on a bead.

I planted flowers yesterday and just was in the mood to create more flowers.

Keep watching, I have lots of clay left!
Julie

March 30 New Canes

2010-03-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Ending all this March madness with a small batch of new canes.

I love it when I rediscover how much I LOVE polymer clay. Sometimes I just enjoy playing around and I do not get a lot of time to do that with a full time job that spills over into my other full time jobs. So when I do, I just go a little crazy :)

These canes are from my personal collection as well as the beads that accompany them.

Enjoy!
Julie

PS! I vowed to post and update this blog as much as humanly possible this year!

Peacock Bead in Cab Form

2010-03-26T16:32:00.001-07:00

I am working on this cab featuring one of my peacock feather decals and this is where I am at for the moment. I have a feeling that I am going to tear down and start over, but for now, it is decked out in iris ebeads and gold seeds.

New March Tab/Coin Beads

2010-03-22T18:37:00.001-07:00

One can never have too many beads!

This latest stash is brand new and on my work bench now. Just waiting for me to decide if I am going to create from them or share them.

I just couldnt resist dragging out all my bright flower canes and doing a little bead making. These are a bit larger than I usually do when I do my coin beads but they are a great size for a lanyard, necklace, or bracelet. They might be too big for earrings, but some folks can get away with wearing bright bold earrings!

I can see a lot of projects from these bright beads!

Enjoy them :)
Julie

Jewelry Up For Sale

2010-03-14T17:30:00.001-07:00

All three of these pieces have now been added to my website for sale.
I had been holding onto them for the last couple of months waiting to see what I was going to enter into the BeadStar contest and now that I have made that decision, I have put these up for sale.

You can find them in the women's section of www.bluemorningexpressions.com

The Green Kaledioscope Has a New Home

2010-03-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

This pretty little Christmas cane was sold right off the bat and is going to go to a good home :)

I got one set of pillow beads out of this!

Bright Pink Flowers for a Special Order

2010-03-14T06:12:00.001-07:00

New Pink Flowers!

I had a request for a special order of pink flowers this weekend and here is the result of that request.

These are created in sculpey III hot pink.

I was having a heck of a time with the photos this morning and could not exactly capture the white and the hot pinkness of them. (I am sure pinkness is not a word!) So, they appear a little duller than they really are - or maybe it is my monitor.

Pillow Beads from These Latest Canes

2010-03-08T17:23:00.001-08:00

Here's the beads from those canes!

March Kaleidoscopes

2010-03-06T09:55:00.001-08:00

Two kaleidoscope canes that were created this morning!

I have too many raw canes laying around! I had some flowers that did not quite make the grade for canes that I would put up for purchase, so I had thrown them in a bin that I use for cane pieces and components for canes. Today, I was looking for something else and I started digging around in the bin and taking these pieces out. When I found what I was looking for, I had this huge pile of abandoned flowers, leaves, stripes, and spirals. I sorted them into two colours and started to assemble them as kaleidoscope canes.

Obviously, the one is left over Christmas bead components which gave me a new cane for my 2010 Christmas beads and the other one reminded me of a quilt once I combined all the little flowers and solid pieces.

Both of these will find themselves on new sets of beads over the next few days as I clear out old canes and create new ones.

New beads from kaleidoscope canes that will be in my store soon:

Pretty Little Butterfly

2010-03-03T15:28:00.001-08:00

This pretty little butterfly has been waiting to be created for awhile now. I did the orange blend months ago and have been moving it around on my desk for at least that long. I took the day off from work and this is one of the goodies that I completed. Along with 7 sets of new beads!

Wait for photos on those. :)

The biggie today was my first time use of the Makin Clay Professional extruder. If you do not have this beauty, please do yourself a HUGE favour and grab this for your tool chest. As a former user of a Kemper plunger with a modified handle from a caulking gun, this little darling was like pushing butter through a grater. It was smooth as silk and so easy on my carpal tunnel.

It also is much bigger than the little Kempers.

I had been trying to buy it locally since the first time I laid eyes on it online. After about a year of not being able to find it, I finally saw it on Etsy. Sarahb4 had one extruder which I snatched up as soon as I saw it. There are a couple of them currently on ebay but I don't know the sellers so I can't vouch for them.

I will get my photos of my beads done and I want to create a ton of new floral tabs and rounds. I have sold almost all of my stock and I need to create or go crazy! I also have taken all my kaleidoscope canes and am creating pillow beads from them. I had four canes left over from a holiday project and I want to get them created and finished up.

I am on a creative kick!

:)

February Canework

2010-02-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

Some fun with new canes!

First off, the lovely tiger cane was purchased and not one of my creations, HOWEVER, the beads that were created from it are mine. I designed the beads with a necklace in mind but the necklace that you see here, is not the necklace I saw in my head. It happens that way sometimes and that is the fun part about creating. A lot of times, I will think through a design for weeks - doing sketches and puzzling out things in my head while I try and decide how best to showcase the beads that I am momentarily in love with. Then I sit down and start to let them speak to me. I don't always know what additional components will be involved and I certainly didn't see the red tiger eye nor the Swarovski flowers even after I started to wire wrap my pieces.

Just let things happen!

The little plumeria cane was an experimental project that is now more round than it was when I did this first slice and photo. I also experimented with doing a more subtle Skinner blend. This one was 85% white, 10% yellow and 5% slender band of orange in the corner of my clay layout. This gave me the slight orange center for my petal and a very subtle yellow blend to white like the traditional plumeria has. I will work on this cane a bit more and work up some beads using it.

I purchased a darling little face from a talented cane maker in Israel that I am going to use for an additional piece for the Beadstar contest. She can be reached at her etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/bonnydesign She has some adorable face canes and the one I purchased came quickly and very well packed. She was a pleasure to do business with. Tell her that I sent you.

I am taking a day off from work to have my own personal clay day with canes being formost on my list of things to do. I have almost exhausted my stash of kaleidoscope canes and I am looking forward to creating some new designs. Hopefully I will have those up here soon!

Keep warm, stay safe and enjoy bonnydesign's shop!
Julie

January 2010

2009-12-27T13:35:00.001-08:00

The above is in the February 2010 issue of Polymer Cafe.

High Desert was created from a set of my tab beads using a simple white flower cane that I created and a small leaf on a black background.
Here is the end result of those beads.

Not Really a Cane

2009-10-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

This post doesnt include one of my canes, but it does include one of my original waterslide decals.

This piece is entitled, The Yellow Rose of Florida and features a focal bead of cernit clay that has been adorned with my yellow rose decal. I borrowed a bit of stringing technique for my Swarovski crystals from a best of Bead and Button book.

All in all, I am very pleased with the end result!

Sometimes, it is just FUN to play in clay!

~Julie

Runner Up in the Black and White Contest in Polymer Cafe

2009-09-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

Check out this month's edition of Polymer Cafe! I made runner up in the black and white contest!

Tab Beads

2009-08-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

I got a little carried away with my bead making this month!!

My latest venture has been into tab beads. I was working on creating some plain white tabs for my waterslide decals using some cernit and as I was playing around with shapes and sizes, it occured to me that I could take my regular round floral beads and transform them into tab beads.

Here are some of the results of that particular activity.

These are the perfect size for a complete bracelet with a enough room to tuck a watch face into it. Of course, it gave me pause to jot down a note to develop watch bead kits!

These are a bit larger and would be great on necklaces or lanyards.

Individually, they could become a pendant or a cell phone bead.

The smaller ones are the right size for a pair of funky earrings.

I am enjoying creating these and my work station is now covered with my floral canes and leaves so that I can create a ton of these.

Watch for so much more!!

OH - BTW - I would really appreciate a vote for me in the National Geographic photo contest. Please vote for me in the National Geographic photography contest http://bit.ly/mnYAt

Watch For new Coin Beads!

2009-08-23T18:36:00.001-07:00

I have been continuing on my creative bent and have been working with my floral canes to create tab beads. These fun little beads are perfect for bracelets, watches and cool necklaces!

I did 5 new sets that are busy drying now and I will post the photos as soon as I can get the photos shot.

Neat beads! I will be doing a lot of these as I work to clean out my stash of floral canes next!

New Polymer Clay Beads added to BME

2009-08-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

I just finished creating over 65 sets of new polymer clay beads.

I have been meaning to get to my stash of kaleidoscope canes for a very long time and suddenly just decided that I was going to use up this massive amount of clay that I have been stashing.

These beads took me all week to work on - a little at a time when I would get home at night from work at the newspaper.

I still have 5 HUGE canes left and 4 of my smaller kaleidoscopes that I want to use. I did this so I could make more :) I had run out of room!!

So, the beads are done, they are for sale on Blue Morning Expressions and here is a preview.

The cane work was done for the most part of CAG designs, another young lady and myself.

Head over to www.bluemorningexpressions.com - these are all on sale for our 5th anniversary.

Waterslide Decals

2009-07-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have added a new trick to my bag of polymer clay goodies.

Many of my designs have been added to polymer clay bead sized waterslide decals.

Watch for beads in the future!

Ladybug Cane

2009-07-06T18:45:00.001-07:00

Isn't she cute :)

Reflections by Jennifer: Monkey Wallets

2009-06-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

Reflections by Jennifer: Monkey Wallets

You simply must see what Jennifer did with a set of my banana buttons!

New Canes - As Promised :)

2009-06-21T11:38:00.001-07:00

This is a simple standard, everyone should have at LEAST one flower cane in their toolbox kinda cane!
Great for filling in spots, adding some stark contrast and in general giving your beads a bit of depth.

These two kaleidoscope canes were a simple use of some extra clay that I had laying around. My purple has gotten hard - well it came to me hard when I had it shipped and I haven't had the heart to toss it out. I think it got hot in shipping and it is a bit baked here and there. But I did find some softer spots in it (it is a pound block - I am hesitant to toss it out) so I did some custom mixing with white and then some blue to get some useable clay. The right hand side cane consists of tiny stripes of white and lavendar clay that was the result of trying to get my mix right. It doesnt show in this photo but it will bring a nice texture to a finished bead. I think I might keep this for myself.

The other cane was a combination of left over pieces from the first one and a couple odd ball blends that I tossed in for good measure. These are one of those this is all there is sets and I am planning on using the left hand side cane for a set of beads that I am creating to donate to a raffle for our local women's shelter. I decided to create a couple sets of beads and make some jewelry for the raffle.

These are my latest and I have a lot more clay spread out on my workbench to play with :)

Enjoy!
Julie

Web Wanderings for 6-13-09

2009-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

In a moment of inspiration, I decided that this blog needs to be updated more often than it is.

I have been busy working on creating new canes and beads and in my downtime, one of my favourite pastimes is to surf the web looking for beads, canes and other things that spark inspiration and make me go "ooooo" "ahhhhh".

I recently got with the program and joined Facebook. Before you laugh, I must admit that I had no idea what it was all about but knew that it was somehow something that would be beneficial to the furthering of my business life.

What I did discover was, who cares?? I found some old friends on there and was joyfully reunited with them, I discovered my old high school classmates on there and a whole ton of folks from my hometown that I remembered from back then. I got to look at old photos from where I grew up and to see some of the more recent changes and I got to wander into a great polymer clay cane group.

Here is the link to those great folks who have tirelessly put creative energy into creating some wonderful canes. You might recognize a few of the names - if you are a steady reader of the Polymer Cafe magazine (a subscriber since the beginning) you will recognize canes and beads and other goodies.

From this link, be prepared to be catapulted into flicker galleries and you tube demonstrations and to be amazed, delighted and stuffed full of eye candy!!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=18521974728

go!!
have fun!!
entertain your eyes and create some new canes.
Julie

2009-06-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the intriguing world of polymer clay.

There are a few things that you need to know to get the most out of your raw clay canes from Blue Morning Expressions.

Canes are fragile, keep them wrapped with clean deli wrap or saran wrap and stored in a dry cool place. I tend to keep mine in the crisper drawer of the fridge in a covered plastic container. Do not store them without the protective wrap, the plastic of a container will interact with the cane and there is the potential for destruction of the cane.

Canes are created from individual colors of polymer clay, both premixed colours and custom colours and then shaped and blended to create each of the details that you see in the overall cane. The whole cane can be the size of a dinner plate before reducing down to the small cane you hold in your hand.

Canes can be used to decorate beads, can be sliced as beads, can be used to cover glass and plastic or anything else you can think of. A newly discovered use for canes is to slice them and place them on the fingernails and cover them with a clear polish.

The trick to using canes is to slice them tissue thin with a tissue blade or a blade dedicated to cane slicing. Sculpy and Kato make some nice blades as well as AMACO. Keep your blade straight up and down on your cane and watch your fingers. From experience this little sharp blade will separate you from a nice swatch of skin before you know it and you won’t feel a thing at the time. It isn’t called a tissue blade for nothing.

Clean your blade with rubbing alcohol should it start to drag on your clay when you cut. If the blade drags, it will actually drag your design down the face of what was going to be a bead. Work slowly and steadily and you will do just fine.

Never, ever, ever use a tool for clay and then turn around and use it to consume food from or use with a pet. Even though clay is considered non-toxic, it is standard procedure in the industry to always sacrifice a tool to the clay and retire it from human food use. Just to be on the safe side.

Periodic baking in the family oven will do no harm but if you are going to become clay crazy, then it is considered a good move to get a dedicated oven for your clay habit. I am quite happy with my little toaster oven that resides in my garage and have been happily production baking for over 3 years in it almost daily without any problems at all. I do have a nice little oven thermometer in it and am know my ovens peaks and spikes from continual use. I do believe in baking lower temperature and baking longer for a more controlled baking.

Instructions:

1-Start by preheating your oven to 265 degrees.

2-Chill your canes in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

3- Set up a work station that has a firm flat surface that can withstand a blade on it. (glass from picture frames or ceramic tiles work great because you can cut your cane and bake it flat on the same surface)

4-If you are not using a piece of glass or tile for your baking, you will need to decide which of your baking utensils you want to permanently dedicate to clay baking.

5-After all is ready to go, begin by taking your clay cane and setting it on its side on your cutting surface. Decide how thick/thin you want to slice your beads and make some preliminary measurements. I tend to lay a ruler next to the clay and make my marks lightly with my blade in the top of the cane. Once you are satisfied with the thickness, take your blade and hold it on each end and slice down. It helps to be taller than the cane and look directly down at it so you get a nice even slice. No need to slice quickly, the blade is sharp, take your time and slice gently. This is why I chill my canes first, they slice more evenly and smoothly and it is easier to control.

6- Leave yourself room for error. If you need 10 beads, then measure out 13-15 so that you have wiggle room. Canes can never be exactly reproduced so it is imperative that you allow yourself room. We can recreate canes with the same colours but the end product is never the same.

7-Once you have all your beads sliced and assuming you are using a tile or glass to bake on, lay them flat and using a knitting needle or bamboo skewer center pierce them for charm beads or use a bead needle for a through and through pierce. If you are not using a glass or tile to bake on, use a small metal pan like a cake pan and line the center of it with parchment paper if you choose. Otherwise use the bottom of the pan. Do not use foil, your bead will be shiny on one side if you do.

8- For a small thin bead, bake them at 265 for about 15-20 minutes. Anything less than this and the bead may not cure in the center and anything much more than this you run the risk of burning it. Take a look at it after 15 minutes and make sure that it is not burning. The rule of thumb is 15 minutes for ¼ inch.

9-Remove from the oven and let them cool down. If you are using translucent cane slices, dropping them directly into ice water will help to enhance the translucence and create a clear clay. Otherwise, a simple cool down is sufficient.

10-Beads can be left unfinished with varnishes or they can be given a shiny glaze, it is up to you. I like to give mine a thin coat of Minwax polyurethane waterbased varnish in the wood stain section of the hardware store. It holds up and gives it a nice protective coating and a pleasant shine. I also will do 3 or 4 grit wet sand on my beads and a buff before I do my varnish.

11- String or wire wrap as you would any other bead/gem/stone and enjoy the one of a kind creation that you have just made.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Julie

julie@bluemorningexpressions.com

Latest Thimbles and Cuff bracelet

2009-06-07T08:32:00.001-07:00

Only 4 of these canes. One is on etsy and 3 are on www.bluemorningexpressions.com
I will not be repeating this particular pattern and currently ALL my raw canes are on sale on BME. They are 40% off.

My latest thimble and cuff bracelet projects which include my original polymer clay canes.
The bracelet is from my mokume gane cane which for some reason has fascinated me with it's muted shades and the more neutral tones that are scattered in it. This bracelet is my own personal one - the bracelet is part of a set of beads that include my DIY pierced earrings and my pillow beads for necklaces. I did manage to get an extremely smooth and soft finish to this - I just over stuffed the bracelet due to the nature of the cane. I wanted a lot of depth to it and in order to achieve that, I needed to over layer the cane slices.

New Beads With Canes

2009-06-06T15:39:00.001-07:00

A lot of times I just tell you about the canes that I have created but never tell you about the end product. Here are some loose beads that have been created using some of my more recent canes. I also did 4 thimbles and a cuff bracelet but all of those things are busy being cured and sealed. I will post them when I get them done :)

Just a Cane or Two

2009-05-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

This set was designed based on the project from Bead Unique's spring edition for a client. She wants a bit more yellow based set so this is my left over set. :)

April 4, 09 Cane

2009-04-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

I have been remiss in developing new canes but I did get a chance to do a new flower cane. This one is as brilliant as it appears and I really like the blend of the white in it. I only managed to clip off 5 pieces of it though, for some reason, I didn't make it very big.

March 10th Canes and Things

2009-03-10T18:37:00.000-07:00

These little thimbles have my latest canes on them.

I have a lot of beads that were covered in these canes and I also have a couple more flowers that didn't photo very well. But this is the offering for the evening.
Now, I am going to take myself off to bed!

Kaleidoscope Cane for 2-23

2009-02-23T18:33:00.001-08:00

My latest Kaleidoscope cane in the making!

I wanted to do something colourful and not flowers for the moment and I had some extra bits and pieces of clay laying around on my work station so I just started rolling jellyrolls and some stripes and then some more jellyrolls and then I did a skinner blend of blue and white and then I added some more jellyrolls.

One of the really cool things about doing these types of canes is you just never know what you will get and I was pleasantly surprised when I started piecing it together and saw the way the colours worked together. I had my misgivings as I was smashing them all in but when it came out, I was reminded of first a gold and blue macaw (kind of like feathers in there) but then it struck me that this was the same colour as a parrot fish of the salt water persuasion.

Both of these things are entertaining to the eyes.

I still need to go back and lay the pieces out neater and sharpen the edges on it but I wanted to let it rest and take the photos.

If you hadnt noticed, my favourite workstation is on top of a piece of acrylic that you buy in the hardware store. It is an 8x10 clear with the blue plastic still on the bottom. It makes a great even surface and it withstands my abuse and wont break and cut me like my last piece of glass did.

Can't wait to go and use up some more of my scrap clay!
Julie

PS - this is a complete Fimo Cane in case you wanted to know and it is about 3 inches long and 2 inches in the face.

February 21, 09

2009-02-21T15:41:00.000-08:00

Only one offering off the workbench today.

I did a simple red and yellow blended flower. I didn't have any red flowers so I thought I needed to add one to my collection. Enjoy it. It is available for purchase on my etsy site, my bonanzle site and one in ebay.

I spent my morning translated my old artwork into xstitch patterns for my new site www.x-stitch-patterns.com which is up and wobbly!

Enjoy the cane!
Julie and Blu

February 19, 09 Canes

2009-02-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

Here are the latest canes that I have completed. I just LOVE the orange flower cane and took a very large chunk of that one for my own personal collection of caning pieces.

I also am showing the small tiny flower cane that I accidently over packed. It will do well in a cluster to create a floral border of some sort.

Following that are two focal beads that both are adorned with the latest batch of floral canes and leaves. I try and use all my clay up in some fashion or another.

I have more raw clay sitting on my work table just BEGGING to become canes, I will post them as I finish them :)

Canes for February 17th

2009-02-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

I sat down this weekend and decided to put together a couple new canes. I have been working on putting my seed bead loom patterns into book format and I have neglected my caning and bead work.

I decided to do a couple kaleidoscope canes and some more flowers since my flowers are selling like crazy and I wanted to have some more options for folks. I sat down and created a couple sets of beads; pillows, rounds with white chryssie canes on them, two floral focals with my pink, purple and orange flower canes, and a set of cane small slices for lanyards and the likes. In the meantime, I was trying to decide what colours I wanted to use for my new kaleidoscopes.

It was cool and it was raining so I went for more of the bright colours and ended up with what could only be described as CIRCUS!

This bright coloured cane will end up in ebay in about 5 minutes but for now it is strutting it's stuff here.

I also did a mini flower cane that I havent taken a photo of yet. It started out like my other flowers but I added one slight layer too much transluscent on the outside and it was a little bit thick. I decided to reduce it down to almost pencil eraser size and will bunch them with leaves for a bouquet look.

I will get those up here too.

I have more canes coming.
Thanks for reading,
Julie

2009-01-16T17:27:00.000-08:00

Brand New Floral Polymer Clay Canes plus a Kaleidoscope cane or two :)

Kaleidoscope Canes in 09

2009-01-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I am a bit behind these days with working on sites and doing a lot of cane work and beadwork. I have a handful of new canes that I want to share. Many of the kaleidoscope canes were done as part of a bead project that I was commissioned to do for a woman in NC. She purchased 1500 individual beads and 150 of them had different kaleidoscope designs on them.

This primary color one is a simple cane that I did for something entirely different and was not part of the bead commission.

The cab at the top shows the two flower canes being used. The small purple flower has been reduced down considerably and bunched for filler flowers. The original cane is the same size as the yellow flower.

I did over 2 dozen tube beads as well.
All my recent beads can all be seen at
http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/polymerclay

www.bonanzle.com is the newest and the best ebay alternative out there. Enjoy your visit there and if you sign up, please say you were refered by saracom. One of my other stores on there.

2008-10-28T16:40:00.000-07:00

Updated Canes!

2008-10-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

I just got done creating some new canes. I did a Valentines red, white and pink geometrical cane/dots and I did some image canes. There is a christmas tree that didnt go so well and two shots at holly - one is good and one is not so good. The other cane is a candy corn that turned out stupendous - but really, how can you make a mess of candy corn????

List of Raw Canes Available online

2008-09-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a partial list of some of the raw canes that are available from various artists.
My favourites are on this list.

http://www.catherienarts.com/ Cat Therien
>http://beadgoodies.com/ Candice Mathewson
>http://elenadesignbead.etsy.com/ Elena Bucharska
>http://randomstar.etsy.com/
>http://khernandez.etsy.com/
>http://enchantedartistry.etsy.com/ Jodi Clement
>http://claychicks.etsy.com/
>http://Norrine.etsy.com/ Norrine
>http://Skb31mom.etsy.com/ Seana
>http://PolymerClayCreations.etsy.com/
>http://byallisonb.etsy.com/
>http://craftsbycag.etsy.com/

This will keep you busy for awhile.
Please support Etsy artists!

Have fun!
J

Please feel free to add to this post with YOUR favourites or just to add your own site.

Welcome to Polymer Clay Canes Blog

2008-09-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

Polymer Clay Canes

Purpose of blog:
to discuss the creative process of developing canes and to share links of those who have canes for sale.

This blog is sponsored by Blue Morning Expressions Unique Handcrafted Gifts and Cards
http://www.bluemorningexpressions.com/
http://www.cliponearringsboutique.com/
http://saracom.etsy.com/
http://www.polymerclaybeads.etsy.com/
http://cliponearrings.etsy.com/
http://polymerclaycanes.etsy.com/