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A Sale and a new Site

Hello readers.

Yes, the title is correct – I have another site – but this one isnt a selling site…yet. I bought myself a dot com and set up a hub page, ok..I’ve started to set up a hub page. It still needs a lot of work to make it better..but at least it’s a start..and now I only need to type in one address instead of about 10! So.. you can see my new site at http://www.haffinacreations.com

It has links to all my selling sites, a few pictures and soon will have links to my blogs and other favourite sites.

Now on to the Sale. And boy is it a big sale! Every HaffinaCreations store (that includes BeadsByHaffina and HaffinaAgain stores) is on sale for the whole of February. Yes that’s right..the whole of February! The discounts vary from 20% to 40% in the two ArtFire stores, whilst all other stores have 30% off everything. February is my birthday month, and I am celebrating by giving you guys the bargains.

Hopefully my next blog post will include some fabulous new creations… if I can find the time to make something.

It always seems to happen.

One of the most frustrating, time consuming yet fundamental areas of online selling is photos. The time it takes to set up, photograph, edit etc is incredible and the ratio of good shots to bad is appalling. Yet without good photos it is very difficult to get sales, buyers need to see what they are buying.

So I very carefully prepare myself for this essential part of my fledgling business. I set up my photo area, I turn on my daylight lamps, I put my camera on its tripod and then arrange my first shot. Then I turn on the camera….. and what do you know.. the batteries, which I only put in the last time I took photos, have decided they are flat, and the chances are the spare set of batteries are not charged!

Do you know how many times this has happened lately? I’ll tell you… every time! And by the time the batteries are charged there is no daylight to help with the lighting.

So enough of my ranting, I’m off to put batteries on charge so I can take some photos tomorrow.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Ok, so its not much of a plan.. but it worked!

I have been playing with polymer clay, and in particular, liquid polymer clay. One of the most time consuming parts of making things with polymer clay can be the sanding process, which makes a huge difference to the look of pieces, but does take time. And the best results are achieved by wet sanding, which tends to lead to that lovely pruny fingers look. The difference in the look of bead that has been sanded and buffed can be amazing, especially the shine that can be achieved.

Ultimately, I want most of my pieces to be super shiny, and lately I have fallen in love with the faux glass sort of look. So I went in search of a way to make super shiny beads with minimal sanding. I can hear some people yelling ‘well just varnish then’. Well there is the catch… I dont want to varnish them. I want them to be ONLY polymer clay (unless I’m adding Swarovskis for bling). So how to achieve the super shiny, glassy look without sanding and buffing and without using varnish?

Well I have found my answer! Kato Liquid Clay.

No, I dont work for Kato, I dont get anything from them, I am saying this purely because this is what has worked for me.

I have achieved super shiny, glassy looking beads without having to spend hours sanding and buffing. It isnt a quick fix, it still takes a little time and patience, and a lot of care… burning the clay is a hazard. It’s also slightly dangerous.. in that you are using a heat gun pretty close to your fingers! However, the results are amazing.

These are not the best photos, however.. the first shows a group of beads before curing, the second shows them after covering them in Kato Liquid Clay. ( A few have had other treatments too – like the shaving foam technique)

Pre-baking... mmmm.... pretties

After 'treatment' (note: pale pink have no Kato on them - purely sanding and buffing)

As I said, not the best photo, but I can tell you that the shine that you can see on the dark beadies is on all of the ones with Kato. The flat heart ones are mica shift, and were sanded to death like I usually do. I then put Kato on the darker ones so I could compare buffing to Kato.

Personally, I think there are times when sanding and buffing is the way to go, Mica shift is one time..the sanding makes a huge difference. Also with faux gemstones, like turquoise, because I think a super shine is not going to look ‘authentic’.

There are some other Kato’d beads on my flickr that show the effect better.. you can see them to the left of the blog.

Anyway, I will continue to play and perfect my newest passion. Stay tuned!

Smashing the Block

Some days the blocks on my creativity are debilitating. A lot of the time this really isnt something that I worry about too much, as it tends to make the block even worse. But when I have deadline this is a real issue.

This has happened to me in the last couple of days. I had an article due for HandmadeNews.org. Now it wouldnt seem that hard to come up with 250 odd words about something craft related, but you dont really want to be repeating yourself, and you need to find a way to appeal to your readers. Which is a lot like writing a blog really.

So how do you break the block?

I wish there was an easy answer, but really there isnt. If time isnt a factor then you can probably just ride it out until the block dissipates on its own. But if time is a factor then you have to find a way to smash the block.  For me, one of the things I do when it comes to writing articles is to think about the kind of things that others ask me questions about. If something is in my field of experience it is going to be easier to write about than something that could require a lot of research. Everyone is a huge pool of information about those things of importance to them. You might not think that many would find it interesting to read about, but lots of people love to learn about what makes others tick, or like to tap into other people’s knowledge.

Everyone’s experiences are different, and that can help others see things from a new perspective.

The first article/piece after the block may not be the most amazing thing you ever wrote, but at least you put words on the page. Everyone who writes finds it difficult at times, and we have to learn to accept that sometimes the words are hard to come by. Those times of drought make the plentiful seasons all the more special.

Something else that might help is to find others who might understand. If you are a writer you might like to try out BunnyRabbitSex – dont let the name put you off, this is not a porn site. It is a forum dedicated to writers from all fields and genres. There is lots of helpful information and people willing to help out and provide support.

Ok, so just a little disclosure. I am a moderator on BunnyRabbitSex . I dont get paid, I do it voluntarily. I wouldnt recommend a site that I didnt believe in. I havent been asked to write this blog post, I do it because I want to and I think the forum is worth writing about.

Attempting organisation

I am fairly disorganised, which is something of an issue considering how busy I am! I currently have 6 active online stores, plus numerous blogs, forums and social networking sites that I am active on. Add to that being a guild master and writing for HandmadeNews.org, and my time needs to be more organised.
So today I decided I needed to get my act together, for my own benefit, apart from the flow on benefits for others.
I wrote down all the places that need my attention each week, and then all the days of the week. Then I assigned certain places to the different days, basically attempting to evenly divide it amongst my week. Then when I was happy I printed it out and it sits next to my computer.

Chainmaille Bobble Earrings

One of the benefits of this will be that this particular blog, which tends to be sadly neglected, should have a new post every week. And as my other blog tends to mainly be features of other artisans, I decided that this blog will mainly be about me.
Dont let that stop you from reading! I will try to keep it interesting.
I will keep you up to date on how my new schedule goes, Im sure it will need some tweaking as I go along, but that is fine. It should help me be less stressed and more productive.

The downside of being a polymer clay artist.

Yes, there is a downside. Hot weather plays havoc with clay. If it is too hot the clay can get too sticky or horror of horrors actually begin to cure and go all dry and crumbly. It has been really hot here a couple of times over the last month or so, and as a result I have not achieved as much as I would like to have where clay is concerned.
However, along with some of my clay play buddies on beadingforum.com.au, we did get some fabulous experimentation going. It started from me picking the topic of ‘Faux Techniques’ for the December monthly challenge. One of our members showed us some Faux Lampwork she had done, which was really incredible! But it started a discussion about getting a really glassy effect on the beads, to mimic the look of glass. So several of us played with lots of different products to see what produced which effect.
Well flat beads, cabs etc were fine, but round beads seem to cause lots of issues.. mainly the fault of gravity IMO. I tried using Kato Liquid Clay.. and it actually works quite well, especially if you use the ‘bead on the spit’ technique with a heat gun. Want to see what I did?

This is a round one that I started by doing thin coats in the oven then blasting with the gun to clear the clay.. it has little knobs where the clay pooled.

This one had a couple of coats with Kato in the oven, then I did the bead on the spit with the heatgun without smoothing the Kato out first. As a result it cured in ridge and bumps.. which is pretty cool. Unfortunately I also got a bit close and scorched it. But it has made it look like gold leaf instead of silver!

This is a couple of flat pieces I made at the same time with the Kato. Top one is a pendant, that I burnt a little on one side when I got a bit too close with the heat gun again. The bottom is a domed pendant which has turned out brilliantly, very faux dichro.
So whilst its harder to work with uncured clay in hot weather, it leaves lots of time for thinking and planning and dealing with the huge pile of sanding and buffing that I have to do!

Poor, neglected blog.

This blog is seriously neglected!
But I am back here, with all the usual intentions not to make the same mistakes, to pay more attention, to blog more often.
So what have I been doing?
Working, is the short answer. I always seem to have so many projects on the go, and things to manage. Added to my ‘home business’ workload has been some stressful events, including major surgery for a family member, and the ailing health of my grandfather.
I have managed to fit in some creative work, although my mojo has recently gone on holiday without me.
But I will put up a couple of pics, so you can see what I’ve done.

This fabulous piece is my entry into the Designer Quest recently held on beadingforum.com.au. The awesome quest pack came from Kay’s Artycles. Although I didnt win, I did have a good time creating my piece.

I also recently made a beaded doll, including a face cab that I made myself.

I have plans to do a few more in different colours.

I also recently tried my hand at making Faux Labradorite with polymer clay. It didnt quite turn out how I was hoping, but I am still fairly happy with the results.

And lastly, but so not leastly. My delightful almost 3 year old daughter was watching me set up to clay one day and ‘told’ me I had to use a certain combination of colours. I was a little concerned when I was handed orange, fuchsia and purple with a bit of white. But I am happy to say the results were amazing. I have ended up with a fabulous selection of beads, which are now known as ‘The Ebony Collection’, after my daughter.

Well that is a quick catch up on what I have been up to.
Hopefully my mojo will kick back in and I will get back to posting more.

New series of pieces.

I recently set to work creating an iris cane, from an ikat cane, from a checkerboard type cane..it is what is known as a complex cane! It was a fabulous activity, and resulted in some new pieces.
First up – the cane -

Really a very cool looking cane!
Next I made some beads from the ‘ends’ – the bits one smooshes up. There was quite a bit of ’smooshed’ in the end.. which made some very cool beads and pendants..including my first attempts at a Vernal Twist. They were hugely successful vernal twists – but the beads were still cool. For the first time in a while I actually made them into jewellery instead of listing them on BeadsByHaffina.

This is just a fairly simple pendant made with a slice of the iris cane, backed with black clay and then a wire wrapped bail added and strung on black leather. Would be quite wearable by both guys and girls.

This one has a great pendant that looks a lot like waves crashing on to rocks, and it finished with Amazonite, Czech crystals, miracle beads and silver findings. It is probably my favourite bead from those that I made.

This one is really simple, but effective. A very swirly pendant on an adjustable leather necklace. It can be worn with either side of the pendant showing.

Lovely swirly pendant, with some Amazonite and Oynx, strung on a handmade kumihimo necklace. Kumihimo is so fun to make, with so many possibilities.

I also made a couple of beads to make into earrings from the Ikat cane before I made the iris cane. I strung them with some Amazonite, Czech crystals and Swarovskis.

I have a couple more cabs that I made at the same time, both of which I have plans for – namely – one wirewrapped and the other seed beaded..I just need to sit down and do it.

There was one more thing I did with the iris cane. I have been playing around with sculpture. I wanted to do a face. My first nights work was not exactly great….

It is very very pink..but its scrap clay.. colour wasnt really a consideration. The next day I reduced a piece of my iris cane down to a very small size – about 2mm wide.. cut a couple of slices and added them to the face, then worked on the features some more. And now we have this….

Quite proud of it really. I might paint it to make it less pink, and more skin coloured.

So that is some of what I have been up too… amongst the rest of my hectic life. I really should try to blog more here.

I’m still here.

I know I havent posted here much lately. So many balls in the air, and not enough time to learn how to juggle properly! LOL
I have been creating quite a few pieces, many for challenges. I wrote a ‘to-do list’ about two weeks ago.. just for things I needed to make by the middle of October – it was 11 items long! I’m just over halfway there!
So let me show you…

Steampunk Polymer Clay

This is a polymer clay piece created for the ArtFire Polymer Clay Smoosher Guild. Its my first attempt at Steampunk.

Organic polymer clay

This is a pendant I created for the monthly challenge on Aussie Polyclayers (another forum) – the theme was Organic – and this piece very much just ‘evolved’. I’m very pleased with how it turned out. And it turns out eyeshadow is great for adding shimmer to clay.

Wire Weaving

This piece is a wire weaving necklace I made as part of learning a new technique on the BeadingForum.com.au We were challenged to try wire weaving, and I came across a similar design in Step by Step Wire Jewelry magazine. I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

Herringbone bracelet

Herringbone bracelet

This bracelet was made for a monthly challenge on the BeadingForum.com.au in the Seed It section. The challenge was to make something in herringbone that fit the theme of ‘Dragonscale’. I love how this one turned out. There are some bits I would probably do different if I made something like it again, but it was a fun challenge.

Polymer clay buttons

These buttons were made for the monthly challenge of the ArtFire Jewelry Designers and Jewelry Supplies Studios Guild, which had the theme of ‘Autumn Leaves’. They are fairly large butterflies with eye shadow shimmer and leaf texture.

Jens Pind bracelet

This Jens Pind bracelet in square copper wire was made for the monthly challenge of the ArtFire Chainmaille Guild. The stones on it are Fancy Jasper, that I got in a recent Migems group buy. I really love this one, the square wire is awesome! The theme for the maillers was ‘Fall Finery’, which I happened to pick, as a joint winner of last months challenge.

Ok, one last one, and this one wasnt a challenge or required or anything else..but it probably is the piece I am most proud of at the moment.

Polymer clay golf ball

I made this golf ball out of polymer clay, or more precisely, polymer clay over a wooden bead. I used green and brown eyeshadow to make it look ‘used’. Then I coiled some rings out of 14 gauge repurposed copper wire and made a Byzantine link to attach it to a key ring. I made this specifically for my nearly 93 year old grandfather, who is a golfer. It looks like its heavy, but it is actually quite light, due to it having the bead inside.

I have made some other pieces, especially beads and buttons and some mens jewellery. There are heaps of new items at HaffinaCreations and BeadsByHaffina, as well as some special pieces at HaffinaAgain on Zibbet.

Hopefully I will get my other pieces completed so I can show those to you as well.