Euro Clay Carnival 2019 in Rome
I had a wonderful time teaching at the Euro Clay Carnival in Rome this February. It was a great event, beautifully organised, wonderful mix of workshops and really lovely students – who could ask for more! Cara Jane Hayman Demonstrating part of her ‘Versa-tile’ cane Euro Clay Carnival Rome 2019 teachers and organisers. Fabiola Perez Ajates, Paola Mattioli, Donna Kato, Monica Scala, Cara Jane Hayman, Eva Haskova Euro Clay Carnival Rome 2019 Participants
read more‘Versa-tile’ cane earrings
I am playing with my ‘versa-tile’ cane as I prepare to teach it in a workshop at the Euro Clay Carnival in Rome from the 2-4th February 2019. Here are my latest statement earrings. I split the oval to add some movement. There is an earring stud in the top part and it’s connected with some oxidised silver jump rings so the bottom part dangles. They are large – 6cm long – but light and comfortable to wear. I’ve got some other ideas for jewellery but am busy getting organised for teaching (and doing my...
read more‘Versa-Tile Cane’
Happy New Year! I hope 2019 is a great year for all of you. I am looking forward to an exciting year with lots of things planned. The first of which is teaching in Rome as part of the Euro Clay Carnival event in February. I can’t wait! It should be a lot of fun. There are 5 workshops with Donna Kato, Eva Haskova, Paola Mattioli, Fabiola Pérez Ajates and me. It will be great to see old friends and I am sure make some new ones. My project is the ‘Versa-tile’ Cane. It is one cane that can be put together many different...
read moreBig, bold and colourful earring fun!
Here are some of my latest earrings. Small studs and some larger dangles. I made one big cane that started out round. It was about 10cm in diameter when finished it. Most of the colours were from the Pantone Fall/Winter 2018 collection colours with the exception of the bright pink. I am not quite sure what made me use the pink – it really isn’t my favourite as you will probably know if you’ve seen my other work! But I think it works in this cane. I reduced it to several different sizes and then decided it might look nice...
read moreFaux wooden Heart
I’m not generally big on hearts but I couldn’t resist adapting my faux marquetry split pebble design into a heart. It’s very tactile too as I have finished it with a beautiful satin finish. I am still very fond of the faux marquetry, I ought to make some more pieces! Thank you to everyone who took part on my earring giveaway on Instagram. The winners were bluemallee and Nevenka Sabo
read morePolycreativa 2018 Rome
Last weekend I attended the wonderful polymer clay workshop Polycreativa in Rome. I travelled from the UK with Nina Fletcher – we met at a polymer clay event and love to travel together! I didn’t really take many photos (far too busy having fun). Here is one of the opening welcome with the organisers – Monica Scala and Paula Mattioli and the teachers – Bettina Welker, Nikolina Otrzan and Sylvie Peraud. Here’s what I made with each of the tutors. The bracelet I made in Sylvie’s workshop isn’t finished...
read moreBlack and White Jewellery
I took part in a Facebook challenge to make a black and white cane and to make something with it. I’ve been looking at some repeated patterns made with carved block printing recently so took inspiration from them for the cane. I made a sketch of a pattern and then worked out what the most basic component would be and drew that out. The heart motif was central and I considered making the middle of the heart the line of symmetry in my cane but I was worried about it distorting so decided to build half of the square as my building block...
read morePolymer Patchwork, a bit of science and a problem solved
First of all, I’d like to wish you a happy new year and I hope 2018 is a peaceful year full of health, happiness and creative fun for you all! When I came to tidy up my workbench I found some little leftover scraps from some scrap clay Mokume Gane, there were too small to do much with so I decided to do some polymer patchwork. Nice bit of polymer clay recycling 🙂 I was pretty pleased how they turned out so I cured them and added a back including polymer clay bails to hold a chain or cord. Then I realised that I had gold and...
read moreClassy Kaleidoscopes – workshop in Czech Republic July 2017
I’ve just got back from a fabulous time teaching at Polycreativa in Rome and I am busy organising for the Polymania workshop in Bristol 10-12th March but in between all that I wanted to share my latest jewellery creations. These are class samples for my ‘Classy Kaleidoscopes’ 3 hour workshop that will take place as part of Polymer Week 2017 in the Czech Republic on the 2-8th July. Polymer Week 2017 will have 30 different workshops . Some are full day workshops and others, like mine, are for 3 hours and you can book for as...
read moreSanding tip – help from a toy
Here’s a tip for sanding small flat polymer clay items without loosing your finger tips (done that a few times and it’s not fun!). If you are in the UK Lidl are giving away these small kids Stickeez toys with every £10 spent at the moment. If you don’t have access these it seems they are also available on ebay and there used to be a brand available in the toy shops called Stick’ems I think. What you are looking for is a toy with a small suction cup – about 1cm in diameter. The suction cup is small enough to be...
read more