Creativity in other places

Considering the quantity of time I spend on the internet its bizarre to come upon things, good things, good sites that I've never heard of - proof of just how MUCH is out there I guess. Thats what I thought when I found "101 Cookbooks - a recipe journal". Its full of great recipes 

accompanied by gorgeous photos.

This brussel sprout recipe for instance will please my gang who are all sprout fans. 

I am stepping away from the computer a little this month and giving attention and time to family and some other projects that have been on the back burner for a while. My Etsy shop will stay open but I won't re-list items as often and I'll let old designs expire. I'll keep posting here though, shooting for twice a week. 

Thanks for the follows on my new blog! I'll be shifting things over there sometime soon so if you'd like to keep following you can head over there and "click". 

Nothing comes from nothing

I love when something new comes from going back to an old design or just looking at something from a different perspective.

My Small Polygon earrings (shown in grey) are just made by tracing the top part of a longer Shape earring (shown in aubergine).

Update on The Book!

I was recently taking care of some legal permission-y, copyright sort of stuff for the upcoming polymer clay book by Cynthia Tinapple. We now have a tentative title and a bit of an idea of what the cover might look like and its starting to feel...real. 

Diamond shaped inside out beads from Claire Maunsell (Sorry folks, these are sold. Aren't they great though?)

One thing I really find exciting is that beyond the 13  featured artists (of which I am one) and their projects there will be work from 125 artists from around the world featured gallery style. Sounds like it will surely appeal to us visual types who like books heavy on pictures!

His name is my name too.

Shape series earrings in progress

Someone apparently already has my name as their username on Etsy because apparently...they have the same name. (I'm trying to find the humor here and find myself humming "John Jacob Jinglehimmer Schmidt, His name is my name too!" Do you know it? Hum along...) So although there is no Etsy shop called Genevieve Williamson, I can't use it as a shop name either.

So for now the best solution seems to be to leave well enough alone, continue with Jibby and Juna on Etsy and just link from my new website. So my business name will be Genevieve Williamson, and Jibby and Juna will just be my Etsy shop. Does that make sense?   Sometime in the next couple weeks/month I'll be switching over to my new blog - you can head over there now and click to follow if you'd like. 

Admiration

Here is some of my newly found and admired wearable art from my Pinterest board. I think the winter landscape is influencing my sensibilities perhaps as I really feel drawn to black and white pieces. 

The artist's names are links so you can click through to see more of their work.

Luca Tipaldi

Pilar Cotter

Eriad

Quench Metalworks

Securing post earrings - how I do it

Although I've never had a problem with backs coming off of post earrings, I know cyanoacrylate
 glue (Super Glue) can break down with time. So I decided to start covering/securing posts by enclosing them with another thin layer of polymer clay. This is the process I've come up with. 

(Sorry for the blue photos - dang this winter light!) 

First, I glue the earring back in place with cyanoacrylate glue and allow to dry. This will hold the post in place still while I work.

My materials are...the earrings, small piece of scrap computer paper, small lump of clay the same color as the back of the earrings, tiny needle, tiniest circle Kemper cutter, blade and Genesis medium (you could use liquid polymer but the Genesis is thicker and does ooze as much). 

 I roll the clay very thin (second to the thinest setting on my pasta machine) and cut 2 circles with the Kemper cutter. 

I put a small dot, just as a marker really, in each of the circles of clay using a small needle. And I put a hole in the paper using the same needle. 

Next I put a thin layer of Genesis medium on the back of the earring.

 I put one of the circles onto the earring back and push it all the way down to the base. 

Then I put the paper right over the post, all the way down to the clay circle. I've shown it here in one hand but I actually use both hands, pinching with thumb and forefinger, pushing the paper down, turning the earring as I go, making the clay circle flatter and flatter to the earring. Pull the paper up, check the clay, push flatter if you need to. Until it looks like this... 

This is what they look like when they're finished, just about perfect circles, no texture, smooth against the ear. (I've already darkened the earrings so that the circles that I just made show up but normally I would do my finial finish with acrylic after they are cured.) It really doesn't take very long at all to do this extra step and I think it will increase the strength and longevity of my earrings going forward.

And I'm all about going forward.  

Connecting

I'm experimenting with ear wires and with hoop earrings in general.

This carved hoop hangs but is still technically a post earring. I'm wondering if it would be better with the wire coming directly out of the back of the polymer (which might be a logistical issue, getting the wire embedded, but not something I can't solve).

Let me know what you think... and have a great weekend!