What to do when you're stuck at home

after getting your wisdom teeth removed and you look like a chipmunk and can't go 2 seconds without slobbering all over yourself.....

Get out the PMC and get to work!  Since I'd recently emptied my stash of mini silver spacers it was time to get cracking at making some more.

I didn't count but I'm pretty sure there are at least 100 spacers there.  Hand cut, hand decorated, and the most time consuming - hand polished.

I keep wondering if there's an easier way to do this but I guess not.  It's the polishing after the liver of sulfur treatment that takes the most time.  I'm seriously considering whether to adjust pricing on these things to reflect the total handmade-ness of these beads.

Anyhow, at least it kept me busy today.  I wasn't fit for anything but being at home.  Tomorrow? I have big plans for melting some glass :)

As promised...

Here's the pic of my silver haul from yesterday. Snapped really quickly and so not the best picture but you get the idea. Now to find the time to actually put them on the beads :)

Today I'm off to a quiet place to study, study, STUDY!!!! Have a great one :)

Paint your pot....

I had a run of days off so I decided to do something crafty. Ever since I played with PMC at Andrea's class I've been reading through books and surfing the net for cool PMC tools and supplies. I've come to realize that the one thing that all PMCers fight with is trying to keep their clay moist.

I borrowed this idea from some book I took out of the library and with about $20 in supplies and 15mins of my time I made up a whole bunch of these for my PMC buddies (so if you get one you won't be surprised!)

Supplies: Mini terracotta pot and saucer (bought at Michael's), paintbrush, sponge, recycled rope handle from an old J Crew shopping bag, acrylic sealer. You could use spray on sealer. I chose the paint on type because I don't like sprays and I felt like this would give me more control.

Here you can see I've sealed the saucer - important because you don't want the terracotta to soak up any moisture from the clay you'll be resting on the saucer. I also sealed a portion of the outer surface of the pot. This is up to you. You could seal it all? I only went part way because...well...because I felt like it :) I cut out a sponge circle big enough to fit snugly in the bottom of the pot. The rope I formed into a loop and tied a knot.

I then threaded the loop through a hole in the center of the sponge. Then I threaded the loop through the hole at the bottom of the pot.

Here's a view of the inside of the pot with the sponge and loop knot. To use you'd simply soak the pot in water long enough to saturate the clay and of course the sponge would hold water in it as an additional source of moisture.

Here's the finished product. You could paint your pot all sorts of cool colors I suppose but I kinda like the earthy simplicity of the clay pot. Voila! One very cheap, very simple, PMC humidifier. The most expensive component was the sealer but for $4.99 you'll be able to seal a gadjillion things. I mostly used stuff I had lying around the house but if you don't have these things the dollar store is a wonderful place to find cheap crafting supplies.

Now it's your turn to paint your pot!!