Another PIF!!!

These are getting to be really fun...and here is my PIF from Ralonda.

Isn't she a beautiful form?! I see a Summer Faery happening, and Ralonda included tubes of beads, as well as little dragonflies, an enameled leaf AND an enameled butterfly to go with her. I want to make this one a stand, to show off her wings!

And lest you think you were forgotten, oh my recipients of PIF Past and Present, you have not. We are having a bead retreat this weekend, that has been in the planning for many moons now, and I have been waiting to learn a new technique before sending on your goodies. I will give you a clue.. 'Harry', Sharon Solly, is involved. Now, for those of you who know of Harry, and her magic with polymer clay, that should be enough to whet your appetites! And for those of you who don't, google her name, and see what you come up with, AND remember to check out the Polymer Clay Cafe magazine coming out in May, with her article on using fibers to make faux dichroic cabs and beads. And yes, they can fool even glassmakers, until they pick them up and realize how light they are!

So, on with the third PIF of this year: the rules, for those of you who don't know them. Sign up here on my blog. I will take the first three comers. You can use the 'profile' button on my blog to access my email, to send me yours if I don't have it. Then, after receiving your PIF gifty, post the same on your blog and continue to PIF!!!! That's Pay It Forward, for those new to this!

Oh, I can just imagine the looks when they see their goodies!

Aryd'ell

Finished necklace, maybe

I am not happy with the seed beads. I tried to let them say what they wanted to do, but I have no skill at spirals at all....so I may take it out and try something else. I do like how the polyclay beads came out looking like raku, even if it did mean my wonky oven tried to burn them!

The MASK

Just an update...and I love where it is going. The puzzle 'people' are now clearly delineated, and they have their faces. Each has developed a personality, to match the differences in my youngest, and will be beaded accordingly.

This mask is almost doing itself...now, if it would only bead itself-NOT!

You got Parcel!

Nope, it ain't email, and it ain't any old mail, but a lovely parcel of bright color triangle and square beads! Lynn M from Australia shared her treasures with me, and I plan to use them as the base for the upcoming freeform peyote challenge at BDZ ( beaddreamz group- see link at right of my blog).

Thanks for thinking of me, Friend!

Aryd'ell

waiting on the snow they promised!

PIF from Barbara Judy

I received the most beautiful doll yesterday from Barbara Judy, as part of her PIF (Pay It Forward). She is a Gemstone Doll, Creative Spirit, and smells most wonderfully of the lavender she is stuffed with! Her face is a marvel of contentment, and she even has her own stand. Check out the closeup of that stand, by clicking on the pic, and see the little bird peeking out!

Barbara also included a soft purple box, that is lined with velux, to take on travels. It will get some fine use on our way out to Portland, OR this Summer, as my big one is too large to take on the plane! She also included some beeswax ( smells heavenly and just like Summer to me!), a spool of size B white Nymo- my fav size to use of that thread, three pretty tubes of mixed beads, some handmade polyclay face beads, two scrumptious cabs and something I have been coveting, but unable to find out here in the boonies- a bead scoop that is long and can be used at the end, or sideways. It made going through my bead soup a sweet chore!

I cannot thank her enough, except by posting my own PIF here, and as it is my second, I only ask that those who are on my first PIF refrain, to allow new folks to join in!

Take your lead from Barbara, and make this a spectacular PIF! To join in, make a comment on this post saying you wish to take part, and leave me your email so I can contact you. Then post the PIF on your own blog, so that others can join in there, and the Paying It Forward will continue. You will have 365 days from posting to send out your 3 PIF. The first three folks that respond with a comment asking to join in will receive their own personally created for them PIF from me within a year from now!

Polyclay play day

Sharon Solly ('Harry' to her friends and family) spent much of today taking me through the wonderful world of polyclay, from learning which brands work for what items, through proper conditioning, to creating Skinner Blends and finally leaf and lace canes, which I used to cover trash clay beads. Trash clay, by the way, is the leftover mixed colors, that will only become brown if you continue to use them.

She made it so easy to understand, and had me follow her step-by-step through each process.

Here are some examples of the almost finished beads. I am letting them rest tonight, and then will lightly twirl a needle through them before baking, to make the stringing hole.

Some I am going to attempt Harry's process of making them look like glass beads.....for you to learn this, do buy the Polymer Clay mag that is coming out this June, with her article and pics!

So much fun, for so little outlay of money!

She's a Puzzle to Me!

And she has been, from day one. This mask is for The Beadin' Path's Mask Challenge, and while I sort of knew where I wanted to go with it, the materials were not cooperating at all!

The mask is hard plastic, but will bend, and has white stuff that falls off the inside onto everything. I fixed that with some Ace Hardware brand spray paint in copper.

Hunting for felt that would mold to the face was my next hurdle. The polyester felt you can find everywhere does NOT mold to the face when put on with hot water.

Finding real 100% wool felt was harder than I thought. I did find lovely colors of small pieces, 18" square, from Wool Felt Central, online. They were only 40-60% wool, but the thinner color of light green seemed to mold just fine. Who knew that the different colors of felt would be different thicknesses?

I molded the layer, after putting the felt into HOT water, onto the mask and let dry on top of the fridge. Of course, Callie Cat had to investigate, but she didn't bother it.

Now for the glue. I used Gluesmith Glue for almost all my glueing needs. It dries fast, holds almost everything, and is clear and permanent! However, the felt piece I chose for the mask was thin, which made it mold nicely, but also let the glue come through completely. When Gluesmith dries, it dries to a rock hardness. Forget beading through it!

I got many great suggestions from the folks on both Beaded_Art_Dolls and Beaddreamz Yahoogroups, and finally decided on a clear, Scotch brand scrapbooking glue, as it was both within my budget AND had both a tiny tip for precise application plus a sponge tip. That sponge end worked perfectly for applying just the right amount of glue to the pieces I laid over the bottom layer.

I have to admit that this final layout of the felt was inspired by a challenge at Beaded_Art_Dolls.

They are currently running a Puzzle Doll, which is a flat doll shaped like a puzzle piece, then totally beaded on one side! My original idea, which will still be used, will make more sense with the background the mask now sports!

So, now you got to take a look, and do remember to click on the pic if you wish to see it larger. On to the next element, and then it is Time to Bead!!!

I'm saving the best for last- the story behind the Mask...

Home again, Home again, jiggety-jig

After a VERY LONG JOURNEY, as Perky the Pig puts it (since 2005!), She and Gulliver, her travelling companion, are ready to go home to their Mom in Mississippi, Sue O! The two dolls have travelled from MS to NC, from WA to Canada, then back the NC mountains, where they got their final touches...

Gulliver has lived up to his name, aquiring 7 league boots and a shield of vintage lucite to protect him from the 'little people' who would have taken him prisoner along the way. After all, he had to protect Miss Perky on this Journey, and could not afford to be out of action. He is over a foot tall, and towers over his companion.

Miss Perky loved the tiara she was given, but felt that some hair would make it better, so we added some stiff, pig-like bangs in front and then longer hair with 6mm Swar AB pink rounds at the ends, for BLING!

We are waiting to hear that her mom got moved safely, and then they will be making their final journey home to her.

They are very, VERY happy to be going home!

Remember, you can click on each pic to make it larger.

A Great Gift for Tigger

Being a mostly bouncy sort of person, really!, I was most ecstatic to receive what Tiggers love most....licorice, in all sort of shapes and flavors, from my Wonderful Friend just outside the Hundred Year Wood- Christina in the UK!!!

She also included some really REALLY dark chocolate, and even some with chili pepper in it, which should keep the Pooh out of it, hopefully! LOL!

There was also a lovely packet of cloth- perfect for doll making with warm, Spring colors and swirly patterns!!!!!

A very lucky Tigger am I, and I am cherishing every bite!

Thank-you again, my Most Spoilingist Friend!

from the Natural Solutions Foundation

You may want to visit their site, as there are many more issues being addressed there, such as protecting our right to have safe vaccinations, use herbal and vitamin/mineral preparations without prescriptions, and even our right to refuse medication that is harming children.
You may be surprised to find that even the US Army has forced vaccinations in the near future for the entire US population, for the bird flu, with enforced quarantine for those who refuse, as part of their agenda!
You may want to ponder on why all of this, and who is behind it, and what they are trying to do.
You may want to ponder on the failing Social Security System's funds, and what would happen if there was a sudden removal of many of those needing those funds.
You may want to ponder on the US medical folks' records of promoting drugs they know are unsafe, while either pooh-poohing the efficacy of nutritional support or downright denying it.
You may wish to become more aware, and more in charge of your own body and its welfare.
I know I have.
I don't put kerosene in my gas tank, so do not wish to put alien substances with known bad side effects into my body.
Be well.
The below is an excerpt from the April 3, 2008 Natural Solutions Foundation newsletter....



Have you heard of the nightmare condition called Morgellon's Disease (http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qGiSC2qd9XvqGRSpVWYqw2j1RUt1uOg4)?
Victims experience unbearable sensations - all the time, day and night - of insects crawling under their skin, burning and itching so terrible that people have committed suicide to end the torture. To make matters worse, much, much worse, these unfortunate people, who range in age from babies to the elderly, have open lesions on their skin that produces sharp, thin red, black, blue and white fibers and black sand-like grains. The fibers appear to move as if alive and, incredibly, when placed in a Petri dish after removal, continue to move and grow!

The origin of this horror has been unclear since it was first named in 2001 by the mother of a 3 year old baby whose symptoms she described and documented on a website. Since that time, thousands of people have been identified with this condition for which the only successful cure has been that most potent (and safe) of all antibiotics, nano silver. But the nature of the condition, and its cause, have remained a mystery until now.
This Plague Brought To You By BioTech

When fibers from Morgellon's Disease lesions from numerous patients were analyzed by competent scientists, they were found to contain DNA from BOTH a fungus and a bacterium used in the production of commercial Genetically Modified plants and animals!
Merging organisms that have totally separate DNA and characteristics for the sake of profit, regardless of the health or other consequences, the line between animate and inanimate has been crossed.
And we are all paying the price.
Like the fictional Dr. Frankenstein, who transformed the non-living into a living creature which escaped his control, the biotech industry has, we fear, created a real Frankenstein's Monster: Franken Foods which are bringing new plagues on us and on the earth. The future of our planet is literally and truly at stake. That is why the Natural Solutions Foundation has taken on the task of educating decision makers about GM threats.
As our good friends and collaborators from the Ecological Options Network (http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1mh7zDWurK0yXl7F10I%2BUGj1RUt1uOg4) have noted on their website, "To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all." Statement of 100 Nobel laureates on the 100th anniversary of the Nobel prize
That's Our Table!

Nine out of ten Americans already know that they do not want to eat GM foods but the FDA and other decision makers in the US and abroad do not necessarily get the message yet. After all, Big Biotech, like Big Pharma, has bought a seat at the Power Table - in fact, some say they have bought the whole table. Well, we, the "netroots" -- the consumers, have a seat at the table, too - in fact, it's our table! We want the food on it to be clean, wholesome and healthful. That's why we need your help to make sure this message is heard at every Codex meeting and in the halls of power around the world.
As it happens there is a Codex meeting coming up this month in Ottawa Canada where labeling of GM foods will be on the agenda, once again. For almost 20 years the US has been trying to force Big Biotech's Agenda down the throats (literally!) of the rest of the world. It has not been going well for the US.
The wonderful innovation in Codex proceedings that began at the last Codex Working Group on labeling of GM foods (Feb, Accra), when developing nations told the US that it can no longer dictate what happens to them and their health for the sake of the corporations who determine US policy (and who send advisors to sit on the US delegations of every Codex meeting), will be put to the test at the Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL), April 28-May 2, 2008.
Natural Solutions Foundation will be there, reporting e very day to tell you what's going on, straight from the shoulder. No other organization has the respect and cooperation of so many countries in the Codex community.
AFTER the CCFL meeting we will tell you all about the strategy meeting that we have helped initiate and its impact on the proceedings at CCFL. You can understand why we are not saying much about the who, what, when or where. The why is pretty clear: an emerging coalition of nations is taking their own power back to make it clear that their food and health- and yours, since so much US food is imported from the developing world -- is not for sale. The US FDA, EPA and USDA may be for sale, but these countries actually value the health of their people so much that they will not permit GM foods in their countries or will only permit GM foods if clearly labeled as such. It remains to be seen how effective the developing nations are in their coalition strategy. We'll let you know!
The Natural Solutions Foundation will be there, supporting and assisting them and you'll have a ring-side seat.