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Showing posts with the label experimenting

The Kitchen Sponge Holder Story

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Why would I spend time making a kitchen sponge holder when I could have bought a pottery one at the craft faire?   In fact, Peter wanted to know why I needed one at all. It was just one of those things…..I saw it at a craft booth and thought “What a great idea!   I bet I could make one of those out of polymer clay!”    So the project began. First I measured the sponge and was explaining to Peter how it worked.   It was actually like a napkin holder – 2 sides with finger slots and a bottom.   That is when Peter started asking questions like “how would the sponge dry with no bottom holes?” “How would the water drain with no feet to hold the sponge higher than the counter?”   And that is when I decided to really put my design to the test with “Good Product Design Requirements” 1.        Function - Does it work? 2.        Repairability – Can it be repaired? 3.        Reliability – Will it work every time? 4.        Durability – Will it stay together? 5.        Producibil

One Solution to my Experimental Necklace

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This is one of my solutions to the weak link in my Experimental Petal Neclace: I cut the curls off the tops of my petals and added eyelets.  Let me say that the Fiskar Eyelet kit I found on sale at Joann's a year ago really worked for this job. What a great little tool! I was able to rewire the copper loops that attach to the chain and here you have it!  A little more wire but everything is stable and this should be lots of fun to wear. Experimenting with this has increased my knowledge of polymer clay, its limits and possibilities.  Thanks to everyone for your interest and suggestions!

My Goals for 2012 Revisited

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 Copper Bell using Hadar's Clay  Last January I listed my goals for year 2012 as: I will have fun doing whatever I am doing. I will experiment with new techniques and share them. And I’m very pleased to say I accomplished them.   In fact, I think I will continue them for 2013! Having fun doing whatever I’m doing is pretty easy.   I’m at the age that “If it isn’t fun, why would I do it?   And if I have to do it anyway, I might as well make it fun.” Experimenting with new techniques turned out to be a mixed bag.   I experimented with polymer clay and became known as the “Button Baroness”.   (I laugh about that).   I have several mixed metal, silver metal clay and polymer pieces on consignment in two cities.   (Amazing myself).   New tools have made experimenting easier and fun.   The copper bell really tinkles!   And somewhere this year I signed up to take Hadar’s   artinsilver.com/ class in Tucson in February 2013 using her powdered clay and learning new