Fiona Abel-Smith: Friday Featured Artist (on Saturday)

Sorry I am a day late with this post. The orders for the Helen Breil Silk Screens overwhelmed me just a bit. 🙂 I am going to be very bust this weekend.

This weeks artist makes the most amazing boxes I have ever seen ! Her name is Fiona Abel-Smith and I am in awe. They are entirely polymer clay ! !

Look at the details involved. Stunning ! Absolutely stunning !

Even the inside is finished with mokume gane. WOW!

Here is a picture of just the lid to one of her boxes. I can not even imagine how many hours of work this took to complete just the lid.

Oh, and Fiona makes dragons and jewelry too. 🙂

You can see more of Fiona’s work in her Flickr Gallery.

Advertisement

Fun polymer clay projects to keep you busy this Winter

Golden Polymer Clay Beads

Spring Bouquet Tutorial

Songbird Eggs

Rough And Tough Polymer Clay

Radiant Mica Shift

Persian Beads

Faux Enamel

Butterfly Cane From Basic Canes

Earth Toned Mokume Gane Beads

And a cool tip 🙂 Inside bottom of pop can makes a great curved surface to bake on. Just be careful of the sharp edges.

Inspiration From Nature

When I’m feeling artistically blocked and my muse has taken an unexpected vacation, I like to look to nature for inspiration. I recently found a seller on Etsy that uses butterfly wings to make jewelry (all butterflies passed of natural causes). I had never seen so many gorgeous colors and designs ! If only I could cane. I’d go crazy using the designs as a pattern.

Another source of caning inspiration are pictures of flowers.

And what about leaves? You can cane them or use the actual leaf for an impression in your clay.

Take a look around your back yard or favorite hiking trail. You can get some amazing texture off of stones & rocks.

A more unusual inspiration comes from fish scales. They come in so many colorful combination.

And what about a simple sunset? Imagine this as a Skinner Blend!

Then there are exotic bird feathers.

I hope these inspire you to create something wonderful 🙂

Free Extras With Etsy Orders

Place an order for nail art canes in my Etsy shop and mention this blog post in your PayPal payment details. I’ll add a free slicing blade and a couple extra canes. 🙂

www.tonjastreasures.etsy.com

Newly Listed On Etsy

I just listed 6 lots of nail art canes in my Etsy Shop.

Nail Art Canes In Stock – Low Introductory Price !!

Many designs to choose from !

For the first 2 weeks prices the Nail Art Canes will be available in my web shop for the low introductory price of $1.29 per cane. After wards, the prices will be $1.99 each. There are many beautiful flower canes, a few fun fruit designs, and several cute butterflies to choose from. Plus a great American Flag for the upcoming 4th of July. I have red and blue flower canes with white backgrounds that accent the flag beautifully.

The canes are very simple to use. Easy to follow instructions will be included with your order. All you need is a single edge razor blade or scraper blade, a safe cutting surface and a cup of hot water to warm the canes. A single cane can produce 60+ slices if you slice them very thin.

You can use the Nail Art Cane Slices several ways:
1. Glue them on to store bought acrylic nails with nail glue and clear coat them with an acrylic clear coat polish. (I recommend Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat) Then adhere the acrylic nails to your natural nails.
2. Embed the cane slices into the uncured acrylic as you have a nail tech do your nails. Make sure they are covered/sealed with the acrylic.
3. Pre-coated your nails with a layer of acrylic nail polish. Glue the cane slices onto your natural nails (with nail glue). Then seal them with an acrylic clear coat. (Again I recommend Sally Hansen No Chip Acrylic Top Coat)

I will also offer a variety of pre-sliced cane samplers, 20 slices for $1.99 if you prefer to not slice them yourself.

Here are just a few of the canes you will see in my shop.

Canes are approx. 3 – 5 mm across and 50 MM long.

Wired Polymer Clay

Betty Jo Hendershott has quite the flair for combining wire with polymer clay. Take a look at these beauties.

Then there is Judith Rosales. Her style is so unique. (Looks like I need to learn to solder)

A nice little tutorial by Alkhymeia and her gallery.

Marco Failla is a very talented guy who collaborates with Marina Lombardi to make these amazing pieces.

Gris Bleu has genuinely unique talent

Spring Flowers and a Butterfly or Two.

Spring has sprung. I stumbled upon this beautiful bracelet in a Flickr album. It was put together by Laurie L of Lorelei Design.  Marie Segal made the fabulous polymer clay flowers and butterflies. I love the colors and way Laurie mixed the polymer clay bits with the vintage jewels and Swarovski crystals.

A close-up

Enchanting Bracelet