As the title reflects, I feel I have been Chasing Rainbows to no avail. I needed someplace or thing to make me feel more grounded and accountable. Somewhere I can record my plans and efforts as I work towards meeting goals of increasing my Polymer Clay knowledge, skills, and abilities while working towards a healthier me, in mind, body, and soul. A place that reminds me that everything has the possibility to improve with effort (I might even catch part of one of those Rainbows, someday).

Ready for Clay Play Day

Posted by Sue C | Posted on Friday, January 15, 2010 | Posted in

Good evening, first of all, I have to satisfy a reader about my dinky mailbox problem, so I went out today and walked out to my mailbox (the snow, by the way, would have been perfect for making a snowman, but I was a woman on a mission).  So, here's how far it is to my mailbox from my house:




Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I stepped outside the door, the mailman pulled up with our mail, because, you guessed it, we had a box as well as a roll of bubble wrap and there was no way it was going in that itty bitty white mailbox.  This second picture is of our mailman pulling out of our driveway after giving me the mail.








This third picture is from right across the highway from my driveway entrance to the mailbox (see, you can't even see the itty bitty mailbox. 

Finally, this picture shows the itty bitty mailbox with our poor uprooted mailbox just laying there in the ditch.  


























And one last picture of our old mailbox propped up beside the itty bitty white mailbox, after which I dragged the old one up to the house since I was out there playing with it anyway.  It was a relatively nice day today.  It doesn't look like such a big size difference in the picture, but believe me, it is a huge difference.







So, what's on my clay desk today, besides the mess from yesterday?  Well, as I picked through the left-overs I found several extruded lengths I was able to piece together to make 3 more eye cane sets.  I'm not sure how much like an eye color they will be, but they'll be interesting and who says what colors Fairy eyes can be, anyway.  






Then I got busy sorting colors and sheeting out the rest of the leftovers.  


Yeah, I know, I'm rather 'anal' about things like my leftovers.  I can't just throw them in a bag or drawer or bin or anything, I have to have them sheeted out ready to be used.  I've even been known to drive people and instructors nuts as I patiently pick apart cane ends to separate the colors.  Oh well, it makes me happy and doesn't harm anybody else, so guess I'll keep on doing it.  




When I checked the blogs I follow in the morning, I got a great idea from my friend Jackie, at her blog  The Pleasant Pheasant to use a portable DVD player to watch my polymer clay videos right at my clay table.  Thanks, Jackie, what a great idea.  (AND, I just called Mr. C at work and told him about Jackie's post and mentioned I'd use my Polymer Clay DVDs a lot more if I had something like that and he said, go look at Amazon and see what you can find and we'll discuss it when I get home tonight, hee, hee, that means I get to get one---YES!!!).
So, back to my pasta machine and my sheeting obsession. . .
Then I was checking blogs during 'my lunch break', yes, I know I work at home, I'm a Polymer Clay Artist, but if I don't schedule my days, I'll just fritter them away either on this 'puter, or reading, or just plain playing with the puppy. If I didn't schedule myself, I wouldn't get any housework done, either and then we wouldn't have any clothes to wear, LOL--I was going to be a little more crass than that, but decided it wouldn't really be my style.  Anyway, I digress, so on my lunch break, I read another of my favorite blogs Let's Lose Weight This Year (although just like me, it's been more than a year since I started reading this blog and not much weight has been lost by either of us), but, that's beside the point.  In today's post, she was talking about her brother loving Bill Cosby when he was a kid and being able to recite parts of them.  It just really hit home to me, because I had just been sitting there, mindlessly sheeting the left-overs from the eye cane sets and it came to me that lots of people post "what I'm listening to" on their blogs, and I just don't fit in at all.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit what I listen to, but it's stuff I was raised with and to this day it's still my favorite mindless listening.  The other day something was said on Facebook, by my daughter B, about loving music and being a music/drama geek in high school and I wrote back, "All right, what am I listening to right now?"  Darned if the kid didn't hit half of it right on the head (and the rest she guessed were already queued up for the next day), LMAO.  I'm talking about records (see I already dated myself, LOL) I mean cds like Peter Paul and Mary, The Smother's Brothers, Alan Sherman, Ray Stevens, and The Irish Rovers (who are fantastic in person, too, by the way).   The music I listen to is older than "the oldies", LOL.   John Denver is high on my list of favorites, and any and all of the older musicals, Camelot, Brigadoon, Sound of Music, etc.  I also love the old Cowboy songs, many of which my Grandma used to sing to me.  I  occasionally do country, but don't have a clue who any of the modern musicians are.  I guess since they bring me pleasure and contentment, nobody else has to listen to them (except for poor Mr. C, who, although he doesn't mind my choice of music does object to hearing the same ones over and over again for several days). 



Okay, lunch break over, back to sheeting, and finally, I have it done:  Isn't that a pretty rainbow of colors ready to be reused?  There was only one washed out one this time (the green ones), the others are ready to go.  I'll eventually work some fluorescent green or fluorescent yellow into it to brighten it up.








So, this is what I have to show for the past weeks work.  I'm very pleased, a total of 15 different combinations of colors for eventual transformation into Eye canes.






Next, I had to get my clay shelves restocked from my reserves (I sure hope Michael's has another clay sale soon or I'll be having to place an order with Munro's, my reserves are nearly gone.)  Does anybody know if you can create Ultramarine Blue from Cobalt Blue?  I'm completely out of Ultramarine Blue.  So, clay shelves are now as restocked as I can make them. 



 Now it's time to get the rest of the work stations ready for Clay Play Day, hooray, I really enjoy our Clay Play Days, wish more people could/would join us.



I've even had time to get the spaghetti sauce ready for the lasagna for tomorrow. I'm trying something new.  They now make a lasagna noodle you don't have to precook, I'm going to try it, I'll let you know how it works out.  I make my lasagna weird (like most things, LOLOL). I don't happen to like cottage or ricotta cheese, so I use entirely mozzarella cheese in my lasagna.  So it's really more like 'baked spaghetti', but once again, heheheh, it makes me happy and nobody else has ever complained.  I had a foretaste, as I had actual spaghetti for my dinner tonight, since I had already cooked the sauce and made plenty (remember, I have trouble only cooking for one or two, .  I really haven't taken to this "empty nest" thing very well, in many ways.  


So, guess I'd better get going, and let you out of this madhouse, too.  Thanks for visiting, 'see' you tomorrow.

Comments (5)

Susan Said on January 15, 2010 at 9:02 PM

Hey there Gal. I can so relate to wanting to sheet your left over clay. I clay only for personal satisfaction, but I still am very particular about how I leave things. To me polymer clay messes up my work area faster than any other type of project, so the need for strict organization is crucial. Thanks for mentioning my weight loss blog, and thanks for commenting. I get regular feedback on my art blog, but not so much on my diet blog. I think your choice of music is quite a hoot. Even though I'm an "oldie but a goodie" myself, my taste in music usually is 70's and 80's. Anyway, thanks again for stopping by. Hope you have a great weekend. Susan

Sue C Said on January 16, 2010 at 8:32 AM

Thanks, Susan, I follow both faithfully, LOL, but prefer the "Let's Lose Weight this year", it "speaks" to me, LOLOL Smiles

Anonymous Said on January 16, 2010 at 4:55 PM

Nuttin' wrong with your music choices. Shoot I listen to those and I'm even younger! And it's all your fault. LOL!!!

Can't wait to see your eye canes. Working on your banner tomorrow.

The link is up. Come follow me!

LY!

Anonymous Said on September 7, 2010 at 9:37 PM

Well, I see this post was from 1/15/2010 but I'm still going to comment. I got to your blog via a link in Sandra's blog that I got to from somewhere else, which came from somewhere else. You've got to forgive me if I can't remember the trail but that's just not important to me because I'm here now:) I'm interested in eye canes because it's so expensive to buy glass eyes for my sculpts and frankly they aren't worth what you have to pay for them. The sad thing is they aren't all that good either. I'm hoping to do better than what I've got access to, short of paying $20 and up for a pair of eyes. So that's how I got here. Now, while reading I saw that you love John Denver...now that lit a fire in me that's been dormant for many years. I fell in "LOVE" with John Denver's songs from the moment I first heard them. I was at a wedding party in a cabin up in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Denver, CO. Jerri married a C/O (Conscientious Objector)who was a peace loving hippie. They were in love and John Denver sang about love. Everything was beautiful. I listened to John Denver so much that I learned the words to his songs without even making a conscious effort to do so.Those were the days!!! Sop anyway I figured I'd share my walk down memory lane with you because we seem to be listening to the same stuff:) I'm also addicted to clay and love my animals. I don't have a Mr C in my life but that's okay because I get to spend my money any way I want to without consulting anyone else. It's a wonderful life:) Laura B. (Ex Coloradian, not a CT clayer.)

Mady Said on April 2, 2011 at 1:41 PM

I just wanted to let you know what an inspiration this post is. Looking at your work area is my dream and I also realize that I'm really not that far. I too sheet my clay and put them in small photo albums that I keep on a shelf, but I do not have all the clay that you do. I have translucent clay, and I mix colors into it because I have such a small area. I've stolen your pictures (for private use only of course) and have them sitting on my desktop under the title of "Get busy ~ Get inspired" and am hoping that each day when I sit down, I'll see another little organizational idea that you've used that I can incorporate into my room. Thank you so much for the ideas!!

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