In Search Of Elephants,Whales,Walruses...........

A couple of weeks ago it was my eldest daughter's fourteenth wedding anniversary. What I didn't know was that gifts for  fourteenth wedding anniversaries is ivory.

As much as I would have liked to be able to afford real ivory there was no way I could. But more importantly I am a conservationist and there is NO WAY I was going out to kill  an elephant or whale or walrus in order to get a few teeth.

Next best thing I 'll fake it and bake it! So this is what I came up with.

A set of teaspoons covered in faux ivory bone polymer clay.

Covered spoons with little gold mica hearts and smaller hearts embossed.

Close up of one of the spoons.

I have to admit this is the first time I have tried my hand at faux ivory and my first time at covering spoons. I wasn't too sure at first if I liked them or not.  Personally I thought they looked primitive and something Fred Flintstone may be happy with.  However my daughter and son-in-law was delighted with them. Plus I guess a few elephants,whales and walruses were too . :)

                                

The Beauty That Surrounds Us Part 2

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The other day when I was in our conservatory something caught my eye that was fluttering on one of the panes of glass. I don't know if it was a moth or a butterfly. But whatever it was to me it was beautiful. I wanted to let it out so I thought I would take a photo of it before sending it on it's way.The wings were dark in colour with spots that reminded me of a peacock.

A couple of nights later I was about to put my recycling out when I nearly had heart failior!  There was something alien looking stuck to one of the bags. It was the biggest slug I have ever come across. It was the grand daddy of all slugs! I admit I am not a big fan of slugs but I had a strange fascination for this one.  With great big wads of kitchen roll I scooped it up and placed it on some more wads of kitchen roll and took it's photo. It had spots and stripes and leopard print markings. In my daughters words it must have been a designer slug. This summers must have accessories. 

And talking of the big things. Just over four years ago we had a new addition to the family. A six week old Welsh border collie pup,who incidently feels bothered by things that fly(I think he feels they have an unfair advantage over him as he can't fly). A couple of weeks later he  gleefully chased something into the living room from outside. It landed by the side of the mirror. I thought it was a bat. It turned out to be a moth. A elephant hawk moth apparantly.

 

For those of you who may have dropped by and read this blog. It is from this beauty that surround us that I take inspiration from and try and recreate in polymer clay and jewellery making.

The Beauty That Surrounds Us Part 1

I was brought up to respect nature and that everything in life is here for a purpose.That all creatures great and small have a right to life and should not be harmed.

However it was not until I took an interest in photography that I actually started to see the beauty in things that surround us.Where I live in Wales I am surrounded by mountains and the ever changing colours in seasons and the ever changing weather(seems I back to that again) and the way in which it can alter the way the landscape looks.

Before I got an interest in polymer clay I started making jewellery and it was during this time that I purchased a Czech designer glass pendant. The piece was called "Stormy Sky" and it seemed as if I could relate to this as it so reminded me of the mountain  that we can see from the back of our house. There are times when the sky goes quite black and thundery looking but there will be some little streak of blue sky and and sun shining on the mountain. For some reason this glass pendant reminded me of this.

Mountain View from the back of our house.

"Stormy Sky" Pendant

 

Pendant made up with black onyx an Swarovski crystals.

Weather Back To The Usual Rain

"Colour My World" Necklace

"Dotty About Spots"Necklace

"Dotty About Spots" Necklace

                       

                                                                                                                                                      "Colour My World" Necklace

Well the weather it seems is back to the norm here in Wales with really heavy bursts and landslides in some parts.So I have added some vibrant coloured necklaces to my collections and websites. Versatile in colours as they compliment any colour scheme's.

The inspiration I had for these.... well there is a couple of  positive aspects to the amount of  rain we have been having of late. There has been no mountain fires (the rain have put a dampener on the little b&*g^rs setting fire to them) so they are really lush looking right now and not burnt to a cinder. And the little tiny bits of sun that sometimes come through after the rain fall  forms beautiful rainbows over the valleys. So I take my inspiration from these and try to create the rainbow spectrum.

Look What The Sunshine Brought Me

A Little Visitor To My Garden

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with jewellery making or polymer clay, but yesterday we had a little bit of a rare occurrance....sun.Yes that's right! Sun! And I freely admit it went straight to my head. It also brought a little visitor to my back garden patio.

Let me introduce you to Betty. Betty is the beautiful little slinky shimmery grey one. The beautiful one holding her is my granddaughter Anya.

For anyone about to SHREIK in horror. Let me explain.

Betty is a slow worm. AND NOT A SNAKE. 

Slow worms are completly harmless and (legless ;) ) They are endangered and are really quite cute little creatures. Although the name is slow worm they are actually lizards without legs.And slow is not a term I would use to describe they're movements.

Nautical And Nice

Nautical and nice polymer clay rondells in navy blue and fire engine red.

They are ideal worn for the Jubilee Celebration weekend. But the best thing is they are a timeless classic so they can be worn after the celebrations have ended.These are available to purchase at www.cariadjewelrybox.com and also www.folksy.com/shops/love

Cariad Jewelry Box. Com's photostream

Cariad Jewelry Box. Com's photostream on Flickr.

I have added more photos to flickcr