The Trees

     I've created 3 more trees to go along with my palm tree cane. They are a fun leafy tree, a time-worn branchy tree, and a pine tree. These fun canes were also part of a large custom order and have been a wonderful edition to my cane selection in my ETSY shop.
     I've had so many, many people ask me about how I made these.  =)  And really, they're not hard at all, so let me tell you - these will be some of my first tutorials on CraftArtEdu.  I've been working on the details and learning the system and promise y'all that I'll let y'all know when they're done and live.  (Just don't laugh at my voice - I'm still adjusting to hearing myself!)
     There are so many ideas running through my head that I can use these for - country scenes, woodland scenes, or forest scenes.  They would be cute paired with caned houses or barns or with bears or moose for a Northwoods theme.  Maybe even throw in a lake, boat and a fishing pole.  =)  ...but I'd have to keep that one.  If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them!

The Doors

     It's been a rather busy few months here for me and it's looking like it won't slow down for awhile now. =) It's exciting though! First off, the next few days, I'll be catching up on new creations - lots of fun new canes from a custom order. The first set of canes I'm showcasing today will be all my door canes.
     There is lots to learn in making canes of doors and maybe the first how to minimize the natural distortion that comes from cane reduction in order to keep the lines straight.  There are several ideas I've experimented with during this caning adventure. The deeper you make the cane when first creating it, the easier it is to reduce without the edges warping and pressing the edges against a flat table top to keep the ends from drawing in helps TONS.  I'm also thinking in the future I may use a layer of scrap clay around the outside to help with reduction.  All in all though, these are meant to be whimsical and they succeed.  I did a bit of experimentation with the shading inside the door as well.  The glass in the door with the window is a light skinner blend of white and silver.   I'm looking forward to doing some experimenting with various house scenes and barn scenes and these will come in handy.
     Now for all the news that is keeping me so busy.  First off, I have been invited by the folks at CraftArtEdu to become an instructor.  YEAH!  I've been teaching art and craft classes privately and professionally and running craft groups for almost 20 years.  Creating my own designs and sharing my learnings is one of my passions in life, so I think CraftArtEdu is a perfect fit for me.  I look forward to bringing new projects to the polymer world and I'll be sure to let all of you know about all my new adventures.   Secondly, I'm now selling my jewelry through the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth, Texas and will be doing a trunk show and demo on August 1 at their monthly First Friday event.  I'll be posting more about specifics of the demo in another post once I get my design all laid out.  It's going to be a great evening.  And there is a number 3 that was on my list, but that'll have to wait until later so I can give you all the details.  =)  Come August though, I'll need to catch up on my sleep.