Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Button Nut's Favorite Search Words


I am a button nut. As you can see from the picture above, I have an addiction to Victorian black glass buttons. I probably take a half hour each day to search through the eBay and Etsy. My favorite search words is "black lacy glass buttons" Why black glass? In the late part of the 19th century the most detailed buttons were comprised of black glass. These black glass buttons are also called mourning buttons, this is due to the fact that Queen Victoria wore only black jet buttons after the death of Prince Albert. Another favorite search word of late is "carved celluloid". Bakelite or celluloid was the first plastic of the 20th century. It was not until the I came across this celluloid bird shown below, that I paid more attention to carved celluloid.


(Vintage carved celluloid bird bottom left, bronzclay bird from mold upper right)

I live close to a Hobby Lobby (aka Michael's or AC Moore) that sells my favorite two part silicone mold maker. I use a product called "The Amazing Molding Putty" I love this stuff it is very rare when I can not get a good mold from this product. Another product I use to create molds is polymer clay. I specifically use sculpty when making molds that have very fine detail that is not recessed enough for the silicone mold to pick up.

Below is an example of my Sunflowers Pendant, you can see the finished silver pendant, the unfired greenware, the original black glass button and the two part silicone mold.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Tulips, Hearts, and Bronze Stars oh my


Some new Bronzclay pendants. I have a lot of items floating around my bench right now. I just finished the above three pendants this week. They still have a lot of polishing and finishing work but I am pleased with how they came out. I call the pendant on the upper left my tulips, hearts and stars pendant; the second located on the left is another Victorian flower pendant and the last pendant is a version of my Victorian Flower Charm. I am not sure about the patina on the tulip, hearts and stars pendant. I am never happy with the patina on my bronze pieces. Not to mention they always look silver in the photos. Hopefully this weekend I get get some good light to take some better photos, it so hard to take pictures at night.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Thursday's Themes - Valentines Day


It's Valentine's Day this Sunday and I am looking forward to a nice dinner with my husband. Some of the items listed above have been on my favorites list for a long time. Have a great weekend and I hope you enjoy my heart collection.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Thursday's Themes - The Man Cave




This weekend is my husband's birthday. Currently all the guys are downstairs in the basement playing the ritual Thursday night poker game. Our basement is pretty bare, except for my husband's poker table (which he made himself), the billiards table and the dart board. It is truly a man cave and as of last Wednesday it also now contains the dog that Jason has been wanting for a very long time. Last Saturday we visited the Champaign County Humane Society and adopted Pepper a female lab-mix. She is a very cute and rambunctious 4 month old puppy. Jason has been asking for a dog, for as long as I can remember and now that we have a house, he finally has the dog to complete his man cave. The above choices are things that I think would improve the vibe of the man cave. It is unfinished right now but I now my husband has great plans for it. Have a great weekend everyone and happy birthday hubby. Below is a picture of Pepper, I love her little Yoda ears.