Dorothy Renc Gray

By: ornamento.blog
Art, art from recycled materials, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, Community Art Groups, Design, Dorothy Renc Gray, inspiration, jewelry, Materials, Ocean, Personal Growth, Personal History, Polymer Clay, risk taking, Uncategorized, , , 1 Comment on Dorothy Renc Gray

Dorothy’s favorite method of working with polymer clay is to model it until she feels a form emerge, much the way nature works. It’s no surprise then, that she was always drawn to objects altered by nature’s processes: twigs, leaves, beach glass and stone. She didn’t stumble on polymer clay until a few years ago when she used Sculpey to make a head for a figure she was fashioning from driftwood. Polymer clay intrigued her so much that she joined the Philadelphia Area Polymer Clay Guild to learn more. One meeting and she was hooked. Sound familiar?

I always admired Dorothy’s work, but I think she found her polymer clay voice after she took a Guild-sponsored class with Jeff Dever. You be the judge. Enjoy the slide show.

Beading from Las Cruces to Cape Town

By: ornamento.blog
Africa, American South West, Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, Bead a Day Beading Calendar, beading, beads, Bracelets, Design, history, inspiration, jewelry, Landscape, Las Cruces, Materials, New Mexico, Ocean, Personal Growth, Personal History, Philadelphia, politics, poverty, problem solving, seed beading, South Africa, Travel, Uncategorized, Urban, Urban Landscape, ZuluLeave a Comment on Beading from Las Cruces to Cape Town

It’s a long way from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Philadelphia where I live, and an even longer trip from Philadelphia to Cape Town, South Africa. I like to bead on long plane rides, so I started a bracelet on the Las Cruces trip, making a base then starting to embellish it with beads of many colors, shapes and sizes. I finished the bracelet on the trip to Cape Town. Then I submitted it to the Bead-A-Day Beading Calendar for 2009 and it was accepted! You’ll have to wait until the calendar comes out to get the instructions for making the “Las Cruces to Cape Town Bracelet.” You’ll also find many other beautiful beading projects in the calendar-one for every day of the year.

Here is a slide show of some of the things I saw in Las Cruces and Cape Town.

Jewels From The Sea

By: ornamento.blog
Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, Beach, Design, jewelry, Materials, Nags Head, Ocean, Personal Growth, Personal History, Shells, Uncategorized, , , 1 Comment on Jewels From The Sea

I recently spent a couple of days in Nags Head, North Carolina, enjoying the company of family, snoozing and walking the beach. The sand and ocean are the world’s best rock tumbler. The shell fragments above have been worn smooth by the sand and waves, exposing their inner patterns. I am not sure what I am going to do with them yet. Drill holes for stringing? Foil and silver the edges like stained glass and make charms for a necklace? I think I’ll wait for them to talk to me before I do anything.

Enjoy the slide show