This, that...and the other.

Pretty in Peeps Necklace by Margot Potter for ILovetoCreate
Follow this Link for Instructions

Okay so look, I sometimes feel as if my straw pile keeps me so busy I start to drift away and the rest of the things in my life, like my friends and this blog and my stray eyebrow hairs and even my ever growing pile of magazines start to feel like they're just out of reach.

I'm still here, plugging away at it all with the new job and our move into our new home and the buying of gee gaws and hoozits to decorate the new home which was initially going to be decorated in Cabin Chic but after the purchase of two giant reclaimed tin roosters from Mexico at our local Home Goods...is now veering into folk art kitsch...

Inhale.

Exhale.

So in lieu of a new project or a thought provoking blog post about the deeper meaning of string...

I wanted to reshare one of my all time favorite of favorite projects...ever.

If you like this one you may also love my Peeps Bouquet along with the tale of misfortune that accompanies that post.

I think Peeps are so cute I could just eat them up.

Well I could.

So could you.

I mean, they're edible. Duh.

Until next time...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Freaky Friday!

In Case of Emergency Copyright 2009 Margot Potter ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
(FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY)

I'm away on business, but the blog marches on! Today's offering is the second in my Vampire series and is probably the most downloaded project from my blog. Tune in next week for more spooktacular Freaky Friday Fun!

Follow this link for instructions!

Love
Madge

Design Inspiration

I am knocking on wood as I type this, which is quite a feat let me tell you.  People often ask me where I find my inspiration and the truth is, I am endlessly and constantly inspired.  Everything excites me to the point that I sometimes feel total sensory overload.  I thought I'd share a small glimpse into my design process and how it functions.  Here are two designs and inspiration images for a book proposal I presented a couple of years ago to two different publishers that wasn't accepted.  I think it's a brilliant concept, but perhaps it's just not right for the craft industry publishing focus.  Or maybe I'm totally delusional.

The jury is still out on that one!

I just put an 'inspiration board' up in my studio.  I'm going to fill it with whatever is spinning my design wheels at any moment.  I usually just let everything simmer in my head, but lately it feels a bit crowded. Consider this post as a virtual inspiration board.  I gathered up all of these images that were suddenly ringing bells in my brain and they inspired two designs. 

O'Keefe Poppies-this painting has been a favorite for years.  

Marimekko Uniko Poppy Fabric-I've been mad for their prints since I was a pre-teen

Warhol Poppy-I love this.  

This is my pop art poppy polymer clay set I created inspired by the images above.  This is intentionally streamlined and less of a literal translation.Copyright 2008 Margot Potter.  All Rights Reserved.

 Black and white detail photo of a white poppy.

Billie Holiday wearing her signature gardenias.

This White Poppy set has a far more dimensional and literal interpretation of the poppy motif.  I built this flower using Sculpey Ultra Light and painted it with acrylic paint and silver leafing pen. Copyright 2008 Margot Potter.  All Rights Reserved.

For me, design is an adventure.  I become obsessed with an idea and I have to make it real. How do you design?  Where do you find your inspiration?  I'm curious!

xoxo
Madge

Steampunk Style Design Reveal!

 The Anachronist copyright 2009 Margot Potter from Steampunk Style

 Love's Labours Lost copyright 2009 Margot Potter from Steampunk Style

Click on images to view details

 All Rights Reserved

I finally got a chance to thumb through a copy of Jean Campbell's incredible new book Steampunk Style.  I am so honored to have two designs featured in the book along side pieces from some of my favorite jewelry artists and am hoping to get my own copy to fully savor in the near future.  You'll recognize my favorite enigmatic Victorian lady as the focal image on the pendant I created for the first design I called The Anachronist.  That piece has a combination of artisan beads from Green Girl Studios and Earthenwood Studio, milagros, Tim Holtz for Advantus components and mixed media charms I created from chipboard, glass, acrylic, metal and wooden elements.  The second design has three interchangeable pendants featuring Green Girl and Earthenwood charms or the core necklace can be worn sans pendants for a more simple look.

I'll write up a real review when I get my copy of the book, but from what I saw it will rock your ever lovin' socks off.

xoxo
Madge

A Chip Off of the Old Board

Book review and project inspired by Beyond the Bead copyright 2010 Totally Creative E-Zine Ann Butler (click on images to view close up)

Way back in 2005 I began exploring a variety of paper crafting materials in my design work.  My book The Impatient Beader Gets Inspired has a lot of fun paper craft/scrapbook stuff repurposed into jewelry.  I really got excited about paper craft focused jewelry and developed those ideas further in Sparkletastic and Beyond the Bead.  I spent lots of time experimenting with chipboard and trying to fine tune techniques and materials that worked to embellish it without compromising its durability and strength.  I also found ways to seal it so it could be water resistant through a lot of trial and plenty of error.  It all started because I got bored with stringing and wire wrapping and wanted to expand my repertoire.  That and I love big scale jewelry that's light weight.  I just wandered the craft store aisles, the hardware stores and the thrift stores trying to see virtually everything as a possible jewelry material.  If you poke around my Free Mixed Media Jewelry RSS Feed, you'll find some fun paper craft focused ideas.

When Tim Holtz came out with Grungeboard I did a serious happy dance.  It was like chipboard on steroids. I could abuse it, stamp it, sand it, decoupage it, paint it, bend it, puncture it...and no matter what I did to it...it survived.  I'm a huge fan of that substrate and if you've not tried it...you should!  That being said, I still found myself coming back to chipboard.  There are so many really great shapes out there already in chipboard intended for use in paper crafts (Bazzill Basics has a really phenomenal selection.)  You can die cut chipboard on a Big Shot Pro or a Cuttlebug too, which opens a lot of doors.  I'm super fond of the chipboard circles that you can punch with your crop-a-dile (a tool every crafter needs) and make quick and easy pendants.  The project on the cover of my last book is made from these chipboard circles.

It's funny how merely shifting our perspective can result in new pathways for our work.  Try to expand your vision as you wander the aisles and don't be afraid to make glorious messes.  Even in those lie the seeds of something good.

Above is a great review and a fab project featuring the chipboard cover project from Beyond the Bead by the talented Ann Butler for Totally Creative E-Zine.  I love what she did with the idea! 

xoxo,

Madge

Free Halloween Craft Project Idea Goulie Girl Necklace

I've been waiting for some phone calls this morning and I remembered these great ceramic skulls I got from Jennifer Heynan of Jangles. (It looks like she's out of skulls, but if you scroll down she's got pumpkins, ghosts and cats that'd be great substitutions.) I've been meaning to make something with these skull beads for quite some time and with a few spare moments here, I whipped up this jaunty little Goulie Girl necklace. I used carnelian beads, three strands of fancy gun metal chain I bought from Rings and Things and some dark annealed iron wire I bought from Metalliferous. The wire is cut into short segments and used to create a rosary style chain to connect the beads. Basically I just added a loop on each side and connected them. You could also opt to add jump rings in between. If you use iron wire, cut it with Memory Wire shears and not regular cutters, it'll chew up a regular cutter blade in a flash. I have been mad for bows this season, so I couldn't resist adding one on here.

I love how this is part whimsy, part fashionista...for your inner Goulie Girl.

Until next time....craft on with your bad selves!

xoxo
Madge

For the edification of the FTC, the gun metal chain and skull beads were given to me for use in my design work and I purchased the rest of the materials in the above project.

Friendly Plastic Product Review AND Giveaway!

Runic Mixed Media Necklace by Margot Potter for Amaco Copyright 2009

(Leave a comment to be entered to win a Friendly Plastic Prize Package!)

One of the best parts of my job is getting to play with new or rediscovered materials. Recently the wonderful folks from Amaco invited me to explore Friendly Plastic. I’ve never actually used this medium, my crafty forays in the 80s revolved entirely around things I got at the thrift store and the occasional jaunt to the local costume shop. I’ve been meaning to try this medium, so this was a great opportunity to check it out. I googled the topic to see what other folks had done with the material, visited the Amaco website, the Friendly Plastic blog and other blogs and videos. Then I took some of what I learned and in typical Madge fashion headed off in my own direction. I grabbed my non-stick craft sheet and my heat tool and started making what I like to call glorious messes.

Friendly Plastic has a fairly low melting point, so it’s pretty easy to quickly get it to a soft stage using a variety of methods. It’s also pretty easy to overheat it and melt it into a gooey mess. A lot of folks use a non stick baking mat section in a griddle; I didn’t have those handy so I opted to use my trusty heat tool. You can see the foil begin to change; as soon as that change is consistent the Friendly Plastic is soft and pliable. I realized fairly quickly that overheating it makes it harder to work with because it gets super sticky like taffy. Once it’s at the optimum ‘just turned soft’ stage you can cut into it with metal cutters (you can even make your own cutters using the sheet metal Amaco makes), you can stamp into it, you can carve into it, you can fuse it together and you can mold, bend or shape it. I embedded things in it, but I suggest you put the item in with a dash of glue after creating the indent and allowing it to cool. Some sites suggested that you dip your tools and fingers in cold water, others in oil. I didn’t do either and my rubber stamps held up just fine after repeated uses. It’s important that you let the plastic cool before you try to remove it from your stamp. I used a small spatula end of a clay tool to gently pry it off of the stamp. It’s easy to cut when solid, so I’d suggest waiting to use scissors until it’s solid again.

The downside to the low melt point is that several people told me it melts in a hot car. So you won’t want to make a steering wheel or dashboard cover with Friendly Plastic. Also don’t leave your Friendly Plastic jewelry in your car or say on a sidewalk in the desert in the summertime. I think wearing it in the heat should be okay, if your car is hot enough to melt it while you’re wearing it, I think you should be more concerned about breathing!

Landscape Mixed Media Pendant Copyright 2009

I've shown samples of designs I made after a lot of experimenting. I played with stamping into it and cutting it into organic shapes and then mounting it on tim holtz’ Fragments acrylic tiles with the new Beadalon BeadFix glue squares. I really love how this turned out...what about adding decoupaged vintage text behind it? Archival or alcohol inks on the back of the acrylic? It’s one of those ideas upon which it’s easy to expand, but I’m loving how striking and simple this is. It looks like archeological finds mounted on glass. I also made an Amate bezel pendant by fusing two colors together and then stamping into them and fusing a third sliver along the seam to make a landscape, I’ll share a full how-to on that here next week.

I tried adding alcohol inks on the surface of the cooled plastic, which looked great. I also played with embossing powders. If you do use embossing powders, my advice is that you add them to the surface of HEATED material and get it pretty soft before you add the powder and hit that again with a heat tool. Come in on it slowly and don’t just blast it. I had holographic powder all over me for two days. Sparkly Madge! Also remember if you do this on acrylic that it’s not the best plan to heat acrylic tiles because they’ll melt too. Yes, I figured that out the hard way. Get the Friendly Plastic elements finished before you attach them to the acrylic. Also take care not to get fingerprints all over it; I did on a few trial pieces.

If you like exploring new mediums, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. You can use it to make beads, you can create mosaics, you can stamp and mold it...and it doesn’t have to be too shiny if you add things to the surface. I’m definitely adding this into my standard bag of tricks and hoping to discover more ways to use it in the future!

I’d love to see what you do with it and hear about your experiences. In fact...if you leave a comment here the fine folks from Amaco have offered to send a box of samples to a random winner! I’ll select and announce the winner here next Wednesday! Good luck!

Cheers,
Madge

Mixed Media Jewelry Project Idea Earth Metal

Copyright 2009 Margot Potter for Walnut Hollow

I created this mixed media design for the fab folks from Walnut Hollow a while back. It features their Creative Metal sheets combined with inks, CRYSTALLIZED-Swarovski Elements and polymer clay. I actually painted the clay this color and used the Sculpey Ultra light. I like that it's so incredibly light weight and easy to shape and mold. I embedded slivers of metal into the clay and created metal cones which I inked, rolled and threaded on wire. I made my own findings using 20 gauge copper wire. I love this combination of colors and it feels so right for fall. I'll share instructions when this project goes live.

I'll be back tomorrow with a new Teen craft for I Love to Create. Until then...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo,
Madge

The Impatient Crafter's Etsy Shoppe!

I'm playing catch up here at Studio Madge and well, to put it bluntly, trying to make some money to pay the bills. No, I'm not independently wealthy and no, being a quasi-marginal pseudo celebrity, craft industry designer and author doesn't pay me the big bucks...yet. Shocking, isn't it?!

I'm filling up the Etsy shoppe with some one of a kind finished designs that have appeared in my books, magazine publications and on my blog. I'll also have ephemera and vintage craft supplies up soon AND some amazing and pristine Victorian and Edwardian era vintage clothing. Plus some other vintage goodies I've collected over the years.

So do hop on over and see what's new!




I'm still working on that CHA post and waiting for some pics from other folks since I was so busy I didn't have time to snap many of my own. Stay tuned...and until then...craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo,
Madge

Somewhere in Time

Somewhere in Time Mixed Media Necklace

This is a project for a taping I'm doing at CHA. I am sworn to secrecy as to how I created it until the episode airs. It's called Somewhere in Time after the film of the same name. This is one of my favorite Victorian images in my collection because she has a wonderful cat that ate the canary grin. Every time I look at this I think someone must have just said something terrifically naughty to her right before the picture was shot.

You so rarely see smiles in these old photos, I believe it's because the camera shutter was open for so long it was hard to hold a smile. Her wicked little grin makes this image especially compelling. I've featured her in a Steampunk mixed media piece that will be in Jean Campbell's new book and I can not wait to show you when the book comes out.

I wanted this to look like an image under buried glass...lost in the ethers of time, frozen in this wonderful moment, buried under the years that have since passed. I think I achieved that objective.

I love ephemera because it's a lens. Old photographs are especially compelling because there are stories there, wonderful stories that have yet to be told. That is endlessly fascinating to me.

I must away to pack up my book and finish my CHA show prep. Until next time....craft on with your bad selves.

xoxo
Madge

Variations on a Theme

All Eyes on You Mixed Media Recycled Paper and Quick Links Necklace copyright Margot Potter

Variation Copyright Angela Bannatyne

Mixed Media Paper and Metal Necklace Copyright Angela Bannatyne

My work has been expanding out from center since my second book. At the time, I didn't have a name for what I was doing, I was just restless. I wanted to make my own beads and components, not just string or wire someone else's creations. If you check out The Impatient Beader Gets Inspired, you'll find it is filled with ideas that would now fall into the "mixed media" category. At the time, it was simply a natural progression of my work, but some folks were rather confused methinks at what I was throwing down. I can recall quite clearly the owner of a very large jewelry making website poo-pooing that book completely. I wonder if she's reconsidered her assessment after seeing the surge in interest in mixing things up creatively!

I got an email yesterday from a lovely woman I met at Ranger U named Angela Bannatyne. Check out her blog! I wore my All Eyes on You necklace to class one day and everyone really loved it. Angela has a bead and paper crafting store in Florida and asked if she could do a version of it for the shop and I said absolutely as long as she gave me credit. Well check out what she did! Two fabulous versions! I love the papers and the colors and the yummy colorful beads Angela used! Simply fabulous!

This is why I do what I do...even if some folks scratch their heads in confusion...my goal is to inspire creative folks to forge their own new pathways. There will always be people who stand on the side of your work and make snide comments or try to pull you down...screw it. Do what you do in that glorious way that you do it and inspire others to do the same. Be ahead of your time, it's far more intesting than being behind the times!

What a boring, pedantic, grey world it would be if we all made the exactly same art. Snoresville, Daddio!

Thanks, Angela! You truly made my week! And if you, gentle reader, create something inspired by my work...please let me know and I'll post it here!

xoxo

Madge

Dear Margot

Dear Margot,

I just picked up your book Beyond the Bead and I LOVE IT!!!!! It has been a long time since I bought a book and have been SO inspired!!! I have been crafting for the past two days and can't stop!!!! (I don't even want to go to work tomorrow!!!) I love the fact that your projects are easy to do and don't cost a lot of money. That is my kind of crafting! Once again, THANK YOU!!! I love your work!!!!! Brainstorming my next project,

Stacy Clayton : )

Thank you Stacy! You made my day. In light of Stacy's predicament, I've created a form letter anyone can present to the boss if they need to take a day or more off for a Beyond the Bead craftsravaganza.:

Dear (insert your boss's name here)

Please excuse (insert your name here) from work today. She/he purchased my new book Beyond the Bead. I had no idea when I wrote this book the power it might have to inspire binge crafting marathons. Do forgive. (Insert your name here) is not the least bit responsible for her/his need to craft beyond the bounds of decency or the regular work week.

Please feel free to email me with any questions or concerns. Hopefully (insert your name here) will be able to return to work fully crafted out in the near future, but it make take up to three full days to experience crafty saturation.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Warmest regards,
Margot Potter
The Impatient Crafter™
'Impatient, Imperfect and Impetuous, a craft expert for the rest of us'

I'm giving away one signed copy of each of my new books Beyond the Bead and Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed along with some super studio swag in celebration of their most auspicious sales figures. Leave any old comment here and I'll select a winner next Tuesday.

xoxo
Madge