Friday, March 4, 2016

Art Beads.......Hearts, Houses, Owls




Making more Art Beads...



I am playing around with crackle texture 

on polymer clay...




I dug around in the cupboard and found

 3 different brands of crackle medium:


The Delta brand in the center of the image 

made the largest crackles.

All 3 brands worked equally well.






I hand shaped the hearts from polymer clay

then baked them

then painted them with acrylic paint...





Then the crackle medium was applied 

over the dry paint.

The crackle happens as the medium dries.





They have been glazed and are ready 

to be put into a piece of jewelry.




I had so much fun creating these 

grunge house beads:


I am creating jewelry with them today

so I will post images soon!




Owl beads.....hard to resist:


Owl beads.....fresh from the oven






Hand-shaped Owl Beads





I use acrylic paint to highlight their feathers...






The paint reminds me of shaving cream 

when a man is shaving his face!






I immediately wipe off the paint...

it remains in the recesses of the feathers.




 The next step is to glaze these:


I am thinking these will make 

awful sweet bracelets.










CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Art Beads......making stone clay



I am itching to create beads 

that appear to be stone:



I mixed up my own recipe for......stone clay






I found a few seasonings in the cupboard that

 were well beyond their shelf life,  so I mixed 

them into polymer clay.

I also added in some dryer lint.





The seasonings and lint gave the clay 

the look of......stone!






lots of yummy stone-like texture...






Stone Clay...

ready to be made into art beads......FUN!









CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Calving Season....15 Calves




As of tonight, 

there are 15 calves on the ground...



We checked on the herd this evening before

 dinner and these two little calves were getting

 cozy by the hay feeder.





Mama called, 

so one of the calves ran over to her...






The tally today is...

9 Bulls and 6 Heifer calves





We have had a very wet winter 

here in Western Oregon.

We have been spending time 

treating cows for sore feet.





The cow boss has made the rounds,

it is time to head back home...





A rainbow greeted us on the way back home.





Pulling down the driveway,

the first thing you see is the Camelia Bush

by the Thread Shed.










CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Art Beads.......making more beads!



A gorgeous sunrise in the back yard today:


We truly appreciate the sunshine here in

very wet Western Oregon




This is what the clay table looks like today:


I create art beads with polymer clay






These beads have been shaped, 

baked and stained...

The next step is to glaze them.





I have been into making house beads...

I pressed a skeleton key 

in the houses on the left.





Just had to make a few more large hearts...






A few more little house beads 

with textures pressed into them.






I am wanting to make more masculine beads...

Long Horn Steer, Grizzly Bear, Buffalo






The images were created with a 

metal leather stamp.

I am looking forward to putting these

into a necklace.....soon.



The tulips are coming through the soil:


Last autumn I planted 10 containers 

with 300 tulip bulbs





A mushroom sprouted in this container!







CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Calving Season......8 Calves this week



Our first week into calving...




8 cows have calved so far

5 bull and 3 heifer calves.






These are the calving grounds






Just across the river is our place.

See the red barn?

To the left of the barn is a little yellow building...

that is the Thread Shed






The cow boss is in the center of the photo...

he is herding a cow over to the calving barn.






She has been laboring all day 

and not making any progress...






We will put her in the barn 

and see if her calf is hung up?






We pulled her calf.....a healthy heifer calf.

Mother and baby are doing fine!




When we came out of the barn 

the moon was out:


It was a beautiful drive back across the river 

to home.











CLICK HERE:  to see My Quilts


May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn Kessi