Sunday, December 9, 2007

Xenia Taler







I wish I had known about Xenia Taler's designer tiles when we remodeled our kitchen last year. When it came time for the tile selection I was not happy with what I had to choose from. Hummm.... I think it's time to remodel our bathroom:)

Xenia Taler is a Toronto based designer that is creating a big splash in the world of tiles. Her nature inspired tiles can be viewed here. The business is a husband and wife team. Xenia's husband, Steven Koblinsky prepares the clay slabs by either feeding the clay through an extruder or manually pressing clay into molds. After air drying to give them a rustic look Steven fires them and applies multiple layers of glaze before handing them over to Xenia for her design touches.

They produce two kinds of tiles. One is a wall hanging tile that comes with a groove in the back for hanging purposes as well as cork on the corners for using as coasters and trivets.

The installation tiles are thinner and have unglazed sides for grouting, making them perfect for kitchens, fire places, bathrooms and table tops.

I have added patterns and color palettes using colors from her tile designs.

Tree



Tulip

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Paramount Wire Co.


I have been using wire recently in my design work. For my necklace pictured above called "Ring of Fire" I knitted red, orange, amber and natural copper wire. I have found that Parawire works the best for me. It is a strong copper coated wire that comes in many colors and gages and on large spools for a great price.

Ring of Fire

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Broken Fingers Art




I was on Esty looking at Jewelry and ran across these designs by Erin of Broken Fingers Art. These wonderful whimsical designs of bright colors and shapes are hand drawn on plastic with color pencils and ink. What a wonderful treat!!!! Shown below are a few color palettes taken from her designs.

Oranges Necklace

Worms in the Grass

Pebbles Necklace

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Kato Clay


Primary colors
Secondary colors
tertiary five
From Blue to yellow

Most polymer clay artists know who Donna Kato is. For anyone that has not heard her name before, she is the woman behind Kato PolyClay, written many polymer clay books and a great artist. I love Kato Clay. I use only Kato PolyClay when I work with polymer clay. Recently she has introduced a new product called Kato PolyClay Color Concentrates. This is exciting news for anyone that loves to mix colors. This product comes in three concentrated colors, red, blue and yellow. Just a slice worked into your regular PolyClay will produce wonderful jewel tones. Try mixing these colors with translucent Kato PolyClay to see the wonderful results. I am very excited about this new product. I have made some color palettes using only the three primary colors. All colors are made from the primary colors.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Dancing Lady




This is my entry into Bead Dreams 2007, you can view it at the Bead & Button website.

I used Aiko hex and regular shaped seed beads along with Swarovski pearls and crystals in this design. Aiko seed beads are made by the Toho Co. LTD.. The Toho Aiko cylinder beads are 99% perfect. I very rarely have to spend time culling through the beads. I use Aiko cylinder beads exclusively. Bobby Bead is a great source for buying Aiko beads. Please do not confuse the Aiko with the Toho Treasures which are made by Toho but are not as perfect. Treasures are similar to the Miyuki brand Delica beads.

Another great source for buying Aiko beads is Dichroic Beads by Kawahara. Jamie has coated the Aiko beads in a Dichroic coating that is unbelievably beautiful. I have used these beads in many designs and still continue to use them today with my new work. The Dichroic Aiko beads come in Red, Orange, Yellow, Light Green, Emerald and Blue. I used the blue Aiko's in my design called "Blue Sky as Ocean's Blue".

The color palette below.

Dancing Lady

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Les Perles de Frany



Frany's Lilly


Frany is a French beadweaving artist that creates amazing designs with beads. When I saw her recent creation " Franenette the Frog " I knew I had make a color palette from it. View the wonderful shades of purple found in her beaded creation.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Elizabeth Johnson



Elizabeth Johnson is a glass artist who makes wonderful realistic fruit. Her designs can be seen at "Mostly Glass Gallery". Click on her name to view her work.

fruits

I used the colors of the Cherries and Gooseberries for my palette. I like the combination of reds and golds with the green as the contrast color.

For the pallette below I stayed with the deep reds and deep blue purple shades.
mixed fruits