Cane Ends

Tips: These little beads were made of either cane ends or the end of the cane. I usually don't make a lot of cane, but do some jelly roll here and there. What I did was, I rolled it in a small log, cut it in half, length wise, laid both side curve side down and flatten it. Then I put them back together, back side to back side, smooth the seam, rolled it back in to a log, then cut in pieces and roll them into beads. This will work for the unwanted (or my case; an ugly) cane too. Don't be afraid to slide it open. You will be surprised to see what is inside the cane.

Fun Fact: In US, when you meet someone, you greet him or her by saying; "How are You?". In Thailand, we also ask the same question and follow by asking if the person had already ate, or feel hungry. We then go out to eat or invited the person to stay for dinner. It is polite to say yes. So, come visit me and stay for dinner anytime. :)

For sale

Now you can buy my bead and pendants here. Go to www.polymerclaybeadsforsale.blogspot.com and read more about it. :)

Ear rings on the Fruit Stand

I feel a bit Fruity (LOL) lately, must be the weather. I have a couple of shows line up for next month; Zionsville Country Market in Zionsville and Butchertown Art Fair in Louisville. I still have customers who like my jewelry and I still enjoy making them. Now that I make my own beads, I don't have to wait for the latest trend. I just set my own. I also like to add some pretty little Chez beads on my design, especially the small flowers.

My daughter will be graduated from Indiana University this month. I don't know how we did it. She does not have any student loan. This month, she received $5000 scholarship from Goodwill and the rest from Grandpa. So, she is free to go, but she will be moving back home first. I am so happy.

Fan Fact & Tips: Shop Goodwill! Good cost and good cloth. Another way to recycle the goods so they won't get dump into a land fill.

The Great Scott

Scott is on his way home while I am writing this blog. I was so happy to finally meet him in person. We had a guild meeting and went out to lunch. Scott and his friend had joined us. He gave us some goodies and we got to look at some of his works; the Peeking Duck, the egg, etc. It was a short visit but it seems like we have known each other for a long time. I'm glad that his talent is being recognized. With his connection to the Amaco, I'm sure I will get to see him often.

Scott got a lot of hugs today. One from each of you guys, Scott Girls.

Fun Facts & Tips: "Sawasdee" (Sa-wut-dee) + "Ka" for females or "Krap" for males (crop) is a formal greeting (hello and goodbye) much like Aloha and Chow. You say this while putting your hands together chest level and slightly bowing down. Practice practice!

Sherbet Beads

You must know by now how I love to make swirly beads. These ones are more subtle than the ones I've made before. I used to put the colored clay on black, but I ran out of black today, so I added white on the blue and played with it. DH even likes them. They look fun and yummy. I am pretty happy with the yellow ones because I got a request for the mustard colored beads and those are really close to it. It has a bit of gold in there. I like the green the most, what's your favorite?

Fun Facts & Tips: The King of Thailand, King Phumipol was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was attending the Medical school at the time. So, we can say, he is American. :)

P.S. My friend at PCC gave a new name for these beads. Thank you, guys. For your information, I used Fimo soft. Just add a ribbon of white clay to it. I like to add a bit of silver in the blue, some gold to yellow and copper to the red.

Spring Color Beads

A customer had asked for more spring colored beads last week. So, during the Indian Winter (I'm not sure there is such a thing, LOL) when the temperature had plunged from 70 degrees down to 24 degrees, I made these beads and felt a bit cheered up with all the bright colors. The tulips in front of my house look so sad. They got beat up by the sun, rain, strong winds and even snow.

Fun Facts & Tips: April 13th, is the Traditional New Year's Day in Thailand. Since it is the hottest month of the year, we celebrate by throwing water at each other. It is a week long celebration called "Songkran". We would load the pick-up truck with all our friends, drive down the busiest street and get soaking wet. After that we visit the elderly and went to help clean the temple. We go down to the river bank, get the bucket of sand and bring it back to the temple to fill up the yard.

It is also my brother's Birthday. Can't imagine how my mom went through labor during the hottest day of the year. HAPPY BIRTH DAY, Bro. :)

Show &Tell

Beads on the top were made with scrap clay from the workshop. I told Grant, I'll make beads from his scrap and sell them on ebay. LOL

The bottom left are PS Beads with GD's Technique. With red, white and black color, they look more like my beads and I like to leave the texture there.

The bottom right are buttons I made for next week fiber show.

I think I will set aside the Metallic clay for a while. It's just not my thing.

Fun Facts & Tips: Dh suggests that I add tip of the day on my blog. So today's tip is how to say my name; Ponsawan - Pon-sa-wan, which means talent or gifted. So you can tell people who have talent, that they have Ponsawan in them.

Tropical fruits

I bought a strand of fruit beads and had to make something that match. I was thinking about my friend in Honolulu while I was making these little beads.

sand & buff

I sanded my new beads yesterday and I am so happy with them. I am not normally sand and buff my beads, but seeing how gorgeous Grant's beads are, I've changed my mind.

During the workshop, I sat directly across from Grant as he did the demonstration, so I had all kinds of debris flying to my face. You name it; piece of clay, chunk of clay, ribbon of clay, water, dust, etc. Most of the time, I really enjoy the view, but I was chocked to see him using the drywall sandpaper, yes, you heard it right, drywall sand paper to sand his beads. WoW!

I did make a few bead after I came back. It is like trying to make a perfect Thanks Giving Dinner, a lot of preparation had to be done before you put that bird in the oven.

And that acorn beads, Grant was patiently holding my hands while I learned the technique, but, it's like trying to learn to drive the stick-shift, I just cannot learn it in 15 minutes. With the right tools and (much) more time, I think I will be able to use that technique to make my own beads. Right now, I'm happy with my acorn bead. Grant's beads look a lot better than this, mine look like a walnut. :0

Beads - Diffendaffer style

I had a privilege to attend the workshop at Kentucky Arts & Crafts Museum which was taught by my favorite artist, master bead maker, Grant Diffendaffer. It was 2 wonderful days with great teacher and great students, who had become friends. Everyone worked hard and had fun at the same time. We even asked the museum to open extra early morning hours so we can all get extra time to work.

Grant's beads are amazing. Look even better in-person. It was such a dream come through to me. Now I don't have to wake up in the middle of the night wondering how the heck does he make his beads. LOL :0

We don't have time sand and buff these beads, so, against Grant's recommendation, I cut out the texture part to review the color underneath. (Sorry, Grant) I will sand and buff these beads later.

You probably can spot the two lovely beads that I traded my flower ring for. The ring is for his lovely fiance'.

I had a great time. Thank you Grant.

Scroll down to the end of the page to see the group picture.

P.S. I will tell you more about the acorn look-alike bead at the bottom right hand cornor later.

Flower rings

Spring is around the conner but my flowers are already bloom. The one in the middle was made from the cane. Yes, I do make cane but mostly a simple jelly roll one. :)

I also got the little leaves from Eva today so I put them on the rings. I also get a lot of other cuties from her, all the way from Denmark. :)

Flower for a friend

I made this flower for a friend.

Pendants

New pendants made with my homemade texture plates.

Yes, yes, I will post more tutorials on the blog. Thank you for asking. :o)

Yes, yes, I just posted the tutorial for Texture plates today, 05-04-07. www.polymerclaybeads.blogspot.com

Made to order

Thanks for all the comments and kind words about my works. If anyone want to have or want to purchase any of my beads, pendants, or any piece of jewelry you've seen on my blog, you can send me an email. I just added my email address on my profile and here it is silastones@aol.com

This Blue necklace I made for a lady who saw my work at the boutique and called me up. She had bought a jacket and wanted a necklace, bracelet and earrings to match.

And, the Oscar goes to.....

Not quite, but I do feel like receiving an award after my work was featured at POLYMERCLAYNOTES and POLYMERCLAYDAILY. So I would like to present an acceptance speech for that. Ah..... hm...

I would like to thank all of the polymerclay artists, who have shared their works and their techniques and make it available for me to try, to learn from and be inspired.

Thanks to all the friends I met on PCC; Jackie, Scott, Chris, Anita, Eva, Moe and many others who are always willing to answer my questions and encourage me.

I would like to thank Susan Rose and Cynthia Tinapple. Being recognized and put on the same page with all of those talented and famous artistes has helped me to work harder, think harder, and be more confident at the same time.

Thanks to my family who lets me work with clay all day.

Thanks to Laura from Beadroom, who takes my beads and sell them at the Bead Shows around the country.

Thanks to Joan who let me sell my jewelry at her boutique.

Wait, don't play that music yet. I still have more people on my list to thank. Fine! What ever.

Well, if I forgot somebody, sorry, but I do love you.

Here's the kind words from Cynthia Tinapple-Polymerclaydaily
Ponsawan Sila is on the move and she faithfully records her progress on her blog. She includes pictures of her workspace and step-by-step tutorials on this method, a twist on mokume gane.
What this generous artist takes for granted is her color sense and her knack for pattern creation. No muddy colors or uninteresting patterns on her worktable! Take a look at her homemade texture plates. Thanks for letting us look over your shoulder, Ponsawan.

And these kind words from Susan Rose-Polymerclaynotes
it is always fun to see what ponsawan is up to and i love that she adds a healthy dose of humor to her posts. look! she just posted a tutorial for these beautiful bubble beads - check it out here