Polymer Clay Incense Holder, Dragons and Amethyst

Would you like a cup of tea? I think we should call the rest of this weekend an indoor, movie, cozy wire wrapping jewelry weekend. One of my favorite things is to stay cozy in slippers during a cold weekend, put some great movies or music into the DVD and make pretty things. I love these mornings also because the weekends are my given time to 'blog, bend, play, post, communicate'... etc. All those things we love to do.

Saw the family for ThanksGiving and ate like a horse. Two plates, twice the size of me ended with a helping of the Cherry pie too.... makes for no eating at all yesterday. Dad cooked an outstanding turkey, Geo made outstanding, all the rest of the food. ;) and all the brothers, uncles and related kids were there. Fun to watch them... they grow like weeds. I love my family. :)

Dad took up the carpet and found perfect hardwood floors under it. So that was fun for him to show off too - the house looks great! They're off up the mountain next weekend to cut our Xmas trees. I like natural fresh trees during the holiday... nothing wrong with farmed or artificial either but I dig the smell in the house. mmmm....

Anyway... So yesterday I hung out with just me and gave my numbers the day. Made charts, read up on this thing called the Electro Magnetic Coupling Constant and something else on Notable Properties of Numbers... saw some friends for holiday hugs and kisses and then overfed the animals since it's an eating kind of holiday. :) We're all enjoying.... besides, they were making fun of me again. I busted them mid-mischievous tho, so they get no more turkey. You can witness the whole thing here...
http://13cattails.blogspot.com/

Those little dragons, I made a while ago and have given them all away but for the couple I kept for ME. They're super easy to make and so I think they might be a Sunday project or something I save for next week. These are great fun, very easy and here's all you need to do:

Make a 6 inch weeny rope of clay, one side narrowed to a point. Get the lump of clay into a nice round ball and then begin to roll it out with your hands.

Use the end of a small straw to poke crescents into your roll of clay. Try to alternate them like you would lay bricks. This makes them appear more 'scale-ish'. lol.

Use the end of a small paint brush and stick it up the nose to make nose holes. :)
Gently push a couple of hematite beads into the eye sockets. For these, I used 5mm beads.
Add some other beads as decorations around the head if you like. Be creative with seed beads, 1mm silver or gold beads, use wire wrapped beads or coils.... You can add more clay for 'ears', lumps, wings, legs, what ever you imagine your dragon to be.

Coil the tail end in a creative way as a 'pose' and cook your creation in 275 degree oven for about 40 minutes. Polymer clay cooks through 1/4 inch in about 15 or 20 minutes, so because these are thicker then that, I added an additional 20 minutes. If the clay isn't fully cooked, it can be weak and brittle. After a thorough baking, the clay becomes a very hard and durable plastic. You can sand, paint, spray with a glossy or matte finish....

The tail needs to either be coiled to hold the incense stick so remember this when creating the pose for your little dragon. You can optionally put a lump of clay as a 'rock' base and poke holes appropriate for the sticks. I did this in a few of them and it provides you the place to add more wire and/or beads, small twigs or moss... many things.

I added some amethyst stones on a few of them and just love the look. I used rough Aquamarine on a few, rough Kyanite (which was really cool) on one I kept and a few have various quartz crystals.

Have fun! I'll post new images when I get some more made.
Click that image for a super close up so you can get details. After they're cooked and hardened, I spray some with a matte finish. I tried glossy but I'm not sure I like it as much as the matte. Both are fun for variety and everyone loved them.

Well ladies and gents, I'm off to be with my morning coffee and wake up reading. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

((((Squeeeeeze)))) my big mushy hug to you. I'm gone to the bead table!
xo