Lindly’s Blog

I’m barely back from Las Vegas and the Acre show and I can still hear the cling clanging of the “Lobster Mania”… slot machine. One of the first things I told Judy Belcher when I met her and Sandra McCaw in the Hilton Casino, two hours after my arrival on Thursday night is = “I’ve never played a slot machine before and have no intention to do so”. But! and then Judy explained just how the cocktail service in the casino worked. So, two hours later, Bud Light in hand I was clanging away at Lobster Mania and more than ready to have dinner.

No, I don’t have a link to Lobster Mania online, but here is a fun game “Color Rush” that you might want to try.

Special thanks are in order to Judy Dunn, Judy Belcher and my two booth-mates Sandra McCaw and Meisha Barbee- who all contributed to make my Las Vegas experience a very special and  pleasant learning experience. Stay tuned to the National Polymer Clay Guild site for the details on how you can apply for Acres of Opportunity 2009 in Las Vegas!

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I find it wonderful when someone asks permission to post one of my images on their blog! But, what a blast it is to find real synchronicity in their posting.

I will refrain from forwarding Sharon Wildwind the remmants of one of my first novels/Emily Moon (begun and not fruitioned, yet) deep in the French Quarter in New Orleans, in 1988 ,while I was working for the Brennans at Mr.B’s ( Royal and Iberville)  …exactly where Emily Moon encountered, Jackie (enscounced 9th ward waiter with attitude) and her new backwaiter Clairborne (off track from the crook in the river) and the dead voodoo-ized cat in a florist’s box…

However, If my apsaparagus shrines provide food for inspirational thought,all the better!

“So I’m on a creativity quest. I’m out looking for ways that other people have taken everyday elements, mixed them, twisted them, and created something almost heart-stopping in its cleverness and beauty.” Sharon Wildwind

Thank YOU! Sharon -and wishes to all  for a successful creativity quest to all this week.

I’ve almost finished what I need to do…and have started some colorful packing for the Acre Show in Las Vegas. This should be an exciting experience! Meisha Barbee, Sandra McCaw and myself are sharing a booth sponsored by the National Polymer Clay Guild mentoring program. Special thanks are in order to Judy Dunn, who “held our hands” and helped us in preparation for the event and Judy Belcher for her ongoing sense of humor and insight.

Please wish us “Colorful Luck” on our new ventures… and have a colorful week YOURSELF

The other night I had the opportunity to enjoy an “ice cream sampler”, admittedly NOT three flavors on the current Baskin Robbin’s line-up = Cranberry, Sour Cherry and salted Caramel. Eyes closed, the mouth feel, texture, sweetness balance and flavors were absolutely there!Eyes open… especially in the dim candlelight, all of the flavors appeared as “pale” renditions of vanilla ice cream (with the vanilla bean seeds strained out). Reconciliation took a moment to return focus to the sensitivity of my palate. Then again, I can’t imagine tasting wine without the visual cues?

You have probably heard the expression that we “eat with our eyes first”. But just how much does this color of impressions of how the food tastes? If you ordered pistachio or mint chip ice cream and they were not green, would you be disconcerted? If asked to compare two sour cherry sauces, side by side, would you unknowingly select the sauce to which the red food coloring was added?

Recent research has revealed that the color of orange juice,colors our taste perceptions. For more information please visit the chemical senses center. For some fun and inspiration food pictures= Studio Kitchen at Flicker.

Hope YOU are having a colorful weekend! Perhaps one that includes some delicious ice cream?

When I think of the 1940’s my mind’s eye memories are of my Grandfather’s complete collection of Life Magazines loaded with black and white pictures. As a child I remember reading them in great detail, with my siblings, as we retrieved them from huge boxes in the barn on his Grass Valley California Ranch. With morbid fascination we read and perused the black and white pictures of World War Two. 

I also remember the day my Father set the magazine’s to a bonfire in response to us spending our vacation time reading about the London Blitz, Iwo Jima and the liberation of the death camps….and the resultant poison Oak reactions from the smoke of the fire.

I find it fascinating to re-visit that era via color photos, as released by the Library of Congress to a flicker site. Continue reading ‘1940’s Colors…’

Here is a online collection of random photographs grouped by color. Perhaps you will be inspired to upload one of your own, Random Got Beautiful began in March 2007.It is an online collage of random photographs taken by different people, open for anyone to participate.‘Random Is Good’ was the inspiration for it’s title ‘Random Got Beautiful’ (RGB for short) once color was decided to be the main theme. “This is an open and public celebration of bold colour. ” Concept, design and managed by Nikki Farquharson.RGB site name by Anthony Imuere.

I’m not sure if the photos are re-sorted after they are uploaded?…but I particularly enjoyed the way the “brown” photos meandered and sometime re-iterated the colors of the previous photo.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may have figured out by now that I adore interactive color sites.

Today a new fantastic polymer clay web site is being launched. Perfect Polymer Clay Mixing. First you scan in your picture, fabric sample or paint chips and then indicate if you plan to build a millefiore cane, use the color as a sculptural element or use the color as a surface treatment. In the next step you choose which brand of clay you would like to use and whether you would like your calculations done in metric or ounces.

 The project calculator separates each individual color in the project out, provides an exact mixing recipe(which compensates for darkening in baking) , including amounts and printable swatches.

While this is the Beta version and there still may be some kinks- this site will help take the guesswork out of your color mixing!

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… perhaps backwards? April’s showers bring May flowers..

April’s flower of the month is the Daisy. Daisies have long been associated with innocence, the  impromptu (and fanciful) daisy chain necklaces and the childhood plucking petals game.As in “he loves me, he loves me not?”(did you ever cheat and pull two petals at once?).

 The large vibrant blooms of the gerbera daisy have made it a favorite among flower lovers Recently I spotted some Daisies  that had been dyed blue and the dipped in glitter, while not exactly my idea of a great contribution to an informal April floral arrangement, pause for thought.

One possibility= a yellow daisy cocktail? Or a taking off point for a polymer clay color combination? Textural exploration or as a starting point for a cane? Bring some of the innocence and playfulness of spring to your studio today…

and Yes! they do come in purple.  

Using “visual similarity” technology Alamy Stock Photos has extracted colors from 3,00,000 images. You can click on up to ten colors to search for images and navigate the collection by color. Please read the FAQS and then have fun! as the eye candy reveals itself….

Suppose you have a specific color that you are inspired to try in your polymer clay work- here is a fast and interesting way to try out different color combinations using their color finder. Just imagine how many possibilities there are for using say- blood orange, ripe mango or passion fruit orange in combination with other colors.

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Bright, beautiful, translucent (and not that tasty) gummy bears have been around for awhile.

“In the 1980s, the German company Haribo introduced the first gummy candies in the United States. Shaped like bears, they quickly spawned legions of generic imitators, as well as an ever-expanding variety of gummy goodies, including frogs, alphabet letters and strands of sugary spaghetti. In September 1985, “Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears” premiered on NBC, followed by a line of books and action figures.
“I’ve always wanted to make something out of gummy bears,” said Chou, 32, who spent two months stringing candy onto mono-filament line to make “Chandelier.” “I think it’s the nostalgia–a lot of 20- and 30-year-olds grew up eating those things.””

YaYa Chou spent several months stringing Gummy Bears on fishing line. But as food for thought= how about the bright, saturated, straight forward colors of artificial food dyes as  a jumping off point for a liquid polymer clay experiment of your own?

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