Lindly’s Blog

I am not feeling particularily legendary today…so I was delighted to see this wonderfullly complimentary post about me on Kim Cavender’s blog “Imagine Uncommon Things“

“I was on the phone with a friend today and she asked me if I could name the artists who have been the most influential in my own work with polymer clay. I’ve been asked that question before and I always give the same two names each time - Lindly Haunani is one of them. The other shall remain nameless until a future blog post. The photos I’ve included are all pieces of Lindly’s work that I’ve acquired over the years…”

Wow! Thanks Kim, both for the wonderfully complimentary post and the opportunity to see some of my “older” pieces in a different context.

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 will be taking a break from posting for awhile…last Thursday I slipped on an icy sidewalk and broke a bone in my back. Luckily, it is a fixed fracture of T2, surgery is unlikely  and there was no damage to my spinal cord.

For now…I look very “high-tech”  (actually more like someone in a hockey based horror film), my brace runs from my belly button to the middle of my head. I am looking forward to a speedy uneventful recovery…and return to the blog-o-sphere.

Last Saturday I taught a workshop in Annandale, Virginia. The format for these three hour Artful Afternoons differs for many of the workshops that I teach in that I bring all the equipment, the supplies and present a project that is completely doable within the three hour time frame, One of the most rewarding aspects is that often there are participants that have never worked with polymer clay before.

Each time, I learn something new. Often I am reminded about an important teaching concept- this time it was the importance of intention and involving ones whole body when working with the clay. Many times the best way to do this is to actually put ones hand on top of the students and let them feel the movement, intensity and result.

While reading books and watching videos can be very informational- the way I actually learned to knead bread, play my Tibetan bowls,massage a tense neck, saute onions, condition clay and a reduce a cane- was when a teacher was willing to let me “feel” hands on what was happening.

Recycling, the E.U”s  ban on phylate plasticizers, the re-formulation of FIMO and reactions to this news  have been hot polymer clay topics on the web in recent weeks.. Understandably….

Tomorrow I plan to meet with a dear friend who is on the liver transplant “List” at Georgetown University Hospital. Note: her status has NOTHING to do with working with polymer clay, rather as a nurse in  a liver clinic she inadvertently contracted hepatitis C .  

In Maryland, the state where we both live, when one renews their drivers license there is the opportunity to sign up as an organ donor. If you haven’t already done so…consider  ultimate recycling, the gift of your organs in the event of your untimely death.  

Over the past eight years I have gone through nearly four hundred Ikea Malma unpainted wood frames as the base for the project for my Dancing with the Rainbow Workshop. Seemingly the glues used in the construction have changed and the pre-preparation has become more important to ensure sucess in covering the frame with polymer clay 

Continue reading ‘Malma Frame…’

I eventually used the bittersweet chocolate covered cherries with the holes in the middle farther up on the chocolate necklaces. The add-on beads were larger and feature a hole about two thirds of the way up and farther back. The faux  Heath Bar slices hit the trash can= not realistic enough and distracting from the flow of the necklace.

• Best polymer clay Peanut Brittle= Linda Pederson 1992
• Best edible Peanut Brittle = See’s
• Fabulous Teacher’s gift= Rita Sims’ polymer clay chocolate sampler

Do you begin preheating your oven before you even finished your polymer clay sculpture,  set of beads or series of brooches? Granted sometimes you need a piece “yesterday’. But, if you have the time, don’t rush to bake your creations.

One of the most useful pieces of advice that I gleaned from “Using Fimo”  (David Edwards -self published 198 is to wait before baking. Set your pieces aside, wait a couple of hours or overnight and then examine the pieces with fresh eyes.

• Are there any glaring fingerprints , air bubbles, nicks or dings in your piece?
• Is there anything you could add or delete that would make you piece more interesting?
• Carefully examine any bead holes, pin back attachments and all sides of your piece-do you need to make repairs?

On line registration is now open for the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts spring session. I will be teaching a week long workshop = Textile Inspirations in Polymer Clay, April 6-12Th, 2008.

Continue reading ‘Arrowmont in the Spring’

There are times when you will not want to make your cane slices ultra thin…

• As a decorative element that adds dimension to your composition
• When cutting beads from cane slices
• and when you are making buttons

In these cases you will need to alter your cutting strategy

• Using a bead marking tool or a ruler mark the top off your cane with a blade to indicate the thickness you want
• STAND UP this will engage your binocular vision and allow you to see “down” the cane to cut straight
• Using the forward drawing motion cut into your cane @ 1/4″
• Switch to two hands on the blade and continue slicing will pulling outwards on both sides of the blade

As with making slices thin, practice on a “blank” piece of clay first.