Book Review- Inspired Remnants, Curious Dreams

x-posted from Beadwork at BellaOnline, because this book also fits in very well here.

Inspired Remnants, Curious Dreams is a book about how to use epoxy clays in mixed media and altered art.
If you haven't used epoxy clays, they are two part clays that you mix together then form in a mold or by hand. Then it cures into a hard plastic that can be sanded, drilled, polished and painted.
The introduction of the book covers in a lot more detail what epoxy clay is,how to use it and how to create molds using silicone to cast the clay.
Then it gets into the projects and versatility of the fun medium. Using this clay to create mosaics and other decorating pieces, but also using it to create jewelry.
The jewelry projects are just absolutely inspiring and gorgeous. With a vintage effect out of a fairly new material, they incorporate words, images, wire and other things and are finished in ways that create a very artistic and dramatic look to the pieces.
The effects in this book remind me a lot of the feeling and look of steampunk. However you could use the same techniques to create brighter and more modern pieces very easily. It's a gorgeous and inspiring book. Some of the bigger projects are very involved using a wide variety of media. The smaller ones can be completed in a weekend, including curing time and time for paints and finishes to dry, only a few hours actual working time. Recommended for people who want to try something new and easy to make custom focal pieces for their jewelry, people who love steampunk jewelry and for art doll makers. Actually, for any crafty artist who wants to learn more epoxy clay.
You can get this book from the publisher at MyCraftivity. Or by clicking the Amazon.com affiliate links.

Valentine Mandalas- coloring pages

Seems to be the year of the digital mandala for me so far. I'm having entirely too much fun graphing them for beads and drawing them to color.

Here are my two Valentine's mandalas to color or use for crafty purposes. 100 ppi gif format. Click on the images for the full sized versions. As always, you have my permission to use them for coloring or embroidery or other crafty uses.

As you can see, I added a new signature to the end of my posts. The magpie is one I got a picture of this weekend. I'm thinking about making a screen of it for some teeshirts and bags. I love magpies so much! I'll be posting some bird boxes later.

Check out this great quilled card tutorial by Ann Martin of All Things Paper. Upcycling and quilling! I think the flower would also look lovely on a paper brooch.

How to make sugar cubes or shapes

My darling daughter prefers her coffee with brown sugar. She's also as I've said before, a bit of an Anglophile. Which means occasionally at least, she likes lumps of sugar instead of spoonfuls. Brown sugar cubes are awfully expensive.
So this weekend, we made a batch of sugar shapes for her.

Because the mold we used was fairly detailed, it's a bit hard to see what they are supposed to be. Here's a picture I messed with the contrast a bit and greyscaled. Hopefully it shows a little better. The contrast adjustment made it a bit grainy, but it is a bit clearer.

Because the only thing cooler than brown sugar cubes for my daughter is brown sugar daleks and TARDIS. 

You will need:

Brown sugar- we used an organic brown sugar that she really likes

water

an ice cube tray or small candy molds*

parchment paper lined cookie sheet

a place they can dry out safely

Wash your hands well. You could do this with silicone spatulas but it's a lot easier to do it by hand.

Put a cup of brown sugar into a bowl, and add a half teaspoon full of water. Mix it in well so that it's all just a bit moister than usual. Squeeze a handful and see if it sticks together. If it does, it's ready. If it's not, add in water just a sprinkle at a time until it does stick when you form it with your hands.

Pack your mold well, only 2 or 3 cavities at a time. Turn it out on the parchment paper. Continue until all the sugar is used. If you want to make more than that, do it the same way. If one breaks when you're popping it out of the mold, pick up the sugar the best you can and put it back into your bowl to use again.

After you get as many as you like made, put it some place safe and draft and humidity free to dry. The ones above we let dry for 5 hours. After they were dry, we put them in a tightly sealed container.

I couldn't find my paste coloring, but I think it would be fun to do a bunch of Go Go Dalek Rangers in the right colors!

The same technique works with other sugars, and the less detail there is in the mold, the better. The Cybermen in our ice cube tray had too much subtle detail to work well at all. Raw sugars or white sugars will need a little more water than brown sugar because brown sugar is so moist to begin with.

Hearts would be lovely for Valentine's Day, little roses would be sweet for a princess tea party.

*If you want cubes, I recommend using a mini ice cube tray. Otherwise, use your favorite small candy molds. The tray I used is a Doctor Who ice tray that we were given by a close friend who blames The Turnip for her Doctor Who and Torchwood addiction.

FriendShip Cookie Box

I realized that I hadn't posted a cookie box in a while. This one matches the tags you can find here. 100 ppi, click on the image for the full sized version.

Also, a tutorial on making a cute little lacy heart out of seed beads.

You can find the tutorial here.