Thinking of Spring...

Polymer Clay Pendants and Earrings, originally uploaded by Lynn_EL/UnaOdd.

...or the seed catalogs are piling up, and blossoming polymer is helping me get through the gray days.

So far this winter, 20 seed company catalogs have piled up in my studio. I used to be seriously addicted to seed starting every year for my garden. In previous years I would have been poring over the catalogs for weeks by this time. I may even have had an order or two in.

Which brings me to my current situation. Years of enthusiastic seed starting have left me with a large zip-lock bag full of extra seeds. They fill a whole crisper drawer in my fridge, and have for years. Last year I made a huge effort to scatter sow many of the easy growing flower varieties. As a result I had a huge cutting garden of zinnias, cosmos and calendulas. I still have a large quantity of seeds however, and wrestle with the temptation to order more. Of course I need to at least pick up some zinnias since I adored them last year and now I have no more zinnia seeds!

Until I decide what to do on the seed starting front I've been satisfying my desire for color, flowers, and foliage by working with some bright, custom-mixed polymer colors.

I'm loving Pantone's Color of the Year for 2012, Tangerine Tango, so I started there with my own blended tangerine orange, then worked on some colors that I felt coordinated.

I'm feeling spring already!

Small Steps

Making Earwires, originally uploaded by Lynn_EL/UnaOdd.

When one is deep in a rut it sometimes helps to remember that small steps will eventually help one climb out.

It's been a dry spell creatively for me for quite a while and I really was feeling little or no enthusiasm for jewelry-making. It was a rambling, blog-reading trek one day that landed me at Orion Designs Blog and Vicki Potter's Earwire Tutorial. Suddenly I felt a spark! I can do that!

Although I took jewelry classes in college, I have not utilized any of my metal-working skills since. It's a small step, but I decided to start thinking in basics again. Thanks to Vicki's great tutorial I purchased sterling wire, a bench block, and a chasing hammer. I just finished my fourth pair and am already brainstorming what I will make to hang from my new earwires! Thank you Vicki!