Posted on 27 Comments

The shawl pins

17shawlpin

My time at the Clayathon ended up being all about the shawl pins.  I’m so glad I tried making a few that first day, because I really loved the way they turned out.  Particularly once I’d spent some quality time sanding them smooth.  And even more so, when I sat down at the buffing wheel and gave it a spin for the first time.

17shawlpins2

Ooh, they are just so unbelievably smooth, and have such a beautiful satiny shine!

(As an aside, I have got to add a bench buffer to my setup.  Now that I’ve seen firsthand what it can do, I just can’t imagine going back to rubbing my sanded pieces on my couch…)

17shawlpins

Many of these will be finding their way into my shop this week.  Others that I’ve grown fond of will stay with me until I have finished knitting my sweater and can decide which one looks best with it.

A few of you expressed an interest in these – if you’d like one and want to save me the trouble of photographing it and creating a listing for it, leave a comment or email me.  I’ll be happy to let you have one for $24.  I haven’t quite made up my mind what the final price of these will be once I put them in the shop, but I do know it will be more than $24.

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I made a lot of other little doo-dads with leftover pieces from the shawl pin extravaganza, and I did a little experimenting with scrap clay, and some other experimenting with the pearlescent Liquid Sculpey that Polymer Clay Express was kind enough to share with everyone.  I made myself a pair of earrings that has me completely smitten, and a small pile of similar earrings that I plan to sell.

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Just about everything else still needs to be sanded and buffed.  Whether that will happen soon, or six months in the future, remains to be seen 🙂

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Posted on 27 Comments

27 thoughts on “The shawl pins

  1. You know, you should come down for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in May. Maybe one of these years you could even be a vendor if you wanted — I’ve seen others selling shawl pins and the like there. But even if not, it’s a lot of fun just to walk around…it’s like a county fair full of yarn (and other crafty stuff, and animals(*), but mostly yarn). 🙂

    * Animals that yarn comes from, like sheep and alpacas.

    1. That sounds awfully tempting (and potentially expensive – hee hee!) I should talk to Neil about that, though. Might be fun to make a weekend out of it.

  2. Love them all. I’d be interested in buying the 1st, 3rd or 5th one.

    Libby

    1. Neat! Check your email 🙂

  3. Yum!
    .-= See KarenLR’s latest blog post: happy birthday to sewandsowlife =-.

  4. looks like a fun time was had at the retreat. you always come home with wonderful eye candy! Got a q for you Lisa…are the shawl pins just clay are do you use an armature?
    .-= See Kathi’s latest blog post: A little break from claying =-.

    1. They’re all clay – Premo.
      And yep, I always have a pile of baubles when I’m done. Probably because I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to make, before I actually get a chance to sit down and do it. Once I’m there, I can just start cranking them out 🙂

  5. ooooo, yummy delish!

  6. Beautiful! I’d love to have the grey basketweave one…

  7. They look so yummy! I love your color palates. Clayathon was so much fun and relaxing. I’ll post some more pictures on my blog in the next few weeks.

    Martha

    1. I definitely agree. Even if I’m not on a clay kick, those few days away always put me right back in the groove. Such a nice time.

      I’ll keep an eye out for your pictures – I don’t think I saw what you were working on this time.

      1. We do have a guest room, if that’ll influence your choice any…thing is, there are potentially two other people who might want to come to the festival, so I think I will probably go with “whoever asks me first gets it” for that weekend.

  8. Stunning shawl pins – fantastic idea!

  9. (Oops, sorry, my last reply re: MDSW apparently posted to a totally different comment thread. Not sure if that was my fault, but if it was, my apologies!)

  10. Oooo. These are so purty! I would love to take one off your hands. I like the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th ones. I have some yarn darker green/ blue yarn that I want to make a shawl or cardi out of and these would be great!

  11. I love, love, love your shawl pins. I’m a big time knitter and a polymer clay artist too. Knitting came first and then I started making matching polymer clay buttons for my knits and it grew from there. I currently have more passion for my knitting and have often thought about making matching shawl pins but have just not gotten around to it. The only thing that I have made so far is a faux bone shawl stick (shaped sort of like a shepherd’s hook) for the Botanica Cardigan that I knitted in Knit Picks organic cotton (color Marshmallow). You have definitely put me in the mood to make shawl pins for my shawls/wraps. I love how your shawl pins are rounded to make catching the knitted fabric easier. I also love your sticks. Would you mind sharing what you used for your sticks? I have some hair sticks but they seem too thick.

    Botanica Cardigan Ravelry Link – http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/04-botanica-medallion-cardigan

    1. I came to knitting and polymer clay in the opposite order of you, but I thoroughly enjoy both. I’m still a newbie knitter, but I’m having a blast learning new techniques.

      I’m glad you got some good ideas by looking at my pins! For the sticks, I used very thin metal knitting needles and cut them in half with a wire cutter. Each stick is a half needle covered in a layer of clay. Wire in a decent gauge would work, too, (and probably be less expensive in the long run) but I just grabbed what I had handy at the time – the needles were in my clay toolbox for poking holes.

      That’s a beautiful cardigan! I can see how it would look nice with a faux bone stick.

  12. Is the second one still available? The lime green with spots – spots seem appropriate after this week! 🙂
    .-= See Mousy Brown’s latest blog post: On the road to recovery! =-.

  13. I love your shawl pins, Lisa! What a great idea. I had first seen pins like these when I attended Jane Thornley’s free-range knitting retreat in Taos last September. She had a collection of pins with her that were perfect with her style of wraps and shrugs. Hers were flat circles though. I much prefer your curved ones for ease of stick insertion. 🙂 Thanks for sharing and for the great inspiration!
    .-= See Karen’s latest blog post: Saturday Morning Tea =-.

    1. It’s funny – I never really looked much at shawl pins before I made these. I just felt that they were supposed to be curved like that. I have to hurry up and finish my sweater so I can see what I think of the curviness in practice!

  14. I love your shawl pins and just came across them on your website. Do you still have some available?

    1. Unfortunately they are all gone. The good news, though, is that I will be away on my annual clay retreat this coming weekend, and I am planning on spending three days cranking out as many as I possibly can. Any particular color families you are interested in? As long as I’m making them from scratch, I’m happy to take requests!

  15. What r u using for the stick pins?????

    1. Metal knitting needles, cut in half. Some of them are covered completely in polymer clay, and others just have a decorative bauble on the top.

  16. […] rippers, and such will definitely be on the agenda. I’m also thinking about doing a batch of shawl pins again. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any of […]

  17. […] haven’t decided yet if I like it better with the shawl pin or without, but I think it can work both […]

  18. […] When it happened: January, MLK Weekend Where it was: Days Inn, Egg Harbor Township My recap: The shawl pins […]

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