The second of Holly Gage's courses at the Little Bead Shop in Scotland, making lovely seeds and pods for metal clay...no slip coating involved! This was a last minute desision for me as someone cancelled and I couldn't resist (compulsive class taking disorder, and I had wanted to study with Holly for so long!) There was a beautiful selection of everything from poppies to lillies and star anise ( raiding the spice rack at home is looking good...then again when did you last see a whole star anise). Holly also had some probably shouldn't have made it through customs wonders....I loved dogwood. Never heard of it, except as dogwood roses! Plus a few intriguing ones from the bottom of the pot pourri (I have long had strange looks from friends as I dismantle their pot pourri in search of interesting things!) Incidently if anyone wants to send me interesting pods, seeds, leaves, bark textures etc...feel free! Even if its from the smells like Granny pot pourri I will love it!! I didn't have any pods, but thankfully I was donated a few by other people- you know who you are! Holly had everything from bark to loofah in her box of tricks.
Firstly we looked at taking moulds from our pods. It was great to revisit and get new tips on this technique for me and of course we developed into a full on brand comparison of moulding compound! Pieces later I have poppy heads (in two parts...haven't done this much dissection since I was in school!), lily heads and a dogwood pod, moulds ready to go......
