Last night's ritual was very quiet, save for the voice in my head that kept telling me that I need to find a way to relax. Okay, easier said than done, but I am progressing. I have a book called "Magickal Crafts" by Kristin Madden, and thank the Goddess that she wrote it!!!

One of the crafts in the book is a finger labrinyth. I have always loved mazes and labrinyths, and there is a project in there to create a labrinyth in your yard. Okay, not quite enough property to do that, but maybe one day!!

So I have started the finger labrinyth project. I have this old cheese board that is round. I was going to woodburn a design into it, but it didn't feel right to me. But this labrinyth project...oh yeah!!!

Here is a picture of it before I started carving it and one after. I am not done yet, still need to touch up on it and then wax it.

I got inspired by some beautiful pictures of Autumn around the country, so I decided to change up the altar for the holiday. I use silk flowers as it is much safer with the kids running around and getting into stuff.

Materials Needed:

• polymer clay in your choice of color(s)
• Beads (to use in a beaded topper, optional)
• Glass half gem (usually used in floral arranging and other crafts)
• Beads and/or charms
• Stone chips, variety of your choice
• Leather or felt circle, about 1" to 1 1/2" diam.
• 1/4" - 1/2" cork stopper
• Organic Magic Nuudles http://www.magicnuudles.com
• 2 = 5mm jump rings
• 2 = 10mm jump rings 
• Rattail or leather cording, in your choice of color
• Beading thread and beading needle (if you bead your topper)
• Head pins
• 2 cord crimp ends
• Strong glue(s), I used Liquid Nails for gluing the gem to the circle and Fabri-Tac to glue the beads to the circle
• Paintbrush and water
• Round nose pliers and wire cutters
• Index card or paper plate and a cookie sheet
• Clay tools (optional)

Instructions:

1. Take your choice of polymer clay and knead until workable. If you use two or more colors, you can mix them here. You can also use a clay machine (a pasta roller) to condition your clay and mix it. I personally love how marbleized clay looks, so I usually do that if I use more than one color.
2. Take your Nuudle and wrap your clay around it. Use a wet paintbrush or clay tool to smooth the seams and any fingernail marks or fingerprints on the clay.
3. As you wrap the clay around the Nuudle, keep an opening at the top for the stopper to fit into. Use the end of your paintbrush or clay tool to clean  up the opening so that the cork fits almost all the way down in. DO NOT let the cork go all the way into the hole, you need to leave a little above the top to add your decoration on.
4. Figure where you want your 10mm jump rings to go, one on either side of your opening, down about 1/8" from the top. Push the jump ring into the clay and smooth it with your wet paintbrush.
5. Put the index card onto the cookie sheet. Put your bottle onto the index card top down. You could also use a small piece of polyester batting to lay it on. Bake your bottle according to the package directions for your clay. 15 minutes per 1/4" thick at 265 degrees. I did mine for 20 min. to be safe. (I used Sculpey polymer clay)
6. After your bottle has cooled, hold it under warm/hot running water to rinse out the Nuudle. Dry the bottle off. If you wish to use clay sealer to seal the bottle after you bake it, now would be the time.
7. Now let's decorate it! Take your stone chips and thread one onto each head pin. Use your round nose pliers to bend a 90 degree angle right above the chip. Go out about a 1/4" from the bend and cut off the excess wire with the cutters.
8. Use your round nose pliers to grip where you cut and roll the wire toward you to form a loop. Repeat for each stone chip, bead or charm you want to have dangle on the sides.
9. Use two pairs of round nose pliers to open a 5mm jump ring. Grab the jump ring on either side of the opening and gently twist it toward you until open enough to slip a loop for the chip dangle onto it. Put on the dangles you wish for this side and hook it onto the 10mm jump ring. Reverse the open process to close the 5mm jump ring. Repeat for the other side.
10. Glue your glass half gem to the circle of felt/leather with the Liquid Nails. Let it dry for a couple of hours so that it sets securely.
11. Knot your thread at one end, then thread your seed beads onto the beading thread using the needle. I didn't go in any particular order threading mine on.
12. Starting as close the gem as possible, put down some Fabri-Tac and start to wrap the beaded thread around the gem, laying glue down as you go. Fabri-Tac dries clear and waterproof, so it holds tight.
13. As you get toward the edge of the circle, you can finish off as you wish. I glued down the last beads and then hid the last bit of thread amongst the previous rows of beads. I am sure there are cleaner and better ways to finish it off, but I honestly didn't know how, lol. After an hour or so, glue the cord onto the back of the circle in the middle.
14. Now all you have left to do is attach your cording. Use the Fabri-Tac to glue on end of the cording to the cord crimp end. Glue the cording so that the end of the cording points toward the loop on the crimp end. Use a pair of pliers to fold over and crimp down the sides of the cord crimp end. Repeat for the other end.
15. Open the 5mm jump ring and hook the loop of the cfrimp end onto it, close as in Step 9. Repeat for the other side.

You can fill it with protective charms, a wish written on paper, or even a piece of cotton with your favorite scent on it!! You can paint symbols on it too, or whatever you wish.

Be creative and make more!! Here are some ideas for variations!

Make a topper using clay and a clay mold. After you remove the clay from the mold, bake with the bottle. After it cools, glue the cork to the bottom of the clay topper.

You can add some clay embellishments onto the bottle before you bake it.

You can use clay cutters (like small cookie cutters) to cut small shapes out of the clay after you have wrapped it around your Nuudle.

Glue your glass half gem directly to the cork, that's it!

If you wish, you don't even have to put the 10mm jump rings on the bottle. This would make it great for your altar, to carry in your purse, or to put with your magickal tools.

Check out my photo album to see some examples!

When I want to post a blog, it says that I am missing necessary parts to complete the blog, but I have a title, I have the body of the blog. I don't understand what is going on. Last night it was cutting off my Internet somehow, I didn't have any other troubles visiting any of my other sites.

Wonder if it is that new photo uploader?

I noticed that it did it only when I tried to copy something I had written from my Word program to the screen for posting a blog.

Hhhhmmmm........