I have some favorite clay jewelry designs I’ve created over the years. Since polymer clay jewelry is coming back  to The Magic Zoo soon, I’ve been wearing my own personal earrings and pins with much pride. And they really do get noticed!

Here are some of the things I love about clay jewelry:

• Beautiful, vibrant colors
• Lightweight yet super durable
• I can create pieces that look like specific pets and animals

If any of you remember my polymer clay jewelry of old, you know what I’m talking about. I have continued to make custom designs of my customer’s favorite animals and pets throughout the years, but have hesitated to actually advertise it other than word of mouth. Anyway, I m taking the plunge and going back to my roots, starting on September 28th. And if anyone has been aching to have their VERY special kitty, dog, guinea pig or any other pet created as a piece of wearable art, this would be a great time to do it!

All I need is:

1. A clear, fairly close up photograph of the critter in question

2. An email telling me what the eye color is, in case of “red eye” in the photo, for instance

It does take a little bit longer to make the custom designs, but not too long. Sometimes a week or so. But then you will have a pair of earrings, a necklace or a brooch which will be one of a kind!

Anyway, I’m really excited to get back to designing in colorful polymer clay, and judging from my customer’s emails, they are too! Of course I will always carry the sterling silver, gold, enamel and pewter designs. But opening things up just a little more will be fun. Honestly, there is nothing more rewarding than working full time as an artist.

Combining this career with a love of animals really has added a richness to my life. I have always been an animal lover, and once I realized I had a gift for creating their likenesses in clay, things started to really get interesting. Some of my first designs (and still SO much fun to do) are brightly colored exotic birds. Back in the early 1990s I had everything in my line from flamingos to hyacinth macaws. So I’m hoping that some bird lovers are interested in having their favorite species done in the polymer clay jewelry.

But of course I love making dogs, cats and other furry pets, too. One of the best parts is capturing the personality of people’s pets. Like the pin I made of Charli Brown, the cockapoo above. This is one of the cutest pooches I’ve ever seen, and it was a real joy working on this piece. But I have made hundreds of custom designs over my 25 year career, and every one of them is a favorite while I’m working on it.

Do you have somebody special who should be captured in a permanent Magic Zoo clay jewelry piece? I hope so! I’ll be watching for your photographs. Meanwhile, you can get onto my mailing list and get a couple free goodies while you’re waiting for the polymer clay jewelry to show up. Click here, which will take you to my home page. Then you can sign up under the cartoon puppy and kitty. You will get a free necklace when you enter the code with your first order, as well as my silly weekly cartoon!

I’ll bet hundreds of my jewelry customers have guinea pigs as pets. At least I seem to hear all sorts of flattering stories about the little guys. At one of my Magic Zoo shows recently, a vet tech who had guinea pigs as pets told me that the little rodents purred when they were content. So I googled this up and found a site that actually had the recorded sound of a guinea pig “purring.” Unbelievable. And while I was up there I had to listen to their other wonderful noises. Like chutting, chubbling and wheeking.

When I was a little girl, we didn’t have guinea pigs as pets, but we did have a much loved hamster named Hannibal. And I don’t remember a single sound he ever made! And not surprising, because a lot of their vocalizations may be too high in pitch for the human ear to detect. If I ever have another rodent pet (not terribly likely, with my schedule) it would have to be a guinea pig.

One of the things that entertains me, as an artist, about these little pocket pets  is the different guinea pig breeds. Some of these could surely never survive in the wild, like the long-haired Peruvian. Genetics is a funny thing. How in the world did this guinea pig breed come about? And then there are the silkies. They are pretty cute, lots of long locks as well. But that cute little face doesn’t get coverd up by hair. I think I prefer the silkie over the Peruvian. I wonder if any guinea pig owners out there would like to see me create some of these  show guinea pig breeds? I think it would be fun, but I don’t know how popular they really are. A silkie guinea pig pendant, anyone?

I think a Texel would be a blast to make! All those curly little ringlets. How many people actually keep this guinea pig breed? If I thought they were popular, I’d put the time and energy into making one. It is tempting…As far as I’m concerned, I think the Teddy guinea pig is awfully irresistible. I’d love to hold one of those soft little guys in my arms!

If you do decide to bring a guinea pig into your life, from everything I’ve read, you should have at least two of them. They are herd animals, and don’t enjoy living in solitary confinement.  These social little guys need someone to play and be with while you are off doing your human things. And another point, make sure you are putting two males or two females together, for obvious reasons. If you need advice on how to introduce a couple of guinea pigs, do your research! There are proper ways to bring a new guinea pig into the picture, and you don’t want to commit any human faux pas.

So tell me about your guinea pig experiences. And tell me about the personality of your particular guinea pigs as pets. Oh, and be sure and tell me if you’d like to see some new Magic  Zoo breed guinea pig designs!

I have been creating cartoon dogs, cartoon cats and various miscellaneous animal cartoons lately. Did you know that you can actually sign up to get them weekly? Yep, I’ll tell you how in a minute, but let me explain why I started drawing them.

Wait a minute, that memory is taking me back many years (to the mid 1950s!) Yes, being the daughter of an artist, and surrounded by talented siblings, it was easy to while away the pleasant hour by drawing cartoon dogs, cartoon people and so on. My brother even had a running comic strip featuring a dashing young man by the name of (if I got this right) Dashly. Alex was the really talented visual artist of the 4 kids, and of course he, like I,  grew up to be a full time artist.

So the Hutton kids sat around the kitchen table drawing in between meal time and pet care (we had a tank of tropical fish, a Dalmatian, tabby cat, hamster and various “rescued” baby birds, especially in the spring. Oh, and there was the tank of salamanders and the jar of frog eggs on the porch. (Watching frog eggs hatch in the spring was my idea of high entertainment.)

Anyway, none of us consulted with the others on what kind of comic to draw. We just dove in, and the only sound beside the scratching of the number 2 pencils on newsprint was an occasional giggle when a particularly humorous cartoon panel was born. Then the sharing began. I would give a thousand bucks to see those creations now! But our hard-working artist mom didn’t have time or storage space for those sentimental early efforts, so they have long been lost to the dustbin. Alas.

But the real lasting result was a crew of kids who knew how to laugh, draw, imagine and actually DO. There were no video games to entertain us for way too many hours, like the “underprivileged”  children of today.  We entertained ourselves, using our God-given abilities to create. And the results have reverberated down through the decades. Thus I am still, at age 60, drawing cartoons! I never would have guessed, back in that pink and white 1950s kitchen, that one day my cartoons would be seen by thousands of people on the internet (and what a concept an internet would have been to us then!)

So here is how you can get my weekly cartoon, if you should be so inclined! Click on link at the end of this post which will take you to  The Magic Zoo store. On the left side is a cartoon dog and a cartoon cat having a conversation. Just type in your first name and your email address, and I will send you a cartoon a week!  But warning; they are pretty wacky and kind of “out there.” But if you like off the wall comic humor, I think you’ll get a kick out of them. And if you find them not to your taste, you can always unsubscribe! So click here to sign up for my comic! (And get a free necklace, too!)

One of my customers, Dr. Johnson-Delaney, just sent me this adorable photograph of her pet possum. Since she is a veterinarian, she knows how to take good care of these little marsupials. Normally short lived (they are lucky to make it to 2 years!) she has raised them to the ripe old age of 4. Dr. Johnson-Delaney and I met up (for probably the 10th time) at the recent veterinary conference I attended in St. Louis.

I have my own opossum guests in the back yard from time to time, and once I caught one in a trap set for a feral kitty. (The possum was indignant, and hissed and growled at me-all bark and no bite, for sure) When I opened the cage, she lumbered out with as much dignity as she could muster

This little girl’s name is Daisy, (I think a perfectly fitting name) and she is now represented by a Magic Zoo silver possum pin! Makes me proud, indeed.

I’ve been told we have coyotes in our neighborhood.

Although I’ve never seen one, my neighbor assured me that they wander around  the local golf course, and sometimes howl along with the emergency vehicles that go up and down Ft. Harrison Avenue at night.  I’ve heard that they are mainly a danger to feral cats and small, unprotected dogs.

But I’d still be thrilled to see one. (Not too close, though)

Of course I have seen alligators in Florida. Right smack dab in the local parks, for gosh sakes (At least the parks that have lakes) It’s a little bit  surreal: Picnic area, children’s play area, lake brimming with alligators.

And who hasn’t come upon a fat raccoon or possum in the back yard here? Mysterious critters. I have no idea where they hang out during the day light hours. Well, I’m happy (for the time being) to live in a town that hosts coyotes, alligators, raccoons, opossums, flying squirrels and hundreds of lizards. Right up this animal lover’s alley.

Ed and I were driving home from a Veterinary Conference in Denver (yes, I had a booth there displaying my animal jewelry-I love vets and their staff!) when we stopped for a little break. Ed found a GLORIOUS orange moth fluttering next to our van. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know if this photo is of the same species or not, but it’s at least the same shade of orange!

Big Orange Moth

I have got to get myself a good camera. Every time I see an amazing critter (this includes my grandchildren) I kick myself for not having a camera I can easily use. We have an old one that takes floppy discs, and I don’t even want to go there.  So, one of these days…

Summer is certainly the time to observe some amazing animals, and for me, this has always included bugs. Just ask my siblings. Yep, I go back a long way with bugs and other creepy crawlies.  – Merry

My butterfly jewelry is easily inspired! Looking out my window this very minute is one gorgeous black swallowtail searching for a blossom. Unfortunately, most of my flowering bushes have finished for the season.  I’m just grateful these beauties still make a pass through my backyard.

Making animal jewelry (even insect jewelry) is easy when you are as fascinated with animals as I am. And the butterfly cycle of life has to be one of the most fascinating of all. When I was a little girl, I loved collecting pupas and waiting for that spectacular metamorphosis into the winged adult. I remember watching (with some impatience ) as the adult emerged, damp and tired. It seemed to take forever for it to finally dry enough to make that first surge skyward.

But worth every minute! My colorful butterfly necklaces, pins and earrings are rather fanciful, but then again, as an artist I have the privilege of creating the vision that I see. And that is an every-changing vision, as you will discover if you get curious about my butterfly jewelry!

Of course I have no way of knowing for sure if the cardinals I see every spring are the same two birds, but I like to think so. I love their chirpy little voices, and the flash of brilliant scarlet from the male. I haven’t seen a nest, but in my jungle-like back yard,  it would be well hidden.

Although I miss my kitties, there is this one advantage of no longer entertaining feral cats…no worry about the nestlings.

Redbirds (as my Kentucky-bred mother called them) remind me of living in Ohio as a child. And an image of a bright red bird against snow… although I thought they flew south for the winter? But there it is, a mental picture I cannot deny.

What birds have you seen  in your backyard this spring?

For the past many months, I’d been taking care of a little group of homeless kitties.

I’d gotten pretty fond of them, especially Trick Kitty, as I started to call him. His trick? When I held my hand just a little above his head, he hoisted himself on his hind legs, sometimes toppling over in his enthusiasm for a pet. And I couldn’t walk outside my studio without that  ginger boy winding his little striped self between my legs.

I looked forward to watching Trick Kitty, his brother and his little calico sister eat their chow under the oak tree, and frolic around in the back yard, chasing butterflies and lizards. My miniature lion pride.

But  something changed. I came back from one of my jewelry shows (in Georgia) and discovered my kitties had been cruising the neighborhood in my absence. Yes, they were still being fed and watered by my daughter-in-law, but they must have missed the human companionship and went searching for pets.

To make a long story short, while I was out of town they ended up at our local animal advocate’s home, who lives a block away. I must say, they have excellent taste in humans!

When I returned, and to my immediate chagrin, she would not release them into my custody. “They need to be inside. Trick Kitty is way too friendly and might be captured by the wrong person. And his sister is so small.”

Sigh…because of cat allergies, my cats must be outdoor kitties. So with as much grace as I could muster, I said goodbye to my cats. I’m happy for them, but still miss my sweet (but insistent) Trick Kitty.

These adorable lambs belong to one of  my customers, Linda McLaughlin. She recently sent me this photo of her, her sheep and (of course) her ears wearing a pair of Magic Zoo sheep earrings. She told me it  appeared in her local paper!

When my customers let me know a bit about their lives, it always delights me. Linda has a wonderful life, and her excellent blog about country life says it all. I recommend it highly to all who rejoice in their animal friends and in the good life of clean air and country living. It reminds me of the kind of life I will someday have! (Yes it’s true, I’m not wildly in love with the subtropics.) So…take a peek into what she does with her days. Very Nice!

And by the way, send me YOUR photos and stories – they may appear in a future blog post!

-Merry