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| Alice in Wonderland Sculpture |
Hint to husbands: Sometimes, we ask you what you think because we want your honest opinion, but most of the time we ask what you think because we are feeling insecure and would like reassurance.
As I painstakingly worked on "Alice" here for the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy Monthly Challenge, I was getting a little frustrated challenge. A challenge is meant to be challenging, right, but for some reason I decided to tackle my first human figure for this one.
The faux stone and grass base was looking great with each individual grass blade painstaking placed between the chopped translucent clay "stones." And I loved how the white rabbit turned out. Better than I had imagined him. I even liked the funky-faced mushroom that Alice would be seated upon.
Now all I had to do was create Alice. I started with her face and bodice which I baked before attempting to add appendages and her garment. It was at that point that I asked my husband what he thought. Referring to her hands, I fully expected a little gentle guidance there, but instead he looked at the baked face and started to laugh. Apparently, the size of her lips and nose in proportion to the rest of her face was funny. It reminded him of those statues on Easter Island. That was the point that the tears started to well up in my eyes.
He felt bad now. That isn't my usual reaction to his humor. "It's no big deal. Just ball it up and try again," he said. To which I replied, "It's already baked."
"Oh," he said.
Well! Damn! Now all I could see was her ginormous lips and nose. I had to start over. And start over I did, 11 more times. Every day after work I came home and started on her head. And every night I crawled into bed and gave the status report..failure 3, failure 4, failure 5. You get the idea.
Each one got progressively better, but I wanted to keep going. Finally I had one I could live with and I moved on to the fun part of dressing her. My husband tried to get me to go out and buy a doll mold, but I wanted this to be all me.
The moral of this story is don't settle for your first attempt. The second one will probably be better. And don't ask your husband what he thinks if you really don't want to know.
Voting is going on now through May 7. Please vote:
http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2012/04/may-challenge-artsist-inspired.html
Love it! And love that you tried 11 times. <3
ReplyDeleteYou got my vote.
Thanks, Tara!
ReplyDeleteMarie, I think Alice is wonderful. You are tenacious, I admire your perseverance and it certainly was worthwhile! I particularly love the little touches, like the watch, the jewel, her hat and necklace, her cute little patent leather shoes, the draping fabric in her dress skirt and shoulder ruffles, the lacing at her back, the tea cup, her hair, the great white rabbit and the decoration on his jacket, the toadstool (is that the Queen I see in there?)and the awesome chess board base. KUDOS! *(and yes, I voted).
ReplyDeleteI frequently get frustrated with the learning curve of polyclay, especially now that just about every material I use has been reformulated and doesn't perform the way it used to. Take 9....take 10,.... take 11,.... yes I understand. Your words of wisdom are very welcome!
I know what you mean about the reformulating! You think you have something down and then they change the softness/hardness or the color. So frustrating!
ReplyDelete