So what do you do when you have some polymer clay and an empty martini glass? You whip up a water-inspired bowl and a couple of frolicking Pisces to hold it up.
If all goes well these two pieces are about to become one (hopefully) interesting miniature bowl. I "saw" the bowl in my head first. The theme for the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy's May Challenge, "Bowls and Vessels," probably had a little something to do with that.
I molded the bowl shape in a martini glass and created ocean color scheme with alcohol inks. Once I saw the bowl taking shape, the "ocean" called for some sea life so I sculpted some polymer fish to serve as the base. They'll get a hit or two of mica powder before I bake them.
It is no secret that my love of translucent clay has deepened thanks to the "Chopped Translucent" tutorial from fellow PCAGOE member Susan O'Neill of 11BOLDstreet.etsy.com in The Polymer Arts magazine.
I just finished a few jewelry pieces using her technique. I love how they catch the light! You can check them out at YoungCreative.etsy.com. I shared the Alice sculpture earlier where I used the technique for faux stones. So many possibilities!
I've been working hard this past week on a custom order of light switch plates. These fleur-de-lis plates will be finding their way to Louisiana. I can't think of a more fitting home for them! It was a particularly fun order because I got to see how a design I originally did for a single plate translated doubles, triples, and rocker switches.
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.
My latest project for the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy challenge took effort with a capital "E." While you'll have to wait until I unveil the final piece when voting opens May 1, I thought you might like to see the building blocks of my latest entry.
Half-way to done.
The challenge theme for May is "Artist Inspired." Of course Lewis Carroll and Tim Burton rate high on my inspiration list for this piece, but the initial seed of inspiration came from fellow PCAGOE member Susan O'Neill of 11BOLDstreet.etsy.com.
Sue published a great tutorial in The Polymer Arts magazine on "Chopped Translucent." I started experimenting with the technique on jewelry which was loads of fun. But soon the "ah-ha" moment hit and I started picturing this cool stone courtyard pattern "ala" Alice in Wonderland.
I mixed some extruder "grass" tiles with the faux stone then added in a hand-sculpted elements. There is lots more to this sculpture--including Alice! So stop back May 1 for a full view.
See what other guild members are up to at PCAGOE.com.
Delicious Stress Relief from The Matt Brewing Company, Pugsley Brewing LLC, and Ritchey's ice cream
My brain in fried! Tonight is a night for treating myself. Don't get me wrong. Life is good. But I'm working on so many fulfilling, high-intensity projects that I am starting to feel stretched a bit thin.
Fortunately our local drug store, Kopp Drug, had a really cute "end-of-the isle" temptation display featuring just what the doctor ordered. That's right, a whole display of indie, old-school soda pops-or just "pop" as we call it in western Pa. I understand that the label migrates to "soda" as you head toward Philly. Are you a "pop" or a "soda"?
Tonight's relaxation recipe includes hamburgers (grilled up inside on the Foreman grill) followed by some ice cream floats. It is rebellion in its best form. Sure, winter reared its ugly head today, sending us an April blizzard after 70 degree days in March, but we are going to kick back and dream of relaxing summer days.
Indie Soda Pop Float Recipe:
Open bottle of something with a cool label. Pour it on vanilla ice cream.
Every family has its stories. Histories, comedies, dramas. Ours has those and an old fable--a cautionary tale of two foxes.
I made these polymer covered eggs as Easter gifts for my family, and as soon as my sister opened hers, she started to recite the opening line from the story. Actually, she first mixed it up with Snoopy's "It was a dark and stormy night," but she caught herself and switched to "It was a cold ... something. Neither of us could quite remember what came next.
Even with the brain fog, all it took was the image of the fox to bring back the memory of being an elementary school kid listening to our almost 90-year-old Great Grandma tell us this story. It is cool how family has this short-cut language. I fox will never just be a fox for us.
It wasn't a pleasant story. It was a cautionary tale of gluttony, but we wanted her to tell it over and over again.
Basically there were two foxes that squeezed into a hole in the chicken coop floor. Since we lived on my grandfather's farm, Great-Gram always made the farmer in the story our PaPa. The one fox feasted all night on chickens. The other, realizing the escape hole was quite small, ate only a small amount.
When the farmer arrived in the morning, the smart fox escaped, and the other, well lets just say my Great Grandma described in detail, complete with hand gestures, what happened to the "piggy" fox. Sometimes she would tell it in German, but we new from the hand gestures exactly what was happening.
Now that is a great lesson on not overeating!
I did a post a couple years ago about a family recipe scrapbook that has some photos of her if you'd like to meet her.
