Celestial Honors

Thanks to everyone who voted in the PCAGOE challenge. I am honored that my Celestial Sun and Moon Decorative Eggs tied for first place in the Members Voting category. Here's a link to see the full results: http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2013/03/march-winners.html

I thought it would be nice to share with you one of my favorite entries this month: a delightful sculpture Moon Struck with Stars by Beckie of AuroraClayWorks.

Moon Struck with Stars by Beckie of AuroraClayWorks.

Beckie Fox, a sculptor of more than 35 years from Wasilla, Alaska describes her work as "certified Made in Alaska." So fitting! I love how even though I've never met Beckie, or been to Alaska, I can feel her spirit and the natural spirit of her home in her work. She is the same artist who made the delightful swap ornament with kids sledding that I shared in December. http://www.creativesprinkle.blogspot.com/2012/12/stories-in-polymer.html

Vote and Win

Celestial Themed Polymer Covered Eggs

With Easter right around the corner, I'm in egg-covering mode.  I decided to take advantage of that creative rhythm and design a few eggs using theme from the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy March challenge: Celestial.

I started each egg by placing two small patches translucent Premo polymer where I wanted to stamp the sun and moon. Since the egg is curved the whole design wouldn't stamp, but that didn't matter because I planned to add layers on top of the celestial design so it would look like the sun and moon where bursting out of an active swirling solar system.

The color of the background comes from mokume gane slices layered over a dark blue. For the sun and moon areas, I painted alcohol inks over the stamped design on the translucent clay after baking. They appear to glow in contrast with the opaque blue background.  

Vote & Win

Voting is open through March 7. Select your favorites and you could be entered to win a prize from one of the sponsoring artists (including me!) Go here to vote:

http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2013/02/celestial-march-challenge.html 

Studio Guest

This is my studio guest, Henry. He's our newest adoption, but he is little shy about integrating with our other cats so he's spending most of his time in my studio. There he has a comfy couch and a food bowl all to himself.

We have coffee together every morning before I head off to my day job. (I drink the coffee; he head-butts the cup and spills it on me). In the evenings he comes upstairs and sits on my husband's lap to watch television. The hissing and growling is subsiding when he's around the other cats so maybe I'll get my studio back soon.

Aqua Color Palette

Art Deco Aqua Switch Plate Cover

There is something about aqua that makes my heart sing! It can feel wonderfully vintage or fresh and modern.

In the top switch plate, I paired a simple translucent aqua inlay with a faux black mother-of-pearl background. My grandmother had the most amazing jewelry box made from black mother-of-pearl. I thought of it immediately when I sliced into the mokume gane clay sheet and revealed the scalloped design.

The bottom plate is a more modern geometric take where I added a few orange and blue inlay pieces in an asymmetrical pattern.

Both are available at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/YoungCreative

Modern Geometric Switch Plate Cover

Angry Bird Near Cake Wreck

When the request came in from my nephew to do an Angry Birds Space cake for his birthday, I have to admit that I had to do a little googling. Once I found a picture of a bird I liked, polymer seemed like the way to go to create a light-weight 3-d topper.

I had read a magazine article where an artist created doll heads by shaping a polymer sheet around a styrofoam ball so I decided to give that a try. Let's just say my first attempt didn't work out, but check out the cool texture on the broken pieces. There has to be a something cool that I can do with the shards.

For attempt two, I pulled out a glass Christmas ornament and pulled out the hanger. I shaped the bird's head feathers around the protruded part. I even added a small hook in the back to he can use the topper as a Christmas ornament later.

So what went wrong? When I shared the story in our forum for the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy, one of the women asked if I added an "exhaust vent." I had meant to add a hole at the base, but in my excitement to get it in the oven, I totally forgot. At least I was only on the base layer when it happened.

Live and learn!

Faux Granite Easter Egg

Faux Granite Easter Egg

When I wrote about this project last week in my post Faux techniques in polymer, I promised you a few tips on creating your own faux granite. Well here they are:

1. Create the polymer "granite" base layer. I've made some cool stone effects with tinted translucent clay and pepper flake inclusions, but in this I simply opened a packet of Premo Sculpey Granite and blended in a small amount of pearl and translucent premo to give it a nice soft feel.

2. After I covered the entire egg with the base polymer, I added accents with a flat extruded rope.

3. Add a stippled texture to the raw clay with a stiff wire brush. I also added a few "cracks" with a pointed sculpting tool.

4. Bake the granite layer.

5. Add depth to the granite layer with acrylic paint. Brush black or dark umber paint onto small sections making sure to get it into the crevices. Wipe it away immediately with a damp cloth leaving only a small amount in the recessed areas.

6. I finished the project off by adding a flowered vine and rebaking the egg.

Of course if you like this project, but don't feel like making your own, this one is for sale:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/121773536/easter-egg-victorian-gothic-decor-faux

Faux techniques in polymer

Faux Granite Decorative Egg

Faux treatments are fun in polymer. So many options! That's why it made a great theme in this month's Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy challenge.

Faux Granite

My entry features a faux granite treatment applied to a real chicken egg. I was going for a weathered granite, the kind that looks like it had been outside for ages. Stop back later in the week and I'll give you a few tips on creating this treatment.

Vote and Win

In the meantime head over to the PCAGOE challenge blog and vote for your favorites. Three lucky votes will win a mini shopping spree in one of our sponsor shops. Voting is open Feb. 1-7.

http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2013/01/february-challenge-faux.html