New frontiers

my new address: MarieYoungCreative.com

This is a good-bye of sorts. I've launched a new website at marieyoungcreative.com so I'm moving my blog to that address. Please come check it out! It won't be the same without you there.

I'm going to keep this content here. It has been such a labor of love that I don't want to lose it.

Seasonal Shake-up

March is an unpredictable month in Pennsylvania. Wednesday morning we woke to snow--about 6 inches coated everything. By afternoon it started to melt away. By Sunday, temps rose to close to 60 and we tasted spring.

I took advantage of the warmth, and the great seasonal light, to take some shots of a fall-themed black cat witch sculpture that I just finished. She is part of a larger work--more pics to come. In the meantime here's a look at where she started.

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!