This week I worked 28 hours on the weekend, enjoyed artsfest during memorial day, worked that night-hopped in the car and spend 4 days in the Smokey Mountains with the in-laws (entertaining to be sure). I worked this morning, so tonight's all i've got for week 12, and i felt like doing something a little different so...
behold: POLYMER CREATIONS!!!
It's been a long time since I've played with clay and even longer since I've played with polymer. In some ways, polymer is a little more fun to work with than stoneware clay because it's less brittle in its molding state- less fun because it isn't as carve-able. I eased into playtime with my very first fae door (approx. 2" x 3"):
Isn't it CUTE- see the tiny mushrooms? which naturally led to bigger mushrooms:
It doesn't really have a function, paperweight, garden decor- i prefer to think of it as an escape to the fairytale inside my head- kind of like a snowglobe (except you don't have to shake it for it to be cool). I did promptly break it when i took it out of the oven by trying to fix a slumped mushroom (which obviously cannot be done, i was just being stubborn) so the one on the right is the do-over.
So then i decided to make a hair piece, because -let's face it- i really enjoy hair decoration. So i stuck a hair pin in a clay piece and away we go:
I also took my first foray into treating clay like metal (ok that's not entirely true, i once made a stoneware teapot with a filigree handle, but it was purely decorative). I've never really liked polymer jewelry, i always think it looks cliche or art-fair, but since i was had the polymer and hairpins out and felt like playing, i chose some black (least tacky looking) and went to town on another hair piece. Then it occurred to me that polymer- being a low fire clay, can be used to set stones, so i added a stone for the fun of it. (i have no idea what the stone is. It's a dark colored rectangular cabochon.):
And since I was treating clay like metal, i decided it might be fun to try embossing- a technique i've done in wax (cast in silver) as well as stoneware with leaves. I feel like nothing makes a better leaf pattern than a leaf- i have yet to see this theory disproven. So i rolled out a few sheets of clay, thieved some leaves out of the yard and this was the result:
yes i did make an acorn and no the leaf i paired it with is not oak.
I've decided I'm going fabric shopping this week and launching my headbands on etsy for around $3.75 with package options (3 for $9 kinda thing). I need to expand my color base however (i have no real brights nor solids) so a trip to joann fabrics is in order.
Gardening: Happily, my garden survived without me, though i did have to weed it today. It SHOULD yield me pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini, cayenne peppers, jalapenos, and tomatos, radishes, turnips, and carrots, and 5 kinds of lettuce. The herb garden is overflowing with mint and lemonbalm as well as basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme, chives, and a little bitty oregano plant i transferred from my aerogarden. Flower-wise, my summer lillies are shooting up and my columbine is done. My wysteria looks pretty sad but i have hope that it's a necessary side effect of rebuilding an entire root-system (i dug it up at my mom's house- i had similar problems with other dug up plants and they all recovered- this is just the worst)and that it will look beautiful come late summer and next spring.
behold: POLYMER CREATIONS!!!
It's been a long time since I've played with clay and even longer since I've played with polymer. In some ways, polymer is a little more fun to work with than stoneware clay because it's less brittle in its molding state- less fun because it isn't as carve-able. I eased into playtime with my very first fae door (approx. 2" x 3"):
Isn't it CUTE- see the tiny mushrooms? which naturally led to bigger mushrooms:
It doesn't really have a function, paperweight, garden decor- i prefer to think of it as an escape to the fairytale inside my head- kind of like a snowglobe (except you don't have to shake it for it to be cool). I did promptly break it when i took it out of the oven by trying to fix a slumped mushroom (which obviously cannot be done, i was just being stubborn) so the one on the right is the do-over.
So then i decided to make a hair piece, because -let's face it- i really enjoy hair decoration. So i stuck a hair pin in a clay piece and away we go:
I also took my first foray into treating clay like metal (ok that's not entirely true, i once made a stoneware teapot with a filigree handle, but it was purely decorative). I've never really liked polymer jewelry, i always think it looks cliche or art-fair, but since i was had the polymer and hairpins out and felt like playing, i chose some black (least tacky looking) and went to town on another hair piece. Then it occurred to me that polymer- being a low fire clay, can be used to set stones, so i added a stone for the fun of it. (i have no idea what the stone is. It's a dark colored rectangular cabochon.):
And since I was treating clay like metal, i decided it might be fun to try embossing- a technique i've done in wax (cast in silver) as well as stoneware with leaves. I feel like nothing makes a better leaf pattern than a leaf- i have yet to see this theory disproven. So i rolled out a few sheets of clay, thieved some leaves out of the yard and this was the result:
yes i did make an acorn and no the leaf i paired it with is not oak.
I've decided I'm going fabric shopping this week and launching my headbands on etsy for around $3.75 with package options (3 for $9 kinda thing). I need to expand my color base however (i have no real brights nor solids) so a trip to joann fabrics is in order.
Gardening: Happily, my garden survived without me, though i did have to weed it today. It SHOULD yield me pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini, cayenne peppers, jalapenos, and tomatos, radishes, turnips, and carrots, and 5 kinds of lettuce. The herb garden is overflowing with mint and lemonbalm as well as basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme, chives, and a little bitty oregano plant i transferred from my aerogarden. Flower-wise, my summer lillies are shooting up and my columbine is done. My wysteria looks pretty sad but i have hope that it's a necessary side effect of rebuilding an entire root-system (i dug it up at my mom's house- i had similar problems with other dug up plants and they all recovered- this is just the worst)and that it will look beautiful come late summer and next spring.
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