TRANSFER ABLE  II

More experiments with the perfect transfer :)  You can't see it, but the transluscent layer I applied to these earrings allowed me to sand, buff and polish them to a stunningly glossy finish.  I reckon these are divine ;) 

SKILL OF SKULLS

Some months back, I bought a collection of bird skulls in different sizes and shapes from the USA.  These skulls were not actual bony remains of some poor avian creature - but infact the highly skilled work of talented polymer clay artist Dee Wilder.  Dee goes under the Nom De Plume of MALODORA on ETSY, where she displays a plethora of the most beautiful and diverse polymer creations.

These bird skulls sat on my desk at work for many weeks before I picked them up to actually DO something with them.  First of all I had to decide how I was going to string them.  I decided on an understated, rustic looking silver beadcap, handcrafted from PMC. Beadcap complete, a looped wire bail on each skull, I strung what would turn out to be the first of more than a dozen different incarnations of this piece!  I tried stringing on waxed linen cord, on hemp, on rattail, silk thread and silver wire hammered flat.  Nothing seemed to work.  The skulls are the stars of this piece, and demand to be displayed as such!  I decided to go with multiple strands of gold and black beading wire.  I played around with floating magatama beads, but ultimately reduced them to acting as spacers.  The clasp is a simple goldtone press clasp.  Happy at last, I have added it to my store - and to the growing pile of finished jewellery that is threatening to overwhelm my spare room.  "A Matter of Life or Death".

DARK DOLL SERIES II

The first dark doll is complete. 

She came to me after a book I read about a 12 year old girl from Sierra Leone in Africa who had her hands chopped off by "rebel soldiers".  They told her that they were trying to prevent people from voting in the upcoming elections, and that she should "go and ask the president (of Sierra Leone) for new hands". 

This courageous, amazing young woman did not die.  She survived and she went on to become a public speaker and peace advocate.  Nevertheless, the image of a young girl with severed hands, powerless to speak out against her attackers, haunted my dreams for weeks.  Thus, Jemima was born. Jemima is not from Sierra Leone.  She is from Victorian England, and has scuffed boots and tatty clothing.  She has, however, hand both hands amputated.  She lies in a brass cup, however if she was standing, she would be about five inches tall.  

  

 

FORMLESS BAKING

The aforementioned purse that disintegrated when I baked it without placing it on the form has been redone - completed - albeit in another colour. This purse is decorated with a butterfly motif, and has a palette of gold, pinks and lavenders.  The purse has two brass hinges, a brass closure and a blue rubber hand strap.  The inside is lined with black ultrasuede. Enough with the words...bring on the pictures! 

  

     

  

I am a member of an online craft website called ETSY.  

ETSY is a collection of a highly diverse and talented group of international artists and craftspeople who display their wares on the site for a small fee.  It always gives me great pleasure to meander around the site and see what offerings I can find. 

A few weeks ago, I found a Canadian woman by the name of Chandra DeLisle (sounds like a French Aristocrat!) who makes the most breathtakingly gorgeous wings.  Strong colours, meticulous finishing - wings for a Goddess!  Naturally I bought a set.  I had planned on making a new project to hang my wings on.  An ageing, fat, wrinkly faery with a walking stick and an attitude problem.  But before I could even start work on my geriatric faery - I set my new set of wings against a previous doll I had made to gauge what size the new doll would have to be.  As soon as I placed the wings on the back of "Bursting Forth" - I knew they were meant to be there.  They just made her complete. 

Her wings emphasise her eyes - of which one is larger than the other.  The pressure of blowing out all those baby bubbles!  When I took her wings off again - she looked bereft.  Bald, even! 

So - I contacted the talented Ms DeLisle and ordered a new set of wings - and Bursting Forth is wearing hers with Faery Pride. 

 You can see more of Chandra DeLisle's work in her ETSY store here: Inner Spirit   

 

I have started to play with Studio By Sculpey (SBS) in prep for my candlestick maker class - and decided to display some of the more interesting 'speriments. The colours of SBS are quite unique.  There are lots of pastels - but some strong tones too.  Here I was playing with mostly earth tones - with a dash of purple (of course!) thrown in.  The colour mixing and layering behaves a little differently than regular polymer clay.  I mentioned before how the sheets of clay don't stick to each other as readily.  This seems to have an effect on how the colour layers work.  Don't ask me how!  See for yourself....

Greetings and Salutations on this fine Good Friday! I thought I'd take the opportunity to share about my experiments with paperclay.  I had been dying to try this medium.  Many of the truly extraordinary dollmakers I've seen list paperclay as their medium of choice.  So it was with much anticipation that I cracked open my first packet last weekend. I was expecting it to be a finer, refined version of makins air-dry polymer clay.  Wow - was I wrong!  Makins is very...processed.  It has a fine grain - no fiberous bits.  It has a worktime of about 30 mins until it gets tacky and you need to revive it with water.  Too much water, though, makes it wrinkle and droop like the skin on my granny's belly! Paperclay has lots of fibres - I guess, coz its made from paper?  LOL.  Although I'm sure I read that its made from volcanic ash, or some such.  Anyway - it was NOT the refined, porcelain type finish that I was seeking and expecting.  It needed water - and lots of it - as soon as I opened the packet.  The head that I made turned out 'ORRIBLE!  I have attached a photo of it below - it is partially finished - but I don't intend to complete it - coz I just cant save it.  I wanted the head to be wrinkled - but the wrinkles turned into cracks.  I wanted the back to be completely smooth - but its lumpy.  The techniques that I have used with regular polymer and makins just don't seem to work with paperclay. I'm sure that if I practised lots and lots - I would become more familiar with this medium - but I just don't like it.  I think I'll stick to makins and good old regular polymer clay. Yours with resigned disappointment, Sx

 

Endless photos of other people's babies are kinda dull, IMO.  I mean - its sorta nice to see one - or even two photos of the dear wee things.  But Grandma blogs that start out being about polymer clay, or feminism, or sexual health - or ANYTHING - that get diverted to being a never ending scroll of red, wrinkled babies - really put me off.  So - it is with this in mind that I PROMISE that I won't be doing it....too often.

 Below is a door plaque I made for her room from Studio By Sculpey.  SBS is very interesting material.  It has a suede like feel that is unlike any other brand of clay I've come across.  It is quite ... slippery in its unbaked state.  You can lie two sheets of SBS together and they won't immediately stick to each other.  They just sorta slide off.  Its not the strongest of clays - ergot its use as a veneer rather than anything structural.  But the colours are divine - and I certainly had fun with this rather unusual (for me!) piece.

 

Which is weird, given that I never had much time for dolls before.  But I've seen some amazing, intricate, fabulously well constructed fantasy dolls recently.  Dolls by artists like Marilyn Radzat and Lori O'Follett.  Richard and Jodi Creager make dolls who are so lifelike - their pictures look like photos.  I will never achieve that level! 

But I can be inspired by them - and thus I have so far done two fantasy dolls. 

  Arachne - the wise woman.  Spinner of the web of life.  Her base is polymer clay, but I dressed her in fabric.  Sadly I had not learned about doll stands, and she was propped precariously on my bookshelf, only to be knocked off by the cat.  Alas and alack - she broke her arm in two places.  I have glued her back together - but she isn't the same :( The next project is called Bursting Forth.  No Fabric on this one - she is all polymer.  She has a conical body - hence she is balanced and is unlikely to fall over!  Her foil armature is covered with foiled, gaudy, floral designs with bling accents in crystal and mirrors.  She wears an elaborate headpiece, and is blowing a large, white bubble from her mouth.  Small bubbles have burst forth from her mouth and are lying cradles in her arms.  The bubbles are, infact, eggs.  Eggs that contain the secrets of love, redemption, hope and faith.  Neither of these pieces is anatomically accurate.  They are recognisable as humanoid - but Arachne's eyes are too far apart, and Bursting Forth's head is too big. 

Still - I continue on my doll journey with excitement, attention to detail and anticipation.

Sx

                     

ARACHNE...

This final piece is a small torso.  I wanted the figure to be female, but androgynous.  Most of the female sculptures I have done have been luscious, big busted, generously proportioned figures.  This one is definitely more of a body-building type of gal :)  

... Until Next time:  Sx

I always considered blogs the ultimate in self indulgence - until I got my own website and thought of lots of little bits and pieces that I wanted to put up - but they didn't fit into any of my current pages.  So - along comes the Blog.  Stay tuned for comments on classes, new ideas, maybe even a tutorial :) Sera

12 Feb 09