April 10, 2010

• Clay, clay & more clay

    I’ve been busy as a busy little bee lately with clay.  Partly it’s the challenge of the challenges, but more it’s the inspiration I get from so many of the other artists in the Guild. There are some wonderfully talented people in that group and we have this thing we call “Clay & Play Thursdays” where we can post photos of what we’ve done in the previous week.  Every week it’s a parade of “OOOOOOOOOH!”s and “Ahhh!”s as so much creativity us revealed. 

  A couple of months ago, one of the members, Christi Uliczny, of River Valley Designs, revealed her “Rocky Path” series.  A month or so after that, she wrote and made available in her etsy shop a tutorial on this process.  At first, I thought I could figure it out on my own.  I had somewhat of an idea how to do it, but when I tried it, I got a tray full of stuff for the trash barrel.  Oh, except for the eggs I made with the scraps – they are very pretty and make great missiles, as Derek discovered.  So, after another few weeks, I broke down and bought the tutorial. 

  There were surprises for me in that thing, I can tell you!  I was way off.    Christi’s very ingenious and my first time out with her instructions yielded terrific results. 

  Here are a few of the pieces I did using Christi’s lesson:

  

  

  

  Bear in mind, none of these pieces have been sanded and/or buffed.  This is straight out of the oven, and they have this terrific shine, and I love the variations in color, as well as the distinct outline of the “rocks”.  The patterned portion is smooth, btw.  It’s part of the fun, getting this result. 

  Some of the other stuff I’ve been working on this week:

  

  Just a funny little bit of scraps that please me somehow.  No one else has to like it.  I do. 

  

  A teeeeeeeeeny tiny little box I made over a stainless steel cutter I got a few weeks ago.  Here’s the inside – it really is a box:

  

  Oh, and from that same mixture of clay:

  

  First ever successful polymer clay ring – baked over another of those cutters.  It’s expandable, too. 

  And this butterfly, using some of the leftover paisley cane from my ruffled box:

  

  And speaking of that box, this month’s challenge winners have been announced at the PCAGOE website – along with the voter winners, one of whom is Amy’s sister Jen!  Can’t wait to see which of the lovely pieces she gets. 

  Congrats to all the winners.  I’d have loved to be able to vote for everyone. 

  Next month’s challenge piece is underway – but you’ll have to wait to see that.  The theme is “Historical event.”

  me<><

  • 8:40 pm
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