Whirligig wind spinner

I take a lot of walks through the little town in which I live. From spring through fall, gazing balls, wind chimes, plant stakes and all other manner of garden-variety art abound in this little borough. I love seeing the personal touches on the homes of people who put extra care into their dwellings. My favorite pieces of outdoor art are the ones that are meant to catch the wind and spin around displaying mesmerizing patterns. When the theme for this month's showcase for the PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artist's Guild of Etsy) was decided to be outdoor art, I was fairly set upon coming up with a wind chime or a wind spinner design.

I came up with this three sided mobius design after observing some whirligig wind spinners in a shop. I figured that it could easily be done in polymer, and wanted to give it a try. It took a trial and error session for me to figure out how to construct the piece... still not sure what I'm going to do with the first iteration, which was more error than trial, Ha, Ha! After working out most of the kinks of that first iteration, this little sea green one was born.

The polymer mobius part is only about 6" in diameter, so it's not a very large piece, but still large enough to catch the eye. I decided to add a large polymer clay swirled lentil bead at the bottom and coordinated some glass beads for more decoration. 

I love how the swirly lentil bead echoes the swirls of the mobius, and I believe that I will incorporate that feature into future iterations of this design. I do plan to make more of these, because I really love the idea and the look of this piece. I am also considering creating a project tutorial of these for selling in my etsy shop. Lots of ideas are spinning around in my head, must be the whirligig influence! ;)

With those hopes of creating more of these whirligigs (and also a tutorial for them), I'm reminded of my hopes for the new year. Once again, my #1 New Year's resolution is that I want to spend more time in my studio creating. While I really plan to focus much of my energy on larger-scale art pieces that I've been dreaming up (just for the sake of making myself happy and decorating my studio space), along with those wishes comes the hope that I'll also find time to create some smaller items to put in my etsy shops.... sigh, if only reality will work with the schemes in my head! For anyone who's curious, here is the top-down view of the whirligig:

So, what do you think of my latest project? Is this something you'd be interested learning the details of how to make and construct? Do you have any New Year's resolutions that you're hoping to carry out in 2017?... leave me your comments below, I always love hearing your thoughts!

Happy Holidays to all during this season of giving. I hope for a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful 2017!

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