Happy, Shiny Christmas Tree!

I'm an "in the moment, season-to-season" kind of girl. It's rare for me to rush any season by wishing for the next one. This has good points and bad. The good is that I am enjoying the moment. The bad is that when all the business-minded artists and crafters are creating items to sell a season ahead of time, I'm living in the moment and my creations celebrate the season at hand... when fall arrives I'm inspired to make fall items, when the winter holidays are upon us, I'm compelled to create Christmas items. So, while this challenge piece is for the January 2015 challenge, I'm still in Christmas creating mode. This month for my guild, the PCAGOE, our theme is "Illuminated" (any item that is lit by a light or candle).

As happens fairly often, the piece I chose to create was based upon an item I found at my local thrift store. I found this hinged, wire, pyramidal shape that I imagine was supposed to be a sort of abstract Christmas tree. I decided this would be a great little piece to turn into a polymer Christmas tree light. I wish I had taken a before photo of the frame, but it is still exposed on the inside, so you can get an idea from this:

I began by creating flat slabs of translucent Premo in the shape of each side of the pyramid top and base. After these were cured, I glued them onto the frame and sealed the seams with bonding agent and more translucent polymer to smooth out the corners. The entire piece went in for the second curing. Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking about the polymer + heat + gravity factor and did not give it any extra support on the outsides. For those who are not familiar with curing polymer: while fully cured and cooled polymer is extremely durable, if one does not give support to 3 dimensional objects during the heat process, the heat and gravity can make the polymer break or crack when it's in the oven. If a piece is properly supported, this does not happen... proper support seems to be a lesson I am destined to re-learn often! While the frame was there for support on the inside, it was only attached to the outer edges of the frame. With the piece sitting on one of it's sides in the oven, 2 of the side pieces were pulled downward by gravity, resulting in cracked pieces. Because nearly each piece I make is a new and unique idea, there's almost always a learning curve filled with accidents. In this case, I patched it back up with bonding agent and more translucent polymer, cured it and decided to move onward. One of the things I love about this medium is that you can almost always fix problems that may arise. But, because of the patched cracks, I now needed a surface treatment that would hide the patch (originally I had intended to stain the polymer with inks, sort-of like a watercolor painting)....

A while ago, I had the idea to use Ginger Allman's (of The Blue Bottle Tree) Holo effect to create the illusion of facets on a diamond shape (right after I created my Diamond in the Rough container). At that time, I purchased the tutorial from Ginger and put the idea aside for a while. I still have yet to recreate that diamond project using the hollo effect technique, if you follow this blog, you know how rare it is for me to revisit an old project. So, as I was considering what surface treatment to use for this piece, my eyes glanced upon the materials I had purchased for Ginger's Holo effect and that serendipitous moment decided the outcome of this piece. I set to work and finished the outside of the top with a green holo effect and the base with a golden holo effect. I didn't give any texture, as Ginger does to her pieces; I kept it flat because I wanted to see how this technique might be used to create that previous faceted diamond idea, for which I would also want no texture.  Here's a close-up of the tree, so you can better see the holo effect's iridescent shine:

After the holo surface was cured, I covered the corners and edges with strips of raw polymer and bonding agent. After this was cured, next came the dilemma of how to decorate the tree. I decided upon extruded strands that curl and meander around the tree, with multicolored light bulbs reminiscent of C7 bulbs. The base decoration became an extruded, curly and meandering strand of Premo red sparkle clay. I also made a little star to sit atop the tree. This star was also treated to the gold holo effect and it is outlined in gold and sparkle red polymer. It is removable, held to the top of the tree with 2 strong magnets. I did this specifically to avoid having the star bend or break during storage.

As always the process of bringing the concept of this piece to a final product was enjoyable, even with the frustration of the start. I'm especially happy with the holo effect, it reminds me of iridescent dichroic glass, so bright and shiny... such a happy little tree. Oh speaking of "little", the dimensions are 10.5" (from the tip of the star to the base) and 4.5" at the widest point of the base. I wish I had been able to take more time to do this project, to refine things, but I'm in the middle of another big project plus the preparation for the holidays, so this one got more rushed than I would have liked. But overall, I'm quite pleased. If you're intrigued by the holo effect, I highly recommend Ginger's tutorial, she explains everything in thorough detailed description and photos.

I'd love to hear what you think of my little, happy, shiny tree... leave me a comment below!
Whatever holiday you may celebrate this season, I extend warm wishes for a happy holiday.. and cheers to a healthy 2015! The voting for this challenge will begin on New Year's Day and will be open until midnight on the 7th. I'll post a reminder here when voting is open!

Recycled Christmas

Any one who knows me, or has read this blog, likely knows how concerned I am with environmental issues.  As a result of my enviromentalism, I have learned to look at "trash" with a different lens.  I try to minimize our trash by refusing, reducing, recycling, upcycling, mending and repurposing.  My OneMoreUse line of products and etsy store was born out of my desire to reduce my household trash footprint (specifically single use plastics).  So whenever any product is past it's intended use in my household, I give creative thought as to how I might repurpose, recycle or upcycle each item. 

For January 2014, my guild's (PCAGOE) challenge theme is Recycled, which is a theme that speaks to both my sensible environmentalist self and also my artistic creative ideas.  I wanted to do something really unique for this challenge.  The solution for something different presented itself when my very organized hubby threatened to reorganize our silverware drawer.  He is the type of person who needs to be able to see and easily access whatever item he needs from a drawer, closet, cabinet, etc.  While I certainly like things neatly sorted too, because I have a pretty good memory of where items are located even when hidden, I am guilty of cramming as much as I can into any available space... so if that means I have to lift up a few spatulas to get to the ice cream scoop, I'm okay with that; this method drives the hubby crazy.  Every so often he threatens to organize something, which essentially means tossing some items, which he deems unworthy of the space they occupy, into a bag for a thrift store donation.   When he does threaten, I make sure to get the job done before he has a chance, that way I can be sure not to lose my favorite tools.

So, when I tackled the silverware drawer, I came across these hand mixer beaters that I had kept although both hand mixers that we've had in the last couple years have died and were irrepairable.  Removing these 4 beaters gave me enough room to organize my drawer to the hubby's standard; Perfect!  Normally I would send these to the local thrift, but I've seen a container full of such beaters sitting at said thrift store, so I don't think they have much of a market once the mechanicals of the mixer actually dies.  So I decided that THIS would be my item to use for my recycled project! 

I envisioned the beater becoming a stylized Christmas tree.  I made a red base for it, with green polka dots.  I secured the beater into the base and then coated the beater with many layers of Kato green colored liquid polymer that I added gold mica to create a custom color.  The scrolled filigree tree design is meant to mimic the look of quilled paper (as I explored in a previous piece here), and the design on each of the 4 paddles is the same.  I added some red dots to carry over the same design as on the base and add some contrast interest in the tree.  In the following photo of the tree with two paddles turned forward, you can more easily see the scroll pattern and you can see the areas of the metal batter more easily. 

While this was my first attempt at this idea, and it's far from perfect, I was very pleased with how it turned out, considering how difficult it actually was to complete.  I do have new ideas on how I will improve upon the execution of this type design in the future.  I just need to make time to revisit the idea before forging into something new, which is always a problem with me!  My favorite part of the creative process is the idea stage, and I always have way too many ideas waiting to be brought to life!  Here's a detail photo of the scroll work:

And finally a top-down view:

 

Voting for this challenge will open on January 1st and will run through January 7th.  I will try to remember to post a voting reminder here when the voting opens.  Last month, I was again honored to be chosen in the top 3 entries of both the public and the member vote for my penguin snowglobe piece.  Many thanks to everyone who took a moment to vote!  Comments are always welcome, so let me know what you think about this piece in the comments!  And a Very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate this holiday.  For everyone I wish you a happy holiday for whatever you celebrate... and a Happy, Healthy 2014 to all!!

Creation Story

There are many stories surrounding the creation of the world.  One in particular that struck me years ago is a Native American story about the world being created upon the back of a sea turtle.  I have no remembrance of where I first encountered that story and I've tried recently to find the exact story, but there seem to be many variations and each one I have found since are a little different from what I remember of the original myth.

I've been interested in Native American culture and stories since my college days.  I created my entire senior advanced drawing portfolio based on Native American art.  I think what initially drew me to reading the stories was an awareness and respect for the connection which Native tribes have to the earth.  So about 3 years ago when I was having dinner with 2 of my dad's sisters, imagine my surprise and delight to learn, for the first time, that one of my ancestors was Native American.  My aunts couldn't tell me much more than the fact that my dad's great grandmother was a full blooded Native American.  Considering the part of the country where my roots are planted, my great great grandmother's tribe must have been Lenni Lenape.

When my polymer clay guild, the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE), decided to do a challenge theme inspired by a story or book, the turtle land creation story that I encountered many years ago was what I decided to depict.  Since I couldn't find the exact story, for those who would like to read something similar, here is a link to another version with the same basic premise.  I also found a similar Lenni Lenape version which was much more simplified... it goes:  Kishelemukong, the Creator, brought a turtle up from the ocean. 
It grew into an island (North America).  The first men and women sprouted from a tree on the tutle's back.

The piece of art you've seen in this post was created with this story in mind, as my entry for the September 2013 PCAGOE challenge.  I also had the idea to try to mimic quilled paper artwork.  The look I achieved is not quite what I had in mind, because it became much more complex than I had originally intended. The piece is meant as a wall hanging.  It was created by first stretching a piece of canvas over an wooden embroidery hoop.  I then sketched the design onto the canvas.  After painting the entire canvas with liquid polymer clay, which was then cured, I painted the canvas with inks.  The next step was to mix my polymer colors and extrude them all in long strips.  The strips were adhered to the canvas with a polymer bonding material and heat fused into place.  This was a painstaking process, taking much more time than I had originally anticipated.  The final step was to cover the wooden frame with more extruded strips of varying sizes.  I was quite pleased with the final outcome.  What do you think?

Voting will open on September 1st.  I'll be sure to blog about it to remind you to go vote for your favorite entries and to show you the entries from the other participating members!

Figures... a practice of the human form and my process of achieving my latest sculpt

I've drawn and painted human bodies and faces from life countless times throughout my artistic background, but had never before done a sculpt of the human form.  So, when I lit upon the idea of sculpting a female figure as Mother Nature for the last PCAGOE monthly challenge, I knew it would certainly be a challenge. But, given my background of studying the human figure for drawing or painting, I was fairly confident that it was a challenge I could meet. The challenge theme for April was "the Seasons" (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter). My idea was to create Mother nature and decorate her form with the progression of the seasons; with the idea of a spring seed sprouting from her one hand, the vine continuing up her arm and onto her torso; leafing out in the full foliage of summer on her torso; eventually leading to vine down her other arm, turning to fall colors with two falling leaves which dangle from that hand. The thought to add winter to the bottom of her form, brought about the idea of a base where her torso blends into a tree trunk, with bare branches reaching outward.

This female figure concept initially began about a year ago, when I purchased a couple bottles of Vanilla Extract that happened to be hourglass shaped.  I instantly thought "female form" when looking at these bottles.  I thought perhaps I might do a miniature polymer dress form mannequin someday.  When I struck upon the idea of Mother nature for this challenge, I immediately thought of using one of those bottles.  So, this sculpture is a working bottle.  The next photo shows the sculpture with an example of what is at her core:

The following is a description of my working process to create the Mother Nature bottle sculpture:  The empty glass bottle was first fitted with 2 pieces of wire that were twisted together at both ends, leaving an opening in the center, through which the neck of the bottle was placed.  This created the armature for her arms.  The wire rests on the areas of the bottle which define the form's collar bones and scapula area on the back (next time I make one of these I will photograph this step), so it actually helped to define the collar bones of the form.  The wire was glued into place on to the bottle with super glue.  The tree trunk base has a core that is a cardboard spool which once held a skein of thread.  The head is supported with a screw that was driven through the metal cap of the bottle.  Her head fully unscrews from her body, as you can see in the first photo at the beginning of this post.

In the next handful of photos you can view a sampling of the progression of the sculpt.  In the first photo, you can see the rough sculpt of the body and arms, shown with one of the bottles, and my human anatomy for artist's book (which was my guide in getting the form right, since I didn't have access to a live model).  Take note too, of the screw protruding from the cap on the sculpted body, this is the armature for the head, ensuring that the bottle can be opened without having her head pop off the cap! 

The next photo is basically the next stage of the sculpt, adding more weight to her arms and the 1st sculpt of her head. 

At this next stage, a little more weight was added to her arms and her face is starting to take shape (more layers were eventually added to the face for better feature proportions).... you can see how rough her skin looks at this point (I don't have those nice silicone sculpting tools; I was working with my knife, my fingers, a pointed needle tool and a small round metal burnisher).  This was the stage when my husband saw her for the first time; his first comment was, "why did you make her so old and ugly?"... after he was banished from my studio ;)  I set out on the next step, baking her a second time.
 

After the second baking, she went through a sanding process to smooth out the bumps and ugliness so honestly pointed out my my dear hubby, and this was the result:

After this stage, she was coated with translucent liquid polymer and baked (two times) to give the skin a nice finish.  Finally, her torso was attached to the tree trunk base (which was sculpted with wire added to create the bare branches of the tree and baked separately).  Clay was sculpted over the join of the torso and tree trunk base to hide the seam and she was baked again.  The seed, vines and leaves were added, facial features were enhanced (eye lashes, eyebrows, color to her lips and highlights to the whites of her eyes) and she was baked to cure the final details.  I lost count, but I think she was baked a total of 8 or 9 times from beginning to end.  Her hair is made from angora fleece and was attached section by section to her head with super glue, which was a messy job; there has to be a better way to do this part, which I will be researching before my next human form. (Yes, a "next one" is already in planning stages and will be a "sister" to Mother Nature).  As a final touch some translucent gloss acrylic was added to her eyes and lips for shine. By this time, it was 11PM on the night of the midnight deadline for my guild's challenge, so I took a photo of her at night, at a bad angle and without adequate lighting... which resulted in a sinister look on her face (that photo is in my flickr if anyone didn't see it in the challenge entries).  Before I took daylight photos, I noticed that the vines on the front of her torso were off balance and threw the entire design off... so the next morning I set to work to fix that imbalance, happily forgetting to get daylight photos to include in my flickr and to add links to my challenge description.  That is why I held off in posting the daylight photos of her here and on my flickr until after the challenge voting ended. 
While I am fairly happy with how she turned out, her torso sculpt is the area with which I was most pleased, especially her back.. I was also especially pleased with the vine design on her back.  The front of the torso could use improvements, the same is true of her hands.  The area which I think begs for the most improvement is the face sculpt, it just did not turn out as well as I had hoped.. more study to do in that area for female body #2 which is coming soon...  Mother Nature is available in my etsy shop.

Two more days!

Time keeps slipping by too fast for me to get a grasp on everything!  There are only 2 more days left to vote for this month's guild challenge (as of this posting on 4/5/13).  So please head on over to the PCAGOE blog to vote!  Here are the awesome entries for this month:

I did enter a piece this month: the mother nature art doll bottle.  I will post more about her after the challenge, because.....

After she was finished (so I thought) I spent the last hour before the midnight deadline trying to get a photo of her posted to the flickr pool (a last minute entry, even though I began her at the end of February/beginning of March).  Once I finally got the photo posted; I was scrutinizing the photo, fretting over how bad it turned out, because of my inadequate lighting. I pretty much just turned on all the lights on the first floor of my house to photograph her, because I don't have a lighting set-up for indoor photographing.  The wrong lighting is just as bad on a sculpted figurine as it can be on us humans.  When will I learn to give myself enough time to finish a challenge at least the day before the deadline, so I can get daylight photos?!?  I've made this error too many times to count.  (mental note: since I can't seem to get most of my pieces finished before the night of the entry deadline I need to work on a better lighting set-up)  While scrutinizing this horrible photo, I realized that the balance of the design was completely off. (mental note 2: remember old school trick of holding item in mirror to get different perspective to notice flaws in design easier)  The next day my fingers were itching to fix the problems.  I forgot about getting a better daylight photo to post for linking to my challenge photo (as I've done in the past).  After I had fixed the design issues, I happily took my daylight photos and realized that I didn't have "before" daylight photos.  So, I didn't feel right about posting the new photos on my flickr because my fellow guild-mates did not get that extra time to work on their pieces.  I did post a photo of her back side to flickr because I didn't do any re-touching to that side; that photo can be seen in my flickr photostream under better (daylight) lighting conditions.  I will post more about her and my creative process with better photos after voting has closed on April 7th (midnight EST).  So please, do head over to the PCAGOE blog and vote for your 3 favorite entries, you might win a prize! (3 lucky voters are chosen for a prize every month)  And please check back next week for the new photos and the story of how my mother nature art doll bottle was created!