Sun and Moon

Workout for the hands! Sun and Moon people created with polymer clay, a doll armature, fabric spray paint and silk flowers.  The Sun has Perfect Pearls kissed cheeks, lips and eyes.  The moon was made with glow in the dark polymer with a bit of black embossing powder mixed in.  For the faces I used a mold and then altered a little, the hands and feet were all hand made.  Leftover ribbons were used for the cape and the skirt.  Glossy Accents was used as the adhesive for everything, including the Austrian crystal flatbacks.

Painting with Foam

Yep, took a regular dense foam and colored this one.  The image is a set of stamps that offer a collage related to travel; I chose a few that would look OK in a vertical alignment: map, old script and a bug. 
Using sepia ink on glossy paper gave the map a worn effect then olive and black for the script and bug.  With finger size pieces of Cut and Dry foam I swirled colors from distress ink pads, using it as a brush... but in circular motion.  Very little ink at first, I rather put several layers than have to start all over because it got too dark.  Once I was happy with  the colors, I set a glass slide over it and moved it around until I found the best combination of elements, marked the location with pencil and stamped the dragonfly right above itself on top of the glass.  Turning the glass slide over I applied diamond Stickles.  Meaning, on the INSIDE of the glass.  The thinner I got the coat, the more the wings glisten, just like a real dragonfly!  Once the Stickles dried, I wiped clean the ink from the other side (dragonfly impression), cut the glossy paper to size and assembled the pendant.

Smile for me

My daughter has a picture of Marilyn Monroe taped on the wall above her desk.  The actress is looking straight at the camera with a teasing look and great smile, almost saying -"Oh yeah, I can do anything I put my mind to it"-  just enough to inspire a college student to reach for higher goals (I can only hope...).  I like the attitude Marilyn has in the picture, so when I came across a rubber stamp with a hint of her image I had to buy it and try something new.  In this piece, I dropped Ranger's alcohol ink (currant) on a square glass surface, added Pearl/metallic mixative and let the ink play around the glass.  Then, with a dropper I put 3 drops of Isopropyl alcohol (91%) in the middle of the square.  It seemed to 'travel' outward and created little textured ridges that left just enough completely cleared glass in the middle.  Perfect size for the face! A blast of the heat gun evaporated the alcohol and then using archival ink I stamped the face.  Applying the same inks to the frame completed the great copper effect; a few fibers trapped between the glasses give the impression of the famous wavy platinum head.

30 plus years later

When I got laid off, my two best friends took me out to lunch.  We went to the Cheesecake Factory up top Macy's overlooking Union Square in San Francisco.  We asked a friendly tourist to take a picture of us.  And because my friends have been my friends since we met in 7th grade, I had to make something special with this picture.  To make this frame I used the mica shifting technique on polymer clay.  Impressing a deep grooved stamp on the raw metallic clay, then shaving the top layer and finally leveling the clay.  The chatoyant effect (cat's eye) gives the impression that there is something going on in there that tricks the eye, because the surface is perfectly smooth and flat.  Pretty neat, huh?

I liked the technique and had extra clay leftover, so I created a bracelet, a pendant and a pair of earrings; rubber cord holds the medallions together.  Because polymer clay is so light, the earrings do not pull my ears down.  Here is a picture of the set and a closeup of one of the medallions to show the chatoyancy detail. 

Inlaid, framed, inked and happy!

How happy the brothers and sisters are in this picture!  Very seldom we get all the siblings in one State, let alone in one house.  So I shot this picture and knew I had to do something special with it.  They all like to garden, so I decided to punch flowers and a bug out of heavy card stock.  Using a technique I had seen Tim Holtz use, I was able to cover a 1$ frame with metal air duct tape and applied alcohol inks.  Using metal pieces to add some flare (corners, key, pin, etc) just fell into place smoothly.  I backed the picture with a splatered looking mat and it suits the frame perfectly.  My two days of work were rewarded with the best smile from my husband when he unwrapped this present on Christmas morning.  How cool is that!

Time to Meet Locket

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised
as impossible situations.  John Gardner

Our hands are the most complex tools... and when our hands fail, the results may not always satisfy our expectations.  So here is the deal: should we lower our expectations and leave a creation as it stand?  I do not think so.  We work through the pain, we take a break and pick up where we left the next day.  But NEVER GIVE UP.  This piece took 3 days to complete.