BONE China Pendant #2

A piece of polymer clay BONE china made into a pendant for one of the most creative holidays of the year-Halloween.  Yeah, having fun with these.

BONE China Pendant #1

It's not Delft pottery, but BONE china.  Okay, okay, I'm kicking the Halloween season off early with some polymer clay pendants made with my Skeleton Crew canes using Julie Eakes' Delft technique.

Clay Carnival Inchies

Polymer clay Inchies - 1"x1" tiles I made for the Las Vegas 2013 Clay Carnival Inchie Swap.   You know.....my favorite creative holiday is Halloween, so it was inevitable.

Phenomenal Cactus Skeleton

Is this not the most spectacular cactus skeleton?  I took a break from plein air painting and went for a walk.   When I came upon it I was in awe.  I was talking to myself out loud.  Wow, unbelievable and so perfect, just sitting out here in the middle of the desert waiting for me.

Camera clicking away......me happier than a witch in a broom factory!

Halloween Past

 Hand sculpted polymer clay witch fingers.........

 My dining room table with witch legs...........

polymer clay gingerbread skeleton cookies and parties with friends...............remembering Halloween of last year.  I love Halloween.  We had too much going on this year to even decorate.  We had new tile put in our house, new windows and expanded my studio so everything has been in disarray.  So I'm enjoying looking back on a month of Halloween creations from 2011 (click HERE).

Dias de los Muertos

Nov. 1 and 2 celebrates Dias de los Muertos. The following is an excerpt from Carlos Miller's article in the Arizona Replublic newspaper:
"Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend, according to Mary J. Adrade, who has written three books on the ritual.
The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth.
The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the month long ritual."
I took a Michael deMeng workshop a couple of years ago and I celebrated myself in the after life as the Queen of Debris making assemblages from found objects. Yeah, the big head fits me. hehe.

Bottoms-Up Mold

Yes, my friends, one more of the "bottoms of plastic bottles" series. The bottom of this large soda bottle made a nice star shape that was deep enough to push the skull into. I gave this guy spiral eyes, a frilly do and embellished with some simple canes. I glued a magnet on the back and he was ready to go.

Skeleton Cane Mask

I finished the mask. I covered a paper mache' skeleton mask I bought at Michaels Craft Store with several sizes of my skeleton cane.

It is very light weight and I'm really happy with it.

I wanted the "third eye" effect in there - seeing things that others don't.

Painted the backside with artist grade black acrylic gesso. I think I am going to take this a couple steps further....when I don't know, but the seed of inspiration is growing.

Skull Napkin Rings

I convinced myself I needed some polymer skull napkin rings to complete my Halloween tablescape. I made the skull and cross bones from Kato polymer clay. I bought a silicone skeleton ice tray from IKEA . I cut one off, cut the depth in half and used it for the skull mold. I hand sculpted the cross bones, baked them, made a mold of them and then attached each of the cross bones to the skulls with more polymer and completed the baking.

I painted some second hand wooden napkin rings black, sanded and distressed them, then attached the baked polymer to the wooden napkin ring with Apoxie Clay. It binds the polymer to the wood like cement.

I also use it to alter my creatures. It has a comfortable working time an air dries to a cement finish.

These are the second hand napkin rings, the ice cube tray mold and the mold I made of my polymer cross bones.

Halloween Necklace

The cross bones are made out of Sculpey Light.

I'm almost to the end of the Skeleton Crew canes. Yeah, I'm glad too.

Beads and Bones

Posted before 10/18:

I worked on making some lightweight little bones for my Skeleton Crew necklace.

I keep my manual pasta machine right next to my motorized pasta machine. So far it is working out. Back to the work table to string these.

Tea With The Skeleton Crew

I bought a broken ceramic teapot at Goodwill. Scratched, chipped, no top, but knew I could do something with it. I sculpted a removeable top out of polymer that works well so I was happy. It was just perfect for the Skeleton Crew.

Salt & Pepper Please

I'm happy these turned out so well. Pathetically crude, zombie looking skeletons, but I love them.

I wish I could say covering the shakers were my idea, but I can't. Problem is, I can't remember where I saw the polymer covered salt and pepper shakers. I have spent hours going through my viewing history trying to find where I saw them. No luck. Just a gigantic headache.

And, actually, it could have been a long time ago. I keep inspiration files, but didn't keep the S&P in there. So, I am thinking it might have been a while ago.

Anywho, if anyone out there knows the source of the skeleton covered S&P shakers, please let me know, as I would like to credit them.

Making The Skeleton Crew Cane

Awwwww, my first skeleton cane. It's the happy little skeleton crew working the late shift!

Skeleton cane in the making......before the black outline was added. Finished size was 4"x6"

Rolled and reduced to various sizes. Oh yeah, and there's always one that's got to be different; the one who sings, "I've got to be meeeeee!"