Polymer Clay Egg Free Tutorial

This tutorial is from Lesley Shepard, About.com (click HERE). What is really great about her tutorials is that they include color recipes and detailed instructions. She has taught miniature craft and polymer clay projects for over twenty years. But, as you can see from the above photo, it's not only miniatures.

How Does This Bench Look?

So does this bench make my butt look big??????? They're benches in China. Made me laugh out loud. Image is from Mogg Blog - one of my very favorite blogs. Take a gander HERE. Always, but always something new and interesting.

Handmade Jacket

This jacket is completely handmade from scratch.....the jacket design, cutting of the leather (which was unbelievably soft), making of the fringe, the horn buttons,

the embroidery design, each bead hand sewn,

the horse tail fringe...all of it....hand made by

J. Parsons, the gentleman wearing it. Obviously, it was an ongoing work for quite a while. Now that I'm thinking of it, I believe he said he killed the deer, skinned it, tanned the hide and softened the leather himself also. Unbelievably beautiful.

Industrial Charm

I finished my bracelet (sort of)! I say sort of because I still want to incorporate some polymer in there. A good friend and her husband spent 6 weeks in Europe. As my gift, she brought back an organza bag full of beautiful crystals and an antique bakelite component she got in a Paris flea market.

I've been wanting an industrial charm bracelet forever. But I wanted something with meaning to me and something I could afford. Michael's craft store now sells industrial jewelry charms, components and findings in three different colors of metal. Perfect.

The pencil=art, the compass=direction, #7 & #17=luck, G=gratitude, bucket=bucket list

the wheel=keep going, key=risk, blue metal flower=growth, the little light bulb and spring=an idea that springs forward and the spirals=that creative idea that spirals into a finished piece. I added the crystals to the bottoms of the charms. They equal friendship.

Just Me

No polymer, just me.

Oh, Photophunia is so much fun, it is addictive. Hope you had a fun weekend.

Polymer Photos Part 5

Some of my polymer clay pieces in a window display (through Photofunia, a free photo editing program), and

oh my gosh....who is that? Kind of looks like Brad Pitt adding a few words on the photos of my polymer clay sculptures? Only through Photofunia.

Sculpture Photos Part 4

Photographs of a Creative Paperclay sculpture I did called, "Tribal Woman". I hand beaded her head dress and necklace. The bust is about 2.5' tall x 2' wide. She is sculpted over a Styrofoam armature. Photo effects are through Photofunia.

Polymer Photos Part 3

These are photos of two polymer clay sculptures I did using ProSculpt.

Using Photofunia, I made them into a pastel drawing, a puzzle,

a museum exhibit, and.....

a billboard. I sculpted the head and hands from polymer and painted them. I then wired them onto a thick cardboard cone armature and glued all in place. I then cut and draped the suede leather to fit the figure and added the beading and painted details on the leather.

Polymer Photos Part 2

Ok, I just discovered I was spelling Photofunia incorrectly. I was putting "ph" where the "f" in fun is. One pun, and it stuck in my head. I've corrected all the hyperlinks. Now you will have some fun.

I revised yesterday's post and put the specific instructions in it.

More fun with Photofunia (click HERE). My polymer clay sculpture "Warrior" is featured in the top four photos. In the above photo my polymer clay sculptures "Warrior" is on the left, "Autumn Man" in the center, and "And Then There Were Two" is on the right.

Polymer Photos Part 1

Above is the original photo of a polymer clay sculpture I did called, "Warrior". The shading is done with polymer and I made the rabbit skin head piece.

I've been playing with Photofunia, click HERE - adding some photos of my polymer sculptures. I love this book effect.

You just pick an effect, click on it, browse your photos, double click on it, it will come up on the effect, hit OK and it will upload. Then you can right click on it and hit copy, right click again, go to my pictures, and right click, paste. Voila! Magic.

So cool.

Photofunia is really Phun (sorry). A couple of days of this I'm afraid. Polymer, polymer, polymer.

Spring Art Fair 2011

Some of the handmade baskets......

my fellow artists setting up.....

We had a great crowd all day, beautiful weather and everyone did well in sales.

Plein Air

Some of our art group sitting in the front of the restaurant....two painting in oils and one sketching.

My portable easel, etc. set up behind the restaurant where I painted with acrylics on masonite board.

One oil painter with a french easel.....

and one with a rolling cooler from a department store. The missing person from the blue chair was also doing field sketches for studio work.

Sonoran Desert

Impressionistic painting of the scene below.

For whatever reason, I have not been able to post....my laptop would freeze at the upload button. But after two attempts this morning-I'm here. Yay. The bottom photo is what I was looking at while I painted the top photo, which was a nice view of the Sonoran Desert out behind the Horny Toad Restaurant in Cave Creek, Arizona. The restaurant was nice enough to let our art group paint where ever we wanted. They also let us keep our gear set up while we ate lunch, which allowed us another hour to paint after lunch-it was great. I still can't get over how completely different it is to paint outside from painting in the studio. So much fun.

Strolling on Ho Hum Road

I bet you thought I was kidding. I went plein air painting yesterday in Carefree and Cave Creek (Arizona). These are some funny photos from the day. I will probably post the painting tomorrow. Unfortunately, Ho Hum Road was too busy for me to attempt a painting.

The truck was real. The advertisement was real and the restaurant was real. I just kept saying, "Seriously? I mean, seriously?"

Last, but not least is BIG BUNS sandwich shop with a drawing of a big "butt" on their sign. Do I need to say more?

Grinding Away

I am so busy grinding away at some projects. Can't wait to get them finished. I took a break and picked up my polymer to do a quick sculpt using some little molds and Kemper punches. Our local art fair is March 19th so I am trying to get my plein air paintings framed and finish some new large abstracts. Good to be busy again.

You Can't Unblock

I know this turkey hat is crocheted and it's a real beauty, but it really says it all how I am doing with my knitting. I finished the back, sides, and sleeves of my free form kimono. I blocked it, sewed it together and decided it was far too big. The back was fine so I left that alone and tore out the rest. What I discovered (duh!) is that once yarn is blocked, it doesn't like to be undone. I'm knitting the front two panels again, but they are not matching the back because the yarn was compromised. It should go well with the turkey hat. BTW, the turkey hat is from Ravelry (free to register and there are hundreds of free patterns); just in case you want to start yours now so you're ready by Thanksgiving.

The Moon Over....

Sitting at my computer early morning and this is what I saw out my window.  Went out on the patio in my jammes to drink my coffee and enjoy the moment.

Arizona Clouds

I love to photograph clouds. They are paintings that change by the second with unbelievable colors, composition and texture. Just like paintings, they fill me with joy, passion and inspiration.