« Older Archive for October, 2009

Polymer Clay and Mixed Media

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 by Alyice

I still cannot believe it’s been ten months since I interviewed Christi Friesen about her magical polymer clay creations and she shared parts of her studio with us. At that time, I had agreed to review her book, Polymer Clay and Mixed Media: together at last, but decided to wait until I bought all the supplies necessary to create a few of the projects and give a more hands-on review. Unfortunately one financial crisis after another has hit our household and a “new hobby” just hasn’t been in the cards—and the book soon became a forgotten memory.

That is, until today.

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As I was cleaning off a shelf, I ran across the book and began flipping through it. Just like the first time I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down. I was mesmerized by the complexity of her pieces and so desperately wanted to start creating some of the projects—unfortunately, I still don’t own a single polymer clay material.

That being said, I found the instructions easy to follow. Each project starts with a materials list, followed by a clay recipe, then an introductory paragraph, and finally a numbered, step-by-step tutorial—complete with step-by-step photographs and a scan of the sketch that inspired the creation. And when I mean a step-by-step tutorial, I mean step-by-step! Depending on the complexity of the piece, projects range from 12 to 31 steps, and each step has a detailed explanation of what needs to be done; not just a few short sentences.

In 160 pages you’ll discover:

The basics of using polymer clay,
The best way to store unused polymer clay,
Why conditioning the clay is vital to a successful project,
How to blend and mix colors,
How to attach objects using liquid clay,
How to wire beads to create various effects and/or looks,
The fun of using surface treatments like embossing powder and foils,
A near-full proof method of baking polymer clay,
How to age pieces with patina, and
When sealing your pieces with a high gloss is a good idea and when it isn’t.

You’ll also have fun with 18 detailed projects, like:

Thistle pin
Grapevine mirror
Holly berry cluster gift tag
Glass-centered flower beads
Leaf and flower designs
Peek-a-boo panda wrist cuff
Flying bird focal bead
Porcupine mini sculpture
Gecko sculpture
Sea turtle sculpture
Tide pool vessel
Ocean Sunset wall piece
Ammonite fossil pin
Thor’s dragon-serpent picture frame
Petroglyph pebbles
Aztec head focal bead
Embellished transfer mini flower vase
Face heart pendant

And the best part is that you can take all the techniques you learn in this book and create your own polymer clay/mixed media creations! All it takes is a little imagination, a few tools, and loads of polymer clay.

If you’re ready to give polymer clay a try, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Polymer Clay and Mixed Media: together at last, today!

Disclosure: I was given a copy to review. This is “my opinion” of the product. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in Art Reviews Books | 1 Comment »

Ancient Ruins In Color

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 by Alyice

I really love the “ancient ruins” look I give some of my jars—so much so that it’s often hard to part with them—and those that I have parted with have become my “signature gift”. In the past, I kept to more traditional colors like greens, browns, and tans. But lately I’ve been playing with colors and adding subtle imagery and/or words to the smooth areas.

In the jar below, I ripped pieces of tissue paper and glued them to the surface, and then topped it with a hand cut bird before adding the molding paste. Once dried, I applied several layers of paint and a high gloss glaze.

On other jars, I’ve included smaller birds, branches, and beads. On one jar, I even wrote out the word “Love”. And the cool part is that at first glance, you only see the texture. Then as you look closer, you can read each letter. Going from left to right, you can then make out the word. It was so much fun!

Keep Creating

Posted in The Art Jars | Comments Off

Echo Challenge

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 by Alyice

I’ve been following Christy Hydeck’s blog for about a month or so, but for some reason I totally missed her new Echo Challenge or the poignant message that so resonated with my heart.

While I don’t suffer the same neurological illness as she, or completely understand what it’s like to live with such an illness, I do suffer from mild depression; and therefore can relate on many levels to what she says about finding herself “dwelling on the tendency to fold into myself…Pulling away, rather than towards people…” and concur wholeheartedly that “it can be a lonely state of mind to live in”.

It can be a worse place, however, when you find yourself living in a town that isn’t privy to making friends with outsiders. It has only added to the depression, causing extreme moments of loneliness and large drops in my self-esteem—despite the fact that I have a wonderful, loving, supportive husband and teenagers who still don’t mind spending a few hours a week with “mom”.

I suppose that’s why I spend a better part of my morning trying to connect with people via email and their blogs, facebook pages, and forums. And yet, even that can sometimes feel isolating and lonely. So when I read about the “Echo” challenge, I just had to take part.

As of right now I don’t have a diptychs partner, but perhaps one will surface—and if not, that’s okay because Christy and her partner, Susan, have created a group effort in which I can still be a part of the team.

The first challenge was to take a moment to reflect on the word “emerge” and then interpret the word through the lens of a camera. The quote used to share insight into the word was from Marcel Proust: “only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees.”

As I pondered both the quote and the word, I remembered a photo I had taken of a prairie dog during our trip to the Reptile Gardens in Rapid City. As I watched him (or her) that day, I was in awe at how well his community played nice together—how they co-existed. And at the same time, I was inspired by how comfortable he was to go off by himself to explore, to rest, to eat, to play. There seemed to be a perfect balance between needing his community and needing to be alone.

And so, reflecting back upon that incident and the word “emerge” I am now realizing that the reason I’ve become so uncomfortable and annoyed with the isolation I feel—over the past four years of living here—is that I am ready to emerge. I am ready to grow and bloom and become something more than I currently am—and I don’t want to do it alone.

The second challenge was to reflect upon the word, “decorate” and of course, photograph something that resembles the word.

At first, I was bummed because our house isn’t decorated this year. Then I thought about the one and only time we attempted to bring our tradition of hosting a Halloween party to our new home and instantly, sadness and bitterness crept in as I was reminded, once again, how difficult it has been to make friends here—for both my daughter and I—and how much I miss going all out on Halloween or having others to socialize with.

But looking through the photographs and realizing just how much fun we had that day—despite the fact that nobody I invited showed up and only two girls from my daughter’s school showed up—reminded me that as long as I have my kids and my husband, all is right with the world.

It truly is in how you choose to see things.

So no more pity parties, no more regrets for moving here, and no more trying to change what obviously isn’t meant to be changed. I choose to emerge a happier, more joyous person this year. And I choose to decorate my home with memories of time spent with the relationships that have always brought me the greatest joy and blessings—my kids and my husband. And I will not let the current circumstances of my life steal any more of my energy or consume anymore of my time.

Keep Creating.

Posted in Echo Challenge | 7 Comments »

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