Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Time for a deep breath – finally!


The mad Christmas rush is over! It was fun, exciting, exhilarating, frustrating, and very tiring all rolled into a relatively neat package. But as December comes to an end, for at least a very few days, I can relax and think about what I want to concentrate on in the new year. I have several things that have been on the back burner during the holiday rush and I’ll be sharing those adventures with all of you as they unfold. In the meantime, here are a couple of my latest projects.

The Copper Butterfly necklace is done using a custom mixed coppery colored clay with hand-formed and hammered copper bale. The top and bottom sections get a bit of extra glitz with the addition of copper leaf, then three translucent “ghost” canes are used to build the design. I love the effect that the ghost canes have because other than the outlines, there’s just a soft shadow after the translucent clay is cured.

Every month the PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy) has a challenge designed to push our creativity. This month’s challenge was butterflies so I tried my hand at making a “ghost” butterfly cane. Since I am pretty much a butterfly person, this was right up my alley! I actually made half a butterfly, then when you cut two slices, you just flip one over and you have a perfectly symmetrical butterfly! A few beads and a bit of copper wire for the antennae and you’re good to go! The larger beads are also polymer clay, hand formed, then impressed with a texture plate. A copper glaze was brushed on then wiped off, leaving the shiny copper in the indentions.


The Dragonfly Pendant necklace was made for one of my sisters for Christmas. She’s a dragonfly person to about the same degree that I’m a butterfly person so we’re always finding things for each other. The dragonfly’s wings are actually the leaf cane pulled into a longer piece and layered. This pendant is much more dimensional than the butterfly pendant. The beads and wire complete the body of the dragonfly.

I'll close this post with good wishes for a safe and happy New Years Eve and Day.  I'll be bringing the new year in with friends at an all-night clay-in!  FUN!

4 comments:

thecolorofdreams said...

Beautiful work. I love your butterfly pendant.

Artgalcrafts said...

Hi Arlene
I am butterfly mad too, so think your butterflies are just the best.I have not tried the Ghost technique yet , but seeing yours has given me inspriation to make a similar cane.
I am polyclay mad and follow Cindy Leitz too, as you may have seen little old me there, so happy claying for the year, I'll be back soon.
Love
E.XX

Artgalcrafts said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Artgalcrafts said...

Hi again Arlene, I just deleted a comment that I had in there twice. XX E.