Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Life is the Art of Drawing without an Eraser



It’s challenge time again at PCAGOE and the theme this month is ABCs.  Anything to do with letters.  So much of my work does include messages impressed into the clay and incorporated into the design.  So for my challenge piece, I selected one of the 14 inch mosaic stars that I’ve just started making.  The message “Life is the Art of Drawing without an Eraser” is one that speaks to me.  

The star frames/trays come in a set of 3 with the smallest 12 inches across, up to the largest at 18 inches across.  It was an interesting challenge to figure out how to work the mosaics into the points of the star.  After several trials – and errors! – I figured out that the best and easiest way to do the points was to do them outside of the frame.  So I cut card stock to fit into each point, then lay scrap clay out on a ceramic tile and use the card stock pattern to cut the scrap clay to the correct shape.  I then build the mosaic design on the scrap clay.  Before I put it in the oven to cure it, I check again with the card stock pattern and make any adjustments.  

When all five points are cured, I glue them into the points of the star.  I add a layer of scrap to fill in the center and begin filling in with both large and small tiles.  The final cure has to be done in my kitchen oven because of the size.  

This project was frustrating but rewarding.  I am very pleased with the finished product and think it was well worth the effort that it took to work out the kinks.  Now on to the 12 inch and 18 inch stars!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Look what I found at Hobby Lobby!




On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby for other supplies, I saw these cute metal ornaments and, since I have a granddaughter who is very much into horses, decided these might work nicely on a treasure box.  


I used a cream and soft moss green to coordinate with a gold/brown clay mix that makes me think of leather.  I also had a rubber stamp border strip that makes me think of tooled leather so the whole box came together rather nicely.  








Here’s the finished Cowboy Up Treasure Box.  What do you think?