Okay, okay... I know it's been a while. But, I'm ready to get back to blogging. Until I can get into a routine, I may only blog once week. You can call me a weekend wanna-be blogger :)
A lot has happened since I've last blogged. I got a job... and not just any job but a GOOD job. I picked up a new hobby making clay art dolls. I've ready some good books. I've wrestled some inner demons and learned who I am because I won the wrestling match! I flew on my first plane ride. And because of my Pinterest addiction, I've been cooking a little more. Other than that, my life has been calm and things have been good. (I hope all my readers have been doing good too!)
My newest hobby has been making clay art dolls. I tried using clay a long while back but I had used polymer clay and didn't realize I needed to put foil inside my creation, so it cracked during the bake process. Hence, I gave up and moved along. But I tried again with a new medium. Creative Paper Clay & La Doll Clay. It's an air dry clay that requires NO baking! I prefer La Doll Clay over any other brand for many reasons... but I'll write an entire post on that a little later :)
And now... my first clay creation!
His name is Billow, The Berry Brownie... He likes long walks in the garden, tickling lady bugs while they sleep, and listening to the morning songbirds tweet. His favorite food and drink: strawberries and compost tea. :)
I started with an aluminum foil skull and covered it in many layers of clay, sanding in between layers to create a smooth surface, ready to be sealed with matte varnish. I used white acrylic paint to cover his entire body, this helped to seal the body, as well as create a smooth, satiny surface. To create his veins, I pulled fine red threads from one of my couch blankets and glued them to his head with a damp paint brush and tacky glue. (The red veins are the strawberry juice in his veins, hehehe!) To finalize the painting process, I added a gloss glaze to his eyes, lips, and strawberry.This gives the paints more depth in my opinion.
His eyes are hematite beads, that in the final process of painting him, I decided to paint as well. His limbs are 100% clay (and very fragile). I didn't put an armature inside them because at first, I was going to use eye pins to create hanging arms and legs.
The strawberry is paper clay with holes punched in a pattern to create a realistic strawberry. I glued eucalyptus leaves on top for the greenery. The gloss glaze I used created a slight crackle effect on the paint, which at first I panicked about, but now I like. I didn't glue the strawberry into his hands at first, but for stability, I may before I add him to my etsy store.
Oh, how he has changed in his short life. At one point, I literally sawed his face off because I wasn't happy with his snake-like appearance. And yeah, I felt a little remorse after digging his eyes out of his head... but one thing I learned with doll making is that nothing is permanent. You can change anything and everything. Another lesson learned is that you can sand down to the aluminum foil skull, thanks to your over zealous, sandpaper happy fingers... and all you have to do is add more clay to the gaping hole in his sad looking head to fix your mistake.
I messed up a lot. (I still do.) But a lot of mistakes, means I learned a lot :)
That's it folks! If you want to see a plethora of one of a kind creations for inspiration, check out my Pinterest board. I'm always in awe at the talent of others out there :)
