Monday, March 31, 2008

SPRING! *cough* (is this thing on?)


So this is the view we woke up to on Friday. *sigh* Yes, I know it is a wonderful view, I'm just wanting it to be a tad more green and balmy and a skosh less freezing cold and snowing.

So I created these polymer clay eggs! They remind me of warm summer days. I had a request to make an egg with a Brown-Eyed Susan theme. I made this one first:


But it looked all soft focus to me and I wasn't sure if I liked that strange effect. So I made this one where the flowers are more like illustrations:


After going so tight with the image, I felt the need to totally go another direction and loosen up so I created this one:


To be honest, I love them all :) They each have their own vibe.

A log of polymer clay with a picture or design in each slice is called a "cane". I used to do a lot of caning when I used Fimo polymer clay back in the '90's, even though the stiffness made it hard to work with, it held images well and didn't distort when you reduced it. I have been working with Premo for a few years, mostly making patterns that don't rely on careful caning. When I tried caning with the newest version of Premo clay, I found it really squishy and my images got distorted. I know what to do about this; I can leach the clay (leave it out overnight wrapped in paper to pull some of the plasticizer out), also I can let the clay cool between steps or even put it in the freezer when I need a firmer clay. I will try these next time but I can be so impatient when I am creating!

I created a slideshow showing most of the process of making the cane for the middle egg:
Slideshow on Flickr

Also I am entering the first egg in the the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy or PCAGOE April Polymer Clay challenge.

5 comments:

  1. I love the cane and the eggs. And that slide show is very cool. Now I want to go make a slide show!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That beautiful egg with its spring greens and yellows is a perfect image to counter the grey cold drizzle of this last day of March.
    The slideshow is amazing.

    Thank you ! And Love !
    Mom

    ReplyDelete
  3. i like the new eggs!
    regarding clay: i have heard that the Kato clay is good for caning. at least, that's the word on the street. i have some in a couple of colors, if you want to tryyyy. i definitely have b&w... we could have a b&w caning par-tay?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love all three eggs! And your mom's new cards (entry below this one) are lovely, too.

    Freak of nature that I am, I liked the snow on Friday. The freezing rain? Not so much. But spring skiing rocks!! We went on Sunday and I actually got a sunburn on my face (oops, forgot the sunblock). :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the eggs!

    Hope you have a warm up and to see some springtime photos soon. :)

    Miss you and D.

    ReplyDelete