Masks and more masks!
The Christmas and Solstice Holiday decorations are all put away into the closet for another year, and I’ve even straightened up and vacuumed my workspaces. (Seeing the floor is a rare event).
That includes both the polymer clay and sewing room and the computer and photo space. Both are set for some serious production pushes.
I’ve got the new database for this book all set up and the digital photo work station is up and running. (More about that in a later post).
I’m going through all the submitted images of polymer clay masks that have been sent to me so far, and photographing the masks from many years of Internet Miniature Mask Swaps.
In the next few months I’ll be archiving the work of many artists and more than 300 masks. I wont’ know the exact count till its all done! And when all the pictures are taken and all the information documented, I’ll be more than half way to the next book “The Art Of Polymer Clay Masks“. Due out in June of 2008, I’ll be putting up images of some of the little lovelies (and full sized ones too!) that will be featured in the book.
Shown here is “Blue Ice Mask” by Linda Weeks, featuring polymer clay, feathers, and rhinestones. This is just one of the lovely mask images she’s submitted for the book, and its very appropriate for the weather today!
Front & Center
I had fun with my creative co-workers decorating the Christmas window of the local bead store here in town. We just kept adding more and more…fused and slumped glass bowls, hand dyed silk scarves, dolls, the miniature quilt store, (which we decorated for Christmas too), a polymer clay covered wagon and even Golde in a box. She’s my full sized cloth doll, who shows up in many different roles here. This time she’s wrapped up like a present right in the front window, along with lots of other hand made gifts and goodies. The pictures here are all of the little store “Pieces”. It measures 2’x4′ and is in “fashion doll scale”.
Books and more books
I love books. And while I am a big fan of stories and words, I admit that I also get them just for the pictures. I adore going to the public library and I believe that thats where the “free” part of free speech finds its most equally available home in America. Anybody–absolutely anybody–can go there and look at books and magazines, as long as they are behaving themselves in a non-violent way. But though I keep many of “my” well-loved books on the shelves of the library when I’m not reading them, there are some that I just have to own outright and keep at my house for whenever I want them, no sharing neccessary. Two of my favorite places to buy books are at Amazon and through Bud Plant’s catalogues. Mr. Plant specializes in very reasonably priced art and comic art books. Great illustrators, wonderful compilations—it is a treasure trove. I’ve recently updated my Books section on my web site with two pages of recommendations from the newest selctions there. And, there are also 4 updated pages of books available from Amazon having to do with dolls and miniatures, textiles, and more.
The book shown above is Ukiyo-E, Japanese prints from the “Floating World”, which has been a HUGE influence on my own artwork. Japanese prints also influenced the work of artists like Mary Cassatt, Van Gogh, and other greats. I like to use the pictures as reference when making my Japanese girl beads and pins with polymer clay. The colors in these meticulous block prints really speak to me–even though they were created as much as 150 years ago!
Handmade Holidays!
There’s a movement afoot this year to promote handmade items for decorations and gifts during the holidays. Now, this is something we’ve ALWAYS done here at my house, because I love the excuse to bring out the creative opportunities. Lots of homebaked cookies with colorful icings, an almost historical archive of all the years’ decorations on the tree, and lots of fun making items to give as gifts. We don’t spend a lot of money. We prefer to spend time and energy on making quality holidays that are memorable and shared.
This year I’m talking up that same idea at Bead Lounge, the local bead store here in town where I work as the class coordinator, web designer, and one of the talented staff of bead artisans. I’m putting the store window together in stages this year, and here’s a little part of it so far. Still to come are more additions which will include putting the miniature quilt shop “Pieces” in the window all decorated up for the holidays too. We’re promoting making your own jewelry, gifts, decorations–and also buying from other artists who make things.
You can see one of my dolls dressed up as an angel here. She’s got the same face that I drew for my paper doll series for the “Heirloom Lady” and “Belle”. Both those paper dolls have the very same outlines and face, but Belle is a dancehall girl with poofier hair, cleavage, and more frou-frous and furbeloughs on her outfits. And a beauty mark!
Later this month I’ll add the full sized cloth doll Golde to the window, but her Santa Belle outfit isnt quite done yet. And, I prefer to do this window in stages rather than all at once so it doesnt get boring for who are looking in at the store displays. Stay tuned for more!
Home again, home again
My, but what a lot of traveling I’ve done this Autumn! The Holiday Food and Gift show in Denver, The International Quilt Festival in Houston, and two days of classes in Columbus Ohio with the polymer clay guild there. I had a great time with them, and also got a chance to get together with family and friends.
I’ve got an upcoming Bead Buglearticle about the results from the millefiore caning, mimicking textiles, and beautiful beads classes. It should be on-line sometime this month.
Shown at left are a pair of earring dangles (no hooks on them yet!) made from canes made in those classes. I’ve been having fun making charms and dangles with baked cane slices using my leather mini-hole punch from Tool-Smith. It makes the cleanest easiest holes through baked polymer clay!
The triangles at the bottom of the dangles show one way that color can be gradated in polymer clay canes. This kind of “3D” color gives the illusion of blend when it is taken very small. You can also see it in the petals of the rose shown here. Polymer clay artists David Forlano and Stephen Ford of “City Zen Cane” made this color stacking technique very popular at one time. Along with Judith Skinner’s “Skinner Blend”, these two techniques allow for the appearance of shaded parts in cane images. I love the way I can get a very graphic style in clay and then take it down in scale with reduction!
The wedge from which the dangle slice was cut was a leftover piece from the making of the cane shown at left. The similar uses of form, color and multiple repeats are very much present in textile designs too. Sandra McCaw uses these kinds of color stacks in her caning process. Hers is far more precise than mine, and taken to much greater levels of reduction and recombining. Its always interesting to see how different artists can use similar materials and techniques in ways that suit their own styles.