Emerald City Madness

I don't know why, but I had a strange urge to create a mini Emerald City out of Polymer Clay. Of course I used a bit of artistic license to create some of the "Emeralds" but Swarovski Crystals came into good use to fill out the little cavernous space inside this gem world. The stripe on the flat surface of the "Geode" kinda reminds me of the bad witch's socks that curled up fiendishly under Dorothy's home after she was squashed.

I haven't decided what to do with it yet, whether to create an assemblage or a necklace out of it.

Had a good time this weekend and saw my dear friend on Friday at the local watering hole establishment. Have not seen him in about four months. Also good to see some old faces that I haven't seen in a while. This town is practically a ghost town....it used to be packed there on a Friday but it was quite dead. Did not really notice though as I had to play catch up on all the gossip...etc. I wonder how it is in other areas out there? People are just not going out like they used to...so I guess they are at home watching DVD's to save money.

They say the economy is turning around, but I think they are only basing it on the stock market in how that is making a steady comeback. There are more people out of work than ever.

Just stay firm out there and continue to update your skills, even if you can't go back to school because of financial reasons. There is always the library where you can book learn yourself in practically any subject you can think of. If you need to update your computer skills.....learn metalworking...learn how to create a bullseye poster of your old boss to put in your new hay bale shooting range......

Don't loose your sense of humor through all this. It kept me going!

More Lotus

My theme running through my craft right now seems to be the lotus flower. Ever since I found out it represents people who had a hard time in life and have overcome it has been my symbolic mantra.

My daughter had a wonderful time sculpting the center flower that I decided to use the design for this bracelet. It is not an exact botanical replica of the flower, save for the pointed petals, so I named it Abstract Lotus.

I feel like the character played by Richard Dreyfus in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when he felt compelled to create the infamous "mashed potato" mountain over and over and over again. It was stuck in his brain by the aliens urging him to come to that particular spot for a mass visitation. Except I am being urged to create a bunch of lotuses!

Eggcellent

Working with Polymer clay has been a learning experience. Not everything works out as planned such as a bad combination of colors, or the technical engineering of the piece goes awry such as putting the holes in the wrong place for the attachments, forget to put enough bonding adhesive on the connections before baking, etc. So there is a growing bin of rejects that keeps on piling up.

But, even Thomas Edison who was successful with the light bulb had many previous failures and has these encouraging quotes:

1. "I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward."

2. "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work."

3. "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

4. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

So, I'm only human and I get discouraged from time to time. However, when one succeeds, it makes up for all the bad, headbanging, vodka downing moments when we just want to throw in the towel and just give up. And, I guess the sure fire way to failure is to do just that! So crafters, keep on plugging away at your inventions as you don't know how close you are to a winning moment!

Polymer Clay Junkie

I'm having loads of fun with my new artist medium...polymer clay. Its sort of like playing with Playdough, but you get to bake it to make jewelry out of it. Of course it will still stick to the furniture, get the cat hair all up in it, make an impression of your thumbprint you can take down to the FBI office so they can keep a record of you...etc.

This project just required me to do a little cutout craziness. It involved making a miniature landscape all out of clay, putting it on a base slab of clay and roll the cutout shapes into the form so it will stay put. It looks "cleaner" than trying to paint a landscape on there with regular paint. Plus my eyes would not bear the strain of painting a miniature.

I think that is why photo art pendants are all the rage right now as you get a perfect little image and plaster it on some polymer and everyone thinks you are Leonardo Davinci. Of course, I think there is nothing wrong with that. I am really not a photographer and don't have a line of my own vintage type photos, so I'm gonna try this cutout technique instead.