Fingers crossed for Heritage Day craft stall - EVENT CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

The weather forecast is not looking good for this event, next Saturday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will improve but a decision will be made on Friday and it will be cancelled if the weather is too bad.

A new idea - dot mosaics

I have been thinking for the last week or so about creating mosaics with round tiles of different sizes, which I would make from polymer clay. After all, my original reason for turning to polymer clay was so I could make my own mosaic tiles. Yesterday I discovered the ‘Percolator App’, which turns your photos into bubble mosaics. It is not a new app, as it came out several years ago, but it is a new discovery for me. It is fascinating, the way it makes beautiful mosaic designs with circles, I am sure I could use it as the basis for creating actual mosaics.

  

As the Percolator App only runs on Apple products, I have had to borrow my husband’s iPad, for my first experiment. The photo I used is of a cheap canvas print we had in our bedroom for a while; it has now been replaced with something else and the canvas has been sitting in my studio for a while. I thought I would use it as the base and create a polymer clay mosaic to go over it. Luckily I had not got round to it, as it is quite large measuring 70 cm x 50 cm (27.5 inches x 20 inches), so now it is perfect for my first trial for a large scale ‘dot’ mosaic.
 

Photo of flower print on canvas

 

My first go using the Percolator App

 

It may be a long time before I post the finished real mosaic; I may practice doing a couple of small scale ones first but I am really excited about this new idea.

Hollw form experiments - failed

After returning from the EurosSynergy Conference in Malta, I was excited to try creating a hollow sphere from polymer clay using a polystyrene ball as the form. Here is my first attempt.

 

To save wasting too much clay (if it didn’t work) I just covered about two thirds of the polystyrene ball and then baked it according to the directions. It was fascinating watching, through the glass oven door, the polystyrene ball slowly shrinking and at the end how small and compact the remaining polystyrene was.

 

 

I thought this was going to turn out well but at the very last few minutes of baking, the shape seemed to collapse a bit at the base, losing its spherical shape.

 

 

This was only a small sphere, creating a shape suitable to house an electric candle. I still want to be able to create larger spheres to use as lampshades for electric lamp bases. I am thinking that polymer clay is not structurally strong enough to support itself at the size I am thinking of, although I thought a sphere might be more self-supporting than other hollow shapes.

 

Next experiment – tissue papier mache base for polymer

I wondered if a few layers of tissue paper would still be translucent enough and strong enough to support a thin layer of polymer clay. So I covered a small inflated ball with several layers of tissue paper and glue ( I think I used PVA glue rather than wall paper paste but I can’t remember now). When it was totally dry, I pierced and removed the ball.

 

 

The papier mache shell was not very strong, it crushed with the slightest pressure from my fingers. I did not feel confident that it would support a layer of polymer clay and as I was rapidly running out of translucent clay, I did not want to waste it on another failed experiment.

I concluded that the only way to make the type of polymer clay lampshade that I have in mind is to find a glass shade to use as a permanent base. This might be difficult and I would require a whole lot more translucent polymer clay. Once again I think this idea will go on the back burner, for the time being.

The Great Art Sale 2014 at the Lake House

Tonight was the opening night of this annual event. I have three pieces in the sale, which runs until the end of August: Rainbow Cauldron, Coffee Time and "Life is like sailing" (clock).

Rainbow Cauldron

I have just about finished this sculpture, which contains over 900 hand rolled balls of polymer clay in the colours of the rainbow, hence the name 'Rainbow Cauldron'. It will be one of my three entries in the Great Art Sale at the Lake house Arts Centre in Takapuna. The sale runs from 31 July to 31 August 2014. Here are some photos taken from different angles:

Members and Students Exhibition at MAC

This evening was the opening night of this exhibition. Members were allowed to submit two pieces, so I entered my ‘Out of this World’ sculpture and a newly created wall-hanging titled ‘Colour Play’, pictured below, the later had been sold before I left.

 

Colour Play

 

I have also made some PINZ, in a circular design with the same colours, to coordinate with ‘Colour Play’. I like the idea of having small affordable pieces, reflecting the main exhibition piece, for sale in the gallery store. This will be my first public showing of PINZ by Claire, so I will be interested to see what reaction I get.

 

PINZ by Claire

 

PINZ designs ordered

Today I have ordered some small rubber stamps to be made, of my kiwiana designs that were first created for the Fashions Clips I was making previously. I will use these for creating the Souvenir PINZ. While I am waiting for these rubber stamps to arrive, I am busy making some Skinner Blend PINZ with circular designs to match the sculptural wall-hanging, Colour Play, I have just completed for the Members and Students Exhibition at Mairangi Art Centre. The hand in date is this Friday (18 July), although the exhibition does not run until 23 July – 16 August 2014. I hope the gallery will add some of these PINZ to my pendants and fashion clips that are in their sale cabinets during this exhibition.

Wedding PINZ for Micaela & Adam

We have been invited to a Wedding Ceremony this afternoon so this is the perfect opportunity for me to try out my idea for making a pair of personalised Wedding PINZ for the bride and groom.

 

I designed an entwined monogram of their first initials and using the toner copy method, transferred this on to pearl polymer clay, which I then set into bezels with a clutch pin attached to the back. After baking, I used magic Gloss resin to seal and create a domed surface finish, which nicely brought out the mica flakes in the pearl clay. I made one with a gold-plated bezel and pin and one with a silver-plated bezel and pin; this was to give choice and to distinguish between his and hers.

 

PINZ by Claire

For a while I have been thinking about reworking the Art-Brooches I made a few years ago but presenting them in a more modern way and calling them PINZ. They would be small wearable pieces of sculptural art, which I enjoy making, and it is a way to share my creativity with a wider audience, as people more readily buy jewellery and fashion accessories than a larger work of art or sculpture. I could almost create mini versions, to sell in gallery stores, where I have larger sculptural artworks on exhibition.

 

I think of ‘pin’ as the American term for ‘brooch’, however, the English Oxford Dictionary defines pin (in this sense) as a ‘small brooch or badge’, giving reference to a lapel pin. A pin sounds less old fashioned than a brooch and also means I can spell it with the ‘NZ’ ending, reinforcing that they are made in New Zealand. Back in November last year, when the idea came to me for making souvenir pins for tourists that were actually made in New Zealand, I was thinking of calling them ‘NZ-PINZ’ but have recently settled on ‘PINZ by Claire’. It is short and descriptive, encompassing the important facts: New Zealand made pins by me (not mass produced in a factory in China).

 

A clutch pin is easier for the wearer to fasten on clothing and only pierces with one hole, compared to the traditional bar pin brooch finding. Using the clutch pin fastening also means I can make them quite small and, due to the light weight of polymer clay, it is also possible to create pins of a larger size than the norm for a lapel type pin. This gives flexibility for creating various pin designs, especially as the design does not have to fit round hiding the bar pin finding.

 

I am aware that many people still prefer to wear a pendant rather than a pin/brooch, so I will include a free ‘PINZ Converter’ with each large pin sold. The pin can be fastened to the converter, which has a tube at the top to thread a chain or cord through, enabling it to be worn as a pendant. For the smaller pins, I am thinking of a surround mounting, in different colours, onto which the pin can be fastened and a chain or cord threaded through - these will be offered as an optional extra.

 

I am currently working on various designs and hope to have my first PINZ available for public reaction at the Labour Day Art & Craft Market at Mission Bay on Monday 27 October 2014. I will then seek suitable places through which to sell my PINZ, as well as trying online through www.felt.co.nz and possibly www.etsy.com.

I have been busy

I have not posted for a while but have been busy. Since returning from the conference in Malta, I have been working on some pieces for forthcoming exhibitions: Rainbow Cauldron (sculpture), Global Reflections (sculpture) and ‘Colour Play’ (a sculptural wall-hanging); pictures will be posted when they are complete.

 

This is the beginning of Rainbow Cauldron - the rainbow coloured bubbling balls are yet to be added: