Monday, December 28, 2009

What to do? What to do?











Here are some pictures of my latest face cane. As you can imagine it was quite tedious to make but I am really happy with the way it turned out. It only took about three weeks to finish. It took quite a lot of planning. As you may have guessed I used an extruder. Over and over and over and over...... The finished cane is 5.5 X 8 X 2 and weighs just under 4 pounds. Now I have to decide what to do next. I really want to take a slice off of it at its current size. Not an easy thing to do. Plus the more I take off of its height the less I have to work with and the harder it will be to reduce. So then I have to ask what I want the end result to be. I could reduce it and make jewelry out of it or leave it large, see how many slices I can get out of it and make wall art. Maybe both? Decision! Decisions! Of course there is no greater fear than to put that much work into a cane and either screw up the reduction or take the reduction too far and lose the effect or the details. I am also worried about the gaps between the mosaics. Of course I tried to eliminate them as much as possible but I know that there are gaps. Stay tuned to find out what I end up doing next.

29 comments:

  1. Oh my God!!! You are a real cane master!!! Incredible!!!

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  2. Absolutely stunning and incredible work. Love it!!!

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  3. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!
    C'est Fantastique!! une merveille!!
    BRAVOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

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  4. you are an amazing artist!!!!!!!! I adore everything that you make

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  5. You are a warrior queen to take such risks for your art. Re making use of the full-size cane, perhaps some of your mentors could advise whether you could paint on a layer of resin to help make a stabilized cane from which you could cut a full size slice to bake after the resin has dried. That's what my imagination suggests. I have no experience with it.

    Thanks for keeping us BRPCG folk advised of your new work. Hope you can make it up the mountain for our January meeting.

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  6. Wow! This is wonderful. I like it just as it is! I, too, would be afraid of losing the color effects in reduction. I can't wait to see what you do with it!

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  7. You've outdone yourself Julie! This cane is just fantastic! It reminds me a bit of an art quilt I saw online, the face was sewn entirely of clothing labels.

    Amazing!

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  8. So very cool!! Fantastic cane!! I can't wait to hear what you decide to do!

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  9. holy crap Julie, that is beyond frakkin amazing

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  10. I love it! You have far more patience than I!

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  11. Thank you so much for sharing your work with me- a mere mortal- please don't ever stop.

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  12. This is the most amazing cane I've ever seen. I am very anxious to see wht you do with it. It is just awesome! KUDOS!

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  13. spectacular!
    see you in laurel?
    say hi to the old gang
    cheryl m

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  14. What a fantastic way to end the year!
    Looking forward to phase 2 whatever it may be...

    gera

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  15. what beautiful work ! I don't find the words to say how much it's wonderful

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  16. This is the most stunning cane I´ve ever seen. What a great job and what effort you put in your work! Be very proud!!!

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  17. Wonderful work! What extruder did you use? I would bake the whole thing frame out the sides, put resin on both sides and have it be a hanging piece that can be admired from both sides. It's great the way it is!

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  18. Patti,
    I used the green Makins extruder. I also used an extruder clamp that I purchased when I was at Clay Carnival. I don't remember if it was Sue Kelsey's or Cathy Johnston who sold it. I'll take a pic and post info about it.

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  19. Julia I love your fantastic work! I also work with polymer clay, if possible I would like to ask you for help, however small on a job that I would like to experiment. My experience with polymer clay lasts for about 5 years, but I have not shown any of my work, no one in my part realizes the work that lies beneath, the time spent thinking, inventing, study, and develop a love this magnificent art of which I fell in love. I think, with the project I have in mind, if you will realize, will overcome myself. I want to decorate an electric guitar for a dear friend, I would like to create a mosaic in black and white on the back of the guitar, a mosaic that represents the face of jimi hendrix. I have already taken steps to reproduce the image in pixels version, and I'll have a short, study well and make the mixture of colors, made ​​of black and white and a few shades of gray. Once carried out the mixtures, with the extruder I would like to create a whole range of snakes, to be cooked, carve and arrange for color in different compartments, as to begin the processing, by mounting the mosaic, applying based on a tile after another , based on the design that I created earlier, you think it's a good idea? I am writing from a small village of 900 inhabitants, from Sardinia Island Italy! I sincerely hope in a response from a great artist like you! would be an honor! a big hug!!

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    1. Orsyminilab, I think that is a great idea.. Coming up with the design is a major part and it seems you have that done. I have been working a a new project that I will write about soon that is made up of cane slices to make a mosaic. I did not bake the slices before putting them together so that I could blend the seams better. You might consider doing this too. Although baking before does preserve the shape. Good luck with the project. If you have an email account send me a message by the link above and we can communicate by email. I would love to see how it turns out.

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