Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Grand Mama What Big Eyes You Have































I never knew my maternal grandmother but I always loved this little pin that belonged to my mother. It was a picture of my grandmother when she was just a girl. I also always wondered why she didn't pass on her good looks and peaches and cream complexion to me. I decided I would try to do a cane of her. Like most of my canes it was not an easy thing. I have talked about my recent frustration with the inconsistency of clay. I happened on some Fimo classic on sale and bought up a bunch of cream colored clay. I liked the feel of it in the package but I wasn't sure how it would do mixed with my Kato. I did some preliminary testing and the color seemed to be OK after baking and it also took the higher Kato temperatures. I liked working with it. The clay was firm but would stick together when I wanted and yet I could pull it apart for "surgeries" that were required. Of course the big test will be when I try to reduce this "mother". (pun intended) I will let you know how it goes with the reduction.











I built the cane in six sections. You can see them all together as slices in the one photo. On previous mosaic canes my extruded pieces were made up of combinations of color. I decided to extrude individual colors to maintain the more muted palette of the pin. I don't think I quite captured her beauty but I hope she is looking down and appreciating the effort her granddaughter made.











Not sure of the market value of this cane but since I don't sell too often I guess it won't affect my pocketbook too much. Of course everyone in my family can expect something made out of it for Christmas whether they want it or not.











24 comments:

  1. Oh my..I won´t ask you how you did it, cause I can see and imagine..but dear Julie..the amount of time and patience you´ve put into making this magnificent cane makes me think you´re not human.Really, woman..YOU TAKE MY BREATH AWAY WITH YOUR WORK!!

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  2. Julie, this is such a special piece of work. It's beautiful.

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  3. Wow, another jaw-dropper from you! Portraits in canes...you are a master. This is a very special one.

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  4. What a pretty little grandmother you had! And the cane ain't bad, either!

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  5. This is amazing and a work of love. The likeness is incredible. Awesome cane!

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  6. Such a beautiful and special cane made with both love and amazing technical skill.

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  7. Julie,

    She is beautiful...and so is the cane!!!

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  8. Great job Julie!! Your grandmother was a beauty. Your canework is amazing.

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  9. This is truly awe inspiring. You have quite a lot of patience to execute a cane this detailed and it looks like the portrait!

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  10. Aww, Julie - this is magnificient! You rock...

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  11. Julie, every time I see something of yours I am completely in AWE of your talent!!! This is such a beautiful piece.

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  12. Julie, your work is always beautiful and enjoy your posts. Your grandmother will definitely be so very proud of you and your hard work. Thanks for sharing this.
    Hugs,
    Crazy Nancy

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  13. Your grandmother was a gorgeous young girl! What a huge effort to do this, I don't know how you have the patience. Your work is always over the top awesome!

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  14. Julie, love your face canes and this is just one more to add to that list. What is the pin made of? It reminds me of the porcelain portraits I used to paint on china. Excellent!

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  15. Julie, I'm still marveling at your amazing poker chips from Clay Carnival! It was a pleasure to meet you.
    Jacqueline

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  16. Amazing love it and what a good looking young woman ....
    NAT

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  17. Your Grandmother is honored by your work.

    I'm making gifts from a picture of my maternal grandmother for my cousins this year too. My poor family will have to live with transfers of my Grandmother's photo to pc!!!!

    Needless to say, I will NOT be showing them your incredible work!

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  18. Julie,

    You are amazing. Your grandmother has been immortalized.

    If I can make it to the next Clay Carnival, you get lei'd.

    With Aloha, Sarah

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  19. A labor of love, indeed.

    Your family is blessed to have such a talented and inspirational woman in their midst.

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  20. Julie,
    I thought I had commented but had not. Your cane work of your Grandmother is outstanding. I love it. You have excelled to the limit!

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  21. This looks very good as all your work! Do you use photoshop to pixelate images you're working on later with clay?

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  22. This cane is nothing short of amazing! Beautiful, too. I am dying to see how it turned out when reduced.
    Thanks for sharing it.

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  23. I don't understand why you don't sell your work - I'd certainly buy it!

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