Life Is Like A Bowl Of Polymer

When I made the last face mosaic canes, I would cut the ends off and save them.  I was then left with a full size "slice" of the cane.  I always thought these were cool looking.  I liked that the ends were not even with each other.  I had ideas going through my head of ways of adding depth and making it more like a sculpture.  So when did I finally come up with my next idea?  Right in the middle of my last project.  I was working on the next project in my fairy tale line, beauty and the beast, when I came up with this idea to create a curved surface.  Not only do you have to step back from the piece but you have to be looking straight on to see the whole picture. This was even a larger leap of faith.  I was probably 1/3 to 1/2 done before I had convinced myself that the layout was working.  When I built my previous mosaic canes it was unbaked and I could replace some of the canes later (although it was not easy to do) if a section didn't look right.  I couldn't do that this time.  It was also harder to step back from it and see the face.  The curve was hard to prop up.  But I pressed onward and finished it with faith.   Of course since it is made of extruded canes the picture is the same on both sides.  It brought some new challenges in coming up with building the piece.  I think I still have to work on some issues for the next one.  I also think I will be going bigger next time.  This one is 9 inches round by 3.25 in depth.  The one drawback is that there is no cane to reduce to use for other items.  It is a one of a kind.  But I like it and hope you do to.

A Frame is Worth a Thousand Words?

Geeesh! It's been since May 1st since I posted. I better get on the stick or I will lose the multitudes (well... the 200 plus) who follow this blog.

I have to say I have been busy at least. I took a 16 day cruise which started in Rome, went around Spain and ended in France. Had a wonderful time and actually got inspired. (not hard to do) Here is a picture of a cathedral in Florence, Italy. I was inspired by the many layers/moldings. Not sure what the architectural term is. I thought that I would give them a try for some of my mosaic faces. I like the way they turned out. It took several steps to make them.

First I had to make some canes. Now I wanted them to be detailed but I knew I was going to reduce them down so it was a challenge deciding the right amount of detail so that all the work could still be seen at the tiny size. Of course some of it is lost but I think of it like my eyeballs in my faces, I know it's there and I convince myself it adds to the cane. I have some books on renaissance designs and borrowed from there for some of the designs. I need to add to my stash of canes if I keep this up.

I made each "frame" separately so that I could sand them before putting them together. I put them together (another baking) I added canes along the sides of last frame. (another baking)

Added the back (another baking) and then sanded again.

As I said I liked the way they turned out. They are a little thick and I may try to scale them down some more.

I have to go condition some clay for a face cane class I am giving my local guild this weekend.

Until next time.

Don't Worry. We'll Fix It In Post.

As I told you in my last post I was going to work on a Pop art face cane. After I drew the sketch the look on her face made me think she had a sad look. This got me to thinking about a swap that I had signed up for. I had thought about molding an Egyptian pharaoh type face that I would put canes on, Then I thought about the 20 masks that I had to make and I decided I would make this cane. (after all I'm Julie Eakes face caner!) I decided I would call it "Mask in the City".

Well the idea was that this was going to be easier. Laugh laugh! Now I've written about the new mush that they call Kato clay. I know my students have had problems with it and I have problems with it. The white I was using was very soft. I tried leeching it but you know that doesn't do it right either. I plowed on and made the cane. You can see a picture of the cane prior to being reduced. I thought it looked OK. Alright I know what you are thinking. "what were you thinking with those color choices for the curtains"? I'll admit I was using up some clay that I had leftover and I wasn't really happy with it. It had taken me days to build it and I just wanted it finished.

The next morning I reduced the cane. Now this was a rather tall and slender cane so expected it might be a little difficult to reduce. It seemed like it was going fine. I was beating my clay on the bathroom floor. All seemed to be coming along fine.

Then I cut it open to take a look. You can see the results in the second picture. The corner had disappeared, she had a big eye and I don't know what was up with the cityscape behind her. It looked like a nuclear plant behind her. Well that would explain the mutant big eye! There is no explanation for my color choices. Before I reduce my large canes I put scrap clay on the ends. The idea is that the scrap clay would end up being the distorted part and there would be more of the "good" cane. I decided to slice into the scrap clay. You can see in the picture that the softer (mostly white clay) side of the face bulged out faster into the scrap clay. This is why she looks like a big eyed mutant monster.

So much for easy slices for my mask swap. But fear not friends there is help for this cane. Fortunately it is a stylized version of a face. (although for some reason I kept thinking of Celine Dion when I was building it. Sorry Celine!) After reduction I had about 12 - 14 inches of cane. Didn't end up with anything close to that in usable cane. I cut off about a two inch segment and pushed in the smaller eye side. This made this side bigger. You can see in the picture how I did this. I then evened up the ends. It isn't perfect solution but by doing this I removed some of the excess clay in the darker half (the side with less white and therefore stiffer clay). Now I knew that there would be more tweaking necessary of each slice. So long easy swap idea. Fortunately with my handy dandy slicer I was able to make thins slices. For each of these I put onto a backing of black clay. I could then "tweak" the cane some more. Mostly around the eyes. Once I got her looking fairly normal I baked her face down. I knew that there would be an uneven back and I wanted the face part to be as flat as possible. Again I knew that now I would have to sand each piece. UGH! (**&%#$ Kato clay)

I finally got twenty slices looking "OK" so I can continue with my swap. Since I ended up chopping off most of the cityscape I have renamed her "mask of a lonely woman". I hope my swappees are alright with it. Still have some sanding to do. UGH! (#$%^& Kato!) I just wanted to share my frustrations and my attempts at corrections with you.

Take care.

Here She Is!

Somebody got it right. My latest cane is of Botticelli's Venus. You can tell that she is a favorite of mine. I had previously done a cane of her as shown in the second picture. For the mosaic version I opted to make it in the 6 segments which allowed me to take a couple of slices off before I joined the pieces prior to reduction. I cut off the end as I had done on the da Vinci cane. Because I built it in pieces I was not totally happy with the way the pieces looked when I put them together. You can sort of see where the segments were joined. I will try to remember to post a picture of this at some time. I am happy to report that the reduction went well. I was a little worried because some of my Kato clay of late has been a bit mushy. I don't know why the companies can't come up with a consistent product. I really think I am going to have to give fimo classic a try. I am trying to get a few finished pieces with this new cane to take with me to Cabin Fever Clay Festival where I am teaching next Saturday.

parts 3 and 4

OK Here are the next two parts. Can you tell what it is yet? I'll be posting the final two parts soon. I am actually going to try to do the reduction tomorrow.

Oops!

Well I am 1/6th of the way thru with my next mosaic. Can you tell what it is? I have worked two weeks on it and this is what I have to show for it. Look back at my earlier post about a "leap of faith". I am tackling this cane in a different way. Instead of making the whole thing which will be too large for the slicer I have decided to build it in 6 segments. I can then take slices off of each segment before I put them together. Keep watching here for further segments to see if you can see her face take shape.

I have learned that there are times when the exact color of the selected extruded piece isn't that critical but there are times that it is. I decided that there were a couple of pieces that I didn't like but it was about 4 rows back in the cane. Fortunately I was able to pull it apart and replace the few extruded pieces with better ones. Hey, it's why I make the big bucks. (Insert alphabet code here like LOL or :) or OMGTFFW (OK I made that one up))

Christmas Gift Ideas

So Thanksgiving is over. Anyone feeling overstuffed? It was a quiet one for me, just my son and husband. Did our traditional big meal and then fell asleep to "A Christmas Carol". Life is good!

Now it's on to the important stuff - Christmas shopping! Now if you are pressed for ideas or hints to give your significant other, let me help you. Why not ask for a "Face Cane Class" taught by yours truly. What a magnificent idea you say! Tell me more. Well there are two opportunities coming up in the near future to do just that. I will be teaching a two day Face Cane workshop in Texas on Jan 15 and 16, 2011. This is being hosted by the North Texas Polymer Clay Guild. This will be two fun filled and jam packed days where we will build a complete face cane. See the picture above. I really like these black and white graphic canes. You can easily add color punch with a border around or leave them plain when making your pendants and other jewelry. If you are interested in this class )and I think there are still a few spots left) contact Babette Cox at Babette@BabetteCox.com Here is a web page that tells more about it.

If you are on the East Coast I will be teaching a one day face cane class as part of Cabin Fever Clay Fest in Maryland on Feb 19. Come join me along with other polymer artists such as Judith Skinner, Jeff Dever, Sarah Shriver and more. (I just love having my name associated with such great artists) In this class we will building a cane with just the features of a woman. I have been to Cabin Fever many times as a student and it is very well run. To hear more go here.

These classes are not made for the beginning clayer, But if you have been claying awhile and you want to take your caning to the next level (and have one Hell of a good time) then ask your Hubby to give you a class with Julie Eakes for Christmas this year!

Mosaic in progress

Everyone has been so nice with the comments about my latest cane. I thought I'd share this picture with you. It's not the greatest photo but you can see the scale of the cane a little better. The piece in the chair is the "dimensional" slice that I made with each row as I completed it. You can see the actual cane on the table to the right of the chair. When you see it in person it is much harder to see the image of the face up close but when you step back from it there it is.

Thanks again for all the nice words.

Success!

Here is the reduced cane. The cane originally was about 7 by 8 inches. With less than 2 inches in depth. The slice on the right is about 2 inches high. I am happy. (I guess I have to go back to unpacking now!) Of course my next obstacle is slicing the booger. I am going to see a friend who has come up with a new slicer. I am going to bring some of my cane in hopes that she needs one to demo on. I'll let you know how it goes.

A Leap of Faith - DaVinci Mosaic

Here is my latest mosaic cane. I am very pleased with the way she came out. I went with a more artistic interpretation with my use of colors. When I was building this cane I had to take a leap of faith that it was coming out right. At first when you just have a few lines it is hard to see the face. I remember when I had about 1/4 of the cane finished I had it sitting on my work table. When I came back to work on it and I turned on the light, from across the room I could see the face clearly. Of course up close it was difficult to see. Fortunately I had faith and kept working. As I said I am very pleased with the way she turned out. Since I had so much trouble with my last mosaic with taking a slice of the full size cane that this time I decided to save it by cutting off each line as I built it and saving it onto a sheet of clay. This resulted in a mosaic made up of uneven bits and pieces. I have included some pictures of this. One you can see from the end how uneven it is. Again from across the room the face is visible. I like the way the pieces are uneven. I hope you do too. I will try to reduce the cane tomorrow. Wish me luck.

My class is up!

My class at craftedu.com is up and ready for purchase. Yea!! Like everything in life it took longer than I thought. It was bad enough having my fingernail nubs in it but recording my voice was like fingernails on a blackboard. (If I had fingernails that is!) What is it about hearing your own voice that is just not right? I tried hard to stay away from what I call a preachers cadence. You know what I mean. When preachers get that dah, dah, dah daaaaah cadence. Of course I did leave a little Eakes humor in there. I didn't want to make it too dry. As I said Donna suggested I make it a for pay class. It's only $25 and I think you get your money's worth out of it. There are some other great classes at craftedu.com so AFTER you have taken my class you should give them a try. I hope to get some more complex caning classes up there soon. I am going to take a break from claying for others and clay for me for a change. The book is in the mail, my first class is done and I am heading for a retreat next week. Let's have another Yea!! I am so looking forward to it. I need to get my car in for service before I leave so I thought I'd clean it out. Pathetically I found the directions to the retreat in the backseat. (left over in there since I went LAST YEAR) Let me expound on my favorite saying and say "a clean car is a sign of a life misspent!

Some good news. My Maasai Woman piece pictured here has been selected as a finalist for the "Polymer Revolution" Gallery Exhibit at the Lexington Arts and Craft Gallery. It will be on display June 15-27. This is a new thing for me and I have to thank Libby Mills for encourageing me to submit an entry.

Now for the bad news. The house we were going to buy didn't appraise so the deal has fallen through. No new craft room just yet. Oh well life goes on.

What I Did! OOHHH! What I Did!

OK. So I was having a great week. I was playing great tennis (for me) on Monday. Something that hasn't happened for awhile. I finished my mosaic cane and I liked they was she came out. I took pictures and posted to my blog. I was getting great feedback. (thanks for all the nice comments) I got an email that they were going to be putting me up on Polymer Clay Daily. I was thrilled. I'll admit it - I am a media whore. I love the attention. I am the "Bubble Boy" of polymer clay. I check my stat counter several times a day to see how many people have visited my site. My head swells so much I have to duck walking into rooms. I know I am the "next big thing in polymer clay". I think to myself "people will spend hundreds of dollars (well make that tens of dollars) to see me do a video. INSERT LIGHT BULB HERE! A brilliant idea. People love my blog. I'll add a video of me taking a slice off my mosaic cane.
So now I have this great idea just how am I going to take a slice of this mother of a cane. I am not very good at slicing canes. Most of the time it doesn't matter for what I am doing. When I am using some of my face cane slices I usually cut fairly thick slices because I have to do some tweaking to the cane. You know - pull up a droopy mouth or eyebrow. Fill in a gap etc. So I know I am going to have to take a thick slice off my mosaic cane. Too often in times past I have tried to get more use out of my canes by slicing thin. Well as I said I am not a great cane slicer and very often I end up screwing up the "thin" slice and wasting more of the cane. So I have this cane that is approx 5 X 8 X 2 inches. The first thing I did was add a layer of translucent around the entire cane. One reason is so that I can take a thicker slice and not use as much of the actual cane. Later I found a better reason and that was the all the little extruded pieces wanted to fall apart and I was glad that I had a layer of translucent to help hold them together. But I get ahead of myself.
I decide I need to make some sort of contraption to help me take this slice. I take a trip to Hobby Lobby to see what I can find there. I purchase some foam core, wood slats, and an acrylic ruler. My brilliant plan is to cut out the shape of my cane into the foam core. I can make several of these and stack them up to help support the cane while I slice. Picture in your mind a several picture frames stacked up with the cane in the middle. Then I used the wood slats on either side of the cane to get to the right height for slicing and offering support for my blade. Ah the blade. Here was the first problem with my plan. My cane is over 5 inches wide and so is my blade. There just wasn't enough blade to hold on to. I thought it over. I could try to reduce the cane just a little or add handles to the blade. (of course option 3 would have been to search for a longer blade but I didn't even know if any existed and besides I was on a roll. You know I was "the next best thing in polymer clay" the world couldn't wait.) Now when I reduce a cane I add a lot of scrap clay and beat the heck out of it. There is always more waste each time you stop to take a slice and then restart the reduction. Now since I have decided that I was going to reduce the cane (how much still isn't decided) I really didn't want to start and stop just for one slice. Besides I was TNBTIPC. (think about it it will come to you!) So I decide to bake on some handles to hold the blade.
Now I have the holes cut out of the foam. I have the wood pieces in place. Lastly I put an acrylic ruler on either side of the cane so that my blade will slide easily across the ruler to make this precise slice. I have the whole thing clamped down. I am ready to go! Since I am TNBTIPC I get my camera ready to record the "slicing event". INSERT DRUM ROLL HERE!
Well as for what happened next...let's just say you don't see a video posted do ya? Oh I set it up and recorded TNBTIPC describing my slicing contraption. I even move everything into the spare bedroom so that the video won't show my trashy work room in the background. I put the camera on a tripod and get ready to make history. I start to make the first incision. Incision? Ha? I laugh at the comparison to a surgical procedure. I have to start and stop the video several times while I make adjustments. Taking out some wood pieces adding back foam core pieces. Well it was not going well! I decide to turn off the camera. (maybe I was getting nervous) So I start to make the slice and I am finally making some headway. So I decide to turn the camera back on. Big mistake. Since I had stopped the slice the blade was stuck in mid-slice and I didn't have that "free flow" of the blade. I don't know how to describe it but if you have ever sliced canes you should know what I am talking about. Oh yes and I should mention my brilliant idea of the handles...not so much! There just wasn't enough of the blade to hold on to and they kept falling off. At this point the camera gets shut off for good and what can only be described as a hatchet job ensues. Cleaner cuts were made on "The Texas Chain Massacre". The blade bent. There were gouges made. The term "uniform slice" never was spoken. The extruded slices were coming apart. As I said earlier this is where I was glad I had put a layer of translucent on first because it helped hold the hatchet job together. When it was over I had a slice of my three weeks to build mosaic cane. It varied in thickness from about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch. And I am not talking about a gradual increase in size. There were hills and valleys and gouges galore. I took a deep breath and very carefully proceeded to take small slices off the main slice and using them back on the remaining cane to fill up holes. By the time I was done I finally had my slice (albeit a honking big slice) and a cane that was about 1 1/2 inches thick. This is not a lot to work with but I am going to try to reduce that. I have it there waiting for me but I wanted to get this posted first just in case it comes out even worse. I think I am more nervous about this reduction than I have ever been.
OK so this is the end of my ramblings. If you are still reading I thank you for sticking by me. I guess I am not TNBTIPC but just someone learning and sharing what I know about polymer clay.

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.

Maasai Woman - part 1

Here is a picture of my Maasai woman's face. I usually do the more detailed parts large then reduce it. I am pleased with the way she came out. It wasn't until I was looking at the photos that I took that I realized that her nostril needs to be lowered but this should be something I can fix later. I have to admit I have become pretty good and fixing my canes whether its with some surgery into the cane or just by manipulating the slices. This is only part 1 because I plan on finishing her head and my end result (if the face reduces OK) she will have a baby on her back. When we stopped at the Maasai village when we were in Africa I was struck by their beauty. I hope to incorporate some of their bead work into my design. At this point I don''t know if I will do this by caning or with actual beads. Who knows I may do both. Also the Maasai clothing just screams to be caned. The beautiful red plaids and stripes are a stark contrast to the earth tones of Africa. Actually they wear red to keep the lions away.

This has been a challenge for me because of the skin tones but I like it and I hope you do too. I let my canes rest overnight and I will reduce her tomorrow.

Face Pendants

For those who know me you know it's rare when I actually finish something. Well I actually finished something! Several somethings! This Sat I am going to Asheville NC for one of our guild's twice yearly clay "play days". We have a silent auction where members bring in pieces for the auction to help raise money for our guild. I decided that I should make a couple of face pendant pieces to donate. (Along with one of my Obama pins) Here is what I have made. You can see pictures of my "Gibson Girl" cane below. The other face (with the hat) is one I made during my face cane class in Albuquerque. The last was made with my DaVinci cane. Since I used some surface treatments (gold and silver leaf) I needed to seal the pieces. I used two methods. Some I did with liquid Kato and a heat gun. The darker Gibson Girl and DaVinci pieces I used Lisa Pavelka's magic gloss. This was the first time that I have used this product and I have to say that I have high hopes for the product and I do like the look and feel of the gloss. I think liquid Kato has a bit of a rubbery feel that I don't like but at least I have finally learned how to get it clear by using a heat gun. The Magic Gloss I purchased while at Cabin Fever. It has to be exposed to UV light. I used good old sun light. It worked as far as hardening. Applying it wasn't as easy as I liked. The product wants to "dome up" and therefore pulls away from the side or creates what I call islands of gloss. If you keep adding the stuff you can finally get it covered except for the sides. It's not cheap so I tried to use as little as possible. The instructions say you can add multiple coats but I found it hard to get it smooth without putting another full thick coat. As the instructions say you can sand it which is good. It also said you could re bake the piece. When I did this you can see how much it darkened. I think this was because I baked it at 325 degrees which is what I bake my Kato pieces at. As I said I do like it but I have to learn how to work with it. I guess that's enough rambling about Magic Gloss. If anyone reading this has any advice on using it please let me know.

Face Cane Class

Well folks I have been a bit negligent on my posts to my blog. Sorry about that. I will get some pics up from my creations that I made at Cabin Fever but I wanted to show you my latest face cane. I will be teaching a class in Albuquerque at the end of this month. I wanted to show my students some diversity in the face cane we are making. During class we will be building a lady with a hat. Ever since watching Donna Kato's video which included how to do Ikat canes I was curious if that would work on hair for my face canes. So far I am pleased with how it came out. It may lose all definition after reduction but I won't be reducing this cane until I get to Albuquerque. Since the cane has to rest I knew we wouldn't get to this point with our class but I wanted a finished cane so I could show them how I reduce my canes. In the past I have made triangles out of my canes to reduce the Jana method but I had success with Obama as a rectangle so I am going to try it again. Now I am trying to get some printed instructions for the class and then I have to prepare my own clay for the class. This teaching a class stuff is a lot of work. My hat is off to those who do this all the time. I bought myself a birthday present yesterday - a Blackberry Storm. If I can figure out how to use it I hope to post pic to my blog from class. Until later - Happy Claying!

One armed bandit cane

This is my new project that I am working on that I call "one armed bandit" cane. Alright y'all are thinking Where's the face cane? Well I had shoulder surgery on Dec 2nd and have had my arm in a sling since then which really cuts down on your claying. Well I made this little sketch of a complex cane just for something to do and then I figured out I could do some skinner blends and Ikat canes with the use of my one arm and my trusty motor. I will post some pics of my canes later that I plan on using as components of this massive cane. I hope you enjoy the process of seeing it come together in later posts. Until then Happy New Year.

In the Beginning...

Well I finally have my blog up and I beat my Jan 1st resolution date. I will use this blog to keep those interested in my polymer clay work up to date with my latest work, interests, classes and anything else clay related.

First a little about me. I have been doing polymer clay work for several years but I guess I am most "known" for my face canes. I did my first face about a year ago and you can find a picture of it at the top of this page. Now you may ask yourself "where's the other half?" Well as I said it was my FIRST face cane. If you put her all together she was quite wacky. Not a bad first try and half looks pretty good. I have learned a few things since then enough in fact that people actually want me to teach a class. So thanks to my new friend Annie Hooten I will be doing just that in Mar of 2009 in Albuquerque, NM. If you'd like more information about the workshop email me or Annie. I will be telling you more about the workshop in later posts. I will also be telling you about any current projects that I am working on. Above is a picture of a more current face cane like the one we will be creating at my workshop.