day of the dead

It's that time again - time to vote for your favorite PCAGOE monthly challenge entry. This month, we made pieces for a Day of the Dead theme. I swore I would not make a skull, and then, what came out? A skull, of course. My entry is a piece of seasonal wall art in bright, hand-mixed colors of polymer clay. Every piece has been hand-rolled into "snakes" and placed carefully to make the skull shape. The gradiations of color in some of the swirls were made using a technique called the Skinner blend, which is a neat way to create a color gradient using polymer clay and a pasta rolling machine.


This guy measures about 7 inches high and 4.5 inches across. It's hanging out in my etsy shop at the moment, but I have to admit I'm tempted to keep it.

Here's a mosaic of all the entries. I think they look so cool as a group! It's interesting to note the expressions on almost all of the faces - we are obviously a happy guild.



Voting will be up at pcagoe.com no later than noon on October 1, and will stay open until midnight on October 3. Come vote for your favorite - everyone who votes will be entered to win one of two fabulous prize packs of handmade polymer clay goodies. Thanks for voting!

garden photo frame

I'm on a mission to use up all my leftover canework and start over. I have no good reason for this, other than mild OCD. This photo frame of craziness is part of the attempt.

the goose is getting fat

"Make gingerbread people ornaments" has been on my to-do list for a while. As usual, I had a few ideas in mind of how to go about this project, and the result is nothing like any of those ideas. These are made by hand-rolling "snakes" of polymer clay. They have buttons and faces on both sides and holes in their heads for hanging. Next I'd like to try scenting them and making a set of teeny tiny ones.

wow

I came across the etsy shop of elJan. Jan does amazing beadwork - my chin pretty much hit the floor when I saw it. The pictures speak for themselves, and I highly recommend visiting her shop to look at the closeups of these pieces! Wow!


Self Portrait.


She says she can do this to your guitar!


My Little Beaded Pony.

Even if you don't know anything about beading (which I don't) you can imagine the time and artistry required for pieces like these. I wonder how many tiny seed beads are on that pony!

Craft Show Display Setup

Craft Show Display Setup, originally uploaded by divadea.

This was my setup at the central PA Women's Music Festival this past weekend (9/20). Friends helped build the shutter accordian from some shutters people were throwing out. You can't really tell from the photo, but the whole deal was set up on an incline, which made it fairly challenging! My next show will be indoors and flat, which will make this a lot easier!