What? No photo?

Yup. Absolutely nothing to show for a whole weeks work! That's cos I've taken a week off claying. Every now and then I just get clayed out and need to stop. I've had a glorious week of being 'madam muck' carting mushroom compost to the vegie garden and planting new seeds and generally getting earthed! Now I'm all topped up I'm ready to hit the clay table...which is just as well as I have a tutorial to write for a magazine and have accumulated no less than 15 ideas of possible exhibition pieces during this week of hiatus. Amazing what happens when you just STOP for a while and let things seep up of their own accord. I'll post a pic as soon as I have something to show you!

Finished pieces

The advantage of teaching step by step is not only do the students see how it's done right there in front of them, you end up with some pieces yourself! Here are some pmc/polymer combo pieces and tile bracelets from the last couple of workshops that I just finished sanding and buffing...I'm really liking the mokume gane tile bracelets...

Thrown in at the deep end

Louisa (right) and Helen (left) have never clayed before so producing these pieces as a first effort is pretty awesome I reckon. We ran out of time to sand and polish the polymer parts of these pieces but armed with instructions and a quick demo and practice, their pieces will come up a treat. You should have seen their smiles when they left, they were pretty darned impressed with themselves and totally hooked on clay! Silver clay and polymer clay go so well together doncha think? Those delicious black to white skinner blended pieces are Louisa's pieces and Helens are the gorgeous bright tropical blended pieces. Well done ladies!

Singing more praises

While Hector and I clayed our hearts out, Curt created his own brand of art...culinary art! It's a joy to come out of the studio to delicious smells...in this case, the aroma of a garlic prawn rice dish one day, spicey indian rogan josh another, fabulous salads and finger foods for lunch, bacon and eggs for breaky. All very yum...and very much welcomed after a blitz of claying. Hectors friend John also joined us during our breaks, adding to the fun!

Hectors pieces

Thought you might want to have a gander at some of the work Hector produced during his stay here. He's been claying for less than a year and already produces the work of a pro! Some of these pieces haven't been sanded and polished yet but you sure can tell which ones have!

Hectors clay retreat

Meet Hector! He came for a two day 'free choice' clay retreat. Doncha LUV it when your claying guests choose to do some of your favorite techniques. Man, we had the best time! In a two day workshop, he learned about screen printing and how to make and assemble a curved tile bracelet, made a beautiful set beads and the most stunning pendant using the mokume gane technique with daisy bead inclusions, did my own version of faux glass (with gold foil) bead technique, practiced finishing techniques (sanding and buffing), learned how to make swirly beads using my more deliberate method (as opposed to using scrap clay) with striped canes, made some fabulous skinner blended canes (with stripes...inspired by Donna Kato) and rolled them into snaily pendants and other playful shapes (they have yet to be sanded but what a fab job he's done)...and in the last couple of hours we experimented with a technique out of Donna Katos new book which I can't stop raving about...making a laminate with liquid kato sauce and heat set Genisis paints, gold foil, stamping. Pity about the bubbling on one of the transfers eh! That's a lazertran inkjet decal which we wanted to 'test'...bad idea...it didn't work like we hoped. But he'll be able to save the rest of the thin flexible laminate for pendants and such, it's a 4inch square sheet. The fabulous thing about this flexible sheet method is that it wraps around curved surfaces...which broaden the possibilities tremendously ie inros, lampshades, votives, furniture, curved pendants (so much classier than flat doncha think?)...the list goes on I'm sure. Will definitely be experimenting further with all this.

Screen printed inros

Tried my hand at screen printing my inros and using Lazertran INKJET (the new one) transfer paper, works a treat but I did notice the corner of one of them come up a bit, will have to check 'Glass Attic' (thanks to Diana Black for this very comprehensive reference to anything polymer!) to find out whether I can put a sealer over the top. Still, I'm pretty pleased with the way these have worked out. I love the screen printed look.

Japanese inros

An inro is a wearable box and they're one of my all time favorite things to wear because they're not only gorgeous and useful but being made from polymer clay, they're also pretty light for something so substantial. The box part is about two inches high and 1.5 inches wide...(4.5cm x 3cm). My camera broke on the weekend so these have been taken with our very old but unbreakable Sony...tomorrow it's off to the store to buy a new cam and I'll replace this pic with one where you can actually see the lovely effect that inks and transfers and gold leaf wrapped with translucent clay create. Still not happy with the way the translucent is plaquing up. I'm using premo frost and never had a problem with it before. Maybe it's the moisture in the air...

Sheesh!

Does this ever happen to you? This has been a week of clay disasters. Everything I've touched has turned to sh*t! Admittedly, I'm experimenting this week...trying new transfer techniques and inros, playing around with inks for the first time...but you'de reckon that after about 30 hours there would be SOMEthing to show for it. But nope, nothing but failures. I have half a dozen pieces that are going into the dustbin...I don't think I've ever had so many distasters in one week! And since I normally show nothing but my best, how about a reality check here as I show you my failures. Here are two of them, the rest are already in the bin, flung with great aplomb! Lisa Pavelkas transfers all developed tons of bubbles after baking...how could that be when I was so careful not to trap air under them? My own experiments with liquid clay and Canon photo paper were much better but two of the inros cracked, I think it's because they were too thick because the other three I have half-made are thinner and didn't crack. Adding a sheet of translucent over the top of all my pieces seemed to dull everything...till I remembered reading a message on PCC about hitting it with a heat gun for a mo...and lo and behold, it all became clear in more ways than one!
So yes, I've learned a lot, what works and what doesn't... and hopefully the three remaining inros I have half completed will make it all worthwhile...but I'm rather taken back with the effort of it all. Maybe it's cos I have a cold and am feeling a bit despondent. Maybe it's cos after 30 hours work I have three half finished pieces to show for it and a very messy table (see pic). Maybe it's because I was hoping that this experience would encourage me to have a go at making handbags, something I've longed to do all these years. I mean, how hard can be? Bloody near impossible this week I tell ya! If anyone of you has any tips on making handbags, paleeeeease write me. I'm thinking small first off, a bit bigger than an inro. Oh to have Kathleen Dustin living just down the road! I could drop in and have a cuppa and walk away totally re-inspired! Instead, I just have to pick myself up and dust myself off...finish these three surviving inros before they mock me.....and keep at it. Sometimes it really is just about doing it and doing it till you get it right!

CCIP retreat

Meet Kylie! She and I got to spend a whole week together immersed in clay goodness:) What a fabulous time we had. This was the first CCIP retreat I've run and how lucky to have scored such a great guest. Not only that, she made the most marvelous pieces! It was also the first time I got to see how the new studio worked in action. I was pretty organised but immediately could see I needed more surface space! Other than that, it worked just fine. And so did the accommodation and food side. Curtis spoiled us with lovely food the whole week and Kylie reckons she wanted 'A Curtis' of her own to take home!

Leaf Lock Pendant

You'll notice that I worked out how to incorporate a slide show of pics in my blog, just not sure how to move it over the other side so if anyone who has one knows, could you tell me? Thanks!
Also discovered how to include titles in the messages......I'll be a computer nerd yet!
I made a leaf lock pendant today from a tutorial by the wonderful Jen Tattam (Metal Clay Aust and CCIP founder). It's one of the precious metal clay/polymer clay projects we're teaching through CCIP. It has a Linda Bernstein technique of reversed bevel holding the polymer leaf into place. Classy design eh!

oooo, this one turned out mighty fine. Been playing around with patinas. This PMC tube bead turned the most amazing rainbowy colour, dominately copper with touches of blue and green. The trick is to dip into liver of sulphur for a few seconds several times, each time dipping the bead a little less into the solution so that the colours varigate. So... some parts of the bead are subjected to more patina-ing (hehehe...um, what can I tell ya? I like to make up words),... the most time in the solution, the darker it is. I definitely want to explore this some more...

Used Makins air dry clay for a scrapbook cover. Felt like I was in primary school again! Fun! When I do this project again, I'll be sure to choose the brighter colours for the script writing down the bottom and possibly only use one colour for cutout hands near each letter A R T, it's a bit hard to read. If you click on it, you'll get a larger pic and you'll see this more clearly.

My first ever attempt at mosaic, easy when you have such great instructions (by the wonderful Lara LeReveur)! I've used Makins clay to make the tiles. I'm really beginning to like this clay now that I have a handle on how it behaves. Bakable polymer clay, air dry clay, ceramic clay, silver clay...they all have totally different properties and each needs it's own specialized treatment, each has it's own learning curve. Makins air dry clay excels in 'handle-ability' (yes, it's a word!). I much prefer using it to sculpt with than any of the bakable polymer clays. It 'tiled' up easily for this project too!

Well, we're home! All the boxes are unpacked, the carpets ripped out, rooms painted, windows cleaned. Still so much to do but now that we're finally comfortable in a clean house...I'm claying!

I'm new to sculpting really, only dabbled at it till now. But I need to hone my skills over the next few weeks because I'll be teaching some sculpture to clay retreat guests as part of the Contemporary Clay Instructors Program. We had to make an elf...and I'm just not an 'elf' kinda gal so mine became a hippy elf!

I must say I'm reeeeally impressed with the Makins clay I used for this project. Up till now I've been using super sculpey or modelene but this Makins clay beats those hands down. Much easier to use. No fingerprints. Ofcourse, if you're just practicing, it's a good idea to use the bake clays because they don't dry out, you can change things again and again...but once you have an idea what you're doing, this Makins clay is a breeze to sculpt with. His trousers are made from some lovely old marble dyed hippy skirt I had kept long past it's use by date because I like the fabric...add some paverpol...and it'll last forever!

Big open hearted thanks to those who have left comments on this blog. I've recently re-activated my blog and am learning more about them...although I still don't know how to respond to peoples comments yet...so let me thank you all here and now!...and tell you that your comments have been such a delight to me!
What I DID learn recently is how to add links of my favorite blogs. While I've tried to just stick to blog addresses, there are still those special people who are too damn busy to write a blog...so I've typed in their web site links instead. Those of you who haven't seen them will be in for a treat!...so be sure to check them out some time.
I'm moving house in two weeks....yes...again! We've loved living here in Byron Bay and our wonderful beach walks every morning...but living in the burbs just isn't our style. We have the need to get our hands into the earth again, have some room to roam around on, be with the trees again. And so, we've bought a place half an hours drive from here, in the hinterland of Mullumbimby. 5 acres with an old hippy house which will be a labour of love to fix up and a view to stop you still! I'll let you know when I'm ready to hold workshops...or just come for a cuppa and drink in the view. This is a place that must be shared....
p.s. That little white dot on the right hand horizon of the middle photo is the Byron Bay light house...

These beads are really popular and I keep forgetting to take pics before they sell. Not this time! Oh...you see all those little balls on them? If anyone knows of a tool that's like a miniture melon ball maker, please let me know. It'd save an awful lot of time! Never mind, I have such a lovely time making these...very theraputic...I go off into a dreamy space and they kind of make themselves....

I had to write tutorials for the Adult Community Education (ACE) workshop I'm holding next month in Mullumbimby, NSW. I'm really looking forward to teaching this class as it's my own 'take' on how wonderful these two materials, polymer and silver clay, go together.

A closer look...