Is It Spring Yet? II

I'm starting to work on some personal pieces out of clay again...here is where I'm starting!
I drew this sketch a few months as a hopeful Skirt! Magazine cover, but it never got off the ground. Looking through my sketchbook for ideas today I remembered how much I liked it.

My work is at Target!!

Hello everyone!
I was just so tickled to see my American Greetings Valentines cards for sale at Target this weekend! My very own endcap :~)
Glad I had my camera in the car!


I did the clay sculptures for these 18 cards last summer (usually when I say that I'm busy with work but not allowed to blog about it...this is what I'm doing!) This took about a month and a half to complete... whew!
Go out & support AG, and I'll keep my eyes open for St. Patty's Day stickers and cards...

Behind the Scenes!!

...under the scenes?

A little behind-the-scenes view per request! This sculpt isn't too thick. I've been trying to keep thickness in mind in case I'd like to frame the piece later on! I've made a few polymer clay pieces meant for framing that were actually...too thick to fit in the box frames available for ordering in the frame shop. :~/



Looks messy from up here! Here you can see where I've had to peel my 'Presstime' logo letters off the background (I had them glued down) to allow for a version with no letters. Thank you, Photoshop!


Here you'll see lots of white artists tape and foam core. I'm in love with artists tape!... it holds it's stick very well, but isn't so tacky it can't be repositioned easily. When I make paper sculpts like this one, I like to be able to move my individual elements all around before I commit to a final photo.
...more to blog soon, have a great Saturday!

Sign of the Times

Check out what just came for me in the mail!
I really like the way this cover illustration turned out... and it's so great to see it in print form on the magazine! Yay.


This is how the sculpt looked before I added the Presstime title. The sculpt was made basically to scale, so it was around 7" by 9" and the paper stood out about 1.5" in thickness.

Jewelry mode!

Hey everyone!
It's been quite a while, hasn't it? Well, I would like to get back to this whole "blogging' thing, starting right now!
Today some of my fabulous friends and I met at a coffee shop in West Ashley for some beading. It's so great to bounce ideas off creative people and to see their different projects and approach to the craft.


Here we are enjoying beads & chai lattes!


This is my mise en place.


Miss Fern's set-up. She re-purposes vintage and antique jewelry with a modern twist all her own! (...and she needs a website to show it all off...)


Miss Shannon's current project! She creates images to fit inside glass tiles, which she solders around into charms and pendants. Awesome stuff :~)


Here's me showing off my latest bracelet!





I think I'll check this art show out! Looks neat.
Thinking about gathering up/creating new framed polymer clay art to start showing around town myself....

Christmas Cookies 2008!

Hello everyone!
I hope you're enjoying the holidays! This weekend I hosted a First Annual Cookie Decorating Extravaganza with some of my girlfriends here in Charleston, and thought I'd share some pics.


Busy rolling out the dough!
I purchased 5 orders of raw sugar dough from a local bakery (The Cake Stand, and the dough was fabulous by the way!) so that way all we'd have to do was roll, bake and decorate.... leaving the tedious mixing to the pros. We only used 2/3 of the dough, so the rest is hiding out in my freezer until whoever's birthday is next.


This cactus cut-out is my favorite! Reminds me of New Mexico.


Shannon brought her cookie-spritzing machine and her amazing cream cheese & orange rind-flavored dough! Yum.


A messy messy table...


Some spritzed cookies all decked out.


So many cookies! ...some more anatomically-correct than others! (yikes, I'm sure all the wine was an influence on the sillyness...)
These were dipped in white and dark chocolate, which is the usual way I decorate. (My chocolate of choice is Merckens, but that was unavailable to me this time. I used a grocery store substitute, but the results weren't as good. If you're going the chocolate route, use Merckens only!)


Snowflake action.


These I decorated the day after my party. We had soo many cookies rolled and baked off, we were unable to get to them all! I wasn't happy with my chocolate, so I tried a different approach with these: icing. I think I agree with the reviewers here, this is the "Holy Grail" of icing recipes! Check it out: allrecipes.com
...although, I will admit, these are SO sugary, you feel that immediate JOLT of sugar in your bloodstream! Makes you only want to eat one, though :~)

Happy holidays.
~P.

Cut Paper Everywhere...

Long time no blog! Here goes.

I've been up the past few nights working on a paper sculpture for a magazine cover... not sure if I'm allowed to blog the final yet, but here are some tasty scraps hanging around my work desk! Enjoy :~)


A business man negative.


Some paper cutting utensils... sharp!


I've constructed a tiny paper "glue boat" for the Elmer's.


Jagged mountain cut-outs.


Here's part of the finished product. A road sign to indicate it's time to reduce your carbon footprint.


Merge, please!


Caution: Networking Ahead.


...and here's where I keep all my paper scraps I've collected through the years. I know it may look disorderly, but it's really not so bad. It's full of papers I've cut out of for several different projects, and papers that I think are way too pretty to ever touch!

I was lucky to be shopping at a World Market when they were stocking cases of this Bonny Doon wine: Domaine des Blagueurs Syrah Sirrah. It's label is decorated with one of my favorite Ralph Steadman illustrations!
(Yummy wine, too.) This artsy box was saved from the cardboard baler and has been admired for some time now ;~)

Hope you enjoyed my art mess before I clean it all up!