Well Poop!

Unicorn Poop to be precise!

 Its shiny its rainbowy and it even glows in the dark!

A friend has been after me for a while to make these. They are paper weights. I have got to tell you they take up way too much clay, and are a mess to make.

The big ones are weighted with 3 golf balls, the small one, just one. Based on her feed back, these were not what she was expecting. I think she was expecting the rainbow effect you get from piped cookies (just google unicorn poop cookies and see what I mean).

Im not sure if they are actually worth trying to make with fresh clay (I made these with old stales chunky stuff, thought it would represent the roughage in the unicorn's diet well). It was a LOT of clay. Kid 2 and I figured out there is 10 to 12 blocks of clay involved. Thats $25 to $35 dollars worth of clay, then the time involved. 

I might give it one more go for that rainbow swirl like the cookies, and stick with the smaller single ball-base poo shape.

The big project I've been working on

Well, its not exactly a craft project, but it is what has been keeping me away from crafting and making art to the extent that I would have liked to over the past few years.

I am pleased to announce that I have completed my Master's in Distance Education with focus on technology and globalization.

The e-portfolio can be found here
https://sites.google.com/a/lauramedeiros.com/mde-e-portfolio/

and my massive research paper on Massive Open Online Courses can be found here
https://sites.google.com/a/lauramedeiros.com/mde-e-portfolio/program-classes/omde-670-capstone-project


I've passed all my classes, and am relieved to be done with the work.

Painted glass gems and what to do with them

 

I have become obsessed recently with painting glass gems.
I posted about them back in March here: http://zoeowyn.blogspot.com/2013/03/glass-nail-polish-gems.html


Well what can you do with all of them?

All sorts of things

I have been playing with some wire wrapping. The first one I did is a classic swirling cab capture I learned from Dale "Cougar" Armstrong. I believe its in her book.

http://www.amazon.com/Wirework-Illustrated-Guide-Wire-Wrapping/dp/1596680881/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375979158&sr=8-2&keywords=dale+armstrong%2C+wire+wrapping

And if its not, its still a fantabulous book

Then there is this tutorial making the rounds on Pintrest and facebook (from http://www.beaducation.com/spiro) Clearly these are a steam-punk wrap. I need to work out the bail, but this is an easy wrap, and it captures the cab nicely.

I plan on integrating them into my polymer clay work, but in the mean time I have been playing with settings.

Playing with one of the eyes I made

While playing with epoxy sculpting clay I set some onto some basic findings, rings and one of those pieces with blank spots for you to put in your own gems

 




At the art store I was looking at some settings. The ceramic one needs to have the background painted in, as its a bit too big and the white shows (but its cute), the colored plastic frames are a bit too small, and the metal finding is great.

This made me think of the frame molds I have, they aren't going to work



And just because these are so cool looking I will leave you with this picture again

Embellish this!

the plain "before"

The other day while randomly shopping, I scored this cute bag on sale at Target. It was sort of steam-punky, and I've been looking for a new purse.

My last attempt to leave my current purse was too small, so I returned to the heavy tank of a purse my mom got me. Its shiny and black and Coach. I usually feel very "wrong" when the purse is worth more than anything inside of it. Plus its a heavy purse.

This messenger bag is a bit more "me."

The day I went to move into the bad I realized it needed something. It needed to be embellished, but I wasn't sure with what. Of course being steam-punk oriented I thought gears, then immediately chucked the gears and thought tentacles.

it was another few days before I managed to  add those tentacles. Also I decided to just go with a sharpie marker. They are fabric permanent, and its not like Im going to be washing this much, if at all.

the front of the bag

the side, I felt like drawing a jelly fish, I know not terribly steam punk, but fun none the less 

the back

Its been so long since I decorated a piece like this, I forgot how nice it is to customize your stuff. Just because you purchased it not with the intent to embellish, does not mean you can't embellish it and make it yours.