Mehndi

I love doing henna--or mehndi. There is something about drawing with the cone, creating the stylized patterns that are based in tradition. Creating variations.

Something about it that I can do for hours.

Its more that just the drawing portion.

There is something very soothing and sensory about the entire experience.

Maybe it is the essential oils mixed into the henna, the smell, maybe its the texture of the paste.

I can keep going even when my hand hurts. Actually I dont usually notice my hands or my back when Im doing henna--just after when I try to move again.

I can go for hours without doing anything but henna. And I do mean hours.

In an exercise to discover when am I in the "flow" of creativity, I wrote repeatedly that it occurs when Im playing with henna, more so than with clay, or drawing.

And its not about the drawing. I can draw, I practice henna style work with markers, not the same. The closest I have come is fabric paint. And this has resulted in a painted dresser, many purses, and now a pair of shorts. I am thinking about extending onto more clothing.

Im very excited, in a conversation with a dear friend she suggested that I do henna at a local small festival instead of vending my jewelry as I normally would. I decided to do that. And as soon as I did I got 2 more opportunities to "do" henna.

I haven't done henna at this level in a long time. I am looking forward to it very much.

Tomorrow is the first faire. If you are in Hendersonville TN, come by The New Earth Center I will set up at 11am and hang out henna-ing until.....

Cepholapod Coronet

My mermaid with the octopus crown made it in to the current (August 2009) issue of Polymer Cafe. It was killing me to not post images of her on the internet, since they say no previously published images, and posting it on flikr is "publishing".
Well here she is, this is another view from the magazine. I was trying to show off as many different textures on her as possible.
The challenge was for texture.
The face and arms are poceline, I did not make them, the rest of her is pretty much polymer clay using different sculpting techniques.

Paisleys and dots

Applying color theory to creating a colorful paisley and dot pendant.

This pendant takes approximately 1/4 of a standard sized block of polymer clay. Using a neutral color, condition and roll out a section of clay. Roll your section on the second or third to largest setting of your pasta machine. (The largest for my machine is a 7-I rolled my clay at 5).

Fold the clay over on itself and lightly press together--doubling the thickness, and removing any air bubbles.

Place a sandwich baggie smooth over the surface of the clay. Press into the clay, through the baggie, with a round cookie cutter-about 2 inches in diameter. The sandwich baggie makes a nice beveled edge to the cut shape.

Roll the remaining clay back thru the pasta machine, at the same setting. The remainder of the shapes will be cut from a single layer of the clay.

Using a small round Kemper punch cut out several small dots. Roll these into small balls. Using the small round punch, cut a hole into the top of the pendant base. Approximately 1/4 inch from the edge.

Using a small tear drop shape cookie cutter, cut 3 shapes. Use your fingers to gently curve the tear drops into paisleys.

Arrange the paisley shapes and dot balls in a pleasing arrangement. For smaller dots cut the  punched dots in half.

Place a hot set crystal on one of the larger dots as accent bling. Use the tip of a knitting needle to push accent dots into the centers of the clay dots, and along edges of shapes.

Use color theory principles to help select pigment powder colors. Apply colors loosely with soft brush. Do not inhale the pigment particles, cover your mouth and nose, and use in a well ventilated area.

Cure following the polymer clay brand's instructions. When cool brush off any excess pigment powders and coat with Varathane, or your polymerclay coating of choice to protect the mica pigment colors on your design.

Its creativity time!

Everyone has a time of day they are most creative. I tell you what mine is not mid-afternoon! Its nap time.
I seem to be most creative first thing in the morning. Its like my coffee, gets my brain working. I can't seem to dedicate a whole lot of time to this first creative endeavor. I do seem to sit down, knock something out, then get to my day-whatever that means. This first brain boost sometimes, but not very often, rolls into a mass creative spell. And the next thing I know its nap time (about 4 in the afternoon) and Im still in my jammies!

My other creative time is evening. I seem to do my best work then. I get started right around 6 PM and can work late into the night.
I think this is left over from when I was a freelance graphic designer, and my husband worked swing shift. I tended to not "go to work" until he did. And I would work until he came home.

The best work creative environment for me is evening, basically alone-or not interrupted and lots of adventure movies. 5th Element, XXX (with Vin Diesel), and Timeline are a few of my favorites to work to.

Those little things that get in the way...

Ok so the mess in my work space really isnt little. But it is getting in the way. I have way more supplies and ideas than I have places to work. And the whole time issue of not having time to complete something one it has been started, well thats another one of those things.
I need more space
I need more time
and I need someone to please come buy this stuff, I dont want to store it anymore!

the happy couple

the happy couple
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

I did it! My first wedding couple!
Charlene almost cried when I gave them to her the other night. It was so sweet. Im so glad she liked them. I stressed over these. They weren't any more difficult than the belly dancers, just there was that extra level of wedding stress.
Im on my way!

Turquoise fairy on pile of beads

turquoise fairy on pile of beads
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

My personal challenge this year is to finish what I have started. All of those projects I have thought worthy of starting, are they worthy of finishing? If they aren't Im not too sure what I will end up doing with them, possibly just seeing if I can sell them to someone else to finish--i seem to actually have success at doing that.
Of course that falls into me as catalyst.
I am. With out actually working too hard at it, I manage to get other people going.

This fairy or muse face was actually done as a quick sample. I mostly used scrap clay and what ever beads were out when I "slapped" her together. It wasn't until later that i noticed she matched a back of turquoise I got in New Mexico. At that point I knew she was going to be strung on those beads. Now that was over 1 year and a half ago.

I am very pleased with how she did end up turning out. And Im on a roll just finishing things. I have only one item left in the big things to finish box!!! Of course it feels like there are a million things in the box of little things to finish, but Im starting some place!

Polymer Polly Belly Dancer

Polymer Polly ta-da
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

Well this is my second dance figurine. There are some visible errors to me, but she is cute, and turned out pretty darn good.
I took her to my dance class this evening to show off. One of my students is getting married in a few weeks, she saw this and thought she was adorable, I asked if I could make her cake topper as her wedding gift--she was thrilled!

OMG
What have I done?

I mean yes, this is what i want to do, this is the direction I want to take my crafting work, I did it I made and took my big first step!

Dancing Diana and Polymer Polly were my test walks. Its now time to run!


Once the wedding topper is done, I will put them on etsy!

Its time to prepare for the holidays!

So were were at dinner the other night and the restaurant has a gift shop attached and...
I am amazed at all the Christmas and Halloeewn and Thanksgiving stuff already out. I mean it is only the first week of August.
Then again as a kid my crafty aunt always had X-mas gifts made, done and wrapped before September.
And now here I am thinking gee should I make some holoiday appropriate items?
Im not in a halloween mood and yet it probably is halloween product time.
And I should probably be thinking about X-mas products and presents as well.
Im not too good about this being ahead of the craft market for product, but I guess its time I did some preplanning.
I wonder what I should do?
I know I have a slew of Day-of-the-Dead items I want to make
and I should start planning out some potential Christmas craft classes, as well as make some ornaments.
I dont want to be the Christmas shop, as I am a die-hard 12 days of X-mas fan, and I dont like seeing all the lights go up before Thanksgiving. by the time the day comes around Im ready to be done, and Id rather be ready to get started, with the end party on twelfth night, but thats just me. Maybe a few Santa pins wont be too horrible.
Now as far as the halloween stuff....
I want my stuff to be seasonally appropriate, but not limited to the season
Valentines day is good for that, I mean hearts are good all the time, they dont have to be red and rosey to be a heart
ooh maybe I could that, holiday hearts...
ooh idea is a brewing.....

Interesting techniques in polymer clay

this piece is made from a carved mold
its by arzumusa.etsy.com




Its a carved egg, the exact hows I am rather clueless on, but it certainly is interesting from folkartfromtheheart.etsy.com



this looks like stained glass to me by CookiesCreations.etsy.com

School days school days la la la la la

Ack!
Summer is "over." We go to school on Friday.
Im temped to feel sad, of all the things we didn't really do, but it was so incredibly hot this year we would not have been able to do things anyway.
This is great, the kids wont be bored and I will have some serious crafting time!!
I think the first project has to be to clean up some. Currently my work area is a dumping ground, and Im working around the mess.
I really need my work surface back, sepecially since I want to do some BronzeClay, and I wont even purchase it until I have a work surface!

Sugar Skulls

Today was my last day for the annual cultural teachers training camp.
Last year I taught just cane dancing. This year I was way so happy to be asked to teach some visual art classes in addition to the belly dancing.
The teachers who take this training camp are all wide open and receptive to other cultures (ok one of the reasons they come). I wish more area teachers would come
I know the director would like for more teachers to come.
Its fun, its wonderful, its a load of in-service credits, something teachers really need!
This week I taught bark painting, and henna, and andikra cloth decorating.
Today’s class was decorating the sugar skulls. I used plaster in the molds, and they turned out so great.
One of the other dance instructors came in and she is Mexican. So she was telling us how her grandmother would make sugar skulls, and how they would go have a picnic at the grave sites. It was great. I felt a bit like a fraud (this was all me—she didn’t once do anything to make me feel that way). Here’s this woman who grew up in this culture taking my class, and I’m teaching it because I LOVE making decorated skulls, and I love the whole concept of honoring people from our past.
All the teachers had fun with today’s class. I think they had more fun with today’s class than any of the other ones because it taxed their artistic skills the least.

My First CAKE!!

Jonathans Sixth Birthday Party 001
Originally uploaded by Mat Culpepper

Well, actually I was about 8 or 9 when I made my FIRST cake, and I put in 3 to 4 cups of water instead of 3/4 of a cup!
This is my first "Ya know that fondant stuff is a lot like fimo, I bet I could do that" cake.
Yes I have been watching Ace of Cakes, yes I want to be like Duff, but a girl, with hair.
Here it is the lego Star Wars cake!.
Its based on the Lego Star Wars video game, apparently the reg lego block is the big points thingus, and when you are blow up you explode into blue and silver and gold coins.
The lego blocks are 6x6 cakes--6 of them, 4 in the green block, 2 in the red.
The "coins" are frosted DingDongs.
As soon as I get all the pics in one place, I will post a step by step of what we did (I has a partner in crime, shes the one who did the actual baking and picture taking!) in words and pictures.

Who wins? you or technique?

There are a few things about polymer clay I like. Well, ok a lot more than a few, but there are a few that I wonder about. There are so many things that can be done, do I really need to attempt and succeed in all of them? No.
Im a grown up, I now realize that I do not have to be good at everything, and just because its something that can be done with clay doesn't mean I have to be able to do it.
That doesnt mean there are some things that I don't try or wonder how do others get so good at it.
Case in point millfiore canes. Im not actually a huge fan. back in the day when it seemed like everyone was jumping on the cane wagon I was playing with faux ivory exclusively and figures.
Of course I didnt really consider the faux ivory a cane, since it wasn't an image running thru.
Well I gave making canes a try, the first cane I made was an ant. I made a huge cane of my tattoo (I still have about a foot of it). I made a few celtic knots, then I tried a face, or was it a flower, it was so-so at best. Nothing I fell in love with. And, so I went off and continued to make figures.
Well in the making of the figures the thought of sanding would occasionally pop up. Eeek sanding, grit, where the heck to I find 1500 grit any thing, and then a buffer? If it doesn't fit on my dremel forget about it.
Then I noticed something-Christie Friesen occasionally left visible finger prints, well if she could I can! I then passed on the sanding thing.
Well, until I went back into making canes. I tried to make a dragon, it failed miserably. I have lots and lots of scrap from the cane, so I decided that I would stick with knots. Celtic knot canes are pretty handy, and I can do them easily, and they always turn out ok, so I started making a few more. I really wanted my little knot slices to have that polished finish that is possible with out a varnish.
So....
grit...
fine grit...
brain storm!
finger nail files. I love the ones that have 4 different grits on them, I can polish just like Im buffing nails. I then use a buffing file to get the shine.
I finally got it figured out!
Now if I could only find the right polishing bits for the dremel it would go so much faster

oh and about the knots, I've tried another non knot, a celtic mermaid. Currently she is sitting in all her built up glory. she has taken several months to complete, and I will admit I am a tad intimidated to reduce her.
So who wins? me or the cane?

picture is slightly out of focus of a few of my Celtic knot canes

Time is an illusion

I wanna....
do this, do that, get this done, get that done, oh and take care of the family and occationally work (well not really on the work).
I have been exhausting some friends on a forum with how much I post that I do. Do I really do that much?
I decided to take a look at all I do, after all it doesnt feel like Im doing much to me: I work a few part time jobs, I sort of take care of my family (they help a lot with that), I manage to do some form of art on a daily basis, I read every day.
Yeah I guess it does seem like a lot of stuff to do, but its all little bits of stuff.I dont do things that get in the way. Frankly, I just dont have time for TV. And I have learned its not rude the do something with your hands if you are just hanging out and talking.
What does this have to do with art?
I thought I said this was an art related blog?
oh, wait. It is.
I multi task.
I keep project bags and baskets. I try when appropriate to bring something with and work on it. It may just be sketching, it may be working polymer clay, but Im doing something.
I hate "down time" when it could be productive time, like watching at swim class. I always have jewelry or clay or even canvases with me (Im just blocking them in-- no paint, not enought time).
I am constantly doing something crafty. There are no empty blocks of time, they can be filled with art.
Persistance is invloved.
Sometimes giving something up is involved. Whats sleep?
I think its safe to say some OCD is involved. Ok, a lot of OCD is involved.
So, if there is no down time how do I "read?"
Books on tape baby! (say that with an Austin Powers accent.)
Just finished some Douglas Adams stuff--yes its a repeat, but well worth it.
And the reason for the title of this post.