my things a ring of pure green

a ring of pure green
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

I wrapped this weeks RAW and THaW projects up into one. Oh, and yes its from a jewelry magazine "how to."

The how-to was Belle Amoire Jewelry Dec/ Jan 2010 "Ring Creatures by Orna Willis.

It was fun, and a tad more obnoxious than the magazine directions.

Lessons learned:
mostly skill practice
making jewelry is my happy place
clustering the bead groups then placing onto the ring loops seems to help maintain that full look

So far I like doing this. This practicing projects out of magazines, this making sure I will make artistic jewelry every week, this making and building my ring skills.

The Hat

I have been mildly obsessed with the Mad Hatter's hat from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Im not exactly certain why. I have also been fascinated with the mini victorian style top hats, and how they really work in Steampunk fashion.

So where did it all start? Well I am a fan of Tim Burton's movies. Simple, easy, to the point. I admire Johnny Depp as an actor, no he's not hard to look at but I actually do not have a movie star crush on him.
And well, I believe Tim owes me some royalty fees for using my hair. Oh yeah, thats my hair alright, down to the color.

And well if its my hair, then its a natural to think I should be that Mad Hatter for some costuming event (no I don't have a specific event). But Im not a boy, and I don't want to dress as a boy; no I want to do a girlie version. So naturally the feminine mini hat seemed like a "oh why not." Gives me something else to try to make.

I am soooo not a hat maker, I have tried, and I understand why they cost what they cost. But I still wanted to make that hat. Out of clay! So I have been working out in my head for just over a month how to construct a hat in polymer clay. I have 3 designs I want to try out. Will I make more after that? Don't really know, lets see how these 3 go first.

I finally was able to spend some quality time working on the hat. I made my pattern, modified it a bit and remade the pattern. Then I cut the pattern out of screen door mesh. Then I cut it out of clay. The assembly required some curing of bits before assembly, and super glue to help. Along with some strategically placed wads of paper for curing support.

So far I have 5 curing rounds, I have a few tweaks to do so there is at least one more cure. The hat as pictured is not quite finished, there are some details that need to be finished, like the hat pins across the front, and the tag needs the 10/6 written on it. its "lined" in orange, because I wasn't sure I was going to actually do this hat at the time, but I like it. I'm pleased with how it has turned out. I will finish it up in the next day or two, and do a trial run on actually wearing it; its heavier than I had originally thought it would be, so I am thinking I should try out the featherlight sculpy product--that stays light even after curing--for some base construction.

The pictures: in progress, you can see the mesh; assorted views

Discussing Steampunk

Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

I will be discussing Steampunk with Mitzi on Bead Java Saturday August 15, 9 pm central. On Blogtalkradio

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Bead-Java/2009/08/16/Bead-Java-Your-Hot-Forum-For-Hand-Crafted-Jewelry

I like this idea!

this is a component clay cane.
As in its ment to be used as part of some thing, its an enhancement instead of the star.
Most canes I see for sale are the star.
Whenever I think about selling canes they are stars. --I dont mean a literal star I mean the focal piece.
Good idea!
this is by Valleycreations.etsy.com

And its currently on sale

PCAGOE monthly challenge

spiderwick face
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

"Its Show Time"
This months challenge was based on TV or Movies we love.
This months challenge for me was time and space related.
I have entirely too many movies that I LOVE I couldn't think of anything that I could do in a timely fashion. I kept thinking what what what.
ideas that surfaced included Highlander, 1001 Arabian Nights, 300, The Mummy, Eragon. All the ideas that stemmed from these were all very time consuming.
My art table is currently in a state of disaster, and the floor space leading up to it is also a bit of a mine field. How was I even going to find the space to work, let alone the time to clean to get to the work surface.
The deadline ticked closer. This morning a post said midnight tonight.
I thought ooohhhh, I've participated every month since joining Id hate to miss, but I have no ideas.
Well the kids are listening to Arthur and the Invisibles, the little boy actor is the same kid in Spiderwick.
and I love those flower fairies in Spiderwick. I thought gee I can't make one of those and have it do them justice. Then I realized this isn't about copying something from a movie, its about being inspired.
I just happened to have bright yellow, pink and spring green in the top of my clay bag.
I decided to make a flower fairy inspired by the movie Spiderwick in my style of my muse pieces.
I will have this flower face up on etsy very soon, if not by the time you have read this.

Spiderwick face on etsy

PCAGOE monthly challenge, Voting starts August 1

Im not allowed to work alone

dragbox
Originally uploaded by Zoeowyn

Ever.
Whenever I start to "work" in clay it becomes a family affair. I have even gone as far as getting the kids their own clay supplies, since they usually want the ones I am currently using! I have a "clay bag" that is free access clay. They are encouraged to use their personal supplies first, but inevitably they NEED the color I am using, so they can get it from the clay bag.
If they don't want to do any work they have to sit in my lap. I work with sharp knives so they have learned to sit next to me, unfortunately they still lean on me, fortunately they love me, and want to be with be, and think its really cool that I make stuff with clay and they get to use mommy's tools (but not the really sharp blades).