WITCH CRAFTS

WITCH CRAFTS

Monday, August 8, 2016

ART UNRAVELED

Hi All
Wow, it's been some time since my last post. Sorry about that -- I've been working full time at the Santa Fe Opera this summer, and it's taking all my time. No time for dolls!! But, the job will be over soon.

Anyway, I just came back from "Art Unraveled", an art conference in Phoenix, AZ this past weekend, where I took a class with Laura Mika. I've taken a class with Laurie a few years ago. Laurie does these fabulous mosaics using hand-made polymer clay tiles. (See Laurie's website here.)

In this class, we would be making a mosaic book cover for a tin book-box.

Laurie's technique is to stamp and paint into the polymer clay, then embellish the pieces by embedding jewels, beads, charms, stones, and any other "do-dads" that can be baked in an oven.

The book-box was small (this was a one-day class), measuring 5" x 6-1/2".



Here's my book cover:

As you can see, I went  a little crazy with the embellishments. That's a real skull of a mole in the center, with a small piece of jewelry attached to the top of it.

We were able to also make a "spine" for the box:

Some of us even had time to decorate the inside with paint, stamps, and paper.

I did a simple stamp on the the back of the box 

Here are some more views that show how dimensional the piece is (and, you can see the skull better):

Because I had so many layers of clay, my box turned out a bit heavy. 

It was a really fun class, and I was so happy to see Laurie again.

Here are some photos of what other people did in the class (sorry, some are blurred). Most people did a religious theme, as an antique bible with an embellished cover Laurie found on a trip to Jerusalem was the inspiration for the class:







Okay, gotta go. Lot's of work to do. And,........it's almost time for Halloween! What am I going to make for a decoration this year?????

Have fun,
Arley