Mandala inspired by the colors of Thailand

The November challenge for my etsy polymer clay guild is "Mandalas".  When I first started thinking of what to create, I thought of the colors of the mandalas I saw in the temples of Thailand.  Often you could see stunning stain glass mandalas behind statues of Buddha as in this photo I took during our trip.

In addition to the beautiful patterns, I was struck by all the bright colors.  I decided I wanted to use bright colors; those that reminded me of Thailand.  Orange for the monks was a given, teal for the lush jungle vegetation, yellow for the marigold wreaths you see everywhere,  purple for the color of Saturday, blue for the shimmering rivers, wasabi for the cuisine and just a touch of silver.

Next came my drawing.  With polymer clay I seem to have a need to get something on paper as a way of getting an idea to my "right brain".

My idea was to have open spaces in the pattern which would sit on a black base as a background.  I used liquid polymer clay to build the base.  I cured the clay in the largest Fat Daddio's circle cutter.

Now to start the build.  Again using a leaf/tear shape cutter I cut out eight leaves.  I used a circle cut from card stock to build on.  The uncured clay is held in place on the card stock with dabs of liquid polymer clay in the same color.

By this time the drawing is history, I just keep deciding on cutter shapes and colors and keep turing the mandala adding embellishment upon embellishment.  I have to admit, I kept avoiding the middle! Finally ready for the oven:

I noticed a few little details were off a bit, so I straightened those before it went in the oven to be cured.  I also made a pill box cover and retro cane from some of the leftovers.  I always like to take advantage of conditioned clay (one of my least favorite tasks).

When it was cured, I held it up to the light and I really like the way light shown through the open spaces.  I decided against using the black base which would block that look. 

Completed piece: Colors of Thailand Mandala approximately 7" in diameter.

But then: It started to come apart, so on the black background it went.  I always learn valuable lessons in these challenges. 

More colors of Thailand, photography by Betsy Strebe all rights reserved.

Fabulous Fall Browns contest

I am so honored to be selected for the "On Fire for Handmade" contest Fabulous Fall Browns.

Fabulous Fall Browns

A two-contest morning On FIre For Handmade Aurora Reds

Honored to be in two contests this morning.  Check out these fabulous reds

http://onfireforhandmade.com/aurora-red-great-finds/

And vote for your favorite.

pssst! this is mine :)

PCAGOE August challenge "Home Decor"

Winged creature is in the this months PCAGOE challenge "Home Decor".  Click on the link for a chance to win!

http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2014/07/august-challenge-home-decor.html

So proud to be included in the On Fire for Handmade list Home Decor

Decor for your Home curated by On Fire for Handmade on Etsy

Winged Creature night light

This was made for the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) August challenge "home decor".

I've been on a night light kick lately, having lots of fun with translucent polymer clay (liquid and solid) and alcohol inks.  So I knew I would make a night light. I made two for the challenge and this was the one I decided to enter in the challenge.

As always I started with a sketch.  I get these fun ideas and (at my age) if I don't jot them down RIGHT away they are gone forever.  So this sketch ended up in one of many trusted journals. To the right is the drawing on graph paper that will be used to make the pattern.

The graph paper gets glued to thick card stock to make a sturdy pattern.  Here are the pattern, pieces created and cut out.

Okay, now to dye the translucent clay.  This is the hardest thing for me, to wait for the alcohol to evaporate so I can blend the color into the clay.  Really, really hard.  Patience is not what I am know for :). Also you can see the start of cutting the "wings" sections.

The assembly begins with extruded jungle green (I do love that color!), for the framework.

After I added the jungle green body, head and antennae, the piece was cured.  Then it was time to build the backing.  The backing is clear translucent clay, and the purpose is to provide strength and a clean back look. I use poly bonder to combine the layers.

The finished product is a large 5" tall x 4 1/2" wide by 1 1/2" deep:

light on

light off

on from the side

view of the back 

Thank you so much for sharing my experience.  I would love to hear your comments.

So very honored to be selected for the Tropical Finds contest

Visit here to vote:  http://onfireforhandmade.com/tropical-delights-great-finds/

PCAGOE challenge for July - Mixed Media

The PCAGOE challenge for July is posted. Another fun group of work, vote and you will have the opportunity to win a gift certificate from one of the many sponsoring shops.

Click here to go to the challenge.

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): July Challenge "Mixed Media"

Carnival Mask

I love masks and tribal/totem designs so I decided to try my hand at a small mask in that style for this challenge. Materials include a cardboard mask base, acrylic paint, polymer clay, glitter glue and 20 gauge craft wire.  

Sketch of my idea, originally I thought I would extend the nose more and add three layers of "feathers" at the top.  Well that didn't happen.  It turned out to be very difficult to keep the shape of the polymer clay while curing, when it wasn't supported by the mask base.

Starting with a basic cardboard mask from the craft store, I painted it on both sides with Brass Pearl acrylic paint. I liked it already!

Starting the design.  I used wasabi, green pearl, black and purple to start.  The larger wasabi frame was made using a half-round template in the extruder. the others a smaller full-round.  I used liquid transclucent polymer clay to hold the pieces in place. You can see the template for the "feathers", of which only two layers were used.

First curing on fiberfill.  I decided, on the fly, to add the circles to the "feathers".  They were just too plain as large areas of solid color.  

Next I finished the nose design and added the ties. I covered the knots of the ties with circles of wasabi polymer clay. In the oven for the final cure.  

I found yellow and purple glitter glue in one of those sales bins at Michael's and thought it might be handy for something.  Well, this was it.  I used the yellow on the wasabi areas, and the purple on the purple.  Added some nice bling!

Lastly I made the antennae from 20 gauge craft wire.  The spiral came out too wonky so it went in the trash. I decided to use a polymer clay tear drop instead to cover the ends of the wires. 

The results.  This was a lot of fun, and I am encouraged to do more.  

The back, I always like to see the back.

Would love to hear your comments.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing my story.

Yippee! I won!

I am thrilled and extremely honored to have taken first place in both the public and member votes.  Everyone did such an incredible job, the bar keeps getting higher and higher.

Thanks to my PCAGOE team for helping me grow and challenge myself, and thanks to all of the voters.

http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2014/06/june-challenge-winners.html

 Next month is mixed media with at least 50% polymer clay.  Working on a piece now.  Fun!

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): June Challenge Art Deco-Art Nouveau

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): June Challenge Art Deco-Art Nouveau: About the challenge:   For June our members a stylistic theme: Art Deco/Art Nouveau. They could create anything inspired by the theme as ...

PCAGOE June challenge piece - Art Deco faux stained glass trinket box

If you like this piece, please visit my shop StrebeDesigns for a variety of polymer clay art pieces.

_____________________ 

Being an Art Deco junkie I was really excited about the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) challenge this month with the theme of Art Deco/Art Nouveau.  Since I started making my nightlights, I had a vision for a faux stained glass box for this challenge.

After doing a little research on art deco colors, I decided on the colors for the translucent "glass" sections by using the ink colors celery, eggplant, butterscotch and pebble.  For the circles I went with my own color scheme since I wanted splashes of bright colors: juniper, watermelon, sail boat blue, and more butterscotch ( a luscious color).

To make the circles, I first made the frames by putting extruded clay around cookie cutters and curing.  When cool enough, I filled the frames with liquid translucent pc and mixed with alcohol ink (I used a toothpick to mix). Then I gave it a bit of time to level out even (which it will do on its own) and then cure.

There is that luscious butterscotch!  Sometimes the liquid clay would ooze under the frame. If that happened, I simply trimmed the ooze with a razor blade after curing.  If you look closely at the blue one, you can see where it has been trimmed.  

Next I blended the translucent clay with the inks, so that I had plenty of each color. I also filled two extruders with black Premo! clay so I had plenty of material ready for framing.  Using some of my sketches as guidelines I cut out shapes and started with the four sides.  

Yes, I know, neat I am not.  

Unfortunately, I don't have any more photos of the construction process.  Frustration won out. The four sides took a loooong time, and I changed patterns over and over, sometimes even cutting out and replacing cured sections. 

When the four sides were completed I constructed and cured the bottom.  Again agonizing over pattern layout. Now I had four sides and a bottom, but nothing connected.  I had no idea what to do next, and could not find anything to use as a form to construct and support the box.  Very bad planning, extremely bad.  

I can't remember how many things I tried, but there were many that failed miserably as I couldn't keep the sides straight.  Finally my solution was to extrude large diameter, and large flat sections of black clay and use it as the binding material.  

The corners are held in place by round strips on the outside and flat strips on the inside.  The sides are held to the bottom by large round strips on both sides of the side.  All this had to be put in place using liquid clay to hold the uncured clay securely to the cured clay.  I was able to use a Fat Daddios square cutter inside the box to hold the sides upright while curing, wasn't a great fit but good enough. 

The results:

It is about 4" square and 2" high. 

A lot of hard knocks along the way, a lot of swearing, a little wine, but most importantly a lot of learning.  The nightlights seem like a walk in the park now!