CreativeCritters Blog

Saturday, May 19, 2012

My entries in the Smooshers May Flowers Challenge

The theme for the next Polymer Clay Smooshers guild Challenge is May Flowers, and I was able to come up with two pretty awesome entries. I had decided to make a floral trinket box first, since I've been having a lot of fun creating unique trinket boxes lately. These trinket boxes are also a great way to recycle all the aluminum cat food cans that would otherwise be thrown away around here. I start these by thoroughly cleaning and drying the cans, then I cover them with tacky glue. Once the glue dries the clay sticks much better and I have fewer issues with air bubbles. For this particular box I mixed a custom shade of purple from blue and purple Premo clay. I use Premo just about exclusively now, and I always seem to mix my own custom colors, making each creation truly one of a kind.

The next step in the creation of this piece was to stamp pretty designs into the clay. I've fallen in love with flexible rubber stamps and polymer clay over the last year or so. Then add a bit of Pearl Ex powder (in this case Sky Blue mixed with Reflex Violet) and you've got something magical! Then I went on to create the pink flowers.
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They have textured petals (each shaped by hand), and are attached to a metal filigree finding. I spent a lot of time digging through my bead stash to find the perfect beads for this box. These are my last two ceramic bird beads, and also the last of my red glass butterfly beads.

All the beads are secured with wire and liquid polymer clay, so there are no worries about anything coming loose. The lid is made from polymer clay with reinforcing wires baked into the clay. The large flower was rubbed with blue and purple Pearl Ex powders for a gorgeous color variation.

To finish the box I covered the bottom with felt and lined the inside with felt as well. I'm really very happy with the way this turned out. I may have to make one of these for myself to hold my favorite jewelry ;-)

My second entry is a necklace I call Mai's Flowers. Christi Friesen's book on sculpting dragons helped inspire this one, as did the Irises blooming in the front yard. Irises are some of my favorite flowers and I love sculpting them. The first thing I did to create this piece was to sculpt the Iris beads.

These took many hours and four separate bakes to complete. Although they look very fragile, I used the green leaves behind the flower petals to add strength to the flowers. Each petal was carefully sculpted and textured, then I dusted the center petals with blue Pearl Ex powder and the outer petals with purple Pearl Ex. Each flower was sculpted individually, and just like in nature, each is unique. Once the flowers were sculpted it was time to move on to Mai the dragon.

Isn't she sweet holding her favorite flower? I used glass beads to embellish her and add a bit of bling (if you're familiar with Christi Friesen, you're familiar with this technique). She even has blue glass heart beads on her head, since she's such a loving little dragon ;-) She's named after Mei from the movie My Neighbor Totoro (my favorite Myazaki movie of all time), who is also a sweet, fun loving little girl.
To make this necklace even more special I used blue, pink, and purple Swarovski crystals. Nothing sparkles quite like Swarovski!

I absolutely adore this necklace, and I might just have to make one for myself! I definitely see more Christi inspired dragons in my future- sculptures, jewelry, trinket boxes- there's no end to the possibilities!
Both of these items are available for sale in my shop. Just click on any of the pictures to be directed to the listing.
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing another creative journey with me!

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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Sunday, April 22, 2012

Making a polymer clay dolphin jar

Recently my best friend, Monica, came for a visit. Not only is Monica my very best friend (we were roommates in college and have been friends ever since), but she's also one of my best customers! Every time she visits she checks out all the sculptures, plushies, and jewelry I have for sale. This time around she spotted my clay covered jars, which can be found in the Housewares section of CreativeCritters. She liked them all, but asked if I could make her a special jar with dolphins and make it in purple. She's always loved dolphins and purple is her favorite color. Of course I was more than happy to create a dolphin jar for her! Once she described what she wanted I was able to visualize it quite clearly, and knew how to create the jar. One of the hardest things was finding the perfect dolphin stamp. I knew exactly what I was looking for, and spent over an hour online until I found exactly the right one.
To create the right color of clay I mixed equal amounts of purple, silver, and turquoise to come up with this beautiful shade of purple.

The next step was to cover the jar and lid with the clay. I used a glass baby food jar with a metal lid and coated the jar and lid with tacky glue to help the clay stick to the smooth surfaces. I let the glue dry then wrapped the clay around the jar, making sure to press out any air bubbles.

Then I stamped the dolphins around the jar. I tried using the stamp while it was still mounted to the wooden block, but that didn't work out too well. So I carefully cut the stamp off the block and had much better luck getting nice clear impressions. I was able to wrap the stamp around the jar and press it deeply into the clay.

I changed the position of the stamp each time so the dolphins look like they're in motion. I was thinking of a whole school of dolphins leaping through the water as I made this.

Once the dolphins were stamped onto the jar it was time to add that special Pearl Ex shimmer. Once again, I knew exactly the color I wanted, and that required mixing several colors of Pearl Ex. Over time I've gotten pretty good at figuring out what to mix to create a certain color. This project required a bluish purple, which I achieved by mixing Sky Blue, Interference Blue, and Reflex Violet.

I adjusted the amounts of each color as necessary and came up with this beautiful shade of purple.

I used the pad of my finger to rub the purple powder on the raised surfaces of the clay. Then I decided I wanted the dolphins to stand out from the background a bit more, so I rubbed their bodies with Sky Blue Pearl Ex. I wanted to add a little something extra to the background, so I used part of another stamp to impress swirls and lines of movement. It's amazing what a difference a tiny little thing like that can make. Now it really looks like the dolphins are leaping through the water.

I also added a base and used a different part of the stamp to add texture. I sculpted a wave for the lid and stamped watery swirls on it as well. I dusted the wave with Sky Blue and Interference Blue Pearl Ex powders. I put the jar in the oven for it's first bake at this point. I didn't want to mess anything up and I wanted the wave to be baked before I added the dolphin.

Once the jar cooled I added a string of beads along the base, added a rope of clay around the top of the jar to give it a more finished look, and added another string of beads around the lid. I sculpted the dolphin using shades of blue gray clay (a custom mix, of course), and posed him on top of the wave. I applied liquid clay to his belly and pressed him firmly onto the wave to be sure he was attached well.

After two coats of high gloss varnish dried I glued blue felt to the bottom of the jar, wrote a special message on the felt, and called it complete. Now it's ready to be shipped off and make Monica very happy ;-) The one thing that I added that can't be seen in pictures is plenty of love and positive energy. The entire time I was working on this piece I was thinking happy thoughts of my friend and all the fun we had together. I think that comes through in the finished product. I want Monica to smile and be happy every time she looks at this jar. :-)

Thanks for stopping by and following me though another creative adventure!

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Knit Dragon I Made for Morgan

My best friend's son, Morgan, just turned 9 and they'll be visiting this weekend. I wanted to make something special for his birthday and decided to knit him a dragon. Morgan loves dragons and I've made him several different types of dragons in the past (even a dragon trinket box). I only had a vague idea of how I wanted this dragon to turn out when I first started knitting, and I made the pattern up as I went along. This is definitely a one of a kind creation! I used a combination of knitting looms in different sizes to create the body, head, and tail of the dragon.

I held two strands of different shades of green and one strand of blue yarn together as I knit the body. head and tail. The underbelly was knit using knitting needles and yellow yarn and I just sewed it right to the belly. At each step in the creation of this dragon I had to visual how I wanted a particular part to look, and then figure out the best method to use to achieve that look. It was a bit like sculpting in polymer clay, actually. I used a small knitting loom to create his haunches and knit his lower legs with needles, then sewed all the parts to the dragon, shaping as I attached them.

I needle sculpted his face to get the right shape and even knit a red tongue for him. His oversized ears add to the whimsical look. I want Morgan to smile every time he sees this dragon ;-) I cut out green felt and attached the eyes through the felt. This gives a little more definition to the eyes and also ensures that they won't pull out through the stitches in the yarn.

I knit yellow triangles for spike and for the tip of his tail. I wanted to have a nice bright, cheerful color. I know Morgan likes blue and green dragons (they're the good ones, according to him), and I think the yellow is a nice contrast to these colors.

The only thing that isn't knit from yarn on the dragon are the wings. I chose to sew them from green and blue fleece instead. I sewed pipe cleaners between the layers of fleece to help support the wings and allow them to hold their shape.

I can attest to the fact that this dragon is a lot of fun to play with too ;-) I can't wait to see my friend and her family, and get Morgan's reaction to his new friend! I'm already thinking about making a knight to go with the dragon. That might be a good gift for Christmas. One of the many things I love about Morgan is that he really appreciated the gifts he's given, and he plays with them for years. He still plays with the first toy I made for him!

Thanks for joining me for another creative adventure into the land of fantasy! ;-)

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring has sprung!

And it's a bit earlier than usual this year. In fact, we've had temperatures in the 70's and even up to 80 for the last week or so! I can't ever remember wearing shorts in March before! And the warm weather has caused all sorts of things to bloom weeks earlier than normal. I went around the yard and got some pictures of some of the blooming flowers.
My lungwort has been blooming like crazy for over a week now, and has spread to several new spots in the flower beds. I love these flowers- the blue and pink colors are so pretty and the spotted leaves are soft and fuzzy. I like anything that's soft and fuzzy- LOL

This white hyacinth bloomed yesterday. Hyacinths are some of my favorite fragrant Spring flowers. I have them in shades of blue, pink, purple, white, and cream on both sides of the front door. I can sit in the house with door open and smell them all day ;-)

This forsythia bush grew from a cutting I took of Gramma's 40 year old forsythia bush. I only planted the sprouted cutting two years ago, but already it's a beautiful plant. The original plant even had three flowers on it- LOL. The fact that it has survived at all for all these years is impressive! It's "baby" is doing quite well though ;-)

And the daffodils just started blooming yesterday. Normally they don't bloom until Gramma's birthday (April 15th). These daffodil bulbs are about 50 years old now, and have bloomed every single year of my life. They're very special to me. Every year, no matter what kind of weather we'd had (and we had plenty of snowy Springs!), I was always able to pick enough daffodils to make a pretty bouquet for Gramma's birthday. Some years that was all I got, just that one birthday bouquet, but that was the important one.

I'll be moving sometime in the near future, and I wonder if whoever moves into this house next will take care of my flowers and Gramma's flowers. It makes me sad to think of them being neglected or destroyed. They may just be plants, but there's a lot of emotion and meaning tied up in these simple flowers for me. I intend to take some bulbs and cuttings with me when I move, but I won't be able to take them all. Things like the evergreens I planted several years back are now too big to move. I transplanted them as tiny seedlings when I saw them sprouted in the cracks of the sidewalk, and now they've grown in lush little trees nearly as tall as I am.

Wandering the yard today was bittersweet. I was saying goodbye to all the plants I had known throughout my life. I've lived in this house, on and off, since I was born. My first pets, two hamsters and a gerbil, are buried under the lilac bush next to the house. My ferret, Ziggy, rests under the butterfly bush, and Ozzy and Cedric lay next to each other under the evergreens. I feel Grampa's spirit every time I work in the garden, and Gramma's presence can be felt throughout the house.

This is the first year in about 15 years that I won't have a vegetable garden. I don't want to have to leave it behind if I have to move during the summer. There's a great sadness in not having a garden to work in. I love starting my veggies from seed, nurturing them, watching them grow, and enjoying the fruits and vegetables of my labor.

Wherever I end up, it will have to be someplace where I can have a nice big garden full of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. It will be very strange starting from scratch in a new place though. That's one reason I want to be able to bring at least a few of my plants with me. It will be like having old familiar friends nearby ;-)

Thanks for listen to me blather on- LOL! I hope you're all enjoying our early Spring!

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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Friday, March 16, 2012

My Cats Now Have Their Own YouTube Channel!

That's right, my cats, Calcifer and Ginko, have their very own YouTube channel. If you visit http://www.youtube.com/user/CalciferandGinko you can see them in all their cuteness ;-) I'd been planning on giving Calcifer his own channel for some time now, and of course I've been taking plenty of videos of all his cute kitty antics ;-) And now with Ginko in the picture I've got more adorable kitty footage than I know what to do with! I love being able to share all those funny little moments with all of you. I'll be adding new videos regularly, so there will always be something different to see. This is the most recent video, just uploaded tonight. This shows you a bit of Calcifer's creativity. One of his favorite toys has always been the plastic ring from the milk jugs. When I put a small box on the floor for him to check out he brought his milk jug ring over and began trying to get it in the box. He always has enjoyed a challenge (just like me- LOL).

So if you want to catch all the kitty cuteness, be sure to subscribe to Calcifer and Ginko's YouTube channel! Thanks for watching!

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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Friday, March 9, 2012

How to sculpt a cat pendant from polymer clay part 3 video tutorial

And here's the final video in my How To A Sculpt a Cat Pendant series. You can find part 1 here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2JXmTdGlig and part 2 here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHZKTzuLAeg. And of course you can always subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up with all my newest tutorials and other videos.

Thanks so much for watching! I hope you enjoyed this series, and if there's something you'd like to see me do a tutorial about, just leave me a comment! =)

~Michelle of CreativeCritters

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