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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Can't live without Tacky glue for my clay projects!

One of my favorite things to use when creating my clay sculptures is Tacky glue. I use it on baked and unbaked polymer clay and it stays somewhat flexible even after it dries. For pieces like my miniature house sculptures I bake the walls, then arrange them on a base of unbaked clay, securing the edges with Tacky glue. Next I cover the walls with a thin layer of the glue and let it dry. When I add the next layer of clay (which will be the outer layer of the house) around the walls the dried glue, which is still slightly tacky helps the unbaked clay stick much better. I also find it very useful when it comes to attaching all the vines and tiny flowers to the house, as well as the shingles. I use a fine tip attachment to draw a line of glue where I want my vines to go, then press the clay vines into the wet glue. After this dries the vine is securely attached to the house and I can add leaves and flowers, adding a bit of glue where I need to in order to secure the foliage.  If i don't use the glue the vines rarely stick to the baked clay.  I wouldn't be able to create these detailed little houses without Tacky glue. And you can bake the glue at 275 degrees without affecting it. I also use Tacky glue to coat my foil and wire armatures so the clay sticks to them better. I just have to be sure there are no air bubbles between the foil and the clay, otherwise I could end up with cracks or large bubbles of clay after it's baked. And when I cover glass or metal containers I "prime" them with a layer of glue as well. I get much better results this way.


With this dragon trinket box I coated the coffee container with glue, let it dry, glued it to the cardboard base, which was coated with glue, then added the clay to the box and the base. The foil dragon armatures were also coated with glue before I added clay and turned them into full fledged dragons ;-)







Nearly every project I create has at least a little Tacky glue involved at some point! ;-)

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Work on Morgan's Dragon Trinket Box continues

Morgan is my best friend's son, and he has a birthday coming up this month.  I've been sculpting a very special polymer clay Dragon Trinket Box for him since he loves dragons.  Father dragon is complete, and I decided to add a Dragon Kitty to the box next.  That's what Morgan calls Calcifer: "Aunt Michelle's Dragon Kitty".  So I thought the Dragon Family should be visiting with their friend and neighbor, Dragon Kitty.  I gave him iridescent wings and fluffy gray fur.  I think Calcifer would approve of these wings ;-)
 
Next I started sculpting the Mother Dragon.  I chose to make her in shades of blue.  I covered the foil armature with scrap clay, then began adding the underbody plates, which I cut out with a diamond shaped clay cutter.
 
Then I started adding blue scales.  I sculpted the legs, covered them with scales, then attached them to the body, adding more scales to help secure them.  I didn't use any wire armatures for the legs because they'll be firmly attached to the base, and have little chance of breaking.
 
Once I covered her body and head in scales I added wings, which I made sure to press close to the body and box.  This lessens the chance of them breaking.  I also used blue glass beads for her eyes and highlighted her wings and head with silver Pearl Ex powder. 
 
You can see that I've started covering the baby dragon's armature in clay.  But we'll save his construction for another day.  So far I'm very happy with the progress of this piece.  I think Morgan will really like it too.  Stay tuned to see how this project turns out!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

Work in progress- a Dragon trinket box for Morgan

My best friend's son, Morgan, has a birthday coming up in a few weeks and I've started making him his own dragon trinket box.  The last time they were here he saw the one I have for sale in my shop and just loved it.
 
This one's a bit delicate for a child, but I think Morgan will like the one I'm making him.  Like most of my trinket boxes, this one started out with a metal coffee tin, which I covered in Tacky glue (that helps the polymer clay adhere to the metal box).  For this one I added a cardboard base, also covered in glue. 
Then I covered the tin in blue clay and the base in green clay, which I textured to look like grass.
 
Next I made foil armatures for each of the three dragons.  By using a foil armature I can create a stronger sculpture and use less clay. 
 
The one on the left will be the father dragon, and he'll be on the lid.  The middle one will be the mother, and the one on the right will be the baby.  For the lid I cut 2 rectangles from sheets of clay, sandwiching a wire between the layers and leaving about 2" of wire sticking up in the middle of the lid.  I pierced the dragon armature and used liquid polymer clay on the wire and in the hole to secure him to the lid. 
Here's Daddy Dragon after being attached to the lid.  I cut out each of his scales individually.  Here you can see how he looks before he has all his scales on. 
I'm giving these dragons more of a cute look, since they're for a child.  And I'm making them in shades of blue and green, because Morgan said that good dragons are blue and green, and mean dragons are red (wouldn't want to give him a trinket box with mean dragons on it!).  Stay tuned to see how this one turns out!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

Find unique handmade Valentine's Day gifts at CreativeCritters

At CreativeCritters you can find a wide variety of gifts for Valentine's Day.  Each item is made by hand and many pieces are one of a kind.  You will find beautifully detailed sculptures, soft and cuddly teddy bears, pretty trinket boxes, and so much more!

Be sure to stop in and see everything available from CreativeCritters on ArtFire.com!
Thanks for stopping by!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

World of Warcraft trinket box for my brother

I wanted to make something really special for my younger brother for Christmas, and I knew I wanted it to be something related to the World of Warcraft.  I decided a trinket box would be something he could use, and I ended up sculpting two different Murlocs, a Wind Rider cub, and the Horde symbol onto the box after I covered it in polymer clay.  I spent a lot of time on all the little details like glow in the dark spines, teeth, and eyes for the Murlocs.  I also textured their skin.  The Wind Rider cub (inspired by the adorable plushie my mother gave me) is also highly detailed, right down to his tiny little claws and glow in the dark fangs.  The Horde symbol on the end of the box also glows in the dark.  The letters W O W on the lid were sculpted from glow in the dark clay and serve as a handle.
    

I really like the way this turned out, and my brother was pretty impressed as well (and it made it all the way to AZ without anything breaking in transit!).  This is definitely a one of a kind creation, although I may try my hand at other World of Warcraft trinket boxes in the future.  Stay tuned to see what else this Creative Critter comes up with!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

Christmas gifts I created for my family

My brother, sister in law, and nieces received their Christmas gifts, so now I can show you what I made! :)  The girls couldn't wait until Christmas to open the package, so they got some of their presents a little early.  For my sister in law, Ana, I made a pretty blue and red heart shaped trinket box.  It started with a metal filigree heart, which I painted with iridescent red paint.  I pressed blue polymer clay against the inside of the heart, allowing it to press through the filigree. I made a lid of polymer clay  and lined the bottom of the heart with felt.  I think it turned out quite nice!

I made a trinket box for my brother Mike as well.  I didn't really have a set plan when I started making Mike's gift.  I just let the clay guide me and  I ended up making a raised diamond pattern on the clay.  After baking the box I filled the diamond shapes with Gallery Glass in various colors to create a stained glass look.  For the lid I filled the diamond shapes with different colors of embossing powder before baking.  I even used some glow in the dark Gallery Glass for a fun effect when you turn out the lights.  My neices got a kick out of that!


  Several months ago my niece Jessica asked if I could make her a stuffed dog, so I knew exactly what she wanted for Christmas. I made a dog for her younger sister as well- I try to make sure the kid's gifts are somewhat similar, so there's no jealousy. When it comes to presents most kids are easy- ask them what they want, and generally they tell you!  Of course the same can't be said for brothers- LOL!  For Jessica I chose to make a more realistic dog using some very nice tan fur fabric I had left over from another project.  For Andrea, the younger sister, I chose to make a more whimsical stuffed dog.  I used super soft blue chenille recycled from a bathrobe and stuffed the dog with plastic pellets and polyester fiberfill.  I was very happy with the way both dogs turned out, and so were the girls.


The box of homemade Snickerdoodle cookies were well received too!  Jessica had a mouth full of them when she called to thank me for the gifts- LOL!  I love making gifts for people, especially my nieces.  When they see what I can create, they're inspired to be creative as well.  And if I can inspire a child to delve into arts and crafts and embrace their creativity, that's the best gift I could ever get!
I hope everyone has a very Happy Holiday and Santa leaves plenty of presents for one and all! :)
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

The Space Challenge for the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild

The Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild on ArtFire is having a Space themed Challenge! I just love doing these challenges- I tend to try new things I may not have thought of otherwise.   The first two things to come to my mind when I think of Space are aliens and stars.  I've been making trinket boxes lately and  wanted to incorporate them into the Space theme in some way. Of course I had to make something using glow in the dark clay!  I decided to try my hand at sculpting a space ship with an alien for the lid.  I recycled an empty steel mushroom can by shaping polymer clay around it in the form of the spaceship. It measures 6 inches tall (to the top of the alien) and 7 inches wide at the widest point. I used a combination of regular blue clay and glow in the dark clay to decorate the flying saucer. The lid of the trinket box features an alien sculpted from glow in the dark clay. He has pebbly skin and large black eyes. You can tell he's friendly because of the smile.
And this is what it looks like glowing in the dark.


For my second entry I decided to make a pair of glow in the dark Moon, Earth, and Stars Celestial earrings.

For the moon and stars I used glow in the dark clay. For the Earth beads in the center I swirled shades of blue and green clay together. I stamped the center of the stars with a sun stamp, and after baking I painted the moon and stars with glow in the dark paint before sealing with high gloss glaze. This causes them to glow even more brightly in the dark. These earrings have silver posts and measure 3 inches long. Fire polished blue green glass beads hang between the moon and stars for added sparkle. Day or night, these Celestial earrings are beautiful!  And here's what they look like in the dark.

There are lots of great entries in the Space Challenge, and you can check them all out at The Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild blog.  And while you're there you can vote for our next Challenge theme.  Thanks for stopping by!
-Michelle of CreativeCritters