Polymer Clay backfill technique... and Kabbalah

So, a few hours of research and work, and voila!  Success!

It's not so cheesy anymore!  (Well, it's a little cheesy in this photo, but once I have the other elements attached...)

Obviously I have a long way to go, to get the technique perfected.  But this was real progress!  I used a much thicker pin to make the lines this time.  I filled in the holes with a purple and the lines with black, using the backfill technique that is described very well here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh2RcVqrYNQ

Thank you VERY VERY MUCH PolymerClayStudio!  That set of videos is very helpful!

As I was working on it, I remembered something - I think I was confusing two of Jeff's techniques.  There was this one, where you use the ball stylus to backfill, and then another one where you cut out holes to see the color underneath.  In any case, I recommend his classes.  The thing I learned the most, and which I haven't perfected yet, is refinement.  So, if no other reason than to see how a master does it, get into a workshop of his if you can.

And then practice...

I'm going to put it aside for a day or so.  There are two more pieces left - the finial on top, and the stand.   I have beginnings of them in my mind, but I want to pause a bit, let them stew a little longer.  I also remembered another technique Jeff taught, and I want to think about incorporating that, and using it to link all the components together.  But I'll let that be a surprise...

--------

While I was in the library last time, I picked up a book by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner called "Kabbalah a love story".  I don't know why I picked it up, I just did.  I don't even remember what it was near, why I was in that aisle of the library.

It's very lovely!  Here's a quote:

For both to love and to find God, you must annihilate your self.  If you still hold on to your self, then it isn't love.

Interesting.  I am coincidentally also reading Robert Thurman's "Inner Revolution", which I thought was a history of Buddhism, but it's actually an explanation of Buddhism.  And Kabbalah and Buddhism seem similar.  So next, I'll have to see what Joseph Campbell had to say about it all...


--------

Practice makes perfect

Things were going well, and then my inexperience with polymer clay showed its ugly side...

It's not terrible.  What you can't see is the two places where I broke it.  Luckily polymer clay is a forgiving medium, and I was able to repair them - and lesson learned about thin sheets left hanging out where my thumb might be inclined to put pressure.

The lines in the middle section are supposed to mimic the lines of the wire underneath.  But there aren't enough of them, and they are not thick enough.  In addition, although I had paid attention to Jeff when he demonstrated the backfill technique - oh my goodness!  it seemed so simple! - my attempt at it was disastrous!  I'm not sure what I did wrong, but it was very difficult to get the excess clay off the surface where I didn't want it.

I think either my surface wasn't smooth enough - Jeffrey has very smooth veneers - or my clay is way too old and dry.  In any case, the only way I got it as clean as it is now is by massive amounts of sanding.  And I don't like sanding, especially massive amounts of wet sanding.  And to me, any amount of wet sanding is excessive.

The thought did occur to me, during the sanding process, this might be really preparing me for enamel, because there is wet sanding done in that process as well.

Anyway, the solution is reasonably easy - just do that layer again.  Practice makes perfect.  I found a method using mineral oil, to make the clay more pasty, and also to help clean.  And I will make the veneer smoother, if I can.

I also had a surprise once I made the holes in the top.  Those holes are supposed to be showing the lovely purple that's underneath.  As you can see, it doesn't really show, I need a bigger... what's that thing called... stylus?  ball point poker thingy!  ... and consequently, it looks like swiss cheese!  (I also didn't notice until I took the photo a few moments ago that the yellow color is practically the same color as the wall.)

That is also easily fixable - I'm just going to practice the backfill technique and fill all those holes in with purple.

As I always say about art, it always sucks in the middle.  And like I said the other day, the only option is to keep going :)


--------

just keep going

I'm having one of those days where I get overwhelmed.  When this happens, I shut down and have to focus on a simple thought, to get rid of the feeling that I might implode.  Today's simple thought is,

  "Just keep going.  Just keep going.  Just keep going.  Just keep going."

I made good progress on the pod over the weekend.  I made a stand, so now it's a little more "plantlike."  I'm having a bit of trouble deciding on the final colors.  I spent HOURS trying to make an ivory/ecru out of the polymer clay I had on hand - and finally ended up with a fairly nice tan.  But now I have lots of muddy grey unsuccessful clay lumps that I guess will be used as structure for other things.  The way I'm going to decorate the stand is also morphing in my head into a jewelry idea...

Just what I need!  Another jewelry idea!

I also have played a lot with finial ideas, but I'm still in the play stage.

I worked on making buttons.  Hmmm, now I can't remember where this idea came from, originally - to make buttons.  I've been carrying it around in my brain for quite some time.  The last few days though, it seems I can't lie down and "doze" or I will have 2 or more ideas for buttons arrive fully formed in my head.

"Dozing" for me is that time just before or usually just after sleep where my thoughts aren't verbal, they are visual, and very free.  I get a lot of inspiration and ideas during this "dreamtime".

Anyway, I had this idea for a kind of "tribal" button, big (2 inches square), and the scarf I will knit to go with it - a simple shawl, draped around the shoulders.  As the idea has rattled around a little, the concept of the shawl and how the button can be used has changed.

But that happens.  My brain (all our brains?) is like a rock tumbler.  Put something in there, and let it tumble around a bit, you're never quite certain what will come out the longer you leave it bouncing around.

And yes, I ought to keep a journal by the bed (or wherever I am napping), and write these inspirations down, but I don't.  I should.  If you have seen the series art:21  <--- this link is to a segment on the artist Richard Serra, and around 6:30 in the piece he talks about how he draws, and the purpose of it, of journaling, sketching, for him.  It's good stuff, that series.  You can see four seasons of the show at www.hulu.com.


--------

Paperclips, SuperGlue, and spit!

This is what I've been working on...

I was fortunate enough to take a workshop with Jeffrey Lloyd Dever last autumn.  It was a great deal of fun, and he taught us all the wonderful things you can do with paperclips, spit, SuperGlue, and polymer clay!  This is a piece I started in that class, and I was determined that I would finish it.  Here it is, in progress, fresh out of the oven.  I have about 1, 2, ... at least two more layers to put on, maybe more, and then there are two elements to be made to go on the top and bottom....

I'm a little bit in love with this technique I developed - at least I've never seen it before.  I was very unhappy with the uneven shape that existed after I wirewrapped the original structure.  I was trying to get fancy, and make something different than a point.  Silly me.  Instead of getting something organic and elegant, I got something kind of amateurish and lumpy.  And, I ran out of the black wire we were using.

So, I decided to EMBRACE the lumps!  I closed off the top with a layer of SuperSculpey, and then made a bunch of little balls and glued/baked those onto the layer, and then put another layer, the purple layer on top, and got this delightful bumps and lumps (inTENtional lumps!) which looked exactly as I had imagined they would, like seeds in a pod, waiting to burst.  These will be covered with yet another layer, and I'll have a design in the final, nice, smooth layer, so that this lovely purple I mixed will peek through.

I have been working in polymer clay, mainly because of this class, and also because I just can't afford to work in silver at the moment - as of this writing it's $29.01 an ounce, up from $16 an ounce a year or so ago.  I can't work in bulk at that price.  It's not just the silver, but the casting, the molds, all that has to be paid for on top of cost of the silver.  So I'm enjoying polymer clay - the color, and the ease of being able to do everything myself.  I miss silver though, and metal.  I'm going to be working on things that I can set in copper with silver bezels.  I see this polymer clay work as a precursor to working in enamel, someday.

Here's a view of the structure that Jeffrey taught us how to make in that workshop (seriously - SuperGlue and paperclips!)  I highly highly recommend him as a teacher - he's a wonderful fellow, his wife is delightful too, and he's very generous with advice and suggestions.  Look him up on facebook!  He is scheduled to teach in France, but anywhere you can find him, it is money and time wellspent, very enjoyable.

I also am glad that I am starting work with polymer clay with a project that is rather large!  I am not proficient in the clay, but this one project is teaching me a lot about the possibilities of the clay, and how to work with it.  So far I've learned about baking, color mixing, how to glue bits together, and yesterday I took my pasta machine apart, cleaned it, and put it back together.


--------

Perfection

In class a week or so ago, the teacher said, "Nature is perfect."

That phrase stuck with me - is nature perfect? With storms and falling leaves and cycles and death?

Is that perfection?

A few nights ago playing backgammon with a group of friends, someone was shellshocked by a diagnosis she had heard about - a person back East who was vital and in "perfect health" who started experiencing a problem... which turned out to be Stage 4 cancer. My friend kept repeating, "How can the body betray you that way?"

I related the "nature is perfect" phrase, trying to bring her comfort. "Nature is perfect." Meaning, it's not a betrayal, it's how it is. Looking back, I'm not sure how very comforting that is...

In any case, my opponent, a nice and usually quiet man, pipes up,

"To exist is perfect."



........


I am working on prayer wheels, beads, recycled jewelry, and myself.

-------------------

I'm back...

and being creative again! woo hoo!

I had a bit of a cancer scare. I went for an annual physical, and my doctor found that my thyroid was enlarged, and all the test results kept coming back indeterminate. Given that my mother died of cancer when she was five years older than I am now, there was a lot of anxiety, and a lot of emotion, and not much room for creativity. I realize now, I should have made room for it.

Along the way we also discovered I have an abnormal EKG, so that was a concern. More anxiety. It turns out that it is "abnormal" the way a head of red hair is "abnormal" - meaning just rare, not dangerous. My heart is good to go.

After six weeks of testing, I finally had the thyroid out. The surgery itself was quite easy, and I am now fully recovered. Well, almost fully, there are still some calcium issues, but we are hoping they will resolve on their own.

And the final word is - no cancer. There never was cancer! It was just lumpy and large, and the surgeon took it out simply because it was so lumpy, it would be difficult to track in the future.

No cancer, and significantly in debt due to medical expenses.

In the midst of all this, I also moved my studio, taking the smaller guest bedroom to sleep in, and moving all my creative stuff into the larger bedroom to work in. I had been thinking about moving for a while, but it seemed overwhelming and I wasn't sure I would like it. Someone came to help me, so the overwhelming part was diminished (thank you!), and I like this new art studio very much! There is so much space, and light. I now have different work surfaces available so I am not constantly moving one project aside and putting one set of tools away, in order to work on something else while waiting for the first thing to dry or cure or pickle.

However, I have spent several weeks not able to find anything! My methodology, I'm afraid, is a little bit cluttered. I think it requires clutter, to a certain extent. I'm a bit of a sifter when I am working. I need to see things, rearrange them - bead colors lined up next to each other for example. So I take out 30 tubes of beads and move them around. Then there are 27 tubes of beads lying around, after I have picked the 3 I need and start to work. At least now, I have the space to let them lie around for a while, I don't have to immediately put them away.

Because all the things were moved, I would be looking for one certain thing, and it was in a new place in a new room. It has taken several weeks for me to adjust my thought process about where that one tool that I KNOW IS AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE might be.

I work mostly in the center of the room, and have all my creative inspiration and tools and intriguing STUFF I have collected orbiting around me. I am the sun, and they are my satellites, and sometimes I finish something and it shoots out like a comet into the universe! The air conditioner is in, the cats come in and sit in this one area of sunshine, which luckily is out of my way when I'm working, so I'm not rolling over tails with the chair anymore. I should take a picture of the room, it's wonderful.

I finished my school project, a version of a prayer wheel based on the Tibetan tradition. I am very pleased with it, as a prototype. It will serve as inspiration for something else, eventually. But now I am back working on seeds. The prayer wheel incorporated seeds. Then with sterling silver becoming so ridiculously expensive, I started working in polymer clay. I had signed up to take an enameling class, and was looking forward to working with color this summer, but the teacher bailed and the class was cancelled. I am getting my color fix from the clay instead. Inspired by the watermelons of summer and their seeds, I have made a set of beads, and am working on ways to mount them for earrings. That is today's project, I hope to have them on etsy by this weekend. I need to start creating and selling, to help with these bills.

I want to get back to the wax carving again soon. I need to make a butterfly to commemorate the thyroid experience, and I have a feather idea....

It is SOOOOOOOOOOOO good to be creating again!