Birthday card

Here's what I did with the stencil that I ink blended through. I stamped the sentiment/banner and propped that up with a foam strip before adding sequin butterflies and tiny rhinestones.

Congratulations card

So I took the piece I stamped the flowers on and made it into a congrats card! I used twine (that I gave a little variety to with brown ink pads) to make a bow and added rhinestone accents. I also propped it up with foam.

Watercolor

Papercrafting techniques!

So I know this is totally not the place for papercrafting stuff but until I get my new blog/shop under way (soon now!) I need somewhere to share stuff and this is the best place I have! So if you're interested in papercraft, bookbinding, and cardmaking, stay tuned, because I have some stuff to show you and will be posting here when I've got the shop set up.

So I'm taking the Online Card Class called Background Check, my first one, hosted by some of my favorite papercrafters, Kristina and Jen and Laura. Here are some of the things we tested out in Day 1:

A lot of stenciling. I used the stencil as an embossing folder (first time) in the upper left, after ink blending over it. I used craft foam as an embossing pad in the Cuttlebug and used another embossing folder as a shim and it worked fine. It was a tight fit, but worked. The bottom one is stamped with Versamark to bleach it a little bit but it can hardly be seen. Probably didn't use dark enough ink. 

 Watercolor time! This is something I enjoyed before papercrafting. The left one is a light wash of a few colors, the middle is a sort of abstract butterfly, and the right is...whatever it looks like.
Here's Day 2:

This was even more fun. I got super into ink blending as you can see (used it on 3 of the four panels). The top has clear embossed flowers as a resist. The middle is just ink blended stripes stamped over with Charcoal and Soft Gray chalkboard hearts. The bottom left is just a bunch of flowers all from one stamp set and the right is ink blended over stencil (I love this even though it ruins the foam) and stamping over stencil (it did leave a mark on the stencil but I'm not too worried. It's a stencil).

Can't wait for Day 3! See you tomorrow. And of course, see my Instagram for bookbinding and watercolor. @firefox9799 

Paper crafts! (new handmade notebook process)

Hey guys! So I've started paper crafting...honestly I didn't want to make an entirely new blog for this (I have, like, 5 now?) because I start some new hobby every week, pretty much. Before this it was watercolors. But I've been making notepads and notebooks and soon I'll start card-making too. But I've decided to share some of my work/process here! Also, I've got a shop set up for my paper crafts.

So here's the first thing I made:

It's a notepad. The pages are lined and I printed them from Microsoft Publisher. Every third page has the flower design on the bottom. I used cardboard for the front and back, and covered the front in scrapbook paper with some decorations. I glued it all together so that the pages can be torn out as you use them. 

Now for the big project. I'm into bookbinding now, so I started with a nice hardcover journal/notebook. The pages aren't lined.

Now here are some parts of the process. I didn't include everything, but enough to give you a general idea.

(1) I folded printer paper in half—10 signatures of 4 sheets each. 40 pages total.

(2) I sewed the signatures together.

(3) I glued the spine with PVA glue.

(4) I made decorative headbands and glued them to the spine.

(5) I glued the decorative endpapers on—they are made of light blue cardstock. Each piece is 8.5"x11" folded in half.

(6) I glued a piece of cardstock down to reinforce the spine.

(7) I cut medium weight chipboard (instead of bookboard—works just as well) for both covers and the spine. 

(8) I used clear packing tape to tape two pieces of scrapbook paper together because one wasn't big enough.

(9) I glued the chipboard down on the paper and folded the sides back before gluing them down. After this (not pictured) I centered the text block in the middle and glued one of the endpapers on each side to the inside cover. 

(10) I used cardstock to make the name plate. And voila! It was done.

This is up in my shop, so if you want to make this yours, you can for only $22. There will be more coming soon!

(note: If the cover looks a bit scuffed in places, it's because it's supposed to—it's part of the pattern. Annoying, I know. I just loved the stripes so much.)

New store at Storenvy!

Attention! I haven't posted in like years probably, so this is quite a big deal. ANYWHO, I'm starting sculpting again! Wow!

I decided to have a store at Storenvy instead of Etsy because there are no listing fees and it's a lot more customizable etc. etc. So here it is: www.awesomeclaysculpting.storenvy.com. I still have the one thing- the Christmas cake- in there for now but I'm busy working on more stuff. I also have a logo now and a new header- check the top of the blog!

So here's what I'm working on- or at least a sneak peek. Look at all those mints! Tiny mints, mint sticks, candy canes....what could I be making? Something Christmas-themed, that's for sure.





I'm not sure when I'll have any new videos out. Or when I'll have new things listed in my shop. Or when I'll even finish making things. When I make something I'll upload it on Flickr, so check there.

Happy claying!

Picture Frame

Picture Frame

This is the latest thing I've created. My grandma was visiting so I made a small picture frame magnet for her. I doubt she'll find a picture small enough to put in it, but that's not the point. 

I used black clay for the base, a cookie cutter and gold powder for the hummingbird, and a texture sheet/more gold powder for the bottom left corner. Top left: glitter and white sand, gold paint pen. I painted the girl myself, used gold powder for her hair, and embellished it with micro marbles in gold, silver, and white.

That's really all there is to say on the matter.

Also, I have more stuff to post, but I'll save that for another time.

New Sculpture

 Here are pictures of my new sculpture, the one mentioned in the last post. She is ceramic clay (air-dry), not polymer clay.
Also based loosely off of Belle from Beauty and the Beast; mostly her hair. I finally painted her. To see all of these pictures in a nice little video, click here.

Explanation

I haven't done anything sitewise in a really, really long time. Wondering why? Well, I'll tell you anyhow. I am quite possibly one of the laziest people when it comes to advertising and keeping up with my own social media. Sure, I look at other people's stuff. On a daily basis. More than I actually create, and therein lies the problem.
It is summer, so school is not an excuse. But may I also say that I have literally tons of hobbies? I am a writer, a reader, a gamer, a knitter, a sculptor, a dancer, a pianist, a music enthusiast, and various other things. It is very hard to stick with just one activity for a long period of time. I go through phases. This week, it'll be sculpting. Next week, reading. The next, video games. So naturally I am very good at starting things, and not as good at finishing them.
I doubt if anyone would remember (I'm positive that of all my blog viewers, none are regular), but a long time ago I started a sculpture of Absolem from Alice in Wonderland, my favorite series of all time. This was to be my first major project, larger-scale than all the others. I have yet to finish it. In fact, it may not even be further than the last post I made on it. Of course, I intend to get back to it. I always intend to. But perhaps I may be serious this time?
I got sidetracked for a long time working on another large-scale sculpture, a bust of a woman based off of Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I am pleased to say that I have completed the sculpting part of this project. It is quite larger than anything I have ever done, nearly life-size, in fact. If you look at the other things I have completed, it is quite easy to imagine the quality of this work. I am a miniaturist. I deal in small things, almost never lifelike, except food perhaps. So I am not too proud of this bust. Only in the fact that I actually finished sculpting it, mayhaps. But I'm not done yet. I decided I need to be proud enough of this project to post it here on my blog and website. And as I find it very plain myself, I intend to paint it and see if I can make it better. This will be my next project.
Yes, I have still been sculpting miniatures, but mostly for myself, not intended to be sold commercially or anything of that sort. And there are very few anyhow. I will be working more as I have the money to buy the materials I need. I just recently got a job, so that should take care of that.
Now, as to videos. I realize I haven't posted any in forever, and the ones I did were very amateur. I was in fact in the middle of another tutorial a very long time ago when my computer shut down and I lost all progress. This was extremely frustrating, to the point of me giving up entirely and not doing videos ever again. I realize that this was silly, as videos are a great advertising opportunity. I do not think tutorials are my thing, really, so I will probably just be doing updates. Most likely in picture slideshow form. I do not like speaking to a camera, especially one with a quality as crappy as mine. A new camera is definitely on my wish list.

Well, now you are completely up to date on my meager activity lately and the reasons why. So be sated until I can stick with this project long enough to finish it. Thanks for your time.

New earrings + first wire earring ever!

Hello everyone! I finally decided to get back into the gallery system and start selling again as I have signed up for several camps, one of which, the clay one of course, I am going to be volunteering to help out with. So I dropped off a pair of rainbow earrings the other day. See them on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/awesomeclaysculpting. And I didn't have a chance to drop these off- these apple earrings- but I may sell them at some later time. I also did some experimenting in wire- just randomly picked up some, had an idea, and started fiddling around- and produced this wire earring. I'm quite pleased. It's not a pair yet, but my mom thinks I should make another, so I will. Perhaps this is just the beginning of another medium that I will use? Hopefully this earring is the first of many.

I don't often experiment- I mean, the whole resin thing was a huge failure- but sometimes it has good results. Keep an eye out for new things. And I'm also thinking about filming another tutorial soon, so watch for that (: Thanks for reading, I love you all!