It's tip time!

Hey everybody! Hope you had great holidays, and have a Happy New Year too! 2012, everybody! The year we're all supposed to die! I can't help feeling that something REALLY good is gonna happen on December 21, 2012. We'll see.

So, as for what's going on, I'll tell you. A lot. Thanks to everyone who's bought from the gallery, it really means a lot. I was surprised when one of my better fall scenes sold around Christmastime. But I'm just glad it sold. Monday's the changeover date, though, so I have to get busy making stuff for the new year. I also placed an order for some real deal micro marbles, the first thing I've ordered with my own money (Christmas money) online, and I'm excited. I'll make some stuff with them and show you.

I also somehow got a PayPal (without being 18+! It's a miracle!) so we're that much closer to selling stuff online. Nationwide, for now. In fact, as soon as I feel like spending more money, I might just go out and buy some packaging. The thing is, I really don't have any idea how to go about it. So the first person to buy will be my guinea pig and shouldn't expect everything to go smoothly. I'm not sure whether the stuff I make will last in the mail because of the details, but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I'm still in my cake obsession phase, and with my most recent and best cake have come some new tips. Firstly, how many of you have grown tired of spending a long time mixing TLS with clay to make frosting/icing/whatever? I discovered a secret. It's not really a secret, it's just an alternate way. Instead, mix acrylic paint with TLS and voila. Much faster method. It doesn't burn in the toaster oven, even if you cook it at insane temperatures like I do. The only downside is, you can't store it because the paint in it will dry. But it saved me loads of time and problems (take a look at my earlier blog post about the Icing Endeavor).

Secondly, the rose method, which is illustrated in one of my character blog posts on the sequel website (http://www.awesomeclaysculptingextras.webs.com/), link here: http://awesomeclaysculptingextras.webs.com/apps/blog/. So please check them out. I didn't come up with them, but I like sharing.

Posted above is a picture of my latest cake, which was a gift for my mom #2. The chocolate cake demonstrates these methods. Also, you notice the border on the bottom? That was all done by hand. I placed alternating colors of dark sparkly brown and gold (Premo I think) teardrop shapes on the base of the cake. Wasn't too hard.

Pumpkin Tutorial: Video!

Hey everyone! I finally uploaded the pumpkin tutorial in video form, so enjoy! I'm so glad to be finally helping my fellow clayers- especially the new ones. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to ask any questions or request something or leave a comment or anything like that! I want your feedback! I want to help! Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ums1oVID_oU

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I'm starting to plan a clay feast. I noticed that Garden of Imagination (from YouTube) has a sort of menu from years ago and she shows how to make a lot of Thanksgiving foods. I'll sort of use her as a reference when I do mine.

I'm starting to worry about the Gallery- the stuff I have there hasn't sold and it was a lot of Halloween stuff! So now I can't put anything in there Thanksgiving-themed or Christmas-themed because the Halloween stuff hasn't sold- and won't, because Halloween's over! Big dilemma! We'll just have to see. Upside- I'm starting to think more seriously about neighborhood advertising, and from there, I'll proceed to conquer the world! Just kidding- from the neighborhood and the town I live (I'm already selling at the gallery, remember) I'll progress to the country and maybe the world. We'll see how far I get. It would be a great help if you would just tell me what you think.

Farewell until next post! Ta-ta, y'all!

Formspring/Flickr

Our website has been having problems lately, because I think we've reached the 'storage limit' and can't fit anymore pictures- or that's what I thought until we deleted some pictures and the new ones still wouldn't upload. So rely more on Flickr now. If you have any idea how to fix the problems we've been having with http://www.webs.com/ then please let us know.


Here's the Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/firefox979


I recently discovered a nice little question/answer website called Formspring (perhaps you've heard of it?) and created an account there. I actually created one because of another polymer clayer, theshiri on Formspring (check her out and tell her I sent you!), who does really awesome really cute stuff on YouTube. So, ask me questions there too and don't be afraid to be anonymous. Here's the Formspring: www.formspring.me/firefox979


The picture is of the earrings I made Caitlin, made to look sort of like granite. I caned them using two canes, 3 colors each. Really simple. Canes took me 2 minutes each to make, earrings maybe 6 minutes each. But they turned out awesome. The letters imprinted in the middle are her initials- C and N.

Thanksgiving...or Christmas? And soft pastels

Guess what? Right. I went to Michaels again. So did Cali. We also went to the gallery and submitted more scenes/jewelry. But you know what's disappointing? I keep forgetting to take pictures before I submit them. Well, more like, I cook/glaze/finish them last minute and don't have time to take pictures. I need to stop that. It's sad. But oh well, there'll be more cool work in the future. Just not enough space...on our website. I'll work something out.
As for what I got, that would be...eight packs of clay, gold powder (funny story- Cali spilled most of hers today and now her floor is sparkly), and nature mini cookie cutters (Sculpey brand).
As for what we submitted, Cali put in three pairs of earrings and took two out (the ones with the old finishings and without glaze). She's already on Christmas stuff. I put in a double set of earrings, ghost studs and pumpkins. They're really not all that heavy, but they look like it. I also put in a scene, a fall/Halloween scene with a girl under a tree reading a book with a black cat. She's leaning against the tree next to the hay bale with a pumpkin on it. It took a while, which is why it's the only scene I brought this time. I used translucent for her skin instead of flesh to see the effect, and it looks like she's a porcelain doll. It's pretty neat.
So as for the holiday seasons, Cali and I are in disagreement over something. Now, I know the stores usually go like five seasons ahead with their decor, and she wants to start with Christmas stuff now (skipping Thanksgiving entirely) while I think we should do Thanksgiving now and wait until after Halloween do start doing Christmas stuff. What do you think? Should we be doing Thanksgiving...or Christmas? Leave me a comment telling me. What season are you buying for?
I still have the pumpkin tutorial up and Cali managed to make use of it (no one else has said anything about it, so does it work? Or not? If it doesn't I may as well take it down). I'm thinking of doing an actual video for YouTube, where all the other awesome tutorials are. That would be a good idea. I'll start experimenting. But there is one thing I need...time.
Now, since you've been so good at listening/reading so far, I will give you another idea. I've been watching tutorials on YouTube and I've noticed that one cool tool a lot of the sculptors use is...are...soft pastels. They're really good for subtle coloring. Great for mixing with TLS to make stuff like syrup (on pancakes) among other things. Buy them at Michaels and Hobby Lobby and other places that sell craft stuff. If you already use them, tell me what you think. I've just started using them but they're pretty neat.
So...bye for now! A bientot! (Yes, I'm taking French)