365 Days of Lip Service

What's on Your Plate?

     

With over one-third of the year left, I have loads of creative work in mind. The blog project is going by so quickly and it's been a challenge to find time to make the lids, let alone, experiment with ideas and themes I thought of when starting the project. Today's offering was designed to represent this mindset. It started with a wavy rim of clay that extended beyond the edge of jar lid. My first thought was how much it looked like a plate or shallow bowl. I placed elements including a stamped postal mark, a copper hand that I created half of a vintage transit token, a vintage pen nib, a tiny penny from my Micro Inclusion line, a screw head and a smattering of millefiori cane leaves.     

 

 

 

A Beary Good Time

     

As we continue to sail along the Alaskan coast, we are experiencing our typical great time; days filled with creativity, inspiration, delicious food and fun galore! We always have an optional participatory swap event during the cruises. Charms or tokens that are themed or made from the featured medium(s) are traded between cruisers and staff. On the "Clayditarod" cruise, I will be giving all students and teachers a slice from this polar bear cane that I created especially for the event. I thought a slice from a larger segment of the millefiori cane (before it was reduced) would make a wonderful lid. Heavy duty, blue canvas was wrapped around the rim and a border of swirly cane slices are scalloped along the edge.  

 

Fantasy Arctic Circle?

     

This lids was created as a physical metaphor of the Arctic Circle. It will be the closest I've ever come to it aside from flying over it on a trip to Iceland. The dome is made from Art Clay Silver (.999 Fine Silver). An assortment of holes with varying diameters dots the surface. A gradient clay back-fill is the foundation for different size and colors of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS chaton crystals. Stripped clay surrounds the dome and striated, pink and white clay fans out around the outer surface. The banner-like border along the rim is comprised of half slices cut from a millefiori bull's-eye cane. Beneath this lies an embossed layer of pink clay.      

Faux-rora Borealis

     

The Aurora Borealis was the inspiration for this lid made from vibrant, clay foil colors. The abstract pattern seems to be rays of shimmering light that float above the clay base. Tiny foil accents spike upwards from the blue, clay rim.  

Northern Star

     

As we sail in the upper Northern reaches of the U.S., I'm inspired to create a lid that invokes the beauty of the night sky. A vintage SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS fancy stone in the shape of an elaborate stone graces the center or a scrap clay cane. Raised swirls of Sutton Sliced clay (made using my "Swirl" stamp) wrap around the rim. 

 

 

 

Glacial Opal

     

As we sail along the Alaskan coast, I'm inspired by what a gem of nature this national treasure is! Today's creation is both warm and chilly at the same time; warm with the look of fire opal beneath a chilly surface, that appears almost glacial. The glass dichroic cabochon sits on top of a base layer of clay that wraps over the edge and along the rim. A subtle, striated-gradient pattern is adorned with tiny, round bull's-eye cane slices. Each is dotted with a miniature nail head for a frame that draws the eye towards the focal point. 

The Adventure Continues!

     

Day 2 of the Clayditarod cruise! Today's lid is a collage that symbolizes the excitement of travel. Stamped polymer clay elements sit across the lid and the rim, including a postage cancellation mark made using the "Going Places" stamp. A gradient background serves as the foundation for the piece. miniature metal cones speckle the lid and a scrapbook propeller that actually spins completes the effect.  

North to Alaska

     

Time to set sail for Art Across the Ocean's 7th creative cruise! We leave today from Seattle, Washington for the "Clayditarod" Mixed-Clay event. Fellow Art Clay Silver Master and President of Art Clay World USA, Jackie Truty and I have partnered to bring a second metal and polymer clay retreat to sea. We invited world class teachers: Katie Baum (Art Clay Silver master and President of the Art Clay Society), Christie Friesen (Polymer Phenom) and Julie Picarello (Polymer Goddess) to teach classes along with us during our days at sea. My business partner and Marketing Director, Lisa Lambright helps keep everything together and running smoothly as head of event logistics. In honor of this event (our first creative cruise to Alaska), I created this clay "grizzly bear" who's gotten into the honey. Magic Glos resin drips down the hive as "honey." tiny sunflowers sit side-by-side along the rim to create a decorative border that is anchored in the center with a brass, bee charm stamping. This piece is reminiscent of my early days in clay when I started with my "Bearly There," business of miniature figurines.  

Cloodle

     

 

I've always been a doodler. What could be more fun than to doodle in 3D? Being able to touch and experience my doodles as a tactile experience is a delight. In my work defining the Sutton Slice technique and in developing both Textile Effect and Faux Tapestry variations, I've always looked at these methods as a type of doodling in clay. I love the elaborate designs that people create using the Zentangle® method (developed by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts). The Zentangle look has served as an inspiration for many artists, including those who work in polymer clay. I've seen other clay artists create these type of designs by drawing on the surface of clay. Artist, Julie Eakes has written a book devoted to this concept: "Clay Classics Inspired by Zentangle." My interest in creating unique designs begin by incorporating the Sutton Slice to "doodle' dimensionally. I've also played around with some free-hand dimensional doodling with polymer. I still have a bit of work to do until I'm satisfied enough to share my results. In the near future, I will be releasing some new texture stamps. One of these will include a design called "Cloodle." The name means to doodle dimensionally with polymer clay. Not will this stamp be ideal for use with the Sutton Slice and Textile Effect/Faux Tapestry methods, but also for use in imprinting the flat surface of paper, fabric, metal, glass, and of course - polymer clay! Later in this project, be on the lookout for another lid design, where I "doodle" two-dimensionally using millefiori canes.  

Lilac Loveliness

     

Although lilac season is behind us, I can't help but think of those fragrant blooms and how lucky I was to experience them earlier this year when visiting Colorado. Lilac is one of my favorite scents. These vintage, German glass sew on accents are one of the colors I remember from the varieties of lilac bushes that grew in my back yard. The other is the color that frames the components in the background. Purple and blue accents the lid via millefiori cane slices and in the watercolor effect I achieved by marbling a gradient clay strip.