Hot Date in the Art Studio

Last night was a great "date" night between me and my art supplies in the studio.  I worked on some bases for the Femmes pictured here.  The bases are made of Ultra-Light polymer clay, then covered with regular Sculpey III, Fimo Soft or Premo, depending on the color. The Ultra-Light is amazing...easy to mold, not sticky.  If you use the Ultra-Light and happen to paint it, I'd love some tips on what kinds of paints stick well to it.  I've tried a few things but so far I'm not terribly happy with what I've come up with.  Alcohol inks seem to penetrate plastic well, but as far as brush-on....well the verdict is still out on that. 

Later I started my second sari-strip scarf.  Decided to start with reds and oranges on one part, then will merge some blues and purples into another half.  I'm kind of addicted to ironing the strips right now.  As of this morning, the strips you see below are now sandwiched and pinned between 2 layers of Sulky Ultra-Solvy stabilizer.  When the blue/purple half is finished and attached, I'm going to sew the sandwich lengthwise in large arcs and sweeping curves to make sure all of the sari strips are connected.  When I'm satisfied that I've sewn enough, I will submerge the whole scarf in some water and work the water soluble Ultra-Solvy out of the scarf.  This will be a "beefier", more substantial scarf than the one at work that I made.

Classes at Home

On Saturday I taught a beadmaking class to one of my biggest fans as well as two of her friends. It was a total blast! At first I had pre-show jitters...walking around nervously making sure all the clay colors were out, tools were in place, lighting was good, and polymer clay books were arranged. I think I'm going to start advertising more for this kind of getup. Since I ditched my car years ago (yes I miss it for doing shows), transporting pasta rollers, bags of SculpeyIII, ovens, ceramic tiles and my decent-sized collection of polymer related publishings is a Major Pain. But doing it in my place is easy.

My studio is a really interesting place to create, which is probably why I'm so prolific. My apartment has 'belonged' to many artists, and the vibe is great. I like the rawness of it. It's excellent location in downtown Cincinnati with super-easy parking, close proximity of some nice affordable, healthy restaurants and the library make it even more appealing.

So I guess if one would like to take a beadmaking class at my place, just shoot me an email. I'll give you more details.