Experiments with the New Sterling Clay

I've finally had a bit of time to experiment with the recently released sterling silver clay. After debating whether to do some simple test pieces first or just go all out, I decided to work on a design that has been calling to me.

I began by rolling and cutting out the window. The clay itself is darker in color than fine silver clay, but very malleable and easy to work with. After making dozens of tiny leaves, I'd say that sterling clay is actually easier to work with than fine silver. It seems to hold moisture better and longer. I had absolutely no issues with cracking or drying out the clay from too much handling. When I felt I needed to remoisten something, I just spritzed with a fine mist of water, which absorbed quickly and returned the clay to beautiful consistency. Assembly worked well with thick paste, and the bird took details beautifully, both pressed and carved. Essentially, I worked it just as I would PMC3.

Now, onward to the test firing, once I get the pin back details ironed out.

Merry Christmas!

The big day is almost here, and I have at last admitted that no more will get done. There's only so much time for decorating and cooking, and then I must just stop and enjoy it the way it is.

No, the draperies for the new family room will not get made before Christmas, but there's always next year.

I can enjoy the fun I had with limiting my decorating palette to match the espresso, cream and lime of the new room. The boxes of more traditional ornaments still sit in the garage, waiting for me to return to them in future years.

The mantle will not get swaged with greenery, but stay in this rather pristine state. There will be no cream quilted stockings to hang here this round, but the old traditional stockings will pop out in the morning, stuffed too full to safely hang.

I loved all the photos of bare branch Christmas trees that I collected on Pinterest, so I made a quick version for my living room coffee table with  frosted branches from Michael's nestled into a crystal vase filled with rock salt and hung with tiny glass balls. I really wanted a huge pot filled with tall white branches, but maybe I can do that next year.

I still didn't get the shelf painted so that the family china can go back into the buffet, but Christmas Eve dinner was served from those plates anyway.

It's time to stop and enjoy what I did accomplish. Dreams are always bigger than reality, but without the dreams we'd stop far short. I hope your dreams took you far this year. Merry Christmas to all!

Buy Handmade for the Holidays

In trying to do my part to support artists during this holiday season, I placed my first order to Artful Home. I ordered a pair of handmade ceramic mugs. These are technically my father's gift to me this Christmas, but I got to do my own shopping.

Aren't they beautiful? The light clay base is covered in black slip, then hand-carved by the artist, Jennifer Falter. For bird lovers like myself, these should be perfect for that morning cup of tea or coffee.

I hope you also have searched out some special artwork to grace your gift giving this year. Merry Christmas to all!

The Great Annual Studio Reorganization

As I've struggled recently to get any work done in my studio, I've blamed it on the occasional artistic ennui, a time to fill the well. The recent demise of my trusted PC has led to a new tenant in the room, an elegant, alien iMac occupying less space than its clunky, techy cousin. Bringing in that big and beautiful toy prompted reassessment of the desk, covered with mountains of "stuff."

Thus began the Great Annual Studio Reorganization (I checked -- it has been a bit over a year since the last iteration). I realize now that part of my aversion to working is not quiet time to recharge, but rather an inability to work around the clutter covering every surface. Pushing things back to clear a tiny workspace is not conducive to free creativity!

So far in the last few days, I've cleared off my desktop around the computer. I've reorganized two drawers full of office gear, and I've started purging the paper files so that I can find room to stuff something new into the drawer. I've also committed to a more paperless existence, scanning myriads of documents I hate to toss, but which I could undoubtedly never locate if needed. Now they reside on my hard drive, with searchable titles. Five boxes of books, mostly homeschool related, went to the buyers at a local used book reseller. While these mundane tasks don't seem directly related to making new art, I feel freer just being able to see the top of my desk again. I've at least been able to stay on task with this particular assignment.

Anyone else having the urge to reorganize your space at this crazy time of year?