Making a Large Polymer Clay Face Cane

Generally I approach polymer clay from a sculpting perspective.  A lot of what I make is three dimensional.  But another long tradition in polymer clay is making millefiore canes.  This technique is drawn from Italian glassblowing, where rods of glass are fused together so that cutting across the tube reveals a two dimensional picture.  The same can be done with clay.  I’d made simple canes in the past like spirals, bullseyes, and stripes.  Even though I’d admired complicated canes in magazines, I had shied away from more complex cane-making for way too long for fear that it would be too difficult.  Last night I changed all that by tackling my first real cane.

Before you start, make sure you have:

• A large clean work area

• All your tools laid out

• A reference photo to work from and refer back to

• Plenty of clay.  If you run out of a color in the middle of the night when the stores and closed and it’s too late to buy more, you’re gonna be screaming at yourself!  (I found this out the hard way)

•  About two days, and patience

My subject?  Boston Terrier, of course!  I started with the eyes.

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Zombie Apocalypse Etsy Treasuries

With Halloween in mind, two creative Etsians have cooked up a couple of fabulous zombie-themed treasuries.  Both were kind enough to include my Blood-Splattered Pharma Bracelet.

Do you have what it takes to survive the zombie apocalypse?  Find out by viewing these treasuries!

 Come the Zombie Apocalypse I Shall Be Fantastically Kitted Out

Lots of hilarious items here – the zombie repellent soap and eye chart crack me up.

Prepare for the End: Z-day Kit pt.3

Thanks for viewing!

~ Allison ~

Another Custom Order: Heart Defect Necklace

Tonight I’m bringing you a peek at another custom order I did a few months back.  Forgive my gushing, but my customers are so creative.  I am fascinated with the cool ideas they bring to me.  I’m honored to help make those ideas a reality by creating a completely one of a kind, memorable piece of wearable art.

A woman had emailed me about making a special necklace to honor her young son, who has a very rare congenital heart defect called a vascular ring of the right aortic arch.  The heart’s vascular ring pinches the trachea and esophagus which can inhibit breathing and swallowing.  I understand it’s very rare, with only 1 in 100,000 people suffering from this diagnosis.  Starting with my classic anatomically correct heart, this is what we came up with together.

I don’t know much about anatomy, so it was quite a challenge to match the medical pictures I had found while minding the physical properties and limitations of polymer clay.  Making this necklace also reminded me, yet again, how brilliant and miraculous our bodies are.  At any given moment our bodies are carrying out thousands (millions?) of mind-boggling and invisible processes to keep us alive, and yet we often take this for granted.

To my delight my customer loved it, and I hear her son’s pulmonologist got a kick out of it as well, LOL!  Believe it or not this isn’t my first heart defect piece.  I am glad that this unusual but lovely little niche found me!

Thanks for reading,

~ Allison ~

Good and Evil Custom Pandora’s Box

I just had to share this with you!  You may have seen my Pandora’s boxes, which begin as everyday candy tins, and, layers of polymer clay later, end up as unique works of art.  A customer requested that I make a “good and evil” box.  Well, here’s what I came up with.  Four more pix after the jump!

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New Pill Bracelet

I have a new bracelet available that features the beloved Gearbunny pills!  The Pharma Bracelet is a colorful eyecatcher that’s sure to stir up some discussion.  I can picture this being a great addition to a Halloween costume, especially.

I decided to make this bracelet because I’m reading Mad in America, a fascinating look at the real history of psychiatry by Robert Whitaker.  It’s quite disturbing and yet I can’t put it down.  It’s certainly opened my eyes to all that we don’t understand about mental health.

Here’s a peek behind the scenes:

Check out the listing here.