Buddha in the Beads - a mult-method enterprise

This past week I spent with some real detail work! First I painted a wooden frame with acrylic paint. Then I added a few "3D effects" shapes that I had cast in epoxy.



In the upper right corner is a dome shaped piece with an encapsulated Swarovski crystal. the upper left has a face cast in clear but painted blue. Mid-left is another dome with Delica beads cast inside.


Then the big Buddha Maitreya cast in clear with golden sparkling glitter and transparent red pigment, then pained with liquid gold enamel and red acrylic paint.
In the top I added tulle and a pearl ribbon.



Finally I added tons of Delica beads and lifted, turned and moved every single bead with tweezers or my X-acto knife, so that they all faced with the reflective surface outwards (and not barrel turned). They were fastened with clear glossy varnish. What one cannot see is that last I also sprayed the frame with Gold paint on the outside.

Personality test - the woman in the tree

Today I did a personality test. I quote from part of the analysis -
"... have rich, vivid imaginations and thrive, flourish, and grow when using their creative abilities." In my creative past their has been a theme of coming and going women in trees, and one of the first things I did when I came to "Aspects of Clay" this spring was a tree. I didn't really put much effort in producing the actual tree, but I kind of had an idea that I wanted to symbolically hang leaves from it. This is the story of what happened with the tree after it came home to me.

The jump rings are in sterling silver and 12 mm in diameter. Here is the tree almost bare naked before "spring" came about....



The small leaves and circles were cut out with mini cookie cutters. It is a lowfire clay and glaze.


Here is a view of the finished lady. On top of the branches sits Swarovski flat back glued in place (yes it was very tricky). The face is made with Epoxy resin with a pearl tint.



Here is another view, and maybe if you look close enough you can see a strand of seed beads and swarovski beads hanging between two branches. I made circles of 4 Delica beads and a Swarovski and then another 4 Delicas to create a latter looking connection.



There is a lot of sparkle by the Ladie's tree which is kind of hard to capture, but of course she is a radiant Goddess or Deva...


Captured a little from above one can see the balancing act of the bling... ;)



Now this is a tree lady in three dimensions .....


or some times in 2.....

Colorful closet - a bouquet full of hangers

A week or two ago we went to Home Depot to get some shelving for storage. While there I passed by a bin full of wood hangers for sale. They were untreated and inexpensive. Immediately I felt that they could be a valuable addition to our closet by the entrance. Plastic hangers don't really state a pleasant "Welcome!" to guests.
The hangers came in an 8-pack and here are the results.

First photo is of a hanger "au naturelle".

Epoxy casting

When I was a kid we used to play with the glue bottle in school. No not the white glue in elementary school but a clear glue we were introduced to in about miiddle school age.

It was called RX lim. Came out clear from funny shaped plastic bottles. If you poured some out on a flat surface (like the school desk) it would cure over night and you got a clear plastic mass.
This casting with Epoxy is very similar to that experience....
The product I used for this little beginner's project is called "Easy cast" - clear casting Epoxy and is made by Castin' Craft.

http://www.eti-usa.com/consum/castresn/castresn.htm

You can buy them in most hobby stores or online for ex Dick Blick.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/castincraft-easycast-clear-casting-epoxy/



It is very important to measure the two components equally. Here the actual Resin on the left and the hardener to the right. They recommend that the bottles should feel slightly warm to the touch before pouring (and opening). If not You can warm them up with warm water under the faucet. Whatever you do, be careful not to touch it or get it in your eyes, and read the instructions. I used two plastic containers on which I marked a line at the same spot with a sharpie permanent marker. It is imperative that one pour up 1:1.


Then one mix it, and not just in one container but twice in two containers. Stir with a wood stick. Below is the finished Goo. There might be bubbles but they should go away during the curing time.


Then I sprayed a mold with mold release. I don't know it it's necessary with these plastic premade molds but I did it. These you can also buy almost anywhere they sell Hobby and crafts products.


The plastic is very hard to capture with the camera. It glares a lot and with a flash it reflects or light goes straight through.
From left to right I poured in

• Matsuno purple seed beads
• A turqoise glass marble and silver lined matsuno Seed beads
• A Swarowski Crytal Clear AB Rondell
• White Delica Beads

It takes about 24 hours for the plastic to cure. Meanwhile do not touch it or you will have finger prints on your project. After 48 they are really dried and after 72 hours you can work with them. I actually cut them and things like that after 36 hours or something like that.
Once again incredible difficult to photograph. I thinnk for every picture I put here I have about 10 that came out either blurry or one could not make out the cab at all due to all light going straight through it. The one in the bottom here (with the Swarovski crystal) shows exactly what I mean.

Mold making

Yesterday I got an impulse.... I wanted to try some Epoxy casting and Mold building.
I had bought a jar of rubber mold builder, at Hobby Lobby, that was already pre-mixed. It's a brush-on kind that one brushes on layer by layer until one reach a thickness of about 8-10 layers. The instructions says to do the first layers thin in order to get the details right and to be careful not to lock in bubbles.


My goal is partly to try to make some clear Epoxy beads and other items, but I wanted to try first before doing some bigger mistakes. Even though I have some pre-made molds I wanted to make a few of my own too.
Mold making is not very expensive and relatively easy to do, but one need to be careful especially with the resin or epoxy casting part of things. I got some really good inspiration from this book>


" The Art of Resin Jewelry" wich includes some hands-on instructions and plenty of projects and inspiration! It comes with a DVD, but I have not watched it yet.


I took my bin out with small bisque fired items out and varnished them so it would seal off. You can see the glossy looking surface on the knob (up in the right hand corner).


I sprayed the pieces I picked out to work with a mold releaser agent.


Below are two smaller items after about 8 layers and 12 hours of drying. It's the spider and the skull from the bin. I used a hairdryer to speed up the drying time between each brushing on each layer. A heat gun would have been to hot! I used a hair dryer on a low heat setting only.


Well it was kind of boring and time-consuming to brush on a layer and then wait 45 minutes before brushing on the next layer, and I wanted to experiment a little.... so I also instead of brushing on layer by layer ( as you are supposed to).... took the Kokopelli guy and just poored over the rubber. I have no clue if that will work but I wanted to try. Worst case scenario.... I have to throw it all out..

Some Internet resources>

http://www.smooth-on.com/Sculpture-and-Art-/c1239/index.html
This web site has tons of videos, instruction, information and general advice!

http://www.hirstarts.com/moldmake/moldmaking.html

http://www.eti-usa.com/consum/castresn/castresn.htm
With the product that I will use tomorrow for some clear casting.

My studio - a creative corner in my home

Some of you ( especially those from far far away) have asked me how it looks like in my creative room, or art studio if you like, well here it is.....or at least some of it...


A lot of space is dedicated to beads of all kinds.
The purple drawers to the left in the picture contains Swarovski beads in all shapes and colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarovski

http://www.swarovski.com/





Below is a photo of my for the moment inactive Jewelry bench. Flex shaft, bench mate and tools are not in use and sits in boxes below the bench. If I want to start up the jewelry making it can be done in no time :)




I often use acrylic paints for painting mostly on wood. The baskets in the previous post are painted with this kind of paints. The rack is on the table that I wasn't working on today, so most of those paints would be where all the empty spots are in the rack.....




Here are storage shelves for all kinds of things that are good to have handy.
On the top shelf sits old finished project, some fused glass, some boxes and mixed media.
On the lowest shelf is mostly clay, heavy tools and a box with round clear bead containers that I use if I need to transport beads.



Here I tried to show you a close up of what is on the shelves. It's a shame one cannot see all the Delicas, but as far as I remember they have a post of their own in the very beginning of this blog :)



Glues and adhesives are essential. Here is a box with some of the glues and varnishes I use. There are also jars with rubber for mold making, resin, and mold release.....


The last photos are of a dresser I bought from craigslist.org I use the drawers for papers and card making stuff. The bottom drawer is filled with fabrics. On top of the dresser I have some minerals from my little mineral collection. Closer shot below.

The baskets are done :)

Here are the three baskets that I posted here 02-17-09. Now they are finally all decorated and varnished with a glossy varnish. I will use them for guest towels in the bathrooms.


It is easy to tell my favorite colors. haha. One day I will try to use some more earthy tones too :)
Actually I often use purple with green on home decorating items that I have crafted.






Traditional patterns up close below.





Baskets on stage LOL

Happiness

Happiness is....



...when you create something you love.... Yes I love this piece. The colors, the shapes, the details.... it was an odd experience, because I'm still very much a beginner, so I add to ask a lot of technical questions that became my obstacle, like the height. I had to heat the bottom with a heat gun and build it in three sections. Also this was my very first piece using low fire clay and glazes. Regarding the actual shape, I carved it out from the clay and added clay where needed. I just followed my hands along as they worked.
















Below. A detail of the blue section. I was worried many times in the process that "loose" and fragile parts like this would break but I was lucky.


Last photo this time of this happy thing is taken outside in the New Mexico sunshine!