Maureen Carlson Clay Characters

How to Make Clay Characters

Sorry about the long pause between blog's, I am a bit disheartened with the internet at the moment, my speed is not what it's supposed to be!!!

Well last week a did a little bit of online retail therapy, for a little while now I've been scouring the net to find sites about creating more realistic characters from my clay...

I bought three books in a bundle from http://www.amazon.co.uk/  two were by Maureen Carlson and one by Katherin Dewy.  I am enthralled by their work and would love to be anywhere even half way near to the talent of these artists.... but one can dream!!!

My first attempt is from the book by Maureen Carlson on How to Make Clay Characters, I tried Maureen's character Suzette, (I called my little one Tammy).  I am still trying to get to grips with the hands.... they are quite tricky, practice makes perfect!  i deviated a little from the character in the book, as I only did one ribbon and added a large lollipop for Tammy to hold.

I love the details and the information about actually clothing your characters, which I have found quite hard in the past, I never really thought about designing them as "actual" clothing patterns before, but Maureen's background is in sewing so naturally she thought as a seamstress.  Which makes sense really....  this is definately a must have for peeps looking to improve their sculpting skills.

When I get time I'll review the other books!!!

Here's my attempt at Maureen's character.

I've been so enthralled with the book, I've hardly looked at the other two, I will though!!

Oh and there's a new addition to the family.... meet Princess the goldfish........ she's happy in her new home!

I've been having great fun with my fimo creating these little characters.

I made these one's over the last week or so. 

The whole cake topper thing is new to me, but I love the idea of creating little people with a resemblance to the recipients. 

This little bride is very cute, I'm quite happy with how she turned out, but really unhappy with the way the groom has turned out, I don't know what it is about the soft clay (I can only seem to source the soft fimo here in Ireland) but the black clay is awful, I honestly can't see any use for the soft black clay at all?  It's very unmanageable, I can only describe it as trying to model with chewing gum. 

So I'd say this little bride will be divorcing her current husband (maybe I'll make a divorce party topper next!! lol!!) and finding herself a dashing new husband, as soon as my new clay arrives from craftcellar, I've ordered the big blocks this time, so that I hopefully don't run out as quickly.....  it's my first time using this company, I have to say that so far the customer service has been excellent, I placed the order on Friday and they rang my husband the next day (unfortunately I hadn't told him I'd used his card to make the order!! so he was a little bemused at first),  to explain that they were out of the white but would send on the order and forward the white as soon as it came into stock.  So faultless so far...... I await my package! 

40th Birthday Polymer clay Cake topper

Here's a peek at the cake topper I made for my friend in work's sister who's 40th birthday is today! (Happy Birthday Mary!) She is a demon for her food and unlike myself she is blessed with "good" genes that allow her to eat what she wants and still stay slim!!  This is a long standing joke in her family as she's known to be always eating!!!  Hence the steak, mash potato, carrots and peas she's eating!! 

I made this one on Wednesday night at very short notice... so I'm quite pleased at how it turned out with so little time to make it!

Hope you like it.... actually more importantly I hope Mary likes it!!!

Polymer clay Wedding cake toppers

What's been keeping me occupied this week?  I've always admired the craft of modelling, I especially love the cute little figures  I've seen online for weddings and cake toppers.  I decided to have a go at one for myself. 

I needed a bit more information before I got started, so I was googling tutorials to make these for quite a while and had drawn a blank.  I came across the site of an extremely talented German lady called Betty (well at least I think that's her name), Betty works not only in polymer clay but in sugarcraft, you should see her frog prince cake!! Wow!! It really is something, so cute, I only took my daughter to see the new Disney frog prince movie recently and loved it... so I absolutely adore Betty's frog prince. 

Anyhoo Betty has a brilliant tutorial for making bride and groom wedding cake toppers for sale on her site, so after buying it I had a go. 

I wasn't really too fussed that the white got a bit dirty, as I really only wanted to see if I could follow the tutorial.  My biggest problem was my fimo... the black was like chewing gum to work with, I'd normally use fimo classic, but could only get soft of late and I hadn't ever used the soft black.... I opened two packs as I thought one might have been an old one the shop had. As a result the groom is not really how I had anticipated.  But I am quite pleased with the result.  I added earrings to my bride and a tiny tiara made from seed beads and wire.

The tutorial was easy to follow, and very few tools were required, so it's ideal for beginners with no real outlay other than the polymer clay itself.  I used the tube that my seed beads come in to shape the mouth.

If you want to see any of the fabulous work of the talented crafter Betty you can see it here the website is in German, but click on google translate to view it in English.

Been a while!

I knew I would do it, totally forget to blog.... but I'm gonna try and make an effort to blog at least once a week...

Well here's some of my most recent "makes" the top pic is of a bridal bracelet, using 6mm Swarovski pearls and AB crystals... hope to add it to my etsy, but want a better pic.

Second one is a necklace made using my own polymer clay beads and 14mm glass pearls, I love those beads...

Third one is my play on a necklace I saw at the Big Bead Show in Sandown racecourse last year, the original design just used all 14mm pearls, but I added some glass and a little metal, I love the chunkiness of this piece....

I've been on a buying ban for a while now, so I am trying to use up what I have, so the last piece is made using another of my own polymer clay beads as a focal, a mixture of hematite and czech glass makes this asymetrical necklace..