Robin Young wins GRAND PRIZE

Congratulations to Robin Young! She won the Grand Prize in Fire Mountain Gems recent Jewelry Making Contest with her "Family String" fish necklace.

Using her amazing polymer clay fish, elements of Steampunk design and her own personal style, Robin created this fabulous piece. Check out the Fire Mountain announcement here. Her competition was impressive too!

Here is what they say about Robin's winning necklace: "With its unique polymer clay creations and steampunk style, Robin's museum-quality necklace stole the show. Her incredible piece represents what Chris called "one of the better uses of polymer clay I've seen." A well thought-out jewelry design, the necklace also features a handmade clasp. Robin calls Family Stringer a show-stopper featuring pieces from her line of Rescue Fish. These fierce yet friendly polymer clay creations pay tribute to those rescued from the 2011 tsunami and nuclear devastation in Japan--and to the fish that elude the hooks of Robin and her family on their annual Canadian fishing trips!"

Those of us who are members of the local polymer clay guild are privileged to have a fish made by Robin for last year's bead exchange. We have also known for a while now that Robin is exceptionally gifted with polymer clay. We are proud to call her "one of us!"

SELF PORTRAIT: Represent Your Face in Clay Challenge Results

Our first 2012 Challenge - Self Portrait: Represent yourself in Clay!
Make your SELF PORTRAIT, a face cane of yourself, sculpt yourself, make a face mask, or somehow do YOU in polymer clay. What a challenge! Creations were due at the April 2012 meeting! View the results here. Read more here.

Not everyone participated in this challenging challenge....but the results were fantastic! Techniques ranged from a face cane to a complete life-sized sculpt and included a large sculpture with not only polymer clay, but also glass, paper clay, brass, wire, shells, beads and more!


Mary DeWerff (welcome back, Mary!) brought her face cane pendant. She said the eye (hazel) and lip colors are hers, the rest she questioned. But we all agreed the translucent flower canes surrounding her face cane were a great representation of her curly blond hair, which surrounds her real face.

Kim Keane took the minimalist route - using the wire and resin techniques we learned from Eugena Topina a few years ago. This piece does look like Kim - reflecting her easily recognizable pieces and frequent use of black clay and resin.

 Deb Williams - who has an great gift for sculpting animals and faces - did herself in clay. The eyes are glass beads but this has way more gray hair than Deb actually does. What a great, realistic-style face!

New member Carol Hale (who by-the-way is an accomplished doll artist who repairs and restores porcelain dolls - as in replacing lost and broken fingers! ) created a 3-D sculpt of herself, complete with one of her dogs. The hat brim is so delicate she protected it with tissue while curing so it would not brown.

Another new member, Donna Veran Ford brought two pieces she did in school with kiln-fired earth clay. The first is a life-like face mask which really looks like Donna. It seemed to be very close to life-sized.

Donna's second piece is more of a sculpt of her alto-ego....also done in earthen clay....Donna as a fish! This piece was fired then painted, and has an iridescent shine.

Robin Young brought in a work-in-progress. Obviously fish are close to her heart and this fish sculpture contains many of her favorite things, not only polymer clay but also paper clay (for its light weight), wire, brass (steampunky clock parts, gears, keys etc), beach glass, sea urchin shells, and beads.

 Front view - find the eyes....we want to see this when it is finished!!

Michele Wineland found a way to use polymer clay and have not only her own self-portrait, but everyone's with her clay framed mirror. Brilliant!!

April Swellegant Meeting

Lynette has ordered Christi Friesen's kit of Swellegant metal coatings and patinas. Check out Christi's site here and download your own copy of her free PDF here. (bring your copy to the meeting if you want to follow along.)

Basically, these products put a metal coating over your polymer clay. Then you can apply patinas to the metal! Looks like fun...come and see it next week.

Some samples from Christi's site.

UPDATE: There are other sources for these patinas and dyes. B'Sue Boutiques also carries the Swellegant line. Search on Etsy for dye oxides. MissFickleMedia and Art and Soul Objects (her bottles are 2oz and come with a spray top!) Easy to buy a set of colors, all small amounts.

Or go to the source - Sculpt Nouveau - which is a source of these and many more products for applying patinas to metal, specifically for sculptors. If you find a color you use a lot of, this one makes more sense.

Pricing: Christi Friesen- 2oz bottle of Swellegant dye oxide for $5 ($2.50/oz)
B'Sue Boutiques - 2oz of Swellegant dye oxide for $6 ($3/oz)
MissFickleMedia - 2oz self-branded for about $8 ($4/oz)
Art and Soul Objects - 2oz self-branded for $7.95 ($4/oz)
Sculpt Nouveau - 8oz for $14 ($1.75/oz)

There were some questions about what exactly a dye oxide is. This is from the Sculpt Nouveau site: "Dye-Oxide Patinas are a cross between the Solvent Based Dyes and a patina. All of the colors are transparent and may be blended or layered together to achieve any color. Like the Universal Patinas, Dye-Oxide Patinas are UV safe, non-reactive, and do not contain acids. They may be applied in any manner using any traditional hot or cold patina application technique. The Dye-Oxide Patinas adhere best when the metal is warmed (180-200°F)."
 
 This site has many other materials and information, plus patinas and dyes in larger quantities. Swellegant patinas and dye oxides appear to be the same formulas as what's available on Sculpt Nouveau, but repackaged in smaller quantities for those not needing large sculpture amounts. And providing ways to test and experiment with the colors.