I was completely surprised and honored to learn that my LUV heart was featured on Polymer Clay Daily this week.
I’ve been working on more hearts and since it’s Valentine’s Day, it seemed like a good time to share more heart art.
BE Heart Front
BE Heart Back
HOPE Heart Front
HOPE Heart Back
LOVE Heart
LOVE Heart Back
All of these hearts are made with polymer and alcohol inks. I’ve been experimenting with different techniques for applying the alcohol inks. Still learning which one I prefer to use. Have also tried mica powders as a base layer but am not sure if I like that approach.
Either way, it is all fun. Isn’t that what play and practice is all about?
The hearts measure 2″ long by 1″ at their widest point. I love the way they fit into the palm of your hand.
A few years ago I made a bunch of simple heart pins. The heart was made from textured copper polymer and accented with a gently accordion-folded strip of gold polymer.
Copper Heart Pin
I sold several of these hearts and had a few left in my inventory. I didn’t want to dispose of the last remaining hearts, so I started thinking about how I could give these hearts an updated look.
The other day inspiration finally struck when I decided to add a small banner of text to the surface of the heart. I’ve been working with a mix of white and translucent polymer, so that seemed like a natural choice to use for the text banner.
Not sure how this would look, I took one heart to be the demo piece. I rolled out the clay, cut a strip to fit on the surface of the heart, and stamped words into the clay with my metal letter stamps. I used tiny amount of liquid clay to “glue” the raw clay to the surface of the heart. After the banner of text was cured, I used a thin wash of acrylic paint to highlight the letters.
And here is the result:
I was pleasantly surprised with the results. The ivory polymer provides a nice contrast to the copper clay. And by adding text to some older artwork, I’ve updated the look and given the pieces new life.
In keeping with this heart inspired mood, I started playing around with a completely new heart design. I have an idea of where I may go with these hearts. Until then, I’ll just share these two pictures.
Luv Heart Front
Luv Heart Back
What do you think? I’d love to read your thoughts on this new design.
Strangely enough,
even though all beings would like to live in peace,
our method for obtaining peace over the generations
seems not to be very effective:
we seek peace and happiness by going to war.
Maybe we come home from work and we’re tired
and we just want some peace;
but at home all hell is breaking loose for one reason or another,
and so we start yelling at people.
War begins when we harden our hearts,
and we harden them easily whenever we feel uncomfortable.
It’s so sad, really,
because our motivation in hardening our hearts
is to find some kind of ease,
some kind of freedom from the distress that we’re feeling.
We can do everything in our power,
but war is never going to end
as long as our hearts are hardened against each other.
Woody is our oldest cat; 10 years young. Both of our cats are very special to me. Woody, though, has a special spot in my heart because he helped me through my grief when our first two cats died six months apart. I’m sure he figured he was getting lots and lots of attention because he’s so darn handsome.
A few weeks back I sculpted some cat heads using both Woody and Pippin as my inspiration. Today I am happy to share with you the first completed cat sculpture using one of those cat heads, Cat in Striped Pajamas (aka Woody in Striped Jammies)
First, here is how this piece looked before clothes were added.
My first idea, if you saw my sketch book, was to create a hinged body similar to one I made in France. (Yes, I still need to share those pictures…really, we did make some art in France.) However, I wasn’t happy with the way the construction was going, so I switched to the shelf sitter idea. The scrap clay body parts gave me an idea of how the finished piece might look.
And, Viola,(oops) voila, Cat in Striped Pajamas
Cat in Striped Pajamas is a solid core polymer clay sculpture. He sits approximately 6.5″ tall. His head is sculpted polymer clay. The color was created with soft pastels and his eyes are hand painted. His whiskers are bristles from a scrub brush. Cat in Striped Pajamas arms are secured with buna cord (rubber cord) and accented with rhinestones. (Every cat needs a little bling, right?) He is hand sanded, buffed, and finished with an acrylic wash. Cat in Striped Pajamas resides in my personal collection.
Angel Heart Talisman
At the spring Paradise City show, I introduced a few Heart in Hand talisman. They were quite popular. While I intend to create more in a few different colors for my fall show, I had another idea for a very specific talisman which I’ve named Angel Heart Talisman.
Similar in construction to the Heart in Hand Talisman, these pieces have the addition of tiny faces and one wing. All are stamped with the word Angel.
The Angel Heart Talisman can be removed from its base for use as a wish stone. If desired, the Angel Heart Talisman can be personalized with a name or date on the back. Each talisman is hand sanded, buffed, and finished with an acrylic wash to bring out the textures. Size: 2″. Retail price: $35.00.
Two new Soulful Sprites, Joy and Luck, have been added to the collection. Joy’s stone is in shades of pink and red. Luck’s stone is in shades of green and includes a small shamrock.
Each Soulful Sprite comes packaged in a clear box and sits on a nest of green shred. A story card is included.
Price: $25.00 each.
Hearts in Hands Talisman
New this spring are the Hearts in Hands Talisman. I made these small hearts months ago and had not decided on a good way to display them. Naturally a week or so before the Paradise City show the muse hit me to place the hearts into clasped hands. They were quite popular at the show and I plan to make them part of my line.
Each heart is made from polymer clay and stamped with inspiring words. Each heart is hand sanded, buffed, and finished with an acrylic wash. The Hearts in Hands Talismans have words on both sides and are removable from the clasped hands. Carry the heart with you, in your pocket, backpack, or handbag.
Current word pairs available: Heart/Soul, Heal/Hope
Each Heart in Hands Talisman comes packaged in a clear box nestled on a bed of green shred.
