This Happens all the time!

Thanksgiving Crescent Roll Cornucopias

Hi!

I just have a quick post about what I made for Thanksgiving.

I found a recipe online for tomato, goat cheese, and pine nut filled crescent rolls and I decided to change it up to my own tastes! Also, I tried to make them look like cornucopias for a harvest theme.

I used Craisins, walnuts, and feta for the filling. I used the same ratio of ingredients in the mixture as the original recipe; 2 parts Craisins to 1 part each of the walnuts and feta.

I just used the regular sized crescent rolls. This will work with any size and you have to measure your filling proportionally. I take the very long end and smush it along the short end.

You cab mush the leftover part along the edge of the triangle and it forms a lip of the cornucopia.

 

 Fill and twist the end!

 I ended up baking them a few minutes longer than the roll package suggests for rolls alone.

They're tasty and light! It's like a little snack in a pouch! A cute edition to your holiday spread.

Octopus Pencil Topper Progession

On my day off the other week I fully intended to run errands, and do chores, but it didn't turn out that way. Instead, I played with my eraser clay! It was super relaxing. Here's the progession of one of them.

Tentacles:

First try at the face:

My friend said it was too creepy.

Getting there:

After baking:

This octopus is about twice the size of my normal octopus topper. 

Soon to be available on Etsy. 

Monster a Week Results: Werewolf

I tried making a traditional-looking water dragon but I was not happy with the results. I tore of all the clay, added some bulk to my aluminum structure, and decided to try a werewolf.

Here are the results:

Fun note: I tend to use beads for eyes in my sculptures but couldn't find my second bead for this sculpture. Improvising, I decided he needed an arrow shoved through his socket instead! I'm not really sure what that says about me...

This was the first coat of black paint.

The Finished Project:

I am satisfied with the overall results of the sculpture and I think I am improving in both my painting techniques and hair sculpting. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

My Adventures with Resin and Mold Making Part 1

I'm a on break from cold porcelain. I wanted to try to make sculptures using bowls and resin. These art pieces seem to be building in popularity but the build up is slower because the process is a bit involved. Hopefully, everyone has seen the amazing artist Riusuke Fukahori. If you haven't you need to watch this video and come back to the blog...



...back now? Okay, wasn't that amazing! He pours resin, layer by layer and layers the paint to create a "3D painting" effect. The outcome is incredible and memorizing.

My fellow contributor Christen has also made some fantastic resin sculptures. (All of which can be purchased in her Etsy Shop.) She layers polymer clay sculptures into the resin to create a dynamic still life sculpture. Fukahori and Christen have been my major inspirations to try it myself. I wanted to start out easy by making sculpted fish instead of trying to paint them on the resin, which is infinitely harder (for me).

First, I bought some neat bowls from Goodwill. I found an amazing wooden bowl. I bought my resin from Michael's (go-go 40% off coupon!). Christen actually drove up for a visit and I waited for expertise before I attempted to try it. It's a fairly simple process (mix one part hardener with one part resign and stir!) but I tend to be leery of using new chemicals.

I poured about 1/8th inch layer in my bowls. You might be able to see it in the picture. The resin is perfectly clear. When you pour resin it captures a lot of air, which create air bubbles. The best way to get rid of them is with carbon dioxide. If you don't have a torch, (get a torch if you plan on doing this a lot!) you have to use your own breathe, which involves a lot of blowing through a straw.

My next step was to make some fish for my bowl. I wanted to try out the Sculpey Mold Maker clay I had lying around. I made simple fish shapes in different sizes in regular Sculpey (the red fish) and baked them. I put the mold making clay around the them making a top and bottom mold (bake again!). I coated the mold inside liberally with cornstarch and pushed more regular clay in the mold.

 It worked pretty well! I added fin details before baking and ended up with a decent handful of mostly unique koi fish. I really wanted to make a mermaid kissing a fish...so I did! :)

I painted everything with acrylic paint...

I painted the top layer of resin and bottom of the glass with paint because I did not want the class to be see through. I wanted to have more contrast between the bottom and the fish.






More to come when I finally mix the resin again...

Why is bad art good?

My good friend and I have been discussing over the past couple of weeks, why many comics that are drawn badly have such enormous followings. After the artist gets enough followers, they self publish their work in a book and ask for donations so they can go to one convention or another. They can ask for top dollar on their ad space because they get 5,000 pageviews a day. It ends up making the artist enough money to quit their day job.

Autobiographical comics or webcomics doodled on people's napkins but get 1,000 fans. Their art becomes a record of their growth as an artist but it’s still “bad” art. Don’t get me wrong. I freaking LOVE them. The art may be not up to par but the storylines are super witty. Other autobiographical comics are so honest and they produce SO MUCH that as a whole it just seems to WORK (for some odd reason). My professors used to say to us in class, “This would work…if you did 50 of them.” 

Does quantity make up for quality? Does the wit and writing make up for the slightly poor anatomy? Where’s the line between good bad art and just bad art? Why do I love them so much even though I can draw better than them? Why are they so much more successful?

Consistency. The frequency which they produce work adds to their success. Their styles do not require hours and hours of work (or they shouldn't). They don’t strive for perfection in every corner so there’s an immediacy and honesty to the lines even if they aren't aesthetically pleasing as a comic from DC. Therefore, they can consistently give their audience a weekly update and maintain the level of quality.

The reason I struggle with this is ultimately pretty simple: I’M JEALOUS.

Dragon Version of Patrick Stewart

To sharpen their skills and push their creativity, many artists try to do a sketch a day but seeing as I sculpt instead of draw, I am pushing myself to start and finish a sculpture a week.

Why dragons? Because I like 'em. If I start creating some really successful pieces, I will try molding them, (with photos) and selling the casts.

The resemblance to Patrick Stewart was unintentional. I originally started tried designing a fierce looking dragon but noticed he had a more wise, friendly expression and decided to follow where the clay lead.

Here are the sculpting stages:

How to Sell at a Convention

Conventions are an excellent way to get feedback, quick money, and most importantly of all, a fanbase but the whole experience can be a bit overwhelming. After about 6 conventions I gathered a few tips that might help you out if you yourself want to start selling at conventions:

1.) Start Small: Most new conventions offer lower prices and more lee way in what you plan to sell. Yes, only 500 people may show up at the convention but $100 tables are hard to argue with. Big note for sculptures/craftsman!! Larger conventions often demand you buy the more expensive vendor booth if you sell your 3-d projects even if they are all handmade but small conventions usually still let you buy the cheaper tables in Artists' Alley.

2) Start Local:  Never forget to take travel expenses into your profit margin! You might make 500 dollars a day but how much did your travel and hotel room cost each night? Until you have a firm idea of your sales, stay local unless you can crash at a friend or family member's house.

3) How Good are You?: Every artist is always improving and you are no exception, but you need to take an honest look at what you make. Can you make it cleaner, can you make it sturdier, can you make it closer to your original idea? These questions will help you decide if you are ready to start selling at conventions and more importantly, how much you can charge!

4.) What do you like? What do you like to watch or read? Can you make fan art for it? Would you like to? Can you enjoy making 100 hundred of them? Unless you can sell it for a huge profit, stick to subjects and materials you like; it will encourage you to innovate, you will make better quality work, and you won't get tired of it or at least as quickly. 

5.)Fan Art! If you love a show, book, anime, cartoon, art style, whatever, show it! Odds are some one else does too. I'm not recommending you dump all of your original work or be nothing but a slave to fads but fan art can and does bring in the crowds. Personally, I have several prominent pieces of fan art on my table that I put next to my original works because the fan stuff catches the eye but brings them in to look at your own creations. "Come for the fan art, stay for the original art" is my motto.

6.) Bring Change!: I can not emphasize this enough, bring lots and lots of $1's $5's, and $10's. In preparation for cons, lots of people hit up their atms or banks and so only have $20's and you don't want to lose a sale because you couldn't make change from them.

7.) Keep a Record: Keep a record of what you brought, what you want to sell it for, and what you actually sell it for.

8.) Prices: How much to charge is a big sticking point for me. I have to look at what a pendant costs me in materials plus the time it takes to finish the whole product and how much I think my buyers can afford. I also look at competitors to get an average idea for what your art work can go for and it is best to try to match or under cut them. 

9.) Ask for Feedback: You are meeting people your customers!! Ask them what they love, they hate, they really, really want! If I find a friendly patron, I ask them about all sorts of ideas and I even write them down. How friendly you are can make or break you and your shop in people's memories. Multiple people remember me from other cons and often bring their friends over to my table or recommend more conventions for me to attend.

10.) Get a Buddy but it Doens't have to be an Artist: Pretty self explanatory, with an artist you have some one else to share the booth fee, chat with the customers, or watch your stuff if you need a break or wish to attend an event. If you don't have another artist to team up with, just bring a friend (most cons include two passes with purchase of table space) to help you set up, deal with sales, and pass the time.

11.) MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL

DON'T

GET 

DISCOURAGED

First event I ever did (an art show) I made -$50 dollars, had one sale to an old family friend, spent the whole time freezing, and due to wind had a Christmas reef repeatedly kamikaze straight into the middle of my artwork. At first, you will not succeed unless you are lucky and amazing (if you are, why are you wasting your time here?? go make art!) at the first convention you attend but the more feed back you get and the more you refine your art, you will do better. I consider any convention I make over my costs a success because I am still learning but I learn, and make, a little more each time.

Happy Sales!

Rambling: Why Are All My Ideas So Half-Baked?!

As an artist I constantly have a hundreds ideas floating around in my head, I write down maybe half of them, and I create a forth of those at best. In my mind are all the possibilities, but my hands can only fabricate a limited amount of my ideas into existence. I imagine all creative people, whether it’s musicians, writers, chefs, or architects, have this same problem. Actually, everyone has this problem. Some people struggle with it their whole lives. So, why do only one-eighth (1/2th times ¼th =1/8th) of my ideas come into fruition when I have all this free time with only being employed part time? Examining my creation process in a flow chart might help.

With how many conditions that need to be met to create a simple image, most of the time I’d just rather watch Grey’s Anatomy and that is my problem. TV is just so damned entertaining.

My Quest for the Perfect Cold Porcelain Recipe Part 2

Hello all! It's been awhile but my life has finally settled down (I changed jobs, bought a house, and got a new puppy!). It’s past time for my very belated, promised cold porcelain recipe review.

I had a few comments on my last post (My Quest for the Perfect Cold Porcelain Recipe Part 1) and they led me to the third recipe (Thanks Rosebug and Julie!). It's based on the video of Sangeeta Shah and unlike the first two recipes this one uses the microwave instead of the stove top.

On-hand Ingredients

Ingredients:
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup Tacky Glue
2 tablespoons baby oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon tempera paint
1 tablespoon Nivea Creme

This recipe includes tempera paint and white vinegar, which were not in my previous recipes. I did not have tempera paint (for color?) so I skipped it. She specifically says Tacky Glue and Nivea Crème, but I wanted to make it with what I had (Elmer's Glue & Ponds). I also decided to half the recipe because I'm running low on glue and cornstarch.

Mix, mix, mix!

Lucca and Chloe

This recipe is slightly more involved than the first two, but I had two helpers with me. The black dog is from my post: My Pets Aren't Fat, They Have Big Bones and I'm happy to report that she lost 20 pounds! :) The blonde one is our new puppy and I will have plenty of silly antidotes about that "little" ball of trouble later.

Stir, stir, stir!

Micro power!

One of the biggest differences between the microwave and the stove top is the time it takes to "cook".

This looks familiar...

Blend, blend, blend!

The total "cook" time is 1 minute 30 seconds in 30 second intervals with a pause
between each interval to mix the "paste". I accidentally set my microwave to 1 minute for the first interval but it did not seem to hurt it too much. There was some slightly discoloration in what I'm assuming was the glue. It all came together in the end. (Taking one handed photos and demonstrating is difficult!)

At the end, I kneaded the paste into the cold creme I had spread out onto a cutting board (as depicted in the video). I taped a piece of cling wrap around the cutting board to protect it. I would have rather used wax paper or parchment paper but it worked out rather well though. (You can see the blue painter's tape I used through the board ^_^ )

At first, the dough was separating and becoming more lumpy but I soldiered on kneading it. It came together about halfway through. I kneaded the dough for a good five minutes until the clay began to become sticky again. It has a pleasant rubbery texture.

The video instructs you to store the clay in an airtight bag you've covered with more cold creme for at least 24 hours. After a day, you're supposed to take it out and put it in a fresh bag with creme but it does not say if you should wait longer or if you can begin working with the clay. It ends by saying that "the paste is almost ready to begin working with your projects..."

...Your guess is as good as mine. Use your best judgement.

No cracking! I couldn't wait so I started sculpting before a full 24 hours had gone by and I think that caused more shrinkage than is normal. The second unicorn I made did not shrink as much. Some of the bits fell off but they can easily glued back on. Overall, this is my favorite recipe by far but I might try to find another variation.