Sugar Skull Clown

I'm calling this ornament my sugar skull clown.

Although I didn't start out to make a clown, he

ended up looking like one. 

I just had to "go with it", which is part of the fun

of creating things. You never know how it'll end up. 

First I drew the design with 

sharpies and pitt pens like my other

sugar skull eggs. 

Next, I threaded a metal concho with a piece of lace

 and glued those two pieces of the "collar" 

to the base of the ornament. 

I further secured the collar with two bead head straight pins, 

which wasn't easy, but I finally got it with a lot of twisting. 

I used a cylindrical polymer 

bead for his fez hat.

It's glued to the top of his head,

along with the hanging ribbon.

Those two are then secured

with a bead head pin as well. 

(Obviously, these ornaments need to be

kept away from small children and curious pets.)

Here's the holiday greeting

on the back. 

Feliz Navidad!

Back to creating! 

I have to finish my black felt sugar skulls.

Shhh. . .

(They're Christmas gifts for my husbands co-workers.)

Cardboard Shrine Boxes

There were a couple of factors that tipped the scales

when it came to making my own shrine boxes as 

opposed to purchasing ready made ones. 

First and foremost, I wanted to design my own

patterns and create one of a kind pieces. Mind you, 

I looked at a bunch of different designs and

then started sketching out 

some patterns of my own on grid paper. 

The second reason goes back to

my desire to use the materials I have on hand.  

The bases are all sturdy Christmas card boxes. The

frames and details are cut from various cardboard mailing boxes

I'd saved. 

All of the pieces of these boxes

were adhered together with masking tape, no glue. 

Sorry about the fuzziness of the bottom box in this next picture,

but I wanted to point out how I used

some air dry paper clay as well as cardboard 

cut-outs to build up some dimension. 

I learned a few tips with this project. 

1) The more intricate the design, the more patience and time

you'll need to paper mache. I did several pieces at a time and it

would've been better to focus on one to completion. 

2) Also, the more detailed the design, the smaller the strips

of paper you'll need to fit in the little spaces. I thought maybe if

the paper was saturated enough, I could coax it into the crevices

and around corners. . .wrong! It didn't work and I had to undo and redo.

3) I would've been a bit more generous with the masking tape, especially

around the edges of the frame. One of the frames became

a little too pliable while sitting to dry. Gravity wanted to pull down

some of the scroll type edging that had become too saturated

during the paper mache process. I was able to straighten it, but more

tape may've prevented the problem in the first place. 

The following is my star shrine. I'll 

post pictures of this piece all finished in my next post. 

Te Amo Niche Shrine

This project was an experiment

with a variety of mediums.

Paper Mache

Cold Porcelain Clay

Air Dry Paper Clay

Niche Design and Creation

Nothing was purchased for this project. 

Lately I've been trying to create things

 from materials I have on hand. 

I've always loved niche/shrine/diorama art pieces and

decided to give one a try myself. 

This one took me about 4 to 5 days to complete.

I ruined a perfectly good sauce pan cooking the cold porcelain

clay, because I mixed it in the pot instead of a separate

bowl first and then I cooked it too long. 

It made me a little sad throwing that pot away

that I've had for 28 years! Next time

I'm buying a cheap pot from the thrift store and using that. 

That's what I get for being a rebel and not paying 

attention to the suggestions on the youtube videos I watched. 

I found the easiest way to color the cold porcelain 

clay is with markers. Just poke them into the clay and knead away.

Sharpies are fine and won't permanently stain your hands. 

The flowers, leaves, candles, and pink hearts are

all made from the cold porcelain clay.

The big red heart at the top and the center cross are

made from the paper clay. 

I used acrylic paints as well as dimensional fabric paint 

and sharpie markers on the design.

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and have started

a couple more. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

Happy creating.

Terri

Folk Art Bird House

My dear friend Dede designed a series of bird houses

and her very handy and skilled husband made them for her. 

She gave me two of them as a gift. 

The one featured here was unfinished.

It was a "blank canvas" for me to play with. 

I began by taking off the hardware and taping off the roof.

I decided to go with a light warm neutral base

(because it's what I had the most of).

My design theme prior to starting was rustic

Mexican folk art. 

I was inspired by my recent trips to 

Tucson and Albuquerque. 

I may work a little more on the back. I was in a 

hurry to finish up. Actually, I wanted my kitchen

table back after 4 days of having it covered with

newspaper and paint supplies. 

Happy Holiday and Happy Creating!