Happy B-day Eric!

For Eric's 24th, I made him a Horadic Cube plus all 33 runes from Diablo 2. I also tossed in a couple of gems and a bonus rune (and he also got a copy of The Moose with Loose Poops and homemade cinnamon buns instead of cake which I should have taken pics for the food part of this blog but I didn't.)

These first 2 shots show the images from the game along with the objects I made:

True nerds will pick up on the bonus rune right quick.

The cube is, of course, a box to keep the runes in:

Gratuitous close up:


Since this blog layout doesn't really allow for big pics, click on them for the decent size.

I made this in secret, carting paint, polymer clay, and gold leaf back and forth from work, working on it sporadically over the course of about a month, trying desperately not to get caught by the bosses (I got caught plenty, but luckily my co-workers aren't douchbags). We have a small toaster oven at work where I was able to cure the clay on the runes, but I had to wake up extra early on weekends to do the box itself and the decorative inlays to have them cooled and stowed by the time Eric got out of bed.

I also had to teach myself how to make a mold as I was remiss to attempt to make 5 design panels individually. Instead I only had to do it once, but in making the mold and then the panels, I ruined 3 of them before figuring out corn starch does shit-all for a release agent whereas plain old water worked great.

Part of the learning process led me to believe that there was no bloody way I was going to be able to make a cube by pre-baking panels and adhering them together, so I opted to cover a balsa wood pencil box I had laying around - this box was 10 years old and covered with dust and leaked ink and everything else you might imagine. I got the clay to stick by using liquid clay all over it, and then laying out rolled sheets of copper with black and red swirls, and then baking it. The lid (and the lip underneath that I didn't got a shot of) is just clay.

Octilove

Another completed creation!

I keep hesitating to call this a necklace, as it is quite big. Yesterday I referred to it as a throat friend to someone, and then I immediately broke out into laughter at the sheer naughtiness of that name. I am not going to lower myself to the level of cheese that "Bosom Buddy" would be, but I can't think of anything else, so for now, "huge-ass necklace" will have to suffice (if you have a better idea, tell me!)

Here is a shot of the way it hangs:


And a couple of closeups:


She is made almost entirely of polymer clay. There are 2 real pearls under the face area, and some glass beads that look like pearls in other strategic areas. The eyes are czech glass beads. Everything else though is all clay in custom colors I made.

smaller version I needed to upload for somethign else heee

I had a hankering for some chili a bit ago that didn't come from a can. I found a few recipes online that seemed to look OK, but not quite what I was looking for. Not enough hoit nor toit as Eric would say.

So I Frankensteined this meal together, and it worked (I am always surprised when things work as so many of my "brilliant" ideas are ass in the end - you see what I did there??). The buffalo and the yams were my own doing, and I had no idea if it would actually be decent. You can play around with the proportions and it will still work. I used about twice the amount of chili and jalapeno I listed below 'cos I like it spicy.













Crockpot Chili with Beans and Corn (and Yam and Buffalo and some other crap)
1 lb ground buffalo - pre cooked
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1.5 c. garnet yams, cut up into bite size pieces
1 can whole tomatoes
1 cup of corn - grill or pan sear first
2 c. water
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 bunches chopped green onion
6 oz tomato paste
1 large fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1+ TBS chili powder
1+ tsp ground cumin
1+ tsp ground mustard
1 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste

Toss everything into your crock pot and let it simmer on low while you are at work, or for 10 hours, whichever is longer. Presto. How freakin' easy is that?

I honestly don't remember what Eric had for dinner on the night(s) that I ate this. It would not be far from the truth to claim it was chicken strips from the Safeway deli though as we had to go to the store to pick up ingredients for this chili and strips are a standard buy.

Learning is an uphill battle

I am trying to teach myself how to use this polymer clay medium with only the internet and books to show me the way. I don't recommend this way of picking up a hobby. More than anything I want a mentor, or classes or SOMETHING to let me know I am on the right track. The only real input I have is from Craftster, a craft forum I have been visiting for a few years (Eric calls it Craft Porn as I sit there drooling while getting excited for hours on end).

I found a polymer clay guild in the South Bay that I am considering joining, just for the free classes. I guess beggars can't be choosers...

In any case, here is the product of a couple of weekends worth of tinkering around.

First is a dragon that I made following the steps in one of Christi Friesen's books:

I think he is awesome and I loooove the way the colors turned out, and his facial features. Pretty much everything. However, he is a face in the crowd. While my hands did it and the coloring and some decorations came from my brain, it almost feels like this is a CF piece and not somethign original that I did. Kinda like I cheated.

This next item is all from my brain, but I don't like it. There are some elements that I think are cool (the top-down koi, and the pebbles came out amazing - they look real), but I managed to make an item that wasn't my own taste. Can someone please explain how that is possible?


I posted the pictures of this vase on Craftster, and I got so much nice feedback it brought tears to my eyes (can you imagine - 1 person said they aspire to be able to make things like this, and another person said I have inspired them to try polymer clay! That is so amazing to me)
















I had a leftover flower - well, it was my crappy prototype really so I turned it into a barrette:


I had some good ideas come out of -what I consider - this failure of a project. I did some experimenting last night to see if I could accomplish what I had envisioned for part of it and I don't have the skills :( But I am going to see if I can do the project without all the elements Ii had in mind. I am waiting on a Donna Kato book right now, so maybe I will be able to figure out where I went wrong in my experimenting and I will be able to include all the parts of my idea .