It is Saturday yet again, fancy a button?

Yoho folks, another odd day in a series of bizare yet mundane weeks.

However, my weekly polymer clay fix is continuing. This is somewhat conducive to my happiness considering I am a professional artist!

I wanted to have another bash at the fractured leaf technique I botched up last week and in doing so I discovered something new!

Exhibit A : A glass baking sheet with some buttons, a bead, a repaired texture plate and a bizzare mobius inspired form.....

Exhibit B: happy button closeups, these are much more satisfying to me than last week's :) Fractured metal leaf tinted with alcohol ink and one textured button.

Now Exhibit C: Features the strange mobius shape. I was forming a round pendant with bevelled edges and decided it was too large so I used a cutter to remove the middle (I ended up discarding it anyway, sigh). I was left with this bizzare ribbon of clay and couldn't stop myself pinching it together and voila!

Ahh serendipity...


With the addition of some trusty waxed cotton cording we have this beauty :) It needs a proper thickness of leather methinks or perhaps suede but it has already survived the 'Clumsy Harry' test of being dropped down the stairs.....I have high hopes for this one.

Saturday Morning Studio Time!

Hola folks!

You cannot be a glass cannon of artistic ego without actually doing something artistic or creative, otherwise you would simply be a....Glass? Anyway, I bullied myself into the studio this morning despite staying up until 2am watching Comic Relief.


I photographed some bits I have been toying with such as these ginormous buttons.....

Which I am pretty unhappy with to be honest. I messed up the kato liquid glazing and managed to burn the pretty white one with my heat gun. I also mis-spaced the holes on the green one and didn't crackle the gold one enough! In future I will also space the holes on the red style one in a more 'designed' pattern. I was sort of going for a 'shotgun blast' look but not too impressed.

However, lets have a mini tutorial type thing to gloss over some of my flaws :)

Take some scrap clay.....

Abuse it with your Pasta machine until you have a lovely muddy colour and gather a selection of textured implements.....

I personally roll the clay into a sheet of setting number 1 thickness and then fold it over to make a nice thick pad. I also mix it into mud colour so I can see what textures are showing through without the complication of pretty marbled colours...

Dent, I mean texture the clay to produce an interesting sheet. These plate are being made specifically for cufflinks so the majority of the patterns are relatively masculine. Straight lines, rivets etc.

Oh look! Its those pesky buttons again. The bottom plate was made using a large screw and the top one is a cast metal button I found on the floor.

I got into the idea of carving out a sort of flowing leafy wave type pattern but the fimo soft kept 'bobbling' and so I dug out some.....dun de de de dun da daaaa!!!!

Manky old sculpey! which takes texture much more effectively and I should have thought of first.

And so here are out plates. The wonky metal plate, the found button plate, the screw plate, the leafy wave plate and the random plate.

These fellas are baking in my clay oven and I will post what happens with them another time :)

I am off to visit my Mother in hospital later and with any luck may get back in the garden this week.

Much Purky loving and stuff

H

The Glass Cannon

Glass cannons are a popular trope in television, games etc.  A thing of immense power that is also incredibly fragile....Allow me to introduce my artistic self esteem!

I can make absolutely beautiful and astonishing things but every tiny shred of pride can be cut down by the well placed criticism. I am not including constructive criticism or even the shit sandwich here. (Shit sandwich equals 'Good thing as bottom slice of bread' Something to improve/not so good thing for a filling 'Good thing as top slice of bread')

The criticism most probably will not come from an external source either, it stems from my eternal, internal uber critic. The voice that points out I still haven't made 'insert long procrastinated project' or made contact with 'insert business/gallery name' Unfortunately for me and like many other people attempting to make their way as artistic professionals, I am constrained by budgetry concerns...Essentially meaning that I do not have an art budget at the moment. That push for a new level of profesionalism and perfection....well I need a powered rotary tool...awww too bad!

Quite often this inspires me to push against the boundary and use my skill to make some money. In the four months that I traded full time as Purky Products I made a fair amount of gross profit but once the expenses came out my Net was hugely underwhelming. I now realise, I undercharged for my work in an attempt to breach the more general market and that I should not have been trying to breach the general market!

I spent the two months after Christmas looking for work. The plan being that I would find some temp or part time work, reboost the coffers and get Purky rolling again with a new collection in Spring. Work took 8 weeks to find and so of course now I am working to pay back my overdraft that I ate into!

So is, he is having a moan and a bitch? Not really folks, I am laying out to myself and the world that actually this 'Quit your dayjob' shit is incredibly hard work and that you may have to take steps back on your way up the mountain.

Currently I am working in a warehouse, in a hyper masculine and non-creative environment and must say I am holding my own. The tedious menial work is giving my brain the space to breath. Of course thinking time equals a fair amount of self-beration time but it also means external stimulation and new ideas.

I geniunely believe in the glass cannon analagy and will be bringing new products to life soon.

So you know, I did do my garden and some designing on Saturday. I also enjoyed a lovely Sunday lunch with DB, Supervixeyasbo and her husband and took some time to chill out.

This Saturday, more gardening and designing is planned.

To everyone who reads, thankyou very much

I also wish to thank the artistic creative people around me who offer me their technical and emotional support. It is very much appreciated.

xx

An interim post

Hi folks, tis moi.

I have started my job and it seems to be going quite well. I am working in a warehouse, 35 hours a week which in theory gives me time to craft although at the moment I am still getting used to the daily structure.

I have also implemented a healthier eating plan to try and shift some of the Purky podge and reinvigorate myself.

I am going to spend Saturday morning in the garden sorting out my fruit bushes and trimming back the weeds from the perenials bed. Going to put my potted rosebushes in there and some other pretty flowering type plants whilst leaving space for the summer bedding. It is still too cold though to start buying it in.

Saturday afternoon, touch wood. I am going to jump into the studio and at the very least tidy it up so I have space to work. I find that helps me to be creative.

My lovely and only recently discovered friend Beth is heading back over to India to get ready for her next major move. As I do not know when I will see her again, I have invited her over for dinner Saturday night.

Its still a bit complicated over here at Purky Towers with regards the DB (dear boyfriend, downgraded from darling husband because he no longer wants to marry me) and all the logistical stuff of existing in an economic and social downturn.

Even Phil the cat is being very stressed and demanding.

Oh and an update on my lovely friends expecting their first baby, it appears the chocks are away and the whole grisly miraculous process is starting. My best thoughts and love to them.

Stay tuned for a proper Purky Products update in the next few days with real pictures of stuff wot I made :)

H

Super Secret Baby Shower

This is a post with a minimum of self, honest!

I did a lovely thing for a wonderful friend and her husband. He fronted the money (because I had failed so spectacuarly in the job finding) and I did most of the work. They love each other very much and work hard at their relationship. I have so much confidence in their ability to be parents and wanted to help them celebrate.


As a couple they have gone through a lot of pain and misery to bring their bundle of joy into the world. There are no pictures of (other) people here because I havent had chance to ask for permissions. However in updates I may add some more pictures in.

The big thing here is that the party was a surprise. All the ordering of supplies, booking the venue, hiring the china was a secret and normally it was things that my friend would be involved in. Was very odd being duplicitous.

Without further ado, some pictures of cakes, china and stuff!

a selection of nuts and seeds being toasted ready to be added to!

70% dark chocolate! nom! Also some lovely dried fruit was added.

It was poured into a tin and refrigerated to become this tasty rocky road :) Easiest bit of baking for the party.

Less successful were my exploding brownies which were tasty but lacked that good factor sadly. No idea what triggered the explosion.

The theme of the party was 'anarchic tea party' so I made tiny tiny scones :)

They were served with a selection of Jams and a lot of clotted cream!

I made my own salmon terrine which I served in sandwiches as well as tuna mayonaisse, egg mayonaisse and cucumber. All were made fresh that morning on brown and white bread. Veggie sandwiches are on one side and carnivorous sarnies on the other. The menu was based on tea at the Ritz hotel :)

My DH made the centrepiece cake which has double cream frosting and the inside is marbled blue and black. It weighed a ton!

Check it out next to the jam jar for a sense of scale!

I borrowed a tea urn for the occassion and had lots of kinds of lovely tea. I also rented vintage china and had great fun picking out all the different pieces. How kitsch, British and fabulous?

This is me looking rather plump unfortunately, handing out some of the presents. Our friends brought some lovely gifts for the expecting couple which actually surprised me because I told everyone gifts were optional! In the end there were so many I had to set up a table to put them on, oh and run home to fetch a tablecloth for it!

Another shot of my handmade mini scones, I was 'Very' proud of them! They are on a lovely platter made from bits of china glued together.

The beautiful coffee pot that I wish I could buy! There is something about good china that makes me all gooey inside.

This is the teapot I picked out for the guest of honour and she was very enamoured with it. The ruse for the party was that I was having an exhibition in the local community hall and was inviting guests. I actually went outside and play acted at being very stressed and unable to cope as she arrived.

She walked in and everyone yelled surprise but she just couldn't take in that her mother and best friend (who live in London) as well as other friends and colleagues were there.

It took a good ten minutes for it to sink in that this was a baby shower in her honour.

In all it was a solid two days of  baking all the cakes and icing them and such, plus a lot of secretive running around. I think it was entirely worth it and made me very happy. The only thing I am dissapointed with is the lack of photographs. I wish I had either borrowed a photographer or a couple of digi cameras to put on the table.

For good measure here is my DH looking absolutely gorgeous. Check out those brown eyes that I fell in love with nearly ten years ago. (only been together for three of those though, tis a long story) We are having a hard time at the moment with money, employment, the future directions we want to take. I want him, our cat and to make enough money from being creative to support us all.

Anyways, catch you all later and if you want me to organise you a tea party I would be absolutely delighted.