Play Time

I spent most of the weekend playing. I had lots of work to get done in preparation for a show next weekend, and in anticipation of a photographer coming to take pictures in my studio. Instead I started exploring some ideas that had been playing around in my head.

It was interesting to see the twists and turns an idea takes when it goes from concept to clay. Reality has to be incorporated in unanticipated ways. But it engages me. As much as I knew I had work to be done, the idea of problem solving was more intriguing.

I will give you just a hint right now. I am getting close to working out some designs. But nothing is ready for photography yet. It is different from work I have been doing, yet complimentary to the pod series I started a few months back. I am using the Sculpey Ultralight, after being inspired by a conversation with Libby Mills. And the original kernel of an idea came from a book by Lark Books, The Art of Jewelry: Paper Jewelry by Marthe Le Van.

The bracelet on the cover was the piece that inspired me. I have ended up far, far away from that piece, but I am excited about the direction it is going in. I hope to have pictures later this week.

The Sculpey Ultralight is wild stuff. Libby got me intriqued when she told me how great it was for applying ink, pencil, paint, etc. She compared it to a high quality paper. I knew then that I had to play with this stuff. It is so very light and flexible. It feels a bit foam like. But the weight is fantastic for jewelry, along with it's clay like properties.

I love the book by the way. It is full of some wonderful work, and it gets my gears going about possible ways to translate some of it into polymer clay. When I first started working in polymer clay, each book about polymer clay was full of inspiration and new ideas for playing with clay. Yet right from the beginning, I found I was experimenting with translating ideas from other media to clay.

How do you look at a book? Is it a book of projects or ideas to play with? I enjoy seeing the projects as launching points. The project is an entry inside one person's head to understand how they work. But invariably asking and exploring what could be done from there.

It feels good to have spent time playing and exploring. My muse needed this time. But I do have to get down to the real work at hand very, very soon.