Gearing Up

We're inviting our favorite Etsy artisans for interviews! Woohoo! Let's get this awesome blog up and rolling, with up and coming talented creativity.

Look for and follow our artist/artisan interviews. We'll be gathering info and choosing some accomplished artisans who work in exciting mediums. They'll be sharing their talents and a few tips and tricks of the trade.

Have a look at each of the artisans below and visit their Etsy shops. See the entire full treasury filled with gorgeous red glass items. Some are painted, some are crafted, some are vintage, and they are all unique.

RED GLASS BABY... curated by AngeeArt
1. Barton Degraaf: "Evolution 3"
2. Beadz 2 Pleaz: Beaded Wedding Cake Knife
3. Squid Glass: Red Geisha Glass Pendant
4. Chic Baby Rose: Newborn Petti Romper~Red

News

COMING SOON...
♥ A variety of original artworks, inspirations for them, and other artists I admire and learn from. From time to time we'll talk technique, examine mediums, product photos, and feature interesting new handmade items.





♥ Featured Artisan Interviews:
A look/see at exceptional artisans and their handmade works in various mediums. Look for and follow the ARTiculations posts on a regular basis to get tips, tricks, and techniques from featured artisan interviews.
♥ "DoIt" Monthly creative projects with material lists and photo instruction. (i.e. How to Make Bread Clay )
♥ The Treasured Hand : A Treasury collection of Artisans that have online shops.
♥ KICKOFF ::: Artisan Ads... Get Two Weeks Free! (See How)

This is going to be fun!

Week 5 Sculpture

COLORING BREAD DOUGH CLAY
Using Acrylic Paint
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Class Objective:
Last week in sculpture class each student made one recipe of Bread Dough Clay. This week Sculpture I spent the whole class separating their dough into three parts and coloring them with paint. It took the entire class time for each student to accomplish this task. I took their finished colored clay home for safe keeping. In Sculpture III the older students colored their clay and finished making beads with it.
♥ They learned how to mix paint into the dough
♥ Again they got to have very messy fun!
♥ Students learned small amounts of paint made pale colors and some colors took quite a bit of paint to get a bright shade.
♥ We discussed mixing colors to make different colors. i.e., red and yellow made orange.
♥ Students were able to see how great the clay looked when two colors were swirled together instead of thoroughly mixed.

Homework: None

Looking Forward To Week 6:
Sculpture One will be making beaded bracelets, necklaces, or keychains by student choice with the colored Bread Dough Clay they made in this class.
Sculpture Three will be making new batches of Bread Dough and working on new pieces.

Weekly Notes To Parents:
Several of the students did not get their projects to take home at the end of the class day. When we have completed projects, please make sure to come by the classroom and pick up their projects to take home.

Week 5 Calligraphy

FIRST CALLIGRAPHY PROJECT
Borders and Artistic Setups
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Class Objective:
This week in calligraphy class students were given their pen boxes to keep their supplies in. They contained colored pencils, mechanical pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners. They began their first calligraphy piece on bright colored poster boards and chose borders along with wording. They began a solid layout and penciled it in.
♥ We discussed spacing project wording around a border.
♥ Students added their chosen borders from a premade template book.
♥ They learned how to trace and transpose a border onto an opaque surface.

Homework: None

Looking Forward To Week 6:
Week 6 we'll be actually marking and preparing the bright poster sketch of found parts, including borders.

Weekly Notes To Parents: We had a great time.

MAKE BREAD CLAY

BREAD DOUGH CLAY RECIPE
This is an easy, homemade, air drying, Bread Dough Clay recipe for creative sculpture projects. It's made from two simple ingredients and no baking is needed. Use it to roll shapes for handmade beads, impress and mold it to make original pendants, sculpt small figurines, create unique Christmas tree ornaments... the creativity is limited only to the imagination.

You will need the following items:
A small, smooth glass or plastic bowl
A butter knife or wooden stick to stir with
Measuring spoons
A plastic placemat or other smooth working surface
A small Ziplock storage bag

Ingredients:
3 Slices of white loaf bread, aged *
3 Tablespoons of Elmer's "Glue All" White Glue
3 drops Glycerin (optional)

Use the following proportions, and any amount of Bread Dough Clay can be made. Just mix one scant tablespoon of glue per slice of loaf bread. *Aged Bread: Lay day old bread out overnight turning often to dry out a little on both sides or until it crumbles easily. Tip: Laying bread slices on cold stove burners will dry them from both sides at the same time.

Directions:
♥ Remove and discard colored part of bread crust from *aged bread reserving as much white bread as possible.
♥ Crumble bread into fine pieces in a bowl add Elmer's Glue All and mix until it forms a soft lumpy ball. Mixture will be sticky. Scrape and use everything left on the bowl sides. Pour out onto clean work surface. (i.e., plate, cutting board, plastic placemat) Allow to rest about 3 minutes to dry a little.
♥ Pick ball of dough up in your hands and knead dough vigorously. Your hands will be very sticky and messy. However, continue kneading and in a few minutes the dough will clean away from your hands and easily form a smooth cream colored ball.
♥ Place in a ziplock bag.
♥ Bread Dough is an air drying clay. Work with small portions at a time. Store reserve in the ziplock bag or under a cup or glass to keep it from drying out as you work.

Coloring: Break off small portions of the dough and make a well in the center. Add 4 to 5 drops of liquid acrylic paint in desired colors. Knead paint into the dough until it makes a uniform color. Make primary color portions in Red, Yellow, & Blue. Intermix the colored doughs to get Green, Purple, & Orange. Tip: Create a marbled effect and custom color shades by only partially mixing two pieces of the colored dough together.

Shape & Finish: Sculpt your project by rolling and cutting shapes. Glue pieces together with Elmer's Glue All. Make an equal mixture of glue and water and coat your finished sculpture. Allow to air dry for about a week. Coat again with the thinned glue mixture. When completely hard and dry, give your piece a shiny finish by spraying lightly with a clear gloss paint spray.

Store: Soft Bread Dough keeps for up to three weeks if kept airtight and refrigerated. Finished pieces will last for years if encased or stored carefully, and kept away from moisture.