Experiment - Air dry clay (and yet again!)

first try. you can tell i didn't mix the clays sufficiently. well ok maybe only those who work with air dry clay can tell better. click on pic to see notes i've added on flickr to the pic.

this one is a mega disaster LOL the white lightweight paper clay might have been a little too pulpy, but i think maybe MAYBE if i added more grace, it wouldn't flake and crumble when i slice into it?

this one gave the best results, but took the longest to dry cos i totally added too much water. at least i -think- i've figured out how to slice it decently. i used a razor blade for this.

and i really wanted to find a way to do the frosting like i did for my donuts, 'cept air-dry style. this is a defniite failure. i mixed acrylic with white glue for the lower one, but i think the ratio was wrong and the acrylic dried up too quickly. the upper one was only marginally less of a failure as i'd added 2:1 water: acrylic, then a dab of white glue. still. no go. not as beautiful as the results i get with liquid polymer clay.

which would be tomorrow's experiment. :) wow 3 posts in a day!

oh yeah, these bases were made with the help and advice from Asuka but please don't pester her LOL! i literally mucked about with the clay, it got so messy i think more than half the clay went down the drain since it stuck to my hands and i got so grossed out i nearly gave up more than once > <

see what i mean by 'lots of failures'? man if i had documented all my polymer clay failures i'da given up a looong time ago :X

Chai, Saffron tea, and doilies. an odd combo?

ok these are finally up on my etsy.

finally, something other than cupcake liners, eh? XD

well, since the shipment isn't here yet, i mean i still have some oddly coloured leftover clay from various projects, so i might as well use it up right?


(oh crud my box of threads just fell XD )

k back. uh.

yeah i'll be making some stuff for swaps, and keeping my fingers crossed about the shipment and sales on Etsy. me needs more monehs! checkups and meds are costly! :( the doc appt today was good, my blood sugar is under control although the doc did mention there's not much i can do about it since it's clearly genetic, so all i can do is learn how to deal with it. i s'pose i could seek consolation in that, i.e. it's not my fault :P Sans has received her package! yay!!~ she's my 'secret' giveaway, i'd been a lurker/fan of her blog for a while, and since i was also a recipient of -her- secret giveaway (not-so-secret for those in the know ;) ) i decided to make something for her. i'd realised her palace had lots of foods, flowers, people, pets....but NO DRINKS.

so here's what i made :) the pics aren't good, sorry~





i used endcaps/beadcaps. they're jewellery findings, and pretty hard to find (often out of stock?) i found them at some store in peoples' park centre, i forget which. they have little holes at the bottom, so don't look too closely, esp for the saffron teas, k? XP i stuck them onto bluetack (there are remnants i couldn't remove, Sans probably has realised that already) and filled them with epoxy resin. i coloured the 'chai' with acrylics, and for translucency, the saffron tea with oil paints. for the 'saffron' i cut little itty bits of thread. those were the hardest part of making it since it's all soooo tiny and fiddly, but i think the end results were worth it.

here's something else i'd like to add. as a craftsperson/artisan, it is not that i do not wish to share my work process, or fear that my 'trade secrets' would be leaked. however, for the uninitiated, please keep in mind that the process is not as easy as it seems. for me, i am an auto-didact, i read up, research the properties of materials i work with, experiment ALOT, fail ALOT, waste ALOT of materials. it is all part of the learning process. and sometimes the results can be very good and satisfying, but of course who wants to see the mucky icky ins and outs all the time? moreover, i don't wish to constantly remind myself of how terrible my work process was. that's why my experiments always leave me in a foul mood XD

i guess my 'point' is (yes, i do have one) it takes alot of hard work to make tutorials and to document the WIP. it's not that i do not wish to share, on the contrary i think i do share a little more than most. however it is a laborious and sometimes unrewarding process so unless i'm feeling particularly magnanimous, or BORED (keyword) i don't really care to document everything i try/make/do. especially when i'm super frustrated at the process XD also, since much of my work is a hodgepodge of techniques and random ideas, i don't have any 'fixed' way of making stuff.

so there you have it. my dirty little secret on why i am too 'lazy' to reply to everyone's queries. the best teacher is yourself. i know for sure i'm not a good teacher at all. too impatient :P

(p.s. this post isn't pointed at you Sans! don't worry! it's just something i'd been thinking about for a while after receiving quite a few queries and my sidestepping them :P )

Experiment - Air dry clay (again)

loving the texture hating the wait
Originally uploaded by Snowfern

i'm loving the texture of this. but i hate that i have to wait 2 days or more for it to dry fully before further manipulation.

the white 'rings' are 1:3 scale donuts, i used a mold that i got from Kinokuniya. they were a mix of approx 1:1 grace:hearty white (thanks Asuka!), and i don't remember the ratio for the other layer cakes since my resin clay had somewhat hardened and i was so sleepy i simply mucked about with the clay.

i'd stayed over at Asuka's place, and we spent most of the day chit-chatting about miniatures (what else?) and me, making a mess of the clay XD it's so messy and hard to manipulate since i'm quite used to polymer clay. so i was in various states of amusement, enjoyment, and annoyance XD i have a few ideas in my head for these, but really, i seriously doubt i'd be taking a leap from polymer to air dry clays.

well. i've calmed down somewhat from this morning's enraged state (yea, that's me, enraged LOL i'm 'as mild as milk' as a friend once put it) but now i don't know if i should do anything about the situation i'm in. after all, i'll be busy this month with doc appointments and checkups (just got back not long ago from taking grandma to the doc's too) so maybe this shall be the month of clay-less play.

i did so look forward to accepting commissions, i have already 2 requests and i've told them i refuse to accept commissions until i have the clay in hand. luckily, the one fully-paid commission i have comes from a very understanding and patient customer/friend, and although i have no hard deadline for it, it fills me with a sense of dread knowing i owe someone alot of stuff.

*takes in deep breath*

i guess i'll work on my next experiment. oh and btw, anyone notice anything different about my flickr acct? ;P

I am really angry right now

i ordered some items previously from poly mer clay ex press dot com and i'm am SOOOO PEEVED right now.

not only did they charge to my card an additional shipping cost of $20 without prior confirmation, after almost a week's delay in reply, the manager has informed me that they have shipped my order to CANADA.

HELLO???I AM IN SINGAPORE NOT IN CANADA WTF IS WRONG WITH THEM?

i'm so tired of this bullshit. it is a major annoyance to me. all i can hope is that my shipment arrives safely, and that it isn't delayed for too long. meanwhile, i have to inform my customer that not only might her order be further delayed, i am no longer able to accept commissions for Jan unless i can find another supplier.

* i understood that the shipping costs were just an estimate, but hello? isn't it business courtesy to inform the customer BEFORE adding an additional USD$20 to their card?

**********UPDATE

they've replied and apologized for their error, they had a customer who shared the same name who lived in Canada. my parcel is on its way here. well. it still doesn't make me less peeved abt the earlier incident, to which they've offered no explanation either, but i'm going to drop it. at least until mid-Jan. or until i get caught up in experiments i forget all about this. ha ha.

my cousin's new camera

cousin visited today with aunt, and he'd brought his new DSLR, alas, he hadn't purchased a macro lens as yet and learned rather quickly that it's hard to take pics of my minis without one XD well, when he does, i'm sure i'll have FANTASTIC pics, meanwhile, here are some rather good ones too ;)

Yotsuba has been featured in quite a number of my pictures, and i hope you enjoy these as much as i did posing her ^ ^

Rock paper scissors!

"Jan-ken-po !"

"HEY! stop that!"

"Let's do some gardening ^ ^ "

trying to get her to stop moving is...hard....:P

"Usagi love"
(usagi is japanese for rabbit)

GUNDAM!
(i purchased a whole keroro gunsou kit specifically for this set XD)

"Hey Yotsuba! Look at the nice cameraman!"

mm just like those oleskool studio portraits hehehe

i knitted the rabbit following a free ravelry pattern, but i lost the link cos it must have been a good 2-3 years ago since :( her rabbit water bottle is one of my super duper fave re-ment items. i hope i haven't lost the cap :(

Eva kept trying to get into the shots XD

ok this pic i took with my own camera the night before. LOOK AT THAT!! soooo adorable!!! i absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Stitch & Scrump (his little blue ragdoll) so when i saw this...i was ecstatic!

i took plenty more pics while i was at my very first dollmeet!!! pics are up on my flickr ;) (most of them are on flickr, don't know how many read the blog and i'm not sure about the protocol on using pics of others' dolls?) i was saying after many of them tried to persuade me to get one "WHEN you get one....." etc etc cos i was oooh-ing and aaaah-ing over the beautiful BJDs.....but yea. i still think of dolls as props to my minis, be it purchased (re-ment etc) or made by me....*scratches ear* sure, i love dolls, but somehow, the dolls seem more to me like props than the reverse haha. especially miniature containers/tupperware. ODD HUH?

it has been a really really REALLY fun start to 2010 ^ ^ i'm already exhausted! sheesh i'm weak.

going to a pyjama party tomorrow ;) can't wait! why do i get the feeling i'm trying to squeeze as much 'non-clay' fun in before my clay arrives? i think cos once the clay gets here, i'll probably lose all sense of time XD i hope by then my new friends don't think i'm avoiding them, i'm not, just very very obsessive is all :P

Introducing: Yeo Mini Store

glassware
Originally uploaded by Snowfern
http://www.yeoministore.com/

Asuka is a bad bad bad bad bad enabler ;P

Madam Ang gave me her address a long time ago, and i'd written it on a receipt and tucked it away and promptly forgot about it, since Changi always seemed so far away...well it still is, with the help of my evil enabler, Asuka, we (including "the other Cindy" (yes we refer to you as that, SORRY!)) went hunting for the store after Asuka showed me the link to the teapot set ; ;

the sizes are a tad varied, oddly scaled pieces, but they seem to work mostly if you're not too bothered by it.

she sells plenty of marked sets of Re-ment and Megahouse as well ^ ^ along with some discontinued sets. so if you're ever in the area....go find her!

Blk 57A New Upper Changi Rd
#01-1384 Singapore 462057
====UPDATE==== 09 Jan 2011
last i heard she's stopped selling minis but i haven't verified personally (live too far from changi to go check) but her website is still up, so....can anyone confirm this????

here, have a bite

chomped into
Originally uploaded by Snowfern

made these as part of a trade ;)

i'm not a very good keeper of secrets, and i have been harbouring a few of late. let's see what i can and cannot reveal for now... :P

1) giveaway prizes! i'm waiting for Hanna to receive hers before i can post pics, the local recipient has received his, and he has also showed me pics of the items, i'm glad he liked them! but since both parcels are different, well there are some similar items....if i posted them up here...the surprise would be half ruined? XD so...let's hope the holiday mail rush will abate soon....so i can post them up!

2) a secret gift...i'm not even gonna say who the recipient is. but yea. ;) i should be mailing it out tomorrow ^ ^

3) finally, i understand why i had quite a few orders from Spain XD i was featured in a spanish publication!

http://www.miniaturasrevista.com/

i believe the CDHM committee sent in an article that featured me? LOL if anyone has a copy, could you kindly scan the page and mail it to me? i would really really appreciate it!

4) CDHM has been really kind to me ^ ^ this month, they have a small feature in their new online magazine, and there's even mention of my pal Asuka ;)

http://www.cdhm.org/news/tidbits0110.php

5) another blog, http://dzfantasy.blogspot.com/ had asked on etsy forums if any miniaturists would like to be featured, and a teamMIDS (HI TEAM!) member highlighted it to the rest of us...of course i'd jump at the opportunity! also featured are a few other teamMIDS members, just scroll down, on the left will be links to our etsy stores :)

the blog itself is also very fun-loving and informative. it's chock full of tips and tricks, interviews and features for those who are keen on setting up their own hand-crafted online-shops ^ ^ Thanks Donna!

6) then there's deviantArt. thanks Myntkat! the feature is for December, so you probably have a few hrs left to view it XD in the rush for TDA, this had completely slipped my mind.

7) there is that newspaper report....but i don't know when it'll be published. i don't even know how much of the interview will be published XD so it'll be an embarrassing laugh if it turns out to be only a 1-line mention, but WHATEVER!!! i just hope they don't use any pics of me :X

i have been a member of dA for quite sometime now, but up till miniatures, i've never really thought of myself as being able to create personal works of art (?) i still consider myself more of an artisan/craftsman, but as i gain more experience, i'm finding that i -want- desperately to find a personal style. i want people to be able to identify my works like they would Kiva's or Emmaflam and Miniman (Paris Miniature's) or Stephanie's (Petitplat's) or Kim Saulter's or Mercedes (liberty biberty?) or ....omg the list is loooong....! there are so many new friends i've made..so many other miniaturists i've yet to 'discover'....so many yet-unlearnt-techniques, and old ones to master!

i do not make new years' resolutions, but i am determined to make this year more fun and eventful than the last! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR FOLLOWING ME ON MY JOURNEY! and for your support this far ^ ^

(man, this post looks like i'm tooting my own horn. it's supposed to be a milestone/dedication sorta post....AH WHATEVER! :P )

<3,
Cindy aka Snowfern Clover ^ ^