Pebble Experiment with free tutorial

Aloha folks, this is the next part of my series of tutorials for using up leftover surface treatments.

Inspired by some of the faux turqoise recipies out there I decided to try using my trimmings to create fantastical geode stones.

Ingredients : surface treatment scraps, acryllic paints, food processor,

first you need some surface treatment trimmings....

Then you need a food processor.....

This was five pounds at a car boot sale (obviously can no longer be used with food)

Trimmings

Plus some translucent in this case

Whizz it up into polymer kibble

Turn it out onto work surface. In this case my usual glass tiles are topped with recycled paper.

Paint all surfaces of the kibble

I wanted to experiment with two colours

Mmmmmm! I think it looks like robot vomit....but hey ho I am known for being peculiar.

Squish the kibble into lumps, compressing it really hard. I tend to dust my hands in cornstarch to make it all stick to me a bit less.

I prefer to cure my beads and things like this in cornflour in cheap metal food containers. Cure as per packet instructions.

Take the cooled cured pieces out and give them a wash in water.

Then sand the out surface off to reveal the internal colours. The paint between the kibble creates this lovely effect.

Et voila!


I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, more are en route eventually, I promise.

Captain Purky

xxx

Purky and the Rocket

So at my job, there are mostly casual/self employed staff and that seems to attract creative folks. Kim Von Coels 'www.KimKrumble.blogspot.com' is a photographer and all sorts of other things as well. She has ventured into the world of music and her track Rocket Love is pretty special.

I mused in her general direction that I could make some Rocket knuckle dusters and erm.....it actually happened!

First, some preliminary sketches. Kim has pretty massive hands compared to my dinky digets so I took a rough measurement and started playing about.

I was mostly inspired by Wallace's rocket from 'A Grand Day Out'

I am using super sculpey here because I had plenty on hand and it blends well. As per usual funds are an issue and I was not one hundred percent sure it was going to work anyway. So heres a base plate...

I started filling it in with clay sausages to build the dimensionality of the piece.

I then used my extruder to make snakes of equal diameter to edge all the pieces. I wanted that retro feel. I also added some detailing and rivets with a ball stylus.

Next up, what is a rocket without flames? I liked the idea of Kim having a duster for each knuckle and this seemed like the obvious choice :) So again here is a baseplate.

Feeling inspired by Christi Friesen techniques I built the texture of the flames up using snakes of clay. I wanted almost a pop art feel to this bit.

It also made the piece very strong from the sheer volume of clay.

Both pieces before baking :)




Another thing to mention is I place both of these on another sheet of clay and then cut round them to just make that tiny bit thicker and stronger. Super Sculpey is not known for being uber tough.

Undercoating with slightly watered down acryllic paint.

I wanted that organic burning feel to these flames so I used lots of hot colours and allowed them to bleed and blend into each other. The next stage after this involved a darker wash to show the recesses and then highlighting with metallic gold and bronze paints.

The rocket herself :) Really simple hot cherry red paint job with black detailing and eventually some silver highlighting.

What good is a rocket you cannot wear? Well fear not. I made a pad of sculpey and embedded an ajustable ring blank. This was baked and then glued on with e600 so there is a large surface area for the adhesive to attach to. Hoping for some durability here...

Both Knuckle dusters from the back. I painted the backs black just to make it nice and neat.

Both of my fabulous flaming knuckle dusters from the front :)

The music video they appeared in is not available yet because it is still being edited but will obviously post a link up here once it is online.


I had a lot of fun with these and I am pleased with the project...which does not happen that often.


Thankyou again loyal readers and blurkers, be keeping it Purky xx

Tuesday has arrived.

Heya, its a bit murky in Purky Towers at the moment but I promise that I am doing my best to keep making things.

You see I have had this big box of plaster whites that I cast up in October last year and decided (with some poking) that it was high time to get them painted up.

They are pretty much all from ice cube moulds I have found in cooking shops, homewares, skips and charity shops.

I dug out some lovely paints including the pearlescent and glitter paints as well as some brushes and set to work.

I gave everyone an undercoat of either gloss black acryllic or metallic silver and gold.

I like the blingy hearts. Initially I was worried about the brush strokes but I think it looks sort of charming.

Here is a 'goth-berry' :) I will drybrush it at somepoint.

These are hearts which have been black glossed then painted with different colour glitterpaints. Also they have been sealed with lacquer :D

Purple :)

Gold :)

Green :)

and Raspberry :)

 I tried giving a more aged look to this face and think it looks kinda swish.

A group shot for luck showing off my 'golden-berry' to the left.

and finally a very blue and silver strawberry :)


Painting these up cheered me up briefly. I have been listing an item a day on etsy in my 'purkyproducts' shop which is yet to bear fruit but my listings are far from perfect methinks.

My DH is sulking with me at the moment so I believe I am in trouble because the agency hasn't phoned to offer me a £35k a year job. We shall ignore the fact all the cooking and washing up has been my department for erm...how long? Sigh. I am probably being unreasonable, though I have taken up any days the agencies have offered and the well seems to have run dry. I am temping as a carer this week, its only twenty hours but its got to count for something?

There are some great jobs in the Blackmore Vale Magazine but I just don't have....I don't know. The urge to apply? Is this a lack of confidence or laziness? All I want to do is make things and then sell them. Unrealistic? Probably in this economic climate with the minimal investment cushion available to me.

Its like my life is enveloped by an extensive feeling of 'meh' and nothing is shifting it. There are lovely people around me and the house is pleasant, my cat is ....well a pain in the arse but brilliant with it.

Also in a bizare twist an abusive figure from my past has reappeared and I am not keen on that frankly. Lets see how the rest of the week goes.

Ta ta for now x