Scarf Weather

It has been a long time since I have written.  I have been in a creative slump lately.  I am attempting to pull myself out of the rut by experimenting with designs for scarf pins.  The only show I participate in is next week and I want to present something new.

 These were the first two I made.  They are skinner blends stamped and baked. After baking, I antiqued with LPC.  I think the pin sticks are too long and flexible.  Both the pins and skewers bend very easily.

 My next experiment was with textured white clay, which I then colored with inks.  After the ink dried, I antiqued with black tinted LPC.  This pin tack is shorter, but still too flexible.

 Trying a different shape this time. Also, since the earlier skewers were too flexible and bendy, I thought I would try a more solid material.  I hammered some 16G copper.  They look good but are too slick.  I found they slid out of the scarf.  These two both colored with green ink, the one on the left had some blue added while the one below had a Carmel colored ink added to the green.

Next was an attempt to mimic ceramic.  After texture and shaping a white base, I baked the pieces. When cool, they were colored with LPC tinted with different inks.  The skewers are a bit stronger this time. I covered toothpicks with clay, textured and colored with tinted LPC.

 I really like the colors. But after trying to find a sweater to photograph them against, I realized that unless they are a perfect match for someone's scarf, they may be hard to sell.  So, my next adventure will be trying to come up with a neutral color and design.  Perhaps faux bone or ivory.

This is the only one of the three Faux Ceramic pieces that did not burn when I zapped them with the heat gun. I am usually very good at preventing burning, but this time when I was heating the back of the piece, the front burnt.  I got the trick of it by the time I got to this one.