Air Dry Adventures 2

I recently purchased some Creative Paper Clay. This material had me at Air Dry so wanted to experiment with it. I LOVE cloud clay and Makin's Clay but wanted something that I would be able to build on and work with a bit longer and would still give me that Air Dry bonus! SOOooooo, here are a couple of things I have made thus far and am in the process of letting them dry before painting them. These were taken a couple of days ago so the painting will start very soon. I am giving them 48hrs to completely dry before attempting the painting process. Now you can put your pieces over a heat vent if you want to speed things along, place them in your oven according to manufactures instructions which I believe is 250degrees for 30minutes. NOW, let me warn you that if you are using Styro Foam for your body armature do NOT use the oven at this temp. I used it at "warm" with the door cracked. My BIG MISTAKE was closing the door even on "Warm" (my oven has to be nuclear powered) which then caused the foam to begin to contract and distort. Nothing that couldn't be fixed but good to know lol.

My snowman is the first picture at the top, LOVE snowmen so of course we had to come up with a couple lol. Trisha is my LadyBug fairy doll and she is the second picture with her wings being the third pic. My little Snowman bust is really cute and came out just fine even after the Oven debacle. Will post pictures soon since some of the stuff had to be fixed so we are waiting for it to dry completely. Trisha has come away basically unscathed so I have started painting her already. Will keep you posted! Lj

Wishing Everyone "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!"

The past 6 months have gone by in a whirlwind! I can't even remember some of what happened last week let alone 6 months ago but several things stand out for me in the past months. The Anniversary of Gloria Jarrett's passing May 19th, Leslie Howard Quillman Jr., Sept 4th. My trip to see my daughter and grandchildren which is always a true joy and blessing. Another year with Jack Jarrett! My son working on staying healthy both physically and mentally and doing a great job! My Son In Law Robert W. Freeman making it home from Afghanistan safely and reunited with his family. My daughter Natalie who is always a comfort and joy to be around. My husband who keeps me grounded and gives me a safe harbor to come home to. These things along with being able to work and do some of the things I love make me truly grateful. I have been blessed to love those who have passed, to have those I love still near me and to experience the joy of being a grandparent.
I am wishing for all those who actually read this that you have many blessings in the coming year, the wisdom to recognize those blessings and to enjoy them thoroughly when they are received because we aren't guaranteed a tomorrow. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Air Dry Adventures

I love cutsie type stuff and decided to try the Air Dry Clay after seeing some really sweet examples and realizing that it would be perfect for the little guys I have made in the past. I have made my own Cold Porcelain paste, which you can see the little Polar Bear Baby above that is made from this paste. It's very soft and does tend to flatten out if you don't allow your pieces to dry before attaching. Since I like little chunky guys this isn't such an issue for me as long as I keep the pieces relatively small. Be careful where you place your little guys when letting them dry, lol my little bear is now my bead canister topper. Yes, he's stuck there, lol.

 

This little guy is made with Makin's Air Dry clay. I really liked the consistency of this as well and had just a little trouble with some cracking while drying but feel that was due to continuously trying to manipulate while it was drying. This is where you have to work a bit faster than with polymer. All in all I like Makin's and will be doing some more little guys with this clay. My Penguin Baby is about 1 3/4" tall.

This little baby is made from Crayola's Model Magic. Now I like the finish when it drys but it's like working with marshmallow fluff lol. SO, you would most defiantly have to allow your pieces to dry separately then attach with a little glue once the clay had set up enough not to distort.

 

This by no means is a finished piece but I got my hands on some Cloud Clay by Amaco and I really liked playing with this stuff. The local store only had one bag and yes, you're right it was yellow, lol. Very light weight, easy to work with, held it's shape relatively well as long as your little guys are small. Otherwise again, make sure you let your pieces set up before trying to attach to one another. I purchased more of this clay in some various colors and will most definitely be using it to make more little critters!

Give Air Dry a try! I like the convenience of letting it dry and moving on to the next project. Deco makes a ClayCraft clay that is Air Dry that I would love to work with. If anyone out there has used it please post what your experience has been with it. There are a lot of others out there as well. Try to buy the better grades of clay, it will just save you a lot of headache in the long run. Thanks guys, Lj

Change can be GOOD

I spent the better part of last week moving my Tattoo business to another location. It wasn't to bad just trying to do it as quickly as possible to be ready to work.  The weather at least held out until this week which has been less than savory lol. I am not a "Winter" person and much prefer the bone soaking rays of summer which for us here in the North Country is about 6 months from now, lol. I have felt a bit disoriented creative wise so it's been a very unproductive couple of weeks. This isnt' typical so I am hoping that things get better soon, it's like having writers block, not cool. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season and will try to post something new very soon, Peace out! <3<3<3

My First Online Published Tutorial!!

My Autumn Faerie Treasure Jar won 1st Place in the November Challenge with PolyClayPlay.com. To celebrate I also have written my first tutorial so that you can make a Treasure Jar of your own! 

 Just follow the link provided here: 

http://www.polyclayplay.com/Cart/categories/Artist-Corner-Tutorials/Loria-Designs/

Thanks so much for taking the time to look! If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact me! I would love hearing from you!

Prize winning Entry in the Poly Clay Play Challenge for November!! WOOT!!

I have to admit I was a bit nervous entering a challenge that would be voted on but stepping out of my comfort zone decided to give it a try.  I was notified today that I won 1st Prize!! Trish @ Poly Clay Play (her link is at the top of my page here) has a great website for people to get there feet wet or learn new techniques with polymer clay, buy supplies, tutorials, free tutorials, a yahoo group to chat about your projects, questions or just to share photos. I am very excited as well to announce that I am publishing my very first tutorial and will be featuring the Autumn Faerie Treasure Jar on the Poly Clay Play site Loria Designs Autumn Faerie Treasure Jar Tutorial
A special thanks goes out to everyone who voted for my entry!! TY! Lj

New tools :O)

Awww, some women just love getting new jewelry, new shoes, maybe a new swanky coat to go with that new pair of jeans but me?  I LOVE getting new claying tools! My DH just bought me a new and much better Dremel with all the bells and whistles for those projects that need the big guns! lol Just recieved some new size 0 clay shaper tools as well for my little guys and can't wait to get a minute to try them out. That's what makes me go "OOooohhhhh, awwwwww!" Hope to post something new very soon so stay tuned! Peace!

Amethyst from the Spriteling clan has paid us a visit!

Spritelings: Small fun loving little fairies that bring good fortune and promise but not without a price!

My picture taking skills leave a lot to be desired. I just can't seem to get the hang of it which is something I need to be good at considering......Anyhoo....Amethyst came by for a visit today and allowed me to take a few pictures of her. She's about 2 1/2" tall and comes with flocking with purple glitter mixed in on her body as well as some polyclay flowers and small leaves. She's also got some pretty awesome wings that are embellished with purple glitter to give them just a little bit more twinkle. I made a garland for her head that is made of wire and some funky yarn I had that matched the colors I needed. From there I glued on some more little polyclay flowers and leaves leaving a few yarn tails in the back for a train. This was my first attempt at something this small and intricate. The EYES were nerve racking! lol but I was pleased in that I am getting better and learning more each time I complete the process. I hope everyone likes! PLEASE let me know what you think and leave comments with any suggestions for future little fairies!

Joslyn's Wish Comes True!

Joslyn had always dreamed of being a fairy and living among other Fae. She worked hard everyday and tried to do things she felt would please the faerie and maybe one day one would grant her the one wish that meant more to her than anything! One morning after waking she realized that the sun was up at its brightest....had she slept most of the day? Jumping from bed she ran to her closet to get her clothes for the days work when she happened to catch a glimpse in the mirror, OH MY something was different......very, very different! Slowly she returned to the mirror to gasp at what she saw!! She now had WINGS! Her dream had come true! The Faerie had heard her wishes! It was then she noticed the small note sticking out of the mirror frame. As Joslyn read it she began to understand that although she now had wings she also had responsibility to the Fae for granting her this wish. From this day forward her new job would be to love and nourish the pumpkin patch, to help each pumpkin grow to become large pumpkins. Joslyn didn't mind at all, she was extremely happy and so very excited to get to her new job and her new life amongst the faerie!! 

We will have to peak in on her once in awhile to see what adventures she gets herself into with those wings and adjusting to life with the Fae!

Committing to One thing?

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks and am ALMOST finished with Joslyn. She's a mouse but not just any mouse, she's a fairy mouse and has recently had a wish granted that allowed her to live among the fairy. It's not all play though, she has responsibilities!! She will be in charge of the pumpkin patch and will watch over each pumpkin to make sure that they get all the love and nurturing they need to grow big and strong! Josyln is a bit overwhelmed being that she is just a mouse but she will get through it besides who wouldn't want to be a part of Faerie? So please be patient and stay tuned as we get her all cleaned up and her beautiful wings done! 

The other reason for writing is my mounting problem of trying to focus on one particular thing instead of being all over the place! I love the Fantasy realm and everything I do will most definitely have to do with Fae of some kind but then there are all the pretty jewels, bottles, boxes, adornments that call to me!! I am trying not to become to scattered as I think on my next sculpture but it's becoming more and more difficult lol. I need to come up with a way to incorporate all the things I love into one item........hummmm let me think on that and get back to drawing. Thanks everyone for stopping in and hopefully some new pics very soon!!

Riemi, a WoodSprite

Riemi came about one night while I was looking through a Brian Froud book and began wondering what it would be like to live in a world where things like wood sprites, pixies and such were real.  Picking up some Hazelnut colored clay I began working on my first little wood sprite. He's really sweet and loves to play in the woods where he can blend in naturally with his surroundings. He's very playful and likes to get into things! I am hoping to get him posted to my yahoo groups as well tonight so wish me luck! Riemi will be offered on Etsy as well.

When your job gets in the way of your passion lol

Well first let me say that I do really like my job. I am a tattoo artist by day and try to do my clay in the evenings and days off. This doesn't always work however since being married does require me to pay attention to my partner every once in awhile as well as do a little housework and show some interest in the accumulating dust bunnies that although don't eat much do tend to multiply lol. I recently was reading a Brian Froud book and looking at the art work realizing that I am never going to do "realistic" claywork. My stuff always tends to be towards the cutsie end of things and more fantasy related so.......I am embarking on learning the process of creating more lifelike figurines with a cutsie fantasy look to them. The construction is really something I need to focus on and making sure that I am putting together a product that won't crumble down the road or have an arm fall off during shipping!! Can you imagine! My first attempt is a little wood sprite that I haven't named yet but will be posting pictures probably this weekend sometime. I am currently trying to finish his wings then attaching him to the base I made for him to sit on. Now he's a dark brown, thus the wood sprite and has quite the hat on his head for adornment. I am hoping that as my skill developes I can be a bit more confident in what I am doing. It's always hard for me and at times I have to get up and walk away from the table, then come back the next day to get a fresh look at what I am doing.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend and if you have an art form you love to do, drop me a line and let me know if you go through the same thing at times? Thanks guys! tty this weekend!

Treasure Boxes, Chaucers Sister and Things Forgotten

While working to finish the piece I am calling "Things Forgotten", I became a bit sidetracked and also started a treasure box. This will probably be something I will be making more of and can be used for small trinkets, fairy dust, notes, gift cards, etc. I am really drawn to the make it up as you go thing and incorporating all kinds of things and techniques into one piece. These won't be very big about the size of a gift card box. Once that was finished I went back in to my bigger piece "Things Forgotten" and finished it. I will be mounting this to something to make it more of a picture to display.  THEN, I went to making Chaucer a sister snail and another really small sort of woodland snail.  I have been busy and loving every minute of it.  I do get overwhelmed though at times and have to pull back as there is just so much going on in my head for ideas and just not enough time! lol. I have a couple of tutorials that I purchased and will be working on those very soon. Will post pictures for those when they are finished. Hope you like and most likely a couple of these will find themselves on Artfire or Etsy. Peace.

Things Forgotten

I woke this morning thinking I needed to get to my room to do something with my clay. It's been about 3 days since I worked with it and was feeling the itch to make something. I came across some clay I had mixed and set aside for that "project" that never happened. Now it wasn't that much clay so I began thinking I would make some sort of small vessel and decorate it but I didn't have enough......next think I knew it was 3.5 hours later and this is what I have so far lol. It sort of reminds me of Faerie, perhaps a book cover to a host of exotic elixir recipes or spells? It's not quite finished yet but close and then I will be baking it and antiquing it as well to give it that final touch. Let me know what you think!

There is nothing for me that compares to that feeling of making something like this purely on a whim and getting swept away, loosing track of time and feeling the exhilaration of creating something that makes you happy.

Chaucer Fairy Snail

For those of you who know me I am not good with plants. I tend to over mother them by drowning. I am not sure why I feel so compelled to over water my plants but needless to say it leads to more than a few casualties and I have resorted to cactus in my desperate attempt to try and learn moderation. So far it's been alright, with a near miss with one of my pear cactus looking pretty peaked for a bit then once it began to get more sun and dried out it looks like it's going to make it! lol. In the process though I have made a discovery of a little group of snails. They are really cute but quite mischievous and startled me one morning before my cup of coffee!! I caught this one in a photo for you so you could see he's really cute and he did come with friends! lol Hope you enjoy and we will see who else shows up?

Galain has finally shown up!!

Whew, finally I was beginning to think he wasn't actually going to show up! Galain is Cyelene's older brother and just a sweet guy but painfully shy! He loves all things small and tall, so you can imagine his surprise when out exploring one morning much farther from the nest than he should have been found this pretty little ladybug! Of course he had to catch her and pick her up, but she looks so scared! He won't hurt her though and it's really kind of cool that she is the same color of his little berries on his body! I bet they end up best friends! Thanks for stopping by and Galain will be listed on Etsy for any of you who might be interested in starting your own little dragon hatchery lol.

Busy Hands!!

Well it's been a very busy week and I finally got back into my room to finish out these two pendants. They are both roughly 2 1/4"H x 1 3/4"W, made from polymer clay, all hand sculpted without use of molds. Definitely one of a kind and perfect for any one out there into fantasy type pendants. It's like walking around with a mini sculpture and cool jewelry all at the same time! These are listed on Etsy if anyone so desires to check them out and thanks for stopping in to take a look! Also be looking for my new Dragon, his name is Galain and he's a bit shy...but he'll be here soon!

My Newest Dragon

Just wanted to give everyone a little preview of my latest dragon. Will be painting him soon so will post pictures of him once he's completely finished!!

My First Online Interview!! Thank you ClayLessons.com!

Wanted to provide the link to my first interview! The website is ClayLessons.com and the founder Eni Oken was gracious enough to ask to interview me about my Poppets/critters! It's a great site for polymer clay, displaying your work, learning different projects and techniques. I highly recommend you taking a minute to swing over there and check them out. Especially if you are a polymer artist or are thinking of trying it out you will have plenty to peruse and oohhhh and ahhhhh at lol. Lots of talent there to pick and choose from!  Thanks for taking the time to go to the website and read the interview. Let me know what you think here or leave a comment there. Have a good day y'all!
http://www.claylessons.com/article/interview-loriadesigns

Dragons Eyes!

Wanted to share these brand new Dragon's Eyes that I finished!! How much fun is that??? These guys were inspired by a great artist Chris Kapono and I just fell in love with her colors and style. I will definitely be making many more of these! There are so many ways to decorate and color combinations.  The possibilities are truly endless. These are roughly 3"Lx2"W so a bit big for pendants but would make a wonderful addition to anyone's fantasy/Dragon collection! Quite the conversation piece and I am not positive but it's almost like they are watching me! lol

Home again....

Well I made it back to NY in a most uneventful flight which is definitely welcome!! The trip was wonderful and my beautiful daughter and grandchildren just bring such brilliance to my life and soul. I think every once in awhile when I am discouraged and feeling a bit low about how blessed I am being able to see and touch and love my children. They inspire me daily and am a better person because of them.
With that being said it's time to get back to work and create. My grandchildren gave me lots of ideas with their smiling faces, giggles and even their serious conversations with each other lol. May god keep and bless every one of you this beautiful day and will be posting pictures in the next couple of days of a project from a woman who has just a beautiful style and color pallet. Dragon Eyes tutorial is available through www.claylessons.com artist Christine Kapano under Tutorials.  Give it a try!! Peace and Blessings!

Spending time with Family

I am currently down south in Georgia visiting my daughter and grandkids. They are always such a joy to be around and watching my grandkids grow gives me such happiness! My only complaint is that I am not around enough. My children have always been a joy to me and watching them grow was sometimes a luxury when dealing with the everyday life of living and raising a family. It's with my grandchildren that I get a chance to really watch what they do and rejoice in there accomplishments and for that there is really never enough time.
I have had fun with shopping so far, Micheal's, A.C. Moore and JoAnn's with Hobby Lobby on the list of places to go! lol All three stores so far have given me lots to think about and allowed me to practice my restraint when deciding on purchases. It would be so easy to throw caution to the wind but in times such as these being a big conservative on spending is a necessity. That's alright though as I still have Hobby Lobby to shop at and hopefully will find a few things I am looking for!! I hope everyone is having a great weekend and of course remembering those that have gone before us on this tragic day. Peace <3

Where to next?

Well I am gearing up for my trip to Georgia and getting excited to see my daughter and grandkids.  It's always so much fun to be with them and part of their lives, it just doesn't seem possible that Claire is 3 and Everett is 2 already! I am going to be taking a small break from creating but will be working while down south. I have a couple of small things to work on and will be back full swing the week of the 20th. There will be most definitely more dragons and griffins but am also working on Unicorns, little fairies and mermaids! There are literally not enough hours in the day and I have to get my beauty sleep or I am unfit to be around lol. Thanks so much for all the positive feedback on Facebook everyone and maybe someday you will see me gracing the magazine PolymerCafe? lol I WISH! I will be in touch and don't hesitate to contact me if you are looking to adopt a critter.

Cyelene has arrived!!

As promised here are a few pics of Cyelene finished. She was done with very dark colors and almost iridescent wings. I also brushed just a little iridescent paint here and there to accentuate the wing color. Thanks for all the comments everyone!! I will be doing something much bigger soon but am having so much fun with the tiny stuff!! Cyelene's Etsy Link

Cyelene

Meet Ms. Cyelene, she's roughly 3"L x 2.75" H but don't let the size fool ya! She's very mischievous and playful. She's ready for her hot house spa treatment then if magic still exists she should have wings when she is finished! Once she's been to her spa treatment I will hand paint her and give her some color. That part I am still trying to decide. It all depends on what color the wings are going to be! Once she is finished she will be listed either on Etsy under LoriaDesigns or Artfire under the same name to see if anyone wants to give her a new home! Thanks for taking the time to stop by!