Balance

Another piece in my ever-growing Circus collection. This is a 3D encaustic collage with plastic toys, wooden blocks, encaustic fill, and background illustration. Still staying with primary colors on this one. 

Still not finished with this theme. There's more to say about it and I haven't quite achieved what I want yet.

Sing & Sting

Today I created 2 pieces from found nature bits: a wasp nest and a bird's nest, Sing & Sting. 

The backgrounds of each are handwritten copies of Aesop's fables, The Bee and Jupiter and The Swallow and Other Birds. I placed the nests and did a clear fill around them. I also added some white scratches and splatters for variety. 

The wax batch I used for this was either old (can that even happen?) or not mixed well. It was very difficult to get it to do what I wanted and it kept cracking, making this "easy" project one that took almost all day. :/

Sing is also a submission for the challenge at Take a Word this week whose theme is "Feathered Friends".

what i'm wearing today...

favorite animal=snail. and kitties of course. but i collect snails like crazy, don't know why, i just can't help but take them home! so in homage to my obsession i made a plastic animal necklace of a snail. just a cute and slimy friend to hang out with me all day. :)

and yes, those are the cutest buttons you've ever seen. i put them on myself. ^_^

it's not easy being green

happy st. patrick's day! the challenge at Take a Word this week is Green! which made me think of kermit, which led to frogs, which led to this necklace!

i wanted to do an Irish theme, but the inspiration never came. :(
so this is what you get instead.

first, i hammered a spoon into a flat shape, and snapped off the part of the handle i didn't need.
next i used gel medium to glue down some vintage advertisement paper.

i wanted my frog to remain green, but to blend in, so i gave him a light coating of antique gold.
hot glue held it all together, and i added a "G" embellishment for green and hung it on a chain. ta da! cute wearable frog. ^_^

three muses challenge: fish

the challenge this week at the Three Muses is Fish! which is perfect, since this week i am really feeling some altered plastic items, and it's an great opportunity to use this it's-so-ugly-it's-cute rubber fish.

technique is pretty basic jewelry making stuff. i put an eye screw into the top of the feesh (that is how i say fish) and put it on a copper chain. i added small beads of a similar color pattern as the fish and chain.

finally, i added some tiny blue bottles i found in a (of all things) Bratz toy set from Goodwill that had a few cute little dishes, like these and plates and cups.

the fish is from an old water toy i played with until it burst. it was filled with glitter and 2 fish (the other fish can be found as a piece of my Field Researcher's Journal assemblage).
there will be more animal pieces to come, but who knows when. stupid school is back in session and i have to do a bunch of stupid things i don't want to. :(
also, not sure why i've taken a shine to displaying my things wrapped around bottles. but i have, i think it's pretty. ^_^

what i love this week....

inspired by Jane Anne Wynn's Altered Curiosities, what i love this week is plastic animals! i have yet to actually create my piece, but i will probably try to make something for the Three Muses challenge this week, which is fish. so i am off to craft, i leave you with my menagerie, pictured above, and this pig on a screwdriver.