Turtle (b.20 June 2010)

29 January 2011

I can't believe that it's been over six months since Turtle was born. Oh my. Well, I think that means that it's about time I told you the whole story...

Wee Dinosaur (b.6 October 2010)

11 January 2011
As part of my meanderings down Memory Lane to look at creature commissions I've made, I want to share with you the making of Wee Dinosaur.

Alonso the Armadillo (b.5 August 2010)

16 December 2010
Meet Alonso, the Christmas Armadillo! Well, OK, p'raps not, but I promise there will be a Christmas Armadillo next year :)

Wee Unicorn (b.8 February 2010)

Wee Unicorn was commissioned by Kate, aka Glamourpuss, for her birthday on 3 March - HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!

Based on the wee horse design, Wee Unicorn is made from glitter white Fimo, from the special effect range. It's the same clay out of whichc I made the eponymous Glamourpuss, and Kate suggested I use this for the unicorn.

For the horn, I used a silver clay. All metallic clays have an interesting property called the 'mica shift' effect. Metallic clays have mica added to them, and when the clay is conditioned, the mica gets re-aligned. This can lead to a 'streaking' effect, where the mica particles aren't aligned, but by continuing to condition the clay by rolling it out in the same direction, these streaks can be removed as the particles realign with each other.

I wanted to use the mica shift effect to make the twists in the unicorn's horn. I rolled out a thin snake of clay, making it pointy at one end, and then twisted it. This caused the mica particles to spiral, forming lines in the clay. Simples! To attach the horn to the head, and to add extra strength, I cut a small length of thick wire to use as an armature, and finished the join with some liquid polymer clay.

Wee Unicorn measures just over 3cm from nose to tail, and 4cm to the tip of his horn. And I'm so fond of him that I think he may be the latest addition to the Wee Beasties range.

Antelope (b.4 January 2010)

Never thought I'd be doing an Antelope, let alone an Antelope with glasses, but here he is! Commissioned by a good friend of mine for her other half (who is the best boyfriend in the world), I wasn't entirely sure how he would turn out, so I decided to give my brain a rest and let my hands figure it out.

I knew I would follow broadly the same shape as the Wee Horses, etc, but beyond that, I didn't have a clue. I started with the antlers (horns?) and cut two short lengths of 1.2mm silver plated wire which I covered with thin strips of striped black and white clay, leaving a short length of wire to embed into the head.  Next, I worked on the colour for the body and head, and made up a Skinner blend of reddish-brown and tan. Once these colours were nicely blended, I squished the resultant sheet into a plug, and then began to shape the body. Somehow a rounded body didn't feel right, particularly as antelopes are so long-legged and graceful.  So I made a tear-drop shape with the reddish brown on top, fading to tan for the legs. This shape felt intuitively right, and also allowed for a more elongated head. 

The head took a bit of thought, particularly with regard to the markings. I hadn't realised there were so many different types of antelopes in the world, so I decided to go for a generic antelope 'look' (if there is such a thing) with a white stripe down the nose and across the eyes. I used 4mm black onyx beads for the eyes and spaced them quite far apart.  Antelope ears are quite large, and I lined these with a scrap of white clay.

Next I embedded the antlers by applying liquid polymer clay to the metal ends and pressing them firmly into the head, and I finished off the look with a white tail and a thin disc of black clay for the hoofs.

Antelope stands 4.5cm to the tip of his antlers, and measures 3cm from ear to ear. The stylised look works well for this Wild Beastie, and I've got some ideas about making more in the Wild Beastie range - elephants and hippos will be next up!

Lion and Tiger (b.7 December 2009)

Grrrrrrr....Thanks to Donna who commissioned these Wild Beasties from me at the Bruntcliffe School Christmas Fayre on 22 November! It was a lot of fun departing from my usual cat style, and I'm very pleased with the way these have turned out. They will definitely be joining the Wild Beasties range in the near future!

The Tiger came first - to begin with, I mixed up orange, black and a small bit of white, and then lightly mixed the colours to create a defined stripey effect. The features were pretty straightforward - the rounded ears with white inner fluff, the slightly larger chops and nose, all finished off with a large, rounded tail. He stands about 4cm tall. Since making him, I've tried out a few more colour mixes but haven't been happy with the results. I suspect I'll need to be satisfied with the more stylised interpretation of a tiger, rather than realism (that would be in keeping with what has gone before...Rainbow Cats, anyone?!)

Slightly more challenging was the Lion. I started by mixing up a golden yellow colour for the body (bright yellow mixed with ivory, a touch of sweet potato and some white). The features were also quite straightforward and were similar to the Tiger's. The part which did cause me some pause for thought was the mane.

I had all sorts of ideas to begin with, and was initially going to dry felt some wool into a mane shape and then attach it with liquid polymer clay. Then, when I was in town the other day, I went to Samuel Taylor's (fantastic haberdashery shop) and found some brown feather trim which I thought could work very well. Alas, when the time came to apply it, the fluff was so thick that it virtually obscured the entirety of the Lion. Trimming it down helped to a certain extent, but my experience with trimmed feather trim was much the same as it was with trimming the black pom-pom for Bearskin Cat. It went EVERYWHERE. In the end, I went with extruded clay and then built up the mane strand by pain-staking strand. And I think the finished effect works pretty well, although I'll work more on getting a layer of clay under the strands to speed up the 'maning' process!

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Wee Zebras (b.5 December 2009)

After a hectic week filled with preparations for an exclusive Christmas Shopping Evening which I organised for Artsmix, it was a relief to get back to the crafting table to try my hand at some new designs.


I had a monochrome day on Saturday - I only worked with black and white, as I was making up a couple of commissions (more to follow shortly on those). And as I mashed up the left over black and white clay, I was struck by the possibility of making Wee Zebras. Based on the Wee Horse shape, after doing some internet research, I made the nose black, the mane short and stripey (like a mohican), and the tail was thin and stripey with a black tuft at the end.

The trick with these was not to mix the black and white too much so that the stripes could be preserved as intact as possible. For the mane, I extruded black and white strands and then made up a double thicknes of alternating strands, trimming them very short before fixing them to the body with liquid polymer clay. I teased out the strands a little bit to make it look more natural. The tail was made by rolling out two thin logs of black and white and then twisting them together, like a candy cane. I then stuck a few short strands of black extruded clay to make the tuft at the end. A thin circle of black clay for the hooves completed the look, and a coat of satin varnish gives their coats a glossy finish.

I'll be making more Wild Beasties soon - I have a commission for a Lion and a Tiger, and I want to try my hand at an Elephant and a Giraffe as well. A Hippo could work too, and if you've got any more suggestions, do get in touch!