Sarajane's Polyclay Gallery

Welcome to Sarajane’s Polyclay Gallery!

Here you will find all sorts of artistic eye candy, information, projects and tutorials about polymer clay, ceramics, metal, graphic arts, textiles and many other media. This is the blog page with all the news, and there are many pages listed in the drop down menu above. Please do explore!

That’s a Wrap!

That’s also a coffee mug, a tote bag, a t-shirt….I just LOVE using the design functions in the Print On Demand companies that I have been exploring. Read more about the  POD exploration here. Taking my own artwork (and that of artists like Ian Helm and Camille Rendal ) into a digital format and seeing them in different ways is a lot of fun.

I also learn a lot, finding out about the sublimation print process, how different file formats are used, and international shipping!

 Please do take a look!

Another Summer of Love

It is officially summertime again, and my sweetie and I have celebrated another anniversery and we are another year older…still loving each other and our family, art and music. Still in love with the wide open Wyoming countryside after a year here. We just moved to a larger home with a bigger workspace too, and I’m loving having a window in my outdoor workspace. Can’t say as I love the mosquitos in all honesty, but they will all go away soon, and I will still be grinding my metal happily. At least, thats the plan…

We closed out our storage unit and broght home all our books and albums, and furniture I had not seen in a while. While we did take the opportunity to divest further of things we didnt love, it sure is nice to see things that remind me of other times, places and people that I do love. Like my sewing machine! My mom got that sturdy machine shortly after she got me, and a good old Singer is a workhorse indeed. I’ve made lots of clothing, curtains and dolls with it. I’m already at work making more now that I have the room to set it up and put it away right here at home. Curtains came first, dolls, costumes and puppets are on my list!

And speaking of dolls, I brought home boxes of Spirit Doll Kits in many sizes. I have dyed pre-made cotton doll bodies in 3,5 8 and 10 inch sizes, packed up with bits of dyed fabrics, sequins, beads…polymer clay faces, ceramic faces, metal faces…there are lots of parts for making dolls that delight your creative spark. Here are some pictures of the contents of a sample 3″ doll kit and two little sprites I made up using kits. I added the aluminum wings to one to turn her into a fairy–but the wings are not in the kits, Its fun to add bits and pieces. the kits are just a starting point. See more about spirit Dolls here.

New Designs in the New Year

One of the treats I gave myself during the changeover months of the end of 2017 and  the start of the 2018 was to put together a new batch of designs to make on the laser cutter at Tinkermill, the makerspace in Longmont CO. I came up with almost 100, narrowed it to my favorite 80 or so, and have had time during my monthly visits to try about a third of them so far.  I’m using up the last batch of birch wood that I colored, and I am prepared to make the next batch; its a great feeling to both use up art supplies AND have more coming to hand! Next time I go there, I’ll be in a major Production Mode, but this trip was Research and Development.

With new designs, I start with creating a file that I think is a good size, but I never know how a component will look as a pendant, an earring, or a box until I cut it and see how it looks in reality. Some designs look better at different sizes, some work big or small. The first batch I cut on blonde baltic birch wood, and see what I like, what else I might like too/better. I almost always try a design version that is smaller and one bigger—just to see. Then I make any changes needed and run a batch or three on the colored wood or try power and speed variations to see how they look. 

The next step is to sit with the wooden output and play with the pile, seeing how they look together, how they hang (should the hole be on the top AND bottom< and which IS the top?) and to get some feedback from my beady buddies, who tell me both by their reactions and their comments a lot of good info. If I’ve picked the wrong aspect to be on top, they kindly but firmly let me know it. Many times they have shown me a design I thought was too large or small, too plain or ornate, was actually popular with others (whether or not I like something is not the only judgement criteria, it seems! Others do have tastes that may differ.)

Then I cull out the designs that were not outstanding and build a file of the best. Those, I will be cutting in up to 20 colors this spring! I’m getting ready for a very colorful and creative year. I think I’ll be playing with the wood pieces in more ways too, adding pieces to mosaics boxes and creating graphics before turning them into jewelry or selling them to those other very creative artists that do wonderful work with them. I love that kind of at-a-distance collaboration.

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Books in Print

Polymer Clay Gemstones - The Art of Deception
The Business of Professional Art
Adapting Quilt Patterns to Polymer Clay
A Collection of Polymer Clay Masks
Celebrations With Polymer Clay
Create a Polymer Clay Impression

Creative Connections

Creative Connections

PolyMarket Press

PolyMarket Press