Tag Archives: Ace of Clay

I Made Captain Kirk! (Progress Gallery)

Posted on April 13, 2024 | Leave a comment

Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter/Spring Break and that you were lucky enough here in the States to see the Total Solar Eclipse! We had perfect weather — the day BEFORE the eclipse— but it was grey and cloudy on the actual day 😦 . However we did experience a temperature drop and moderate darkness during the eclipse which was quite extraordinary!

In other news, the past couple of weeks I have indulged in my latest hobby, and it is highly gratifying! I’ve been learning to work with polymer clay and it has truly been a rewarding and somewhat life-changing experience! Thanks to watching the polymer master “Ace of Clay” on YouTube, it’s so satisfying to see a germ of an idea I had over a decade ago finally brought to fruition and completed!

So the project actually started years ago when I was in a craft shop and spotted a cute bag of craft pom-poms that looked like little tribbles with their perfect coloring of beige, brown, and white. I thought, it would make an cute sculpture someday with Kirk engulfed by tribbles! I bought the pom-poms with great ambition.

Of course I wasn’t sure how I’d make the sculpture. I considered a fabric one, with felt to be stuffed and painted with the pom-poms glued on, but the logistics bugged me. What proportions could it be and how to keep it stable? I let the idea stew for a while, and like many of my creative dreams, the pom-poms got put aside and buried among many of my creative dreams piling up in my closet.

It wasn’t until a month or so ago when I came upon a video by Anthony, the “Ace of Clay” whose polymer clay creations just blew. me. away! I realized that this was my ticket to create my Kirk sculpture, and on March 29th I finally started it! Keep scrolling to see the gallery from start to finish!

I’m very happy with the result and I think it’s okay for my first attempt. Of course I see its imperfections, (to me he looks more like Nicolas Cage that Bill Shatner) but that’s what learning is all about! I cannot describe the marvelous gratification one can have from creating something from scratch. And I am thrilled to add it to my other creative projects (photography and digital collages) — it is just a wonderful tactile, focusing hobby that challenges not only my sculpting skills, but painting too. Good for fine motor skills, and and just basic happiness! (And it only took 20+ years or so to make!) I cannot wait to start new project ! Enjoy the gallery, and watch the captain come to life! (I’ll have to share this with William Shatner!)

March 29th, 2024. We start with armature, made from aluminum wire
Aluminum foil is added to fill out the form
Adding the base of Sculpy light, whose consistency is like working with marshmallow!
Captain in the Oven! First bake. Polymer clay stays soft until it is baked
April 4th. Shaping out manly torso and neck
Familiar neckline? Adding arms.
The trim was hard to do and broke a couple times, but I managed.
April 6. The first attempt at the head wasn’t quite right so I made a second
The second head seemed better, but I wish now the lower half was broader.
April 8,. Trim painted, but why is the badge black? Because it will make the metallic paint ‘pop’!
Fun to try my painting skills after all these years.
Shirt painted
April 9. Hair, eye whites and gold accents added
I knew my hands might be a little too shaky to paint the eyes, so I used fine markers instead.
April 10th. Let the Tribbles fall! Since there were no black tribbles, I used the black pom poms for filler.
Sorting the sizes
Left Side
Back
Right Side
Poor guy!
Tribble on his shoulder!
Ta-Daa!

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Happy 2024!

Posted on January 7, 2024 | 2 comments

How are you all doing? I pray you will have a very happy and healthy new year, and you are all always in my thoughts and prayers!

Not much new with me, although it appears my old desktop computer is giving up the ghost and I will probably be getting a new one or a laptop to replace it! I hope we get this resolved soon, but in the meantime, I just wanted to check in on you!

I have begun my annual Memorial collage for the year, recalling all the newsmakers we lost last year, will probably have that up in a couple of weeks, new computer pending. (I don’t want to save too many images to my current computer without back up or it could be lost!)

I’ve started a new hobby since December! I’m learning how to sculpt Plasticine clay as inspired by Ace of Clay on YouTube. I got some lovely clay modelling tools from my son this Christmas, and I have several ideas which I hope I can execute in time for a display I’ll have up at my local library in June!! In that display I will also include many of my silly collages and some of my photography. I can’t wait!

In the real world, I am enjoying being a substitute teacher, although I’ll be holding off for a while until the seasonal ailments (flu,covid,RSV, and pneumonia) ease off. I’ll be getting my last vaccination this week to help stave off any illnesses. I strongly urge you to get your vaccines too, and wear a mask in public. Just common sense!

(Spoiler: political commentary, feel free to skip to next paragraph after)

I know this will be a big year for our nation (USA) and the world, and I pray we can achieve stability and peace world-wide. Suffice to say (and you’re welcome to disagree) I DO NOT want Donald Trump back in the White House. He is a danger to our fragile democracy and I have no doubt that a new Trump Administration will become a Trump Autocracy or worse (dictatorship). His cruelty, misogyny, devotion to ‘strong man’ types (Putin, Jong -Un, JinPing and Orban,) is a clear enough indication of his intentions. (see Project 2025) One cannot be a dictator “for one day” and he knows we all know this.  But he will continue to charm those who hate all the people he hates, and encourage violence. He will tear families apart again, crush civil rights, and degrade women further while aiding and abetting fellow Authoritarians and Dictators. This is not the America I believe in. I will rejoice the day that we never have to hear of him again. Fine if you disagree. FYI, most immigrants are NOT after YOUR job, unless you want to pick produce in poor conditions, clean toilets, haul trash, or care for the elderly. They take all the jobs that ‘good Americans’ don’t want. And if they can rise above menial labor into decent livable wage positions, it is well deserved! America was built on immigration and most of us are descendants of Immigrants. One must be really desperate in their own country (especially the southern border) to risk death coming here. To shuffle them around like cattle is inhumane. Enough said. 

On lighter topics, I look forward to the next seasons of Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds. And the final (wah!) season of Discovery — hey it wasn’t that bad!! I want to spend more time organizing, getting rid of stuff, spending less, saving more, creating, and losing the elusive weight in my never ending battle.

As The Keeper says, “May you find your way as pleasant.”

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