One Incredible Lady - One REALLY cool piece of art...

I saw this mosaic piece on another blog this morning and was blown away - I had to share it with you. I'm a sucker for mosaics, and found this one particularly exceptional...

Ponsawan Sila is a polymer clay artist who lives in Indiana - I love her choices of color and her designs...and especially her willingness to share how she creates her work. I've been reading her blog for a few years now. You've really gotta check out her blog and see a closeup of the piece!!

About a year ago, Ponsawan came face to face with one of a parent's worst nightmares - her beautiful daughter Ada was in a horrific traffic accident - hit by a drunk driver - and has been battling back from a coma for many months now. Ponsawan has carefully chronicled the ordeal in a blog she calls Dear Ada - and while caring for her daughter she's still been creating with clay. She hasn't lost her touch - to me it seems that her work gets more beautiful with time!

I'm a firm believer in the power of prayer, and that God has a purpose for all of us. So if you will, please offer up a prayer for Ada, for Ponsawan, and their entire family - that His will be done, and that she continues to bring joy to so many others thru the work of her hands.

Ponsawan - you ROCK!! Keep doin' your thang, gurl!!

My sister...

I love my sister...

We don’t get a chance to see each other much. But when she comes to the DC area, she likes to look thru my “toys” and my “sparklies” to see what she can bring back home to Connecticut.

A few years ago I brought her over to the “dark side” by teaching her jewelry making. Gotta admit, I’m a bit jealous, because her designs and color combinations are WAY cuter than mine...

But I digress.

Over the holidays she came to visit and discovered my polymer clay addiction. She promptly went thru my stash of stuff and took a few of my creations home with her. Her co-workers liked what they saw and asked if there were any more...so I sent her a box with some extra goodies – and got a request for a few more. Here’s some photos of stuff I’m sending off to the ol’ Nutmeg State in a few days…

And jus’ for fun – here’s a YouTube vid that’s had me laughing for a few days now. I’ve never been caught in a flash mob…but wouldn’t it be fun?

I (heart) Obama!

This has been a most amazing day!


I'm having a hard time finding the words to express exactly how I feel about all the events transpiring around President Obama's inauguration. Like many, I watched the proceedings from my couch, with my coffee and fuzzy slippers...my youngest, however, braved the cold and the crowd along with her boyfriend and a few others (oh, 'bout a million or so)...

It was a wonderful thing to see, and I'm guessing that this young man will be just the leader we need. God Bless ya real good, President Obama...I look forward to good things - for all of us - in the very near future.

Oh, yeah/ my experiments with the inks and translucents?

Fail.

Obviously I should read a bit more before I attempt that again. I added the hot mess to my scrap clay heap, and took up another project, as you can see.

The latest copy of PolymerCafe has an article (and tute) by Dr. Ron Lehocky on his Hearts fundraising project. A very noble cause indeed. He began by talking about his need to use up the extra scrap clay and canes...

...well, of course I just glommed right onto that scrap clay thing. My scrap clay stash is almost large enough to sculpt a large German Shephard. And I have a hard time figuring interesting ways to get rid of all of it.



So what you see above are 21 hearts made of some of my scrap clay and scrap canes. Once I smooth them down with cornstarch and refine their edges, I'll bake, sand and buff 'em up. Valentine's Day is getting closer, and I'm sure the ladies at the office will tell me if they like them or not. We all gotta have a heart pin in our lives, don't we?

OK.

I've caved.

My family (especially my children) will either be very proud or chagrined that I've finally decided to start a blog. I suspect they'll also be coming in occasionally to see if I've written embarrassing things about them... oh, well.

My reason? I love reading other folk's poly clay blogs, marvel at all the wonderful eye candy, and am impressed that there are even a few artists that share my world view.

My plan is to show off my lil' polymer clay projects, share works and other things I find inspiring, and oh, yeah, occasionally fire off on things, people, circumstances that are workin' my last nerve. How often? I dunno - I guess I'll find a rhythm eventually...

I've been busy at my work table experimenting with ink and translucents - and I'm dusting off the ol' camera. So stay tuned. You never know WHAT you might find here!

- Cheryl