You make me feel like dancin'....

Can't help myself - got a case of happy feet....again!!

Have a great day!!

Nature or Nurture?

I read an article last month on how many of today’s daughters tend to go into fields reflecting their father’s professions. In our family this has proven to be true…my husband is in civil engineering and real estate; our most-recently born? an intern architect.

More recently, I was reflecting on the type of things women pass on to daughters – not the things we consciously teach them, but those skills and interests we’re delighted to find they possess when they’re all grown-up and independent. The thing I’ve seen in my own daughter lately is that creative/crafty streak.

When she was small, there WAS a lot of sewing, ceramic painting or cross-stitching goin’ on in the house. Thinking back to my mom, I can remember that she was into sewing, cake decorating, crocheting and knitting…I can even remember her creating sugar paste Easter eggs.

Did the crafty gene rub off? Perhaps – my mom used to make things to relax – I find myself doing the same thing, just using different materials.

Recently I’ve had a chance to take a look at some of the things my own child has done – after taking up crocheting in college, she’s getting really good at creating amigurmi critters. She’s recently acquired a sewing machine and is NOT afraid to use it. There's some really neat photos she's taken and had enlarged. There’s also some talk about antique furniture being refinished.

She says she likes to do these things - finds them relaxing, she says.

Hmmm.

Most of all, it’s the whole thing about being PAID to design buildings that I’ve been most impressed with. How COOL is that?

Carma, I’m supremely proud of you, gurl (‘course you already know that). Keep pressing – you’re gonna be a great architect one day real soon. And keep doin’ yer thing with the yarn and fabric and sharing the results with the rest of the world!

Eye candy for this week? This is from Gera Scott Chandler of British Columbia, Canada.

Enjoy!

Contain Yourself, Madam!

Sorry – couldn’t resist…

Still not spending as much time playing with clay as I’d like to, but wanted to show you a few of the things I’ve had a chance to work on.

These are my first attempts at inro boxes – lil' tiny boxes strung with leather or I made these from Premo clay. The leaf inro is gold, and the art deco face inro is a bronze color, mixed from gold and a lil' green and black.

I understand that inro are Japanese in nature, and were created as containers that hung from a traditional kimono obi (no pockets, dontcha know…). Back in the day, they may have held medicines…or maybe snuff…today they could hold medicine, or money, or special messages - or any kind of itty bitty treasure. I think I’ll just keep mine empty for now.

I’ve seen inro made by other polymer clay artists and have been very impressed. But nothing compares to the inro on display at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco…AWESOME stuff! Had a chance to visit there a few years ago - if you get a chance, go check it out...

Another thing I’ve made is this mosaic paper maché box – this one is made from ultramarine and gold Premo clay. Not a great photo, but I like the play of these two colors together.

And finally, here’s some covered clay pens – I used pearl Premo tinted a smidge with orange, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow and ultramarine blue. I LOVE the effects you can get with pearalized clay, manipulated properly. Once these were sanded down and buffed up, they all looked absolutely gorgeous! They may look kinda cool here, but you should see them in person – I think they’re rather stunning, if I do say so! The coolest thing about THESE pens? they're refillable!

Well I’m off to the West Coast in a few days – Holly, I’m heading your way with a few sparklies – hope you’re able to come out and play!