Taino Babies

The Taino Babies are back and with more variety. These I make out of polymer clay and after they are baked I paint on the designs. I have yet to find my book of Taino Petroglyphs since its still packed away along with all the rest of my art supplies. But I do have a hard drive with all my work which allowed me to find all the sources I needed. They have been brought back due to the sudden demand for them. 

 I did one event where in an hour I had sold out of these pieces. The buyers were kids and they wanted more and in more colors. This was my first event after so many years of trying and not having money to go to a craft show I have found a way in. After being called for another event I made more and sold them. This time I added some hair clips and those were well received. Luckily I have been called to another event next week which I am super excited for.

Here I am about to whip out my clay and other materials to make new babies and this time I will add a variety of earrings and rings. Here are the pics of the ones I sold.
  
I changed the original format of black background with white inner shapes, which allowed me to play with color combinations. The size of each is a plus or minus three inches and about half an inch in depth.

The end results are far more interesting that why I had done originally due to it having variety that can be matched with outfits and even the feelings for the day. I plan to make more of the originals just to keep those alive.

I also have worked on Taino Baby heads as pendants for simple necklaces and bracelets. There were also very popular with the kids. These are about the size of a quarter with floss necklaces.

The Barrettes were made using the same colors and faces but I added different patterns to add variety. They range from one inch to two inches long, perfect for holding back strands of hair.

Enjoy...

Hey Gre do you want these?

That was the question I was asked earlier "Hey Gre do you want these?". When I looked at what I was being offered I said yep and took it out the throw away pile. What I took out was a stack of cream colored strips of  heavy weight paper. Their original purpose unknown to me but they smelled like stored books and now it was time to give them a new life.

My brain began do work as it always does, which I believe to be a form of sabotage to keep me busy and not doing probably more important things like memorizing the drivers manual. Soon enough I was planning my next build. Its a plus in the recycle scale and an awesome in the home decor scale. I got my materials ready : Glue, scissors, paper strips and cardboard box which I made into a cylinder with a base.

 Even though I had come up with the idea to make lamp, I wasn't sure how it was going to look or how big I wanted it to be. I began to glue the strips together and sure enough I knew what to do. This is what happens with most of what I make, its never planned in full since its guaranteed to mess me up. Its a process I have for as long as I can remember. Only in college was I forced to plan but those days are long over. After I glued a couple of strips more like 16 strips to be exact, I started to place them on the cylinder.

This is what I have come up with so far and when I hold it up to the light its amazing. Hope to finish this tomorrow and in the near future will have it hung right over my dining table.

Nothing is measured, its simple by eyeballing and it turns out rather nice.

Enjoy!

Somewhere to keep your earrings

I have an extensive collection of art and non art supplies and since I have moved most of it is in boxes still awaiting the light of day. But once in a while I open a box and find something I haven't seen in a while and soon enough I get an idea. This is what happened a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled upon these diamond shaped knitting pieces. My aunt had sent them to me or maybe I had bought them too long ago to remember. Instantly I thought of earrings and two weeks later after I finished other pending works I began working on earring holders.

I had all these board pieces from when I built the Barbie Mansion that I had to use for something. And sure enough the ideas simply marinated in my head and I began cutting and decorating. I had been watching "Nightmare Before Christmas" non stop and felt inspired by a pattern I saw on a wrapped gift. After seeing the movie so many times I now watch out for all them details missed the first and second and third etc times I've seen it. This is what was born out of my creativity, an awesome and practical earring holder. For those of us like me who have earrings galore, mostly of the stud kind. I should work on the larger earrings holder soon.

 

This one is a  large and measures about 14x12 and stands on its own so it has presence and can keep a good amount of earrings. I have two more that I'm working on and should have them ready soon.

This one is covered with amazing  Japanese origami paper and it is smaller than the previous one. Approximately  half the size of the other and also free standing.

Enjoy!

Rolled Paper Bowls

Experimenting and trying out new things keep me going as an artist and as a recycler. I always wanted to make paper bowls like I would see online. I had tried the decoupage-paper mache way and it was time for something new. Three magazines later and some tacky glue I was on a my way to making my bowls. The fist has been the best as so far since I was just an experimentation to see how the rolled paper worked with the glue. 

Turns out to be a lot of work but the end product is very nice.

Its great for fruits or treats or a place to keep the house keys.

After this bowl I was on a roll and proceeded to work with news paper and try out smaller bowls and coasters.  I also tried another shape and added some color and Taino designs.

Once I had mastered the paper and all that rolling I tried another way of rolling the paper. By making long ropes of the rolled paper which I then coiled and pulled up to create bowls with less symmetry.

 So far I have recycled six magazines and two newspapers
and created some nice Decor in return.

Enjoy!

  

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Barbie hired an Interior Designer

I've been working on a house. My biggest project to date, and the most exciting one. I am working on my daughters barbie house. The house was originally my barbie house from when I was a wee bit. My mother kept it for her future gran-daughter and luckily I gave her one. The houses decor was a bit out of style and dated so I decided to revamp the place and add a couple of modern touches. This is what it used to look like when I played with it. This house is four feet long and tree feet tall, its amazing and I am glad my mother kept it for all these years.

The plan was to work right on the original walls and paint the structure purple which is the child's favorite color. I must say that purple has never been my fave color. I don't even own anything purple beyond paint and nail polish, but the child loves it to death and it has grown on me somewhat. After much objection from the grandma and grand aunt I decided to purchase boards and save the old parts for memories sake. Three  boards later I had the parts cut out and the Interior Design of the place was set in motion.

While packing a couple of months ago I decided to leave my magazine collection behind due to its weight and practicality. Most were Architectural Digest and Interior Design magazines with a couple of fashion on the side. Out of my large magazine collection I made another smaller collection of "pages of interest". These "pages of interest" were those pages with patterns and designs that I would use for future art works. Once I located this collection I began picking out patters and colors and planing out each room for the mansion. Carpet patterns, wall papers, clocks, and windows were the direction I was going.

With each piece cut I began to interior decorate, and this is my progress...

Bedroom and Kitchen

   Den, Living-room, Bathroom (top corner)

The purple of the house supports is leaning more on the blue side but it looks great and works with my choices for the interior. I am almost done with putting it back together with the exception of the foyer and the main doors which needed some repair. Here is what it  look like right now while it waits to be finished.

The exposed parts that have been painted are double coated with paint and clear coat so that when the little bit gets her hands on it she wont scratch the paint off. Tomorrow the finishing touches will be added and this Mansion will be done and wrapped with black bags to hide it till Christmas. I am extremely excited to have done this project, I think I should approach Mattel...

Enjoy!