Sunday, February 14, 2010

Potpourri Infused Polymer Clay

The theme for the March PCAGOE challenge is "Texture." I thought and thought, trying to come up with something unique and different. I didn't want to do an embossed or stamped piece, because a lot of the entries will probably feature stamped or embossed pieces.



As part of getting back to basics in an effort to discover where my muse has been hiding for the last month, I decided to revisit techniques I hadn't done in awhile, and while adding inclusions to polymer clay is nothing new, adding an image transfer to the mix is, and I love the results.

I scanned my parents' 1958 wedding invitation, which my mother, a paint artist, hand colored 52 years ago. She framed it and it has hung in her foyer for years. I love it because of the personalization. She added a sketch of the church where my parents were married and one of the orchids from her bridal bouquet.



What I hoped to achieve was a piece that looked like handmade paper. I was concerned whether the colors and text would transfer well, especially to the textured surface created by incorporating the potpourri. The potpourri mix is composed of French lavender buds, Egyptian chamomile, sunflower petals, mauve pink bouton rosebud petals, and red rosebud petals, which I dry and preserve myself for floral arrangements. I have blended tons of it on hand.

The natural perfume from the lavender remained even after curing the piece. My studio has been magically transformed into a French meadow.



Texture is one of the PCAGOE team's favorite themes, and we are sure to have many beautiful and interesting entries, and we hope you will vote for your top 3 favorites at www.pcagoe.com between March 1 and March 7. You could also win a prize. 5 lucky voters, chosen at random will receive one of these beautiful polymer clay prizes created by our talented member artists!



1st Row, L-R: StudioSChiek, PolymerClayCreations, ClayCenter, KDollDesigns
2nd Row, L-R: NKDesigns, RenGalSA, AshPaints, BeeTreeByMe
3rd Row, L-R: 11BoldStreet, AlisonEKurek, RiverValleyDesign, LaurelSteven
4th Row, L-R: Juliespace, JanGeisen, ClayHappy, SCDiva

1 comment:

Gaina said...

What a coincidence, that was a question I've been pondering about mixing dried flowers with polymer clay and here it is in your blog :).

Last week I cut out a disk of Super Sculpey, baked in then added various petals and leaves, covered with liquid FIMO. I wasn't sure about putting it all back in the oven so I cured the FIMO with my heat gun and the result was quite pleasing! I'm going to get myself some proper pressed flowers from a craft shop and see how far I can push it :).

I did some experiments with embossing ink and gel pens too, which I have put in my blog today if you'd like to have a look :)