Crystals

I had so much fun playing with clay the other day that I decided to do it again today.

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas gifts for this year. I typically make something for my loved ones, be it a cross-stitched design, magnets, something sewn, or a necklace. Last year, however, I don't think I made a damn thing. And that's upsetting to me. I like giving handmade gifts as I think they're more personal than just buying items off a wish list. (Granted, at least with a wish list you *know* the person who made the list actually wants what that person would get. Hand-made things may be made from love, most of the time they're not very useful. Though, knowing this doesn't stop me from forcing my homemade crafts onto people. Sorry. :))

So, I want to do a lot of clay work. Not that I'd necessarily sculpt things for people this year (lord knows I'll need a LOT more practice before I go and hand out my little sculptures), but I just want to get to know polymer clay a bit better so I have it open as an option if I decide to go crazy and make, say 50 of Wol down there and give him to everyone I know. Knowing me, I'd probably change him up a bit and make him obnoxious colors too just so I could see that quizical look on everyone's face as they open up a teeny box and find an itty bitty hot pink owl blankly staring back at them.

Anyway...

I thought I'd play a bit with translucent clay and colored pearl clay today. I had this idea to make blue crystals. I used a bit too much Blue Pearl, so they turned out a lot darker than I'd intended. And translucent is a bit of a misnomer as the clearest the translucent clay gets on it's own is about as clear as watered down milk. I also mixed a little bit of ultra fine glitter (because I'm a girl, and it's all about shiny) into two of them (the smallest crystal shaped one and the ball).

"A ball?" you ask? Why yes. After making the first three crystals, I had this epiphany that since how I shaped the crystals was by shaving off the sides, I could potentially keep making crystals for all eternity with this itty bitty bit of clay and I just couldn't do it! So I rolled it up and decided crystals could be ball-shaped too. (Yes, I also know that ball-shaped should be cylindrical, I just kinda like saying 'ball' ^.^)

So here they are.

Before cooking in the oven:


And a very, very blurry after oven/sanding/polishing:

Don't judge my photography... I used my phone to take the pictures and the light in my apartment is incredibly crappy.

What you can't see in the pics (apart from sharp edges) is the depth and shimmer they have. I can't wait to try this again with a little less blue and maybe a little more glitter - the glittered crystal looks cool because I added the glitter in a sizable chunk and didn't mix it very well so there are some ribbons of shiny shimmer.

Learning, gotta love it!