Monday, December 31, 2012

January Challenge Texture

For this month's challenge our artists had fun interpreting the theme "Texture." Entries had to follow the theme and contain 50% polymer clay. Take a look at the unique creations!




































Vote and Win!
Three lucky winners will be selected in a drawing of all non-member voters and will be able to choose a prize offered by our member shops sponsoring this month's challenge. See the list of participating sponsors and prizes.

The entries are:
(Click on entry title to see larger image. Scroll to the bottom of the post to cast your vote)


1 - Shakers of Good and Evil by Lisa of HiGirls
These shakers are covered with lots of texture and color.

2 - Hummingbird Heart by Vivian of VivsCorner 
Entry for PCAGOE monthly challenge for January 2012 .... "Textures".
Humbly submitted by vivian beal of Vivs Corner.

3 - Pearl Metallic Wide Cuff No. 149 by Susan of 11BOLDstreet
My "Texture" entry for the PCAGOE January Challenge encompasses deeply stamped patterns, contrasting matte inlays and smooth/polished edges.

4 - Texture Vessel by Jackie of ThePleasantPheasant
I created this three-sided vessel for the PCAGOE Texture Challenge of January 2013. In addition to using lots of texture, I also included some imprint mokume gane bits to cheer it up. I wanted to keep the color simple but beautiful and let the texture speak for itself, and I feel that I accomplished that. Other views of the vessel are included on my Flickr and in my Etsy shop.

5 - Textural Snowman by Linda of Claymation3d
This is my textural snowman ornament created for PCAGOE's January 2013 Challenge. (Dimensions: 5" H x 2-3/4" W x 1-1/2" D.) The scarf is "woven" by hand of the finest cord of extruded polymer clay my Makin's Clay extruder could press. Mitten texture was created by pressing a needle tipped tool down stitch by stitch to create the look of knitted rows. The snowman's hat has been textured with dimpled dots, each gilded and there is a tufted poly ball on the top of the hat.

The snowman is holding a sprig of holly with berries in his left hand. In his right hand there's a spiraled poly clay cord mixed with gold chain that holds handmade poly clay "jingle-bells" The snowman’s body finish is like that of old blown glass ornaments I remembering growing up with as a kid. This look was achieved using Pearlescent Liquid Acrylic in White Pearl. The body was given little dimples all over for texture. Embossing powders were also used here and there for extra touches. Adriondack Mixatives alcohol ink "Gold" was used for gilding the scarf, mittens, shoes and hat on this piece. A piece of brass rod is hidden inside the textured carrot nose extending down into the body so it won't break off when handled. To suspend the snowman ornament, I used a piece of recycled necklace chain.

6 - Klingon Symbol Bat'leth Rack by Marie of YoungCreative
This is a special request from my husband who wanted  a Klingon symbol on a metal hanger for his bat'leth replica (Klingon weapon in Star Trek). I covered and textured the entire piece for him.

7 - Raku Heart 360 by Freda of FredaK
Faux crackled raku made of polymer clay.

8 - Mokume Gane Scraps N12-92 by Jan of JanGiesen
I love playing with scraps and even the Mokume Gane technique produces scraps. The top element of this brooch is the impressed top layer that was sliced off of a Mokume Gane stack. The base piece of the collage was textured with sandpaper and an impression roller and given a touch of mica powder to bring out the branch like texture.

9 - Husband's Farm House by Line of PlaySculptLive
My January pcagoe challenge was made for my husband for Christmas. He needed a house that looked like a real Europeen farm house, circa 1940. Hope he likes it. I tried to reproduce all the textures found on a house, from the straw roof, the stucco walls over the stone foundation and the wooden door.

10 - Bits and Pieces Pendulum Pendant by Arlene of Ashpaints
I call this pendant Bits and Pieces because of the strong geometric elements which includes squares, rectangles, lines and dots. A deep textured stamp was used to achieve this design, then gold, olive green and silver rubbing wax (Rub 'n Buff) was used to highlight the details, then buffed to a beautiful shine. A center pendulum finishes the design which is loosely based on one from Helen Briel's new ebook "Shapes". In addition to being heavily textured, the pendant is also curved from top to bottom and from side to side.

11 - Purple Paisley Business Card Holder by Angela of PolymerClayCreations
This was made with the Sutton slice technique using a Lisa Pavelka rubber stamp.

12 - Textured Copper Barrette by Jill of Jkollmann
 I used the texturing approach from the Rocky Path tutorial by RiverValley Designs to form the inset for this barrette, which is actually smooth to the touch. While this was created for the PCAGOE challenge, it's also a test piece for the colors to use for a Mother-of-the-Bride ensemble which will be a collaboration between myself and a fiber artist who will be custom-dying the fabrics. Fun stuff!

13 - Raven's Releasing the Sun by Beckie of AuroraClayWorks
This piece is based on a native legend about Raven stealing the sun from some one who was keeping it in a box keeping the world in the dark. She is releasing it to bring sun/light to the world again. It is a full body polymer clay sculpt with Tibetan lambswool hair, dyed wolf head dress with a polymer clay raven head with wings covered with feathers. The long feathers hang from the head dress to provide movement of the piece. A polymer clay box with yarn and feathers in bright colors to provide the awareness of light and energy that left the box with the sun mask also in polymer clay. The piece is on a 1.5" round of birch with sand, shells covering to provide more texture.

14 - Green Textured Switchplate 011 by Marcy of marcympc
This switch plate has a leaf texture applied to turquoise polymer clay. Iridescent green mica powder contributes to the shine and finished color.

15 - Impasto Reversible Polymer Necklace by Beth of CreateMyWorld
This pendant was created by taking a cut shaped slab of solid mint green polymer and dying it with silk fabric. After the dying process, I then covered the one side entirely with navy colored polymer and scratched into the surface to reveal the mint green polymer below and creating the sunburst texture on one side. On the reverse side, the silk dyed pattern was much more interesting so I simply accented that with some appliqued navy circle patterning. After curing again, the textural elements were highlighted with gold acrylic. I love unusual jewelry design with simplistic elements to keep the piece interesting yet not overwhelming; and it was with that view that I created the asymmetrical wandering seed bead hanging design. More views of the texture detail and reverse side can be found in my flickr photostream at: www.flickr.com/photos/createmyworlddesigns



Vote Here
Choose your top 3 favorites. The same entry may not be counted more than once. Voting is open to the public the 1-7 of each month. Read the expanded rules here.

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January Challenge Sponsors

January 1 our first PCAGOE challenge of 2013 opens and every non-guild member who casts a vote is included in a drawing.  Three lucky voters will win the prize of their choice from one of these sponsors. So stop back after ringing in the new year and cast your vote!

Our January Challenge Sponsors:

BeckySueCreations
Any one item of your choice up to $20 value; no cash balance. etsy.com/shop/beckysuecreations


11BOLDstreet
$25 gift certificate towards total purchase amount, good for 60 days 11boldstreet.etsy.com/

MarciaPalmer
$20 gift certificate towards any item good for 60 days marciapalmer.etsy.com/

PolymerClayCreations
$20 gift certificate to be used within 60 days  polymerclaycreations.etsy.com/ 

Young Creative
any item worth up to $20 in my shop (no cash refund on balance); valid for 60 days youngcreative.etsy.com/  
 
Elemental Dragons
Custom made dragon (value of 24.99) etsy.com/shop/ElementalDragons

PlaySculptLive
Gift certificate of $20 to be used within 60 days of date of announced winner playsculptlive.etsy.com/    

AshPaints
$20 on anything in my shop, must be used within 60 days, no cash remuneration. ashpaints.etsy.com/

CreateMyWorld
any item(s) worth up to $20 in my shop (no cash refund on balance); valid for 60 days www.createmyworld.etsy.com/

$20 gift certificate to be used within 60 days.  No cash refund of unused amount. KellyPlaysClay.etsy.com

$20 gift certificate towards total purchase amount, good for 60 days, no cash balance. thepleasantpheasant.etsy.com

JKollmann
Any one item of your choice up to $20 value; no cash balance; good any time jkollmann.etsy.com/

 marcymPC
Any one item of your choice up to $20 value; no cash balance marcympc.etsy.com

Peggers
$20 gift certificate (no cash refund on balance); valid for 60 days peggers.etsy.com/

NKdesigns
$20 Gift Certificate nkdesigns.etsy.com/
HiGirls
Gift certificate up to $20 to be used within 60 days of date of announced winner www.etsy.com/shop/higirls

ArrowdaleArtStudio
$20 gift certificate, up to 60 days unless by private arrangement with me arrowdaleartstudio.etsy.com/

AdornmentsByEstelle
$20 dollar gift certificate to be used within 60 days  adornmentsbyestelle.etsy.com/

Sunday, December 9, 2012

December Challenge Winners

And the winners of the December Challenge are:

Public Vote

1st place 


2nd place


3rd Place

Member Vote
1st Place



2nd Place


3rd Place - Tie




Drawing Winners:
Michael Ouimet, Janet Schuch, Susan Rankin
They get to pick a prize from one of our lovely participating shop owners. http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2012/11/sponsors-galore-for-december-challange.html

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted and supports our challenges each month. 155 votes were cast this month.

A sampling of comments left by voters:
This month's entries were outstanding!! Competition is very high. Very hard to pick only three. Nice job, everyone!

This is a great theme for the month!

Tough choices! I loved more than I could vote for. :-)

I very much liked the theme this month and I think most of the artists carried it out very well.

It was way too hard to choose this month!! They're all winners!