Thursday, February 28, 2013

Celestial: March Challenge




































For this month's challenge our artists had fun interpreting the theme "Celestial." 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. Celestial Sun and Moon Decorative Eggs by Marie of YoungCreative
I've been playing with the celestial theme on hand-blown chicken eggs.
Each features a dimensional sun and moon peaking out of a richly detailed solar system of mokume gane (layers of opaque clay, translucent clay, and gold foil). 

 2. Northern Lights by Charlie of MaisieClay
Swirls of bright neon colours and spirals of wire, inspired by the celestial phenomenon that is the Northern Lights of Norway

3. Celestial Theme Poly Clay Hat Band  by Linda of Claymation3d
This is my entry for the PCAGOE March challenge. All beads on the hat band are created of polymer clay.

This Mexican inspired wall art piece is the largest decorative piece I've ever made. It measures approx. 7 1/2 inches diameter. Metallic gold and silver clay along with other pearlescent clay and metallic seed beads add a little sparkle.

5. Aim for the Moon Mini Mosaic by Arlene of Ashpaints
I had this cool moon stamp so the design began. Each tile is made individually, stained with brown antiquing medium to bring out the detail. Then with acrylic paints and both gold and silver metallic wax and the tiles are put together and cured.

6. Blue Moon & Stars Necklace by Line of PlaySculptLive
Once in a blue moon is such a neat expression. It took off from there when I decided to make a blue moon which turned into a necklace. And what is a moon without some stars?

This pendant was created for this month's challenge theme - Celestial, Moon, Sun, Stars. It's titled "Big Dipper" because the crystals are in the formation associated with that constellation.

This is a compact/mirror where I transferred the image onto pearlized white clay. It is the zodiac calendar of astrological signs for the celestial challenge of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. I finished the compact with resin for a beautiful shine and to protect the image.

This little guy is moon struck and has gathered a few stars while he is up in the heavens.This is a 4" x 3" wide sculpt made from Premo polymer clay. He is an ornament or wall hanging, and as you can see, loves hanging around bright objects! 

Polymer clay front and back cover. Inside the cover are little white stars and midnight blue glitter clay on the back of the book.

For the PCAGOE Celestial Challenge, I created a reversible polymer pendant. One face is an abstract of celestial images, the other (shown in mirror) is a polished faux lapis lazuli mixture. Free-spinning sterling, gunmetal and Czech glass beads simulate more celestial bodies...

12. Starry Starry Night by Marcia of marcympc
A subtly textured and marbled covering is enhanced by groups of golden stars on this switch plate.

The Sun, Moon and Stars sit atop a blanket of swirling galaxies on this handmade trinket box.

14.  Celestial Sisters: Luna, Sola & Astra by Cindy of ArrowdaleArtStudio
I was watching Antiques Roadshow the other week and was struck by the simple form of an antique flask shaped like a woman. I knew I wanted to do something with it, but wasn't sure what. When I began to make the shape from junk clay, I made three - for no particular reason, just using the clump of clay. The next day inspiration for this challenge hit. The sisters are all polymer except for the tiny necklaces of Swarovski crystals around each of their necks in front and the wooden base.

For the March 2013 PCAGOE Celestial themed challenge, I created this multi-layered, dimensional star shaped night light. The base layer is made of translucent clay with gold mica. The second layer is a mixture of red and translucent with the star arms of this layer cut into shapes that would leave an open star shape in the center, revealing first layer. The third layer is a mix of purple and translucent, the star arms again were cut into shapes that would leave another center open star shape, revealing the red layer outlining the original center cut out star. Some circle cut-out shapes were included in the layers, one to reveal the red layer, one to reveal the first translucent gold layer and 2 smaller holes that were cut through all 3 layers to reveal complete negative space. After curing, sanding and buffing, as a final element, spirals were drawn onto the purple layer using an embossing pen and gold embossing powder which was heat set. I fabricated a clay piece for the light fixture attachment and the final step was to glue that in place. For more views of this piece (including views with the light turned on) please visit my flickr photo stream at: www.flickr.com/photos/createmyworlddesigns
Not only does this beauty shine with flecks of gold, and glitter, but it also glows in the dark!

17. Spiral Planet Light Switch Plate by Jill of Nature's Presents
Silver leaf, black translucent clay, purple and blue clay compose the outer space background. This Jupiter switch plate was a special request for a boy's room.


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.





Full Name (required for voter prize notification):
Email Address (Required for voter prize notification):
For current Dues-Paying PCAGOE Members: What is Your Etsy Shop Name?
Please select your 1st choice: (2nd & 3rd choice must be different from your 1st.)
Please select your 2nd choice: (2nd choice must be different from your 1st and 3rd.)
Please select your 3rd choice: (3rd choice must be different from your 1st and 2nd.)
How did you hear about the PCAGOE challenge?
Would you like to receive the monthly PCAGOE e-newsletter? NOTE: Every month we get at least a dozen requests for the newsletter from those who are already on the subscriber list. Please check your email spam filter and add the following to your Approved Senders: Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy and pcagoe@gmail.com I already receive it
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Our members love comments! Please comment here on the entries and/or the challenge in general.

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Friday, February 22, 2013

March Sponsors

Stop back March 1-7, cast your vote for your favorites in our "Celestial" challenge, and you will be entered to win a prize from the sponsor list below. Three lucky voters will win.

Our March Challenge Sponsors:

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
$20 gift certificate toward anything 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

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/

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

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

ElPasoClayNation
Any item up to $20.  www.etsy.com/shop/elpasoclaynation

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

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

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

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies
Heavenly Bodies Treasury created by Beth of createmyworld 

"PCAGOE members are busy, working on entries for the March challenge, which is celestial themed; here's a teaser of some pieces with star quality!"

Friday, February 8, 2013

February Challenge Winners

And the winners of the February Challenge are:

Public Vote

1st place 
  
2nd place

 3rd Place
 Faux Beach Glass Bracelets by Barbara of XOCC 



Member Vote
1st Place



 2nd place

3rd Place


Drawing Winners:
Ginger Petraglia,  Janet Wilson, and Sharla Ahrens
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. 154 votes were cast this month.

A sampling of comments left by voters: 
- Always great to see how great you are with challenges!!
- The sculptural items are incredibly well done. Faux jade is nicely matched with 'real' stones.
- ALL of your work is truly inspirational! I can’t wait until someday I can go to some polymer retreats for classes. Not much available in the Fox Valley of Wisconsin so seeing everyone’s work here is wonderful. Keep up the challenges and hope to see you someday at that cool cabin retreat!
- This isn't faux, this is real! Well done everybody!
- All works are very original variants on the theme Faux.
- All the pieces are lovely. The Horus Collar looks to me, as though it could be displayed in a museum, representing the real artifact. I love it!
- River rocks SEEM so easy, but it’s been my experience that the more simple things APPEAR, the harder they can be to duplicate well. These were gorgeous!
- This month was especially hard to decide on -- all the designs are amazing! Very realistic work!
- Really nice things here! Congrats to all of the artists who submitted their work.
- My choice goes to the "down-to-earth" and down to the subject qualities of the entrances.
- It is a pleasure to see all the wonderful creations each month. Thanks for all you do.
- #10 This is awesome! really imaginative.
- There were so many excellent faux pieces it was very difficult to choose. Tooled leather, petrified wood, rusted metal, granite and a valentine candy box. Oh my! And the list went on and on. Props to all who created pieces and entered this month. Great works from great artists!
- This is one of the "easiest" challenges because polymer is so good at faux but it's so difficult to finally choose which faux is BEST!
- I miss you guys and I miss the clay. Great challenge theme this month nice work! Berit
- I do not know how they do it, but I am determined to figure it all out. Such terrific entries this month.
- utterly blown away by the talent and skill shown in these pieces keep up the great work!