Back from Hiatus

Boy, it has been a really intense month. First the big trip, and then getting sick right after during Holy Week where I was singing every night. The latest bump in the road has been me changing jobs without warning and starting to sing at a different church. So basically it has been everything I could do just to live my life, which hasn't left much energy to blog. Finally today I got the chance to finish writing up the first day of the Egypt trip. This is without a doubt the longest day, so I am hoping that the others will take less time.

However, I have missed sharing my creativity, so I decided to go back to posting, even though I haven't finished the rest of the trip.

I have been still exploring working with the clay molds to replicate Egyptian jewelry with polymer clay. I have made several new molds and am very pleased with the results. Here are some of the latest necklaces, and then some pictures of the molds. 

I have been experimenting with ways to make the molds. My best luck has been with creating a positive from polymer clay and then baking it. I then use the air dry clay to form a mold around it, and then use metal tools and bushes with water to clean up and heighten the carving in the mold once I remove the positive from it. The large scarab with a sun is done this way. I have also experimented with carving directly into the air dry clay, but I am not as skilled at seeing how the negative image will turn into a positive form. Some of the molds are made by taking leather stamps and punching them into the clay. To use the molds I take a flat piece of acrylic and use the mold to press the clay down on top of it. The clay sticks better to the acrylic than the mold so I can then just pull the mold off. I then use an exacto knife and some metal clay tools to clean up the piece and a metal spatula to transfer it to my baking rack.

In other good news, I have had a tremendous breakthrough in my voice. I found a whole new resonance when I was sick and it has finally helped me really get in to my upper range. I also hope to go back to working on the Etsy store next week, and have a friend who is going to help me put a link up to this blog. Onward and upward.