Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): June Challenge Retro

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): June Challenge Retro: For our June challenge we are featuring Retro - anything from the 50's to the 80's. Vote for your favorites. Three lucky voter...

Retro Jukebox Music Box

Added a little more detail

I made this little jukebox for the June Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) challenge "retro - 50's through the 80's".  It plays "Yesterday" by the Beatles.  It stands about 6" tall and is about 3 1/2" wide.

When thinking about what I would make for this challenge, my mind went back to my high school years in the early 60's.  Memories took me back to the lunch times my friends and I would share at the local diner and how much fun we had playing the jukebox and singing while we ate lunch.  Fun times.  I wanted to recapture those times in this piece.

The drawing.  At first I was going to make a box, then no a night light, then no a bank, then BINGO a music box with retro music!!

I really REALLY struggled with the frame. As I would add sections the others would collapse in the oven.  After days and endless hours of frustration, I finally found the right supports.

For the bottom a small square jewelry box shimmed with outdated business cards.  For the top I cut a section out of a round carboard tea container as a permanent support. (part of the deal forever).

Last peek at the music box before gluing on the bottom.

No more in-progress views.  I was under a tight time crunch to meet the deadline for entry.  But I did want to mention that for the speaker grill area I used the "Holo Effect", a technique developed by Ginger Davis Allman.  You can find the tutorial here Holo Effect Tutorial

Isn't it cool?  You can use this in so many ways!

More Completed Views

Thank you so very much for stopping by.  I would love to hear your comments. 

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): May Challenge Winners

The winners for the PCAGOE May challenge are announced. Thanks to everyone for voting and special thanks for placing my piece Flossy second in the public vote.

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): May Challenge Winners: The winners in the PCAGOE May Challenge: "Fish" are: Top entries selected by the public 1.  Farrah the Fantasy Fish    by Li...

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): May Challenge Fish

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): May Challenge Fish: For our May challenge we are featuring Fish. Vote for your favorites. Three lucky voters will be chosen in a drawing to win a gift certifi...

Flossy the Flying Fish

This fun little creature is my entry in the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) May challenge "fish"! Flossy is approximately 10" tall and 11" long, a sizable piece for me.

More views of Flossy the polymer clay fish:

A few photos of the process:

To keep Flossy from being too heavy, I formed the basic fish parts from Sculpey® UltraLight®.  I made it in pieces so it would be easier to apply the veneer around the bottom fin areas, and with the tail on the body it was too big for my studio oven. AND I am too lazy to walk it downstairs to the kitchen :)!

I painted all the parts with artist grade acrylic paint.  This color is Brass Pearl by Nova Color (my favorite brand of artist grade acrylic paint).  However, Brass Pearl is translucent so it took a few coats.  At this point I had no idea of how much of the fish base I would cover. 

Well it turned out that I made WAY too much caning material of various sizes and patterns.  So I combined some of them into a bigger cane for the body and others for the tail and fins.  I applied the veneer in small sections between curing to protect the delicate pieces and maintain the shapes and movement in the piece. The above photo shows the making of the eyeballs.  

Thank you for taking the time to visit and read about Flossy.  I would love to hear your comments. 

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): April Challenge Covering Something with Clay

Last day to vote!



Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE): April Challenge Covering Something with Clay: For our April challenge we are featuring Covering Something with Clay. Vote for your favorites. Three lucky voters will be chosen in ...

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) April challenge - Covering something with clay

The challenge is live and ready for your votes.  Click here to participate and enter a chance to win a gift certificate from sponsoring shops.