Nacreous Alchemy

While most of the country is still blanketed in snow we are in the midst of an early Spring.  Or maybe that's an early summer it is in the mid to high 80's in most places around here.  I've been enjoying all the random flowers that are popping up.  There must be all kinds of bulbs buried in the flower beds here that have waited a year to appear.  Like these beauties.

I've been busy in the studio working on some new pieces.  I finished the skull jewelry box I was talking about in my last post.  The technique worked great.  I want to try it on something else soon.  This jewelry box was a great thrift store find.  Here's what it started out as just a boring wood jewelry box a bit scuffed.  But I loved the inside I haven't run across any like this before.

So with a little love and Gothic magic it's now this!   He's so creepy looking staring at you with that one eye looking as if he's rising from a black pool of water.  

This week I finished a new shadow box.  I've been wanting to do a Little Red Riding Hood shadow box for some time.  I wanted Red to be standing over the wolf that she killed.  But I had no clue how to find a wolf that would work.  I thought of trying to alter one of the plastic animals that Michaels sell, but it wouldn't look right.  So I decided to try and make one out of paper clay.  I've made small miniatures for my cupboards and a few larger but simple pieces.  I hadn't tried anything like this before.  But I went for it and sculpted my first animal.  Here he is in his raw state.  

 He's a bit rough and definitely primitive looking, but I think I captured dead wolf.  Here's the finished piece.

I also made the intestines, mushrooms, the basket and it's contents (except the bottle) and the knife handle from Paperclay.  I love the idea of the fairytale twisted around so that Red is the scariest thing in the forest.