COMING soon...or NOW....to this blog near you...A TUTORIAL ala Tina's imitative Ceramics

lol...funny and awfully longwinded title, eh? (as the Canuck in me likes to say). Don't know how *near* your blog I am, but people are asking HOW I make make *ceramic* starfish. Don't you LOVE mysteries?? No? You don't?! awww....lol
I better get my act together and give you a better tutorial than just a description. As those of you who have written tutorials know....I need my camera and my project for this show and tell.
Back later!.....
OK Folks! Ba-ack! (like a puppet show...only in internet time this is lightning fast)

Alrighty then!...the following is very VERY IMPORTANT:
get out your pancake batter mix! If you don't have any, use flour, baking powder, salt. Put some in a bowl, about 2 large tablespoons. Mix a bit of water into it and stir. Make sure it isn't too thin. Then get out the griddle. Put on medium and spray a bit of PAM into it, to prevent sticking. While this heats up, get out a plate and put into the oven to warm......
Oh bleeep....wrong recipe! (snicker) Sorry about that! (blame Jim Carrey who instead of pancakes wants a grilled cheese) ...(sigh)
Ok...SERIOUSLY

For the sake of ease, I'm not making a starfish here (saved for another time), but will use a molded piece here. Find a nice big mold, stamp or texture with deep impression....

Mix a marble sized Pearlescent clay ball with a pea-sized ball (I used seagreen premo) to make a minty mix.Make a positive from the mold. The mold is on the left, the positive that you will work with is on the right.
Here is, or WAS, my biggest secret that I use for a lot of things....CHALK! Surprise, surprise. Well not really, if you've seen my previous tutorial here. Use your finger to apply chalk to the clay. The chalk will colour everything but the recesses.
If you want add a little metal powder to the recessed part (optional)

Apply Liquid Kato Polyclay to which a few drops of Pinata Alcohol Inks have been added. You can use your finger or a brush. Fingers are easier to clean on baby wipes and then washed than brushes. Personal choice.
That's it...Baked and glazed with Varnish. If you like a matte look better, don't varnish. There is no chance for the colours to rub off since they are locked in with the liquid polyclay. Both ways look better in person, really! ...these were quicky pictures, lol.

Polymer clay transfer pendants...

and altered images. Some of these transfers are made from altered sculptures. The mermaid for instance is a little sculpture of which a photo was taken. I then colour the image....blue tail, pink tail, change the sky, add water etc.... I've added details that weren't there before. Some of them I solarized. Also, I'm fortunate that my friend Wayne who is a professional photographer gives me images to play with. He's flattered what I can do with them.

Tumblescope

Learning to make a Tumblescope at Sojourn was a lot of fun! Georgia Ferrell perfected the construction of these scopes to a fine art. They are made with solid polymer clay as the card board tube is only a temporary armature. The mirrors inside are especially clear as they have fine silver one one side. Called a tumblescope rather than a kaleidoscope probably as one has to rotate the tube manually, the colours inside are definitely a kaleidoscope of mosaic glass. I plan to make a few more of these. I think I'm hooked! My camera didn't do these images justice, but one gets the idea.