Making Paper Clay

There are several ceramic artists who I love to admire from afar.  One of my FAVORITES, is Merry ArtToones. She is an AMAZING sculptor!  We have a virtual/Facebook relationship and she has always been willing to help me out and answer any questions I have.  Well, I found out that she uses paper clay for her sculptures. Turns out paper clay is just as strong as your typical clay, but weighs less. With sculptures, and even wall murals/hangings, weight can play a very important part in the finished product.  
DISCLOSURE --  Before we get started, I thought it might be worth noting that paper clay...and paper mache...are two VERY different animals...

Cleaning Mr. Peter Pugger - Part II

Good evening (It's Tuesday evening, as I sit here typing this up.. :) )! Hope ya'll are doing well!  So guess what....I DID IT!!!  I am soo proud of myself!  I completely disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled my pugmill!  Those that have been following me for a bit know what an AWESOME accomplishment this is, especially considering all the health hurdles I traverse daily.  :)  But *pat on the back* for me!  :-D  I didn't get it spotless, like Scott and Angie did when they cleaned their Shimpo Pugmill.  BUT, I got it clean enough for my purposes.  I want to make my own batch of paper clay (which, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a tutorial on how to make your own paperclay, that actually provides accurate ratios of paper pulp to clay?!?)!  Good thing I plan on writing about THAT too..hehe

Cleaning My Pugmill - Part I

Have you ever cleaned a pugmill?  I hadn't..until tonight.   I can now see why potters will pick a single type/color of clay to work with.  I have a dark brown clay, a speckled buff clay, and a white clay that I work with.  What can I say, I liked diversity...  But I'm finding out it can be a pain in the ass when it comes to wanting to reclaim my scrap clay using my Peter Pugger Pugmill.  Currently, I have a mixture of clay scraps that I've been reclaiming in my pugmill. It's roughly 50/50 of the white stoneware and the buff speckled clay.  BUT...I want to start working more on my sculptures, and through research, have found that paperclay might work best for me.  So I'm going to make some (another blog post to come, detailing that process...so stay tuned!).  But in order to get ready to make said paperclay...I need to clean out the pugmill so I can get all the colored clay out of the hopper, so I can mix some white paperclay.  :)  

Time to Kick Start My Biz!

As of Wednesday night, I had officially raised $5,120 with my Kickstarter campaign!  THANK YOU to all who have helped support me and this campaign!  It really means a lot!  This allows me to get the pugmill that I need to help streamline my creating process.  And crazily enough...there is still 10 days left for the campaign!  Which means I can continue to raise funds!  If you check out my Kickstarter campaign, you can see that I have already thought of stretch goals in mind.  The additional equipment will .... well....  it will just be awesome and make creating sooo much easier.  You can see the campaign and the stretch goals explained HERE.

This week has been one CRAZY week!  SOOO  much has gone on!  I was accepted into Maine Made.  A really beautiful article was written in the Bangor Daily News!  I have been asked to put my items for sale on consignment at 3 different places!!! And I have been contacted by soo many wonderful people!!  There IS beauty and kindness in this dark world...Brings hope and happiness to my heart!

Well, sorry this is so short, but I need to get creating those backer rewards for the Kickstarter Campaign!!!  Please remember to check out all the links within this little blog though!

Patriot's Day

Good day to you all and thank you for stopping by!  Today is Patriot's Day, the day we commemorate the battles of Lexington and Concord which were fought near Boston in 1775.  Anyone remember the Paul Rivere poem?  Patriot's Day is typically held on the third Monday of April and is a state holiday for Massachusetts and Maine.  Though many people do make the mistake since the names are so close, Patriot's Day should NOT be confused with Patriot Day, which marks the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001.   In the areas of Lexington and Concord, there are numerous reenactments for the public to see.  Anyone in Massachusetts planning on going to one?  I've never been to one and would love a first hand account and/or pictures of what it is!

(Information found on Timeanddate.com)

How are you celebrating Patriot's Day?  Why not take the time to support a disabled veteran in her pursuit to gain as much independence as possible, regardless of her disabilities?  Who might this person be, you ask?  Why ME of course!  Last week, Monday, I launched a Kickstarter project to raise funds in order to acquire equipment for my pottery studio to make the processes of creation more ME friendly...if successfully funded, it will give me near complete independence when it comes to my pottery, and I won't have to ask my fiance to help!  When you have to rely on someone on a daily basis to get around because I can't drive, for help getting into bed on my bad leg pain days...gaining any form of independence is a true blessing.  Please help me reach my goal.  You can find my Kickstarter project HERE.