Making Faces

These three pretties are made out of polymer clay. I made five sizes of them. They range in size from about a quarter to smaller than a dime. The ones in the picture are quarter size. I bought all these molds several years ago. I originally could not remember where I had gotten these molds. It was at an art retreat on vendors night. Serendipity, I needed something else and ran across an envelop with the vendor's name, looked them up on the internet and lo and behold they are still in business and their prices are better than when I randomly looked on the internet. They are sisters from Texas or Oklahoma I think . Their business is Backyard cards and gifts.

I am in an embellishment swap on one of the yahoo groups. We are to make three embellishments from Utee, clay or glue. I have never made glue embellishments so I thought I have clay and Utee so go for it. I enlisted the help of my youngest son with the clay face molds. I figured while he watched the Olympics he could mold some faces for me. Brilliant of me, because when I went back in to check on him he had made tons of them. Plus, he was really good at it. No smushed faces getting them out of the molds. Thank you Zee man.

After the faces come out of the molds I set them on index cards. Some I leave white and some I paint with Pearl ex powders. I like these faces in gold, copper and bronze. After they are painted I cook them on the oven according to the manufacturer's directions. The thinner the clay on your faces the shorter the cook time is. You can also punch holes in the top of the head with toothpicks before cooking. Then string wire and beads through to make hair once they are cooled down.

The orange faces here are made with the large face molds. The molds are almost three inches long. It makes for a big face, but on the cover of a book or the top of a shrine they are stunning. I used clear Utee mixed with some orange ink. I am going through an orange phase and I have to find a way to throw that color in somewhere. I like the glow these heads have. The faces are a little more serious, peaceful, like they are meditating. I will use some burnt umber oil paint to grunge them up a bit when I use mine on a project. The burnt umber fills in the small cracks and gives the face more definition. So what you are seeing is in the raw so to speak.
These are some of the faces I made with the medium face molds. I tried to take a side shot so you can see how very intricate these molds are. These are made with black Utee and are about an inch and a half long. Utee can some times leave a ridge where the Utee meets the mold on the edge. You can use an emery board - rough - side to smooth the ridge out. I just love these guys. They have so much personality. They remind me of Rodin's sculptures.
These are made of black polymer clay. I ran the clay through my pasta machine till it was the correct thickness. I laid the clay on wax paper. I then put the clay and was paper on a self healing mat that I use only for clay. I stamped them with various stamps. I let them sit for a few minutes to sort of set up. Then, I trimmed the clay pieces to size. The small clay tag I used a coffee straw to make the tags hole. After the trimmed clay was removed I got out my Pearl Ex powder and painted the clay with it. Then, I cooked them in my designated oven. I made several designs, but these are the four I am sending to my swap person along with a few faces. I know just three, but everyone send extras right? I hope she likes them and can use them in her art work.
These are simple embellishments that can be used in altered books, on cards, etc.. The faces can be used to make dolls an accent other art work. I now have tons of faces and several cool new clay embellishments to play with. Because who can just make three of something? It is like eating one potato chip.....