Scrap Canes and Art on the Square

This last weekend was the annual Art on the Square here is our little village. They block off the street around the square and local artists make these incredible drawings in chalk on the pavement. Even more incredible because the are working on pavement in sweltering heat. Why they hold this festival in august is beyond me. I am always amazed they get so many folks to participate. There were close to 50 artists willing to endure the heat, here are my favorites.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

There was also this amazing sand sculpture artist. It was fun to watch him work and see this amazing piece take shape.

I had big plans to use the weekend to finish my coasters for the coaster swap, I signed up to make 8 but I  only finished 4. I still have time but I'm beginning to feel the pressure, I don't like putting things off to the last minute.

 I can't show you the coasters until after the swap but here are some funky canes I made from the scraps and then some tiles I make with the canes. They give you a hint of what the coasters look like.... just a hint tho.

O yes, I almost forgot.  I discovered this extremely talented gourd artist at the festival.  Her work is  Southwestern Native American and it is gorgeous. I blew my PC allowance for the next 6 months. I couldn't resist I bought bunches of her pieces.... I bought some on saturday and then went back on sunday to get more.  She and her husband were such warm friendly folks, I liked them as much as her art work.  I wanted to buy everything  but, with Heather's help, I managed to control myself.  They will be setting up at an art festival at Carlyle Lake in september... I can get more then.

 I will show you what I bought tomorrow, wait til you see, you are going to love it too.

Scrap Clay Jewelry & Scrap Clay Sheets

I finished a couple more pieces of scrap clay jewelry, a leaf pendant and a leaf brooch.

I made a sheet using clay scraps in shades of brown, ran it through the pasta machine with a leaf texture sheet, highlighted with with PearlEx powders and then sealed with Kato liquid clay. Two of my very favorite things are PearlEx powders and Kato sauce..... and I have gobs of texture sheets.
Here is what my scraps look like... pretty yucky right? I have a whole tub full. I usually just grab a hand full, run it through the pasta machine to condition and end up with a dull brown or gray. This time I sorted a bit and came up with some interesting colors. Here is one of the sheets from the scrap clay. After I ran the scraps through the pasta machine a few times I rolled it into a log, twisted 5 or 6 times and sliced with my wavy blade.... hence the knot hole looking sheet. You get the best knot holes from the outer slices, the middle slices I used for the other sheet that I then ran through the PM with another texture sheet. Click on the photos for a closer look.
Sheets made with shades of brown.
And Shades of green with a little gold thrown in for good measure.
Dark brown and blues... I like these colors together.
Now I'm off to see what I can make with my new sheets of clay.