Category Archives: Sculpey

Specimens for SF Bazaar at Maker Faire

Totally excited that I got into SF Bazaar at Maker Faire! Go here for details. It has meant that I am in deep production of many specimens. Here are some works in progress and I prepare them for full preservation. Taking pictures before the caps go on is nice because you get a little more light on their heads.

I’m working on making many small and mini specimens for the show. Here is the first batch. They are all of the amphibian and reptile creature variety.

smallspecimens

I am introducing Hippopotamus Specimens to my repertoire. Here are two angles of one of the Hippos.

hippo-specimen-2  hippo-specimen-1
diplodaucus-specimen

closeup-longspecimens

I am playing with longer specimens within my regular jars. This is a long Diplodocus wrapped a bit around itself to fit into its jar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally for this post of new, the new long vials. They will have amphibians, reptiles, and sharks.

long specimens

These are the new categories I have gotten to thus far. I have some other ideas I’m hoping to flesh out by May 20th. Now that this update is made, I’m going to get to it!

A Hippo for Christmas

A new beginning. I love painting but, I also love building with sculpey or other clay. These two styles of mine have been at odds with each other for years. I feel like I had to take a long while away from finishing major illustrations to play with these mediums to find the way to bring them together. My family Holiday card, per delays it ended up being a Valentine’s Day card, was my first in depth exploration into a full image with sculpey and paint. I started out building a structure. A large sculpey project is best built with armature.

step-1CGirard

I had wanted to make holes in the back of this armature to attach the sculpey build to the wood. This insuring its full attachment to the piece. It did not work out on this attempt and I will be continuing to play with that to see if I can make that happen. I ended up using a strong epoxy which, worked just fine. The next step was to put down a base layer of sculpey on the armature.

firstlayer-CGirard

Once I had the hippo and ground completed I put together the children. I planned to paint everything but, really enjoy mixing and creating colors with sculpey. I also like having a colored base to paint on top of.

middle-Cgirard

Once all the sculpey was completed I painted the background, glued down the cooked sculpey and then painted the sculpey. I used some found objects, dried plant pods, to make the shrubbery on the ground. I liked the added depth. Sometimes the best solution in a dimensional piece is a found object.

Finished-CGirard

I am very happy with how this came out. I feel good about this direction for my illustration. My goal now is to complete a new portfolio with pieces like this. I am going to be in a Women of Peninsula art show in the fall. I am going to use that as a jumping off point for what themes I will apply to these pieces. I’m looking forward to the process.

New Set of Specimens

Well I had a baby 6 weeks ago and in 1 week I’m participating in APE. I couldn’t wait to participate in APE when the year began but, I didn’t quite realize how close it came to my baby’s birth. However, I’m not going to let that stop me from making new work! To celebrate I decided to get some new jars to provide a whole new set of Specimens for the show. Here is the first round of the new creatures:
Specimens APE

I have long thin corked jars:

frog green tongue

and shorter-smaller wide corked jars:

the mediums

and micro jars!

tinies

I am so excited for these new sizes. These new jars woke me up creatively and I hope you all like the outcome. I kind of don’t want to let these little guys go but, I’m sure each will find a good home.

I’m table 501 at APE. Please stop by and say hey!

Komodo Dragon

This weekend I am participating in SOS, Somerville Open Studios.
I am #80 on the map at 45 Laurel Street #1.
We are open from Noon to 6pm both Saturday and Sunday.

I have some new work that I will have on display, mounted creature heads. Check out the first one:

And of course there will be new specimens, check out these three:

And one more of the Dragon:

I love Komodo Dragons

Hope to see you this weekend!

That’s the Kind of House We Live In!*

This week is full of things to do! Lucien turns 3, he had a first dentist appointment, I went to the first Crafty Biz meeting of 2012, and I have been preparing like a bad woman for Arisia As I have been preserving specimens some of them have not cooperatively moved into their vessels. A couple have ended up in strange places around the house.

But that has always been the kind of house I wanted to live in so I have no problem with it! Just like There’s a Wocket In My Pocket, which has always been a favorite!

*”That’s the kind of house I live in” –There’s a Wocket in my Pocket, Dr. Seuss

Arisia

This week I feel like I am cramming for an exam. Although, I’m a little ahead of the day of the test so it’s not that bad.

I will have a table in the Art Show at Arisia this year. I am excited to know my work will be on display along with my friend Gareth Hinds, who is the Rising Star Artist of the event. Congrats Gareth!

Here is the information about when you can view the Art Show.

And here is a sneak peak at a couple of pieces I will have there:

 

Check out more updates about my Specimens at their Google+ page.

Dani’s Choice

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of having my piece of fan art posted on Dani Jones’ webcomic page for My Sister The Freak. She has reached a milestone for her work having finished 4 issues which she has now printed all together in Volume 1. Congrats to Dani on such an accomplishment!

Dani launched My Sister the Freak on March 12, 2010. Since then she has developed a remarkable fan base while having written a truly inspired comic. It is great for all ages, covering issues such as family, life, and of course Alien invaders. Her comic is part of the group Space Dock 7.

In addition to having my piece on her blog Dani, being the gracious soul that she is, drew us a rocking Octopus in Boots as a thank you. How cool is that!?

Dani has always been a source of encouragement and inspiration. Her tireless effort towards her craft and out reach to other illustrators is remarkable. Last year she helped me get back into drawing regularly with her Ustream shows and mind blowing amount of art created. It was from her suggestion that I started to explore using sculpey for more of my illustration. It started with my making a Frosty the Gourdman action figure; she asked if I had thought of doing dimensional illustration. It got the wheels turning. I’m glad I could contribute another piece of dimensional fan art. Thank you Dani!

Be sure to also check out the Illustrated Section a fabulous junction for ebooks by a great number of illustrators all brought together by Dani.

Quote Quiz:
“Morgan took a sip and it’s got his amoebas in it. “

currently watching: Ghost Busters
currently reading: Zombie in Love by Kelly DiPucchio illustrated by Scott Campbell

Trying Out All Lanes

Hello September! Time to start back up with the blog and a new schedule. This week my son started preschool Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which means I have 6 hours two days a week where I can work during the day. So far I have just done some cleaning and catching up. There were many emails that had lingered in my inbox for weeks and papers had gathered since I had design work that took up the last two weeks of August.

August was a strange month with new plans for moving forward. One of my directions is writing YA. I am not surprised this has poured out of me, I have always read YA and been inspired by the authors I have heard speak on the subject. Another direction is making full illustrations with sculpey. My first approach is very detailed models of my current characters, the three boys. Here are pictures of them so far.



After the first character I was asked to take pictures of the process. Here are three pictures of the process for boy 2.

When I had reached this point with boy 2 I lost part of my vision. I can see but my right eye is very blurred to the extent of causing mild double vision. I am able to work but it makes small details frustrating. Thankfully my left eye is unharmed. My right eye problems are due to a chalayzion which, should go away with time. For now it is causing an astigmatism. My next appointment is Tuesday to see where I am at and if I will need glasses. No matter what happens my vision should be fully restored soon. I am looking forward to working with both eyes again.

I did finish boy 2 during the eye problems; it doesn’t keep me from working.


However, I did take a break from creating more illustrations. Two weeks of design work showed up just as my eye was reaching a peak in blurriness and it gave me a good chance to rest my eye to help it heal.

Now that my eye is on the mend and I have new time I am picking up where I left off. The third part of my plans from August was to fully explore the three methods I use to illustrate, trying out all the lanes and picking one. Whatever I pick will help me build a new portfolio. I am excited to see how my art grows from this exercise.


Quote Quiz: “You are always preparing, just go!”

currently reading: friend’s manuscript
currently watching: Mad Men: Season 2 ep. 4

Winner of Spring Giveaway

What a week leading up to an even bigger weekend! I don’t know if I made this clear, I only stated in the post comments, that the giveaway winner announcement was extended to today. I crazily planned that to end in the middle of the NESCBWI Conference. I don’t know what I was thinking! Excited beyond reason.

Now onto the winner. Chosen with random number counter, adding in facebook and twitter retweets, our winner is

Lauren

Congrats!

Her choice was the Jelly Fish, so he is happily adopted and named Louisa by Lauren.

Lauren, I will email you shortly to get your mailing address.

 

Thank you all for participating and stopping by. I am sure there will be another giveaway in the future so be sure to check back!

Giveaway!

All right here are the critters to choose from!

We are celebrating spring, success, and opening a new shop! Yes I decided to make a shop just for my critters.

To sign up for this giveaway, post a comment below saying which critter you would want. Also to earn more chances for yourself retweet this post making sure to put @CaseyGirard in the tweet so I know you did it. You have a week to sign up, next Sunday I will pick a winner!

(if you don’t see your comment right away don’t worry. I get so much spam I have to use an approval process for comments.)

Thanks for all the support!