Lately, old skills and new skills

Hello, let’s start with ‘lately.’ Yes, that is a good place to start since it would take too much time to fill you all in on what has been going on all winter. “Too much” is good enough to say, so we’ll leave it at that, pick up with ‘lately’ and just keep going from there.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with a couple of things; translucent clay and hand lettering. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other but I’m keenly engaged in both right now.

I’m working with the translucent clay to add some thrill and diversity to my polymer clay work. Yes, I used the word ‘thrill’ for a reason. You see, when you work with translucent clay, it’s not actually translucent while you’re working with it. That part happens while curing in the oven. So it’s not until your work is completely done, sliced, applied, baked and cooled…that you actually get to see what you made. Kind of thrilling in my world.

Ok, now for the hand lettering. I LOVE fonts and drafting and typography and calligraphy and, well, you get the idea. Words and letters are beautiful to me and this new hand lettering trend is right up my alley for a couple of reasons. I don’t have the tools or know how to digitally create typographic art. I’m good with photos, but I’m not skilled in Illustrator and Photoshop well enough to produce the ideas in my mind. I’m also not able to draw, unfortunately, genetics were not kind to me in this area and my ‘artwork’ often looks childish and frankly, scary. But letters are something that I can draw! Why? Because I’m familiar with words and no matter how I draw them, they never look scary.

The translucent clay experiments are helping me expand my business and the hand lettering is helping me start meaningful bible journaling. Both areas of my life that could use a bit of a boost.

Here are some of the pics from both of my ‘lately’ ventures and I hope you enjoy them. One reminds me that I’ve come a long way, that I’m good at something and have grown in skill, the other reminds me that there is always more to learn, new skills to grow and embrace.  First some crochet hooks sporting some translucent clay, then a couple of pics that express the beginning of my hand lettered scripture quotes.

And here is the lettering. I’ve ordered a journaling bible, the kind with a few inches in the borders so that you can make notes and sketches. Since I’m not a fine artist, I’ll be making these typography like medallions to remember what I am reading, and to meditate on the words. Do any of you have art journals, bible or quote journals that you illustrate?