Monday, October 31, 2011

How to make cold porcelain - recipe and photos

Alright, I guess this has been a long time coming, I have actually had requests on youtube to make videos on how to make cold porcelain and I do not get many requests in all honesty.  People seem to want to make their own, and why not? You can save big bucks opposed to buying commercil stuff which always dries too dense/hard anyway. 

So lets get right to it, you will need the following:

1 cup of Corn Starch
1 cup of Glue (similar to Elmers)
1 table spoon of baby oil
1/4 teaspoon of liquid soap (clear hand soap)

Yay for pictures!
I took pictures all along the way and did not change the resolution, so feel free to enlarge the pics, especially the cooking ones, to compare to.

On the recipe, I do not know why it uses what in what ratio and why it doesnt have water or lemon juice, or whatever, everyone has a different recipe online, this is mine, its worked and proven itself to be a beautiful plastic clay body which also dries nicely and with that desirable slightly flexible end result.  This is a recipe which you will love but I do encourage trying out of all different kinds of recipes, you have nothing to lose and lots of experience to gain!

So, lets begin.  Place the cup of cornstarch in your pot.
Get the cup of Glue ready
I add the soap first, again why use liquid soap? I do not know, but it works, try it!
1/4 teaspoon only!
next add the cup of glue and the tablespoon of baby oil

get the stove fired up, I use gas, but I assume the setting would be low for electric.
place pan on fire! start mixing... if you have ever made fondant icing with the marshmallow and powderd sugar recipe, it will look like that does in its early stages at the very first stages when you start mixing.
very very low flame please, you will be spending several minutes here scraping and stirring
this is the consistency I mentioned above.
so after a minute or so and while its heating up, the consistency will go through several changes, this is normal so dont panic, if you used the ingredients in the measurements mentioned (double or triple or even half if you have to, but if the ratio is the same) then it should turn out just fine.
Below, you can see its looking more liquid than anything and you might begin to worry that this can never be molded, fear not!
It may get very goopy and look more like elmers glue than anything, but keep stiring, I like to scrape the bottom of the pot/pan often so that I can get the parts that are becoming very thick up to the top and keep the entire mixture moving around.

Okay, after a few minutes, the mixture looks like this, like its curdling and you can feel its thickening up due to your spoon giving you lots of resistance.
okay here is the turning point, perhaps three to five minutes have passed, perhaps less, it depends on your heat, I like to work really slowly with the heat on low, soon after the mixture will begin to get REALLY thick where you feel it coming off of the pan as in the picture below.
TURN OFF THE HEAT!
This is an important step, a very important step as it will prevent you from ever overcooking your clay!  Im sure many experienced folk can whip up batches easily as they know the heat and how it works, but for a first timer, turn off the flame at this point of thickening consistency, but keep the pot on the stove and keep stirring.
Keep stirring and thickening up the material.
keep it up.
Okay, now we have a super thick mashed potatoes consistency, check out the photos if you are not sure, but the clumps will have given way to this more cohesive mass.

At this point the pan is just "very warm" so be careful, but if its not too hot, I take it off the stove at this point and keep stiring.
Ok, when the material is so thick that you feel its like dough, prepare your work area and dust lightly with some cornstarch... you are not wanting to really add any to the clay so just lightly dust the table and your hands.


SCRAPE out the clay (yes I know its cornstarch/glue, but we call it clay now) and start kneading! 

I tend to wedge the clay and end up with a "rams head" like in ceramics, but you can just knead away until all air bubbles and lumps are gone, I do not find that this dries out very fast, and if you were dilligent with lots of stirring as I suggested, you will not need to knead long. 
With experience you will know when its right, it should be a smooth and creamy consistency, see below as I pinch it to see how thin it can go... if you want to make miniature clay flowers then you will want to be sure you have conditioned this clay properly. 


Its all set.
For the amount in this recipe, I like to seperate off into three balls, my work is small, and 2-3 female figures can be made from one ball this size, or dozens of miniature clay flowers!

I find that plastic sandwich bags are awfully conveinant for storing the balls of clay, I leave mine at room temperature, but you can store the in the refridgerator.  Alternatively try saran wrap (or similar) and even clean re-used grocery store plastic bags.
Seal them up and they are ready for use!
Use the pasta machine and try making beautiful clay flowers or add small amounts of oil paints to create a vibrant rainbow of colors!  Pendants, sculptures, dollhouse miniatures, you can do it all!
Cold porcelain takes more detail on than polymer clay or ceramics and it is most definitely ideal for things like little birds, flowers, cards/paper goods, and even dresses for sculpture-dolls.

I hope you enjoyed and more even I hope you try this, the cornstarch is less than $1 and the glue is also inexpensive (I got all my materials pictured here at a non-name brand dollar store).  I would love to see what you all made with this tutuorial.

Oh... and have fun washing the dishes!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

why thank you for being... YOU



Today I wanted to write a blog thanking all the people who were out there who were not followers, who were on their own path of discovery and who by example helped others, and then I realized that if I did this in a way I would be saying that the other people who were not doing this were somehow not worthy or even wrong. I took it a thought further and thought that what about people supposedly doing a "good job" were they better or more clearly, more deserving of praise than those who were not? The answer is no, people on drugs are not to be condemned and those who are survivors to be praised, eveyrone is doing the best that they can in this lifetime no matter what the outcome. Its something I will probably try and learn my entire lifetime, and that is to live and let live... just let it be. True, things will please me and inspire me and they are great, but the contrast (as Esther Hicks says) is just as important since it helps us expand.



Thursday, October 20, 2011

Quirky Flowerpot head

hi

Quirky flowerpot head or flower pothead, whichever you prefer, shes very nutty, every time I look at the photo above, I laugh. She is a celebration, I was going to write celebration of life on her chest, but ive been there, done that.

This cooky chick has a symmetrical asymetrical design on her body, hand painted by yours truly, its tear-dropesque, reminiscent of a work from the past I had done. She wears a mask/glasses and has beady eyes.

The most striking feature of the floral bouquet atop of her head! It is bursting forth wonderfully! A true celebration of life and abundance. Im happy about my eye surgery obviously, but also about all the other cool stuff happening in life as well and she shows it! The flowers are cold porcelain, while she is ceramic!




Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Kiln is on FIRE


The kiln has been fired up for two and a half hours, tomorrow I will be able to color and decorate my girls... im so tired of the stoniness and gray, Im ready for some bold colors!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Sit, no stand!

Theyve been sitting for YEARS, but its time to stand!
I am going to try and create a few standing figures, this one reminds me that good things come to those who wait. In fact, all of the ceramic ones remind me that, since I want to paint her NOW, I want flowers bursting out of the hat/container on her head and up her arm, but alas she is greenware, she must dry out and then be fired and THEN we will see if she really stands on her own. Stay tunes, I am going to be making several standing figures soon, some with flower heads like this one.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Its all very easy actually

Flowers Flowers Flowers! & MORE FLOWERS!
Kitsch, frivolous, camp, tchotchke, wonderful!
and did I mention Flowers? Flowers for the sake of flowers!!!

haha, Im going to put something like this at the top of the blog so everyone can see it everytime. I only ask one thing of the blog readers, dont take anything here too seriously!

P Rami

No disrespect Thutmose, you know these days I work fast, loose, and crudely; spending the rest of the time having a love affair with the creation and developing a deep obsession.


The little hole will help me in affixing a bouquet of white cold porcelain flowers in that spot.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Ooh lala


These eleven discs are going to be my new affirmation stones. I cant wait! They will read things we like to attract such as 'money', but also feelings which are extremely important like 'security'.
I want to make hundreds!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Face your FEARS


Anyone with a health condition who believes that they caused it may be right, they say that on some level we created this illness/condition for a benefit to ourselves, no matter how obscure it may be, or how ridiculous that notion may sound.
So I must face the truth, I must go in brave with the knowledge that life is here to support and take care of me, I am safe. Tomorrow morning I will have this procedure done, but afterwards instead of focusing on the illness itself, I must focus on the CAUSE; for doctors may be able to fix the result, but only we can go within and mend the patterns that will prevent this from reoccurring.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

3-days

I have been thinking for three days about something. If its true, what we put out we get back, then what would I create if I were sure the things would come back to me? I would create positive affirmations to live by. It is not a "what if" it is true, what we put out, we get back, very simple. For this, the next few things created will be affirmation figures, oh yes, they are back. They must be small, each only a word or so, each something to be proud to have put out into the universe, for I know that which I put out comes back to me multiplied.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kSMCOpmRaiQ3zr9ZZ_pxUlPriClRkcGxXaBMdIH7zMjdzJaIGTz8JpV250xjAd-ZvLr-14yVzpsa9QDJZg-FHNVJjvmYZDl9spAkl_0CtYf5_l7i2FDc8L4brDgXv8MMtgB8Gju2jZQ/s1600-h/definitely005.jpg
Link
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Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Love


Love is the answer.
Love is the answer to healing, health, happiness, joy, peace, all good things!
The only thing about it for me was that I had some strange connotations with the word. A childhood of questioning and ascension to adulthood which still had me questioning, what is love?
I now know that love is the great power of the universe, it is God, it is everything true, good, great, and wonderful. HAHA, I love it!
Anyhoot, be open to love, allow it in. Give love freely and spread the word!

PEEP PEEP! Pete Pete?



Peep Peep was my boy, and the most beautiful and graceful goose on gradmas "farm" and most definitely the only Chinese Goose I had ever seen.

Dedication work of art to come!

I have always been obsessed with birds, birds birds, being an avid watcher at a very young age, I have recently resurrected the interest though mostly in texbook cases of recent extinctions like that of the ivory billed woodpecker, the passenger pigeon, carolina parrokeets, and and the Mariana mallard. Hoatzins and Quetzals are also very very cool and I would love to dedicate something to them.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Group Photo


Here is a group photo of the latest buggers, little ones, like gems. Metallic and one even latex red!
I have a deep appreciation for the ability to make tiny things, they are so precious.