Tip for Polymer Clay

I'm so excited to share this little tip. I was at a going out of business sale at a little local food store, and I found the most amazing tool. It is called a bench scraper or pastry scraper and is normally used for cutting pastry dough and cleaning work surfaces. It was marked "50 cents" so I picked it up and put it in my cart, not knowing what a treasure I had just acquired.

Later the same day I had some clay to roll out in my pasta machine. I looked at my new tool and realized it would be perfect for first chopping my clay into nice manageable slivers before rolling it out. This worked like a charm! Then I used it to cut long slices of rolled clay, to clean my pasta roller, and to scrape clay off my work surface.


I have used my bench scraper daily since I got it, and now I think I need two, one for cleaning surfaces, and one for cutting clay. If you work with polymer clay, you must get one, or two. They cost under $10.00 new, and in my book, they are priceless!

ADO Elements Challenge

ADO, "Art Dolls Only" team is hosting an art doll challenge. Members and art doll enthusiasts were asked to create a doll in the theme of "elements", and then post their doll on their blog today. Click the picture above to see the list of participants on the ADO team blog, then go blog visiting to see what everyone came up with! The challenge pieces will be posted all weekend.

I am a water lover. I was raised at a Lake, I've lived at the ocean, and I'm a water sign. Both of my children were born under water. So it is no great surprise that I chose WATER as my element and I sculpted three mermaids. I gave them each a Hawaiian name.


Here is the first mermaid I did. Her name is Lokelani (lo-kay-lan-ee).

Lokelani is a one of a kind handmade art doll. She is 9" tall including her base. The shells in her hair were picked up on the beaches of Kauai, and she wears a piece of sunrise shell (a rare and beautiful shell the color of the sunrise) in back. Lokelani is mostly polymer clay. I used a starfish from a vintage box of treasures I inherited, and I did not buy it, you know they kill them just to sell to tourists at the beach, so please don't buy them new!

Next I sculpted a silly little lady named Ke'alohi, which means "the brightness".

She is a polymer clay sculpture which I have mounted to a large clam shell. I painted the clam shell to resemble abalone, and added a few sparkly details.

Her hair is Tibetan lambs wool, she wears Swarovski crystals and seashells in her hair. Ke'alohi stands 7.5" tall including base, and is 6" across.

Finally I made "Pikake" which is the name for a Hawaiian flower used to make leis.

Pikake is the most inquisitive of the three, and I love the movement I achieved with her. It is as if she is swimming in a circular dance. Her hair is spiky and wild, and she is mounted on a silk flower which is meant to represent a colorful anemone.

All three of these mermaids are for sale in my Etsy Shop.
Thanks for looking at my ADO Element Dolls!

I'm in Iowa!

I'm at my parent's lake home in Okoboji Iowa for the month of July.


I'll try and get some fireworks pics posted this week.