Further Progress on the CMHH '13 Project

Yesterday not much of anything got done, time just kept getting away from me. Today, however, I made the half-round polymer clay windows, and paper clayed the back wall.

Wet paper clay is a dirty gray colour, but you can already see the white at the edge where the clay is beginning to dry. The slanted lower wall of the façade is also coated, but this has dried. It does, however, show how a light wash of paint and some messing about with chalk dust can age the paper clay quite convincingly. Once the back wall is completely dry, I'll use a fine sandpaper on a stick to even out the edges.

The two brown semi-circles are the polymer clay window frames; the lower on has had its corner cut off, to fit better into the space. This cut-off will be hidden behind the false wall to come on the left-hand side, which is the next part of the project.

This was the first time I used Premo by Sculpey, and I am not completely sure I like it; I baked it at the recommended time and temperature, but found the baked frames to be kind of bendy, and the corner cut off without any problem at all, using a regular kitchen knife. I am used to quite solid, sturdy baked polymer clay items. I wonder if this result is part of governments' insistence on the polymer formula being changed to meet environmental guidelines.

On to finishing the spaniel on a cushion mat, while waiting for the clay to dry. I have a two-doll commission to start on soon, as well as some embroidered goods to finish off and mail to a client. Then I will probably have to buckle down to some Christmas shopping, as just about everything has to be mailed off this year. A couple of parcels have to go to Europe and Japan, so the sooner the better, I guess!