More tentacles.....

 

.......because you can never have too many! This necklace is now on sale in my Etsy store here and is the first of a couple of new pieces that will be going into the shop this week. Also, all pre-exisiting stock is discounted at 10% for the rest of September!

Kracken battle!

I'm part of a fantastic group on Facebook and we recently had craft exchange where the only real rule was that the item had to be handmade and if possible incorporate some of the recipients likes. I've had this kracken in my head for ages and this was just the excuse to go crazy with the tentacles!
Using an old picture frame as the base, I built up the ship first using sculpey and then added the kracken around it. Acrylic paint, metallic waxes and gloss varnish were used to create the details. I'm so happy with how this turned out and even more thrilled that my craft exchange partner loved it too.

Mythology and folklore

I've always been fascinated by fairytales and myths; from pixies at the bottom of the garden to sleeping kings waiting under a hill til they are called to return. This set of three canvases feature stories from Scottish folklore, although they make an appearance in the folklore of numerous other cultures. The Selkie live as seals when they are at sea but shed their skins to walk as humans on land. Often the story tells that the selkies skin is stolen and so it must remain on land, unable to return to the sea until it finds its skin. The Kelpie is a shape-shifting water spirit that haunts the rivers and lakes of Scotland. It often appears as a horse or  beautiful young woman and lures the unwary to a watery grave. The White stag symbolises the existence of the Otherworld, often described as fairy cattle that are herded by benevolent fairy women.

These canvases have been created using polymer clay to sculpt the figures and background plaques and decorated with acrylic paints, sprays and various mixed media components.

Amazonian manatee

I fell in love with manatees a long, long time ago on a family holiday to Florida. They're not the most glamorous or adorable of animals but there's something about these big gentle creatures that just fascinates me. Fun fact- although they are fully aquatic, manatees are more closely related to elephants than they are to other marine mammals like whales and dolphins.

Amazonian manatee (the ones in the photo- you can tell them apart from the other two manatee species by the white splashes of colour across their bodies) have a conservation status classified as Vulnerable due to the continuing reduction in their population numbers. One of the problems with these manatees is that the cloudy, vegetation-heavy waters of the Amazon make them difficult to spot and a large proportion of their territory is challenging for conservationists to reach, so there are no accurate numbers of how many animals there actually are. Sadly manatee numbers continue to decline as they fall prey to illegal hunting, accidental capture in nets and the destruction and degradation of their habitat.

This little guy is for sale here and by weird coincidence, today is actually Manatee Appreciation Day so I'm going to spend some time just, you know, appreciating manatees. I'd like to hug one cause they look very huggable, but it's not really a good idea to hug wild animals so I'll just google some pictures of them and 'aww' to myself instead!

Planetary horoscope determination device

The Hellenistic period of history saw the combination of the Egyptian zodiac with the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership and the four elements. This device was inscribed with the zodiac symbols used during this period of history. It is available to buy here.

Antikythera-prototype ancient computational device

The Antikytheria mechanism is a fascinating piece of ancient technology- found on a shipwreck off the Greek coast in 1900, it was another 70 years before historians realised it wasn't simply a lump of corroded bronze but actually a complex computational device designed to predict astronomical postions and eclipses. If you'd like to find out more about this really amazing piece of ancient mechanism, have a look here.

This is my imagining of what a prototype Antikythera mechanism might have looked like- apparently such a prototype device might actually exist but I highly doubt this looks anything like it! If you would like to own it though, it's for sale here.

Astrolarium moon-phase pendant

This necklace has been handmade from polymer clay, swarovksi crystals, acrylic paints and die cut gears. The astrolarium piece itself measures approximately 6.5 cm across and the entire chain plus pendant measures approximately 56cm in total length. The pendant is attached to a silver style chain with a toggle fastening. If you like this piece, you can purchase it here.

Humpback whale

Humpback whales are one of the largest mammals on the planet and yet despite their size, they were once overfished to such an extent that they numbered only a few thousand individuals. Strict legal protections from whaling have resulted in the global population of humpbacks returning to healthier numbers although they are still vulnerable to the effects of climate change. To find out more info, have a look here.

This polymer clay whale has been sculpted and placed on a textured background to create the look of the deep sea. If you'd like to own this whale, visit our Etsy shop here.

Hazel dormouse

How adorable are these little dormice?! Although not classified as endangered species on a global scale, they are decreasing in number and vulnerable to extinction in the UK due to the changing of farming practices and the removal of hedgerows and wooded areas where they feed and hibernate. To find out more about hazel dormice, have a look here and here.

This polymer clay dormouse has been sculpted in his little nest, nibbling away at a blackberry before he settles down to hibernate the winter away. Here is the link to our Etsy shop if you'd like to own this cute little critter!