[fashion-runways]

JEAN LOUIS SABAJI Couture Fall/Winter 2021 if you want to support this blog consider donating to: ko-fi.com/fashionrunways

[historicaldress]

A Pierre Balmain couture embroidered cocktail dress, 1955,

The black velvet by J Leonard, embroidered by Lesage with scarlet velvet berries, embroidered green leaves spangled with tiny gun metal sequins

[canimakethat]

Terrarium lamps.

[canimakethat]

Throwback to some old jewelry projects! Both of which I still have and wear 10 years later. I went through a major jewelry-making phase when I was 13ish, got back into it in my 20s, and now I stare at all of my beads and equipment forlornly because my hands are now so shaky that it makes beading really, really difficult.

[canimakethat]

My first efforts dabbling in polymer clay. I didn't know what to make so I copied my giant concrete cat that scares people who don't know it's there. I love that cat.

[canimakethat]

My icon! My beloved sticker desk which is also my crafting surface a lot of the time because I love her your honor.

[treasure-of-the-ancients]

Gold and amethyst necklace, Egypt, Middle Kingdom, 2055-1650 BC

from the Durham University Museums

[canimakethat]

I made a few necklaces inspired by this historical one - one for me and one for a friend which is featured here. I added some details to make them a bit fancier.

[canimakethat]

The little guys!

I actually made these during a stream when my game crashed. These are based on the lovely creations of Monsieur Cailloux. I unfortunately cannot afford to buy one of his ceramic sculptures but I was inspired by their whimsical look and felt like they belonged in the monster-themed office I'm putting together.

Since I had the air-dry clay from the plant trays, and had been wanting to try faux-glazing with watered down acrylic, I went for it! I was also able to use the texture rollers on two of them.

Note they are meant to be streaky. I know that's not everybody's cup of tea, but the monster office is meant to feature roughly-made monsters on purpose, sort of like children's sketches come to life. (I'll have to post the mural at some point - you can kind of see it in the pictures but believe me, you cannot imagine the nonsense.)

[canimakethat]

Starting off strong with how I mean to go on - by randomly including you in my diy adventures with little to no editing or filter because.

Well.

Effort is hard and a bitch is mentally ill.

I was inspired by these super damn cute plant trays but I felt like I could make them. However I didn't want to use a wheel or anything in the oven because of laziness. Which meant air dry clay.

So, I wanted to make some plant trays with air dry clay. Decisions made I can shop! Simple, right?

Crayola Air Dry Clay for Kids, Natural White Modeling Clay, 5 Lb Bucket

Crayola Model Magic 4-Ounce, Earth Tone, Modeling Clay Alternative

I used crayola because it was cheap and there. My mistake was using two types of air dry clay - model magic and air dry clay which were different enough that they didn't want to stick together. It meant when I was rolling out the clay it was peeling up.

Also please note that the model magic WILL stain things. My hands were brown after handling until I washed them. (also also the texture of the model magic is Very Good.)

^ peeling is uncute. The rolled ball jewelry tray about should be ignored in this complaint. She is stunning and unproblematic. We'll talk about that later.

I also tried using a textured rolling pin which, in retrospect was a mistake with the marble look I wanted.

I think if I did this again I'd use one clay and the textured pin instead, or two of the exact same in every possible way clays for marbling. (I would also check the bottom to see if it was the hoped-for appearance first before adding the sides.)

As you can see the bottoms are BEAUTIFUL. A bit spotty from the staining, but not bad! Too bad I didn't look until it was too late.

I let them cure for 72 hours and sanded them both to see if that made a difference - and I think it did! Not much, but they're smoother and almost stone-like on the top.

This is the big one, halfway sanded. The right is untouched, left sanded. Ignore the messy desk this is not an aesthetic blog. (But do appreciate the sticker desk.)

Here's after four coats of matte modge podge. Which I've never used and apparently takes 4 weeks to cure which is HATEFUL. You can still see some of the texture in there bet eh, you aren't going to see this part much anyway so I'm letting it go.

After sealing them, I did finish with an acrylic coating because these are plant trays meant to catch water... and air dry clay + modge podge? Not waterproof, honeybee.

Here's the final result in their natural habitats, complete with happy plant that's almost ready for it's new pot and overdramatic plant that has only been out of the window for one day.

Overall, I enjoyed this project and I'm glad it's not sitting on the project shelf. I regret not filming it, but maybe next time.