Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

It's a little late...alright very late to be blogging but I suddenly felt like documenting this in my blog as well as in my diary.

Last week we had to go to the pet shop to get some flea repellent for Yuki, she was a little overdue and she's been scratching quite a bit lately. Although, that's most likely due to the mud she runs around in more than fleas.

Recently a craft store opened in the same area which was pretty great. Now I can broaden my crafty horizons beyond what little Tesco sell now and the tiny haberdashery and stuff place in the market. There's so much in there that I want to buy. I could quite happily build a little nest in that store and live there indefinitely, providing I had a plentiful supply of food, water and a good internet connection.

I've been there once before since it opened but mainly to have a quick look round. I got two lots of blank cards which were on sale, good thing too because I was running out of blank cards. This time I went on a little spending spree that I'm sure to regret. This time I found the clay section, I was disappointed that I couldn't find it last time. I've wanted to play around with some polymer clay for ages. There are some really cool YouTube videos of polymer clay creations and tutorials and I've wanted to have a go for a year or so now.

However I thought I should start off with something a little simpler with less fuss. Last time I played with a modelling kit the sea creatures (because that was the theme of the kit) had to be baked with the oven door open. Mum didn't like that because she said it caused problems the last time the door wasn't shut (this was with our old oven with the broken knob). This was something like 10 years ago. The puffer fish got burnt at the tips. It gave him a certain character.

So. Last week I decided to start with something simple and got some air dry clay. No baking required. However, air dry does come with it's own set of problems. Storage is a big issue, if it's not air tight the clay will dry out and I can't use 500g of clay in one go, at least not for my first go at it.

For about three days I've been wanting to play with it but couldn't think of what to make, so i didn't open it. Today I decided to make something. After a while the idea of a sheep got into my head so I decided to make a little sheep. It's not a very good sheep but I worked hard trying to shape it and make sure the joins were smooth and solid. At the moment I'm just calling it Sheepy. It's kind of cute. Let's hope it stays cute when it's dry. I hear air dry clay is prone to cracking even though I tried to keep it moist. It's hard to get the balance right, too dry and it cracks, too wet and it gets sticky. But, regardless, I think I did well for my first go. Let's see if I have a talent for sculpting, and if I don't, at least it's still fun.

Bluebiird out.
Baaaaaaa......
And Sheepy too.