Thursday, January 22, 2009

I hereby withdraw my endorsement

No, this is not a political post. (Sorry, Stephen)
Nope, this is another fascinating arts and crafts post - hey, where are y'all going? :-)
We will get to the reason for the title of this post in a minute.- But first some personal rambling/ uh, I mean reflection...
Sunday, Alaina (the 14 year old wonder ;-?) claimed me as her personal assistant.
After church, (the kids and I leave for church at 9:30 AM- every Sunday- day of rest my eye!), Alaina informs me that she has a school project due Tuesday. They have been put into groups of three to put on an "original" Greek tragedy, and she is in charge of her group's costumes.
But... before we hit Michael's we really DO need to stop at Target- she needs more make-up, shampoo, "product" as Doug calls it. And by some wonderful coincidence, there is a "Starbuck's" in Target so the little kid's can get hot chocolate and "mom" can get a caramel macchiato.
Yes, I know I'm weak. I am Aware that we are in a recession, and that $12.00 for drinks is excessive. But if we get ourselves out of bed, out of the house,- and to church ON TIME, all when it is about 12 degrees out, I figure we have earned it.
Anyway, next stop- Michaels'. As it was explained to me,
Alaina "We all know that guys played all the girls' parts in all Greek plays, right?"
-Me: "Wouldn't that be "Grecian plays?",
Alaina: "no",
Me: "why not?"
Alaina (with the total look of disdain, only a 14 year old girl can give) "uh- because Grecian doesn't sound like a real word".
(Greek play or Grecian play?? feel free to weigh in Addie- if you agree with Alaina, I can take it- I won't tell her, but I can take it ;-)
"Yes, I know it is called a "Greek Tragedy"- but they ARE called Grecian Urns, vases, etc.,".
Alaina "anyway... since guys played the girl parts they had to wear masks- so I'm going to make masks- I want to make- like- those "Venetian masks." (yup,Venetian masks in Ancient "Greek" plays, our public school system hard at work)
Me: "sounds good to me"
"So who are your characters"?
"Aphrodite, Hades, and Apollo"
Ok, so a black mask with a crown of discount/ close-out black poinsettias with gold glitter for Hades, a white mask with purple "forget me not" stickers and a crown of purple flowers for Aphrodite, and a white mask with gold glitter paint/feathers, and a crown of some sort of branches for Apollo.- $30.00 later...
"Ok, now we have to get fabric for togas for everyone".
Me: "um-No"
Alaina:"But this is a school project, and I told them I would"
Me "tell them to each bring in a white sheet"
YES- The win actually goes to Mom this time!!!
When we get home and actually get out the play, in reality the characters are Artemis, Orion, and Apollo (hey at least she got Apollo right.)
Post-script- She recieved a 117% A+ as her grade for this project. lol
So now, the reason for this title of this post...
While at Michaels I decided to try Sculpey Bake & Bend clay. I figured if they claim that it can actually be bent it must be less prone to breaking, right?
Well, yes and no. Once it is baked it DOES bend. It does seem less prone to breaking.
But you pretty much better limit your "sculpting" to snakes, worms, and ball/marbles. any other type of "working" and the clay crumbles.
Ok, so no big deal, this clay goes into the kids' arts and crafts desk.
BUT
Then my larger greyhound bust out of SCULPEY "PREMO" clay.
Yes, I just made the eyes out of clay. I told you patience is not one of my virtues.
But when I baked it- it cracked!!!!!

Note the neck-


I glazed over the crack, but it is very noticeable! I'm really pretty sad about it.
Sorry Jen!
I told you I could not do Travis justice.
I guess I could try to make a mold, and cast a copy without the cracks,... but that can wait until I create something that is actually good enough to sell.......
Anyone in the market for greyhound art?

7 comments:

Never Say Never Greyhounds said...

If you've got the money, you help the economy by spending some of it. So enjoy your Starbucks!

Thanks for trying to do Travis. He's a good subject :-), but does have a big meaty head. Sorry it cracked.

Jen

Addie said...

A-ha! Another opportunity to weigh in on a word war - yay! I agree with you: Grecian is a-ok with me. You win on this score, too!

How sweet of you to sculpt a bust of Travis. I couldn't see the crack; all I could see was a very kind gesture. :-)

Zan said...

I think the bust of Travis is very nice. Bummer that it cracked though.

Don't get me started on group projects. It sound like they had it well under control if the costumes were the only thing left until the last minute. Congrats to Alaina on her A+!! Whoo Hooo!!!

Stephen said...

Sometimes what you "hope" for "changes" into something you didn't want. I understand. I feel your pain.

Grace said...

wonderful work! it pretty look so real. :)

Unknown said...

Hola.

Few things, that I felt the over whelming need to annoy you with, seeing that there is really nothing better to do when stuck at home!!!!

Okay your picture of the family (very cute by the way, two thumbs up)is kinda messed up seeing that you put Mark before Genna and last time i checked she was born first. ;)

Also I NEVER SAID VENITIAN!!!!! I DON'T EVEN NOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sincerely, Alaina

my v. word was plahists which only reminded me of Cheesezits.

Alex said...

She is talking about my "family sticker" at the bottom of this blog. I am impressed that she found it- I was simply going boy- girl-boy-girl- not age order.