recently | on my bench

forest textures...

I took some molding compound with me when we went for a walk in the forest the other day. Mostly wood/bark textures, along with one pine-cone & a little plant (probably a weed).

There has been a lot of rain around here recently (there were even some roads closed in the forest) & the dampness meant the compound dried much slower than usual - I lost one entirely, but the others turned out pretty well.

+ one just because it was so lovely out in the forest

a plethora of pendants...

The finished pendants from this batch of silver (like the earrings.)

I seem to go through stages - either I want to patina everything, or I want to keep it all shiny silver...as you can see, I'm not in a patina phase at the moment.

textures & molds...

I love making textures for my metal clay work.

The other day I made a small pile of new ones. These are made using a two-part mold compound (I have used a product called Cold Mold, from Rio Grande, but there are other brands). Rather than carry the big pots around, I measured some out into some smaller containers.

I first used this stuff at a workshop I went to in 2011 (the second-to-last photo is from there) - basically you just mix together equal amounts of each part & then either press something into it, or it onto something. Once you mix it you have to work reasonably quickly.

This batch are fairly flat, more like texture plates than molds. They are all from either wood or concrete.

& then I've been drawing in my scratch-foam again...