IKEA ponies and loot and new clay!!!!

I mentioned in the last post that i had an adventure to IKEA over the weekend. My dad and i drove the hourish down to Pittsburgh to grab a bookcase/ desk thing i picked out online. I have never been to IKEA before and wooow is it huuge!!! I think we got lost at least 3 times in less than 15 minutes! It was well worth it. We only picked up the bookshelf/desk thing, because dad needed to get back but it was well worth it! I spent the rest of the evening, with the help of Mr. handie-dad, and we got the thing put together and set up1!!! （≧∇≦）



it has been hard for me to get anything unpacked since we moved because i only had a couple of tiny bookcases. No room for anything. So this and the shelves i put up helped tremendously, but alas off to school i went again before i got much of anything done. but i am really pleased with how it is all turning out! now there is plenty of room for my yet to be organized ponies!!!
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧…

This is the stash I got from the library today!!! (•̪┌┐•̪) I am so pleased!!! I try to use recycled mailers for my etsy. I always feel bad for the still usable envelopes that students throw out, and looking at the trashcans and recycling bins is just sickening how many of these are just tossed. It came in good timing (thank you God!) for i had just run out of mailers and have a couple of orders to get into the mail ! (which will be out by the weekend! promise!!!) On top is a lovely book on botany who's covers are just screaming for art. I just cannot resist a blank canvas...

Getting ready to start a new doll for drawing class... I know sounds weird but as the prof pointed out, you need to have drawings for most any art, sculpture, paintings, even pottery. You don't always need drawigns, but it helps you work out all the details. I decided to try some new clay i had picked up for a steal at Jo-ann's a while back. It is an airdry clay called Stonex. It is fun to work with, being more like traditional pottery clay, but more plasticy in feelign when dry, and is alot heavier than my usual paperclay. You can carve into it when semi and all dry which was great for my tastes.

I built it over Styrofoam, and didn't pack it on to hard, expecting some shrinkage. What i got when it dried was well a little bit more shrinkage than hoped for.... (●´― ｀●) sad panda...





Well at least it cracked in the back and the eye does look cool... i didn't even carve there... it just happeded, which made it all the more neat... but i don't think this is the clay i will be using. A friend suggested that i use the foam you buy to put inside of cushions, and i may give that a try; wrap the foam in plastic wrap, then put the clay on... it should work in theory...