adulting with whimsy
In the sculptor’s lair with Marie Young: polymer clay sculptures and mixed media projects. Sculpting tutorials, tips and tricks for your own projects. See original work created. Each piece is meticulously handcrafted in the MarieYoung Creative studio and sold online and in select galleries. No mass produced work here!
My muse is an interesting gal. She disappears for weeks at a time and when finally she shows up for work, she doesn’t hand over her creative secrets all at once. Yet, there are times when this serendipitous path is pure magic. Le Corbeau et le Renard (The Fox and the Crow) This piece […]
In my last post, I shared how interesting wine corks became the inspiration for a series of whimsical “wine cork hugger” sculptures. I thought you might also enjoy seeing a video of how I created the polymer clay fox from wire armature through curing. All four sculptures have been adopted!
Over the years I’ve saved interesting wine corks for when the right project came along. Being a hoarder has its advantages at least in terms of crafting supplies! This new sculpture series of “Wine Cork Huggers” resulted from my cork hoarding. Like many of my projects, they fall into the category of weird whimsy, but […]
If you have been following my creative endeavors for any period of time, you know that I gain tremendous inspiration from my kitties, particularly Emily. She’s 16 now and she starts every day with a syringe of steroid for her irritable bowel syndrome. Since her enema this week she’s rounding out the day with another […]
My friend Kristina asked me to create handcrafted Christmas ornaments for her children. She liked the ones I showed her where I turned hollow eggs into animal ornaments. As they rattled off a list of animals that they liked, “giraffe” piqued my interest. I had never tried sculpting a giraffe and the shape provided a […]
This handsome gray bat in my new OOAK Victorian Gothic Halloween Ornament is “Vlad the Cute.” He is looking forward to stepping out in his owner’s Steampunk Victorian boot. In the photo, you can see the how I started the piece using a simple paper pattern that I drew. From there I build up layers […]
I had a stretch goal of entering my first juried art show this year, The Blair County Arts Festival (read the background here). All three of my submissions were accepted and now I’m celebrating my small (but big-to-me) success that came from taking a chance. “Freedom,” my dragon sculpture, received an honorable mention and a […]
This year, the Blair County Arts Festival in Altoona, Pa., celebrates 50 years of exploring the local arts on May 20-21. The festival is held each year at the beautiful Penn State Altoona Campus and my husband and I enjoy taking in the food and craft vendors, musical arts and the juried art show. Juried […]
This Siamese cat is feeling snug wrapped in a crazy-quilt blanket. He safely made the trip from Pennsylvania to Virginia to be with his new owner, Julie. She has a soft spot for Siamese cats, volunteering with Siamese Rescue. While everything ended up great, this order started with an inventory glitch on my part. The […]
These ornaments are “one-of-a-kind” collectible egg art. Yes, I sculpted this White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat from polymer clay over a hollow chicken eggshell. The image below lets you see how the Cheshire Cat emerged from his egg. These pieces are both available in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MarieYoungCreative
