“Betsy,” as I like to call this sweet little orange kitty, was inspired by those all-American WWII pin up girls. She is available for sale in my Etsy shop: YoungCreative
Story Behind the Concept
I wanted to create a mixed media work for my polymer guild’s challenge this month. I was going through my studio for inspiration when two things caught my eye: the start of a cat head sculpt and some leftover flag napkins from a past 4th of July celebration. The image of a WWII pin up girl started to form in my head.
The Creative Process
I didn’t use any molds for this piece. Betsy is hand-sculpted from polymer clay. Her orange fur has a soft waxy sheen that comes from mixing translucent clay over my base. The light reflects beautifully off the translucent clay to create a depth of color that is very different from the usual feel of polymer works.
Most of the color (including the cat, her blouse, and skirt) comes from custom-blending the polymer itself. I use very little paint. You can see in the one photo above how I used small pieces of white polymer to add accents to the cat’s fur.
My husband suggested I get ambitious and build a plane fuselage for her to sit on, so Betsy is sitting on my “loose” interpretation of the tail section of a WWII bomber-style plane. It is constructed from silver metallic polymer sheets over a wire armature. My “Marie Young Creative” maker’s signature mark is incorporated into the faux metal plates. I purchased this highly detailed stamp from JetStamps to “sign” my works, and I love finding special places to tuck my maker’s mark!
The background is a piece of MDF board that I decoupaged with tissue paper and the flag napkin. I used chalks and paints to create the faux wood finish. The whole piece is roughly 10 by 10 inches.
Voting is Open
As I mentioned the theme of the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy this month is “Mixed Media.” Voting is open through July 7. Select your favorites and you could be entered to win a prize from one of the sponsoring artists (including me!) Go here to vote: http://polymerclayartists.blogspot.com/2014/06/july-challenge-mixed-media.html
Lovely piece and really enjoying reading about the inspiration and process. KUDOS on win. Very creative use of your JetStamps makers mark!
Hi Line,
The face was baked when I added the white.
I build my cats up in a couple of layers. I created the “skull” shape with a thin neck on a tooth pick in junk white clay and then shape a white torso onto it bake again.
Then I start building the shape of the cat with the colored clay. I usually blend the white into some raw orange so that I can feather the edges.
I bake most sculpts 5-6 times before they are done 🙂
Marie,
I usually multiple bake my faces and heads too. Sometimes it makes life so much easier. Especially the eyes, otherwise they get all wonky. With the bowls though, I’m trying to get my process down to a couple of bakes or just one if I can. Especially if there is translucent in the mix. I find it changes color with each bake.
She is just fabulous! Your design ideas and attention to detail continue to amaze me.
Marie, thanks for sharing your process. I too, use the jetstamp stamp for signing my pieces. I love the product, best money I spent. I’m curious about using the white clay to accent the colors on the cat’s face. Was the face already baked when you did that? It’s funny, I’m using white to accent the faces I’ve been painting on fabric too. Betsy is an all American doll.