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2003-July Highlights

Africa Index

07-24-03: July was meant to be African Month and I got caught up in moving the tutorials. So in Demo we've been focusing on doing African figure sculpting. 

07-22-03: While the web move is going on I'll just share a few thumbnail digital pictures that are not linked to larger pictures. Below there's WebCam Demo Screen shots that will lead you to the Epson Albums.

This is what went on in Demo yesterday, Monday, July 21 and last Thursday, July 17, 2003.  Since we have tutorials on the techniques that made this mini scene, let's focus on telling a tale. 

   

Why do we know this is a positive scene?

Why does the tilt of her head imply playfulness? 

He leans back on her, that's trust. She cradles his head, that's love. Her "lapa" is just a rectangle wrapped around her body. Sculpt the body so you get the fabric to fall  into instant sculpting. 

When someone holds your neck, they best be friend and not foe. He holds up his hands in happy surrender.

African Shade: 07-21-03 Monday, Demo

Thank you Jackie for taking these 16 pictures of the experiment that didn't really work out as I had wished. 

Embedding shadow with dark translucent clay over light.

The Epson Album was retired because of space limits.

This imperfect proto type is still exciting for what it showed me. If you cure a figure, do your fine tuning detailing, you can embed shadows in those creases with backfilling with a darker colored clay. In this case the mix was too dark. But the theory is still a good one for miniaturists. Mini faces go flat because there's not enough depth for natural shadows. So make some unnatural shading with darker clay over light. Sand down to the "highlights" 

07-17-03 Thursday, Demo: 

The African Male has an album showing that process. 185 pictures, if you're hungry for pictures. Thank you Karin for capturing so many screen shots.  05/15/08 now on photo gallery pages.

New trick in those pictures. When clothing a raw clay body with a raw clay sheet, things tend to get sticky. Making the drapes fall with any control is a hassle when the hem gets stuck to your figure's forehead. TRICK OF THE DEMO: Dust your raw clay figure, Dust your raw clay sheet, where they will touch each other and drape your clay fabric over those body parts without the stickies. Got to be seen, so go check that album. Here's the niftiest picture Peeking Under the Caftan... eeek he's butt nekid! and DUSTED!

Here's some things that are on this site that deal with an African Theme:

Amanda/BeadSprite has a tutorial for an Egyptian Bead Choker. Egypt is part of Africa Too. 

http://www.africapresence.com/
http://www.afriyie-lines.ch/pages/pagnes_africains.htm
http://www.nmafa.si.edu/pubaccess/pages/divfrm.htm

Pascale from Luxemburg sent these links for African Month. Thanks Pascale!

African Themed Chop and Toss Extravaganza Safari  

Take canes done in Tiger, Leopard  , Zebra, Giraffe, a bunch of different Flowers, natural gem stone, Wood, sky and sea and chop them up like egg salad, toss and cut some mirror images. 

Tiger Cane when chopped up and Natasha beads made of them are just so African feeling. Somehow the tiger stripes make designs that evoke petroglyphs and native designs. 
Check out some Pots from Uganda, my neighbor Jolie brought them over to share new pot shapes for the ClayMates. 

Here are some examples of Kente cloth and some pictures of folks in Africa. Only a portion of the pictures came through, so I'll be adding to this album. But folks, I know we can do this. I've seen folks do plaid. If they can do plaid, we can do Kente. Sheets and sliced inserts, how hard can that be? Let's see in Thursday's Demo. Kente patterns can be used in Jewelry, on your Figures, as trim on household items. If we make Christmas things in July, Kwanzaa things get made in July too.

Back in 1999 I made effort to do Kente inspired canes, didn't love them so they went into a chop. The cane was part of the African Themed Chop and Toss Extravaganza Safari . This MerFamily is for CherylH, who's on a beach kick while we're going African. It's linked as part of the old Epson Album of Under The Sea, which is being reloaded into a Gallery section (11-08-06). Note the leopard spot star fish on the lava rock. The "How To" is in that album. Under utilized trick putting animal print into molds. 

New African Chop Mix: Tongues of Fire, Leaves, Flowers, Tiger, Leopard, Zebra. Enlarged pictures to come. 

For the How To on doing African Mixes check out the oldest tutorial on it... 

African Themed Chop and Toss Extravaganza Safari  

Tiger, Leopard, Zebra Chop Pens

Round up the animal cane, chop like egg salad, make a loaf, cut some slices and cover pens. Easy Breezy

 

07-29-03: These Kwick Kitties were done during  a demo in June. I've just now added captions to them. This is part of African Month, the update of the Leopard cane technique. Also at the end of this Kwick Kitty section is the pot the African Woman is holding in the sculpture above.