Another Birthday gift commission this time for Julia to give to her partner. When do I get to declare it my specialty?

This lady likes stud earrings so we decided to do a mix’n’match collection of studs. One set of popsicle ice blocks and three sets of sushi, with one set that matches and then 4 individuals. Julia singled out some particular favourites and then I added a few of my own. Here is the result

The ice blocks proved a bit trickier than expected but only because I didn’t think through the use of the wood properly. I cut up a match stick to use and it sat well and would have been stronger sticking out like that than if I had used clay. When I bake something with translucent clay mixed in, I find cooling it down quickly by dropping it in ice water usually gives a clearer result. I did it this time without thinking and of course the wood swelled after absorbing the water and the clay started to split! So I had to let them sit and dry out completely overnight before reinforcing it with some liquid clay and re-baking. In the end they turned out fine but I may have had a mini heart attack when I saw the split.

Here is the full collection all packed and ready to post to Melbourne. I’m so sorry about my terrible chipped nails. I work with my hands people!

from Commission – Stud Collection

This commission was a Birthday gift from my friend Jack to his partner.

To start with he gave me a list of things she liked and I was going to make earrings. I was still trying to work out how I would could make any of them work and look real when he suggested cheese. CHEESE! There are so many kinds of cheese in so many colours and textures that my brain started to get excited and I realised I could make a mini cheese platter. I’d seen Shay Aaron’s cheese platters before and wanted to have a go at putting my own spin on it. This man’s work is just stunning, have a look at this -

Just in case the platter idea didn’t work out I decided to do some cartoony cheese earrings as either a backup or an extra bonus. Hahaha I just realised I shouldn’t have shown you Shay’s masterful work before my own because now it will look terrible.

Here is a shot of those earrings in production

My cheese platter was going to be a pendant, where the cheese is presented on a wooden chopping board. So first of all I had to make my imitation wood board (yes I know I could have just used an actual piece of wood but where is the challenge in that!?) Then I added all my cheeses, some crackers and some grapes.

Here is the finished product, what do you think?

Finally I have a shot of the birthday girl opening her gift! I love seeing my stuff out in the wild

from Commission – Cheese Platter