Hi there, nice to see you again. I've interrupted my "30 Days of polymer clay food" prompt waiting for something to dry, which took even longer than I had anticipated.
My last prompt was chocolate bars, but as I was trying to decide what style I liked best, I realized I don't enjoy making chocolate bars for the sake of them, so I decided to make a miniature brownie scene and incorporate the chocolate bar into it.
The scene consists of:
a tray of freshly baked brownies on baking parchment
a bowl with brownie batter
a broken egg
chocolate bar leftovers
oven gloves
a spatula and spoon with a little batter on it
a mug with tea in it
Everything in the composition but the metal spoon is handmade by me.
The mug (or tea to be precise) is what took me the longest to make, and I haven't finished it yet. Because I don't like using resin, I used a water based product to recreate the tea and I forgot that this particular product has to dry in thin layers for it to dry flat. So having forgotten about this particular detail, tut!, the first layer of tea dried with a hole in the middle, so I had to add lots of 1-2mm layers of product after it dried to make up for the unevenness.
Because it takes about 4 hours to dry and I can only apply extremely thin layers at a time, it's taking painstakingly long to finish it, combined with the fact that I don't remember to do it every 4 hours.
The reason I don't use resin is very simple, it's not eco-friendly. I have come across some that claim to be more eco-friendly, but they are still not biodegradable. There is a brand that I found that might be better than others, but the resin comes in big containers and I don't think it's worth buying a huge amount for a couple of things I might be interested in making. I care about the Earth more than I care about my art. Also, I don't fully understand how it is more responsible than others so I'm still in doubt. Ideally, I would love to find one that is environmentally friendly both during the extraction/manufacturing process and its usage.
Curing into a plastic, polymer clay isn't eco-friendly either, but that is as far as I'm willing to go and that is the reason why I haven't incorporated resin or plastic into my artwork, not even in displays, presentation or packaging materials. I don't like it, I don't want to see it and it does not represent who I am.
I am on a mission, and have been for some time, to rid my life of plastic and everything not environmentally friendly. This mission begins with me as a human and follows as an artist. It's not just about being responsible, but it's a genuine and visceral dislike I have towards things that harm the Earth. I would like to think that when I'm gone, the materials things I've left behind can be claimed seamlessly by nature, without hurting it and without having to go through years and years of healing before it can be healthy and her pristine self again.
You have no idea how hard it is for me to sleep sometimes thinking about how much plastic there is in the world, especially when I think about the beauty industry. I don't just think about the products that one buys and uses and disposes of the responsible way, but I also think about those that don't get used, what happens to the old, unsold ones? To the expired ones? To samples? Half-empty ones? Broken ones? Faulty ones? I can't. I can't.
"We are producing over 300 million tons of plastic every year, 50% of which is for single-use purposes." https://plasticoceans.org/the-facts/
Can you get your head around this number? Because I can't.
Coincidentally, my partner started watching History 101 on Netflix just as I was writing this, it got me all worked up and gave me a headache ^_^ In the "Plastic" episode I was stunned when I heard that tortoise shells are plastic. Natural plastic. But not being a scientist, it's hard for me to understand the difference in the chemical structure of natural and man-made plastic.
Moving on...
I also worked on some vintage style cupcakes I had on my list for a very long time and never got round to do it. I made them both as miniatures measuring 0.8mm wide and as earrings, measuring not 0.8mm, they're a little bigger ^_^
I've also just finished these white/pink strawberry earrings that had sold out; they're slightly different from my previous ones in that they're a little rounder and have red showing through. But the style is still minimal, dainty, with that rustic feeling that I love in my jewellery.
Ok, that's it as far this update goes. I have a few projects aside my list of prompts I'd like to carry on with and/or get started on, and not all of them have to do with sculpting or making jewellery. I guess, you'll find out in due time, depending on what I decide to share.
I hope you're doing well and keeping busy, yet enjoying nature if you get the chance. I sure am!
Thank you very much for reading and I'll catch you next time,
Love, Mai
PS: Dear Marie,
Thank you very much for responding to my last post! It makes me really happy you liked my mugs, I didn't know there were mugs like that. I didn't copy them from anywhere, I sketched them first and then sculpted them. What a spooky yet exciting coincidence? ^_^ I hope you're doing well. Lots of love, Maive.