If you have a Yahoo account you can see some of the pictures from the Stowe Kaleidoscope Festival.
I used a batch resizer on the photos instead of touching them up individually so some of them are a bit dark, fuzzy because of low light, etc…. But you can still get an idea of the variety of scopes that were there.
http://photos.yahoo.com/skygrazer1 – then open the stowe2006 folder.
I love the look and feel of perfectly sanded polymer clay. I know how much time and effort it takes to sand to a perfect satin surface or take it all the way to shiny glass. I can do it, and sometimes I do. But not usually.
Usually I leave my fingerprints.
I like my fingerprints. They’re my signature – evidence that this clay was formed by human hands, my hands. The subtle texture says this piece was not manufactured. Someone made this by hand and got clay underneath her fingernails and paint smears on her jeans. Someone put time and effort and caring into this piece.
I once saw some very simple ceramic spoons that I still regret not buying. The artist had simply closed her hand around a snake of clay to create the spoon handles. The handles had knobs and ridges, lumps and bumps but they were beautiful. You would never be able to find another spoon exactly the same. They bore the imprint of their maker’s hands.
Somehow fingerprints make a piece more real to me.