Meet Tommy the Turtle



Happy Holidays to Everyone!  It's been awhile since I posted my adventures and today I want to introduce Tommy the Turtle!

If you've been following my FB posts you know I've been making polymer bowls.  I'm finding it habit forming - such a great way to use old canes (tubes of polymer clay).  I've made bowls with various themes - chameleon bowls, poison dart frog bowls and now turtle bowls! 



My newest turtle bowl showcases 'Tommy the Turtle' as the center in the bottom of the bowl.  And if you look closely there are different size turtles climbing out of the bowl! 



I started making Tommy several weeks ago before I went to Rocky Point Mexico.  While I was there I fell and hurt my knee and the pads of my hands.  I'll recover in time!  The problem was when I returned home and wanted to finish the cane with the turtle.  That required squishing the large turtle cane (about 6" across) with my hands  and that really hurt.  I figured out maybe I could press the sides with my acrylic roller while holding a flat tile top and bottom so I would not have so much misshapen clay.  If you just squeeze the sides of the cane you make an inverted cone at each end and waste lots of clay.    That technique sort of worked.



When I shared it on FB I received some other suggestions - Take the handles of pliers and apply pressure to each side, etc.   I tried them all.  The answer was in being patient for my hands to heal so I could control the reduction better.  The waiting was the hard part!  But eventually I reduced the cane and Tommy came to life! (so to speak).


Adding other canes and filling in with pieces of clay eventually completed the bowl.  Then after baking the bowl, I coated it with transparent polymer and used the heat gun to cure it.  The bowl came out with crystal colors and I love it.  I hope my friend will love Tommy when she receives it for Christmas! 
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Location: Prescott, AZ, USA

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