Handmade Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

Today I completed a set of various handmade Christmas ornaments. I made the ornaments out of polymer clay and started shaping whatever came to my head. I kept getting more & more ideas for ornaments, so I'll probably make a few more before Christmas. These are going to be shipped out to holiday ornament swap partners. After flipping through the Holiday Ornament Swap flickr group, I'm so excited about what might me arriving in my mailbox! My tree is going to look fabulous this year!



Now all I have to do is set my tree up up! :)

Illustration Friday: Polar

keeping in line with inspire me thursday's eco-art theme, i used a piece of cardboard from a mailing i received and turned it into a piece of art. the polar bears habitat is under threat, and i just want to swoop in and save them all!!! i imagine that is what the girl is doing here...riding her polar bear to safety where there is plenty of ice floating about, no hunters, and no pollution. to understand what is happening to the polar bears read this excerpt from a recent ABC news article:

"There has been a noticeable warming trend in portions of the polar bears' habitat, threatening the species with extinction by the end of this century. For instance in Canada's Hudson Bay, the ice that polar bears use to hunt seals-the mainstay of their diet-is melting two weeks earlier than it did 20 years ago, which means they have less time to hunt and store up needed fat. This is a particularly serious problem for the females because they use so much energy to nurse their cubs. Researchers report that there has been a 7 percent reduction in ice cover in just 25 years and a 40 percent loss of ice thickness. It is predicted there will be a mostly ice-free Arctic summer by 2080 if present trends continue. Other threats to the bears include pollution, poaching, and industrial disturbances. Also, hunting could become a threat if populations are not well managed." {source: ABC}

i can't imagine a world without polar bears, can you?

pitt artist pen on cardboard
illustration friday