Supplies I used to make this little chibi

Cute Little Box Template

Box Template

Template to make a box like pictured above.
The instructions are minimal, and I am hoping that you can
figure out the folds on your own. It can be resized in a graphics program.
The size that it is now is 1.5" x 1.5"

Camera Tips

I've been asked about how I get such clear pictures of my sculptures. It's funny, because it's something I've never really thought about. But I'm going to try and cypher out some of the things I do intuitively so that I can possibly help.

First and foremost is having a good camera. You don't need the most expensive camera, or the highest megapixel, but it should have a few features that help in taking closeup photos.

I used a small Kodak Easy Share DX3900 camera for 3 years that was pretty simple to use and took wonderful photos. Although this camera was very simple to use, it did have it's limitations. Mainly being that I had to provide just the right light to get a great photo.

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I have since upgraded to a Canon PowerShot S2 IS. When I made this purchase I had the opportunity to get the S3 for around the same price, but I chose the S2 because I was very impressed with it's results using super Macro. It also has the ability to set the focus manually as well as more control over shutter speed and other controls that I won't detail here. (boring...confusing...can be found elsewhere) :o)

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What is super macro ? It's a setting that allows the camera to take very very very close up pictures. The S2 had the ability to actually focus on an item that was touching the lense. There are other cameras that I'm sure can do the same thing. This is just the camera I chose.

Currently, because I don't have a studio, I am not using a lightbox or any special set up to take my pictures. This is a really good thing for me, because it's forcing me to learn how to use my camera in many ways. Depending on the time of day, I choose a place to take my photos that has the most light.

For example, this photo was taken after midnight in my laundry room on my washing machine. Since I've been using the Canon, I do not have to do as much photo correction as I did when using the Kodak. That is because the Canon has settings, that make allowances for the type of light I'm using.

I used a flash when taking this photo because the light was dim enough that the flash wouldn't wash it out.

When I take photos, I take about 50 of each doll, if it's a difficult one to get good pictures of, I've taken as many as 200 pictures. I use my view screen extensively to determine if I'm getting a good picture.

Sometimes I find that using the Macro setting is just what I need, and sometimes I find that it makes the photo worse. Since my chibis tend to be in positions where their heads are farther forward than their body, a macro shot will often focus on the head and blur the body. When this is the case, I shut the macro setting off and use the standard focus.

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This little chibi's picture was taken in my living room at around 1am using a desk lamp. Because the light wasn't as bright as I needed, and I did not use a flash, I did have to use a graphics editor to brighten up the images.

My photo editor of choice is PhotoImpact (just in case you were curious). It's not the best editor out there, but it's very good and offers a lot of options. I have used Photoshop in the past for many years, but found that the features that I needed didn't justify the price. PhotoImpact has served me well for over 7 years not.

For this dragon, I used my tripod at the table. The reason being, I knew I couldn't use a flash (he's way to light) and I needed to set the shutter speed slower as to absorb more light. Whenever you're changing manual setting such as shutter speed, it's often necessary to use a tripod, or at least a couple of books or some sort of stand to set the camera on.

This is the way the picture looked before it was taken into PhotoImpact.
After the photos were shot, I used the brightness tool, and adjusted it to bring the light forward. I also had to use a color correcting tool, because as I'm sure you notice, the wood of the table created a yellow hue over the dragon.

Photographing on black also has a tendency to put orange and yellow hues in your photos. If you experiment with background colors, you will see how each color affects the shot.

I pretty much shoot on whatever color I like and then make corrections in PhotoImpact to compensate.

I'm sure there are those who can give you really great instructions on all the settings of your camera, but I really find that I shoot pictures intuitively and on the fly. I make corrections to my settings as I go, based upon my results.

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This little guys pictures were taken outside. Natural light can be the easiest to take pictures in but it has it's setbacks as well.

With natural light, you have no control of where it's coming from, and there are certain times of day when it's almost impossible to get a good shot. The shadows are much heavier and you must also be conscience of your own shadow and the shadow of the camera on your image.

If the timing is just right, taking pictures outside can be as easy as click click click click, and they all come out well.

This is an example of a dragon that photographed well outside, because of his color, and the time of day.

This is an example of a dragon who's pictures I should NOT have taken outside. I chose the wrong background color to photograph on as well. With the direct sunlight, it not only made the blue background overyly saturated, It also washed out the chibis photo.

When I took these pictures, I KNEW they weren't good. I also knew that my auction would suffer because of it. Good photos are essential to show potential buyers the quality of your work.

Sometimes when it comes to taking photos, I admit, I do get lazy. Because I'm working on a schedule for listing, or because my hubby's home, or for whatever reason. This poor little guy, I feel bad for taking shortcuts on him. But whoever wins him will be happily suprised how much cuter he is in person.

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In taking pictures of my last little chibi, I found that using a nice white background worked very well. I used a piece of cardstock that I have for my printer, in my kitchen under the daylight florescent bulb that we have installed there. I also found that I could shoot using my camera's Custom mode. In this mode, I set the exposure to as high as it would possibly go, and turned on my macro lense, and then shot without any flash. I think the pictures came out very true to the actual doll without any image work in PhotoImpact. I'm so pleased I will try this with my next doll as well!

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Something else I discovered tonight when photographing my newest Chibi, that I'm excited about. It's called "white balance". Now I've heard the term, and understood what it meant in my graphics software, but had not tried it on my camera yet.

YAY! It's super, the way that it works, is that I place something white in the same area that I'm taking the pictures. Then I go to my white balance setting, and tell my camera to evaluate. I point to the white object, and press the shutter. Then the camera automatically adjusts the light, so when it sees that color, it make it the lightest color in the image, and the correct shade.

The first picture is without the white balance, and the picture below is once I set it and started taking pictures. There's a big difference in his color, and I always find it exciting to take pictures with my camera that need very little photo work. :o)

I would suppose that the coloring is not quite as important when photographing a human figure as they are mostly flesh colored, but with these little dragons, the color of them is often the most important thing to the buyer.

Anytime I can use my camera to "get it right" I'm very happy, as I am not confident with my own eye. Often times I just KNOW something is purple, and other's are calling it blue, so I have to be very careful.

This is Why I can't Sculpt!!!

I've let myself get toooooo messy. And now I'm feeling all cluttered inside my head as well as on my desk. So today I'm cleaning this mess and getting organized again so that I can sculpt with a clear head. Of course, you see I'm posting on my blog instead of cleaning....hmmmm, me thinks me is procrastinating....LOL

Seriously though, when things get cluttered around me, it makes me lazy. It makes me feel like "what's the use", and that's not good. I bet this applies to others too, that they feel like they can't work because they've got too much stuff in eyesight. And that's all I'll do, put things in containers, so that I'm not staring at it directly, and then I'll feel like it's clean, even if inside the containers it's a mess. ;)

Chibitude level: 5/10 (because of the mess)

Glaze and superglue tips

What to glazes and superglue have in common?

They both tend to dry out easily and the caps get stuck.

It's most important that after each use you wipe off the rims of your glaze jars, and the applicator tips of your superglue. This will extend the use of your products by double.

Also, do not leave items sitting open. Not even for a tiny bit. I save old bottlecaps, and use them to cover open bottles and jars. Most glazes won't dry out from sitting open for a couple of minutes, but each time they're open, they dry up just a little bit. If you notice your glazes getting thicker over time, this may very well be the culprit.

Sculpey glazes can have a little water added if they get too thick. I do this often.

For special mixes of your own, I recommend these little paint pots to store them. They're not easy to find, and if I come up with good source, I'll share it here. If you find some of your own, make sure they are the solid plastic. The ones that are floppy, don't hold up well. These ones I bought from Karen at www.clayalley.com but I purchased the rest that she had. I'm sorry, not trying to be greedy, she just only had 3 strips left.


I've tried lots of other little containers for my special mixes, but they've each had their own problems. For some time I used contact lens cases, but they weren't air tight and my mixes tended to dry out. Then I purchased glass bottles from Micro-Mark, but those had paper liners which would get stuck to the lids and eventually cause problems.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.

11/02/07 Update: I was contacted by a fellow artist (very talented, please check out her work via the link below) who says that she's been using little pots like these for some time, and that she too has had wonderful success with them. She gets hers at Hobby Lobby, and she also mentioned that round garage sale stickers make super labels for these little pots.

Thank you Jeanette!!! (JRB Creations - ebay id Jeanette601 )

Chibitude level: 5/10

Cloth Covered Floral Wire (CCFW)

Well, actually I think it's more like thread covered floral wire. The reason I thought I'd add a post today, is because I was working on a special project, and started thinking how versatile my wire is.

I always get the CCFW in white. And I have a few thicknesses, 24 ga. 26 ga. and 20 ga. The reason for always buying white, is that because it is covered with thread it is so easy to change the color. Why have a million colors taking up space, when I only need one.

Another reason I love the CCFW is because if I need some plain wire, all I need to do is roll the threads off part of the end and cut what I need.

The CCFW also holds glue, TLS, and other liquids much better than raw wire. I use it for my wing armatures, as well as the armatures for my sculptures.

I've used CCFW to make this crown, painted with acrylic paints and micro beads added. That wouldn't have been as easy with raw wire, because it's smooth the paint tends to chip off as well as the wire doesn't have the tooth to really grab the glue.

Here's another CCFW painted purple, and then wrapped in black and silver thread. I really like the versatility.
That's all for now, my project pieces have dried and it's time to get back to work. :o)

Just General Catching Up.

Well, it's been a little bit since I've updated my blog. I've been working on things, little experiments here and there as well as made some changes to my website.

I've ordered a few new supplies that I wanted to share that I really like.

I ordered Donna Kato's squeeze bottle with precision tips, and I am very fond of how it works. I like the fact that I can load it up with my liquid clay, and it has a nice tip and cap, so when I need to use it it's very convenient. I do plan on buying a few more of these for my special mixes.
I like to order most of my supplies through Karen at Clay Alley. She's a very nice and honest person and will do whatever she needs to to make her customers satisfied.

You can see the squeeze bottle that I bought here. It's almost half way down on the page.

I also purchased more more more of the sculpey ultra light. Man I really use the heck out of this stuff. It's just so nice to have a clay that has a consistency that is completely different than the other clays. I got mine here.

I made a base out of the sculpey ultra light with a little tree stump on it. After it was completed, I decided that I wanted to do it differently. So I thought, I'd just pop the tree stump off, and start again. But it didn't work that way. The sculpey ultra light is very flexible, and almost stretchy. As I tried to pull, the clay gave but didn't separate. I had to pull out my craft knife and literally saw the piece off the base.

I do a lot of deconstruction of my sculptures, and I'm glad, because I've learned a lot about what materials work for which things, and their different strengths and properties after baking.

I also purchased these animal print Roylco Rubbing texture plates. They are not as expected. The prints are much larger than I had anticipated, and the plates are larger than the opening in my pasta machine. I do not consider this a wasted purchase though because I will find many uses for them, I'm sure. But for what I had planned they will not work.

I also bought some tiny little paint pots but I will not bother with the link, because I guess I bought up the last of them. But I do like them. They are the kind that you get with a paint by numbers set. I've tried all kinds of little jars and containers to hold my glazes and liquid clay mixes, but each have had their own little problems. So far these pots seems to be doing quite well. I put some Halo Glaz in them, and it has not dried out. I guess time will tell if these are going to be in my arsenal for the long haul or not.

I've also added a few more product instructions to my website. I like to scan the packaging when I buy something new so that I can throw it away. I am swallowed by paper as it is...LOL

That's all of the updates for now. I have also purchase a couple other products which I will share my opinions and where to get them in a future post.

Great Glue!

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