Sneak Peak of prototype

So it looks like some blue ribbon from a county fair, but that's cuz I only wanted to provide a keyhole view of the thing...it's not entirely finished. And the flower...well, it really didn't start out being a flower, but that's how it ended up and I can live with that, for now.


The project I am working on today, is a journal with a place for a pen. I have done these before; I even gave one to a friend for her birthday last January. But this time I wanted to work out a mechanism (?..is that what it is?) that didn't take up so much space on the cover and that served the purpose of keeping the journal closed. I had a couple of suggestions from people that I kept in the back of my mind. I didn't follow them exactly. Isn't that what it's all about? We get ideas and then we adapt them to suit the way we work. I tried to troubleshoot potential problem areas ahead of time, thinking about minimizing bulk (ugggggghhhh) and yet keeping the thing operational. Add to that the sometimes temperamental and unpredictable nature of the polymer clay, I had my work (well it is labor day) cut out for me.

The way I did it works, in that it is staying in place and it does hold the pen nicely, but I am not sure that I like it. The clay on the sides of the holder-thing is a little precarious...and I don't know if it will hold up to the wear and tear that it will get. I may have to add a few strategically placed pieces of clay to strengthen potential weak spots. And then I am going to field test it by actually using it for two weeks. I'll probably fill up the pages in that time, but what else is one expected to do with a refillable journal?

And the pen for this journal? I reluctantly have to admit that it is the realm of 'cutesy'. Maybe even too cute. I generally don't do cute and don't care to hear my work being called that. I think cute should be reserved for stuff that is basically brainless and can be done in half an hour or less...at some place where they give you all the doodads and you just stick them together somehow. Okay maybe I did spend less than half an hour making the pen. And I did stick certain parts of it together. But I made the doodads from scratch, without a pattern, and didn't buy them in a prepackaged kit for $7.95.