Frequently Asked Questions

The same place you get yours. Talking to people, participating in life, asking questions (the big questions), reading, theatre…There is very little new under the sun but it is how you combine and interpret what you see and hear that counts. Shakespeare combined daggers and eyes in a unique way when he said "he had daggers in his eyes". We all get the imagery, it is the work of pure inspiration. Daggers and eyes had been around for quite awhile before the genius of Shakespeare combined them to describe murderous revengeful thoughts. I think though that this phrase was born out of observation. So, don't force the ideas, just let them come about by living.

I prefer dental tools. Although I recently bought a set of tools from Sculpey that features to rubber tipped ends that has quickly became a favorite of mine. I have also incorporated some traditional clay tools, leather working tools and just about anything that strikes me as a solution for the job at hand.

I use a combination of Super Sculpey and Firm Sculpey. Sculpey is a polymer clay that remains pliable until baked in an oven at 250° F. for 15 to 20 minutes. It then becomes hardened. I strengthen my sculptures with wire armatures that I make by bending 16 gauge wire into the shape that I desire. In some instances I use wadded up aluminum foil for filler and strength.

Early in my childhood I manifested an artistic talent.  I primarily loved to draw and would spend many hours doing so.  My mother has the same artistic talent and drive to create.  Even at the age of 85 she still produces beautiful works of art.  She has decorated many wedding and birthday cakes with little figurines and animal shapes that she would sculpt out of cake icing.  She would always allow me to experiment with the icing and so I would say that this was my very first introduction to sculpting.

Later, i met another talented lady, Jennie Roller, who introduced me to Super Sculpey.  Super Sculpey is a polymer clay that stays pliable until you bake it in your regular kitchen oven.  Jennie loves to make little dragons out of the sculpey with humorous or mischievous expressions.  She also introduced me to Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention Art Shows.  So now I had a mentor, a medium and a venue.  I have been off and sculpting ever since. 

Sculpting is much more natural for me then drawing or painting and so I enjoy it more.  I believe that you can learn and enhance any skill but I think genetics also plays a powerful role.  Birds are born with an inate knowlege of how to build intricate nest and do so without ever being taught.  Something is passed down to them through biology.  I believe that I got a dose of the artistic gene and I often imagine some sort of racial memory manifesting itself through my art.  None of this is proven of course, but it is my strong hunch that my muses are my ancestoral past living today through me.