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Thursday, September 28, 2017

The enchanting call of the Siren


Handmade by Megan Johnson of "The Midsummer's Night Masquerade"

"The Atlantean Mermaid" necklace pendant
-I believe I created this in either Dec or Jan of this year...





-One of my absolutely favorite pieces, this Mermaid inspired pendant turned out GORGEOUS!   It features polymer clay accents baked onto a genuine spiral shell slice and colored with pearl pigments. A variety of freshwater pearl beads and iridescent glass bubble gems, with an Angel Aura quartz point at the bottom center, and connected to metal seaweed detail pieces. 
(I took this piece with me to Florida during a family trip and almost lost it to the ocean while I was trying to photograph it in the sand when a wave nearly swept it away! Thankfully, my niece was standing next to me and quickly grabbed it before the water took off with it. I was nearly in tears over that!!)
(SOLD!)

~*~

 -This one may have been my first Mermaid inspired creation. It's made up of a medium sized spiral seashell with a purple/brown cowrie shell and a rainbow moonstone cabochon, plus a variety of genuine freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, and iridescent glass bubble gems, accented with handsculpted polymer clay details.


-This one really turned out beautifully and with so many details, too!
(still available for sale in my Facebook SHOP)



**My art can be purchased, currently, through my Shop album in the photo albums section of my Facebook page, linked below.

Handmade by Megan Johnson of "The Midsummer's Night Masquerade" and you can find me and more of my art through my Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TheMidsummersNightMasquerade The Midsummer's Night Masquerade 
and on Instagram: @TheMidsummers_Night_Masquerade 



Enchanted Vessel necklace pendants

Back around Oct/Nov of 2016, I was inspired by a fellow artist's creations on Instagram (will insert name once I get it looked up again), to create my own vessel pendants.    Entirely different styles and themes, but same idea. :) 
-Each pendant is handsculpted polymer clay baked onto a small hand-blown glass bottle and then painted with acrylics.

*Handmade by Megan Johnson of "The Midsummer's Night Masquerade"


-I even made little display stands for the pendants to sit up in. :D


 -This one was the first I had made and I really liked it, though, working so small is very very challenging!


~*~

 

-This one shows a little bit of a before and after in the evolution of the lid. :)
(this one was my absolute fave and I was sorry to see it go when it sold)

 

~*~

-I really wanted to try some designs with women's faces on them...really difficult to accomplish, but I like the effect. :) 



**My art can be purchased, currently, through my Shop album in the photo albums section of my Facebook page, linked below.

Handmade by Megan Johnson of "The Midsummer's Night Masquerade" and you can find me and more of my art through my Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TheMidsummersNightMasquerade The Midsummer's Night Masquerade
and on Instagram: @TheMidsummers_Night_Masquerade 

The beginnings of my handmade Apothecary jars...






I believe I started making these either in Sept or Oct of 2016...can't recall which month exactly right now.   Where I was living at the time had an abundance of evergreen trees and various herbs growing wild on the property.  Autumn usually makes me feel most Witchy, so I started gathering herbs and drying them and then realized I didn't have anywhere to really store them.   Being a Virgo/Libra, and just an artistic person in general, I didn't want to just store them in regular jars...no, I wanted something magical feeling to store my herbs in! :)   So, I decided to recycle and repurpose a lot of the glass jars we had around the house and dress them up with some polymer clay, pearl pigments, and acrylic paints.  And I love how beautifully they turned out, too!! :D


 
-This was my first large jar creation and I really wanted to do something special with it. So I made it Greenman themed, he's beautiful!! :D (I claimed this one as mine for Keeps!)




 
-I love this very mushroom-y themed jar. Soo cute!! Sold this one before the end of the year. :D


-This one did later get a paper label for the front. I really like how the lid turned out on this one. :)


 

-I loved this one, the triangular shape was fantastic and the mushrooms on the sides look awesome!! :D    Sold this one pretty quickly! :)


 

-I find these apothecary jars soo cute and so useful, too! :D


Handmade by Megan Johnson of "The Midsummer's Night Masquerade"
**You can find me and my artwork on both Facebook and Instagram:
FB: The Midsummer's Night Masquerade
Instagram: @TheMidsummers_Night_Masquerade 
-And my art is for sale through my SHOP album in the photos section of my Facebook business page! :D

2017's first 2 Faery Lanterns



Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't posted in here for nearly a year - jeeze!!!!   I've got a lot of catching up to do, it seems.... yikes!! 

So, going to try to keep this in some sort of chronological order, if possible... and I my group like-items together just to save on time and too many similiar posts...


Here was my first Faery Lantern commission of 2017, in December. I really liked this one, it turned out beautifully!  As always, the foxglove blossoms are a pain to sculpt, but very very much worth it in the end. :D 



 -I really enjoy cutting designs into the lid so the light inside can shine upwards. :)


My customer loved her new Faery Lantern and I was thrilled to hear that as this took a lot of time and effort. :)


~*~


This next one was created in January, it's the "Tree-house Faery Lantern", now sold to a lovely gentleman in Australia. :)

-I have to say that, so far, this is my MOST detailed and complicated Faery Lantern design to date.   I included a Faery Door built into the tree wrapping around the side of the lantern, complete with winding stone steps leading up to it.   Large metallic mushrooms hugging the opposite side of the lantern, and at the top, a hollow tree-house tower with a roof and a window made of translucent clay - which actually glows when the LED candles inside are turned on. :D
This piece took soooo much time and soo much effort!

 


 

-I included a number of genuine quartz crystals and Swarovski crystals, along with iridescent glass bubble gems, in this design. A decorative metal door hinge and a small metal key hanging from the door's leaf-handle.  I adore the extra touch of the crystals, personally. And that door, such a nice little surprise when you turn the lantern to the side a little. :D

 

 

-Got a shot of the backside here, which I also like to add a little decoration to from time to time, the tree's branch and root wrapping around the back here.
And a night-lit shot - you may not be able to see too well in this shot, but the fairy silhouette has a fairy sitting on a tree-branch which stretching out on the inside from the tree.   I like to imagine that inside her home she's got a jumble of tree roots which are fashioned into furniture and here she's just sitting on one of the many roots, perhaps in front of a fire, staying warm. :)

~*~

Next up, with Valentine's Day approaching, I really wanted to create something beautiful for it, especially as I'd never before created anything for V-Day, period.

 -A romantic rose themed lantern with a Fairy inside. :)     This was my first ever attempt at handsculpting rose petals...it was a learning experience, but I feel like it was a pretty successful one! :D

-I love the almost metallic look to the rose petals.  I applied some gorgeous deep red pearl pigment over black clay and once I applied the clear gloss varnish, the color really came out!!   And both the petals and leaves are spotted with tiny faceted crystals and there are small iridescent glass bubble gems on the petals and leaves to simulate dew drops. :)

Details:
 

-I really struggled over how I wanted the lid to look...but in the end I decided on a small up-side down rose and I love how beautifully it turned out. :D




I wish I'd gotten a better shot of the lit silhouette in the dim lighting, but my camera really has a problem with low-lighting, even outside, where I like best to do my photography.       Shortly after this lantern was listed to my Shop, it sold to a gentleman buying it for his wife for Valentine's Day.  How sweet!!! :D


Each of these lanterns is entirely handsculpted from clay and attached to a glass lantern.    These pieces are not intended for use or decoration outside as they are fragile, but I do hope to eventually offer a line of lanterns which are capable of being outside for long periods of time, perhaps in a garden.     They are each entirely One of a Kind and Unique.  

**My art can be purchased, currently, through my Shop album in the photo albums section of my Facebook page, linked below.

Handmade by Megan Johnson of "The Midsummer's Night Masquerade" and you can find me and more of my art through my Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/TheMidsummersNightMasquerade The Midsummer's Night Masquerade 
and on Instagram: @TheMidsummers_Night_Masquerade