Dreammask
As you explore new techniques or skills, it helps if you create a project that captures your interest to help exercise those new abilities. After learning about techniques for creating the illusion of semi-precious stone (like turquoise) with the polymer clays, I decided to create a work with an Aztec feel to it. My interest in masks led to the creation of the Dreammask.

If the wearing of a mask invokes its power, then donning this creation would transform you into the Dream God, keeper of the lands of twilight and possibility. This would be a relic of an ancient order of dream priests who could commune with the spirits through expanded awareness and meditative trances.

The creation of this work was an arduous labor of love. Multiple bricks of "turquoised" polymer clay were rolled and sliced into mosaic pieces, then placed on thin layer of black clay that served as the foundation. The gaps in the pattern were left intentionally in an attempt to infuse the piece with a sense of age and antiquity, an effect that - alas - wasn't completely achieved. While still a beautiful work, it definitely belongs to an exploration period where I was still learning the nuances of the medium.