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Monday, May 14, 2007

Creativity Unleashed...Well, sort of


Whenever I sit down to write a story, I've found it helps to visualize the character I write about. Up until now, the pictures of my characters were only in my head, but last week, I discovered a way to make them 3-d!

While on a mini vacation visiting a friend, we had time to kick back and just have fun together. She is a dyed-in-the-wool crafter, like me so we decided to try to make polymer clay characters from a book she recently purchased on the subject.

I wouldn't have tried it on my own - the characters in her book looked far too complicated and elaborate, but together we followed the step by step instructions and ended up with the heads of really cute characters. We didn't have time to finish dolls, but, we did enough to become familiar with the author's techniques.

Pictured here is my first attempt, a street-smart young man who probably hawks newspapers for a living. He reminds me very much of the young man in one of my short stories - a boy nobody loved or claimed, but God saw the value in him and began to work in his life.

I know it's not really great (my grand kids tell me he's a little scary) but with practice, I think I might be able to master the miniatures and at least create some inspiration for future stories.I enjoy doll-making anyway, usually the cloth kind, so this is a new wrinkle in an old hobby.

The God of infinite creativity has formed each of us from the "dust" of the earth, making us special, each with our own unique characteristics and our own story. He is crafting our lives from beginning to end. thanks God for allowing me to experience just a smidge of your creativity!

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