This store was built with the crafty seamstress and quilter in mind--the 11 1/2 inch tall kind, preferably.
The scissors on the cutting table shown here are a wee bit over one
inch long, and the bolts of polymer clay cloth are the size of business
cards. I made all the solid "fabrics" but ran out of time while
working on the tile floor, and needed help with creating all the rest of the
"fabric". I supplied the cardboard pieces to help keep the sizes all
the same, and
Lindly Huanani put out the call for
assistance at the National Polymer Clay Guild retreat at Shrinemont in May of 2006
and I was stunned when a box filled with splendid bolts from so many kind
contributors came in the mail.
Designers who helped to stock this fabricated fantasy store
include Jana Roberts Benzon, whose "remnants" are shown on the
table, Karen Sexton with bright and beautiful blends stacked on the left,
Dayle Doroshow, Diane Luftig, Leigh Ross, Sarah Shriver, Carol Simmons,
Judith Skinner, myself, and many others. Here's the set contributed by Nancy
Osbahr shown on the left and a shot of the box of goodies!
Each bolt was photographed and made
into a slideshow, and when the Quilt Store was featured in our book
"Adapting Quilt Patterns To Polymer Clay", Judith Skinner and I
showed a swatch from each contributor in the book's credits.
Shopping bags, miniature "books" and all sorts
of paper and cardboard bits come into play in putting together the accessories
and merchandise shown in the store. Some
of the tiny titles were cut from a catalog provided to me by F/W Publications,
who gave us permission to use the cutouts in photographs. They publish quilting books--and
they were also the publishers of my first two books on using polymer
clay. PolymerCAFE magazine also gave permission for us to use an image to make
mini-magazines. After being glued to more cardboard and cut again, they are
just the right size for a fashion doll with a creative 
side! Using the images as cut-outs in a collage format does not violate copyrights because I don't make a copy---but the pictures
shown here are copies, so its best to ask! They graciously said "Yes".
(Thank you!).
Shopping bags, boxes and all sorts of containers can be made easily
with paper print-outs made using templates and your own logo design. Different
logos and typeface styles can be tried until you find what you like. You
can even print on beautiful papers of your choice.
The design for a quilt store logo calls for different images and fonts
than a fashion boutique (and thats coming next---do stay tuned for more
here at the Polyclay Gallery pages). The one used for the quilt block image
is a dingbat font called "Amish Quilt".
This is also the design I chose to use when laying the 3/4 inch polymer clay
tiles for the floor of the store. Of course, black
and white wasn't enough---it had to be SHADES of black and white faux stone,
with the occasional touch of gold. It took a while to get the pattern
just right and evenly placed. The floor took more than 2500 tiles, all hand
cut using a square Kemper cutter, baked, and glued down with Carpenters
Glue.
Starting from the floor and moving on up, this store is
built on a base of Styrofoam(TM) manufactured by Dow Chemicals for use
as insulation. Many railroad and other scale model builders use it as a basis because
it is lightweight and easily shaped with a hotwire foam cutter.
This should always be done with adequate ventilation and
supervision.
Foam can be shaped, glued, painted, plastered or treated with other
techniques. I do NOT advise baking pieces of it---it is better to cover
them with baked decorative elements instead. Heating styrofoam releases gasses
you do not want to breath. Krylon's new plastic spray
paint works well with it if you want to use it as a base that shows. Other spray paints can
melt some of the foam and cause a textured look
that mimics stone.
The room starts out much like a stage set, with light weight
foam board walls duct taped into place. It is cut to fit neatly onto a
2 foot by 4 foot folding table.
These walls are a soft speckled gray, but white foam board can be painted
or papered to fit any style of decor.
The unfinished shelves and counters are positioned to help figure the
store layout. You can never have enough display space in a store---especially
a little one!
To
make the two shelf units, I used sturdy cardboard boxes kept from Kraft
Velveeta cheese boxes. My family was very happy to each broccoli cheese soup
and other cheesy dishes until I had enough boxes.
I lined the boxes with white paper and painted the outsides brown, then
added polymer clay details.
The feet were made using wooden beads from a broken car seat cover and more
polymer clay.
They were topped with faux marble, also made with polymer clay. The taller shelving units were made
using foam board that I spray painted black, and then more polymer clay
details were added.
Then, with the addition of well over a hundred "bolts
of cloth"
from the artists at the Shrinemont retreat and from my friends in local guilds you can
see the shelves are filling right up! There's still a LITTLE room left---but
there are several designers still sending in their collections. My husband Bryan said
to put something in a picture that would show the actual scale, so there's
an Altoid tin on the floor. The bottoms of two tins were used to form the
"planter" boxes on the tops of the shelves.
Polymer clay quilts were created by Judith
Skinner and me to grace the walls and cutting table. These
miniature wall hangings are all cane slices from patterns shown in the
new book! Adapting
Quilt Patterns To Polymer Clay features more than a
dozen traditional quilt block designs made using polymer clay in many techniques
including the Skinner Blend.
This technique was also used to make a "spider plant"
leaf cane, which was used to create the planters above the shelves. Luckily
they don't need watering!
The book shows how to build and reduce
traditional quilt blocks in polymer clay, and what
can be done with the beautiful results. In addition,
we have chapters on creating floral and geometric "fabric"
with millefiore canes and mosaics.
Plus, we have a gorgeous gallery of fabulous work by other contributing
artists who work in polymer clay using inspiration from quilt designs.
Here's the store
all decked out for a Christmas display.
All rights are held by the artist Copyright©1995-2010 Sarajane
Helm
Reproduction without permission is a
violation of copyright law
