Using my Cameo digital cutting machine with my clay

Or getting there.  I have spent a lot of time lately cutting stuff on this lovely machine.  I had ordered a blade assembly that fits the Cameo (with a little sanding of the aluminum housing), but the beauty of this is I can use a 60 degree blade in the housing and can cut fun foam.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time.  Also, at my local Dollar Tree I found this fantastic deal of 32 sheets of very thin fun foam for $1.00.  So with my new machine, and my new blade housing I set about cutting that fun foam.  I will use the pieces I cut for stamps, or other projects and I wanted to use them on my clay work as well.  I tried rolling some of the pieces I cut onto my clay to experiment and, as you would expect, I got the "innies" like a rubber stamp.  I then decided I wanted the "outies" like bas relief, brought some of my leftover negative pieces down to the clay studio to try and I really loved it.  A cheap (well, of course, if you have the machine and blades) way to get tons of designs without the use of sprig molds, "or" hours of detailed carving, etc.  I have shared my journey (ad nauseum to some perhaps), but I am so excited over this possibility.  Now if I can just get some clay pieces working.  I have two sales coming up in November and I had better get busy.  But, thought you all might benefit from my experience.  Haven't yet seen anyone out there doing this, although Chandra daBuse uses fun foam in her work, but not the cut out pieces.  I am having fun learning new things, but need to get back to clay.  Now that weather has cooled slightly, maybe I will get motivated.  Here are pictures of my fun foam adventures.

Here are the photos I have shared with the Silhouette Users Group on yesterday's cutting adventures.  I am thrilled to get such details with these cuts:

TaaDaa!

My latest heart, finished

More new things, hearts included, of course

Here is a batch of more new things, just out of the kiln yesterday.  I am still assembling another heart using some copper wire, etc., will post that when finished.  I am planning to make more of these beachy salt cellars with bamboo spoons (or maybe I will make ceramic spoons, at any rate, here is my first prototype, I think it will be popular:

And the every popular beach box, the last one sold quickly, this one is a little smaller, but I like it:

In the "heart" department, I fell in love with this fabric on a bag I bought at World Market and got inspired to make a heart similar to that pattern, I think it works don't you?

and some time back, I made a box with a paint drip design, so I decided a heart like that would be nice: 

and I tried a technique using slip for raised bits on a heart to look a little like texture on a canvas, also used a painterly approach to this abstract sailboat and funky garden heart: 

and lastly, another one of my tall boxes.  looks like slip trailing, but actually, I carved the designs into plaster (the back side of some molds that I bought), and use this to impress the designs onto the box panels before I assembled them.  

Seeing your work in print, what a surprise

I just got a catalog in the mail from Dover Publications

and was browsing through it.  I have enjoyed using their publications as references and to make silkscreens for some of my pottery.    Their artwork is royalty free so good for items of my ceramic work that I sell.  Over a year or so ago, I provided an image for their Pinterest site, showing projects/artwork people have made using their publications as inspiration, etc.  They have reorganized the site and I don't even know what board my item is on now.  So it was indeed a surprise when I was browsing through their catalog to see my box with the sandpipers in print.  Glad I didn't just toss it aside, since I usually browse via the internet.
Nice surprise, made me smile.  Love those little sandpipers.