Here’s my annual review of what happened on my blog. And some of what happened off my blog, but was shared on social media. I was neglectful of my blog toward the end of the year. No excuses. It just happened. I’ve been considering moving my webpages to a different platform and pondering the value in trying to relocate blog posts versus starting over. More on that in a moment; but first, a look back at my creative journey for the year that was 2021.

In looking over the collection of creations for the year, I think I will unofficially call 2021 my year of paper clay creations. In January, I added paper clay to my art supplies due to a pandemic-related shortage of polymer clay. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the coronavirus pandemic was still with us in 2021 and continued to impact many aspects of our lives. I am fortunate that shortages of craft supplies and other such minor inconveniences have been the worst effects for me and mine. And the shortage of polymer clay led me to discover a new art medium that I likely would not have tried otherwise.

It’s been slow going learning to work with paper clay. It doesn’t have the same body as polymer clay, which meant I had to adjust my sculpting techniques. Such as they were given that I’m still in the steep uphill side of the learning curve for sculpting in polymer clay. The most challenging part of working with paper clay has been that it’s an air dry clay. On one hand, I felt pressured to work quickly before the clay hardened. On the other hand, I felt frustrated waiting for pieces to cure so I could move to the painting part. But overall, I’d consider my experiments thus far a success and I foresee more paper clay creations in the year ahead.

In addition to paper clay, I incorporated epoxy clay into my creative repertoire this year. I experimented with it once a couple years ago, to make a miniature bottle tree. This year, I used it in conjunction with paper clay for a couple of sculptures (the rainbow lizards and tarantula jars in the collage above). I also used epoxy clay (specifically, Apoxie Sculpt) for a handful of micro-mosaic and assemblage designs. As with paper clay, epoxy clay cures with exposure to air. So there was a similar sense of rushing to finish before the clay hardens. Again, I can foresee using this medium more in the year to come.

Polymer clay made a cameo appearance in my creative journey this year when a friend commissioned a custom cake topper for a vow-renewal celebration. The cake topper was designed to resemble the armadillo-shaped cake from the couple’s original wedding reception. I won’t say I completely nailed the resemblance, but I am pleased to say I got close enough to make my friend very happy.

In addition to neglecting my blog toward the end of the year, I also neglected my embroidery supplies and only completed two projects. Again, I have no good excuse. Next year, I hope to get back into the habit of stitching something every month. But that’s not a formal New Year’s resolution so don’t hold me to it.

In looking over the year’s makes, it seems 2021 was a year for me try new things. In addition to the paper clay sculpting, and epoxy clay micro-mosaics, I dabbled in altered bottles for on design challenge. I’ve been collecting altered bottle inspirations on Pinterest for years. And I have been curating a large collection of glass bottles and jars. Some might call it hoarding. Those who would are clearly not art and craft visionaries.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t much jewelry designed this year. It seems I was preoccupied with sculpting. But I still managed a nice assortment of necklace, bracelet, and earring designs.

Of course, there were some ornaments made this year. The doves in the title image were made this month, from paper clay with gold leaf accents. The gold leafing did not go as planned so I’ve put it on my list of things to try again. That list of do-overs is quite long and dates back over a decade, so I may or may not get around to it next year. There were also a few paper clay sea turtle ornaments made earlier this year, for a turtle-themed design challenge. I had planned to make a bunch more to offer in my etsy shop before the Christmas holiday, but planning and doing are not always as closely linked in time as I might like. I did get a few more of the paper clay turtle ornaments cut out this month, but was still waiting for clay to dry on Christmas eve. I think I can safely say I will get those painted next year.

As I’ve been writing this post, I remember how much I enjoy blogging. And I feel badly for neglecting to write posts for the past several months. I’m not resolving to do better next year. Mostly because I don’t make resolutions. And also because I’m still not sure where my website it going. It’s currently on a self-hosted WordPress platform. There are things I like about WordPress. But the one thing I really dislike about self-hosting on my current site provider is the constant fear I will screw up installing some update or other and crash my site. I am not terribly savvy about what goes on behind the scenes of a website and I don’t plan to make time to correct that. So, for my own peace of mind, I’m considering moving my site to a platform where the only thing I have to manage is content.

Unfortunately, it seems that one trade-off for moving to a platform where someone else manages all the behind-the-scenes updates may be less freedom in the appearance of blog posts and how comments function. While I don’t have a huge number of blog followers, I do enjoy interacting through comments. I would prefer not to make commenting cumbersome. The other trade-off might be that I have to abandon all my past blog posts, or worse, lose all my current followers. I’m still investigating options. If I do move Paisley Lizard, I will let you all know in advance.

For now, many thanks to you all for following along with my creative journey, and for taking time to share your thoughts in comments. I appreciate you so much and I wish you all the best in the New Year. I hope to see you here (or wherever my blog ends up) next year. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook, where there are fewer words about my creative journey, but still plenty of images of my creations.