Making the Blue Skies Vase

My first design for Lazy Daze is a 7 1/2" tall vase embellished with pearl pinwheels.

Each little "cloud" is carefully formed by extruding the white pearl and curling it around. After forming all 65 clouds, I gently press them on to the vase. And then pop them in the oven for about 30 min. Baking the clouds on the vase first before adding the background color, ensures they have will have proper contour, plus there's no worry of distortion later.

Now that the clouds are baked, I prepare the background colors: fine gratings of pearl, with coarsely chopped translucent, blue pearl, and turquoise. A little more mixing by twisting the colors together, and it's all ready for the vase.

The "blue sky" is smoothed and it's time to make the malachite rings. Stacks of alternating white pearl and translucent are packed into the extruder. Delicate rings form in the center of the extrusion when its forced through the small round die plate.

Here I apply the malachite slices to the sky and smooth the entire vase again. And now it's time for that final baking...

...And here it is all finished. After baking, I sanded and polished it, and then applied a glossy finish. And lastly, I glued the "clouds" in place around the opening.