Fungi fun time set in clay

LOCAL artist Rosie Grundall will be sharing the art of clay sculpting during an upcoming session at the Bannockburn Library.

She will be showing participants how to make mushrooms with paper clay and then decorate them with various techniques.

“I started off making elves and witches with polymer clay which progressed into finding a recipe for paper clay I could make myself,” said Grundall.

“I do a lot of fungi, mushrooms and toadstools and they’re mixed media productions.”

Grundall uses different aspects to add to her creations like knitting, crochet and nylon fabric.

“I burn nylon to get weird and wonderful shapes that look a but like lichen and that sort of thing,” she said.

“I move from thing to thing as the creative process takes me.”

Mushrooms were chosen for the focus of the workshop because of Grundall’s personal interest and their popularity.

“I think they’re popular and it’s been such a good season for fungi this year,” she said.

“’I also couldn’t do the polymer clay because you have to bake it, so I had to do something that was achievable in the two hours.

“I’ll take people through the process of layering paint onto the mushrooms and gluing on their bits and bobs on the bottom to make it look a bit more interesting like tiny fairy houses.

“What I really hope that people get out of this is to just try things because you can’t make a mistake.

“If it doesn’t turn out the way you like it, you can repaint it or pull everything off and start again.”

The event will be held on Saturday 1 July and to register visit the Geelong Regional Library Corporation website.