Sunday 9 October 2011

progress update

I've promised you an update on my beads, some photos in a daylight....here they are, although there was no proper day light here all weekend (I live in Glasgow and it is very gloomy here recently...)
I tried my best to do some proper shoots, I don't have a great camera either but the result isn't that bad.

First are the beads from the bracelet project. I have mentioned before I had some troubles making colors as they should be but I think I accidentally found the reason. Not too sure yet if this is the real reason, but I've noticed that Premo has different shades of gold and what I was using was an antique gold...not just pure gold color. Maybe this is the reason why my gold was so powerful in my beads and turned everything in the sea green shade? My new polymer clay order will be with me soon so I will be able to check this out.
I made a focal bead for this bracelet as well, but I can't find those spacer heishi beads which I am looking for anywhere on ebay.co.uk, so the project has to wait now...






This is the best close up of the focal bead from pendant I am doing for my friend...I would like to finish this with some silver wire beads maybe, not sure exactly what I will do in the end. The bead is quite strong already with the shape and color. I have to decide, I was also thinking about some small coral-marble beads on top of it, will see... This is my first attempt of sanding and buffing, it is not as smooth as I would like it to be. I didn't expect it is so easy to destroy the shape...You can notice the shape lost a little bit of its curve on the orange part....










And the last photo from today is the update on what I've got in total so far...the beads are not polished and finished yet (with brown shoe polish, acrylic paint  and so on) I can't wait to the final result....



And today I made a whole bunch of oats cookies for my children...yummy yummy...little hands have found them already!


Wednesday 5 October 2011

Another bracelet

I've been working recently on another project from the Ronna's book, a lovely purple mix bracelet:


I really like the 'look and feel'  Ronna had achieved here, great balance between the texture, shape and color of course...as always... so here it is mine first attempt...


I have made a bunch of them but I have to say, I am not pleased. It was hard to match proper color despite the fact I was sticking to the color recipe from the book. Golden from Premo is very intense, it turned everything in a sea green...so I have to play a little bit more with it, but...
...Yesterday I was working on a little birthday present for my friend, in a meantime I was playing with ''the marbling thing'' using clay scraps from the discs set (quite often just playing is the part when real creativity starts to flow) and there IT IS! I think I have found my way to marbling. I made nine little discs but  three in particular where exactly as I wanted them to be.


You can easily see those three light sea green discs, with a little bit of golden and white...They look a lot better than my whole bunch above which is too bland I think....

On the knitting needle I have a focal bead for the bracelet, I quite like it apart from the fact I have to add some more strings. I didn't realize that transculent clay can darken so much. I left some space between the strings, but after baking it looks unfinished rather than made on purpose...I will add photo later because I have to take it in the daylight...Unfortunately for me I can't find anywhere on uk ebay those spacer discs used in this project, so I am not sure when I will be able to assemble it all together...

Another bead on the needle is the yellow one. I am very pleased with the marble effect I have achieved here (remember those beads are my first and only samples so far...). I have mixed yellow with white and transculent. In my opinion looks lovely, quite dramatic but I like it that way. It can be used as a great focal bead in another bracelet or some necklace maybe.
Those three small beads next to it are made from leftovers and I am also quite pleased with them.

I have noticed my thinking has developed. I am trying to think about texture, size, shape and color a little bit more. Figure out first where is the focal point in the piece I want to make, how to achieve the best possible balance, and how to let those beads to shine at their best...at the moment more of it happens in my head only as I am very limited with time I can spend on claying...I try to look at the best possible artists I can find, and learn from them. Hopefully sooner than later I will be able to add my own mark on their technique and designs to create my own unique style but for now as I just began to learn..I am pleased with 'trying to copy' phase...

The last bead on the photo is the focal bead for my friend's birthday, I made it using form design from Linda Peterson's book ''How to Make Polymer Clay Beads'' and the color inspiration attempt was from Kathleen's Dustin '' blowing grass'' purse.



I love this color combination, although this photo does not give the purse the justice...I have another shoot of it from opposite angle in Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani book : Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, where you can really admire Kathleen craft!
The colors didn't turn out as beautiful but those are my very first attempts so I can't expect too much!
I am going to combine this bead with silver wire and some silver beads, and add some glossy finish maybe...will see. Probably I will do another version of it or two for myself or my mum, there is a lot to learn here...

I will add proper daylight photos of the beads during the weekend, I am quite busy till Friday. See you then.

Tuesday 4 October 2011

new work space..:))))))

My husband is a real teasure, he agreed to convert our smallest room into my mini studio space.
I had mentioned that before but here is the photo:


as you can see in the close up, I made a mess already, but it is a healthy, working, inspirational mess...

I also have another separate table here, for my other 'arty' stuff I am going to start soon (hopefully this year). It is really a comfort now for me to work here, I can trully relax and don't worry I have to tidy up for the morning - how great is THAT!

Sunday 25 September 2011

tu turu...autumn is coming!

It's been a long long holiday for me this year, but all finished and I am back now ready to create!
I have a new work space at home, as my Dear Husband agreed to move my table to separate room and this room is now my almost own little studio space. I can now CLOSE the door and just follow my taughts without worrying that very next day, my liitle two angels are going to put their little fingers in whatever I am currently working on:))
I am trying to update my blog and create separate site for next chalenge I am going to take on board(sshh..), but not sure if it works or I will have to create complitly separate blog for it...will see...
Anyway, I am happy to be back and can't wait to lay my hands on clay again! Hopefully soon I will add some photos of my new space and updates on the work I have begun earlier this year.

Monday 20 June 2011

summer break

As I can see I have some visitors, I thought it will be nice to post why there is nothing new comming. The reason is quite simple - I am away now for two months, can't take polymer clay with me and this way I have two months break from it:/
I have some plans how to use spare(?) time well;) Hope the weather will
be better soon tho...

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Next Day

Another day and I am still working on the necklace from Ronna Sarvas Weltman book, the first project. It is not easy with two small children around but I am doing fine.
I have made a few more beads. The String Bead took me a while to do, I even made it twice..




Then I've decided that this bead doesn't look good with other beads. In description it is said to do 20 mm base bead, but with strings, mine became way too big..so...


I had to start again...

The other beads turned out quite nicely, of course this is a "pre-baked" shoot.



I have some problems with following the color recipes, especially those where cadmium yellow is used. I had to do ringed bead twice, and even after second time I think it is still too yellowish, the dots look better tho...


In the end of the day I had a few to bake...but after baking...I had an unpleasant surprise...


I made those four on cork clay base bead, but I am not sure what went wrong.
Possibly I should have waited until cork clay beads dry up (it wasn't mentioned in the book and I was afraid the clay won't stick to the cork beads if I do this)
So now I have to redo all of them plus the string bead;) Maybe I will use aluminum foil base beads this time round, or I will do one with "DRIED-first" cork clay bead...don't know yet, I have to order some more translucent clay first!


This is a shoot from another project I have started a few days ago



This is Pivot Bead Strand project designed by Maggie Maggio, another great polymer artist whose book I have proudly own. I have to do some of those beads again. I used colors with too much white in it and some variations turned out too opaque...


"(...)In every situations, at the beginning or end of the work day, you have a choice. You can look back or you can look forward. My advice: Look forward. Always think about next day(...)." Twyla Tharp.

...

Monday 23 May 2011

think BIG...


This month challenge word on creativeeveryday is "BIG", there is a lovely guest post about being BIG from Jennifer Lee.
For me thinking BIG means letting go of my sens of obligation and allow myself to be creative just for fun and to please myself not the others for a change. So as I love baking cookies and despite the fact I am on the diet, I made whole bowl of one of my favorite short-pastry ones with marzipan. I love the process of creating in the kitchen and I feel really relaxed during it. Now I need some of my friends to come over for a cup of tea:))

Saturday 21 May 2011

learning to waste...

"(...)If you try and it doesn't work You'll try a different way next time. Doing is better than not doing, and if you do something badly you'll learn to do it better(...)"

For a long time one of my worst fears was "what if I will waste..." and here you can put whatever you want, the material, paper, paint, time, energy, what if this won't be good enough...so I was keeping my art stuff closed tightly in a box for a time when I will be proficient enough to put them in a good use..and in this way of course I've never become proficient in any of my hidden passions like for example watercolor - the only consolation is that I know I am not alone ,who at least once, was thinking the same...
Anyway, a few years later and I still get this feeling sometimes but finally I started to use my resources instead of just collecting them..yeah!

The next Big Question is - which way to turn and where to start, which idea, project, inspiration...and this is really a hard one for me.
I would love to split into six different people and do everything in one time..but this won't happen unfortunately so as a first step I've decided to just simply follow projects from the books I own and see where this will lead me.

One of my favorite books about polymer clay jewelery is "Ancient Modern" by Ronna Sarvas Weltman, I listed it on the right. I've started to work on the first project listed in the book, and not everything is as easy as it looks.



I know from my experience that skillfulness and easiness come from proficiency and each step takes you closer but how many times you can redo 'simple' holes in a bead?:)


I made them twice and I know I will have to redo them tomorrow as they still look too clumsy and heavy and they are too big anyway...that is all for today, time to bed..:)

Sunday 15 May 2011

skill

"(...)Confidence is a trait that has to be earned honestly and refreshed constantly...
You have to work as hard to protect your skills as you did to develop them(...)
".

Another day, I have to say I feel quite overwhelmed by the amount of work which is in front of me. I am maybe too aware not of my current manual abilities but more where I want to reach and how far is that.

"(...) Skill gives you the wherewithal to execute whatever occurs to you. Without it, you are just a font of unfulfilled ideas. Skill is how you close the gap between what you can see in your's mind eye and what you can produce; the more skill you have, the more sophisticated and accomplished your ideas can be.(...)"
Thank you Twyla for the reminder!
I have to admit, I've lost my manual skills on which I worked really hard...I think it's even harder when you have to go back and start all over again but on the other hand the process itself this is the best part!

I have mentioned before about one of my projects I am working on, stylized Pierrot faces, but I have decided to put this off and first concentrate on developing more sophisticated skills with polymer. I don't want those faces to be simple, I don't mean simple is bad, definitely not in the way I see it. At the moment, my simple designs are not my sophisticated choice but my only option (I don't have the skills needed to make them as I want them to be, at least - not yet)...

These are two of the old ones I did six months ago...I gave them away as gifts to my dear friends:



These two are some kind of a start to deep in. With my confidence growing I will be adding more on the way to test new techniques and designs.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

starting....

It's been a busy time, as always with two kids around. Matylda started to climb...hard to get head around them now!
I've started to organize myself again, although it is difficult. I try to remember all those lovely parts from Twyla's Tharp book I have read recently, for instance:

"(...)Every day you don't practice you're one day further from being good."
The book (which I found the most suitable and the most inspiring) is full of phrases I would like to remember and practice in real..I even copied some of them to my special notebook to look through when I need an inspiration the most!

Anyway start is always hard,
"(...)whatever your medium, if you've been away from it for a few weeks, the first day are going to be clumsy and fruitless. But the things get easier as the rust falls away(...)"

I started with some exercises I had to do a while ago from another book I deeply admire: Polymer clay: Color Inspiration. From my educational experience I know that despite the fact those small exercises seem so easy or pointless they are in fact very important, useful, and in a long term - irreplaceable.
In this small one I had to do a collage from paper trimmings needed for a further work.



After about two or three ours of cutting and sticking this is what I ended up with:


It wasn't that easy as I thought. It took me a while to stick those cuts in a proper way, but as it is a warm-up, I was having fun:)

I've decided to finish some old stuff I've begun to work on when I discovered polymer:


Inspired by some polymer art faces pictures I found on the Internet and the wrapping from the push-molds I decided to have a go. I have a bunch of ideas in my mind already how to use them so this will be my other ongoing project.
Check out for the progress as I have quite a few to do :-)

Saturday 30 April 2011

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

This is my second attempt, hurray! I've finally managed to pull myself together and let go! Hopefully second time lucky! I deeply admire those Creatives who manage to run a family and still have time and energy to create (is there any special recipe, food or drink so I can drink or eat to do it to?) How do You Guys do it?
Since I've been a mum I find it deadly hard, fact that I don't have anyone to help around doesn't help at all, I know I am not the only one but this doesn't help either, unless someone is kind enough to share their thoughts and ideas!

Anyway, my lovely daughters are fast asleep and I can relax with a glass of port...mmmm

My intention of doing this blog is to let my creativity out as a way of life, not just for living. Let go with what is unimportant and just be myself really....