Letters in blue...

Polymer clay tube beads. I rolled the clay around a knitting needle (sorry no pictures here, but I'll try to show you how I made them. I already have several of them ;) ), stamped it roughly and cut it after baking. Yes, after baking. The clay is thin enough that you can cut easily with a sharp knife or scalpell through the baked clay. The really good thing doing it like this: The tube won't bend at all! 

Like most of the time: I used Fimo classic as polymer clay and acrylic paint from Reeves. The facetted glas beads are from a bracelet I bought in south korea. Sometimes buying finished jewelry pieces, deconstruct them and use the material is much cheaper than buying the beads (or other parts) alone. It is like the issue with fabric for sewing... Quite often the fabric is way more expensive than the finished piece in the store... 

Letters and leaves...

The letters are pressed in very thin slides of polymer clay. The original colour was some kind of rose quartz polymer clay (Fimo effect). This colour has some sparcling powder in it but especially also a little part of translucent clay. Even if you don't see much of the original colour anymore because I painted it with acrylic paint in black and used inka gold for the gold-green colour, still, it creates the effect of something very light. 

In fact the polymer clay "leaves" are very light weight and even flexibel. You can bend them quite a lot without breaking them. Rather more than fimo classic clay. The polymer clay was formed by hand to create this rather organic look. 

I was a little bit surprised how well the rich green or rather green-gold colour fits to the slight pink / rose colour. I repeated the colour combination with the little facetted glas beads. I think I will have to make more like these, organic and thin structures, in the next time!

Inspirations: Critter (Senftenberg)

The old (okay, the only one, but it is old) train station in senftenberg. It is still used as a train station but all the stores insides are closed.

Inspirations: Build in stone (Leipzig)

Rumpel and I went out for a short walk. If you have ever been to leipzig you know all the beautiful ornaments and statues to be found everywhere on all the old building from the beginning of the former century (or even the end of the one before). We often tend not to see them anymore at the normal daily routine life takes. But now and then I am surprised at their beauty. Especially at the houses that are not taken care of...

Lions guarding one door... 

...children working at the other one...

...and even some beautiful egyptian-like woman!

Sea side...

The colour combination of yellow, green, blue and turqoise reminds me of the sea. Of the seaside and summer. The long beads are made from polymer clay (fimo), the small cut glass bead I used from a bracelet and the yellow-greenish ones are really old (I think acryl, lucite). I got them from an old bead collection. 

Old glas and new clay - and the SMS winner :)

Some polymer clay beads that were stamped and coloured with acrylic paints. I try to incorporate a lot of the old beads I got. I was not sure at first sight whether these beads are glas or acrylic ones but a closer look showed me (they are not perfect anymore and also not symetric ^^) that they actually really were made from glas!

I also let random.org look for the winner of my SMS giveaway!
There we go:

The violett earrings with the structures go to Kate8!
The circle earrings with the letters go Breanna!

I will send you an email because all I need now would be your address!!
(and of course I hope you will like them! ;) )

Inspirations: On the streets (Leipzig)

Augustusplatz. Leipzig. Germany.

All the little ones...

I realized that althought I make lots of earring studs I just don't show them very often at my blog. One reason is that they sell really good at fairs... but I didn't attend at even just a single fair this year. First new year, moving, being some months in korea... 

And people like to buy them because it happens often that they like my work and style but the other earrings and stuff I make is to expensive for them. But some earrings studs are something nice and small to take away from a fair and also make a nice small gift.  

Still, the main reason to make them is another one. It is to try new colours, material, effects, stamps and / or structures! 

You see, I just used two different stamps on all the studs but due to the colours the effect is quite divers. 

And I still have a lot more... I just need to make more pictures! ^^

Deep blue - earrings

What can I say? I made a lot experimental beads from my new structures resulting in a lot of new earrings! One has to try different shapes as well as colours, nai? ;)

Quite simple from the shape but the structure with all the different layers of colour (as always, acrylic paint from Reeves) creates the interesting depth for me.

You may wonder why I always write down the kind of paint I am using? I had so many fails with cheap acrylic paints and even with the high quality acrylic paints there were sometimes some issues using them on polymer clay. Of course also every brand of polymer clay reacts in a different way with the acrylic paints. So for me using Fimo classic the paints from Reeves are my favorite choice. Bright colours which attach really good and form to the clay (not this strange plastic layer that you can rubb off from the cheap paints) and the paint itself has a great consitency to use it with... fingers. Ehm... yes... I am using my fingers to apply paint. Most of the time...  Sighs.

Lines and circles - polymer clay earrings

Okay, I have to admit, I am really fast with finding new favorites. The beads are made with polymer clay (as always, Fimo classic). I created a new kind of stamp / mold to create the structures. I really like this pattern created of thin lines. My molds are made from other fimo, from air-drying clay, sometimes with silicon but it is sooooo expensive. So no silicon rubber putty whatever mold for me right now. Especially because I love making so many new patterns and structures all the time. Just yesterday I collected new plant stuff and baked some more molds with polymer clay. 

I panted them with acrylic colours (Reeves). The original colour of the clay was a light blue. Yes, I really love the original colours of the polymer clay but somehow along the way it is not me. It always needs something more, more layers of colour, sometimes bold but most of them very subtle. I am always using more than just two or three different colours. Especially for bigger projects there is always something to add as well as to hide. But I learned that a lot of colours change there nuance depending on the underlying colour. So even if the other colour is hidden, it still has a major effect in the end result!

I carved the back in form to create a round effect. I like the cared or hammered look so I didn't smooth the rough cornes but enhanced them with colour!

Colours and structures - earings (SMS giveaway)

I already showed you earrings I made with my new structures (I just love structures) on polymer clay. Most of the time I use Fimo classic as polymer clay brand. I can't really work with the Fimo soft stuff, it is really just too soft and I can't get my structures so clear impressed. Also Prado is a polymer clay brand I really like to work with. But it is not in the craft stores here in leipzig available (sadly).

After wards I paint the polymer clay pieces with acrylic colours (Reeves). The earring on top also got an additional layer of liquid Fimo.

I nearly forgot the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day (have a look there for more giveaways!)... but as soon as I saw other giveaways appear in my blog roll, I thought some of my new earrings may be perfect for SMS giveaway day! This is the second time I participate, the last time I also had some handmade earrings as my giveaway and I hope I will take part in a lot more. I always discoer so many new blogs and get to know new, great people!

For the rules:

There are two prices, the earrings you see here in this blog post. So I hope I can make two people happy :)

For a chance to win: Just leave a comment!

For a second chance to win: Become a follower (or if you already are, just tell me :))

Please leave me an email adress to contact you (if you don't have one linked to your account).

The giveaway is open until May 10th at 5p.m. (PST). And yes, as long as your country has a post service, you can participate :)