Macrame bracelet - from Lachafa

Since I am wearing it right at the moment I thought I should also show this bracelet to you. This was made by my little sister for me. She has a knack for knots ^^ Be it crochet, knitting or macrame. Mostly she is not using any pattern at all and even more, seeing a finished item, she can adapt a pattern for this by just looking at it :)

"Another time" - Earrings and buttons!

I spend a day sorting through my room (work and crafting room). It is chaotic, still not even sorted completely from our move (1 and a half year ago... uhm...), overfull... *sighs* A day is not enough but that was all energy I could invest. I got rid of a lot of things... some in the trash and more to friends. I also gave old buttons and crochet lace away (I asked in facebook who would like to have some for their work). I still have a lot more crafting stuff to give away... and even more to sort out... we will see.

But even while I sorted out a lot of buttons... there were some I kept. Like these tiny mother-of-pearl buttons. Really old and just beautiful... and since my rule is: If I want to keep it I also have to use it (no too precious stash anymore! ...or at least... not soooo big...). 

So here we go. 

 One of my biggest problem was: Which side of the buttons shall I use? Have a look at the (also original) back side: You can see the rest of the shell! How absolutely stunning are these buttons to see where they come from?

It is always a little bit difficult to catch the sparkle of glass beads in the sun with all the high contrast and dark shadows. Still the earrings look especially beautiful in the sunlight so here I tried to catch at least an impression :)

The clear beads as well as the blue and green reminds me of water... so fitting for mother-of-pearl buttons...

...and again a contrast that I also love, the perfect facetted czech glass beads and the old rough pressed glass beads...

Both earring pairs make me smile and seem to have a story of their own. This feeling... a little bit vintage, colourful bohemian and playful steampunk... just a little bit of all combined...

Beaded strings for USB sticks - Never get lost in the handbag ^^

The upper two usb sticks were for my family. It was not for the usb stick but rather for the scanned pictures inside of them. They are quite big with 32 GB. Also I chose sticks that were water resistant and shock proof. But the most important part: The added beaded string! This was not my idea but from my stepmother (what a gruesome word... still want to have another better one) who has beads hanging on her mobile so she can easily grap it out of her handbag. The mobile is always in a small side pocket inside her handbag with the beads hanging outside. 

This one is mine. I made it after I already gave the other two away and thinking: Hey, I also need/want one! ^^ I used the recycled old and worn silver beads I love so much. Will be a problem as soon as I run out of them! But I don't want to stash anything anymore but use it! 

The string is waxed linen. I used a combination of single beads I had at hand. I prefer the colourful combination other the blue one that is for me but truth is: I run out of this kind of beads ^^

Some swarowski and czech glass beads at the end to add some more colour accents! These beaded strings are easy and fast to make and are useful as well as beautiful :)

"Just a touch" - Earrings

I was thinking about the name... and this is what came in my mind over and over again. Just a touch of... rose, flowers, flowing... all the different but subtle impressions in the polymer clay beads. But also just a touch itself, it is fitting all the feelings I have looking at them :)

And please bare with me: More pictures! The czech glass beads are a subtle rose and even while the beads are mainly in shades of blue there is a little bit of rose and purple inside. This make the glass beads so fitting.

They are romantic, maybe even going into the bohemian style with the flow and combination. *sighs* But I just have one pair of polymer clay beads left I made in this style. Finally I managed to use them (took me about one to two years... you know how it is with beads you hold precious ^^).

"Golden whisper" - Earrings

Simple ones but glowing in the light! I was sorting through my stash and trying to organize some things a little bit more and stumbled over the two metal things I had. I added my two big leftover beads from "The Curiosity Kit" from "The Curious Bead Shop". The bead set was called whispers therefore... yes... I try to get the name into all the things I made with these beads. ^^

On top is a tiny bronze bead to close the metal things. They have their weight and dangle lovely due to this but they are not too heavy. 

More of jewelery I made with beads from the kit whispers you can see here :)

Tentacles just for me!

Mine! 

Mh... maybe not a really grown up way to start a blog entry but... a true one! ;) 

If you are following my blog a little it longer you may now how much I love the work of Christi Friesen. I have all of her polymer clay books and always enjoy her playful style! I think she is also a very good example of how you can teach your tips and tricks and knowledge but not for people learning to copy you but to develop their own style. 

The most important things I learned from her are: More is sometimes also more and embrace your thumb prints on the clay! This may not sound much but it was something really important for me. It took away my fear of wasting material and just to try and play. 

I have my own style with polymer clay. One I believe you can recognize (maybe not with all but with a lot of my beads and jewelery ^^ but I am also still growing). But maybe you can understand how much it means to me to have something in my hand made by Christi.

She put up a pinterest challenge some time ago where she posted inspirational pictures taken by her and asked to come up with ideas and inspirations coming to our mind seeing them. The one inspiring her she would use to create a heart and send it to the person having the idea. Yes, that was me! ^^

May I say it again? Mine! :)

I am not sure what I will make with the heart but my first idea was to use it as an ornament. I still have not finished a blog entry from last christmas (just reminding myself now ^^) about an ornament I made. I promise you it will be weird. But I have the idea to have one day a lot of weird and odd ornaments as well as children... and every evening during christmas time one can choose an ornament and we will think of a good night story inspired by the ornament. Yes... it will also be a weird and odd story, has to be! ^^

"Bohemian Blue" - Polymer clay earrings

More blue. Given the fact that I mostly NOT tend to wear blue I am always fascinated how much I tend to go with it in my work. Be it polymer clay beads or jewelery... Still, they go very well with my clothing style which consists of either pure black or pure colour mix! My little brother once (still a small kid at that time) observed drily: "Gippies und Hrufties".  This meant a mix of hippies and gothics (in germany also called "Grufties"). At that time I was rather fitting in the dark area and my sister with her bright colours in the other but he was right with his oberservation. Take away the colour choice and the style is so compareable to each other. The layering, the ease, the combination of odd choices (in a good way) and the "dangling", even playful choice of jewerley. 

Maybe bohemian combines it somehow. Now we think of colours and style but gothic as well as bohemianism have it root in the romanticism, both being non-traditional at that time and combined with artistic and intellectual tendencies. Yes, it was not the same but somehow the appeal as well as the breaking out of the ordinary and the rules by society and especially the longing going with it, has a very similar appeal... especially nowadays. 

And the style is so easy to mix. take my earrings above for example: Just let my polymer clay beads have shades of black and silver, white and black or even grey and together with the silver wire and the deep blue glass beads it would be rather gothic than bohemian. 

"Dirigible" - Earrings

Hot-air ballon... ^^ Yes, somehow this was my first association. Even if for this the light blue beads below the "ballons" are a wee bit to big. Still, looking at them makes me smile :) They are colourful, playful and of course, they have movement (in the moment I just love the word "dangling"!). 

Czech glass beads (I think I got them in a mix years ago, I only had two of this light blue colour), bronze beads I coloured with vintaj patina (yes, I am addicted... and I even got more colours from a person destashing them for a great deal), bronze metal drops (don't know how I could ever go on without them) and last but not least purple and turquoise swarowski bicones.  

"Chained" - Earrings

Sweet and simpe: Interlocked glass beads to create a chain. I tried to add more (like another bead) but in the end left it as it was. The movement and the shades of green are already perfect together :)

"Little skulls" - Polymer clay tutorial

Uhm.... to be honest, I forgot about this tutorial. As you may see from the hairpin with the skull... this was part of the advent calendar I made for my sister 2012 (I made advent calendars every year for family and friends). I made more little skulls and they were all used to create hairpins. Even if the quality of my pictures is not the best, I thought after I stumbled over it again, it would be nice to show you! :)

On a sidenote: When I brought them to the fair mostly men bought them... and used them as a tie pin! Have to find some blank for tie pins and made real ones ^^

I started with white polymer clay (fimo classic). I used leftovers with little dust in it so this tutorial is perfect for leftovers like this (and we all have polymer clay with dust in it, nai?)!

I rolled a ball, roughly formed it into some kind of pear and pressed it down. For this step as well as all others in this little tutorial: Dont try to make anything perfect! There is NO need for perfection! It would rather take away the organic and funny look. Also: Embrace your finger prints, they add texture ^^

I used mainly a knitting needle and a scalpel (or sharp paper knife) for the modeling. Now I would use my ball point tools but you really can use anything you find in your household. Pens, kitting needles, other end of a brush, wooden food sticks... you get the idea.

I pushed in the edges to get a more pronounced "skull" shape. Still you can see the imperfect rough edges. I then started with the eyes. Just a dot in the middle and then I pushed the holes bigger (circulating the knitting needle gently inside). I like the big eyes! 

A simple heart shape for the nose (or rather the missing nose... ugh...!). I gently pressed don the lover area for the teeth and then simply pressed lines down.

You have your skull!

For variations: Cut out a single teeth... make different eye shapes...

...make them angry or worried... a bigger rounder head is also cute as is my favorite: Different eye sizes!

Also nice is to create the teeth by just cutting with the scalpel one horizontal line and then several vertical ones. This has the look of a skull with the lower jar still attached.

Last step: Paint everything with black acrylic paint (I used Reeves) and wipe it away while still wet. Then just sand the surface of the skull to enhance the white there! That was it, easy as easy can be ;)

Of course you could also add some colourful flowers to get a more mexican style. Use brown or grey insteadt of black to create a softer, not so comiclike effect...

from the advent calendar

"Hidden memories" - Earrings

I had these gorgeous glass beads for a long time now. They were part of a random selection kit and I never found the shape and colour again. It was hard for me to use them but I try more and more to integrate all (most) of my little treasures because it is also not right just to let them collect dust. They have to be adored and loved and be shown! 

I added the last tiny piece of the violet silk I had as a colour accent. I repeated the colour accent with swarowski bicones at the top. A little bit of "dangling" quality had also be added (needless to say or?). And the key charms.... puh... I thought they are a wee bit over the top but this wee bit that you sometimes need.