"Memorabilia" - A kind of mixed media earrings, between new techniques and childhood memories

I was inspired by old paintings refined with gold leaf on wood of saints or virgin maria. There were some quite old ones in our home and they are a childhood memory for me. My father had from his travels and my grandparents these typical paintings. Thinking of it, I have to say, that they are actually a kind of mixed media work! It is this style that you somehow often find in temporary work (even if the topics and motives are different). 

The image is transferred on polymer clay, the halo was refined using gold coloured leaf (not real one) and the small charm then covered with resin. The sides are roughly cut to enhance the impression of old charms. My last image transfer on polymer clay was done quite some time ago. I don't know why sometimes I am "forgetting" a technique and why I start using it again from one day to the next. But this is my first transfer that I overlaid with resin. There were some troubles but it all worked out in the end. 

The ear wires are pure brass while otherwise the used metals are a combination from bronze alloy, steel and brass giving an old, vintage impression. I really love them!

The dark red glass beads move beautifully and even while the earrings are quite long, they are not heavy!

You can find them in my shop here :)

"Arrows" - Delicate tribal earrings with polymer clay charms

Tribal, ancient... a kind of a modern take on the stone age? 

These earrings are really delicate and (at least for me!) small. They move lovely or as I prefer to call it "dangle". I made the little arrow head charms with polymer clay. More and more I tend to use super sculpey firm if the desired style/work allows for it. It has such a great strength to work with it. Even while you work on one side, the other side stays firm. I know now why people love to use this clay for sculpting (although it is still a little bit in the soft side for Rumpel and the sculptures he creates... but I honestly don't know any other polymer clay brand as firm as this... but we ordered bees putty summer firm now to try it).

The golden accents are made with gold (coloured) leaf and antiqued with acrylic paint afterwards. My favorite colours is Payne's grey from Reeves. While I have small/middle sized bottles from most colours, this one I  have in a really big bottle!   

I even already listed them in my shop here! :)

"Ephemeral moments" - Where have all the flowers gone...? (Knotted bracelets)

I am just in love with these tiny wee czech glass beads! They are just 8 mm sized flowers, so beautiful with the shape and the colours!

I wanted to create simple, sweet but elegant bracelets that have these tiny wee flowers as central focal point. But also some bracelets that could easily be stacked to create a more bohemian or hippie style.

They are all lovely on their own and I can't tell you my colour favorite, I just can't! ^^

The bracelets are made with waxed linen cord with just easy double knots between the flower beads. The knots are close to the beads but not too close so the bracelet moves easily.

See how the colours of the waxed linen cord complements the colours of the flower beads? Don't laugh but I may have spend even more time just deciding which colour combination I want to use than to create them!

Even though I have the flowers in more colours, you can clearly see some of my favorite colour schemes seeing all the bracelets together! Blueish, turquise, teal, aqua, purple...

You can also find them in my shop here :)

Colour and texture... tiny wee ear studs!

Finally I started making some new ear studs with polymer clay. I had enough for a while after I made several hundred or so ;) I usually love to create them to test new textures, patterns, colours as well as strange other treatment (from eye shadow to resin...).

But even so after too much repetition, even if the repetition just lies in the fact that they were all ear studs and nothing else, bores me and actually makes me resent to create more. At least for a while...

This is true with nearly everything I do. I need to experiment with new or at least with different materials and techniques to reset my mind. To create is really essential for me, I am often joking "it keeps me sane" but it is rather the truth than a joke. 

It leads to a real mess of started but unfinished projects I have. Some are finished weeks, months or even years later, some won't ever be finished. The difficulty lies to realize what may be true and let not too much time go by. 

But as you see, I found my love and joy again to create tiny wee ear studs with polymer clay! All of the shown one are done using super sculpey firm. Except the last ones I also applied gold coloured leaf before I added some acrylic paint. 

I tried this layering of the gold leaf and the acrylic paint with the ear studs for the first time and love the results. Now this is why I make them: To play, to experiment and still, have a beautiful creation in the end! Now I'll have to apply this to larger beads and pendants too (or other stuff....).

PS: Just so you know... I also throw a lot of experiments in the trash! The ones that didn't turn out well. But since I only made tiny wee pieces, it doesn't hurt at all :)

Earrings full of colour, rust and texture - "Full of life" and "Under the blue sky"

We all have all-times favorite bead artists and Kimberly Rogers (numinosity beads) is one of mine. The enameled copper (he numis-sticks) rom both earring pairs are made by her and I also have a little hoard of enameled pieces as well as glass beads from her ;)

The tinned glass beads from Sasha Crow are comparable new in my stash but they were just made for the numi-sticks. Both dark and rustic, with an organic surface and interesting textures.

I love how the beads dangling from the chain creates beautiful movement and even while the earrings are rustic and with patina, they are still also colourful. 

There is a little bit more texture at the top of the enameled pieces because they were too "naked" for me and while I create everything has to have a kind of balance. I used very thin steel wire, braided it (surprisingly easy!) and wrapped the braided wire around. It creates the required subtle but necessary accent. 

The "greenish" one ("Full of life") you can find in my shop here (the blueish/pink one "Under the blue sky" is sold).