My wedding jewelery... (over at AE)

I promised to show you the jewelery I made for myself. I used mostly art beads and a red colour palette with some added colour to create more interest (believe me, it looks more true to one colour if you break it up with another one). You can see more of it over at Art Elements (just have a look here).  

PS: Yes, Rumpel (aka Hans) is 29 cm taller than me! A full head.... ;)

"Ancient dreams" - Component of the month at Art Elements

The start with a new piece is often the most challenging as well as the most enoyable part. My main problem actually is always "the middle". When you found your inspiration, chose and gathered all materials, have made the work halfway through, see already the end with only some minor last steps open to decide... and then I stop. Honestly, I don't now why. There are soooo many UFOs in my stash, pieces that I know I'll love as soon as they are finished.

*sighs*

But that is maybe just how my brain operates. At some time-point most projects come to an end (either way).

This is why I love and enjoy challenges. They push me and give me a tight schedule to fit in. Even more with a component you get from a fellow bead artist.... huh... the social pressure added works even better! (Not a joke, this works really for me and I like to trick myself with this behaviour ;) )

The component of the month (COM) of Art Elements (AE) came not from a member of the AE team but were gifted to AE team members as well as to AE readers by Kristi Ann from Artisan Clay. You can find more of her work here.

Back to how my brain is working... I got the gorgeous pendant from Kristi (thank you again!). As gorgeous as it is, it was way out of my comfort zone. I love circle shapes and crackled glass / glaze surfaces (you would never have guessed, mh?). But this was too big and a little bit too heavy for me (remember, not being objective here, just relative to what I normally work with).

Puh... and then I started with a necklace design where I liked all the pieces but there was not this perfect start with all elements fitting perfectly together. Time was closing and I finished it and just had to wait until I would be able to catch some rare daylight to take pictures. You need daylight to give such a stunning pendant with crackle glass credit, trust me in this.

So sitting late at the evening at the living room which is a absolute state of chaos with my "stuff" my eyes fell on one of my wrapped bracelets. I wanted to label it for our Pop-Up store in Leipzig (Malwatanderes) but it was sitting close to the necklace. Mh... the colours went nice together so I tested how the would look combined. Loved it. So I took the necklace apart, decided to make a kind of decorative art element (or ornament? tribal totem?). It was the right way. The right way since I started to love this pieces, consisting just of two "circles" at this moment, already.

The rest was easy, also close by was one of my ceramic bird skulls I made. I am in the process to test the effect of different glazes and no, originally I thought this light blue/yellow glaze is not my favorite. How wrong I was. Without the light blue accents it would not have fit to the pendant. Now it was the perfect addition. Yes, perfect! For me at least... especially with the piece of bone (that was also part of my table chaos, don't ask).

You can also find some more of my ceramic clay beads, a single czech glass bead and a lampwork bead from Kimberly Rogers (above the bird skull, such a perfect accent colour to bringt the bone, pendant and skull together).

Here you go... just loving it now! Last minute, but hey, perfect timing, no?!

So, please have a look at the other participants!

PS: Seeing the pictures now, it could be also a piece inspired by / for Prince, or not? *sighs* 2016...

PPS: I had to take the pictures at work, since it is dark when I leave home... and already dark when I come back home. So they are not my usual quality (and not my preferred background style). It was long enough winter time, I am ready for summer again! ;)


Guest Designers:
Sarajo Wentling
Lola Surwillo
Beti Horvath
Kate Kemp

Art Elements Team
Susan Kennedy
Lesley Watt
Claire Fabian (you are here right now :) )
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Jen Cameron

The missing colours in winter time..

Sounds a little bit dramatic, no? Still, winter time is the time in the year I dread most. I agree that autumn can have wonderful colours but with every fallen leaf the barren, cold and dark time comes close. There is a beauty in winter, in snow and ice crystals, in back tree skeletons and flocks of crows flying above you. A beauty that speaks to the goth inside me. 

But it is also a like that goth aesthetic an over dramatized beauty that only comes out in special moments and definitely not in daily life. There is nothing compared to the energy and easy of life I have in summer time with the long, long days, the warmth and the colours. Everything is bright and I am more social, get more done... my perfect moment is in summer time in Formentera, sitting in a cafe in the shadows in the middle of the day, drinking some coffee, listening to the sounds around me and the air has this special scent... the scent of summer... of dry heat and thyme and rosmarin... but also in Leipzig there is this special scent... there is something in the air and you know, it is going to be summer now. Every year there is this moment, where I get the scent and I feel like a weight is lifted off me... and I can't stop to smile.

The earrings maybe represent my desire for colour. I also do a lot of dark and rather rustic and ancient work but now I need the feeling of summer! Not sure if it is so good to go against the seasons with my work if I also hope that it finds a loving new owner but I can't help myself. I create to keep me sane... and show summer how much I love and already miss it! ;)

The stud earrings are made with polymer clay. Fimo soft this time because I still have some. These small earrings are the perfect use for it. Normally I prefer a firmer polymer clay. The base was just white polymer clay and then I painted them with acrylic paint and sanded the surface down.

Urban knitting (Hauptbahnhof - Main station, Leipzig)

Okay, it was difficult to take a good picture. Still, I had to share this! It made me smile :)

Never enough of skulls and flowers... (Tutorial over at AE!)

Just have a look over at Art Elements. Today is my turn again and I finally (re-did) my tiny tutorial to make skulls and sugar skulls using polymer clay!

Where have all the flower gone...? (AE COM challenge)

Okay, next to all the other reasons why I am happy and honoured to be at the Art Elements team (formerly known as Art Jewerly Elements.... so AE and not AJE anymore! ^^)... is a big one... a quite big one... or one could say one of my most favorite ones....

...[please imagine drum rolls here]...

...I'll now participate regularly on the COM challenge!

The component of the month challenge! I actually love challenges due to several reasons. The most important ones are:
- Gorgeous component
- Already chosen component
- Deadline

The last one combined with the fact that I got an artisan bead send to me, makes sure that I take the challenge seriously and work with a time schedule and not... weeks... months.... years.... later...

While I actually do finish my work-in-progress pieces, there have been several of them that took me months to years. Just to be clear, most of this time was a break in between not working on the piece ;)

This time we got a lampwork bead day of the dead skull (quite a long title) made by Jennifer Cameron from glass addictions (have a look at her side here). The picture below I "stole" from her since I forgot to take a picture of the skull she send me before I started wrapping things around it ;)

I was allowed to chose mine and I wanted the one with the asymmetric dots around just one eye. If you are already a long-time reader of my blog you may also notice something else. Something quite shocking... I chose the one with yellow dots around the eye! Yellow, the colour that is my all-time-still-not-conquered difficult to use colour. I like yellow in certain ways, especially subdued and in combination with other colours but it is so hard to create jewelery with it. Other challenging colours I conquered over time but with yellow I may win single battles but the war still rages on!

I noticed that I lose my story line around the COM quite a bit and am rambling. Please bear with me, this happens if I am tired and over worked. Deadlines for grants are around the corner and don't care about free times and/or weekends, our pop-up store will open in a few days (you will get a full documentation!) and there were/are also some social calls you can't (and don't want to) ignore. All in all: I am tired and angry about the fact that someone shut down the heater and the lights outside (he may be called winter and I don't like him!).

Being in this strange mood the idea and the title for the little skull came up in my mind. As a reminder for the good times, for the summer with all its brightness, colours and warmth, and maybe in the end as a reminiscence of hope. The song "Where have all the flowers gone" is a political one and seeing what goes on in the world and how people who should and could know better react, I definitely was in need of this :)

By the way: I used bronze, copper, silver, aluminium and iron wire. Yes, a record for me! I added mostly czech glass beads as well as a dangle made from polymer clay by me. I love how it all turned out, the movement of the necklace but I also have to admit: Never ever look at the back side!

Thank you again for the great day-of-the-dead-skull-lampwork-bead Jennifer! :)

PS: I am still not sure whether I want to change from a necklace to a decoration piece... and whether I want to keep this "random" wire colour look. I tried it to get the impression of a grown piece that someone started to attach random pieces over time... let's see!

And have a look at Art Elements as well as at the blogs of all the other participants!

Guest Designers
Staci Louise Smith
Karin Grosset Grange
Solange Collin

Art Elements Team
Caroline Dewison
Susan Kennedy
Laney Mead
Claire Fabian (you are here right now)
Diana Ptaszynski
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Cathy Spivey Mendola
Lindsay Starr
Niky Sayers
Lesley Watt
Cooky Schock
Jen Cameron

There are never enough tentacles!

I know... still not too much to show. But I will take some pictures to show you the jewelry I made for our wedding... as well as some impressions of course!

Just as a small teaser: Here are our wedding octopi! Actually these were plastic figures that I covered with black gesso and then painted and dry brushed with acrylic paint. They were in front of us at the table :)

And just for a small summary: It was just a wonderful day! Like it should be, better than ever imagined.

Letters and numbers...

Just playing with materials a little bit. Honestly, I find it still strange that there is (and was) a label for something I also already did as a child: Just playing and mixing all available materials. But it is: Mixed media. 

Down to the bare threads...

My next blog entry over at AJE: Down to the bare threads...*

*Also known as "Keep everything, you can use it" ;)

"Bloom" - ATCs

The theme over at paper artsy was "Making marks". A perfect challenge for me since I just love to doodle, add pattern, little non-descriptive writings, rising texture... an so on. On the other hand, everything you make and add by hand is actually a mark. Every single one specific just for your own style, the way your hand moves... So an easy and difficult challenge at the same time ;)

I created 2 artist trading cards (ATC) although I have to admit that maybe the size is the only thing fitting with an ATC since I am tempted to keep them to myself ;) I called them "Bloom" in every sense and meaning of the word, literal as well as metaphorical. 

I used the same stencil for the flower part with a little bit of molding paste. The background was made with gelatine monoprints (I make my own plates). 

By the way, there are a lot of iridescent and metallic paints used so in some images some areas may look overly bright, just the light reflecting on the painted surface.

The I added some writing, marks, more colour, inks drippings, some new spray I got (the red enamel-like raised splatters) and more...

Thankfully ATCs have such a small size. Since even with this small size these two ATCs took a long time until I felt they were finished. Even now I am not absolutely certain but a deadline is also a good reason to find the stopping point.  

Love all the colours, marks and texture! The colourful pieces at the right upper corner of each card are by the way some "acrylic skin". Not done on purpose but I have a plastic folder under my painting area that I also use as a kind of palette and the acrylic paint went on it layer for layer... until I was able to peel it down! 

Now I will even keep my leftover dried acrylic paint on my working space ;)

Every Story Needs an Introduction... (at Art Jewelry Elements)

Growing, we are always growing if we allow ourselves to do so. If you want to get to know me even a little bit more than you got from my blog here, have a look at my introduction post over at Art Jewelry Elements as one of the new contributors. As times goes by I am not only learning to handle the more painful memories but also to talk about them and sometimes even smile (since the most painful memories are more than not also linked to our loved ones). 

"Every Story Needs an Introduction..."

"Dreaming of colour" - Polymer clay leaf pendants

Sometimes a theme seems to be simple, a theme like wood. There is so much one could create, forest silhouettes, actual trees, leaves and flowers, small and big animals, insects, overgrown stones and moos, hidden meadows...

But nothing hit me. It seems that the more limited a challenge is (okay this was just a theme but I do love to use it like a personal challenge ;) ) the better my brain actually is able to think beyond my usual ideas. So.... not with wood... too many great and nice options... *sighs*

It took several days until I was on my balcony, getting some fresh herbs... that I thought of texture and pattern. I made some years ago lovely black and white leaves from polymer clay using (not innovative but always lovely!) some real leaf imprints. An idea I wanted to go back to but maybe with different shapes.

So there we go... not all finished because the gloss caught a brush hair (have to remove the surface and gloss and then add gloss again), not sure whether I want to add more colour to some and of course still have to add the ear pins for the little round ones.

But here are some closer images of the ones who are finished. I like this drop with two different leaf vein structures: Fine lines at the front (or back if preferred)...

...and rather bold lines with a more rustic appeal on the back (or rather front?). Just seeing the pendant now: It could be a tree silhouette, nai? And little holes to add dangle just because I love dangles!

Like the earring pair at the top of the blog entry just really tiny! Love the hint of blue at the top...

The long and round shape is covered all over with the leaf vein structures. I took care to have the middle line go directly down at the front and the rest of the structures are going all around. It gives a stylized and still very natural and organic look.

I also made a simple leaf pendant with a more gentle colour scheme, not so contrasting like black and white. The hints of blue and green are lovely but I have to say, I personally prefer the stark contrast.

  Or maybe the combination with a hint of colour somewhere :)

You can find some of them at my etsy shop here but not all right now. Some need more gloss and the ear studs still need to be finished. But if you would like to get something I didn't list on etsy, just write me :)

Streetart - "What do you wish?" (On the streets, Leipzig)

This just made me smile! :)

PS: For all the ones trying to learn or to reactivate their german: With a tiny wee spelling error ;)

"Time can tell" - Artist Trading Card

A collage made with paper, cardboard, book pages, fabric...
Painted with acrylic paint, gesso, stamping ink, water colour, black marker...

Maybe I will add some focus point... some day... but also love the tree as it is right now :)

Art Jewelry Elements - I am one of the new contributors!

Okay, here are some exciting news (yes, you may already have got that with the blog title alone ;) )! I will join Art Jewelry Elements as a contributor!

I may or may not have had a big smile over my face and may or may have not jumped up and down a little bit. I will leave this to your own imagination!

But I really feel honoured! AJE is one of the blogs I am following myself for years now and they always had one of my favorite challenges ever: Component of the month (all contributors get the same component by one of the members and some components will also be given away to readers as a giveaway... everyone will use this component to create something and show it roughly a month later).

My first introduction post will be soon and I am playing with some ideas in my head what to show / do / write for my first impression (don't hesitate to make suggestions!).

After some break I am also planning to join some markets again this year, hoping to get some new displays done with Rumpel (or rather get him an idea so he can create them for me! Including some LED lights...!) and last but not least: Rumpel and I will get married in October!

I you wonder, of course I'll create some special jewelry for this date (for me and maybe some loved ones).

"Moment" - Artist Trading Card

One of my favorites I ever made. Maybe even THE favorite ATC. It started quite randomly and gained shaped and contour, feeling and texture step by step.

I know it is an ATC but no, I will keep it with me! ;)

ATC - "In my dreams"

This little ATC arrived in its new home. I had a hard time to part with it but love the idea that it may inspire someone else (at least I hope so ;)). The background is made with acrylic paint and stamped with some of my handmade craft foam dot stamps. The work really great. Okay, they won't last forever but they are so easy and fast to make and the costs are really low.

The lace was painted with black gesso and then the back was painted with dark red acrylic paint. You see how it comes through. A subtle effect that creates a lot of depth. The face and butterfly are made with polymer clay and some molds, easy and fast and lovely. They are also painted with black gesso for the matte effect. This allowed me to create the clear and glossy teardrop on top.

I really like this little one... makes me smile.