"Magical woods" - Earrings

I made the little polymer clay charm before christmas... before christmas 2013. I went through my own polymer clay bead stash and forced myself to finally use it piece by piece...

They were made with a negative mold I created from a stamp. The whole stamp I used for pendants and christmas tree decorations. The deer and owl are made just using small pieces from the stamp mold. 

...or force myself to part it by giving it away or putting it up in my etsy shop. Either way, beads are not meant to be hidden in the dark, they should get their chance to tell a story and be loved and worn :)

They are long, really, really long but I love wearing long earrings myself. Combined with czech glass beads and copper ear wire. All of the beads are from Rebecca's The Curious Bead Shop. Some are even of one of her monthly bead kits (Curiosity Club). It also just took a long time before I used them ;)

Did I say how long they are? ;)

You may get them here in my etsy shop :)

Finally. 2014. It was really time!

A new little owl bead I made. I like a picture in every blog post.
I just couldn't find a suiting one so....
I thought an owl picture would be second best ^^

I wish you all a happy new year!

I can't tell you how glad I am that 2013 is finally over. Damn 2013.

I always try on new years eve or better at midnight to really allow all the bad things that happened and all the emotions I mostly push to the side to be functional to come up. All of it. To give them room, to give them tears... I don't want to take all the pain with me in a new year. It is my own personal ritual for over ten years now since my mother died due to cancer. It is not always perfectly working, how could it? But it is helping me to breath a little deeper again, with a little bit less weight. I am very good at hiding all painful emotions so deep inside of me that it sometimes seems there are not even existent. Allowing myself to be not functional at this time of the year, just to let it go, to cross the last year out with a big red line. Rituals are helpful in life.

I lost all my little ones just in one year, Dean, Grusel and Bisu. There were also other problematic things happening but nothing compared to this lose. I still miss them every day. But I also keep it to myself because most people can't understand how you can mourn for cats, for pets, so long.

But now there is a new year ahead of me. I will make the best out of it! :)

In the woods - polymer clay ornament tutorial (and giveaway :) )

Here is the tutorial for my christmas ornament I made for 4th annual ornament blog hop from art bead scene. This was the first time I participate after just seeing all the beautiful pieces every year :) Above you can see my "production line" for christmas. I want to give them to family and friends this year and hoping to create new ones every year (at some time one has to start, nai?). 

I made a mold with a stamp after falling in love with the image of the stamp. Normally I would not have bought this stamp, too expensive. But you see the tree sceleton, the little owl and deer and it is snowing...?! 

A clear case of: Want!

But I am not a fan of impressed images at least not if you have a kind of landscape. Somehow trees and animals have to come "out" of the clay and not go in. Not a problem with patterns just with rather living things and as said landscapes. So I made a mold from the stamp with super sculpey firm. I think you can use any other polymer clay that is a little bit harder like fimo classic (but not fimo soft for example!). But this one I bought for Rumpel because he found fimo classic still being to soft to create sculptures and I have to say this clay is really, really great! Only available in grey but really strong and hold fine details perfectly!

The easy part: I stamped into a layer of super sculpey firm. You can see that I pressed a little bit harder at the lower part but that was okay for me. Bake! There is your mold :) I nicked the mold at the top to know the direction after I press clay into the mold. 

Because polymer clay likes to stick to polymer clay, especially in tiny structures, I use talcum powder (Penaten is a talcum powder for babies) to be able to remove my raw polymer clay from the mold. Because the mold has tiny details I add the talcum powder NOT directly to the mold but onto the clay before I press it in the mold. Otherwise you risk to put too much powder (even fine one as this) into the little details and block your mold.

Uhm... can you see all the dust and dirt I managed to get on my white polymer clay? I used Fimo classic in white by the way. Between taking pictures and kneading the polymer clay I managed to get dust on my working space. But other than looking bad on this image (that I show on my blog for all the world to see... *blushing*) it doesn't matter. It is just on the surface and later on I will paint and sand the piece. All the dust and dirt will be gone!

Press your polymer clay firmly with your finger tips into the mold. Make sure you really pressed at every area. I like to go around with my thumbs over the surface, starting from the middle to the outside. This is also the reason why I made the little nick / mark so I know where the top side. While pressing the clay in I am moving the mold quite a bit and if I want to write something at the backside I want it to be upside. 

While the poylmer clay is in the mold, I start to work on the backside. You can use stamps, texture sheets, write on top with a gel pen (it is water safe after drying and the gel paint goes really good into the clay) or just press in any kind of pattern like I did here. I used knitting needles (best polymer clay tool ever!), an old tool from my zoological class and the back of a paint brush. 

I carefully remove the piece from the mold and put a hole at the top with a knitting needle. I always go from both sides to have a smooth hole. If you are afraid to disturb your image while doing this: Put the piece into the freezer for some minutes before you make a hole. You could also drill a hole after baking with a dremel.

Of course: Bake!

Here are the backsides of my other "In the woods" ornaments I showed you on top. Do you see the one backside with the letters turned upside down? Yes, that was the reason why I made a mark in my mold ^^As you can see I use really everything I get hold of. The backsides itself make beautiful ornaments.

Some more details... freeform pattern and clear silicone stamp...

...and even more... old jewelery pressed into, wooden fabric stamps, classic rubber stamps...

To add colour I use acrylic paints. My favorite brand is Reeves. Not too cheap, not too expensive, has a really good hold on polymer clay and such bright and good colours. I choose two colours (sometimes three but not more) for a single ornament. I randomly apply both colours on both sides.

Make a mess and enjoy it! I use old plastic lids for my acrylic paints that also allow me to mix or water down paints. Here I used blue, a little bit of white and purple. 

I remove most of the paint with a paper towel as long as it is still wet. I am not too accurate, I just want to remove a large amount but the fine details I am doing by sanding the piece later on. The backside...

And the front... Just let it dry before sanding. Otherwise it will be a mess. Yes, I already was impatient, happened to me. 

My torn sandpaper... and after sanding: Wash the piece to remove the dust, let it dry and then you may add some protection with gloss or renaissance wax or whatever else you like to use with polymer clay. You could leave it like this but I am afraid that the white would be stained to easily. But I don't know if this is really true just pure paranoia after putting so much work into one piece ^^

And after sanding! Now the contrast is really nicely enhanced. Also all the little stuff sticking to the clay is gone! As I said, don't worry to much!

Finished!

And the backside a little bit more sanded. Not too much, I like the rough edges, but enough to let the white colour pop out more.

Oh, and by the way, I also tried the mold to make little owl earrings. I still have to put some layers of gloss on them for protection (and also sorry for the blurry image but it was difficult to take pictures in the middle of the night and they started to roll all over the place... mph! ^^)

But you know what? Christmas is around the corner so why not to have a little giveaway? If you would like to have the "bead" in the woods I made here for the tutorial and also the little owl earrings (finished of course), just leave me a comment! Let's make it a short one: I will draw the winner on sunday, 22th of december, at 14 pm CET. I know that the shipping will take longer than christmas but hey, that would be something to look for after all the christmas presents?! ;)

EDIT: Sorry I didn't write it down! Of course this giveaway is open to everyone worldwide as long as the mail service offers delivery (the german mail in this case) :)

Also changed the picture of the owl earrings, they are finished now. I still don't seem to manage a good foto... I really need a new camera! Next year I'll get one.

In the woods - ABS ornament blog hop

At the moment I am sitting in the bus from Leipzig to Berlin. The have free internet access in the bus (how great is this?! using MeinFernbus :)) and I finall have the time to write and edit my blog entry. I already made the beads / pendants I wanted to use for the christmas tree ornaments, I also assembled everything and took pictures... but to finally have a look at the pictures and show them here... I didn't find the time until now. 

No christmas tree, sorry.

Back to the blog hop!

I always adored all the ornaments from the annual ornament blog hop from art bead scene. This year I finally participate! Thanks for letting me play along and special thanks to Heather not only to organize this but even more to send reminder emails (so necessary for me, sorry!).

I really love the bright clear blue combined with the purple. Little beads and swaroswki bicones.

And hanging from our kitchen cupboard so you can see the whole ornament with hanger.

I made the bead out of polymer clay in white (Fimo classic) and used blue and purple acrylic colours (Reeves). I created an mold from an stamp impression I fell n love with. But I wanted raised and not impressed structures. I already took all the pictures for a tutorial. Now I just need to find a little bit of time to select and edit them. So please come back for the tutorial if you are interested. :)

Lost ones... new ones...!

Some time ago I had a give away. I made a lot of tiny and bigger stamps (have a look here *sniff*) and send them over the ocean. Sadly as much as I love snail mail... sometimes snail mail and I, we don't go too well together. The stamps were lost somehow, somewhere on their way. Strange how much it hurts! 

But also there was one person waiting for the stamps she won... which never came. Also a really bad feeling...!

Therefor I carved some new stamps and send them on their way. Hopefully they'll arrive this time!

The tiny ones: Some numbers, tiny ornaments (look great if you make patterns with them!), a book, a tree... and time... everyone needs time!

The silhouettes for the swallow, the owl and the pegasus I got from Karen's graphics fairy :)

As you may see (the numbers are cm), it is not the smallest stamp :)

I changed the owl a little bit. I gave her some white "ornaments" ^^ 

Beloved owls...

This is an image made with my new owl stamp. Not a small one this time because I would love to use it also on fabric. 

You have to know that this image comes from the fabric of the bed linen I had as a child and which were also used by my sibling. 

I nearly forgot it but my sister gave me some of the cut bed linen (don't worry, there is another one with different colours in the memory collection of my parents :) ). Strange how something which was so ordinary now changes to something so special! I just had to smile and I'll make a cuddle pillow just for myself with the fabric! 

I just made a foto with my digi and printed the image in black and white. From this print I cut out on of the owls. I went over the back with a pen to create a kind of copy paper for image transfer.

If you put this side over the rubber and trace the lines of the image they'll go over the rubber. Perfect for carving! But be careful, never ever use too much pressure or you may scratch the rubber. And of course I also made a stamp for the bigger star! 

I found the design for the bed linen in a brown and white combination at smafolk (a danish design, they have also beautiful kids clothes!). But not with other colours (the one stored is green :) )... It must be purchased at the early eighties... or even earlier? So if any of you find one of the other coloured owl fabrics and / or bed linen... please, please, please.... send me a piece! 

The owl would be sweet for cards and tag... but also for fabric! (Okay, my fabric stamp pad is nearly empty...)

I love it!

New little stamps...

I forgot to show you some of the stamps I carved! The blog entry was finished but I wanted to wait until they arrived their destination... and over this waiting time I never showed it... 

These stamps I made for "für große Mädchen". Translated into english: for big girls (big = grown up)

She wanted a stamp which said "handmade". But you know me as soon as I start carving stamps I am addicted and want to carve more! Also I wanted some more personal stamps for her...

So I searched through her blog and found a lot of her cute owls designs. I tried to get a silhouette which would remember her owls :)

You see: They are really tiny! I am measuring in cm, not inch!

Handmade...

...her blog name and also the sign for her craftings...

...combined with the owl...

Just for you: This was my design sketch for the owl! 

PS: How about some fabric with the tiny owl? I am collecting some digital designs to get them on fabric (but I want to order rather a bunch of fabrics than only single ones...). I already have my octopus and tentacles... the mushroom frrom the stamp... mh... still collecting!

PPS: There are some more blog entries like this waiting to be published... but only can be showed when they have arrived atz their destination ^^