"Deep down" - Polymer clay earrings

One of the essential things I think that makes a difference in creating is whether you really fall in love with your work. Maybe not love, every other strong emotions even down to hate may be fitting, but tht there is a deep emotional connection between your work and yourself. I am writing in this blog quite often that I have new favorites (earrings, beads, you name it!). It sounds maybe a little bit... mh... fast changing and variable but it is the truth. I so love these earrings. I already loved the beads that I made some time ago (with polymer clay and swellegant, have a look here). But the combination with the czech glass beads, the tiny metall elements, all the colours and (even though you can't see it in a static photo) last but not least the movement. They speak to me, they resonate with me deep down :)

Some details because I really love all the surfaces and colours in these earrings. See the patina of the beads? The little flakes and crumbled brass pieces after the oxidation process?

There is a little bit more of a green hint in the beads but I couldn't capture it perfectly... :/

Also have a look at the glass beads. The light blue nearly being clear shining between the subdued ends. Also the little metallic drops add to the movement of the earrings.

Of course I had to try different kind of background for the photos. As much as I love this it is not fitting for such long earrings. But still a neutral as well as interesting background. Maybe for other jewelery in the future :)

I know I already am complaining over and over that my camera is not really working anymore. It was so difficult to get clear photos. *sighs* I still wanted to show you a hanging photo version...

...as well as the backside because I had a hard time to decide which side of the beads I would prefer. I stayed at the original "front" side because there are more layers of patina and structures but I do like that both sides are great to look at.

PS: The czech glass beads I got from "the curious bead shop" :)

All the colours, all the structures... new polymer clay beads!

I mostly make pairs. Thinking that I mostly create earrings as jewelery this makes sense for me. I can still use them in necklaces or bracelets if I want to. Sometimes I make single beads but I really like to have all possibilities open by creating pairs.

An overview... part 1

...and part 2 :)

I made them with polymer clay (Fimo classic white, except for one pair) and used molds I made out of buttons, I used other jewelery and beads to impress patterns and a small ammonite mold I made some time ago. You see the three different sizes and shapes from ammonite beads? All made using the same mold! 

Just by shaping the beads afterwards by hand you can create all the differences. I even love the backside that is somehow organic (I have to take more pictures to show you ^^). 

After baking I used acrylic paint (from Reeves) to add colours. There are at least 2 different layer of paint on every bead if not more. 

I love the feeling when I am excited about something I made ^^ 

Now I have to decide if I want to use them by myself or if I finally take it on me and start not only to sell my finished jewelery but also the beads I made. Believe me, I have soooo many beads waiting to be painted or glazed or just to be used. But working with polymer clay itself gives me the greatest pleasure and relaxes me. In the end that means lot more beads than I will ever be able to use. Also I am curious what others would create using my beads :)

 Again just more pictures of the same beads... with all the details!

...and I so need a new camera *sighs*

And some last impressions from my table before christmas. I made ornaments for every one (here you can find the tutorial) and of course had to chose the beads I wanted to combine...

...and the wire hangers wrapped with wire and beads. I am already thinking about the ones for next year but I guess I will soon focus on other stuff (work starts tomorrow again) and than christmas will surprisingly close again ^^

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! :)

Polymer in pink and some advent calendar impressions

This box was made for the pink advent calendar. So of course I can only show it now to you (all the little packages safely open now). I used fimo classic, swaroswki stones, paynes grey and magenta acrylic paint (Reeves) and last but not least swellegant silver (Christi Friesen) for the accents on top!

It was difficult to try to catch all the depth of the colour and especially the great pink purple shades. This was the best I could manage but believe me it doesn't do reality justice :)

Some side views! 

And yes, I made advent calendars. Also, like every year I forget to take pictures in time ^^ So here are just a few impressions!

With little number tags made out of polymer clay... 

One for my parents, one for my little sister, one for my little brother, one for Rumpel and a pink one for a dear friend of mine :)

The first christmas present from me this year :)

Even if I already draw the winner of my little giveaway... between baking and wrapping presents and having some coffee with friends... I didn't manage to post ;)

So for a christmas present after christmas (I am curious how long it will take for shipping :) ) the drawn number was 4:

Kathy Lindemer19. Dezember 2013 12:04

What wonderful directions! You answered some questions I have had in my mind. I would love to win these beads.

I wish you all happy christmas and a happy new year!

Inspirations: On the streets (Leipzig)

You see: I took the foto while it was still autumn around here and the trees just started to get all their glorious coloured leaves. But I realized just now that I never showed here one of my favorite sculptures in Leipzig! This rather steampunk like bacteria stands in front of the BBZ (Biotechnologisch-Biomedizinische Zentrum, Centre for Biotechnology and Biomedicine). You see the genome? ^^ The surface created out of rust is just stunning!

Under the sea...

Yes, this is also polymer clay. I made these bead out of polymer clay and then used swellegant brass and different patinas to create this old metal effect. They could have laid deep down under the sea for a long time... For me they look tribal and I definitely keep them!

All the other things I show you were in the birthday present for my sister. I already prepared this blog entry and... ehm... forgot it because I know I could just show it after her birthday and somehow during that time it fell out of my mind. 

She lost her octopus necklace so I found another one for her. She really loved it. This one is smaller, thought, so I added some czech glas beads I got from the curious bead shop. 

All the shades of green and blue, like sea water and foam...

I also added a pendant. Normally just a ready to use leaf but I added swellegant brass and patina to get this gorgeous surface.

And I also got some little tentacled ones, so easy and cute earrings! The next time I will add some patina and beads but to be honest I also loved them simple as this.

For these leaves I used swellegant copper paint and patina. It makes such a differences and I love both effects!

These leaves became also earrings. 

Here just a last image how they look in direct sunlight!

Inspire! - Polymer clay box

You see the impression of the word "inspire"? This was made by a letter noodle stamp I made! ;) Just glued letter noodles on a blank surface and had my little stamp. It is really strange how the simplest ideas are the ones that have the biggest impact (at least for me and at least outside the lab ^^). The other structures you can see are made by my own pattern stamps (made from various surfaces I found, like the speakers, laptop, chairs...) or wooden fabric stamps. If you look at the box you will always find new structures the longer you look at it. 

I used paynes grey acrylic paint (Reeves) and inka gold (Viva) in shades of blue and green for the surface. The metallic quality of inka gold is really stunning but you have to take care that you will seal the colour carefully because it is not waterproof. Oh, and I added some feed to the box! 

PS: For the german readers: This is a pulmoll bonbon box!

Hammered texture - silver earrings

While I was in the 9th class we had to have a work internship (this was still in Bremen, I had another one in Leipzig because they have it at the 10th class). The wife of my uncle was a goldsmith (he is a silver smith) and I was allowed to work in her workshop. She taught me to saw and file and torch copper and silver. At first just copper until I learned at least the basics ;) I already showed the things I made here. So after seeing some weekend workshop to work with silver I was happy to be finally able to play again with metal and have all the good tools available as well as some good guidance and help.

After I finished my first earrings (that I can't show you because they will be a christmas present) I searched for some inspirations and tutorials and found this one from objects and elements! So I went for it, just changed the overall design a little bit for myself and am really pleased with the outcome. I love the tribal style quality :) Of course I spend the leftover time playing with surfaces and made the little silver beads below as well as the little closure from a leftover silver wire piece. 

Sadly silver is quite expensive... sniff! But the good side: The workshop has open days once a months where you can come and work there (and it is not really expensive!). More to play ;)

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.