On my worktable and some tiny eyeballs just for you!

There is a lot which I am creating at the moment. But it takes time and I only find this time in between all the other important aspects of the normal life. This time is then dedicated and to create earrings from polymer clay will go over  time period of days and weeks.

Just little steps... molding, pressing, baking, painting, baking again, adding, painting, glossing, drilling....

But there is a need to create, just to make "stuff". I calm down, something inside of me relaxes... settles down? It is hard to describe it in words but more often than not there is too much going on inside my brain. Not bad things, all kind of thoughts, ideas, worries as well as the opposite... just too much. Bursting. Racing. Bubbling. (I always wanted to use this word! ^^) I would never change that in itself! But it drains energy. Reading, talking, watching some movies... that all is great but no help. In the back of my brain everything is still working. But creating stuff, to go from ideas over experimenting, to have all the sensations from the visual idea to the touch of the material, that brings it all in order.

In the end creating is a catalyst while calming at the same time. Ideas need room and time to develop. Even in the own mind.

I love to see how things turn out in the end. How my creating evolve. How many facettes of myself are inside my work.

And I can let it go. As long as it will be with someone who really wants to have it!

So for the long time with just some spare blog entries: Here some view from my workingspace! (if you wonder, I won't show you the rest of the table or the surroundings! No way! I see all the people showing pictures from their space, calling it a mess... and I think by myself: You don't know what a real mess looks like! ^^)

Also: I will have a little giveaway! 

You can get a pair of my tiny eyeball earring studs! It will be a very short giveaway because I want to sent it to you in time before halloween (you see, the giveaway is worldwide but I live in germany... and the mail is often not the fastest...).

How to enter?

• Just leave a comment here (and be sure there is a way I can contact you!)
• For a second chance: Become a follower (or already be one) and tell me in a separate, second comment.

Entries will be open until wednesday, 12 pm, CET.
(24th october)

Look at his blue eyes! How can you resist? ;)

Have a look! - More of polymer clay eyeballs

A lot of eyes printed out with a laser printer! All of them are images from real eyeballs I just changed the saturation, contrast and also a little bit the colour itself so that they are brighter! 

I was asked to go more into details with my eyeballs as well as image transfer and yes... I nearly forgot but I took pictures from the process creating this eyeball jar (more pictures here):

I just little empty honey jars I had (or rather: my family had at home! I was there taking a look at the house while they were abroad. So the prize was: Some jars lost to their daughter ^^).

You see the difference between a normal (left) and a very high colour (right) saturation? The last one works better for image transfer because you always lose some colour due to the transfer process.

I cut the eyes in shape with a little border left. 

To see my other eyeball tutorial: have a look here. I just use a very similar technique: Making a ball from white polymer clay (fimo classic) and pressing it in form. 

Lay the eyeball image on top and press it carefully but firm onto the clay.

Use some water to wet the paper. Just give the water a minute to soak through the paper...

...you will start to see the image through the wet paper!

Now starts the process which will take some time to really get used to but there is no other way than trying it again and again. In the end you will be surprised how easy this is! You just have to get a feeling how to rub the paper fibers off without smearing the image in the clay.

The fibers start going off. I am working in circles from the center to the outside. But I know that friends use other techniques and they also work quite well.

...more and more...

In the middle it is now perfect. No more pressure needed. There are some paper fibers left and as soon as they are dried you will see them clearer and they will hide a little bit of your image. But there is no need to remove them all. As soon as you add shiny gloss it will look again like in the wet state! 

And really: Add at least 5 to six layers of shiny gloss / lacquer. It makes a great difference! (while being such an easy trick ^^)

That was it! :) Of course adaptable for all kind of image transfers!

PS: Yes, I have a lot more to show you... still... no quiet moment was avaiable... but I will take my time in the next days to prepare all the pictures and blog entries! :)

All the grey...

Again: Formentera, spain, in august...

In the summer rain is really rare there but this year it was surprisingly humid for that time. It even rained two times in the two weeks I was there! Two times! In August! Nearly impossible...

But I love the stormy clouds and how the colours of the sea turned into a strange grey, like steel and sometimes a spark of silver.

Inspirations: Birds of steel (Quedlingburg)

We had a kind of family meeting in north germany. Celebrating, talking, eating... from the last at least too much, from the other one I think it is impossible to have too much... But Rumpel may have another opinion: He is quite often astonished how many words are inside of me that have to come out! ^^

On the way back to Leipzig we made a stop in Quedlinburg. It is a small city, very beautiful and always worth a visit! While we had a very fast little walk around and through the city I saw this birds at a house. All the birds are at the same house just different sides.

Beautiful birds of steel! 

Inspirations: On the streets (Leipzig)

No comment on this one ^^

Vintage birds - earrings

The earrings are made out of polymer clay (Fimo). I use some bird images which I found at Karens graphics fairy. The colour saturation and contrast was set to high (just use the word image tools, not moe necessary). 

For the image transfer just try out fimo classic and not fimo soft, I tried that too often: Don't work. It seems to work at first but then the colours are getting messy and sticky and will smear over the clay. Not happening with fimo classic. I never tried over polymer clay brands for image transfer so if you have experience with them and image transfer, please let me know! I am curious :)

I really like how the colours pop out! Like tiny vintage tiles :)

...and some bird cages...

...as last step: 5 to 6 layers (at least!) of shiny gloss...

Inspirations: Sheep (Formentera)

No words this time. Just some sheep in the evening sun!

August - Formentera, spain.

(the old bike again! ^^)

Macrame - just a little bit in cream

My first steps with macramé. Again made on formentera, in august this year. I bought a spanish crafting magazine with some macramé tutorials, very simple but with great effects! Not my arm but the one of a friend who ordered the first bracelets from me. She wanted a light colour, being subtle but with a great structure.

Here you can see my first experiments with a little bit thicker yarn... 

...it is really easy!

Just takes a lot of time.

And I am not the most patient person ^^

But give it a try!