"Ancient woods" - Necklace

This necklace was a commission with the idea that it should be green ;) Better to say it was a birthday present for one in our research group. Since green is one of my favorite colours especially in creating beads as well as jewellery I had quite a collection to select beads from.

You'll find some of my own handmade beads, made from ceramic clay as well as polymer clay.

But also a lot of art beads from others. Among them one of my favorite glass bead artist Kimberly Rogers from numinosity beads. 

As well as beads from Julia Hay, Sue Reynolds, Michelle Susanne, Samantha Capeling (I etched the beads, hope you don't mind!) and Karen Totten.

There are also new and vintage czech glass beads, some natural materials like petrified wood and even a tiny roman glass beads that is between 1000 and 2000 years old. 

It comes together with knotted waxed linen. As different as all the beads are, they come together through the colour scheme as well as the gradient size shape. I love how it turned out. Every bead has its own story, 

Simple without being simple :)

Layer above layer... it all shines through...

This painting is a kind of experiment I did. I do this a lot at the moment, to see what works for me and what not, what may be something I really enjoy and what effects can I generate. 

There is a difference between imaging something and really doing it. Sometimes I realize, as nice as a technique or effect may be, it is not me. This time it is me. I really love this mixed media piece (it is not a painting, no?).

The background is actually a collage made on a wooden panel. There is not too much to be seen anymore, painted and stamped over and over again and then I took a white pen and wrote over the whole panel. 

Just everything what was in my mind, bothering me as well as some nicer thoughts ;) I used a stencil with heavy acrylic paste and brushed some acrylic paint on top. Also I let a lot of acrylic inks run in and around the acrylic structures. 

  

Since the acrylic paste dried clear, you can see the layer below, a subtle effect but I love it! Layer above layer above layer....  still, every layer comes through!

And no, not readable anymore as a text! Just single words can be seen ^^

"Hidden treasures" - Whatever you can find, put it onto it!

Now I can show you a box that I already had finished for some time but since it was designed to be a birthday present (or the wrapping rather ;) ), I couldn't show you before.

Again I used some of my polymer clay pieces, added some spices, paper, textiles, metal stuff, plastic wrappings and other things lying around...

...but I also combined it this time with structure paste as well as crackle paste over an old map as background.

I tried to keep a general "greenish" tint. The acrylic paints I used were gold from Schmincke as well as the iridescent colours from pebeo.

Just have a look at the textures!Love the crackles...

...the pepper and pigment corns...

...the sand like structure paste...

And a little lizard as my focal :)

ATC - a little bit of paper piecing...

I know I show a little bit more "paper" related things in the last weeks over here. It is not that I didn't make jewellery but either I can't show it until now because it is made for special occasions and persons... and I also didn't manage to get got pictures during the last two weeks... so... paper "stuff" it is!

This little artist trading card I made for the challenge over at Paper artsy. This is the second time I take part but I really, really enjoy challenges! It is all about playing and exploring for me with different techniques and media. Even though I like the results most of the time, often the result may not be "me" with a new technique. But I only get to know this after I tried! Also I learned something from it ;)

The challenge now at paper artsy is "Paper piecing" (go over here to have a look for yourself and see what other people made). 

Surprisingly enough it seems that paper piecing is something I enjoyed more than I would have thought! I took a print of a bird I had laying around and cut out all shapes with different colours and glued them on paper scraps I had. This includes some gelatine monoprints I had that I made on a little bit heavier paper. I wanted to have a slightly raised image.

And yes, even if it can't really be seen now (only if ou look at it closely): All the different colour / body areas were made from different pieces!

I glued everything together, went over it with acrylic paint, water colour, markers... and added a stamp I got at a destash (from Laura, I follow her blog "Bugs ans fishes" for years now ;)) because it missed a little bit of colour.

What shall I say? Love the result! It is more grungy and organic than I would have thought and that is actually me! :)

"The Awakening of spring" - Earrings

Pantones color(s) of the year 2016 is (are) "Rose quartz and serenity". They are not really my favorite choice or to put it in a more positive way, they were a real challenge. So you may understand why I am so proud of this earring pair! Beautiful artisan lampwork nuggets, small czech beads, hammered copper and some tiny copper spacer... so surprised how much I love Pantones choice now ;)

You can also find them in my shop here :)

ATC - "Explore more - expect less"

My second ATC for the challenge I was to late for ;) 

The house parts are really simple: I used polymer clay, impressed them with texture cut out the rought shapes, baked and painted them!

I also had to use more of the iridescent acrylic paint from Pebeo ;) I have some house parts left but not sure if I want to use them. Even though I like the result, this is also not me. But I am so into the background, that is definitely me! ;)

Also made with my new tiny dot stamp made from craft foam!

ATC - "I see you"

Paper collage from magazines and printes, combined with stencils and texture paste. She looks more beautiful in person than here on my blog but just let me tell you: I love my little warrior! 

A warrior not because of actual fighting with aggression but rather by not turning around, by not being blind. To be seen and recognized as human beings is often more important than a lot of people realize.

ATC - "Home with you"

As promised yesterday, here is one of my ATC cards for the topic "houses" - not made in time ;)

I like this one but it is not really me. One of the reasons why I enjoy playing with different material and styles so much (also in jewellery). Just to think about it is something quite different from doing it. I know what I'll take from this one with me and also what not! ;)

ATC - "Catch the moment"

The idea of creating artist trading cards (ATC) was started in Life Book 2016, or rather the arrangement of an ATC exchange. No, I am not showing you any of the ATC I'll send across the world since this should be an surprise but one of the many I started creating (also no in any order except they were all done in the last few days ^^).

I want to start with this one because I made it for a blog challenge over at Paper artsy. The topic is fabric. Actually I also made two for the last challenge (houses) but forgot the time so when I wanted to upload them to my blog I realized the deadline was over for... roughly two hours? *sighs*

I'll show you what I made in the next days but I thought rather start with the ATC for the actual challenge since I am really, really good in "forgetting the challenge time". 

I used stitched flowers from an old vest. The back of the vest was a beautifully woven fabric that will end as a pillow in the near future but I started cutting out some of the flowers. I thought they would go well with my little face and indeed they do! The doll face is made from polymer clay. The phrase is actually from a special edition "Tempo" tissues. Just sued matte gel medium to glue it on and cover it and that work surprisingly well!

The background are drawn marks, some acrylic paint and ink and pen...

"Timeless" - Small polymer clay earrings that should have been for a blog challenge...

....but were finished way to late! This happens quite often to me. There seem to bee weeks or even a whole month of time ahead and I am full of ideas. But never ever in time... (or rarely, I may overstate this a little bit for the dramatic effects)

I am still proud of these little ones. Surprisingly conceptual for me but it worked! The zigzagged lines, the colour scheme, the way the colour blends and blurs the lines...!

So the idea worked, but just not for the time frame set for the challenge (or inspiration) ;)