Coming soon to an Etsy shop near you...

I spent more than a month developing and refining two new lines of jewelry, which I will start listing in my Etsy shop in August. I know, doing them one at a time would have been wiser, but inspiration is a powerful force, and I simply could not fight with it. The first line is sprouting from my original faux cloisonne technique. Those familiar with this technique know that a faux cloisonne design is created by pieces of wire, meticulously measured, shaped, and applied to the surface of raw polymer clay. It is a very time-consuming technique, and every piece made like that is truly unique. The new technique I am coming up with still employs the line as the major design element, but it allows me to make multiples of the same design, with or without some variations. While I am not ready to share the details of this technique yet, I am happy to show you a few proof-of-concept pieces:

Since these pendants require less time to make, I will be able to offer them at more affordable prices than my faux cloisonne creations. The second line is all about color. The picture below shows a few of my cabochons ready to be made into pendants and earrings. I will also have them available as beads for those who would like to use them in their own designs. And here are some experiments with fusing these two techniques. While the results are interesting, I am not quite pleased with them yet. I think I will list these pendants in my Etsy shop as well and wait to see what kind of response I can get. I may come back to this concept and explore it some more, but I am not planning to do it right now.

A Good Article

Here is a good article I came across about starting your own craft business. I hope you will find it useful!

http://artsandcrafts.about.com/od/startingyourbusiness/tp/startcraftsbusiness.htm

New Tutorial
Polymer Clay and Pearls Vase

I finished writing this tutorial over weekend and it is now available in my Etsy shop.

Cool!

I've just found out that my work is being featured in three different treasuries on Etsy right now:
Happy Go Indigo by AmetrineHealing.etsy.com,
Amber by noblegnome.etsy.com,
and Learn Make Enjoy by Collete.etsy.com.

I can't believe it! This is the first time for me to have my works in three treasuries at the same time. Cool, isn't it?

Thank you, ladies!

Red Poppy Focal Beads or Buttons
Polymer Clay and Fiber

I just listed these focal beads in my Etsy shop, Eugena777.etsy.com.

I've been playing with this design for awhile and very pleased with the results.

First of all, I am happy with the combination of polymer clay and fiber. Looks different, isn't it?

The other exciting thing about these beads is that they may be used in so many different ways in various designs. Bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings – anything! These beads would work as unique buttons as well. Imagine three or four of them in a row on something a hand-knitted or crocheted...

I made these beads with two parallel beading holes, about 1/8” apart. The beads may be used in multi-string designs, and their structure will prevent them from turning over when the finished piece is worn. In a single-string design, one of these beads would also work great used as a focal part. In this case, use only one beading hole. Because the hole is off-center, the bead will be perfectly balanced and stay on its right side when the necklace is worn.

Yet another possibility is to combine them with wire and chains.



Here are a few pictures explaining, step-by-step, how to make this necklace. You will need about 2” of 24ga wire, some jumprings, two red poppy jasper beads on headpins, a clasp, and about 20-21” of chain (the two dangling pieces of chain at the bottom of the necklace are about 2” and 2.5”, and the necklace itself is about 16” long).

Always and Forever

My brown Steampunk butterfly necklace was included in the treasury made by Kate of OrganicOdysseys.etsy.com.

This is what Kate said in her comments: "Love transcends space and time. Circles symbolize eternity. Always and Forever has been my all time favorite song for over 35 years. I hope you enjoy this collection!"

Thank you, Kate! It is a lovely collection!

Here is the link to this treasury:

etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=69433

Student Work

I absolutely love it when people, who bought my tutorials, share the pictures of their finished creations. I also love to see how my students change the techniques and projects I teach to make them their own.

That is why I was so excited when Arlene Harrison (harrisonhollowdesigns.blogspot.com) sent me the pictures of these bangle style bracelets she made following my newest Polymer Clay and Gemstones Bracelet Tutorial.



Arlene mixed the beads of various sizes and made the bead inclusion multi-string. She also used stamps to add texture to her bracelets and added swirled details. The resulting bracelets look very beautiful and distinctively different from the project in the tutorial, which is great. I am happy to see how Arlene took the ideas presented in the tutorial and used them as a base for her own creativity and imagination.

Way to go, Arlene, and thank you for sharing!

New Bracelets

These bracelets are coming to my Etsy shop this week.

They combine polymer clay and gemstones: Baltic amber, goldstone (which is actually a man-made material, I know), imperial jasper, blue kiwi, and Russian amazonite.

I've been playing with the new photo prompts for these pictures, too. The saucer in the second picture, for example, was found on a garage sale last week. The lady who sold it, kept explaining to me how easy would it be to clean this thing. I said: “Thank you, I am not going to clean it – I want to use it just as it is!” She kept insisting that all I need to do is scrub it with some baking soda...

Another Treasury!



This one is by Barbara handy of BarbiesBest.etsy.com. Barb included all kinds of polymer clay beads and pendants, a raw polymer clay cane, and my tutorial (Thank you, Barbara!). I love the idea behind this treasury!

And here is the link so that you could look at all the featured shops closer:
www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=69038