My Work in a New Treasury


Linda Riopel (www.nkdesigns.etsy.com) featured my red orchid bead in her new treasury, Call 911... PCAGOE is on fire.

I really appreciate it, especially since creating a treasury, as well as securing a spot for it on etsy.com, is a very time-consuming process. I also love the titles that Linda comes up with for her treasuries.

Follow this link: http://http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=59164
to see all the beautiful polymer clay works in this treasury and to visit the shops of the featured artists.

New Tutorial, Bracelet

I finished the new tutorial today and quickly listed it in my Etsy shop, just in time before the weekend.

Placing it on my web site will take a bit longer, but I shall have it there no later than Monday.

Happy claying!

Perfect Gifts

for a Perfect Sister

My big sister turns 50 tomorrow. She lives in Moscow, we see each other very seldom, and I miss her...

My sister was born in Siberian city, Krasnoyarsk. When she was about a year old, our parents moved to Ukraine, and somehow she never visited her place of birth again. She wanted to go there this year, but again some family business kept her away from this trip.

My sister loves to travel. She's been in many places in Europe, in Egypt, Japan, America, and a few times in Australia. From her trips, she always brings back a decorative plate with a view of the place she visited. An entire wall in her kitchen is covered with these plates.

So, since she could not go to Krasnoyarsk, I decided to make her a plate with a view of this city. I shifted through quite a few pictures, but neither one touched my heart. There were a few interesting buildings and bridges, but I had no idea whether they were there 50 years ago or not. Then I remembered about the place near the city called Krasnoyarsk Columns. They are not mountains, but rather huge rocks, partially covered with trees. I found a picture of two of them that look like heads of some fantastic giants and used it to make a photo transfer onto white polymer clay. This is the first time I've ever done anything in this technique, so I am rather proud of myself. I used black and white picture and antiqued the finished plate for a weathered look. I hope my sister will love it. I think she can honestly place it with her other travel souvenirs – her birth certificate proves that she' s actually been to this city.


My second gift for her is a set of earrings and a pendant. I remember our mom telling us about some small Siberian flowers, called “zharki”. The root of this word, “zhar”, means “heat” in Russian. She said they were incredibly bright-colored, and the entire tundra looked like it was on fire when they were in bloom. The sculpted flowers for this set is my artistic interpretation of this memory...

Work in Progress,
New Tutorial

I am working on a step-by-step tutorial for this fantastic bangle bracelet.

The design combines polymer clay (of course!) with some gems, and looks wildly exotic.

I hope to have this tutorial in my shop by the end of the month.

My Work is in a New Treasury

Katherine from KatherineJewelry.etsy.com featured my heart pendant form Forgotten Map series in her
new treasury.

All works in these collection are polymer clay hearts. Isn't it amazing how different they are?!

Walk in a Garden

There are many interesting places in Washington, DC, by my favorite two are the Arboretum and the Botanical Garden.

We spent a couple lovely hours in the Botanical Garden yesterday.

I've got myself some new images for my collection of shapes and colors.

















































































...And these little guys had their nest right there in one of the bushes in the garden.

My husband noticed the mama bird taking bugs inside that bush, so we took a quick pick at her nest while she went for the next portion.

My Work Is in Etsy Treasury

Linda Riopel of NKDesigns.etsy.com included my sea urchin vase tutorial along with the works of eleven other PCAGOE artists in her new treasury, I Can Sea Clearly Now:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=65922

Thank you, Linda!

Almost There!

My husband and I spent this morning taking a naturalization exam, and I am very happy to report that we both passed! We are still not considered American citizens officially, but we are almost there. There is only one more step left, and it is to take the oath.

The process of obtaining the American citizenship is a long and time-consuming. I am not complaining in any possible way, and I totally understand that there are many good reasons for it to take this long, but I cannot be happier to finally finish the process that began more than 10 years ago.

We both came to this country for an opportunity to work in the field we loved and were trained for, which is science, chemistry. Graduating at the time of the Soviet Union collapse left us jobless and homeless. No matter that we've just got the highest degrees from the best and oldest university in Russia – finding a job in our field to support our young family was nearly impossible. That is when we decided to move to the USA.

Our life here at first was quite challenging. However, even with our laughable English and no recommendations, we managed to find the jobs we loved and to advance in our careers. The first few years we had to apply for a working visa every so often (every two years? - I already forgot), and every time there was no guarantee that the visa would be granted. If not – we'd have to leave the country. Five years ago we have finally got our Green Cards. We still could not participate in the political life and were somewhat restricted in our travel, but at least we knew that we would not be forced out of our house or loose a job because of the legal status. With two kids, ages 8 and 6, it was a very reassuring feeling.

Over the years, we've got a better understanding of this country, its people, and its culture. In fact, we now feel much more at home in America than we do in Russia or in Ukraine. We still have cultural ties with our place of birth (and always will!), but we are ready to become the Americans.

Etsy Treasury

Craving Chocolate

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about Etsy treasuries – both about making them and getting my works in them. They are quite time consuming, and I seriously doubt their effectiveness as a marketing tool. I realized that my works were featured in a few treasuries recently, and I did not even post about it in my blog, which is not nice and probably not wise either. Now that I have more time I promise to do better.

Think about this treasury as a little collection made for fun and simple pleasure of seeing beautiful works of art. I hope you get the symbolism here, especially if you are a chocogolic, like myself.

Here is the link to this treasury on Etsy: http://http//www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=65068.

Leave me a note there if you like it, and please make sure to click on each picture (again, from Etsy web site) to see more works of these talented artists.

My Article in Polymer Cafe

I just received my contributor's copies of the August issue of Polymer Cafe magazine. My article, Steampunk Business Card Case, is published!

Click on the picture above for a larger version of it.

One Lovely Blog Award

I received the One Lovely Blog award from Tracey of TKDesigns. I hope you will take a moment to visit Tracey's blog, where she writes about her jewelry designs and her inspiration. I am sure you will enjoy her recent story about a bear visit to her backyard, complete with pictures!

Now it's my turn to pass this award on to some other blogs.

Here are the rules:
*Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
*Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
*Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

...And here are my 15 newly-discovered lovely blogs (not in any particular order):

alicestroppel.wordpress.com
lulubugjewelry.blogspot.com
www.njdminiatures.blogspot.com
swoondimples.blogspot.com
deserttalismans.blogspot.com
harrisonhollowdesigns.blogspot.com
campcactus.blogspot.com
humblebeads.blogspot.com
jibbyandjunablog.blogspot.com
beadcomber.blogspot.com
creagerstudios.blogspot.com
sharonsjewelrygarden.blogspot.com
thecolorofdreams.blogspot.com
livingwithwalls.blogspot.com
elementalforrest.blogspot.com

Behind each of these blogs, there is a talented person, whose work I admire. Some of them were recently featured in my Polymer Clay Chameleon blog.

Giveaway Results

I would like to thank everybody who commented on my previous post.

Judging by your comments, the bracelet tutorial would be the most interesting and the vase one – the least interesting for most people. I am a bit surprised by this result and very glad I asked for your opinion. Thanks to your comments, I now know how to better concentrate my efforts.

And now the results of this giveaway... I did a random drawing, and the lucky winner is... Dziga! She will receive one of my tutorials at her choice.

Dziga, please contact me by e-mail to claim your prize.

Giveaway

I am starting a new giveaway! The prize this time is one of my tutorials (again!), and the winner will be randomly chosen on June, 10. To participate, please answer these questions.

I am currently working on three new tutorials. One will be for a set of polymer clay bracelets (each with its own design). Another tutorial is for tree pendants, all created with a simple and clever hand-made tool, but each with its own design. The last tutorial is for a new vase, similar to this one.



So, which of these tutorials would you be the most interested in? And which you think is the least interesting?

Please post your answers as comments to this post.