Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year,
my friends!

Steampunk Butterfly Tutorial

My new tutorial is now available! Find it on my web site: http://www.eugenascreations.com/

What's Steampunk? In short, it is a fiction genre that celebrates steam power and machines. Think of Jules Verne and James Blaylock. This style is continued in visual arts and even music. For more information - Google.

In this tutorial, I explain how to use polymer clay, resin, pre-fabricated filigree, and (the most fun!) parts from an old mechanical watch to create a unique pendant. As always, this tutorial teaches a technique using a project as an example. This means that if you follow the tutorial step by step exactly as it is written, you will end up with a pendant very similar to the one shown here, but you will also master a new technique that can be applied to many more projects of you own. That is when the true creativity begins.

Steampunk Twist

I am having so much fun playing with the old watches! It 's like a treasure hunt – all these little parts somehow have been put together in some complicated and beautiful pattern, and discovering them is amazingly exciting. I re-arrange them to make pendants like the one pictured here. I've seen quite a few necklaces, earrings, and rings with the whole watch movements. My pendants are different, because they show off separate parts and those parts are covered with multiple layers of resin to make the whole pendant smooth like glass.

I have a couple more pendants in my Etsy shop, and I am working on a tutorial, which I am hoping to finish within a week or two.

Filigree, Polymer Clay, and Resin

I added a few new items to my Etsy shop today - five sets of earrings and a pendant, all from my new faux enamel line. I tend to separate faux enamel from faux cloisonne (although, technically speaking, cloisonne is one of the types of enamel). While items in my faux cloisonne line are all one-of-a-kind, with lots of hours required to create each design using pieces of wire, the faux enamel line is made using commercially-evailable brass or silver filigree. This line is more affordable since it is so much easier for me to make. I can also make multiple copies of the same design, if needed, and explore different color combinations within the same or similar design.

Recent Publications

Couple of my works have been recently published in beading/crafting magazines. I had these magazines around for a few weeks now and finally found some time to scan them and post pictures.

One picture shows my miniature hand-sculpted polymer clay orchid beads. I sent it to Polymer Cafe a a few months ago, right when I was working on my first tutorial in the miniature orchids series. I now have two of them available and about to finish the third one.

The other publication is a picture of my faux cloisonne set of beads. I wrote about these beads in my blog earlier this year.

There should be another publication, I think, in December issue of Polymer Cafe. For some reason, I cannot catch this magazine in stores (and they do not send a contributor's copy to people who's work is in the reader's gallery)...

Big Sculpted Orchids Tutorial

A new tutorial for sculpting polymer clay orchids is now available on my site. The tutorial shows how to make three different types of orchids and contains nearly fifty color full-size pictures.

Sculpting Orchids
Video on http://www.youtube.com/

A couple of weeks ago I had this wonderful (or so I thought!) idea. I decided to make a short video that would work both as a tutorial and an ad for my new line of orchids and then post it on youtube.com. I also wanted this tutorial to be quite original and artsy. I did not want to sit down in front of the camera, recite all the tools and materials, and then demonstrate every step with my comments and explanations. It was supposed to be different...

So, after 2.5 hours of videotaping and two weeks of clipping and editing, I am happy to report that the video is ready and it was uploaded to be seen by everybody interested in polymer clay, sculpting, and/or orchids (in any order).

It is still not ideal in my view, and I would really like to work on its sound track some more, but I simply cannot take it any more right now and need to step away from this project for a while. I may polish it some more later.

While I am waiting to hear people's comments, I shall say that I had lots of fun and have tons of ideas for the new films.

If you cannot see the embedded video, here is the link: Sculpting Polymer Clay Orchids

EnviroTex Lite, Two-Part Epoxy Resin

I was repeatedly asked by people who like my polymer clay tutorials whether they can buy any of the resin I recommend in some small containers. I understand that some people would like to do the project described in the tutorial only ones or twice. They do not intend using this technique often enough to justify the purchase of a quarter gallon of the resin.

To answer these inquiries, I decided to list a trial-size resin kit in my Etsy shop. To try things out, I have only one set in my shop for now, but I can always add more if there is enough interest. Here is the link: my Etsy store

Fire Mountain Gems Contest Results

I've got my necklace with sculpted orchids "Les Fleurs des Fer" back from Fire Mountain. It took the third place in the polymer clay category!

The necklace is in my Etsy shop now.

I realized recently that I am drawn to the Etsy shops that show their jewelry on models. I think it is a good idea, since it is so difficult sometimes to imagine how a necklace would look like on a person. So, here is the result of my experiments in this direction.

Catching Up

So, I've neglected to write in my blog for a long while, and now have too many news for one post. Blogger's wisdom tells me I shall spread my news over a few posts...

The last two weeks of summer I spent in Washington and Oregon. I have not been to these states before, although I've seen lots of pictures and wanted to go there for a long time.

I brought back tons of pictures myself, and eager to share them, but no picture can reflect what I felt standing behind a 170' waterfall in Oregon or wondering through the mist at Artist Point in Washington.



We drove from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR, then Corvallis, New Port, Florence, Eugene, Bent (all in Oregon), back to Portland, through Seattle, up north to Bellingham and Mt.Baker, and back to Seattle. Every day was absolutely different from the day before and from everything else we ever saw before.



In Portland, my 10-year old daughter was enchanted by some particularly friendly squirrels (never mind the hordes of them in our backyard in Maryland). The Portland squirrels were readily eating from her hands, and one even chewed on the edge of her pants.



In Yachats, OR, we dined in a local restaurant with an amazing coastline view, and the gulls were walking outside on the windowsills begging to share our lunch with them.



But my favorite images were the many waterfalls we saw during this trip. I do not want to use any cliches about rugged beauty and such, but they were widely beautiful indeed...



I guess this experience and these images shall influence me as an artist in some way. I cannot report any connections yet, but I am sure I will be able to draw them in time.

Meanwhile (a note to myself) I shall post more often. Check back in a day or two - I have more interesting pictures to share.

...See more pictures from the Washington and Oregon trip in my photo album.

New Tutorial!

I just finished writing this new tutorial, Easy Faux Enamel.

This one is really easy, honestly, it cannot get any easier than this. Designed for people who is looking for their first polymer clay or resin project, this tutorial has ten pages of extremely detailed step by step instructions and sixteen full-size photos.

Here is the link: http://www.eugenascreations.com/t-fimo-resin-tutorial.html

Custom Order

Sandy's Orchid Necklace

I am very pleased with this necklace. Sandy saw a picture of two miniature orchids in one of my previous posts. The orchids were white with gold highlights. She asked me to make her a necklace with a similar orchid, and this is what I came up with.

The orchid was hand-sculpted from a mixture of white and translucent Kato polymer clay. This brand works great for the applications like this with lots of small details and protruding parts. The golden highlights were made with Perfect Pearls mica powder.

I suspended the orchid from a chain of mother-of-pearl chips and seed beads. Sandy had a choice between two gold-plated toggle clasps, and she picked the one with antique finish and granulation.

Thank you, Sandy. Enjoy your necklace.

New Tutorial, Sculpted Orchids, Polymer Clay

The second tutorial in series "Miniature Sculpted Orchids" is available now. Here is the link:

www.eugenascreations.com/t-polymer-clay-orchids-tutorial-2.html

Second Place, Art Bead Awards

My set of faux cloisonne beads, Conchita, the Beauty of California, took the second place in polymer Clay Beads Category, Art bead Awards 2008. Works of all winners will be featured in November/December issue of issue of Step by Step Beads and on the Step by Step Beads website.

I love using my faux cloisonne beads as little canvas for wearable art. This set of beads was inspired by an unbelievable story of love between a Russian explorer, Nicholay Rezanov, and a daughter of the San-Francisco Governor, Maria de la Concepcion Marcella Arguello (Conchita, as she was called in the family), at the beginning of 19-th century. Coming from the opposite ends of the globe and from such different cultures, they found each other and fell in love. Being a Russian noble, Rezanov could not marry without the Russian Emperor's permission, for which he had to travel back to St.-Petersburg. Conchita promised to wait for him. She did not know that on his way through Siberia Rezanov fell terribly ill and died. Only many years later did she learned of his fate, but refused to believe it. She received many proposals from many admirers, but turned all of them down. Conchita had been waiting for Rezanov for three decades... When the news of his death were finally confirmed, she devoted herself to charity and teaching Indians.

This bead set is done using my faux cloisonne technique, with all details formed out of pieces of wire. The red swirl details were formed with wire as well; the wire was removed after baking the beads and the obtained impressions were back-filled with red polymer clay. This clay contained some glitter, hence the sparks you can see in the picture. After applying two layers of the resin, the beads were adorned with siam flat-back Swarovski crystals.

Web Site Update

I am very excited to finally unveil a new version of my web site. I had been working on it for a while, writing all the codes form a scratch, so I am very proud of the result. Please check it out:
www.eugenascreations.com.

I changed the appearance of the pages to hopefully make them look more professional. The swirls on both sides of each page are actual wire details from some of my faux cloisonne pendants and earrings. I also made all pages exactly the size of the screen, with a scroll bar added within some of the pages. I really like this lay out, because it keeps all the other elements of the page – all the buttons, the site title, some pictures, etc. - right in front of the viewer, making “scrollable” (is that even a word?) only the text on the page.

I suspect there may be some bugs that I will still need to work out with this version and will really appreciate if my visitors point them out to me.

This is a limited version for now. The visitors have access only to the main pages and all tutorials, but cannot buy my jewelry from the web site. I will add all the individual product pages in the future. For now, my necklaces, earrings, pendants, and beads can only be purchased through my Etsy store. All four of my project tutorials are available both from the web site and from my store on Etsy.com.

New Tutorial

I just finished the first tutorial in my new series “Miniature Sculpted Orchids”. I am planning to eventually have four tutorials, each for a different type of orchids. In this series, I will explain not only how to sculpt all these flowers, but also how to make different millefiori canes for leaves and different shapes of leaves, how to apply these sculpted details to different bases, such as polymer clay, shells, sea glass, and gems. I will also show you how to incorporate various embellishments in your designs, including beads, pearls, and semi-precious stones.

As always, this tutorial is very detailed and has lots of big full-color pictures showing every step (almost fifty in this one).

I am currently working on a thorough up-date of my web site (it's gonna be beautiful!), so I listed this tutorial in my Etsy shop only.

I am a Fire Mountain Gems Finalist!

My necklace, Les Fleurs De Fer (Iron Flowers), was chosen as one of the finalists in this year beading contest sponsored by Fire Mountain Gems. I received the notification yesterday. I am so excited!

This necklace is deliciously mono-chromatic, with lots of details in silver and gun metal tones. I sculpted the orchids and the leaves from black and silver polymer clays and enhanced the veins with silver acrylic paint. The necklace itself is constructed as a multi-string lariat, with flowers on one side, and the leaves serving as a counter-weight.

I now need to send the necklace to FMG for the final stage of the contest. Wish me luck!

Pictures From My Garden

It is the time for irises. I love these flowers as much as I like orchids. Irises have one definite advantage over orchids in my eyes – I can grow them!

Polymer Clay Vase with Sculpted Orchids

I just finished the vase that I had been working on for the last two weeks. It is 10” tall and 2.5” in diameter at the top and the bottom. I like its form – it is very gracious yet sturdy. I have it covered with polymer clay in copper and bronze colors, with lots of fresh-water pearls and textured details at the bottom and hand-sculpted milefiori leaves and orchids at the top.

I like this combination of a rough textured base with leaves and orchids. I am already working on a step-by-step tutorial for a pendant/focal bead in a similar style.

Publication Update

Exciting news! Shirley Rufener, who wrote a new book on polymer clay "Polymer Clay Mixed Media Jewelry: Fresh Techniques, Projects and Inspiration", sent me a link to the book's cover on amazon.com.

Shirley accepted pictures of two of my faux cloisonne necklaces to be published in this book, so I am officially a contributor.

She says that release date is in the Fall although Amazon lists December 16. The book is set up with a short gallery of projects at the end of each chapter that will enhance and supply inspiration for that chapter (based on the media or material added to the clay) such as pastel chalks, transfers, metal clay, inks/powders, etc...