Another Green Treasury

My Steampunk Butterfly Tutorial is in a another green treasury by Carrie & Kathy of Ametista.etsy.com:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=76271

I love green!

Thank you, Linda!

My Necklace in Fire Mountain Catalog

My orchid lariat necklace was published in the new FMG catalog. It took the third place in the polymer clay category of their beading contest - 2009 (although physically the work submission and all judging was done last year) .

The necklace features three hand-sculpted polymer clay orchids on one side of the lariat balanced off with a half of a dozen sculpted leaves on the other side. There are six strings of seed beads and Swarovski pearls in various sizes that hold the orchids in place and split on the other end of the lariat in a tassel-like fashion. This design could have been executed in other colors, but for some reason I wanted it in gray (or silver and steel if you prefer). I think in person it looks great this way, although for a beading catalog pictures I am sure a brighter version would have been better.

Earlier this year, when this design was appeared on FMG web site, I was commissioned for a bridal version of this necklace (all white, with white pearls mica powders on the flowers and interference green on the leaves).

Treasury: Green


My orchid pendant is included in a beautiful treasury by Linda Riopel (NKDesigns.Etsy.com):

www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=76079

Linda featured polymer clay works by the members of Etsy PCAGOE team. What a great showcase of polymer clay diversity!

Thank you, Linda!

Another Student Work

Zuleykha, who bought my Faux Cloisonne tutorial, responded to my yesterday's post with a link to a picture of her creation. I decided to post her picture here.

Zuleykha used my technique to make her own design, which is very beautiful and received many compliments both in her photo album and in her blog.

Zuleykha is an anthusiastic polymer clayer, and has a shop on Etsy, Zuleykha.etsy.com, where she sells her pretty beads covered with millefiori cane slices.

Student Work

I really, really love it when people, who buy my polymer clay tutorials, later share the pictures of their creations with me.

Last week, I received this picture from Donna, who made this pendant following my Faux Art Glass Tutorial.

I am glad Donna had fun working with this tutorial. She said, she also bought the Steampunk Butterfly Tutorial, but did not have a chance to try it yet. I hope the result will be as beautiful, and she will share it with me as well.

Added: Donna sent me a link to her photo album. She does amazing mosaic!

New Treasury

I've started listing the polymer clay and resin pendants from my new line in my Etsy shop.

I was very pleased to learn that one of the pendants was added to the new treasury by Kathy of RozPetalzStudio.etsy.com.

Here is the link to the trasury:

etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=75210

Thank you, Kathy!

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

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?!