Showing posts with label Christi Friesen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christi Friesen. Show all posts

Friday, December 7, 2018

Inside My Studio: What Have I Been Working On Lately...

I just created the video below for my Etsy shop blog. It is about what I have been creating lately. Since what I create and trying to sell those creations intermingles so tightly with Heartfully Creating, I am sharing this on both blog sites. It's meant to reach as many people as possible!
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A Few Ramblings About Creating...
It has been a busy few months artistically speaking. It seems that once I find a technique or process I like, I want to make some in every colour. It is much different than when I was working only in two dimensions. A canvas in front of me and a palette of brightly pigmented paints, crying out to be smooshed, combined, and swiped into what would become a beautiful work of art. Well, hopefully it would.

My paintings were usually at least 16" x 20" inches or more and could take days and days to weeks and weeks. It all depended on what it was, how I wanted it to look and if it was turning out how I wanted. Some artists like to meticulously plan out their masterpiece, methodically, critically and succinctly. Not me, I try to but it just doesn't happen. A speck of an idea may spontaneously plunk into my mind, fuelling what would become my next artistic creation. But planning and agonizing over how it will be played out just doesn't feel natural. In three dimensional land, sculpting in polymer clay,  making jewellery, needle felting, and such can be done in the same manner.
Watch Below about What I Have Been Working On Lately...
If you don't want to read my rambling about my creative process, dive in and watch the newest video compilation below.

Open A Bank Account!
However, I am trying to bank ideas into what Christi Friesen once recommended for me to do, write down my ideas into a notebook, keeping them in an idea "savings" account. Then, wen I want to create, (daily for me) I just go through my idea bank and make a withdrawal. I am totally paraphrasing, but it's the gist of what she said. The banking of ideas is a great idea. Just like Christi, a
The time I won a Christi Friesen polymer clay 

original heart. Such a Happy moment!
great lady! You might want to try it. In fact, I even made a handmade note book using index cards, a hole punch and some heavy wire. As for the discipline of banking my ideas, still too impulsive and I forget to look at my bank. That's my fault. Not giving up. It really could work if I followed it through. It doesn't help that I stink at actual banking, spending what I don't have - impulsively!

Any way, thank you for stopping by. Hope you like what you see, are a wee bit inspired to create in whatever method you wish. You may even want to look at my Etsy shop here.  
And I hope you know how much I value any and all likes, shares and subscribes to any or all of my online activities because it encourages me on those days when my body feels too tired to create but my always mind longs to do it. It also helps bit by bit to earn a few cents a day trying to earn money to cover my creative projects through google adsense and such. And of course I also am super appreciative for my 1200 plus or so jewellery shop customers. So happy you want to wear what I enjoy creating!

If you want to help out feel free to check out these links and share em!
Love you all.
Anita

Saturday, December 2, 2017

POLYMER CLAY JOURNEY: My Collection Of All My Texture Related Videos!


I was excited to see that one of my first tutorial videos has received 8000 views! Guess which topic? It was an early one I made inspired by Kater's Acres. Katie has a tutorial video about how to make your own polymer clay texture sheet. Thank you Katie.
For me 8000 views for one video is a huge deal for me. When I am use to seeing 10 -20  views! Clearly,  I am not the only one who loves texture making in polymer clay. I recently broke down and purchased online,  my first Christi Friesen Texture Stamps, making three artist stamps in total. Lisa Pavelka's Flourish set is the only one I had for over a year. 
Texture is an element of design that artists use to make their compositions interesting. Other elements  are line, shape, colour, and space. We incorporated all of those tools be it a painting, sculpture, photograph....all visual art.  Some of us prefer one element more than another. My favourites are colour and texture. What do you prefer to focus on the most? 

On that note, let's have some fun focusing on texture and polymer clay.  I wanted to have some fun and have compiled all my texture related videos below. 
I hope you are inspired to make your own stamps or rollers, or to buy ready made artist's stamps like Christi's or Lisa's.

So grab a refreshment or some clay, sit back and enjoy texture making.
Watch...
Wow, over 8000 people have Watched This Video! 
Create Your Own Texture Plates


Make Your Own Texture Rollers






A Signature Stamp Is A Very Custom Texture


My First And Only, so far, Sutton Slice tutorial Using Lisa Pavelka's Texture Stamp





Making Your Own Texture Stamps


Texture Rocker Tutorial



Using My Christi Stamps For The Mica Shift Technique












HeArtfully Creating,
Anita

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Friday, December 1, 2017

Polymer Clay Journey: My First Time - Christi Friesen Stamps & Mica Shift Technique

Hi guys! I got to use my new Christi Friesen texture stamps for my first official Mica Shift tutorial. Come and learn along with me. I used Premo Brand Pearl/metallic clays. Cindy Dietz at the polymer Clay Tutor Channel explains how mica shift works really well, just click here to learn.
Watch My First Time Mica Shift Technique Tutorial Below!

HeArtfully Creating,
Anita

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Saturday, November 25, 2017

Polymer Clay Journey: My First Time! Unboxing My Christi Friesen Purchase


Finally, I was able place my first online order from Christi Friesen's web site-click here. I really love Christi's smiling face, humour, and creative inspiration- just a really great personality and wonderful visual artist. Remember when I won her heart? Her clay heart that is.

Well Craig and I did an unboxing video and then I shared a closer look at her quality designed tools. Want to see? Watch Below.

HeArtfully Creating,
Anita

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Sunday, June 11, 2017

Polymer Clay Journey: Fabulous Fun Flourishing Flowers

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund
It is another day closer to summer! Depending where you are, there are early, mid or late spring flowers. Here in Thunder Bay, our spring garden didn't fare well. Out of about sixty tulip bulbs planted, we had about two! Yes, we fertilized when we planted them :0( As well, our crocuses, (or is it croac-eye?) and daffodils are no more and it looks like our large oriental poppy perennial plant is surrendering to the same fate as the spring bulbs! Clearly, I stink at gardening. It doesn't help that our entire street, right next to our garden was all dug up for about 2-3 months last year. But, the odds are my green thumb lost all circulation and shall not flourish. (Hey "Flourish," that makes me think of dear Christi Friesen's book of that title)
On That Note...
Polymer Clay bloom by Anita Berglund
Since I can't make our garden flourish or even grow, I can keep creating faux flowers using polymer clay or other materials like fabric! So I just wanted to share some new pieces I have recently been working on, hoping to inspire you. If you can't grow an actual garden of flowers, you can flood your home with handmade botanicals whenever,

💗HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay bloom by Anita Berglund
Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund



Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Polymer Clay blooms by Anita Berglund

Friday, March 24, 2017

Fun Stuff! So Excited. Thank You Christi Friesen!

I never enter draws or buy tickets but recently, I joined Christi Friesen's Creative Neighbourhood on Facebook. We can share photos of our polymer clay work. It is a great place to connect with Christi (one of my favourite polymer clay/mixed media artists. She is such a fun alady, great artists and teacher. Little did Know our names went randomly in a draw and I won a surprise gift! So thrilled to even see my name, I waited for my prize to come from California all the way to Thunder Bay, Canada!
Today, it came. And it is a Christi Friesen handmade. original polymer clay heart. She even initialled it on the back! So cool. Not to mention a handwritten note. Christi is the movie star of the polymer clay world to me. So thank you for blessing my day Christi!! Love you! 
!


Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Polymer Clay Journey: Works In Progress And More Glazing Lessons Learned

Howdy guys! I've noticed that Wednesdays are often referred to as works in progress days. Well, I've noticed that in the polymer clay world anyway. It is where people share pieces that they are working on but are not done yet. So this is my first works in progress Post, I think so anyway. Maybe more like works I thought were completed, but then started to take photographs for my online Etsy shop, but noticed, thanks to direct sunlight and macro photography.... the Tiny little bubbles and flaws in the polyurethane gloss! This time, I thought I was so careful. And some of the pieces have yellow spots. Again, does anyone out there have any ideas as to what I am doing wrong? Too much at one? Should it be a really thin layer after layer? All that then means, the pieces I thought were complete and ready to prepare for sale, are not. Argh!

Polymer Clay Earring dangles, with copper,
handmade (by me) ear wires. 
Back to my works in progress. Been working on textured, polymer clay "dangles," created using my own texture plates/rollers/sheets (Here is article 1, 2 and 3 on making your own texture/image sheets and rollers) , whatever you want to call them. The first piece has, thanks to the inspiration of Christi Friesen's polymer clay art work, where she talks about incorporating inclusions, which is anything not made from polymer clay. I incorporated items like micro beads and a small faceted Glass bead. The surface was then treated with Mica Powder, acrylic paint, and finished with that frustrating water based polyurethane. I thought it looked great at first, but then as you take the photos under direct sunlight, then you see all those darn bubbles...teeny ones!


Here are a pile of some more photos of some of the pieces that I turned into earrings. I think they look pretty great, as long as I don't zoom in with a macro lens! Maybe I am being too picky. Oh
Polymer Clay Earring dangles, with copper,
handmade (by me) ear wires. 
well, it is important to perfect my work so customers receive professional wearable art! Creating is always a learning process.
Thanks for stopping by.
HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
Polymer Clay Earring dangles,
handmade (by me) ear wires. 


Polymer Clay Earring dangles, with copper,
handmade (by me) ear wires. 

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Thursday, February 16, 2017

POLYMER CLAY SHARE: Christi Friesen! One Of The Rock Stars Of The Poly Clay World!

When I  first began Learning about polymer clay over two years ago,  I mentioned key Artists that I was learning from on the Internet. And one of them, is the rock star of the Polymer clay world (to me any way!) I watched every video I could find by Christi Friesen. Her personality was what appealed most me. She is funny, easy going and at the same time teaches you in a way that makes you feel okay about not making everything perfect. She inspires creativity and never gets boring. Wish I could travel so I can see her in person. But thanks to the internet, there are many ways to feel like I am learning from her "live."Click here to go to Christi's Neighbourhood.

Everyone, go see Christi's work history here!

Well, I am so excited to share this here, at HeArtfully creating...  This week, I had shared a recent article I wrote about our young friend and artist, Luke a.k.a Jonathan Artman, with Christi Friesen because she kindly shared my first article about him last year.
This time, when I saw that I could click on the friend request on her Facebook page, I did. Because I knowing how busy she must be, not to mention how popular and famous she is in the polymer clay world, I definitely did not expect her to respond.  Needless to say I was thrilled when she said yes! And coolest of all, when I wrote and thanked her, well let's just say, she has become a new friend to me - not in the facebook world where you never get to hear back from those we add. We all have friends on our list that we are even biologically related to and yet, they never respond :o(  But an actual friend! She made my day!
If only she knew how happy hearing from her made me! Just ask my husband Craig! I told him it was equal to a movie fan, hearing from say Brad Pitt or Tom Hanks! As I expected, she really is as wonderful as she appears in her interviews and tutorials.  Her clear desire to encourage those of us who want to learn how to work with polymer clay, making it fun and not complicated- has and still is  a huge encouragement to myself and I'm sure many many others!  So thank you so much Christi for blessing the socks off of me! Believe me, 365 days of the year, I wear past the knee, thick, hand knitted socks - so that's a big deal :o)

Below are some links to some tutorials that I know you will enjoy. She said she will be puttng out some new ones. So excited to see them!

Christie Friesen makes an Orchid from Clay on Beads, Baubles & Jewels (1804-1)

Creating a Bohemian Steampunk Pendant
Creating a Polymer Clay Steampunk Fish

Creating a Polymer Clay Flower and Leaf Pendant



Creating a Feathered Galumphus Bird

How to Make Gemstones Pop in Polymer Clay


Be Inspired! HeArtfully Creating!
Anita

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Thursday, November 24, 2016

My Polymer Clay Journey: Glazed And Confused?

A Practical Polymer Clay project I completed a while ago....
more on that in the future!
As I reported previously, in this article here about the Polyurethane peeling off of my pieces. (And yes, I used the exact kind recommended by many reputable Polymer Clay Artists).  I had to sand off all the Polyurethane and opted for sanding, buffing and waxing. Well, since that article, I have just read from The Blue Bottle Tree's Ginger Davis' Article, that the Renaissance Wax that came highly recommended by one of my favourite Poly Clay Sites - Isn't as protective as I believed it was. The Blue Bottle Tree says it isn't as protective to pieces with Mica powder on the surface, it may even remove it and that there are even more expensive ways to achieve the waxed effects.
Needless to say, initially, I felt confused about who to believe and what I should do. I am not dissing all the valuable lessons from those I have learned and are learning from...not at all.  I am saying that it is my fault for not researching on my own, by actually doing my own tests. Always have been lazy that way...finding a teaching and then devouring all they have to say, basically parroting them without questioning anything. Learning lessons the hard way means those lessons stay with you forever.
Conflicting Messages?
After countless attempts using recommended finishes, I personally recommend that if you want to seal or offer a glossy surface to your pieces, do your research. I have found conflicting articles by artists who I have learned from. It seems that some of the same methods and products when used by me, don't always works as described. Doesn't mean they were wrong. Maybe I do things differently and made a mistake?! Possible.
Regardless, I foolishly (in the beginning), just embraced, without question advice by purchasing and using specific glazes and such and covered a tonne of beads. (You know how much work that is!)
And then weeks later (sometimes even days later), when I went to use my beads or pendants, I discovered the surface to be sticky and ruined! Can't tell you how frustrating that can be. :o(  Not that any of the advice I gleaned was wrong or anything. It just means I have learned that lessons need to be learned through trial and error on my own, not just following others without question.
Yes as many of you may know, there are definitely well meaning tutorials from less experienced clayers (I assume) who give advice that ends up contradicting those Polymer Artists that have great reputations, the ones I trust far more, such as some of my favourites: the Polymer Clay Tutor Christi Friesen, Katers Acres,  and now, Blue Bottle Tree and Unruly Housewife. If I hadn't learned from these guys, then I would be making even bigger mistakes. So I strongly encourage endless hands on experience and research....
Some Final Thoughts....
After too many disappointing glazing moments, I highly suggest to do your own testing on small amounts to avoid wasting your time  and money. Bummer is, I bought one litre of Polyurethane and other glazes, now I will not be using them on clay! Be sure to research the terrific articles and videos by the many great poly clay artists online, but don't just assume every word of advice will work for you....test them out yourself or you'll learn the hard way like me

HeArtfully Creating,
Anita :o)


Sunday, October 4, 2015

POLYMER CLAY JOURNEY - Biggest Lesson Learned

Most Important Baking/Curing Tip
Thank you to Cindy Leitz from the Polymer Clay tutor Yout Tube Channel. Always bake your clay longer than the package directions. Not hotter, that would burn it and spread noxious fumes into your home. But, if the package say, bake for 30 minutes per each 1/4 inch of clay thickness, bake it an hour. Christi Friesen, another great tutor, artist, also recommended using an oven thermometer. After what I learned, make sure you listen to what these folks say. After all, they have done that work, just to teach us!

Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven actually is reaching say, 275 fahrenheit. At first I assumed it was reaching that temperature, so, I baked a lot of clay pieces. But, I struggled with breakage even after an hour or more. Lo an behold, decided to listen to their advice, and it turned out  our little toaster oven was only reaching about 230 degrees, not 275f!  BIG LESSON LEARNED!


A polymer clay stamp I made out of polymer clay!
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