A place to encourage the creativity of artistic minds of all ages. Offering Ideas, Inspiration and Instruction and sharing the work of others who inspire me!
Couldn't resist sharing my newest petri dish technique pieces. Yes, more large heart pendants eventually for my Etsy Shop and some fun coasters. These pieces aren't very deep and yet really cool effects are still possible. So go ahead and try this technique!
Been a while since posting anything. Not that I haven't been creating. That is something I do everyday in some form or other. Wanted to touch base, say hello and share some pictures of what's been happening in my/our studio. What have you been working on?
My husband Craig has begun a second painting that we are going to follow his progress with. This time he is painting from his memories. An old job he once had. Here is a sneak peek.
Come back to see more updates!
Here are a few more pics of what I have been doing! Connect More
Happy Friday everyone! It has been a busy time and I was hoping to get a new "Craig Paints Video,"
as well as a new tutorial/Learn With Me video about these really cool holographic pendant technique. I couldn't wait for the proper materials to come in, so I decided to use what I had on hand. The video will be out within the next few days, Lord willing.
I just love the dimensional effects. If you are interested in a tutorial involving polymer clay, check out Ginger Davis' at Blue Bottle Tree. The one I am working on has no clay and was inspired by watching YouTube videos.
I decided to at least share a few pictures of what's to come and what we've been working on lately.
(sorry caps lock was on and I was in a hurry! ) IF YOU FOLLOW THIS CHANNEL AND/OR IT'S CORRESPONDING BLOG YOU WILL KNOW THAT I HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH ALCOHOL INKS. AND YOU WOULD KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE POLYMER CLAY. WELL TODAY I WANT TO SHARE A RIEF VIDEO SHOWING WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE TWO WORLDS COLLIDE. HOPE YOU ARE INSPIRED TO CREATIVE AND COLLIDE DIFFERENT MEDIA IN YOUR CREATIVE LIFE TOO!
Been having great fun creating fantasy style pendants using polymer clay, gemstones and nail art powders that have colour shifting abilities. They are called chameleon and the Pear Ex mica powders that can shift from one colour to the other are called DUO.
Since I have completed about four pendants, it seemed best to share each pendant in separate videos to avoid one long boring one! Because creating is my main focus I don't get to turn each piece into a tutorial, but I do try to take process photos so I can share my work as it happens and afterward. Then I can offer some hopefully useful information, that might inspire you to create an artistic piece of jewellery.
A Side Note:A watcher recently commented on one of my non-tutorial videos about how it would be more interesting to watch, if I showed the making "it" process. So I am writing the following to address their comment. Of course I also have tutorials as they happen too and Kudos to those great artists who faithfully create tutorials, I know how much time, planning and work it takes to put them together. As much as I love teaching the art making process, and wish it was easier to film/edit and upload tutorials. Because I have physical restrictions, my husband has to be home to help me set up and move around my camera. So I definitely do the tutorials when I can. Since taking photos is fairly easy for me, I can compile them to make videos like the one below. It may not be a detailed "how to make it," tutorial, but I do hope it stimulates those creative juices! WATCH here right below:
Materials:
I used...
💓It is easier to work on a ceramic tile that you can slip into the oven once you are done.
💓 Keep your tools and surfaces clean with rubbing alcohol and baby wipes
💓 A dark mix of Premo polymer clay
💓 chameleon nail art powders
💓 A largish gemstone cabochon (a Labradorite stone -about 30mm x 20mm).
💓 flatback crystals
💓 Liquid Polymer Clay or Bake and Bond
💓 Shaping and sculpting tools
💓 Dedicated baking pan, ceramic tile, aluminium foil to cover clay while baking.
The Process
My clay pieces are one of a kind so I can't tell you exactly how to copy anything. Instead, I am here to encourage you to create your own original work. Looking at the pictures for ideas, create your piece. Many artists pre-plan their work, sketching and drawing it out. If you follow my youtube channel and/or this blog, you know that is not how I create. When it comes to art making, there is no right or wrong way. Planning happens if I need to, but usually I just go with the urges to create. Whimsicalness is key.
What makes this a "fantasy" design? It is up to you, but I think using lots of decorative swirls and flowing forms help achieve that feel. As well, using shimmery sparkly bits and pieces makes me think fantasy. Fantasy is something imaginative, not real - think Lothlorien, the Elvish home from the Hobbit/Lord of The Rings. No, I am not an expert in labelling design styles, this is my opinion only 😃
The work of others inspire me. Materials inspire me. God's creation, always inspiring. I just gather what I need and begin building my piece. What is important is making it visually interesting using, line, shape, texture, colour and other elements of design.
The main step is set your cabochon in with a clay bezel and the rest is up to you. Keep reading to learn about bezels and cabochons, these are two key words used in my pendant design.
Cabochon/Bezel Talk
You need to set your stone with a clay bezel....
Until today, I though cabochons were beads without a hole. Turns out I had it wrong, cabochons are polished, shaped stones that aren't faceted. Working with polymer clay and gemstone cabs means that we can make jewellery pieces without being a metal smith, because you can form your own bezel to hold the stone.
What is a bezel? If you are reading this or watching it on a screen then you see a large bezel every day. The bezel is the part that goes around the stone (or computer/tv screen) edges to hold it in tightly. If you have a ring, you can probably see prongs holding on to the stone. We can set the stone with a clay prong type bezel, you just need to make sure it is well secured. I prefer pushing the stone into the clay and either letting the clay gently slip around the edges of the cabochon and letting it "hug" the stone enough to be secure. As long as it grabs just the edge well it will be secure.
You just need to barely capture the cabochon's edge with clay and it will be secure. Depending on the look you want, you can just lay it flat on the clay surface and then place a thin or wide strip of clay around the cabochon. Whichever way you choose, be sure to smooth and shape your bezel accordingly.
Decorate It!
Once the stone is secured, I decorate/design it, building around the stone's bezel, creating a one of a kind pendant! Of course you can use the same method to set a gemstone for other pieces, like a journal cover or a brooch pin.
The fun escalates as the clay is shaped and placed down as I think it looks best. If you don't like what you did, remove it and re-do it. The beauty of polymer clay
Choose A Cabochon to Use...I used Labradorite
See the blue flash in the labradorite!
The stone I used for this pendant is one of my faves, Labradorite. God's amazing creations come in so many forms, these rocks included. What makes these one of my favourites is that they are fairly affordable (I buy mine on Ebay, from India mostly - under free shipping), that helps. But they also have an incredible feature that enables them to reflect amazing colours. The iridescence or what is often called "flash," or "labradoressence," is gorgeous. They have a variety of colour possibilities, with really beautiful lines and depth. I suggest you read more about them by clicking here.
Make Your Own Faux Stone
If you want to make your own version, there are great polymer clay faux stone tutorials online. Here is a favourite, Ludmila Bakulina's tutorial here.
Once my piece was done, I made sure I had a place to suspend my pendant (do that in the beginning.) Then I used liqiud clay to secure crystals and brushed the coloured powders. I always bake my pieces for an hour or more. (if your oven if the correct temperature, you can never burn the clay.) Bake the piece on a ceramic tile, with foil or baking pan covering it. I completed the back after with liquid clay and textured raw clay- baking it again. Final step, I used UV Resin. HeArtfully Creating,
I love giving my pieces a name when I put them for sale in my Etsy shop ( www.abergiecreation.etsy.com ) - but this one hasn't been posted yet, so no name so far. Hmmm....what name should I give this?
I Made A Lot Of Resin Pieces That Day!
A way back I got to play around with epoxy resin for the first time. It takes patience and care and about 24 hours to fully cure and shouldn't be used if you are young. There are too many warnings about safety and I wouldn't want to cause any vulnerable persons to dive into a material that could cause some harm if not used correctly. At first I was a little paranoid about using it. It was because most of the tutorials I had watched prior to using it, were adamant about wearing gloves, having ventilation, and not getting it on your skin. However, I did loosen up once I became familiar with it and it did touch my skin. If that happens, wipe off right away. Baby wipes and rubbing alcohol with rags are your best friend when using resin and clay too. I look forward to working with it some more but haven't yet. So far...
It was a really fun first time and out of that resulted some really cool potential pendant pieces (See above), at least that was my intent when designing and making them. Using silicone molds, I poured the resin in along with polymer clay inclusions that I made, such as the orange leaves below. The word inclusion was something I have learned about from watching Christi Friesen's tutorials. Check her out, she's a mighty artistic inspiration.
And I also dropped in glitters and other sparkling elements like acrylic rhinestones. Based on my own experiences, these acrylic sparkly bits from nail
Can you see the glitters and sparkly bits?
art places (mine are usually from Ebay and Amazon), have held up fine in the oven at 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet, mostly all the tutorials I have watched, say only use glass and crystals. If you are are not sure, you try on a scrap piece before using acrylic/resin pieces for inclusions.
It took a while to transform my square into something spectacular, but I finally did. If you see the photo where the piece is in it's simplest beginnings, I then embellished the square resin and clay piece into a more interesting, hopefully beautiful pendant with a bale made from wire,(another idea from another jewellery artist, Keepsake Crafts). As well, the polymer clay decorative addition was textured and accented with beads and mica powder.
Thanks to so many great tutorials, I also learned how to make my own end caps, again thanks to Patricia Roberts -Thompson. out of clay (those are the end parts holding the ribbon ends and clasp). Along with accent beads and using sari ribbons to suspend it on.
Hope you are a little bit inspired to create something!
💗HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
Here Is Original Leaf and the Mold I made using silicone and cornstarch and acrylic paint for colour.
Can you find the original piece in there? (front middle)
Here Is the finished pendant turned into a necklace!
Here Is the finished pendant turned into a necklace!
Subscribe! Like and Share!! (if you want of course :o) LIKE HeArtfully Creating Here on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HeArtfullyCr... HeArtfully Creating Blog: http://heartfullycreating.blogspot.ca... A Bergie Creation Shop Blog: http://abergiecreation.blogspot.ca A BERGIE CREATION - my handmade jewelry shop www.abergiecreation.etsy.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abergiecreation Twitter: https://twitter.com/abergiecreation YOU Tube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/anitaand... Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abergiecrea... HeArtfully Creating: http://heartfullycreating.blogspot.ca Sure Hope Gazette: http://surehopegazette.blogspot.ca Walking Way Overrated http://walkingwayoverrated.blogspot.ca TUMBLR http://anitaberglund.tumblr.com
Here Is the finished pendant turned into a necklace!
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,
