Old is the new new

Tags

Art Deco, bead, bead embroidery, christmas gifts, flower, Jamie Cloud Eakin, kaleidoscope, mandala, new year, painting, plans, polymer clay, print, UTEE

I have been reflecting on what I liked about last year, and thinking about what I would like to achieve in 2014…

I’ve had a pretty good run with the Art Bead Scene challenges; I think they really helped me to focus on a project (and the deadlines made me finish). So I’d like to carry that on in the new year.

I have been playing with one of my new Christmas gifts, a melting pot, to make the earrings above (here’s a tutorial for the UTEE headpins). I’d like to experiment some more with that.

Since my playtime has been reduced/fragmented (with our new baby), I’ve mostly been making earrings, as they don’t take too long to finish. I’d like to think a bit bigger this year, and maybe spend some time exploring each idea. I’d like to work on something more substantial, something I can look back on and think “Wow, I did that!”. Another of my Christmas gifts was “Dimensional Bead Embroidery” by Jamie Cloud Eakin. That seems like a good place to start.

My sister is getting married later this year, so I have been helping her design some Art Deco invitations. I’ve been surprised at how much I actually enjoyed doing vector drawings again (it’s amazing how university can suck the fun out of things). So I have been dusting off my old print account on Deviant Art, and I’ll try to do some more paintings (digital, traditional, polymer clay or even a mix!).

I’m pleased to say I still like some of my old images. See?! I’ve been designing canes since ancient times BC (Before Clay). Now I just need to improve my cane building skills. 😉

So for 2014 there will be peacocks, Art Deco, bead embroidery, cabochons, complex canes, digital paintings, art beads, wonky UTEE AND … unexpected treasures I haven’t even thought of yet.

Happy New Year!

May every day be joyful and precious.

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Christmas, presents, past

Tags

bead, cane, christmas gifts, gift, kaleidoscope, necklace, polymer clay

Unusually this year I did not make Christmas gifts for all the family (actually I have hardly made anything this month). But I was commissioned to make a custom necklace using a given design, which now that Christmas is over I can show. It was an interesting challenge to make a cane to a specific design as I usually just make them up as I go with the only requirement being “to be pretty”. While I was confident that it could be done in polymer clay, I was slightly less convinced that I could do it!

In the end I did manage to do it by working very slowly. I made one 6th of the design which I flipped and joined up to complete the kaleidoscope pattern. I was fairly pleased with the results, although I miscalculated the height of the cane so I had to reduce it before I could cut and join up the sections resulting in some visible “seams”.

I hope you had a joyous Christmas. Wishing you all the best in the New Year.