Lost in colorful Nambi world

Is already the end of March? Where did the time go?
Each winter has freezing and paralyzing effect on me. This past one was fairly long and cold and I slowed down a bit. But I was moderately busy and highly creative. At the end of the last year I revisited my Nambi tutorial and gave it several new spins. I am still hooked up and I keep making new things with this tutorial.

The original tutorial is made in English language and it can be found in my Etsy shop. Additional text files (translations) are now available in Spanish, French and Dutch languages too.

I also started a secret FB Nambi group for everyone who purchased a tutorial. We call ourselves Nambians. New members are added with every new purchase. My goal is to add more value to people who support my artistic journey by purchasing this tutorial.
I share new discoveries there as I go; I add new ideas, share thought and make mini tutorials. Nambi girls are explained there in detail, paints and new ways of coloring, using various tools, questions are answered. We share our work and discuss how to improve it.

If you are interested feel free to join us. The more the merrier! Once you purchase a tutorial I will send you an invitation via email or you can add me as a friend on Facebook.
Once I add you to Nambi group feel free to unfriend me, I am not trying to trick people to have more friends. I can only invite people to the group if we are Facebook friends or via email.

Between December and present day I made some pretty and colorful Nambi stuff:

1. Boxes and vessels

2. Nambi Girls necklaces and brooches

3. Tribal mask earrings

4. Owl earrings and necklaces

5. Orange necklace

and

6. Pocket mirrors

There are possibly more photos of my work in my Flickr and Facebook albums.

Join Nambians if you feel inspired there's so much more that can be done with this technique.
Stay safe, cool and positive I am going back to my claying table.

Cactus mania

I just finished an interesting project. It all started with a sweet email from a cactus lover wondering if I am willing to do a custom order for her. She admires my work and was willing to give me full freedom to make fridge magnets with cactus theme. Naturally, I was intrigued.

Once in childhood I actually had a window full of potted cactuses (or is it cacti, I am never sure) and I even sat in one, which was an unfortunate experience, as you can imagine. Once in my teen and young adult years I had a house full of pot flowers of all kinds. I loved and took care of them and they loved me back.
Suddenly, about 15 years ago it all stopped. I don't know exactly why but I lost interest in house plants. Fast forward to my recent project I realized as much as interesting this assignment might be it will be challenging. I had to familiarize with the house plants once again and with those with thorns!

So this project quite unexpectedly turned into a study. My customer wanted bright magnets to stand out so I decided to use my Nambi technique.

I found a book of flowers and actually made detailed sketches. Since I am not familiar with the material I had to see how it will turn out in clay within Nambi technique. Surprisingly, I had so much fun in the process of sketching. Most of the time, for my polymer clay projects I just use very primitive drawings. This time I took time to color the sketches too.
Since both customer and I were pretty happy with sketches, I used my template paper to copy the shape that will become a magnet.

I use this template paper for years, it is sturdy and somewhat transparent, allows making original templates made based on your drawings which can be used many times. You can find this template paper in my Etsy shop.

After that the whole project has gone awry. Right about Halloween my oven decided to play a trick on me and burnt me two batches of these magnets and a batch of beads for another customer. It was crazy! I was mad and cried and tried to eat my misery away.

By the time this third batch got to the oven, they were made quickly and looked great! It is proven that practice makes it perfect after all. I put two thermometers in the oven and sat in front of it the whole baking time. Tell me about being dedicated to the project! They were baked perfectly and were ready for finishing.

Cactus magnets are colorful and vibrant, I like them very much. My customer is happy, apart from purple color on the pot. But since she forgot to mention it in advance, she says she can live with it. Once they were finished I attached magnets to their back.

It is always fun to revisit a technique once developed and make something different with it then jewelry. Nambi tutorial is available in my Etsy shop if you are interested.

I hope you will find these magnets interesting as I do. Leave a comment or a question if you wish to.

New tutorial: Tangled earrings

I am writing this post to announce my new tutorial: Tangled earrings.

I know what you must think: She made another earring tutorial? Why?

Oh, but darlings why not? 

Earrings are jewelry and they make you pretty or feel good or preferably both. Earrings come in every color, shape and size and for every occasion. They are happy to accompany you wherever you go and they will never get mad if you choose different pair every day. Earrings can tell a story, make a statement or simply match your outfit. Earrings can be gift for yourself or someone special to you. They can keep secrets or be reminders, just like best friends.

What's not to love about earrings?

I'll tell you a secret: First thing in the morning after I brush my teeth and wash my face I pick and put on a pair of earrings for the day before I even brush my hair.

Now you know why most of the time when I am in studio playing with clay, I think of making earrings.

So if you don’t like earrings you should probably skip it. Or if you like neat, precise and project based tutorial with a particular style you should skip it.

This tutorial is sharing a wonderful idea on how to make earrings in a certain way but it is actually wild with a touch of order, somewhat organic but it doesn’t have to be, great to make identical earrings as well as totally different within a pair. You can make them plain colored or colorful, you could sand but you don’t have to, you can mix and match them with many other techniques and the best of all you can always make them your own.

I dare you to make two exactly the same pairs. I simply cannot see how that is possible.

The earrings you see can be big and long but lightweight and fun. They are somewhat flexible and if you take care of them reasonably they will last. I was asked by the customers non-clayers will they break. Yeah eventually! They are made of polymer clay not steel. But as we tested them by wearing and torturing them (dropping, throwing them, stepping on etc. - I am not proud of this you know) they are fairly good as any other pair of earrings.

Also they are so addictive. You can finish one pair and have an idea for another. I have spent many hours with them. I hope you will have as much fun as I did.

When you do, please share what you made, I am so curious to find out about your creations.

Jewelry box

I love a good storage space and I have a thing for boxes. I love them squarely, with clean lines, not decorated much, but pretty. So from time to time I am inclined to make them for myself and as gifts. I use either cardboard boxes, thick cardboard or wooden boxes. I use polymer clay, use acrylic paints or decorative paper to cover and decorate the boxes. 

My latest project was a jewelry box for my dear friend's birthday. When visiting her, I noticed that she missed a larger jewelry box. I also took a photo of her wall and shelves while she was making coffee. I also measured the shelves, to be able to purchase a right size box, as a decent spy will do.

Finally, I made a plan and purchased a wooden box, paper, thick cardboard, lace, glue, glaze, a piece of felt and a button. I had a few brushes at home, sharp scissors,working mat and I was ready to start.

The result was very feminine, bohemian style jewelry box. I had the best time working on it. It was a somewhat ambitious idea and I was happy for being able to make it happen.

Here is the photo of the box:

My friend's room is greenish so the box fits in it perfectly.

Open and empty box:

I added a subtle thin lace to the bottom.

I used a green felt and white lace to make small bags for her necklaces and pendants.

This is how it looks when filled with jewelry.

There is a secret door here too.

Behind the door is a world of earrings.

Lace is there for dangling earrings and felt is for storing stud earrings.

A closer look at the earrings storage section.

It looks interesting when filled with earrings, doesn't it?

I hope that you like this one. I am currently working on a new box, same style different colors. 

Stay tuned....

A return to blogging

I am going to try to blog again this year.

I started blogging in 2008 and was an active blogger for 6 years. My blog was about polymer clay in my native language, Serbian. In 2009 I enthusiastically started this blog in English but life kicked in. My father got ill and died in 2010, during the grieving time my marriage came to an end, my Mom moved in and a lot more of small things added up together.... you know how it goes. Eventually I stopped blogging, letting my old blog and website float quietly and peacefully into the history.

Just few days ago I discovered that this blog still existed and I got excited. Most of the reasons for starting a blog back in 2008 remain relevant to me today. I want a cozy place to express my thoughts and feelings, I want to describe my artistic doubts and fears, I want to share my excitement and experiments about polymer clay, I want more ways to connect with fellow artists, customers, friends and also I honestly miss writing. 

My primary focus is still polymer clay but I might just write about anything that excites me now. 

I hope that blog bug bit me hard enough to persevere. I don't have a plan or a strict schedule. Lack of a plan gives a 'go with the flow' feeling of freedom and openness I missed with previous blog. Let us all see if I ‘grew up’ at all and what I've learned in past few years.

All that being said, follow if you dare or proceed at your own risk. LOL

My first post will be to add a free tutorial or more of them that were available on the old website.

Blogging journey begins, thank you for coming on it with me!