Frame your beads - Free polymer clay tutorial

I recently made few beads featuring colorful circles. At this point they were half way finished.

They needed a thin frame for a proper finish. While working on these beads I made a short free tutorial to show how I make these frames.
It might be useful for a beginner or might give you an idea.
Follow this link and have fun!

This tutorial is free but if its valuable to you and you want to support independent artist with some coffee or chocolate use paypal.me/NenaBArts to donate.
Thank you.

Mini Stud Earrings

I have to share my newest obsession with you: mini stud earrings.

It all started few days ago when I realized that I have a considerable amount of polymer clay flower canes with transparent background. I randomly picked thicker and thinner ones trying to find if they are still usable. You know how they tent to dry when laying in a box for a while. And then I just got an idea!

Within minutes I made some cane slices and put them into oven to cure. Half and hour later I attached them to earring metal parts and covered the front side with Lisa Pavelka’s Magic-glos. Few more minutes later, when UV lamp performed it’s magic, I had in front of me several pairs of finished cute mini stud earrings.

Then I realized that it is too simple and started a new bunch adding glitter and Perlex powders in Magic-glos on front side. Pure fun!
I have several ideas that I will try soon.

Few more photos just to show how mini they are:










These mini stud earrings are not something that I usually make of polymer clay. I prefer larger and unique pieces of jewelry. But I am really happy that I followed that sudden idea.

At the end I am satisfied how they turned out. I think I will experiment with them a bit more.

So what do you think?

Polymer Clay Illustration Art

Browsing through photos on Flickr I’ve stumbled upon these incredible pictures. Tammy Durham, the author, calls them polymer clay illustrations.

I’ve noticed colorful circles at first and decided to take a closer look. These polymer clay illustrations are amazing! I have never seen anything like them.

Tammy’s illustrations show diversity of techniques and themes in rich colors. How she presents people is great. I love expressions on their faces and incredible details in every picture.

These polymer clay illustrations seem to be simple. But their pure lines and common shapes also contain depth which is achieved by using textures and bold color combos. Those colorful circles I mentioned before just add a liveliness and complete pictures.

I think that Tammy’s illustrations are warm, live and they invite you to think them over, so they just provide a full pleasure to spectator.

Tammy Durham’s work can be fond on her website and Flickr gallery.

Few flower canes

I've finished these canes last night or early morning if you prefer. It was past 1 AM and I couldn't stop until they were finished and reduced.

I love them!

It’s been a while since I made flower canes with transparent background. It was a “Great flower cane virus” last year and I remember making about dozen of such canes. It seems like they last forever and I easily get bored with combining all the same canes.

Quick fix is to switch to some other polymer clay technique.

This year flowers seem to follow me from everyday life through dreams to my creations. I try not to think about it too much, just relax and go with the flow.

I’ve been enjoying and having so much fun with layering cane work technique lately. To extend the fun I’ve decided to update my flower cane collection.

The result of time spent at claying table (afternoon and evening) can be seen in the photo.

I am really happy how they turned out.

Layering cane work

I was always fascinated with this technique. I love the glassy finish that can be achieved.

When I begun my polymer clay journey , about two and a half years ago, pieces made with this technique seemed surreal and almost impossible to make.

It took me some time and a lot of reading to realize how it works. Wow! I was thrilled.
Naturally as time passed I’ve learned a lot about polymer clay by working with it. I gained some experience and my routine improved and decided to try layering cane work myself. I've immediately fell love with it.

Layering cane work is very interesting technique with lot of possibilities. It gives a chance to mix and match, combine, to add colors, glitter, foil etc. I really enjoy its versatility.

There is a catch though: if you want to achieve glassy look – you have to sand. If well sanded and buffed beads often does not need glazing.

Pictures in this post show few favorite work of mine made with this technique.
I can honestly recommend everyone to try layering cane work because it is pure fun.

New space

I have some thrilling news regarding my work space.
These photos show a current situation which you will probably consider as a complete mess.
However, I find it adorable. All I can see is my new beautiful spacious studio. This is a 24 sq meter (258 sq feet) single room irregular shaped provided with ventilation system, air conditioning, and phone, ADSL and heating appliance. It is about 4 times larger than the space I’m working in right now.
It needs some paint, new furniture and flooring to give it a nice shine. I have planned to divide it in few areas: claying, beading, buffing, photographing and jewelry display.
I am very excited and can not wait to start repairing. Since I plan to do the most things by myself I hope it will take just a month.
I’ll keep you posted.