Casual Skinner blend

As promised, I will post some of my older free tutorials here in next few days. Let's start with a casual Skinner blend.
This was really a fun experiment and as it usually goes, I made it completely accidentally.

I consider myself to be a fairly patient person. I have a ton of 'nerves of steel' specially when it comes to polymer clay: I am ready to do things over and over if not got right at first attempt, I calmly do precise cuts, assemble small parts and I am even able to sand my beads by hand for hours without much of a drama.
One of the things I don't have patience for is Skinner blend. I simply can't make myself to measure precisely and make a meaningful Skinner blend. All of the sudden I become annoyed and restless and want to speed the process. How crazy is that?

Tutorials seen online often include Skinner blends that are planned, thought through and measured. Obviously, a lot of time and energy are invested in making such beautiful blends. I sincerely admire all the artists that make Skinner blends in that manner.
I quit trying after my third. So when making them I just go with the flow trying to use all the clay I dedicated for the blend I am making and not bother myself with cutting and measuring. To be completely honest I actually enjoy being surprised with the result each time.

Photo shows my new casual Skinner blend experiment. I mixed some scrap clay lying around and made a colorful sheet. Just before putting it in the pasta machine a thought popped into my head: this will be booooooring! I hesitated for a minute and then started cutting pieces of clay out of the sheet and then mixed and matched them.
After running it through pasta machine for about 20 times this is what I got. It's so cool, isn't it?

How do you make your Skinner blends?

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.

Smatram da sam prilično strpljiva osoba, pogotovo kada je reč o mom poslu. U stanju sam da satima strpljivo sedim i radim, da budem precizna bez drame kada je to potrebno, pa čak i da šmirglam bez protesta.

Jedna od stvari za koju nemam strpljenja je Skinner blend. Naprosto nemam nijedan preostali strpljivi živac koji bi mi pomogao da ga precizno merim i složim pre provlačenja kroz pasta mašinu. To svakako nije bila namera Judith Skinner, matematičarke koja je izumela ovaj način mešanja boja u radu s polimerskom glinom. Često na internetu viđam uputstva s unapred osmišljenim i precizno sastavljenim Skinner blendovima. Umetnicima koji ih prave divim se do ludila!

Odustala sam od toga nakon svog trećeg Skinner blenda. Pravim ih kako mi dodje i više ih prilagođavam količini materijala koju sam odredila za izradu Skinner blenda. Nekad ih sečem ovako, drugi put onako i da budem potpuno iskrena, uživam u tome da se svaki put iznenadim rezultatom.

Na slici vidite moj novi eksperiment s "opuštenim" Skinner blendom. Poslagala sam boje, umešane od raznorazne otpadne gline, preostale od prethodnih projekata, a onda mi se učinilo da će ispasti dosadan. Tada sam počela da isecam komade gline i menjam im mesta. Nakon provlačenja kroz pasta mašinu dobila sam rezultat koji vidite na slici.

Kako vi radite pravite Skinner blend?

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!

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.