Some Polymer Clay

Nuno Felting

For quite some time I have been fascinated by felted scarves and bags. Somehow, I didn't even dare to think I could do something like that. When I did some "research" with Mr. Google's help, I learned how to do it. It was quite a short, but also a messy, bubbly and wet way from learning visually to making my first nuno felt piece.

In short, nuno felting is a way of wet felting where wool roving is felted into silk or some other sheer fabric. In wet felting, soapy water is used to bind the wool fibers together - you put down layers of wool, dump them with soapy water and then roll and/or rub until wool fibers lock together and make a soft cloth. Nuno felting is the same thing, except that you use a silk or some other sheer fabric as a base on which you put wool. After fiber are locked together, you start throwing your piece (to the floor, sink is even better), which causes wool fibers to shrink for about 1/3, while the size of your base fabric remains the same - hence the wrinkles on the silk parts.

I bought merino wool and used silk... since it was just a try, I didn't buy whole rainbow of colors (yet!), just a few. Here are the results (on the last pic are needle felted embelishments):

My little Studio

1. The balcony after we put laminate flooring.
2. Tables and some shelves done, some of the stuff already moved to a new place.
3. No more balcony, it's a Studio now! :) Already messy and I like it much better this way. :)
4. Nina's table. She started to use it by now, making her own girlie painting.

At first, it was just an open balcony. In the first few years when we moved here we grew plants there, we had a small table and chairs... and then The cat came. We mostly kept balcony door closed and for years it was just a place where I kept some useless things and a place for clothes drying rack.

If you are like me and have a creative soul, then you know how the craft supplies start to pile... and if you don't have a room or a place for doing your crafts, it's really hard to start doing anything if you have to put everything away daily (I was not doing that, my computer table was always full of different materials, depending on what I was doing, and there was at least half of the kitchen table full of clay almost all of the time).

I got tired of that. Last year I bought windows for my balcony and got them built in. My uncle and my dad made walls and wall isolation this spring and i did rough coating. After our vacation, my dad put laminate on the floor. I did molding, tables and shelves. I loved that part, maybe I should have been a joiner! The whole project took quite some time, but now it's finally done.

Now I have my own Studio! Hooray! I'm really happy I have a place where I can keep all my craft materials and where I have enough working space for everything I want to do. And the best thing is - I don't have to put anything away until I finish what I am working on. That is the best part.

There is a place for everything now: papers, pencils, books, clay, color pencils, brushes, acrylic colors, wood panes to work on, sketch books, heat gun, glues, embelishments, rulers, pasta machine, molds, stamps, powders, ribbons,... and all the other things. I still have to move some of the stuff from my computer desk drawers, but I have enough empty boxes under the tables lef. There was even enough space for placing a smaller table for Nina.

The other day I found this video clip on Suzi Blu You Tube - it is a great idea how to make an art closet. The best thing is that you can just cover your workspace with a curtain when you stop working and all the mess on your table is hidden. But my Studio is great as well. I'm really pleased with it!

Key Hanger

Few Sketches

This is cool. I can practice and sketch even during my work time! It has to be in secret, but I can do it :)!

Before "Suzi Blu Petit Doll Workshop" girlies

I joined Suzi Blu's Les Petite Dolls Workshop a week ago. I was looking forward for this workshop to start and it was worth waiting. Suzi Blu is a wonderful positive person and a great teacher. Her workshop is a bit different (how often do you get a chance to attend art workshop that helds place in teacher's bedroom or garden? :) ), but full of positive energy and wisdom, like her videos are.
Before it started I made few girlies when I was on vacation. Some are not finished, some need just some more details added. I am looking forward to see the difference between these girlies and those that are going to be born in next month or two. It could be interesting :).

The Birth of a New Girlie

Two Girlies - Using Some Stamps

I have a lovely collection of stamps now. I was going to start an art journal but as usually I ended up doing something else. Last weeks I came across Suziblutube's videos on YouTube and I was really inspired by her art. I love it! She's so lovely and so funny and sooooo talanted! I just love her girlies and I just had to try and make something like that. I am not really good at drawing simply because I don't practice it enough, but I am quite pleased with the result although I copied the girls. It was a nice chance to use some of my new hand made stamps, too. Mostly they are not really clear but they are great for background and some details that are maybe not seen well on the pics.

I used everything that I have at home: watercolour pencils, watercolours, acrylic paint, stamps, decorative paper, napkins, crayons, markers, old book pages, ink,... Tomorrow I have to go shopping again to get some gesso and watercolour crayons. Hope we have that in our stores!

And by the way, happy Easter everyone!

Cut It Out!

I was looking for some inspiration and some tips regarding eraser or stamp carving and I came across this fabulous site: Street Team Challenges. This month’s challenge Cut It Out is about making a stamp or stencil. I am a big fun of hand made art journals, but for now I am just watching and getting ready to start my own. With sites like Michelle Ward's and all the links from her site I am not really far from giving it a try.

I am getting a bit obsessed with stamp carving at the moment. What can I say, I just love it!! :)

Eraser (Rubber) Carving

Did I say I was going to try to combine wire with polymer clay pendants this weekend? Yeah, right! Of course I didn't. We were shopping on Friday, Nina needed few things for school and in the stationer's shop I saw quite big erasers. And they were on sale. Just perfect, for quite some time I wanted to make my own eraser stamps. I bought 7 or so and it seemed a lot. I started with carving as soon as we got home and it's really an easy way to make stamps! Nina was watching for some time and then she wanted to try, too. We run out of erasers yesterday although we carved them on both sides as they are thick enough. So tomorrow I am going back to that shop to buy all the erasers they have left! :)

These are Nina's carvings (I made her name and draw a cat, she did all the carving herself and designs for the other ones):












And these are mine and one with a piece of paper where I tried how eraser stamp works:












Have a wonderful week!