Ihan kiva elämä - EN Arts and Crafts

Hiidet - sivusto on avattu

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:38:52 +0200

Avasimme Petterin kanssa taiteeseen ja yhteistyöhön liittyvän nettisivuston osoitteeseen www.hiidet.com. Ajan kuluessa tulemme päivittämään tänne yhteisiä töitämme. Toistaiseksi siltäosin sivu on vielä keskeneräinen.
Sivuilla on myös blogi, johon päivitämme molemmat kuluvan vuoden ajan omaa henkilökohtaista taiteeseen liittyvää projektiamme. Petterillä se on tekstuuri, minulla erilaiset helmet. Sivuston kieli on englanti, mutta valtaosa blogauksista sisältää lähinnä kuvia.

Askarteluohjeita sivulta on turha etsiä, mutta massoista kiinnostuneet saattavat hyötyä jo pelkistä kuvista. Rss-syötteen lisäksi Hiidet voi myös tilata blogilistalta tai seurailla päivytksiä facebookin kautta.

Tervetuloa!
*********

Same in English

We opened co- operative art pages with Petteri Leppikallio at www.hiidet.com. With time this will be the place where we showcase our co-operative artworks. Thispart of the pages is still under construction.
We also have a blog where weboth update pictures of our yearly challenge. Petteris challenge is about textures, mine about beads.

You can add ourRss-feed or follow us up on Facebook.
If you are from Finland you also can mark us as your favorite blog at
blogilista.

Welcome!

Koristemaalausta

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:56:10 +0200

Ihan muista syistä osui vastaan nimitys koristemaalaustekniikalle: One Stroke painting. Googlettelin odotellessa parin ohjelman asentumista ja löysin hyvän sivun aiheen tiimoilta. Kannattaa katsoa vaikka ei mitään koskaan maalaisikaan.

Rather nice crafts blog

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:37:41 +0300

I was helping a friend with blogger and needed to create a blog to be able to show it. One thing lead to another and I now have a new blog in English. I call it Rather nice crafts.

Writing on necklace

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 23:08:25 +0200

Did some playing with clay and stamps and paints again. Made this necklace. The stamp was large backround stamp of famous artist signatures.

Nuggets necklace

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 22:40:03 +0200

It has been ages since I have done much with my hands, due to busy chedule and all. Anyway, this is something I stringed while watching some television today. Some polyclay and glass beads in waxed cotton thread. Simple, but I love it.

Craftstudio

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Mon, 16 Aug 2004 09:09:22 +0300

As I have been hinting, I have been cleaning and reorganizing my "studio" which is a relatively small bedroom in our house. Usually, even after cleaning, its a mess. Well, after visiting Jeanne I desided that it is about the time to go trough this mess with critical eye and organize it all. I mean all of it. It took me about week. I am finally finnished, every single closet and drawer is now gone trough and organized. Not all of them are in majestically uptight position, but still all the clay is in one place, all the cutters are in one box. Etc.

When you come to my room you first see the closet and computer. Then there is a cabin filled with stuff, on top of that are some metallic findings and items, some pens, paper stuff etc. Then the working table is in front of the window giving me the view to outside.

Next to window I have one book case that has boxes filled with tools and accesories like metallic powders and cutter blades etc. The kind of stuff that one needs to remove from the table having 2 and 5 year old kids running around. Next to my pastamachine you can see about 30 cm x 30 cm x 10 cm plastic box filled with misc. small items on the self - the kind that everyone has on their drawer bottom. I will go trough it when I have time, but I had about 10 times more of that stuff before starting, so I am actually impressed myself being able to reduce the amount of coins, bolts and lint to this small bin.

Next to them I have two old office bookcases that are deeper than the ordinary bookshelfs sold here. I have bought some expencive/cheap stackable plastic bins to be able to store my stuff, so the shelfs are filled with them. And yes, as I told you, I bought a lot of stamps while visiting USA When I finally have organized all this stuff I have bought during the 10+ years of crafting, it seems that some items I have PLENTY of. Like cookie cutters - although I usually use only 3-4 of them, the amount of cookie cutters is impressive. Oh well, kids love them. To them that is one of the best assets in my studio

I also have plenty of molds made with Alley Goop and other molding materials. The ones I use mostly are mainly from nature. The clays are organized to 4 boxes by brand. I still have some Premo in misc. colours although I have been using very much smaller palette lately. I even organized my pens!

And yes, I know, you would not believe I did my closets too if I did not show you the picture. This is what is hidden behind the door. Not bad for impossible pack rat like me.

I am SO proud of me!

Toilet seat covers

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 23:02:49 +0300

Oookay, found a link to toilet seat cover art. Got thinking... What about stamping to your toilet seat? Or decoupage ?

I am all questions starting from "What inks to use" and "how to make it lasting and still washable". Any ideas or tips welcommed.

Yeah, its odd.

Art is.

Stamping and clay

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Tue, 10 Aug 2004 16:36:34 +0300

While I was visiting Jeanne on Raleigh on July, I got some influences.
Two of the most important ones are: I am redoing my whole studio to get this all organized. After spending 10 days in Jeannes perfect studio I desided that I will not do crafts until I have this room cleaned, organized and sorted out. I have already thrown away 3 large bags of trash - and I am still saving everything that is worth anything. I still am a packrat. But I want to become organized packrat! I also have one huge bag full of items to be sold in auctions. And hopefully someday I will be able to get back into actual making stuff. Anyway, I am so proud of myself, I have been working SO hard to get this all done, it was a mess and now it is starting to look half decent! Cant wait to show the pictures when it is all done and finnished.

Second big influence is that I have gotten seriously into stamps. I mean seriously. There are not much good stamps available in Finland, the stamps mostly are the cute kind that have some sweet little animals hugging hearts. Not stuff that I am very likely to buy or use just because "cute is not my thing". Besides I considered stamping to be one of those non-creative crafts where you ink the stamp and push it to paper. Thats it. Not very entertaining or creative, really. Oh well. It seems that there is way more there about stamps and about stamping than I knew. The biggest difference is that with good stamps you can vary the designs you make from your items. And then the stamping techniques... I am surprised to realise how much difference there can be with stamps.

The picture on left was my first polyclay postcard. I did it while visiting Jeanne. It has plenty of first timers for me: first polyclay postcard, first time I used "bacround stamp" for clay, first ink stamping on clay, first time using pearl ex tinted tls, first time using powdered pearls (that are supposed not to need a seal), first time doing the stringing for tassel...

Sunday quickrun

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 05:26:24 +0300

Last day here. Did some claying to day, but we did some errands including changed a packet of transfer paper for clay etc. too. On the same trip we went to Sam's wholesale/warehouse store that had everything in huge quantities. People coming in had to show their picture id to be allowed in and even going out you needed to show your recipe for them to check if the items you have in the cart match with the items you have payed. Spiderman is hot, so it is everywhere, even in cakes. The employee of the month had a parking lot next to entry. Obviously she was not either working or did not have a car. We almost got into xrays while getting out of Sam's but instead here is the picture of the house that could have been the accident site.

Had little more time and stopped to thiefs market antique mall / fleemarket. Some odd stuff there... I dont know where theese people get all this stuff (and why) but it really is something else!

And some funny signs and advertisement. Ewwww grill and cows climbing.

Saturday afternoon

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 05:53:58 +0300

After lunch we went to downtown and headed towards artspace. Art Space is a house full of artists studios with window to every studio and lots of artists to meet. Unfortunately on the way there the camera battery died just after I found a sanitary shower (lol). After that we went to have a quick cup of coffee at the house and headed to more things to see with Jeanne. Nice colours on the street on nearby aquarium shop, some fish in drinking class that are suppoused to enjoy their life in it. The shop was otherwise real great, but I am not so sure about this drinking glass fish thing.

Then to fabric shop. Tons of fabrics, tassels and stuff. Did not buy anything (will I get a golden star now) but the fabrics were really high quality and nice.

Then to the nearby small town (name escapes me now) to see jet another beadshop. Nothing worth mentioning, quite little stock, expencive prises, did not buy anything. Next to it was wondrful little home decorating shop. Would have bought tons if I did not have to carry it in a luggage.

Then to the Greshmam lake antique mall where Jeanne has a small booth. This lady demanded me to take picture from her and when I showed it to her she asked to get the print as it was so good picture. Well, I did not take the name so here is your picture, lady from antique mall. Toilet was also decorated...

Then to the mall to get to Barnes and Nobles again. We went to take pictures of some stuff we missed the last time when my battery died. Like some metal-stone floor installation and this fountain. And the childrens cars they have to lend... My battery went dead again so no picture of that cinnamon roll that was delicious.

Managed to get few signs today too

Saturday morning

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sun, 18 Jul 2004 05:44:44 +0300

Another quick run with me trough the day. We went to fleamarket early in the morning. I met diaper cake and wedding gift cake, another lesson on habbits we dont have at home. They even sold some industrial size gass bbq grills there... Lots of stuff, lots of people, lots of heat. If I had not to have carry all that stuff with me in a luggage I would have bought half of this place. Now I just bought some little beads.

After fleamarket we went to have lunch to this amazing libanon caffeteria, Neomonde deli. My allergies usually prevent me from trying anything odd, so I am always bit suspicious of any new food place, but that food was clearly visible and there were great labels to tell what the food really is. I had tomato-olive pie and some tabouli. That was truly great lunch and I definately am going to try that kind of food again.

Friday

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sat, 17 Jul 2004 06:29:17 +0300

I am too tired to explain a lot, so lets let the pictures talk this time.

Got into pharmasy to pick up some meds, then to get hamburgers at Wendys (blaa, the hamburger was ok but other stuff was not that amazing). Colours here are impossible

Some things I saw on the road

We went to this christian shop/warehouse/mall. J bought some candy to Mos

After a quick (giggling) run with Michaels we headed to the place I have anticipated the most: ab fixtures. The warehouse of mannequins, torsos and stuff like that. Too bad that the light was not good, but the place was heavenly

After picking up Vince and getting him to car rental place, we went to hunt some more core-american experiences aka I got to see walmart. It was huge, cheap and had some real art on the bathroom section. And no, you will not get to see me in that bola-jacket as it was about size too small. That is a picture I reserve only to the loved ones at home!

On the way here a dollartree shop, all for dollar. Jeanne found some really cheap stickers for kids. I found hair bands.

And now to bed. We have been claying mad science claying past two days, the report will probably follow, but right now I am too tired to get into seriousness.

Pusu ja hali lapsille ja Mossille. Rakastan teita. On ikava, vaikka kivaa onkin.

Thursday runby with pictures 2

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 15:48:02 +0300

Then to the foodmarket. Very nice, indeed. I did not know that eggplant can be violet too. (Remember, my motto is 'if it is violet, it is mine') wow. The smell and look of fresh food is just adorable. This place was just wonderful.

Coming from other side of the town made it possible to have the 'real' big city view of Raleigh. I must say that from this angle the city seemed different. Driving into downtown from other side you get trough areas of two level houses with nice looking small gardens and relatively no high buildings. Even most of the businesses are in theese small houses.

After some surival driving in rush hour we got to office max to get me some cd:s to burn my pictures to. I just loved that place. Bought some tags (I am afraid I will be doing some scarpbooking/altered books stuff when I get home) that were cheap and beautiful. Saw something that I needed to take pictures for Stello: this was some kind of Hello Kitty Cd with games and wallpapers for windows and stuff like that....

On the way back we had this icky beast on our car window. Ewwww.

Thursday runby with pictures

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 15:35:32 +0300

After watching Carol Duval I spent time at patio drinking soda and reading magazines while Jeanne processed some veggies from garden. She fixed us a really nice lunch that we ate before getting anywhere. This time I had a camera with me when we saw a washaroo washing street for Kangaroo gas station. We were heading to food market and jet another beadshop.

On the way we also saw some really funny signs...

We got a bit lost while trying to find the foodmarket exit we found this Magnolia mall with a shop that had rentable booths in it. Some of the stuff was cheap imports, some handmade, some antique. There was hardly anyone there was plenty of stuff that was about to burst me into hysterical gigglin mood. Some good ideas, but unfortunately the light was impossibly bad and all the pictures are bit shaken. Just wanted to show theese few anyway...

Then we found the place. And it was Bearoness beads. Lol. This one of those companies whose website I found years ago when I realised there 'might' be something crafty in the internet. The pictures do no justice for this place: it is a darkish warehouse with no airconditioning but just fans blowing the hot air all around. They had 70% sale for their craft related items. Too bad for us as it ment that we needed to REALLY go trough it all. At least time. Found some really really good stuff there. But did I already say it was bit warm place to shop for me? Nah, I did not think so. Well, it was a sauna indeed

Wednesday, part 1

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Thu, 15 Jul 2004 16:59:50 +0300

We had planned going to Ashville to see a Craftshow and Irene, but as Jeannes car broke and went to repairement and we were left with the van, we decided to spend the wednesday here just claying. Little did we know about the plans of destiny. The electricity went off just after Carol Duval show (good timing, though) and in half an hour it started to feel too hot here se we decided to do some more shopping as every place has airconditioning. As if need any excuses to do stuff like shopping, but still

So we went to Harbor Freight to see all the lucious tools and boxes. There were so many nice things there, but tere was a metal car for kids that was too neat. Too bad that I can not buy all the stuff I want. I need one of those teleporters! After that we did a 'quick run' on Michaels. I ended buying half the shop - and I am starting to convert to stamps too. After that we headed to a stamp/scrapping shop that is bit farther away. I just love driving with Jeanne here. There is a lot to see on the highways here!

After all that serious buying we decided to take Mexican lunch. Aye aye aye, nachos and non- alcohol beer and a small beef fajitas was just what I needed. (Actually that is a standard cure to many situations)

(continuing on the next entry)

Experimenting with mold materials and some claying

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Wed, 14 Jul 2004 16:31:48 +0300

So after spending time with serious shopping we finally got to clay. Some may know that one thing that we have in common with Jeanne is this odd facination with Alley Goop. Now we wanted to test some other materials. We tried the new Sculpey mold maker / elasticlay. We put the metal items with the stuff into oven. BIG mistake. The mold did not survive at all well. Neither did the molds made with normal ways. The new elasticlay also seems to smell a lot, and as we tried to use it to soften hard clay we got some very sticky goo that seemed to get fragile in oven. Your mileage may vary, but this stuff is definately not for me. I am spoiled with all my Alley Goop using so I am demanding customer for any mold material.

And when we are talking about Alley Goop, it now also comes on brush on version. Well... This stuff is gooooy. We are experimenting more today to find a good use for it. At least it picks textures out of texture sheet very well and you get amazing matt that can be used even on curvy surfaces. This stuff has some potential to tecture odd shaped items as it bends to impossible curves. I think we are going to go outside to get some plant leafs and stuff like that to make some rubbery texture matts. We need to experiment this more to say anything definate, but we found out that this does not work well with pourous stuff that this stuff gets deep into. But this probably would be the material for making texture sheets from leafs and feathers.

We had some time for more traditional claying too. I played with some shapes and made this bug. I seldomly do stuff that needs several bakings and tls and stuff like that, but it was fun to play with this while watching Carol Duval show and then Jeanne doing stuff. I just enjoy seeing how she does things. She is very more precise than I am - so we both see a lot of new ways to work as the methods and claying ergonomics are so different. Jeanne showed me how she does that textile-texture cutting with blade, and I went wild. I stole the sheet and started to make beads for a bracelet. Co-operative working is fun when you dont have to send stuff over the sea on post and wait ages to see what the other does with the stuff!

American tour continued

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Tue, 13 Jul 2004 15:20:30 +0300

Yesterday was my day of having plenty of first time experiences. In the morning I finally saw my first Carol Duval show on HGTV. I have been browsing the website, of course, but never seen even a minute of the program. It was hour full of total entertaiment.

The car had had some odd noice the day before so we needed to testdrive it a bit. So we desided to go to Jerrys artarama wich is artist supply store. From the door the place seemed more tolerable size, but after a small walk it turned out to be a huge hall too. I must say that I am really glad that I am mostly in crafts and not in paintin and traditional arts. Otherwise I would have bought myself in bankrupty. On the same parking lot area there was also a good textile shop that had some interesting small tools for sewing and stuff like that.

After all the car had been acting up and we were hungry - and I wanted to have at least one core-American experience - so we went to taco bell for lunch. Well, it was ok. Not actually very mexican or tasty, but so easy going that I bet even my 5 year old girl could be introduced to some more tasty foods this way...

After getting to house it was finally some serious freeform claying time. First we got trough some closets and boxes full of stuff to mold and play with, including some seriously cool seeds and pods. Today we are going to play with liquid Alley Goop so we needed some good things to use that for.

I also made a postcard out of clay. First one ever. I used the backround stamp I just bought, and then tried some Perfect Pearls and Pearl ex tinted TLS on this piece. And also did some ink stamping. The picture has been taken prior baking, the piece is now in oven and I am waiting anxiously to see how many things got wrong

Workshop

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Mon, 12 Jul 2004 15:18:22 +0300

The best way to start a workshop day is not probably getting up 5 am because your body seems to think you are at different time zone.

Jeanne fixed me a steady brekfast, which was the life saving experience. And on the way to the workshop place we stopped to buy coffee and donuts. Oooookay, now I get it, Homer, mmm - doh-nuts suddenly has a meaning. How an earth can anything melt into mouth like that?

It was wonderful to see some of the people on my workshop. Especially to see Suzanne Ivesters paintings in real life was a treat to me. I have been admiring her personal style trough the net for some time now, and the paintings are just stunning alive.

I had a risky plan for the colour mixing as I wanted everyone to have their own colour mixes and to teach the methods that are simple jet still allow adding more colour mixes if you get too little clay in a first place. This method is not at all joyful to teach for about 30 minutes because people are not used to think the way it is teached and the amount of mixes (from 7 to 12 colours) is scaring people in the start. But when people saw by their own eyes what a difference that makes to a piece the smiles came back to the room. And if you get used to doing "labour intensive work" you will actually learn ways to do them quicker than any tiny piece.
I especially loved Barbaras colour mixes - actually got inspired from them and got an idea for a piece of my own.

To my surprise people were holding their crocheting hooks on their palm instead of keeping them like a pen. That gave a lot of problems for the necklace making, but I think everyone got the idea eventually.

After exhausting day we tried to find a restaurant that was open. The first one next to a park was closed. While people were trying to discuss the restaurant location I readed signs that were next to this beautyful park. Ookay, you dont see those in Finland. The second restaurant was experiencing power loss but gladly I at least got a glass of water as I was about to faint from being so tired and it was darn hot. On the way to the third one we managed to get lost in a very serious way. After 20 some minutes of drive we found the restaurant we were supposed to meet the others - and it was close. So we went to this pizzeria that we had seen when searching this one as it was at least open.
And jup, the rest of the gang were there. And pizza was actually good and it took 2 huge slices to get me talking again and 1 more to get me babble like a parrot as someone from the workshop said.

It was a good day but exhausting. It gave me a really good night sleap though

Craft lag

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sun, 11 Jul 2004 04:31:14 +0300

You all probably have heard about Jet Lag, but what I experienced today can be described as Craft Lag.

After getting a tour in Jeannes heavenly studio that has all and everything and more, we went to Michaels. Jaw dropping experience, definately. Lets start from the fact that the wheather outside felt hotter than Finnish sauna, and getting in to any air conditioned space is a very good idea after getting that hot. And to open your eyes to see space that hold more craft items than the whole home country at total - and I am counting my own studio to that amount too. And this is not figurative speach, either. It got me into this blank stare mood where I just had eyes wide as dinner plates. Not only did that shop have more variety in the stuff I already knew it also had some new and interesting stuff.

After hour browsing we needed some quick dinner and got to this bakery where they served oven fresh bread with stuff inside. The stuff in my case was good enough to give me an extra energy boost. Enought to last to the first half of A.C. Moore which also was prolly as huge as our old ice-hockey hall in Helsinki. On the last half I was starting to get very weared out from all the amounts of stuff. It was nice to get to Jeannes small little studio that - after all that Craft Lag - suddenly seemed cosy, small and having just the right amount of new and interesting stuff.

And now to the marvelous silent clay machine to condition some clay for the workshop... IT can't get much easier than this!

Leaving on a jetplane and so one

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 08:21:28 +0300

Ookay, my luggage is almost packet, and some final tasks need to be done. After that I will be heading towards Raleigh USA. I will be writing my travel diary here - hopefully with pictures but we shall see how the technique works.

Pcbj challenge winner

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Wed, 23 Jun 2004 22:39:45 +0300

Pcbj Challenge winner is Zuda Gay Pease. Contgratulations !
You can see all of the challenge contributions with names here.

Bragging :)

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sat, 19 Jun 2004 07:53:20 +0300

Wow. A friend of mine sent a mail to the groups that she has already seen the book 400 designs in polymer clay and two of my works are in the final book. Party party.... I knew that two pictures were selected, but I was not sure if they really got in the finall book.

Cant wait to see it myself !!!

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Polyclay play

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 22:59:31 +0300

Been working with clay like maniac past week.
Varnished some old stamped beads that I almost forgot already. Realised why I did buy a set of pink and violet beads. Ah, I actually had a plan, even though I have forgotten it already.

Been continuing playing with molds and antiquing too...

PCBJ challenge voting is open

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 21:54:05 +0300

Pcbj challenge voting has just opened. You can find the pictures here.

Fossil bracelet

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sat, 12 Jun 2004 09:00:44 +0300

I have been working like maniac to get some stuff to take with me when going to North Carolina in less than month. I also got some new shells to make molds from. I have never done bracelets with tiles before, so this is my first. I love it, but a tip to non-bracelet people: do not wear it on your right hand if you are right handed.

We also added a new lariat workshop to my trip. Still working on the detales of the places, but it probably will be an evening in the week.

Some new beads

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 22:39:00 +0300

Been having some luxyry time with kids being in the park for three mornings in the week. Here are some beads I yesterday to match my new jacket colours.

I mixed eight colours for the beads. It seems that I have gotten really bad case of colour bug, any time I work theese days I usually make at least 2 or three shades of same colour. Therefore the PCBJ necklace challenge has provided some good challenge for myself too. I have started my piece, was very happy doing it today but of course I can not give you pictures about it in advance. Anyway, it has been fun to make

PolyDiva ?

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 07 May 2004 17:34:11 +0300

There is a rumor that I was called a poly Diva on pc polyzine. Wow. What an compliment

But yes, I am coming to NC and if you just click the picture you will find the workshop advertisement. No dates jet, the dates will be informed before end of May as all the pieces in the puzzle will be sorted.

Workshop advertisement

There was also a good article about polyclay discussion groups on polyzine. My polyclay group Polymer clay beads and jewelry was also mentioned on the article.
I am so glad there are so many people who share their claying with others and that there are different groups to choose.

I would not be where I am without other clayers, their knowledge and general inspiration is one of the top 5 things in my life. The virtual community is also a good way to be an artist: you dont have to be very close to be able to be full member of the group. But, if you want, you also can spend all your free time discussing clay with groups you belong to as there always are people who will be facinated to hear that you managed to mix your jogurt, serials and tls to make something that did almost work. There is no time in the day - no matter where you live - that you could not find someone to chat with about what armatures are best or how to mix the best faux turqoise with the lowsy selection of clays you happen to have in your cabinet. And if you dont get symphaty from dear husband about using all your gold/black/translucent Premo and not getting any more until some distant future (tomorrow, maybe, we artists are so patient) you can always find someone to say "there there, now now, maybe you should finally use up all that old Fimo you have been saving in case the world of polyclay will end".

Jup*. Polyclayers are the best. And hooooooray I am going to meet the coolest of them all in the summer. Go see Heart of Clay, Jeannes site. She is marvelous !

*Editors note: Jup is the new yup, just like brown is the new black. Remember kids, jup rules.

New molds, new necklace on works

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Wed, 05 May 2004 23:04:09 +0300

Yesterday I had some special claying time as kids were in the playground for three hours with babysitter.

I finally made some molds with Alley Goop out of the shells and crab parts we found from Corralejo (Canary Islands) when we were there on January.

Then I mixed some real good green out of turqoise and gold premo and made some beads

Later in the evening we gathered with some friends that live nearby to do crafts together. One of them felted both traditionally and with felt needle, one painted fabrics. I made necklaces. I started some wire crocheting with glass and clay beads. We got home around 1 am trough silent neiboroughood. It had rained some earlier in the evening but the smell of fresh was still in the air. It was the first "summery" night this year. It all felt so good.

Artsy trash

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 15:53:28 +0300

I got a heart warming email today from someone who seemed to assume that all my crafting is "better" than hers. I sincerely doubt that very much. I did take a picture of the polyclay trashcan:

Now, really. That is lots of bad quality claywork there. Those are saved only because my husband seems to think they are worthy materials for faux art. I am not so certain about that one either.

My problem as artist is that I bake way too much clay. I could save a lot of money and gray haird by learning just to leave the trash unbaked. But then again some of my best pieces have transformed from plain ugly lump to something mirraculous after sanding, painting and varnishing.

****

Pause for advertisement: it seems that I will be coming to US, Raleigh, this July.
I am waiting for work Visa to clear (all foreigns must have work permit even for teaching few classes) but if it goes trough, I will be teaching two workshops in this summer. More information about it later when all the arrangements are made.

****

This is my latest doll. I am quite pleased with it. The new fibers I bought the other day just are droolable !

Eggs eggs eggs

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sat, 03 Apr 2004 22:54:44 +0300

Finally some claying. Some people know that I do a special egg every year for someone Important. It´s something that I have done four years in a row.

Anyway, this is just a thumbnail, the closeups are at my website html egg page...

Also desided that I am going to start making so "sampler bead necklaces" that have some interesting "simple" beads in them. Started with leftover gold nuggets and made beads out of them

Some claying today

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sat, 20 Mar 2004 23:21:02 +0200

Having been suffering from serious flue for past week (seventh this winter !) it was more than enjoyable to get this inspiration thing today. I usually clay when I have time, not when I am in Mooooood for some sweet soft clay. I dont have that luxury anymore, two kids, one husband and pretty busy weekly schedule have gotten me into "so you have time now, do something, stop whining"- working habbit. Thats not bad. That actually is way more productive than standing in the street waiting to get hit by an passing inspiration.

Anyway, I had a huge inspiration to do something, but it did not quite go as I planned and I am also thinking about writing article about it, so instead I show you what I did with leftover clay:

(Appologies around for horrible picture day)

Yes, you saw right. I did make two hearts...

I also got another idea what Christine Houde said in PCBJ group:
"I made a bunch of beads out of plain translucent with my bead rollers to
use as base beads that I covered with peyote stitch (seed beads)."

That made me think that beads could also be seen trough, it is possible to use some kind of seed bead netting to top clay beads. I made some simple beads and did make one sort of netting while watching Survivors at evening. I dont like this net, but I like the idea...

Swirly lentils, some pendants and door piece

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 22:21:43 +0200

I had to try Half and half - idea from Desirees swirly lentil tute. I have had a thing towards lentils from the moment I first saw Laura Timmins jewelry.

You can see my two colour lentils at this picture:

And no, I dont use glass to make those. My technique with lentils has been and still is by hand.

I also found a PERFECT use for a tool Alan sent me ages ago. He made a tool for sculpting from needles. I have used it on and off. Now I found out it is the perfect tool to make sort of "hammered iron" look to the pendant border. The pendant image is done with Stamped mokume.

I also made another pendant, here are both sides:

And here is a "wallpiece" that came door piece to our home outside door...

Polyclay sites I found today

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Wed, 10 Mar 2004 22:34:25 +0200

I found some renewed or otherwise new to me polyclay sites today.

First one was Susan Samitz caned jewelry site. Wow.

Moka & Pyjama sculptures made me smile. I especially love the boxes and the explanation about houses in the wind.

Lucy Arnolds miniature shoes are for any shoe addict. Some of the kewlest miniature shoes I have ever seen.

Chandrevyn design studio has very nice mixed media jewelry. The use of colours is interesting.

And yes, I use Google

(I think theese links fit into arts and crafts category better than into links category. Hmm... this program does not let me have them on both categories. Bummer. An obvious bug !)

Necklace for wedding

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 22:55:29 +0200

Here is my new pendant necklace that I made for a blouse I bought for wedding of BIL. Because polyclay shines in pictures you don´t see what a marvelous colour mixing effort that was, but if I tell it now, you might believe me

Mokume cane with twist. I twisted some mokume cane slices as they were so darn boring

70 roses

nospam@example.com (Pörrö) — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 23:04:53 +0200

After a careful consideration and some studying of what I actually clay theese days, I have desided that I shall now use more Premo than other clays in my clayin. I still am not monogomous clayer, but I am using more and more Premo. As it is new clay to me (not available in Finland) I had to start with doing some basic colour samples. I know I know, I am bit anal with theese, but I really feel that some kind of basic colour palette is good to have around even though I can mix up colours by heart.

Here is a picture of my first set of sample colours around colour wheel with some lighter and darker tones of mixes:

That was last weekend. Today I made 70 simple roses to my mother in law as she turned 70 and I wanted to give her more lasting flowers. My hands feel BIT tired after doing them...

Front:

And side: