Carpe diem ...

  When you are going at the doctor's office and you know that you'll be waiting your turn for one hour at least, you have to find a way to pass that time in a pleasant way.
  Ko si namenjen na zdravniški pregled in veš, da se boš načakal, se je potrebno organizirati, da boš ta čas preživel kar se da prijetno.

  Guess what I did. Do you need a hint?
  Ali uganete, kaj sem počela jaz? Potrebujete namig?

  Here it is:
  Tukaj je:

  I've discovered another use of a food container ;-D 
  Ugotovila sem, da je posodica za hrano lahko uporabna tudi drugače ;-D

  Here's what I've made while waiting my turn:
  to pa sem naredila med čakanjem na vrsto:

   If you consider that I'm a beginner in beadweaving ... you can imagine how much time I've spent there last evening ....
  Če upoštevate, da sem začetnica v šivanju perl ... si lahko mislite, da sem včeraj zvečer kar nekaj časa preživela v čakalnici ...

  Well, I've just started enjoying it, so couldn't stop stitching ... and finished these today:
  Sicer pa sem ravno dobila rokico za šivanje in se nisem mogla ustaviti, zato sem danes zaključila ta dva para uhanov:

 Carpe diem :-D

  Alenka

Faux Stained Glass Earrings

  One of my favourites techniques for polymer clay is faux stained glass - my way. I made two pairs of earrings this week:
  Spet sem se zabavalo z eno mojih najljubših tehnik s polimerno glino, to je posnemanje vitraža, malo po moje. Ta teden sta tako nastala dva para uhanov:

Sunflower earrings / Sončnica

Tulip earrings / Tulipan

  Be happy!
  Bodite srečni!

  Alenka

Two more Autumn Necklaces / Še dve jesenski ogrlici

  The winter is around the corner, but I'm still feel the autumn in it's beauty. The weather is quite warm here and I like it this way!
  Zima je praktično za vogalom, vendar sama občutim jesen še v vsej svoji lepoti. Prav všeč mi je, da so temperature še vedno kar visoke!

  Vanilla - bronze with a little light green touch for the first necklace (polymer clay, wire, Rocailles, leather cord and linen thread):
  Vanilija - bronasta z dodatkom svetlo zelene za prvo verižico (polimerna glina, žica, Rocailles perle, usnjena vrvica in laneno blago):

  Dark green leaves and bronze owl for the second necklace (polymer clay, Swarowsky cristals, leather cord and wire). It's kind a particular, but I like it:
  Temno zeleni listje in bronasta sova za drugo ogrlico (polimerna glina, kristali Swarovsky, usnjena vrvica in žica). Je kar malo posebna, vendar meni je tako všeč:

 O would love to read your coments! 
 Zelo bom vesela vaših komentarjev!

Wishing you a marvellous day!
   Želim vam čudovit dan!

  Alenka

Autumn necklace / Jesenska ogrlica

  If you are looking for the PEPITA GIVEAWAY, please go here.
  Če iščete NAGRADNO IGRO PEPIRA - kliknite sem. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Yesterday I was working on the Autumn necklace. I've made the polymer clay leaves long ago - last autumn I think. I've used real leaves to texture polymer clay and then red and brown acrylic paints to make them more realistic. The inspiration were the beautiful colours of Rhus cotinus (Cotinus coggygria), a bush typical for our karst area:

 Včeraj sem se lotila Jesenske ogrlice, za katero sem listje iz polimerne gline izdelala že pred časom - mislim, da celo lansko jesen. Za odtis v polimerno glino sem uporabila kar pravo listje, nato sem liste pobarvala z rdečo in rjavo akrilno barvo, da jih čim bolj približam izgledu pravih. Za inspiracijo sem imela čudovite barve ruja, ki je tako značilen za naše kraško območje: 



Source / Vir.



 I liked how it came, but I was not totally satisfied. That was probably the reason I still haven't finished it before. Well, yesterday an idea came to my mind and I decided to pain it over with the gold acrylic paint - just random imprinting with a sponge, not to cover the bottom colours, but to give an extra shine. And that was it!

 Rezultat mi je bil všeč, vendar nisem bila povsem zadovoljna. Verjetno je zaradi tega minilo toliko časa, preden sem jo dokončala. včeraj pa se mi je porodila zanimiva ideja - z gobico sem na listje nanesla še zlato akrilno barvo - toliko, da nisem prekrila spodnjih barv, ampak dodala nekaj sijaja. In to je bilo to!

Autumn necklace / Jesenska ogrlica
(Sorry for the poor picture - it's hard to find enoght light in this rainy day. /
Slika je bolj slabo osvetljena, saj v tem deževnem dnevu nisem uspela najti dovolj svetlobe za dobro sliko.)

 I added some shiny brown stones at both sides and antique copper chain. I think I will add also a nice clasp I don't have in my stash right now (the chain is long enough to put it on over the head now).

 Na vsaki strani sem dodala svetleče rjave kamenčke in verižico "starinsko bronaste" barve. Mislim, da bom dodala tudi kakšno zanimivo zaponko, ki pa je trenutno nimam na zalogi (sedaj je verižica dovolj dolga, da se lahko obleče čez glavo).

  I'm not sure if I should add some brown stones on every second larger link of the chain. What do you think?

 Nisem pa se še odločila, ali naj dodan rjave kamenčke še v vsako drugo večjo rinko na verižici. Kaj menite?


  I would really love to hear (read) what do you think.
  Res bi bila vesela vašega mnenja.

  Alenka

A Time to Stitch 2 - Reveal

  Okay, it's time for for the reveal of the A TIME TO STITCH 2 challenge, hosted by Therese and Christine.

  I'm a bit nervous as these are my first steps in beadweaving, but I already love it very much. That means this is only the beginning and you will see more from me in the future :-)

  Let's start with the CRAW - the first one I've tried. I made a bracelet

and a pair of earrings.

  The second stich I learned was St. Petersburg and I made a bracelet (with polymer clay buttons), 

a pair of earrings

and two rings.

  My design is quite simple, I'm still learning the basics, but I like it that way. They are all my experiments, I did not use any tutorials (except for learning the stitch itself). I know I havent't invented anything new, but I came to this solutions by myself. I'm kind of proud of it ... and I already have a lot of ideas to realize in the future :-) 

  And now, here's the complete list of participants - I'm sure you will find gorgeous creations on their blogs as they are all much more skilful than me:

Therese Frank and Christine Altmiller
Nikki Byers
Kristen Stevens
Shirley Moore
Cynthia Machata
Lola Surwillo
Maryanne Gross
Alenka  ß you are here!
Karin Slaton
Katherine Gale
Sally Russick
Amy Severino
Alicia Marinache
Sonya Stille
Tanya Goodwin
Lisa Stukel
Marla Gibson
Sarah Sequins
Mandy
Andra Weber
Kim Hora
Karen Williams

  Happy hoping!
  Alenka

On my working table / Na moji delovni mizi

  There's quite a lot happening on my working table, but most of the things I can not show, yet. I have to wait for the reveal dates ... and you too :-)

  Na moji delovni mizi se kar veliko dogaja zadnje čase, vendar večine stvari še ne smem pokazati, ker so za različne izzive in moramo počakati na datum razkritja - tako jaz kot tudi vi :-)


  My charms for the ART CHARM BLOG HOP arrived safely to Jen's. The deadline is on 15th October, so I was already getting a little nervous about not being delivered yet - but my package was waiting for her at the post office. You can find more information on my previous post here. The reveal is planned for the 27th October (if everybody gets their charms in time).

  Kar oddahnila sem si, ker so moji obeski za ART CHARM BLOG HOP srečno prispeli do Jen. Glede na to, da skrajni rok za dostavo poteče v ponedeljek, me je že pošteno skrbelo, da moj paket ne bo pravočasno prispel preko oceana - na srečo jo je že par dni čakal na pošti. Nekaj več informacij o tem izzivu lahko najdete na moji stari objavi. Objava izdelkov pa je načrtovana za 27. oktober, a le v primeru, da bomo vsi sodelujoči pravočasno prejeli paketke od izmenjave.
  This weekend I'm working hardly for the polymer clay JOURNAL COVER SWAP, organized by Tina Holden. My swap partner is Byrd Tetzlaff from Bakersfield, California. She discovered polymer clay around 1998 and has loved it ever since. She enjoys doing cane work, embelishments and clay paintings. You can see her works on her Flickr site. 

  Ta vikend sem s polno paro vpeta v pripravo NASLOVNICE DNEVNIKA za izmenjavo v okviru Facebook skupine Polymer Clay Swaps, ki jo organizira Tina Holden. Moja partnerica v izmenjavi je Byrd Tetzlaff iz Bakersfielda v Kaliforniji, ki se je s polimerno glino srečala okrog 1998. leta in jo takoj vzljubila. Iz nje rada izdeluje kačice (v anglešini "canes";millefiori  in sorodne tehnike), okraske in slike iz polimerne gline. Njene izdelke si lahko ogledate v njeni Flickr galeriji.


  This time I'm catching the last train as the package should be sent by Monday, 15th October. Right now I'm finishing the main figure of the design - a detailed and time consuming technique. I will not spoil the surpise if I give you a little sneak peek:

  Pri tem izzivu lovim zadnji vlak, saj je skrajni rok za pošiljanje ponedeljek, 15. oktober. Ravnokar zaključujem glavno podobo oz. figuro v tehniki, ki zahteva precej natančno in dolgotrajno delo. Mislim, da ne bom pokvarila presenečenja, če vam dovolim pokukati skozi majhno lino:

 
  It looks quite weird on this picture :-P  
  It is much better in reality - my son wants to keep it for him, so it should be nice.
 
   Pravzaprav tako izgleda precej čudno :-P 
   V resnici izgleda precej lepše - glede na to, da bi jo rad moj sin obdržal zase, to pove vse ...


  I also have several cured polymer clay pieces on my table, waiting to be sanded, buffed, holes to be drilled ... and then different pieces of jewellery to be made.

   Na mizi imam tudi več pečenih kosov iz polimerne gline, ki čakajo na brušenje, poliranje, vrtanje lukenj ... in končno tudi sestavljanje v nakit, seveda.

  This is about polymer clay, for my progress in beadweaving some other time.

    No, to je nekaj o mojem ustvarjanju iz polimerne gline, o šivanju perl pa drugič. 

  Be happy!!

   Bodite veseli!!

  Alenka

Challenges and Swaps / Izzivi in izmenjave

 
  It's challenges time for me as in the last two weeks I signed up for more challenges and/or swaps, all international.
  Pa je zame spet čas izzivov oziroma izmenjav, saj sem se v zadnjih dveh tednih prijavila kar na tri, vse mednarodne.


  With the Polymer Clay Swaps Facebook group (admnistered by Tina Holden) we have just finished our first swap - the Window Ornament Swap (read my post here) - and all of us were already impatient to begin another one. This time the theme is a JOURNAL COVER IN YOUR FAVORITE TECHNIQUE (it's a one to one swap). It can be multi-media but Polymer Clay should be the focus. You and your partner can decide and tell each other your journal size ...
There are still two days to sign up (until 10 September) and the deadline for sending the creation to your partner is 15 October. If you would like to participate - join the FB group, where you can find all the details.  

  V Facebook skupini Polymer Clay Swaps (ki jo administrira Tina Holden) smo ravnokar zaključili s prvo izmenjavo - Window Ornament Swap (izmenjava okenskih okraskov) - več najdeš tukaj, a smo že vse sodelujoče komaj čakale na naslednjo. Nova tema je NASLOVNICA DNEVNIKA V NAJLJUBŠI TEHNIKI, ki je lahko iz različnih materialov, le da je osnova polimerna glina. Velikost naslovnice določita partnerja v izmenjavi. Prijave so do 10. spetembra, zadnji datum pošiljanja izdelkov pa 15. oktober. Če bi želeli sodelovati, se pridružite FB skupini Polymer Clay Swap, kjer boste dobili vse podrobnejše informacije. 

Examples of journals and covers provided by Tina Holden.
 Primeri naslovnic in ovitkov, ki jih je posredovala Tina Holden.

  I just could not resist to the invitation of Jen Cameron on her Glass Addictions web site for the ART CHARM BLOG HOP, the theme is laughter. To participate in the charm swap, you must be willing to make enough charms for everyone in your group (including yourself) AND one extra so that a set of charms can be auctioned to benefit Beads of Courage. This means if your group has 10 people, you will make and send a total of 11 charms. One charm is a “donation” to be auctioned off to Beads of Courage. I liked the charitable part and I signed up. All the charms need to be in Jen's hands by October 15 - that means that I need to send them by the end of September as thay need to reach the other part of the ocean (US).

  Na spletni strani Jen Cameron Glass Addictions sem zasledila še en izziv, kateremu se tudi nisem mogla upreti. Naslov izziva je ART CHARM BLOG HOP, gre pa za izmenjavo malih umetniških obeskov (primernih za na zapestnico) na temo smeha. Sodelujoči bomo razdeljeni v skupine po 10 in vsak bo moral izdelati po en obesek za vsakega iz skupine ter enega dodatnega, ki bo namenjen dražbi v okviru projekta Beads of Courage, skupaj torej 11 obeskov. Obeski morajo preleteti ocean in prispeti k Jennifer v ZDA do 15. oktobra, kar pomeni, da jih moram poslati najkasneje do konca septembra.

  And I'm still not over :-$ ... I'm beginning to learn bead-weaving and Therese from Therese's Treasures with her friend Christine are hosting the A TIME TO STITCH 2 challenge. They offer two stitches to choose from: Right Angle Weave and St. Petersburg. You can choose to do one or both of the stitches. And it is open to first time bead weavers to the advanced bead weavers.  The object is to just have fun. There is no pressure to complete a project, just post what you have done at the time of the reveal. And you can find all the tutorials on her site.

  It's just perfect for me - no pressure to make something difficult or to finish the piece in time, just learning and having fun! Today is the last day for sign ups and October 25 is the reveal day.

  In še ni konec :-$ ... Ker sem se začela učiti šivanja perl, sem dobila odlično priložnost v okviru izziva, ki ga organizira Therese (Therese's Treasures) s prijateljico Christine. Gre za A TIME TO STITCH izziv, ki je primeren tako za začetnike kot za mnogo bolj vešče. Ponujena sta dva vzorca šivov, "Right Angel Weave" in "St. Petersburg" (v slovenščini še ne poznam ustrezne terminologije), med katerima lahko izbereš enega ali oba, na Theresini spletni strani so dostopni tudi tutoriali. Namen izziva je predvsem zabava, zato ni pomembno, da se izdelek dokonča, lahko se objavi tudi nedokončanega. Čas za prijavo je le še danes, razkritja na blogih pa bodo 25. oktobra.

 I have to admit I've already started with the Cubic Right Angle Weave and I think I have understood well the logics of the pattern, I can already stitch the beads with no need to look at the tutorial. However, it's quite tricky - you think you've mastered it, but you can quickly make a mistake if you loose the concentration ...

 

  Priznati moram, da sem se že lotila dela, in sicer sem začela s spoznavanjem vzorca Cubic Right Angle Weave. Zdi se mi, da sem razumela logiko šivanja in kar osvojila tehniko, vendar pa je pri šivanju perlic potrebna dobra koncentracija, saj se lahko mimogrede "zašiješ" ... 

  Am I exagerating with all this challenges? Well, maybe I am. Definitely I need to hold back for a while ... and don't sign up for another one until I'm done with at least two of these.

  Hm, mogoče kar malo pretiravam z vsemi temi izzivi ... časa za ustvarjanje namreč nimam veliko. Se bom morala kar precej zadrževati v prihodnje s prijavljanjem na nove, vsaj dokler ne dokončam dva od prijavljenih izzivov.


  Have fun and do what you love,
  Uživajte in vzemite si čas za tisto, kar radi počnete,
  Alenka

First time ...

  ... BEADWEAVING!!!

  During the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party I've seen the wonderful creations of my bead soup partner Amy and beautiful, sometimes even breathtaking pieces of other beadweavers, and I said to myself "I have to learn this!". And yesterday it was just the right day for a first attempt.

ŠIVANJE PERL - MOJ PRVI POSKUS!

 

  Med sodelovanjem v 6. Bead Soup Blog Party-ju, sem se srečala s čudovitimi kreacijami moje partnerice v izmenjavi Amy in krasnimi izdelki iz drobnih perlic ostalih sodelujočih - pri nekaterih sem ostala celo brez besed... Takrat sem si rekla, da to moram vsekakor poskusiti ... in včeraj je bil ravno pravi dan za to.

  Preamble:
In my stash I had only: white and baby-blue Rocailles (2,6 mm), no beading thread - just some dark blue sturdy sewing thread, 3 beading needles and some Beading Daily free tutorials. The Hexagonal Netting tutorial by Dustin Wedekind seemed quite acceptable for a begginer and I decided to try ...

  Opozoriti moram, da sem doma imela samo bele in svetlo modre 2,6 mm perle, iglo za šivanje perl, za nit pa sem vzela kar čvrsto nit za šivanje džinsa, ki je ne moreš pretrgati na roke. Naj omenim še, da je bila temno modre barve, torej ne ravno idealna za svetle perle. Imela pa sem tudi nekaj tutorialov od Beading Daily, med katerimi se mi je zdel Hexagonal Netting tutorial (avt. Dustin Wedekind) kar primeren za začetnika.

  The beginning was not so difficult and a self-confident thought passed through my mind: "oh, it's easy!" ... and just a few minutes later finishing the second (white) round I bumped into a mistake I made in the previous round (see arrow). Aaahhhhh!!! And my self-confidence faced a steep fall ... 

   Na začetku mi je šlo kar dobro in čim je moja samozavest zrasla, je prišel prvi šok - o sem zaključevala drugi krog (svetlo moder), sem naletela na napako v prejšnjem krogu ... Ajajajaj!!! In moja samozavest strmo dol ...

 Let's try again! I was working just fine, finishing the first round (first if not counting the circle in the middle) ... thinking "this time I am not going to make the same mistake" ... when another surpise was waiting for me just around the corner* - the thread stuck! Arrghhhh!!!  :-$

  * In this Hexagonal Netting pattern the "corner unit" is the increase unit of the round on each corner to keep the netting flat.

  No, pa poskusimo še enkrat - lepo počasi in natančno, da ne ponovim iste napake ... ko ravno zaključujem prvi krog (če ne štejemo osnovnega krogca na sredini), pa spet presenečenje!! Nič kaj prijetno, seveda: nit se je zataknila in ni šla ne naprej ne nazaj ... Grrrrr!

  "I'm not giving up!!! If I need a whole day to make it "perfect", I'll keep trying!"  The third attempt ... and  I reached first base! YAY!!!  :-D

  Seveda se ne bom pustila kar tako - če bo treba, bom poskušala ves dan!!! Na srečo tega ni bilo treba in je bil že tretji poskus uspešen! Juhuuuu!

#25/52 PAIR OF EARRINGS

  A piece of wire and here's my very first beadweaved earring. I made another one and this is also my 25 pair for the 52 earrings a year challenge.

  Dodala sem še malo žice in že je bil moj prvi uhan iz šivanih perl končan! Nato sem naredila še drugi del para in to je sedaj moj 25. par uhanov za izziv 52 earrings a year.

  There will be absolutely more beadweaving by me - I find it really relaxing (I know, it doesn't seem so when you read my previous words ;-)) ...  almost a kind of meditation. I just need to get some practice and some material for it. 

  To je torej šele začetek, vsekakor se bo moje prijateljevanje s šivanjem perl nadaljevalo - res je sproščujoče (čeprav iz zgornjega opisa ne izgleda ravno tako ;-)), celo neke vrste meditacija. Potrebujem samo nekaj prakse in pravega materiala.

  Hugs & love,

  Alenka

Flower power (#24/52 Earrings)

  I'm back! ... or better more regularly participating at the 52 earrings a year challenge. This is the 33 week of this year and the theme of the week was nothing else but FLOWER POWER.  
 
  My first idea was to use my millefiori flower canes (all the 3 of them), but then I came accros Elissa Powell's Translucent Chrysanthemum Cane© tutorial and a 25-watt light bulb appeared over my head ;-)

  For the cane I used white Premo, metallic perlmutt Fimo, transparent orange Fimo and some leftovers from a yellow-orange-red-white mokume gane. This is the result:

  It's a very simple cane to make, you can use your leftovers and the result is great, as you can see.

 The only problem I've had was the cracling of the white Premo. I like the snow white colour of Premo after curing and I had a half package left so I used it for the cane; I conditioned it well enough (about 20 times through the pasta machine on 4-5 different settings), just as other pieces, but after rolling the cane it begun to cracle ... I have to say I was quite dissapointed!!!

  Do any of you use Premo clay and do you have the same problems or it's just my package that was old?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  No, pa sem se le spet vrnila k rednemu sodelovanju v izzivu 52 earrings a year (52 uhanov na leto) z mojim 24. parom. Tema tekočega tedna je bila FLOWER POWER, zato sem seveda razmišljala "rožasto". Prva ideja je bila uporabiti (vse tri) moje cvetlične kačice, nato pa sem naletela na zelo zanimiv in preprost tutorial Elisse Powell Translucent Chrysantemum Cane© in žarnica nad mojo glavo je veselo zasvetila!

  Na zgornji sliki lahko vidite rezultat - uporabila pa sem bel Premo, metallic perlmutt Fimo, prozoren oranžen Fimo ter ostanke rumeno-oranžne-rdeče-bele mokume gane plahtice. Postopek je zelo enostaven, rezultat pa čudovit.

  Edino težavo, s katero sem se soočila pri zvijanju kačice, mi je povzročil bel Premo, ki je začel pokati. Glede na to, da sem ga vsaj 20-krat spustila skozi "pašta-mašino" na 4-5 različnih nastavitvah, se mi ne sanja, zakaj tako pokanje. Ni mi potrebno razlagati, da sem bila zeloooo razočarana in res ne vem, če ga bom še kupila ... čeprav mi je njegova snežno bela barva zelo všeč!!

 Imate kaj izkušenj s Premo? Se tudi vam dogaja enako ali je bil samo moj paketek star?   

Bead Soup Blog Party - (2nd) Reveal

  Here we are!!! It's finally time for the second round - that is also my reveal of the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party (BSBP), hosted by Lori Anderson. First I would like to thank Lori for such a wonderful work and this opportunity to artistically grow and meet other artists.

  My partner in this party is Amy Severino from USA and she sent me an interesting bead soup - just to remember here it is:

  As I've explained in my first BSBP post, the biggest challenge for me was working with such small beads. I've created jewellery mostly from polymer clay until now, and never tried beadweaving ...
 
  I've done some sketches few days after receiving the bead soup, but have begun to really work on the pieces only last weekend. In the meantime all the work was proceeding in my mind ...

  I knew I want to use the focal and the Mother-of Pearl disc beads for a necklace, but I wanted to add some brightness with a touch of orange (do you remember that little seed bead that accidentally fell into the package?) I still have no experience with simple stringing and I prefered some wire work ... But let's see the first piece!

  I didn't want to leave the focal as it was so I made a ring from czech fire polish beads and added three blue dyed Mother-of Pearl rice beads:

  The rest of blue rice beads were used for a "flower" that changes its shape every time the necklace is worn as the beads are moving and turning in different positions:

  I wanted the necklace to be asymmetric and to use a ribbon - and guess what - I was so lucky to find a fabric with the exactly the same shade of blue as the focal is!!! On one end I made a simple knot, on the other I waved around it some wire with an orange bead on each side. I'm not sure this is the arrangemet I like most, so it might happen to change something later:

  This is a totally "out of my comfort zone" piece and I was enjoying the creation process very much!!! Hope you like the final result.

  The second piece is a bracelet - yes, exactly that one from the teaser of my previous post. The brass imprinted beads (with small suns) are surrounded with textured polymer clay rings made by me. The texture on the rings represent the sun rays spreading from the inner sun-beads. I added also some orange seed beads inside the rings and the brown glass pearls from my soup outside of them. The clasp is made by two eye-pins wire-wrapped together. Well, this was pure improvisation - I made a clasp from polymer clay, but while assembling the beads together and trying it on my wrist I realized it won't work ... As I did not have any bronze wire, I played a little with the eye-pins ...

  I love orange and this bracelet is totally me!!!

  A little closer look:

  Yes, I've used that same eye-pins also to assemble the beads together :-)

  As I was left with two more polymer rings I made also a matching a pair of earrings  (my third piece):

 

  From the soup I received I've used the focal, the clasp and all different type of beads, but not all of them. Some of the brass imprinted beads, brown glass pearls and czech fire polish beads will be waiting in my stash for the next occasion.

  This is all from me, but please check first what my partner Amy made with the bead soup I sent to her. And if you still have some free time and are curious (as I absolutely am) about the creations of the other artists participating in the 2nd reveal of the Bead Soup Blog Partly you can find all the contacts on Lori's blog here.

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  Čas kar beži in že je prišel čas za drugi krog Bead Soup Blog Party-ja, ki ga že šestič po vrsti organizira Lori Anderson. V tem krogu sodelujem tudi jaz s svojimi izdelki, ki jih lahko vidite zgoraj:

 - Prvi izdelek je ogrlica, za katero sem uporabila obesek, zaponko in večino perl, ki sem jih dobila v "župci" od Amy. Dodala sem še oranžne perlice, da s kančkom modri kontrastne barve popestrim izdelek, in trak v istem odtenku, kot je obesek. Ta izdelek je povsem izven mojega "območja udobja", torej nekaj, kar običajno ne delam, tako da je zame glavni izziv tega party-ja.

- Drugi izdelek je zapestnica, v kateri sem uporabila male perle z vtisnjenimi sončki, ki sem jih obdala z rinkami iz polimerne gline, ki sem jih sama izdelala. Tekstura na rinkah predstavlja sončne žarke, ki se širijo iz sredinske perle.  Znotraj rink so še oranžne, izven rink pa rjave perlice, skupaj so povezane z bronasto žico, iz katere je izdelana tudi zaponka. Oranžn barvo obožujem, zato je ta zapestnica prav v mojem stilu!!

 - Na koncu sta mi ostali še dve oranžni rinki, ki sem jih seveda uporabila za par uhanov, ki se ujemajo z zapestnico.

 

  Zdaj pa si lahko ogledate še, kaj je naredila Amy  iz "župce", ki jo je dobila od mene; in seveda tudi, kaj so ustvarile vse ostale priden roke sodelujočih v tem izzivu. Kozarec sveže pijače v roko in malo virtuanega sprehoda - seznam s povezavami dobite tukaj.

Bead Soup Blog Party - a Little Teaser and 1st Reveal

  I'm one of the 400 lucky participants of the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party, hosted by Lori Anderson, that is split in 3 separated reveals, because of so many participants. You will see my creations on August 11th (2nd Reveal), but I wanted to give you a sneak peek at my sketches ... Well, I'm not going to show you everything, just a little part of it :-)

  As my pieces are still not finished, I'm not sure at all this is the final appearance ... So just come back next Saturday (August 11th) and take a look at my final results.

  In the meantime you can check the creations of the 1st Reveal of July 28th - the list will be available clicking here. there are so many beautiful pieces of jewellery there ... I still haven't manage to check all the blogs, I've just reached the names that begin with K.

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  Hitro se bližamo 11. avgustu, ko bo prišel čas za predstavitev mojih izdelkov iz "župce", ki mo jo je poslala Amy. Seveda govorim o mojem sodelovanju v Bead Soup Blog Party-ju, ki ga gosti Lori Anderson. Da vas malo podražim, sem zgoraj objavila izsek iz moje skice - vendar pa je moje delo še v teku, tako da bo končni rezultat lahko popolnoma drugačen ;-)

  Medtem pa se lahko pozabavate z ogledom kreacij drugih sodelujočih, ki so jih razkrili v prvem krogu, 28. julija. Povezavo na njihove bloge lahko najdete tukaj. Uživajte!





Summer circular swap / Poletni krožni swap

  V slovenščini lahko prispevek preberete tukaj.

  I enjoy very much participating in swaps. The first of all was the February 2012 swap Valentine's heart, organized by a Slovenian team of 4 polymer clayers Izdelovalnica malih umetnin and then every month followed a new one. For the summer months they organized a Summer circular swap.

  Let me first briefly summarize the rules of this swap: the 4 organizers (from Izdelovalnica) have collected the initial set of 40 polymer clay pearls, focals and other pieces made by themselves. They have sent the package to the first participant that had to take 5 to 8 pieces out and put the same number of pieces (made by her) in. She had one week time to make something from the pieces she had taken out, but not more than two pieces of jewellery. Then she had to send the "renewed" set of polymer pieces to the next participant and so on.

  I was the fourth one in the line and my reveal was scheduled on June 16th. Here is the set I have received: 
 

   Happy as a child I was changing the position of the pieces, combining them in different sets, chosing some of them, then changing my decision again and again ... fortunately there was a deadline for sending the package out to the next participant, and I made this final decision

   There were mainly two criteria I adopted: first, the coordinated colours (as there was a limit of two pieces); and second, I wanted to take the pieces that differ from what I have made until now. The pumpkins were made by Flo; the golden pieces in the middle by Metuljcica and the bottom pearls were made by Roberta.

  For the golden pieces Metuljcica got the inspiration from the Buddhist prayer mills, what recolled to me the red colour (that happens to be also one of my favourites) and the golden tassels as a kind of threads of life ... resulting in this pair of earrings:

  This is also my #22 pair of 52 pairs of earrings a year. 


  The rest of the pieces in matching colours I immediately imagined as a part of a necklace. My starting point were the colours in both Roberta's pearls, but there was no way to achive just the same shades as she did ... so I decided to make a skinner blend from yellow to dark blue and use it to make small pearls from each shade. To break the symmetry and expose the pumpkins a little more I decided to insert between them some wire. I'm quite happy with the final result, what about you?

  The creatins of the other swappers are posted here - well, all the texts are in Slovene language, but you can always admire the pictures :-) You can always use the online translators, but they usually create quite a fun translation ...

  Have fun,
  Alenka

#18 to #21/52 Earrings

  It's been a while from my last post and during these weeks I was able to produce only some half-finished posts that were never published. My brain was overloaded and needed a break, I guess. After a one-week vacation on the island of Rab (Croatia) without any computer nor mail nor internet distraction, I'm finally writting again. I'll try to summarize in the next few posts during the next days most of the "lost posts".

  During last weeks I was mostly hooked on the books, again - when I start I can't let go. That means 200-250 pages a day, day after day... It's a kind of "a return to my teenage years" when I used to read until late at night, in my bed with the support of my night light. At that time I read mostly detective stories (like Agatha Christie or Victoria Holt and many others) and romance books, but I specially liked the ones that intensively and accuratedly described the emotions (of any kind) of and between the characters. Don't need to mention that the books for the school's compulsory reading list were not included :-P

  However, let's go back to my earrings of the 52 earrings a year challenge - the last ones that I posted here were #17/52 (week 24) and I created and posted on Flickr more of them. So let's glance through them with a word or two about the inspiration.

  #18/52 EARRINGS (week 25; theme of the week: the half)

The most obvious interpretation of a HALF would probably be to take a geometric shape, cut it in half and make two earrings from the halves. I was not really thrilled about this idea as I made that kind of earrings before, so I tried to find a diferent interpretation ... when the fractions came to my mind. Well, I always liked Maths at school and I gave a lot of Maths lessons during the college period ... 

 

  Unfortunately, one "one" broke during assembling and I was left with the half of the half. Maybe I will make another "one" to replace the broken part or I will just leave it as single earring - it's quite long and it can be worn like that.

#19/52 EARRINGS (week 26)

  It was the week when I was making the Bead soup for Amy (I'm participating at the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party, remember?) and I was thinking about including also a little gift for her. Then I thought: why not killing two birds with one stone??!! (I really don't like this idiom, in Slovenian it's about flies). 

  The inspiratin was the elder flower and I wanted to make it sparkling ... Amy says she likes them, so I'm very happy :-)

#20/52 EARRINGS (week 27; theme of the week: favourite colour)

  If you take a look at my Flickr photostream it's more that obvious what my favourite colours are, so it was quite obvious also my choice for this week's theme. I opted for a mother-of-pearl leafs and freshwater pearls, no polymer clay this time.

#21/52 EARRINGS (week 27; to catch up the current week)

  As I've mentioned before I joined the challenge 52 earrings quite late - my 1st week was the the 13th of the challenge. I'm catching up the missed 12 weeks making one more pair a week when I manage to and this is one of them. These fishes were made from polymer clay quite some time ago, but waited on my working bench to be painted and assembled with wire. On week 27 I've finally managed to finish them (although the picture is all but good).

  I've missed the last two or three weeks of the challenge (have to check!) and today is the last day of the week 30, so I'm still 9 earrings short!!!

  Hope to be more productive this summer while still on vacation, but at home. However, I have also two important challenges this summer: on August 11th the reveal of the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party and on August 15th the final date to send out the Window ornament swap piece... but more about it in one of my next posts ....