I have finally finished ... / Pa sem le dokončala ....

  ... my "Leaf in the wind" necklace.
... ogrlico, ki sem jo poimenovala "List v vetru".

After several diferent ideas that came on my mind, I've chosen a simple button closure. The polymer clay button is made using the same surface treatment as the leaf pendant.
Po poigravanju z različnimi možnostmi in idejami, sem se odločila za enostavno zapiranje na gumb, ki sem ga izdelala iz polimerne mase z enako površinsko obledavo kot obesek.

And - I'm so happy to announce that this pendant was featured in the November issue of Bead Chat magazine (on page 27)!!! I submitted the picture the last minute and I wasn't sure it will be accepted.
In - z velikim veseljem lahko povem, da je ta obesek/ogrlica objavljen v novembrski številki revije Bead Chat!!! Fotografijo sem poslala zadnji trenutek, tako da nisem bila prepričana, če bo objavljena - a je bila - poglejte na stran 27!!!

  This is the very first feature of a piece of jewelry made by me in a magazine and I'm soooo happy, I can't explain how!!! ***Happy dance*** 
 To je moja čisto prva objava v reviji, ki se ukvarja z nakitom in sem takoooo vesela, da ne morem razložiti!!! ***juppi-juppi-jaaaa***

  The Leave in the wind necklace will be available in my etsy shop later tonight. Oh, yes, I'm fnally opening my Etsy shop!
  Ogrlica bo kasneje zvečer na razpolago v moji Etsy trgovinici. Tako je, končno odpiram svojo Etsy trgovinico!

  Be happy,

Bodite veseli,

Alenka

Surprise & Twinchie Polymer Clay Swap with Japanese Flavour / Swap presenečenj in ploščic iz polimerne gline z japonskim pridihom

  Yep, I've had a partner from Japan in this last International polymer clay FB group swap: the lovely Chieko Sasaki of MINA Creations!!!
  Tako je, moja zadnja partnerica v mednarodni izmenjavi izdelkov iz polimerne gline prihaja z Japonske - to je Chieko Sasaki, ki ustvarja pod imenom MINA Creations!  

  Chieko lives in the central Tokyo, Japan, with her hubby and six birds. She is a certified FIMO instructor/artist and teaches miniatures at a major handicraft store in Tokyo called Tokyu Hands once a month. She is also a certified metal clay artist/instructor of PMC (MITSUBISHI precious metal clay) and a practitioner of Findohorn flower essences. How cool is that!!!
  Chieko živi v osrednjem Tokiu z možem in šestimi pticami. Je certificirana inštruktorica/ustvarjalka ter enkrat mesečno poučuje izdelovanje miniatur v največji trgovini z ustvarjalnim materialom v Tokiu. Poleg tega ima certifikat tudi za dragocene metalne gline (precious metal clay) in se ukvarja s Findohorn cvetličnimi esencami.

   We decided to swap a set of jewelry - a necklace, a bracelet and earrings.
   Odločili sva se za izmenjavo kompleta nakita, in sicer ogrlice, zapestnice in uhanov.



  Let me first show you what I've made for Chieko.
  Naj vam najprej pokažem, kaj sem sama naredila za Chieko. 

 
  Chieko likes autumn colors, so do I, and as the autumn was just around the corner, I've decided to use yellow-orange + bronze palette. I used my currently favorite techniques - the combination of Hellen Breil's Shapes and Cosmic Ceramic of Iris Mishly & Hila Bushari, all combined my way.
  Chieko so všeč jesenske barve, ravno tako kot meni, in ker se je jesen hitro bližala, sem se odločila za rumeno-oranžne odtenke v kombinaciji z bronasto. Uporabila sem trenutno najljubšo kombinacijo tehnik, to je Shapes od Hellen Breil in Cosmic Ceramic od Iris Mishly & Hile Bushari, skombinirano malo po moje.

The necklace I made for Chieko / Ogrlica, ki sem jo izdelala za Chieko

 

 

 
   

The earrings for Chieko / Uhani za Chieko

The bracelet with the infinity symbol / Zapestnica s simbolom neskončnosti

The twinchie using the same texturing and coloring techniques / Ploščica, za katero sem uporabila isti tehniki teksture in barvanja

  I was a little late sending out my swap items for Chieko, so I've decided to send to her a little extra gift to apologize for the delay. I've decided for something related to the place I live - the Sečovlje saltpans:
  Ker sem tokrat malo zamujala s pošiljanjem paketka za Chieko, sem se odločila, da dodam še dodatno darilce v opravičilo. Izbrala sem nekaj, kar je povezano s krajem, v katerem živim, to so Sečoveljske soline:

A wooden spoon for salt and Grandma's Recipes cooking book / Lesena žlica za sol in knjižica z recepti stare mame

 ~~~

  And here is what I have received from Chieko:
  Tukaj pa vam predstavljam, kaj je Chieko izdelala zame:

 

The necklace Chieko made for me / Ogrlica, ki jo je Chieko naredila zame

Earrings from Chieko / Uhani od Chieko

 

Bracelet from Chieko / Zapestnica od Chieko

 

Chieko included even a ring / Chieko je dodala celo prstan

 

and not one, but two beautiful twinchies / in celo dve ploščici

 The beads look like glass and not polymer!! And have you seen her food miniatures??!! They are perfect in each detail!!! 
  Njene perle izgledajo kot steklo in ne polimerna glina!! In ste videli njene miniature hrane??!! Perfektne so v vsaki področbnosti!!!

  Thank you, Chieko, for being my partner in this swap! I've enjoyed every moment of it and I'm happy to have a new polymer friend in Japan. 
  Najlepša hvala, Chieko, da si bila moja partnerica v tej izmenjavi! Uživala sem v sakem trenutku in sem zelo vesela, da imam novo kolegico na Japonskem.

Be happy,

 Bodite veseli,

 

Alenka 

 

March 8 Swap / Osmomarčevski swap

  The girls from Izdelovalnica malih umetnin organized again a swap between Slovenian polymer clayers (of all levels). Well, this time they went international as one of the participants is from Serbia.
   Dekleta iz Izdelovalnice malih umetnin so spet organizirale swap izdelkov iz polimerne gline, ki je tokrat postal mednarodne narave, saj se nam je pridružila tudi udeleženka iz Srbije.

  For the swap everyone had to make a set of a necklace + ring or bracelet or earrings or brooch (mainly from polymer clay, but allowed to be mixed media) and send it by March 6, to be at the destination by March 8, the International Women's Day. The interesting thing about this swap was that you knew only who you have to send your item, but don't know who will you receive it from. It means it was not a one to one swap, but a circular one.
   Za swap je bilo potrebno izdelati komplet ogrlice + prstan ali zapestnico ali uhane ali broško delno ali v celoti iz polimerne gline (navodila v celoti so tukaj) ter ga poslati do 6. marca, da ga prejemnica dobi do 8. marca, kot darilo za dan žena. Najbolj zanimiv del te izmenjave pa je bilo to, da je bil "krožne narave" - vsaka sodelujoča je vedela samo, komu mora sama poslati, ni pa vedela, od koga bo darilo dobila.

  Here's the set I've sent to Tjaša:
   To je komplet, ki sem ga poslala Tjaši:

    I have to admit my first idea of the surface treatment was a little different, but did not work out as I wanted, even if the result was interesting. I'll show some other time. I hope she likes it and will wear it sometime.
   Moja prva ideja za površinsko obdelavo je bila sicer drugačna, a ni izpadla tako, kot sem želela, čeprav je bil rezultat kar zanimiv. A o tem več kdaj drugič. Vsekakor upam, da je Tjaši komplet všeč in da ga bo vsaj kdaj tudi nosila. 
 

  Let's go now to the "receiving part"!
The sender of the package for me was Sandra. She made this beautiful set in my favourite colours!!!! She said she made the set before she knew who was the recipient, so it was a really nice coincidence.
   No, pa gremo še na skrivnostni del swapa!
Točno 8. marca sem prejela paketek, pošiljateljica katerega je bila Sandra. V paketu je bil ta čudovit komplet v mojih najljubših barvah!!! Sicer je bilo to le srečno naključje, ker je pripravila komplet, še preden je izvedela, komu ga mora poslati, a pravijo, da naključja ne obstajajo ;-).

  Thank you, Sandra, very much!!!
   Sandra, najlepša hvala!!!!


  If you would like to see what have the other participants made - go here. The site is in Slovene language, but you can see the pictures of some beautiful sets.
  Če vas zanima, kaj so ustvarile ostale udeleženke, si lahko ogledate tukaj - videli boste nekaj zares čudovitih kompletov.

  Alenka

Two days after .. & Autumn swap / Dva dni kasneje ... & Jesenski swap

  Two days after the situation is back to normal - the snow is gone almost at all. A few reminders are left on the shadowy sides of land ...
  Po dveh dneh je pri nas pogled skozi okno spet običajen. Sneg je skoraj povsem izginil, le nekaj spominčkov je ostalo na senčni strani pokrajine ...

  In October I have participated in another Slovenian (polymer clay) swap organized by Izdelovalnica malih umetnin. All the participants had to make two sets of 7 beads in autumn colours, any technique, diameter 1,5-2 cm (0.6-0.8 inches).
  Oktobra sem sodelovala v še eni slovenski izmenjavi izdelkov iz polimerne gline, ki so jo organizirala dekleta iz Ustvarjalnice malih umetnin. Vse sodelujoče smo morale narediti po dva seta 7 perl v jesenskih barvah v poljubni tehniki, obsega 1,5-2 cm.  

These are the beads I made:
To so perle, ki sem jih izdelala jaz:

 Everybody then received one bead of each set, that means 14 different beads:
 Vsaka je nato dobila po eno perlo iz vsakega seta, torej skupaj 14 različnih perl:




 and make a necklace using all of them.
 ter iz njih morala izdelati ogrlico, tako da se uporabijo vse. It was not an easy job combining such different beads in a single necklace, so I tried to pair them and put each pair on the same place at the sides and I also made some green spacers from polymer clay. This is the result:
 Glede na to, da so bile vse perle med seboj različne, to ni bila lahka naloga, zato sem jih poskušala razporediti v pare po podobnosti in perle iz para postaviti na isto mesto na vsaki strani. Za "vmesnike" sem izdelala tudi manjše zelene perle iz polimerne mase. To je moj rezultat:

 I'm not sure this is the final version, I could make some more changes as I'm not totally satisfied.   

 Po moje to ni čisto zadnja verzija in bom naredila še kakšno spremembo, ker nisem povsem zadovoljna z rezultatom.

  You can find the necklaces of the others participants here.

  Ogrlice ostalih sodelujočih si lahko ogledate tukaj.

  Be happy! / Bodite veseli!

  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