My creative space

I had to clean my worktable before I could show you my creative space today.
I love working on a clean table when I start with new things. Earlier this week, I made three tableaus for wall art feelings and now I can decorate them! Yay!
I have the first ones I made in the kiln right now & I made some colorsamples too so I'm eagerly waiting for the kiln to be done.
I love making these as I can just make up things as I go along. I think it's the same feeling like when you get new yarn as a crocheter, a new color paint as a painter or new fabric as a quilter,...And yesterday I went supply shopping - oh joy! I bought something which I will use in two future projects. And I'm going to make you guess what it is... and the one who gets closest can win a happy package. Happy packages are always a surprise, I never say beforehand what's in there! :)
So, this is for two different projects. I want to know from you what I'll be making with these.
And if you all guess it right from the start, it will be hard to pick a winner, so I also want to know how many of these plastic things are in both jars....
Good luck! I'll be announcing a winner next thursday around the same time! :)

OMG, give-away update: it's way too confusing I think!
There are lots of people who know the right answer but haven't written how many plastic thingies there are in the jars. There are also people wo are very close to the right number of how many plastic thingies there are in the jar but haven't told what they are for.
THEREFOR: everyone who leaves a comment will automatically enter the happy package give-away! :)

Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's, it's fun! :)

Karl Blossfeldt

The other day, Elisa from Peskycatdesigns on Etsy, mentioned one of my very favorite artists in her comment on my blog: Karl Blossfeldt. So time to let you meet him in case you don't know his work. His work is extremely inspriring to a texture addict as myself. The details of his photographs are breathtaking and invite to translate it into 3D.
I've always been fascinated by nature in it's pure form and believe me, it can't get more pure then this. Want to have a look at the book I got from the library yesterday?

Dream in progress...

Call me ambitious or crazy but I bought the pattern to this blanket yesterday.
I have been inspired by the brown owls who started to crochet a granny square each day to have a blanket in no time!
I do want to make a granny square blanket too one day but I so fell in love with this happy, colorful blanket that this just has be made first! Ha! :)
Now I need to decide on what yarn I'll use. The original blanket is made of merino wool yarn but I'm thinking of making it in cotton 'cause the colors are just so bright and happy.
As soon as I have decided I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Infinity

This work is something I made in 2004. I have been wanting to show it for ages now but because it's kind of big (65cm or 25,5inches), it is not easy to photograph and I kept postponing buying more backgroundpaper for taking pictures. Yesterday, it was kind of cloudy and the ferns and garden looked so pretty that I tried to shoot it outside.
The reason I want to show you now is because of the structure of this work. I put so many marks and bumps and structures in there and then washed it with oxydes. I kind of like the 'rough' effect of it.
This is also what I will do with the wall art feelings. However, the marks are not that prominent so it will show a lot lighter depending on how much oxyde I leave on the piece.Anyway, this work was an assignment at the academy of fine arts.
The assignment was called 'infinity'. Translate this into shape. Design a shape, starting from a full block of clay, finish this thight, sloping or angular. Mould this form and repeat it into a spacious concept.

Moulding is not my piece of cake but the theme infinity fascinated me. When I started thinking about infinity, the universe was what I came up with. But how can you translate that into shape without the typical moon and stars?

For me it was clear that the work had to have a horizon, what on itself is also infinite.
At the same time, the work had to be in motion.
As a child, I used to have a kind of ball where in the middle of the ball was a plastic disc and one could stand on it. You could clasp the ball between your feet and jump a few centimetres away. One could jump on top of the world.
That's why I decided to make a flat disc which I put on top of a half ball so that the disc could move around. On top of the disc I made a moon landscape to characterize the universe.

Work in progress

I'm still catching up on things but of course I couldn't resist trying out some new stuff. The idea to make mini art wall feelings has been in my head for a while now. However, it started out as a completely different idea to what I made now. These are little ceramic 'tableaux' or a canvas with a feeling 'painted' on them. They are 20x20cm or 8x8inches.I'm a bit reluctant to show as these will look completely different once they are finished. They won't have the whiteness of ceramic but will be colored with oxydes or stains. I made scratches all over the pieces so that when I add oxydes to the fired piece, the oxyde or stain will remain in the scratches leaving a darker mark. This is still very much in the experimenting phase so it might turn out to be something completely different. I thought I would show you these anyway so I could get some feedback on them! :) Thanks in advance for giving your opinion.
Oh, and these will be one of a kind. Won't make the same one as it's too much fun to come up with different designs! :)

My creative space

Today's creative space is my outside office. The weather has been so wonderful here the past weeks that I just make my workspace outside. I just put on lots of sunscreen, put something on my head and clay till my heart's content. :)

Want to show your creative space? Hop over theo Kootoyoo's, it's fun! :)

Mitsy's crocheted babuschka

Another post about crocheting but this one is superspecial. A while ago, I asked Tara from Mamachee to design me a Babuschka crochet pattern so that I could crochet little, colorful feelings.
I love the pattern she made for me so I crocheted them in rainbow colors, took some fun pictures for her and now she listed the pattern in her Etsy shop. Yay! :)
Haha, she actually called the pattern 'Mitsy's crocheted babuschka'. We'll the ones in the pictures are mine but don't hesitate to make your own.
They are easy and fun to make and they are fun to play with. You can easily tweak the pattern yourself so that you can actually make 'em larger or smaller so that they would look like real nesting dolls. :)

In between project.

While my partner's sister is growing in size, I try to let the box of surprises growing for the baby to come. Besides, it's nice to take a break from claying once in a while and to get my crochet hooks and yarn stash out. Still so many things I want to make but I just couldn't resist making this birdie rattle (pattern is from Mamachee on Etsy). The bottom is supposed to be brown but who ever said that trees can't be pink? :)

How to make a plaster stamp?

Since I was making a few moulds today, I remembered that I planned to make a tutorial on how to make a plaster stamp. Plaster stamps are not hard to make and they are great fun to use in your modelling projects. You can use regular stamps too but they are much softer so somtimes it's hard to use them for pressing into clay.

Here is what you need: a rolling pin, a cutter, a stamp and a piece of plasticine.
Plasticine is soft clay made of plastic so when you poor the plaster in there, it will come off very easily afterwards.

Take a piece of plasticine and kneed it a little bit.
Make a flat piece with a rolling pin. Make it about 0,5cm or 0,2inch thick

Press a stamp into the flat piece or plasticine.

Make it nice and round with a cookie cutter.

Roll a flat piece of plasticine and twist it around the stamped piece.

Let the ends cross each other and cut the excess plasticine away with a knife.

Press the plasticine clay firmly together on the bottom so no plaster will be able to escape.
Make some plaster ready. Mostly it is made with 1 part of water and 3 parts of plaster but it depends on the kind of plaster you use.
I always go with the pyramid method: you poor the plaster into the water at the same place and a pyramid will form. When the pyramid doesn't suck any water anymore, it's enough plaster and you can start mixing it with the water.
If you like that the plaster will set quickly, you can use lukewarm water or add a pinch of salt.
Poor the plaster into the plasticine mould.
You can also poor liquid (porcelain) clay in there and fire the stamp.
Let it set for a while and take the plasticine away. Cut away the rough edges with a kitchen knife.
Now you can stamp your heart out in any modelling material. :)

My creative space

Today's creative space is our couch.
Since the kiln is cooling down, I took a little break from claying and I'm making happy girls. I add a happy girl to every order I get. They are not for sale in my shop so the only way to get a happy girl is to order something from my Etsy shop or win a happy package when I do a contest or a give away. :)
They are fun and make for lots of smiles! :)

Want to show your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's and play, it's fun! :)

Playing catch up...

Hope you all had a nice Easter and are not left with an indigestion from eating too many Easter eggs. I just put up a quick post to let you know that it is very busy in the feeling factory.
I'm still stocking up but somehow it takes forever. Not surprising though since clay is such a slow craft. I'm also getting orders out but some feelings still have to be fired so the 'shipping room table' is kind of full until these are fired. And also lots of feelings still need to be sanded -which I detest- but they say wednesday is going to be a sunny day so I think I'll be in the backyard sanding then - those things are definately more pleasant when it's sunny! :)
I'm so much looking forward too reading blogs, chat in our teamthread and making treasuries again but it just has to stay on hold until I have a bit more time. So bear with me while I try to play catch up! Thank you! :)

My creative space

This week's creative space is the kitchen table again.
Simply because it's the only table in our home which is mostly cleared of things so I can easily whip up a craft there. Running a handmade business involves handmade thank you notes.
It doesn't take that much time to make 'em and they are fun to send with an order.
I know I always appreciate a handwritten thank you note from people I buy from.
However, I have to admit: I do write in capitals as my handwriting would be hard to decipher... and when it's a long 'thank you' message, I sometimes even type it! :)

Want to show off your creative space? Hop over to Kootoyoo's to play! It's fun! :)

Poppytalk & comfort food...

Heli , remember from who I bought the fantastic pouch recently, told me that my 99-feelings project was published in Poppytalk's newsletter the other day. Yay!
If it weren't from my friends telling me where they see them, I probably would never know. Anyway, she was so kind to forward me the newsletter and here it is:
But of course, I browsed through the whole newsletter (signed up for it too) and then I see the word 'comfort food' and instantly it has my whole attention! Not that I need it so much, but I just love food and what's better then comfort food? Besides, I have been wanting to make a banana bread for ages so I started making it right away! :) And I can advise you to do the same as it's just delicious! :) If you click on the picture you can see it enlarged.

Work in progress

While being busy claying mini art feelings, I'm happy to take a break in the evening and crochet on the rainbow babuschka's I planned to make. I just filled them all with polyfil and now I only need to close their bottoms! I think they already look super happy! :)

Custom creative

The very first customer of my mini art feelings was the sweet Anna of TheHouseofMouse. You most likely have seen her amazing work on Etsy already and if you haven't, you should go and look now. She also has a very fun blog.
She creates many different characters into amazing mice creatures. I'm often in awe of her boundless creativity and her creatures always make me giggle!
This is my absolute favorite although it was hard to choose...Anyway, Anna really seemed to love her feeling 'creative' so she decided she needed a big sister for her. The bigger version of my feelings seem giants in comparison to the mini feelings but still they have 'cute' written all over them I think. They are approximately 15cm or 6 inches in height and are a bit rounder on the head and straighter on the bottom. They do derive from the same drawing I once made to start these Babuschka's off. I just enlarged the design underneath the copy machine and then made the mould from a solid handbuild babuschka. The smaller they get, the less shape they seem to have. It's like when you grow up, your body starts to form more - or less depending in what age category you are! LOL :)
Anyway, I hope she likes her big sister...

Happy features

As I'm superduper happy with all the attention my '99 feelings' project is getting, I want to share some of the features they got in the past week.

The first two customers both blogged about my work which I thought was supersweet and thoughtful.

Huismus and TheHouseofMouse are not only teammates of the European Streetteam but also wonderful friends! Thank you lovelies!

Then another supersweet and heartwarming feature I found was on the very stylish blog of Neawear. Her blog amazes me everytime I go there 'cause she just seems to have the gift of finding amazing things to blog about all the time.

I also got many convo's of people telling me that my little dragon feeling was in the 'geek chic gift guide' on Etsy. Yay, it's loving it there. The little fellow got more hearts than he could ever dream off.

Yesterday morning I got a convo from Kristi from France, whom I never heard off before, that she submitted my '99 feelings project' to Notcot. I'll be sure to send her a happy package. The feature at Notcot linked to the little montage on my blog and nearly made my blog explode. It caused so much traffic that I'm just really overwhelmed by the fact what a feature on a high traffic site can do.

And last but certainly not least, Jena from Modish featured my work! YaY! Modish is a daily design blog which features handmade goods. Jena recently started a new blog called ModishBiz which gives very helpful tips & tricks for creative businesses. If you run a creative business, be sure to check it out. i. It gets heaps of traffic too so I'm kind of glad that I'm running an on line store so I can just leave it open while I sleep.

The amount of traffic to my Etsy shop has also been enormous, and my google stats are very confused but hopefully they'll get used to it soon! :)

Thank you all for the superlovely features and attention you gave this project.

While I'm at it, I want to apoligize for my absence on your blogs. I'm just really much behind on everything.
It has been so crazy the past weeks that I just try to queeze as much in as I can and somehow catching up with it all is impossible. I'll be back though! ;)

My creative space

The past week has been rather hectic. I have been claying like nobody was watching. Well, euh, I thought I should show you how that looks...
And I put on the kiln to fire this morning so I finally have time to be a domestic goddess and pick up everything where I left it in the house. It will take me a while but I thought I could best start with my atelier. I feel organised! :)
If you want to play along and show your creative space, please hope over to Kootoyoo's blog. It's so much fun!

Heartwarming welcome

Today a week ago, I started listing the first feelings in my shop. It was exciting to list them and I thought I would have finished the task by today but I'm not even halfway yet. Why did I make 99 again? :)
When the first feelings sold, I was superhappy and at the same time emotional as well. The process of creating them, buying a kiln, blogging, pricing, make a description, find ways to package and display,... has been super intense. It feels like a journey coming to an end but at the same time I hope it is just the beginning.
I'm overwhelmed by the massive welcome they got by many, many people. In a week time, my shop got about 250 new hearts & I didn't even count all the hearts the individual listings got.
Amazing too how many people wrote me to let me know they love what they see.
Here's a few:
'I just have to tell you that I think your "sad" feeling is a beautiful piece of work. I have never come across something so simple that can evoke such a strong emotion. I can't stop looking at it! :)'

'I just want to say that I absolutely love your series. I want every single one of them and don't know how I've lived without them. unfortunately, I'm in america, where our economy is in the toilet, so I must admire virtually. thanks for creating such a beautiful art piece! my cousin and I are smiling.'

'I am fascinated by this series you have created. They are simply delightful. I will be ordering more (for myself!) hopefully soon after I have had a chance to decide on which ones. Your "Patience" piece is especially beautiful.'

'I just have to let you know I'm completely obsessed with your feeling sculptures. The entire line is brilliant, beautiful, and just plain wonderful.'

'I am absolutely head over heels in love with your work.'

It goes without saying that this just warms my heart and put a big smile to my face!
Thank you all for your unconditional support through all of this! :)
Oh, and I also want to thank my teammates for including my work in numerous treasuries! Some of them even made a whole treasury of them! Thank you, Kreativlink, it looks super! :)