Special custom order

While the past few months I've been struggling to get back to work in the studio, I was a bit hesitatnt to accept a custom request. After mom passed away, it's just been really difficult to get back into my studio work. The impact of losing a loved one  has proven to be more difficult then I ever anticipated.
And while I did make feelings, anything else failed because I was feeling too tired or just without energy. I do have inspiration and I do want to create but somehow I fail because my mind isn't set on it...

The other day, I got a really sweet e-mail from J.  She told me that she loved my work and was curious if she could have something custom made. I sighed at reading the word 'custom' as anything out of the ordinary feels just too much to handle at the moment. But I read on and I was intrigued and touched by what she wrote me. She and her partner are in a long distance relationship in war-torn countries and she wanted me to portrait two people living apart but also looking forward to that moment when they have a door to share together.

The way J. described how difficult it is to be seperated from her loved one, made me realize that I'm not alone in this and that how hard a situation is, we should never give up loving, hoping, believing. So, with much confidence and pleasure, I was back in my studio. My mom would have been proud for sure.

I do think that it's amazing how Etsy brings people around the globe together and that this can be the result of brainstorming ... Trying to portrait someone else feelings can be daunting and challenging but as long as the person on the other side of the globe is willing to let me have a look into their world, magic things can happen...

J. wanted me to inscribe the quote above. It translates: "Let's go home and close the door, because otherwise, people could hear our happiness"
I think that's such a beautiful quote to finish off this work. I wish them both courage and happiness.
May they live long and happy after...

Feeling victory

Julie loves sticking my pencils in my jar of clay slib. *sigh*

Summer is in full swing here and I have a few weeks of holiday at the moment. It's been busy with a 2 year old around but today I had an entire day that I could play in my studio. Bliss!

It had been a while that I could work non-stop and it feels good to work on new things and also on a custom feeling. A good friend of mine asked me to create the feeling victory. She came up with the idea of using a ladder that came far above the feeling.
There had to be nine steps for all the obstacles that she had to conquer. I immediately loved the idea and couldn't wait to start making it

And the number nine also has a special meaning to me as it represents completion which complements the feeling victory. I hope she will love how it turned out...

Free

Last week I had a very good work week in my studio. I had a few days off work and worked in the feeling factory.

When I have a list of feelings to make, I usually make a few feelings of the most popular ones. It's easier to make a few of the same feelings then switch from one feeling to another.

I also had a request to make 2 large free feelings so lots of free feelings will fill the kiln this time...
It's great to feel free, isn't it?

Work in progress

I worked on some of my favorite feelings today: empty, torn and curious.

It's been a while since I've enjoyed claying again. While my head and heart were elsewhere it was more a matter of 'I have to clay' instead of 'I want to clay'. This didn't feel right and every time I had to start claying because I had to, I was dreading myself into the studio.
Thankfully I have found my mojo back and I've really enjoyed cracking some work in my studio today. :)

Updating my stock

Every now and then I do a stock update and make a list of feelings that I need to make in the feeling factory. The list is never empty and it usually grows while I'm making.
However, I always dream that it would be empty so that I would have time to start making new things. For now I'm just grateful that I'm able to make and enjoy. It also means that feelings are flying out of my studio and are lovingly adopted by many new owners. Thank you for supporting my work as it enables me to do what I love most. 

Custom work

A client asked me to make a feeling that represents 'new beginnings'. The old skin is peeling off and there is a brand new one underneath. I love how she wanted me to depict it.

Stress in balance

Remember the feeling stress? The other day I got a request if I could combine 2 feelings into one. It's not the first time that I've been asked that but the feelings the person chose were kind of challenging: stress & balance. Balance is normally quite difficult to balance let alone if it's stressed. So I set to work and tried it. I added some extra support on the bottom so that the feeling wouldn't trip over because of the weight of stress.
When you look at it like this, balancing your stress is not easy and with some support from loved ones, it keeps you up your feet. I think it's a beautiful reminder that keeping things in balance may perhaps keep the stress levels normal. Are your stress levels in balance?

PS: on the last picture I couldn't 'balance' the stress anymore because the clay is too soft to touch when I finish up the work. So fingers crossed that it works when it comes out of the kiln.

Feeling light/hope

A lovely customer asked me a long time ago to create a hope feeling. Back then, I found it really difficult to depict hope and well, we never got to a point that we were both satisfied with the outcome of the ideas. About a month ago, the customer returned and asked me the same question and suggested that the feeling could hold a candle light or something. I loved the idea of a light but since the feelings are hand-less, it's hard to place a candle in there of course so I suggested that I could place a candle inside the feeling and add about a zillion of different size holes in the feeling for the light/hope to spread. She loved the idea so I set to work...See, there is no bottom, its just big enough for the tea light.And here it's in it's unfired but 'light/hope' mode...
A feeling is never really ready until it's fired and reveals it's pretty white color.
I love how this turned out - might need to make one for myself too...