My creative space

Earlier this week, I ordered some more oxides to use in my ceramic work.
While they ship, I'm preparing their coming by making some sample tiles.
They need to be fired before I can put oxides on and hopefully I'll have the kiln firing by the weekend.
I can't help myself but work at different projects at the same time. I should focus on one thing so I can add some new work to my shop but it's fun to play around a bit and I'm enjoying all the things I'm working on.
So I'm working on wall art, pendants and brooches. You can see those on the left.
And once in a while, I like to make a tutorial so be sure to check out the 'How to make a scratch off lottery ticket'.

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

Work in progress

Working on wall art tiles & making a patchwork blanket.

Paw print tile

Last weekend, Kerrin from Sigmosaics on Etsy, asked me if I could make a small ceramic tile with a paw print on it for her to use in her mosaic projects.
I made a little mould & pressed the tiles in there. These are 2cm by 2cm and are supercute. They will be fired and I'll put nice and bright glazing on them.
Can't wait to see what clever ideas Kerrin will come up with.
Make sure to check out her shop as she has gorgeous mosaics & lovely magnets.

Flickr favorites

1. ~maive~, 2. Valentine M&Ms, 3. Valentine's Day NOMs!, 4. full bloom

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

It's sunny outside and I felt in pink mood.
I didn't have enough pinks in my favorites so I used the Multicolor search lab for some more. Try it, it's fun! :)
If you like to play this week, make your mosaic and add a link to your blog or Flickr in Mister Linky. I'll pop over to have a look at yours. Can't wait to see your creations! :)

Wall art results

I posted about my work in progress on the wall art the other day. This weekend I emptied the kiln and this is how they came out.
I used mangan Oxyde to color this but I forgot to color the tears which will be hanging on a piece a thread so I'll finish this off next week when they are fired.
I used koperoxyde to color this which was a bit of a risk as I didn't have a test tile for this. I'm not completely satisfied with it as I think it's too light at the top. So I'm pondering if I will add some mangan oxyde to it and fire it again. To be continued.
I just love how this one came out. I thought it would be more blue but I'm glad it isn't actually.
There's just enough blue for the creative feeling to dream away...
What do you think about the results? :)

How to make a scratch off lottery ticket?

You probably know the scratch off lottery tickets? Ever wondered how to make them? Well, they are very fun & easy to make.
I used to make greeting cards from them but now I'm going to use this technique as a promotional tool.
I made 25 scratch off tickets and will include 1 ticket with every order I ship.
On one of those tickets, there is a coupon code and a value of 25 dollars to spend in my shop on Etsy. Waaaahhh, exciting! :)

Here is what you need:
cardboard, a print-out of your lottery ticket, glue stick, sticky back plastic (contact paper), metallic acrylic paint (preferably silver) and washing liquid.
I prepared the paper cutting beforehand so I'll skip that part in the tutorial. :)
Beforehand you print out a design that you want to be on the scratch off lottery tickets.
If your printer can take thick paper you can print it directly on the cardboard and skip this part. If you do it in two steps, it is nice to get a fun color background paper and glue the design onto the card.
Then you take a piece of sticky back plastic and put it onto the design.
Mix some metallic acrylic paint with washing liquid. Try to use 1 part washing liquid and 2 parts of paint. Mix the substance.
Paint the plastic part on the ticket and let it dry.
Make sure that the picture underneath the paint is hidden. Add another layer if this is not the case.And then... scratch! Oops, no luck for me! :(
But you can certainly win a 25 dollar certificate if you are one of my next 25 customers in my Etsy shop. Happy shopping! :)

Dream in progress... part 3

Because the four row-squares take a lot longer to make, I haven't finished all the squares yet. I know the pattern by heart now so I can actually crochet this blindfolded! :)
Who would have tought that a few months ago? I still remember all my attempts on the slippers. The Babette blanket calls for 18 colors of yarn but after the two row-squares where finished, I found that the red was a bit too vibrant in comparison to the other colors. Instead of making all the squares all over again, I decided to add more colors of yarn to the blanket. I added seven more colors. So, I don't actually keep track of the suggested colors of yarn all the time - sometimes I just throw in a combination that I like a lot. I hope by doing this, that I'm not going to ruin the whole blanket... Off to finish 26 more of these...