CREATIVE CORNER: Sea-Inspired Pendant

Here's what I've been working on... a new pendant after so many rings! :)

I finished it with polymer clay free-hand formed to suggest a sea-inspired form... The turquoise polymer clay frames the beautiful glass bead I have set in the wooden disk, so the piece is again (as so often in my work) a mixed-media piece. I just need to add a little hole for the ring and voilà... here is my new pendant!
I finished both sides of the piece with polymer clay, so there is no "wrong" side.

And here it is after oven-hardening...

WORK IN PROGRESS: Wood and Glass

I love the contrast of the light wood and the sea blue of the glass!

I had to enlarge the hole of the wooden bead a little bit... Now the glass bead fits perfectly. I will have to add some detail to finish it off in a neat way, not sure about it yet. What I know is that it's going to be a pendant!

When I look through this wonderful glass, I can see the sea...

New Ring: SEA GODDESS!

Another ring created with Jana's gorgeous wooden disks!

I used two wooden disks this time (one large and one medium), I filled the off-center hole with polymer clay in a custom mix of blue, white and turquoise like for the Calypso rings, and I embellished the disks with beautiful glass beads directly mounted on copper wire, which at the same time makes up the ring band and serves as ornament. It wasn't easy to find the balance as I wanted it to be asymmetric, and it got quite some "engineering" skills to put it together... but in the end it turned out pretty nice, I think! :)

I love this ring, it reminds me of a Sea Goddess...

SUNNY WORK IN PROGRESS!

Do you remember the wooden disks I was working on? Well, after filling the off-center hole with polymer clay (a mix of orange and gold) like I had done with the Calypso rings, I painted a sun onto the wood... so the polymer clay dot is the center of the sun. After blue, again one of my favorite colors: orange! And one of my favorite themes: the sun!

FULL BLOOM!

My oleander is in full bloom now!

And somebody is enjoying the sun too... :)

WORKING WITH JANA'S BEADS AGAIN!

I KNEW Jana's wonderful wooden disks would keep me busy for months... These beads just keep inspiring me! :)

With small disks I made a pair of earrings for myself...

With medium and large disks I made Calypso rings (and I kept the first one for myself)...

With two extra beads (a gift from Jana) I made a ring (and I kept it for myself)...

And now I'm working on a new project! Stay tuned! :)

SECRET PATHS

The woods are full of secret, mysterious paths leading to magical little spots hidden away under the shade of centuries-old trees...

Passages hidden by foliage can lead into magical worlds, populated with elves, gnomes and fairies...

Little wooden bridges take you on the elves' footsteps and deeper into the green magic...

The secret paths take you to magical spots such as a wooden table and bench... a cool spring... a clearing... a little pond created by a creek...

... or even one of my friend Ornella's kitties, Terry, who loves to wander around (that's why her nickname is "Terrible"). It's good I always have some goodies with me... just in case! You never know if you're going to meet an elf or a kitty while exploring the secret paths... :)

My beloved Weißpfötchen (Zampette Bianche in Italian -- that means 'little white paws') used to accompany us on our walks in the woods... She especially loved the wooden bench. Whenever I go there, I think of her. Here she was already almost 17, we helped her a little bit taking a "kitty bag" with us so we could carry her on the way back or whenever she was tired. She was so precious, and the smartest kitty ever! She will always be missed (she left us at 18 and a half in November 2009).