2013 has arrived!

After a very hectic holiday season and a major clean up of my studio after last season, I needed to come up with a project that would kick start the new year.  Usually I start my year by building a new teapot, but with orders and an upcoming wholesale show, I have to come up with a quicker boost!  I started by custom blend some new colour sheets.  Afterwards, I created some fun simple tumbling block canes with them.  I couldn't stop doing it for 2 days!  These brightly coloured patterns has really boosted my creative juices and it's time for another year of creativity!  Sometimes all we need is a simple perk up....kind of like a shot of expresso!

An Artist's Life is full of Surprises!

When I thought I was all done with prep for my upcoming wholesale show this weekend, I decide to add another product! I've been toying with a flower pendant idea for a month or so now but have been waiting for the bails I've ordered for them also. Well, they arrived this week and I decided to try them out.

Lo and behold, I love the results! And realized they should also be added to my wholesale lines for this upcoming Spring. I don't do retail shows till the Christmas season, so they have to offered my shops for sale. I worked frantically this week and came up with 6 colour patterns for my clients to choose from and in 2 styles, a simple, origami inspired petal and a funky, frilly petal one! I always ask myself why I do this to myself, but I really can't control how my creativity works. It doesn't understand deadlines much.

Rainbows and Piggy!

I had a neat little project on my agenda beginning of this year. I did a wonderful trade with Peggy Brackett of KilnArt, a beautiful bracelet for a piggy bank! Now, I got this bracelet a year and a half ago...so Peggy's been waiting patiently for her piggy. I spent the past week working on making the perfect piggy for Peggy and I think I did!

This little piggy is covered in a rainbow array of flowers that were created in only one cane. I took a rainbow coloured skinner blend and designed the pattern in such a way that when I cut through the cane, the colours changed. I really loved the simplicity of the design and the piggy was a great shape to illustrate this technique very well.

A New Year, A New Project!

Cannot believe another year's over! It was a successful show season and I've been taking it easy since the end of Butterdome in the beginning of December and enjoying the company of my family and friends.

But alas, it's time to get back to work and creating. I'm taking a bit of time off right now to create pieces for my own pleasure and to feed my artistic soul. I've had a few lamps in my studio that I've been meaning to work on but nothing had materialized till now. I had made a translucent floral petal cane last Spring, but the idea didn't gel at that time. Then all of the sudden, right as I was deciding on making an 'art' piece...the idea just flowed for me and I want to share the end result!

It's a waterlily themed lamp with dragonflies...I hope you enjoy it!

2010 Teapot...finally!

As some of you may know, I only make one or two teapots a year. Usually this happens in January after all the show mayhem. This year was different for some reason. I was very busy with orders right in the beginning of the year, hence I didn't have the opportunity of making one till this summer.

I had this particular teapot sitting on my shelf for a year with an idea brewing in my head. The vision came to me as soon as I bought it. It reminded me of something out of the Jetsons. It gave birth to the Space Girls teapot. The detail is a combination of canes,carving and inlaying, and other polymer clay techniques to come up with the finished product. It is also sanded with 5 grades of fine sandpaper. The finish is so smooth that it's a shame you can't experience it through a photo.

Perfume Project

The second time I participated in Filberg Festival, I met a wonderful aromatherapist/perfumier, Anita Kalnay of Flying Colors Aromatherapy. She approached me about a project where I could design containers for her custom perfumes based on the scents. I found the idea very intriguing because I strongly believe in the experiences through all levels of our senses.

Finally this past fall, the project was executed. Anita sent me a beautiful fruity blend for me to draw my creativity. I envisioned colours of peaches and visions of peach blossoms swirling around as I held the scent to my nose. I find it fascinating how I can see these imageries just from the smell of something. I was pleased with the final product and so was Anita. We're hoping this is just the beginning of an interesting collaboration!

Some new pendant ideas

Well, I had brought some fun freshwater pearls last year because I think the combination of pearls and polymer clay makes a nice mix. I had a little brain spurt right before bed last week and these are the results!

They're a hollow pendant that is very different on both sides to give you versatility of wear. The pearl is suspended on sterling silver wire to give it an illusion of floating. The bails are handworked silver. The pendant is strung on a rubber cording with a magnetic clasp. I really love the end product.

2008 Froggy!

Well, I'm feeling I'm on a roll with making teapots lately. While I was working on the previous RetroLady teapot, a frog teapot was brewing and here's the end results! It was done on these brand new glass teapots I found at the last wholesale gift show I went to. They're very lightweight but withstands alot of heat. Unlike previous glass teapots, these come in a variety of styles that have inspired me. Like all the other teapots, most of the details are caned including the sculpted frogs.

You can see more views of the teapot on my Flickr.

Belated Happy 2008!

Yes, another year has gone by.....time's flying by so quickly now! I'm looking forward to seeing what this year brings.

So far, it's inspired me to do another Retrolady teapot. And I'm very happy with the results. The colour combinations have come out brighter than the ones I've created before. Perhaps the westcoast air has its influence on me already! Think there are more of these to be created in the near future.

Also, a big thank you to Gera Scott Chandler for the idea of putting 'Desi' on the b&w tv behind 'Lucy'. Love it!