New cane

I've run out of pretty canes, but I still have plenty ugly ones :))) I don't know what to do with them yet, so I sat down yesterday and made some new canes.
I came up with this 3D design:

It is so nice to receive presents! :)))

I was a second winner in a giveaway held by Lorelei, and I didn't know what I was going to receive (everything made by Lorelei is a treasure!) :)) The package came so fast! I received this wonderful magazine with plenty ideas (Lorelei's work has also been published in it) and I received AMAZING earrings!!! Look how beautiful they are! Wonderful, stylish, light, antiqued, with lampwork beads!

Check out Lorelei's Etsy shop for more of her creations!

I also want to show you wonderful beads made by Sue of SueBeads. They are so gorgeous! The whole sandy beach in one bead :)
I find the actual assembling beads into jewellery, so I have just made simple earrings with these beads. They are temporary, I want to make nicer jewellery with these beads, giving them the look they deserve. I would be grateful for some ideas! :)))

Here is Sue's Etsy shop!

Faux cloisonne butterfly pendant

In a past few months I have bought myself a large number of tutorials both on polymer clay and wire wrapping, but until now I didn't use any of them. I think I just love browsing the photos of the tutorials, which gives me enough satisfaction :)))
Yesterday I decided to try out one of the tutorials I've bought from Eugena Topina.
I love her stylish works, and I love her well-written tutorials. I've made myself a butterlfy pendant following this tutorial.

I'm very happy with a wire outline of a butterfly in this pendant, but not so happy with a resin layer. It's been a first time I used resin, and I think I've got mixed up with the ratio of components. I will make it better next time, just need some practice :)

Strawberry jewellery

Little stamped strawberry beads:

In reality these are very lovely beads, looking very juicy and nice to touch. :))

A sheep bracelet made on order

Caleidoscope canes

This is a butterfly wing cane I've made and I was very happy with :)) But the actual butterfly cane didn't come out too well, I think I've made a butterfly body too big. I've decided to turn an unlucky butterfly cane into caleidoscope canes. And I love the results! :))
The actual canes:

Bracelets:

Dremel workstation

I just wanted to show my latest very handy purchase - Dremel workstation.
To insert your Dremel tool into its holder, you have to remove the cover from the tip of a tool.

Then fix it well in a holder of a workstation.

To insert a drill bit into the tool I normally hold a tool at an angle. With the tool fixed at the angle you can also polish your beads without holding a heavy Dremel.

I've got some clamp pliers to hold beads while drilling them. I still need to stick some rubber to the insides of the pliers, so they didn't scratch the surface of my beads.



You have to lower the drill bit into the bead VERY slowly,especcially at near the exit from the bead. Otherwise you will end up with a massive hole at the side of the bead where drill bit comes out of it. Like this :))

The other way to avoid ruining your bead, you can drill it to the middle from one side of the bead, then turn the bead upside down, and drill it to the middle from the opposite side.

New necklaces

I've made these beads ages ago, but only recently I found some time to drill holes in them.

Detailed photos. Which ones do you like the most?
1 и 2

3 и 4

5 и 6

7 и 8

Millefiori landscape

This was an interesting order I received a few weeks ago. I was asked to make a picture out of clay, which would have a blue sky and tulips in it. The size of a picture is 23 x 28 cm. It was a bit hard to make such a large background with a colour gradient, which eventually caught a few air bubbles, although I tried my best to avoid them. Luckily I was able to sand those bumps off.
I quite enjoyed making tulips :)

Enlarging holes in beads without a drill

You can make holes in baked beads larger even if you don't have an electric drill.
Make a pilot thin hole in a bead before baking it. Then enlarge the hole gradually going from smaller to larger drilling bits.
To make it easier to hold a drilling bit, you can fix it in a craft knife instead of a blade; I managed to hold it on its own.
There is just one tip on this technique: after a few experiments I figured out that if you push a drilling bit through the whole bead at once, 4 of 5 beads will crack :)) You have to remove extra clay from inside the bead in small portions. You drill into a bead to a small distance, take out a drilling bit, shake off the clay dust. Then drill a little further into the bead, again take out a drilling bit and shake off the clay. Go this way to the middle of the bead, then do the same going into the bead from the opposite side of a hole.

Report on first outing :))

I am very slow in filling in my English blog at the moment, but I promise to get better in it :))
So there it was, our first craft market, as a group (Newcastle Craft mafia), and my first craft market ever.
First of all, I enjoyed the event very much! I've spent an evening among crafty and totally amazing people :)
The place was a bit quiet :) The market has been held in the backyard of "Art Works galleries", about 6 or 7 stalls were out, most of which were taken by our group. There were a lot more sellers than buyers :))) Still I managed to sell two bracelets and three penguin badges, which I think is a huge success :)))
In the following photo there are 3-4 buyers, the rest are sellers and their friends :)

My corner of a table.

My new beads. The first beads, to make holes in which I used my Dremel tool with it's workstation.



I've tried to wrap a pillow bead in a filigree wrap. I like the result, looks vintage :)


I couldn't leave without buying this cute bunny! I've noticed him a few days ago at Amanda's Flickr site, and it waited for me :)