Sunday Shopping Spree - April 3rd

Again I am a little late.. well.. more like 2 weeks late!! But nevertheless I am back again with another of my Sunday Shopping Sprees. This week it is my pleasure to show you the work of a talented woman named Sonja. She is the creative force behind Silver River Jewelry, and the talented lampworker behind Silver River Glass Works.
I have been very privileged to witness the journey Sonja has begun with lampwork beads, and have very much enjoyed watching as her work has developed rapidly over the last year or so. Very soon I hope to add her amazing work to my own hoard.
But without further ado.. let's go have a look at her work.

I have been lusting after this set for quite a while.. Mango Salsa is the perfect name!

These are so lovely and organic! Boro is such an interesting glass

These are a beautiful set. Implosions are quite tricky, as are getting beads of virtually identical size and shape. These are a testament to how well Sonja is doing!

Recently Sonja started creating Chainmaille, as you know, something of an obsession of mine!

I love the uniqueness of this piece!

Sonja also does some wonderful bead weaving pieces.

Such amazing creations!. I urge you to drop by Silver River Glass Works and Silver River Jewelry and check out the rest of her awesome work!

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Sunday Shopping Spree - March 13th

I accidentally forgot to do a Sunday Shopping Spree last Sunday.. mind in too many places at once. But never fear, I am back again!

This week I visited another of my favourite artisans, who also happens to be one of my best friends. We've never actually seen each other in the flesh, but she is as close to me as a sister. Anyone who thinks internet friendships are not real obviously has not spent any time online with the people that I am friends with. These wonderful people grouped together to get me a wonderful birthday present, and at the forefront was today's featured artisan, Coltpixy, (along with Eaglehawk).

One of the things that I remember most about the early days of my friendship with Coltpixy was discovering Mica Shift from her. Up until that time I had never seen it before and had no idea of the wonders of this fabulous technique. Now Coltpixy is something of a Mica Shift Master as can be seen in her ArtFire Studio.

I absolutely love her Mica Shift Fish..so much so that I bought one! It has a special spot in my room.
She also makes these awesome Lucky Bunny Booty pieces. Originally they started out as keyrings, but then spawned into a series of other pieces, including charms and some very detailed versions.

Another area that Coltpixy and I share a common love is miniatures. Coltpixy has done some amazing things with polymer clay that really shouldn't be possible, like weaving, which resulted in the creation of several baskets (one of which, yes you guessed it.. I have!).

She also makes miniature bottles in a range of different styles, all of which are gorgeous! I have my eye on a couple, her attention to detail is wonderful!

But my favourite piece in her current studio line up is an amazing filigree egg. Every time I see it I am astounded. It was created on a Chicken egg! We all know chicken eggs are fairly small, so the detailing is incredible in this piece and the patience and care that must have been taken only to be guessed at.

What you wont see in Coltpixy's studio is her sculptures, which include a couple of amazing octopi. Both are residing in private collections, but I will show you images anyway. They really are sensational!

Now remember, all these pieces are made out of polymer clay! It really is an amazingly versatile product that produces some amazing results in the right hands. 

So I urge you all to take a visit to Coltpixy's studio and visit her blog and see for yourself the wonderful creations she makes.                                                                                                                                                                                

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Charming Things, Positively!

It is time for another Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild blogring featured Smoosher. This week we are featuring the lovely Niki from Positively Charming Things.

Niki is a wonderful Jewellery maker as well as a fabulous Polymer Clay Artist. Her ArtFire studio has lots of great pieces, including the cutest Alien I think I have ever seen.

Niki also has a great blog where she happily promotes other artisans and shares her latest creative pursuits.

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Amethyst

This week I decided to do my Saturday Shopping Spree at the Handmade Artists' Shop. So I had a little look for some Amethyst items and this is some of what I found.

Giftedhands

pcreativeartistry

Eyecandy Chainmaille

Shain's Art

jewelrybyjanelle

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Mabel the Magnificent!

It is time for another Polymer Clay Smooshers' Guild blogring featured Smoosher. This week it is the extraordinary CatsWire from Germany. You may well be wondering about the title of this blog post, and those of you who know CatsWire will probably already understand it. It is a reference to the Muse that inspires the amazing creations that CatsWire makes. Not only is she something of a whiz with polymer clay, but she crochets wire into incredible pieces.

CatsWire hasn't been a Smoosher for all that long, but already she is developing a very unique style and some awesome miniature pieces. She is active within the Smooshers and a huge supporter of Handmade.

You can see more of her wonderful creations at CatsWire on ArtFire, and check out her blog, its fantastic and a really good read.

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From the Dawn of Dreams

It is time for another Handmade Artists' Forum blogring featured artisan. This week it is Linda from Raedawn, a very talented jewellery designer and maker who loves mixed media and has 'never met a bead I didn't like'.

A quick glance in her Etsy shows you an artisan who combines a tribal feel with classic elegance for very a range of wearable, visually appealing pieces.

Linda loves to do something that I myself love to do, and love to see others do, and that is combining elements together that dont seem like comfortable bedfellows. It is probably surprising to many how often it actually creates something amazing.

Linda is also an active member of HAF and its community. Drop into Raedawn on Etsy or check out her blog, Dreams and Echoes, there is sure to be something inspiring for you to find.

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So much more than Clay.

It is time for another Polymer Clay Smoosher's Guild featured Smoosher. This week it is the extraordinarily talented Michelle from Creative Critters.

Michelle creates some of the most amazing polymer clay pieces I have ever seen, including gorgeous little houses and very detailed sculptures, not to mention some funky jewellery pieces. Added to her work with polymer clay, Michelle also makes some awesome stuffed 'toys' including World of Warcraft plushies, teddy bears and dolls.

 I have had a lot of pleasure watching Michelle over the year or so I have known her, and I have seen her work evolve in an amazing way, she is an absolute asset to the Smooshers. She is also one of the biggest supporters of Handmade and Handmade Artisans that I know, promoting them on her blog and various other places across the web.

Come and take a look through Creative Critters on ArtFire, then drop by her blog and follow along so you dont miss her fabulous features.

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In Her Element

It is time for another Polymer Clay Smooshers blogring post, this week featuring the amazingly talented Valerie of Emily Claire Creations.

Every time I stop by Emily Claire Creations on ArtFire I am in awe of the wonderful pieces that Valerie creates out of polymer clay. In fact if it wasnt for the descriptions a lot of the time you would not know they were polymer clay. Valerie is especially good at faux metals and faux ceramic looks, and she creates gorgeous pieces of jewellery with her polymer clay creations.

Added to this huge amount of talent is the fact that Valerie is a lovely person who joins in Smoosher's events with gusto and happily promotes other talented artisans.

You can drool look over Valerie's creations for yourself at Emily Claire Creations on ArtFire and also read her great blog, In My Room.

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Creative Combining.

It is time for another Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild blogring featured Smoosher. This week it is Chris Newcomb, better known to me as Eaglehawk (his username on Plurk).

His main material of choice is wood, and he is very talented at working with wood. He mainly scrollsaws, and can produce quite intricate results. Recently he began to experiment with combining polymer clay with his scrollsawed wood items to create a very interesting result. Chris is only too happy to do custom pieces, such as name keyrings, and you can even choose the colour of polymer clay used.

To celebrate being our featured Smoosher Chris is having a 10% off sale, just use the coupon code 10PERCENT when you check out. Be sure to check out his blog whilst you are in his ArtFire studio.
This last picture has no polymer clay, but does show how wonderfully talented Chris is.

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All Knotted Up

This week's Wednesday Wander through ArtFire is with the keyword search 'All Knotted Up' - let's go wander....

HappyGoLicky

MysticKnotwork

Nelly Van Cleeff

EarthCultured

decors

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