Inchies

This is another super late post. 

But like I always say, better late than never, haha (palusot!)

I know I still have a lot to learn when it comes to clay. 

And this is the reason why whenever I have the chance, 

I make it a point to join our guild's challenges.

This way I will be forced to work with a particular challenge in mind.

Somehow the pressure helps in squeezing out my creative juice, haha!

Last March, the challenge introduced to us by Jein was about "Inchies".

What is an inchie, you ask? 

Well basically, they are teeny tiny little pieces of art. They are one inch square in size, which is where they get their adorable name. - C. Clouse of Label Tulip

 This was the first time I heard of it actually.

And after several research with the help of the ever reliable Google, 

I saw just how challenging and interesting the challenge was. 

Immediately I decided to join the swap!

And here's what I came up with...

If you noticed most of what I made were antiqued. 

That's because I played around with my Swellegants and antiquing mediums. 

I also tried doing the technique I learned from one of my mentors, Ghie of Trinket Tales, 

unfortunately I wasn't very successful. 

Here are some of my favorite inchies entries from my guild mates...

by Angie Escalona

by Louise Clayation

by Mavi Arts & Crafts

by Just Claying Around

All lovely, don't you agree?

After seeing their works, 

I honestly felt a little shy of what they are to receive from me.

Nevertheless, I am much more inspired by them to do well on my next projects. ☺

More of the inchies projects here.

Frame It!

I made this for our February challenge - It's Worth Framing!

So what's worth framing for me? Of course, The Joyful Crafter with Nendo!!!

I love how this project turned out... reminds me just how much The Joyful Crafter and Nendo works hand in hand ☺ Such cuties!

More of my guild mates' works HERE.

Dragons

I made these for our Clay Friends' Society Philippines' February swap challenge
where we are to sculpt our own version of Dragons.

I don't think they ended up looking how a dragon is supposed to look like
but I am actually okay with how they turned out ☺

I made them into pendants so that the receiver may opt to to attach it as pendant for a necklace or charm for keychain. Hope they end up happy with them as much as I was making them. 

If you also want to check out the cool works of my guild mates, you may click HERE. ☺

Cane Challenge: Note Holder

“A cane is a log or cylinder of clay that has a design running through it, so each slice of the cane - the cross-section - contains the design. You can make a large design that’s easy to handle, and then reduce the size of the cane by pressing or rolling it so the cane becomes longer and thinner and the design becomes tiny and delicate.”

For the month of February we, CFSPh, had "I CANE do it" for our monthly challenge. 

The challenge is about creating our own polymer clay canes and turning it into one gorgeous project.

What made the challenge more challenging for me is other than the fact that it's caning and I haven't ever tried making one, I could hardly use my right hand to do anything! And since caning entails a lot of hand pinching for reduction, I had to ask Jein for an extension just so I can submit my entry.  Luckily she said yes.

I had a lot of ideas in mind... Cane projects I'd love to do. But since I know that I can't put so much stress on my right hand while I am having my work-ups to determine how bad my carpal tunnel syndrome problem is, I decided to do something cute but less complicated. 

Below is a step by step photo tutorial in case there's someone like me -- a newbie on caning, who'd like to try it out ☺But first let me show you the black and white canes that I first made but wasn't so happy about plus the crappy projects I made out of it.

At first I thought of following a Retro Flower tutorial through YouTube until I realized just how much black and white clays I've wasted cos I won't be able to use my right hand to reduce it. Instead I tried to make a leaf out of it. It sure looked terrible but I had fun making it, haha!

And then the bull's eye cane technique. I didn't really know what to make of it at first but since it is one of the easiest, I know I had to make it.

Here are the projects I made out of the black and white canes:

A locket

A charm

A label

I posted the three projects on Path and I am happy to see people I barely know liked them. Personally, I wasn't happy about the projects at all. I guess this is why I never really finished assembling them. They're just crappy, lol.

So I decided to make something different... something cuter... something brighter!

What you'll need: 

Clay - white, pink and purple

Cutter

Roll your white clay into a log

Flatten out your pink clay

Wrap around the white clay log with your pink clay

Flatten a thin strip of pink clay just as long as your white log

Cut the log in the middle as shown, be careful not to cut it all the way through

Insert all the way in the middle the thin strip of pink clay, cut the excess

Now for your purple clay, roll it into a log

The pink/white cane will serve as your flower's petals. 

You may opt to make 5 more of the petal cane or just cut it into small equal parts.

Place the petal canes around the purple clay, which serves as your bud, and wrap it with a thin sheet of clay to reduce.

But for this project I decided to do it differently. 

And made a simple flower note/photo holder! 

Since I super love M&Ms, I made a bag of it at the bottom. :-) 

Gorgeous? Nah. I don't think it would fit into that category cos it's really a very simple project but I think it falls under the cutey section! I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out -- I love the colors, I love the design, and I'm happy with its purpose.  

Check out our group's page HERE to see all the other wonderful creations of my guild mates. 

I think my very talented friend Jein of HushPotato will be posting it there this weekend. So feel free to drop by whenever you can. I assure you you'll see lots of amazing projects submitted for the challenge.

PS: Sorry for the crappy pictures. 

I promise to improve. :-) 

Love for Friends

A cake topper for our friends, Jenn and Rodney, who recently tied the knot...
Since I wanted to make this really special and couldn't muster the courage to make the topper myself, I had this done by my mentor Jen of Purpleluggage.

A handmade zipper pull with nameplate by yours truly for my friend, Michelle...

A box with some of my Nendo clays and lockets for my clay mentor and dear friend who's now in Sydney, Rocky...

Another handmade gift this time for my CFSPh monita... Lux.
I made this using NENDO polymer clays sprinkled with Klayola mica shimmers. 

I hope the gifts brought smiles to dear friends. A little something full of love from me to let them know just how much I value their friendship.

Come back and visit again for more handmade gifts I am sending out to friends -- yup I still have some more scheduled to give out. winkwink

Extensive Chibi Workshop with Claythinz

When I was just starting to work with clays, my chibis looked like this:

Yes I know, they all looked scary! Even I can't stand the very sight of them. Lol. So I kept practicing and somehow managed to improve and created something more presentable...

I'm happy that people around me find them cute now but I wasn't really happy with the improvement because even if they look better, I can't seem to make their size smaller... at least small enough to make as cellphone charms.

I wanted to make personalized gifts for family and friends that are small yet pretty for them to hang on to their mobile phones but my chibis always end up as big as a charm for a pendant or even a cake topper, haha!

I wanted so bad to make small ones and really improve on creating mini-MEs hence my decision to join another workshop. This time with the chibi queen herself who also happens to be a good friend of mine, Thina of Claythinz.

Why her workshop? Well other than she is the Chibi Queen, she also makes really tiny yet BEAUTIFUL chibis -- and mind you, she's really good at it!

If you get to see these lovelies in person, I bet the first word that will ever come out of your mouth is "WOW!". Yes that's how awesome her chibis really are.

So last July 28, 2011 I had my workshop with Thina at home. A workshop specifically designed for one to learn the art of creating one of a kind detailed chibis. Love of Labor of Love also came to join us. It was such a fun day!☺

Love with Thina

I considered the workshop to be an extensive one because I feel that other than a refresher of my basic chibi workshop with Poxee, it also introduced a wider range of techniques in creating small yet very detailed chibis. But since we were not really able to maximize the day -- I had to take care of my baby and take the workshop at the same time, my mentor Thina was generous enough to give me a second round! Only the round 2 happened a couple of months after, October 09, 2011 due to both our hectic schedules (or was it just mine?) haha!

We still did it at home, only this time we had it in our other unit. And I was able to prepare for it more than I did the first one... Here take a lookie!

and there's still 3 of us because Cherry of Crafty CB joined us!

Cherry with Thina

Serious?

I am glad I decided to take this workshop... Not only have I learned how to make my chibis smaller, I also learned a whole lot of techniques and tricks... oh and hairstyles too! ☺

my workshop projects

Now every time I find myself a little confused or in the middle of nowhere whenever I am making my chibi Thina is always kind enough to answer my questions despite her busy schedule. Isn't that one of the most important things to consider when choosing our mentors?

I highly recommend this workshop for all those who'd like to learn how to make really special and fab chibis! If you wanna learn how just hit her facebook link below. ☺

Oh! And here's a picture of my most recent work that I made for our house help, Bibi.

It may look a little big -- but it's not! ☺ Just perfect for a mobile charm ♥

I give this workshop a 5 out of 5 stars.



Thina Villanueva (Claythinz)
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