Chibi Swap

Last July, the Clay Friends Society Philippines did their first swap / challenge. The challenge was to create 6 wonderful chibis made out of polymer clay. The participants can make their projects at any size, design and type as long as the colors used is limited to just five - - including the colors used for skin and hair.

At first I thought of making a chibi similar to the one I created a few months back which I am now using as paper weight at work.

But the hubby said that it would be too time consuming considering that I already have a lot of things to do aside from the chibis, so I thought of making one of my favorite -- the doctor chibi. 

The doctor chibi is about 2" tall. But since I wanted to challenge myself to make really small chibis -- about an inch or even smaller using Nendo polymer clay. I opted to create something different, something smaller...

Taking into account the clay artists who once told me that they find it hard to make chibis using my clay, it challenged me more to come up with a really small but cute chibi using Nendo. And here's what I came up with... my flower girls! 

I made them right after my workshop with my friend Thina. I called them "flower girls" because they reminded me of a tulip while I was working on them. If you look at them from the bottom up, their dress looked like petals of tulips.

They are about an inch tall while the one with white headband measures less! Ü I also applied the fairy wings I learned from the workshop. More about the workshop soon in another post. Ü 

What I learned from the challenge:

1. I realized that a really good clay artist, whatever the brand of clay s/he is using, will still be able to come up with really nice and one of a kind projects. It's more on the level of the skill of the artist. This challenge made me all the more determined to hone my skill on this craft. Ü

2. It's really a skill to be able to make at least 3 similar projects! I had a hard time making them all look alike... That's why I really have nothing but admiration to all participants who was able to make very similar chibis for the swap. But still thanks to the challenge, I was able to discover several ways to be able to make identical projects! 

3. This challenge opened my eyes more to the beauty of my clay... ♥ It made my work super easy for me!

sorting the items from the 21 members who participated in the swap

 Yes that's me busy packing. Because of the number of items I had to sort, I took the entire floor on one side of the bedroom while the hubby kept the little princess busy. That day was really a mess... but a lot of fun too! 

And here's a photo of our works all together... Really really lovely indeed. 

To check out more of the swap photos, you may visit our CFSPh site. 

What I observed from my fellow CFSPh member:

• They're all surprisingly creative. 


• Our guild has, if not the most, the best chibi clay artists.


• Most of them have human inspirations in creating their chibis. 


• They're all very patient Ü 

I can't wait for our next swap activity. I am not sure what the theme is going to be but I will surely join again!

Save a Life, NO to Dengue.

DENGUE aka breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In some cases, the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or in dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs. - Wikipedia

A friend of mine got hit by this disease and was admitted to the hospital just a few weeks back. Now I am grateful that she is all well and has fully recovered. Then our building announced that we will have a dengue spray this weekend.... But this didn't bother me as much as when I watched the news a couple of nights ago while working with my clays, there I saw how bad it has moved and how much lives were greatly affected by it. How the rising number of deaths increase due to lack of money to acquire the needed blood supply and medicines to conquer the disease. So we have thought of doing this...

The Joyful Crafter l Nendo Polyclay in cooperation with Clay Friends Society Philippines and Klayola 

will have it's first ever fundraising activity to help fight DENGUE.

For a min of P100.00 cash donation given, other than you help save a child's life, the group will also send you a small token of appreciation, made out of polymer clay, as our way of thanking you in helping us make this fundraising activity successful. 

All proceeds will be used to help as much children as we can, confined in the pedia dengue ward of 

Quirino Memorial Medical Center. 

Updates of this activity will also be posted on our CFSPh page.

To send in donations, you may send it to our GCash account #09153593410. 

And for bank deposit, you may get in touch with us using the same Globe number for details.
Since we don't have our group bank account yet, we will be using our POC's bank account temporarily. Kindly inform us once the deposit has been made so we can immediately track it and move it for the fundraising activity cash box. 

Mechanics on how to claim the token from us:
1. After sending us the donation, please text us using the same Globe number above your name and the account owner from where you were able to read the post.
2. Account owner from where the post was read will be notified.
4. Gift will be sent

I do hope you can all join us save lives and assist our less fortunate fellowmen, most especially the kids who are currently fighting this terrible disease.

Small amounts when put together can make a huge difference. :-)

Please repost to help us spread the word. ♥

TJC: Chibis.

Ugh, I missed a couple of minutes saving this entry to hit Tuesday!

Anyway, last Thursday, July 28, 2011, I had another chibi workshop this time with Ms Thina Villanueva of Clay Thinz. Click on the link if you want to see her cutey stuff...  Will definitely blog about the workshop on another post soon. :-)

Right after the workshop, I got so inspired to work on my clays and make really small chibis, keeping in mind everything I have been taught and learned from the workshop.

It came just in time because I need to come up with cute chibis for our 1st Clay Friends Society Philippines (CFSPh) challenge -- our 1st ever swap: CHIBI, "an adjective that means small and/or miniature in a good or cute way. Normally used to describe (young) people or animals, and is endearing".

I thought chibi would really be perfect for our 1st challenge since most of the artists in the group loves making them. Ü

So for this week, here's a photo of what's been keeping me busy... the little girls for the swap!

Little Flower Girls

They're not yet done... I haven't decided whether I am making them as cellphone, key or bag charm but I will definitely post a photo of the finished project together with the chibis of the other artists.

I bought this Judikins Diamond Glaze a couple of months back but it has been sitting in my cabinet waiting to be picked up since then. Thank God for this challenge, I was able to pick it up and tried it for the first time to create a resin effect on the CFSPh logo that I am attaching with the chibis. So far I am happy with how it turned out!

Also, since Ms Thina generously taught me how to make her favorite Tinkerbell chibi, I decided to create one in pink and added a little touch of me on the version of the wings... I made this to give as a gift to our office secretary :-)

My Pink Tinkerloo

I know... I hate her eyes too! lol. 

Oh and other than the chibi practice from Ms Thina, I also applied the things I learned from my friend Melody Manalaysay of Crafting Time on basic wiring. I wish she'd let me take wiring classes from her one day. haha!

Japanese dolls

A couple of nights ago, I joined a mini guessing game hosted by one of my CF friends, Jo of Kindergarten Kail where I won this lovely Japanese dolls file! Can you see just how lovely the Japanese dolls are? It made me all giddy printing them out so I can do another photo transfer project. I can't wait to see how the project will turn out. I hope it won't end up unfinished just like my dragon :-( 

Wish me luck! 

See you again next week... ♥

First.

Whew a couple of hours late!

Anyhow, I've got 3 things new to show you today for Tuesdays Jabbering Craft...

1. My workstation, as this being my 1st ever entry on Tuesdays Jabbering Craft. 

2. I am also going to show you my first ever attempt in sculpting a dragon, and

3. My first time to disassemble my newly purchased pasta machine!

So since this is the first entry allow me to show you how my workstation looks like...

This is my mini-craft-station... The tiny spot where you will find me claying in the room. The ones stored there are the tools I often use when claying. Below it are really huge cabinets where I store all of my craft tools used in claying and beading + books related to my crafts - polymer clay, beading and crochet. 

Crochet on the other hand has 2 huge cabinets on the other side of the room, where I store tons and tons of my precious imported yarns Ü

The clays you're seeing on the tile are the clays I am using on the project I am currently working on... My 1st ever -- CF inspired DRAGON.

I am not done with it yet. There's still A LOT of things to do to him... And quite frankly I'm still not sure how I'd go about accentuating it. Top that, I also wonder whether the rhinestone I used would melt the moment I bake it with the clay. I guess I'll have to wait for that until I'm done curing, haha. But I am really enjoying this project. I'm so excited to see how it'll turn out! 

Now for the last part allow me to introduce you to my new baby -- my Makin's pasta machine!

If you're having a little trouble checking if it is a Makins pasta machine, just look at the roller (I so love the non-stick rollers) and the handle, colored green - you'll know. Those are, I believe, the things a Makins pasta machine boasts. ♥

Now if you're kind of wondering what I did with it or if there's something wrong -- nothing really serious. However, since the machine was making a weird sound every time I run my clays into it and the handle locking at the thinnest and thickest settings, I had to ask my husband dismantle it for me so I can clean the rollers and check on the gears... Thank God I attended my clay date with some of my clay friends where Jen (Purpleluggage) was able to demonstrate how we can easily clean up our machines, I was able to breeze through the cleaning part and checking of the gears of my newly purchased machine without any problem.

After aligning the gears and cleaning the blades and rollers, I asked my husband to assemble it back but decided to leave the covers unattached. I honestly prefer it this way for easy maintenance. After the dismantling, the cleaning and realigning, my Makin's pasta machine is as good as it should be - quiet, without the lock up problem and working 100% in good condition! Ü

There you go for this week's TJC. I'll see you next week! :-) 

Something to Look Forward Weekly

I looked at my site and realized that if not for my GT entries every Thursday, I wouldn't have been able to update this site. If you're not familiar with GT, it stands for Girls Talk and it happens every Thursday of the week. Most of the topics are mainly about personal stuff depending on the topic posted by the host.

In short, I have been missing a lot of post craft-y.

And so to keep you posted of what The Joyful Crafter is doing in her crafting work space, I decided to do...

Every Tuesday you will see me blogging about anything related to crafts that I currently have my hands into. Oh and that includes photos too! :-) 

So drop by whenever you can to see what I have for the week. Join me if you're also into crafts, whatever form it doesn't really matter, and have a blog. Just leave a comment and a link so I can visit you back. 

Ooohh I am excited!
See you on Tuesday! Ü

WIP

Today we decided to stay home to avoid floods every where brought about by the continuous rainfalls since the other day...

And because the weather gives off this lazy feel, I decided to stay in bed and start working on a pasta machine cover!

my hook & yarn

I used simple stitches like single &double crochet. Initially I planned to do it in blocks but couldn't really bring myself to follow the pattern so I ended up doing something out of the blue without the help of any pattern. 

I am excited to see how this project turns out. Honestly, at this point I still have no idea on how I'll go about it. And as my crochet kumare says, it'll come. So we'll see how I'll nail this. I wish I can finish this in a day but since I have CTS, this will most likely be something I'll do in the next few days. 

I'll take a photo of this sip on my pasta machine when done. Ü 

Wish me luck!

In Minutes...

I have been away for weeks... It's been really crazy. Tons of things to do at home, at work, online then came the news from NBS that they're ready to release the school supplies kits! Nevertheless, those weeks have been great ones -- physically, mentally as well as emotionally.

But no matter how toxic a day for me can be, The Joyful Crafter in me will always find its way to work on something. You know just how much I love crafting, right? Other than the fact that it never fails to relax my mind, I love the 'high' I get from it every time my hands are working with my tools. So no matter how demanding a week is, I still make it a point to sit at my working area every chance I get to able to come up with a little something.

The past weeks I was able to make little cutey stuff... Well cute for me because I made some of them in my fave shades! Ha!

Some were first attempts, while some were made particularly to be given to friends.
Here let me show them to you.

I love making making chibis and crocheting balls & flowers, so this time I thought of incorporating them to come up with something special ☺

This kind of explains why I had to wear my CTS braces again... Crocheting has always been challenging for my hands. But I love the craft and the people I made those projects for, so I continued doing them. I made another one in orange, but too bad I wasn't able to take a picture of it. But I am happy it reached the person I gave it to ♥

And now for some new projects...

I love owls and penguins, plus Nendo's represented by a penguin, so I attempted to make them... in PINK! Cutey, yes?

salted egg, anyone?

Now this is supposed to be a cute doll miniature... But after I made it, I didn't really find it cute. I found it fat for a Kokeshi, lol! Must be because I was watching The Biggest Loser, Pinoy Edition while working on this... hahahaha.

I am planning of making lots and lots and lots of those projects in different colors to be made into charms and pendants...

Cute stuff?