Garden Updates

Just a quick one :)
Today I filled up 5 bird feeders with seeds and peanuts and went away to work for couple of hours. Then I came back to this!!! What a jungle! x
Can you see the squirrel on the tree feeder as well as 4 parrots? There was another squirrel outside the photo and 14 pigeons in total scavenging on the floor! They have this perfectly established system. Squirrels and parrots work on the top and pigeons gather on the floor level. Nothing goes to waste! Yay!

My Garden Friends

This is just a short post in my blog diary to post up about the creatures that visit our garden.
We have a family of Jays, 2-3 squirrels, about 3-4 foxes passing by every day regularly, magpies, pigeons ( roof is their home), and today also a pair of green parrots joined the party. I managed to take a picture of a jay and one of the parrots together and then the parrot and a squirrel. Was taking pics from my kitchen window, so it's not a perfect quality, but Ashley says he will try to attach a GoPro camera to the tree next to the bird feeder and then we will be able to see videos of them eating. This will be so exciting. But for now enjoy these two pics!
It's October the 18th and it is 20'C outside. Very warm days for October.

Thanks a lot for reading,

"Dragon Whistle Man's" Story

Couple of months ago I saw a post on Facebook written by my very dear friend from Latvia. She was telling her friends a story of her daughter’s obsession with dragons.

Apparently the little girl was given a dragon book as a gift for last Christmas and since then she became completely obsessed with dragons. This book contained a specific dragon alphabet as well as the address of a place based in London, where as the book says, they are making dragon whistles that can summon a real dragon. The girl was confident enough to learn the whole alphabet and to write a letter to London, but wasn’t old enough to send it via post and the mentioned address didn’t even exist in real life, so her mother said that she will see what she can do.

I contacted her after seeing this post and we came up with a plan. She really wanted to keep her daughter’s dream for longer but she also didn’t wanted to tell stupid stories to her daughter which would later on end up being a lie. 

After my suggestion she told to her daughter:

“Maybe aunty Mandarinka knows how to get this letter to the right addressee. Maybe the Dragon Whistle Man just changed an address.”

And so they sent the letter to me to find out where the "Whistle Man" lives…

So I received a letter and had to translate every letter from dragon language to Russian letters to find out that in this letter she expresses her sincere will to obtain one of these whistles, but as she doesn’t have any  money she offered her favourite toy for exchange for the whistle…

So I couldn’t resist and I made a whistle for her and I wrote her a letter that says:

Dear Aljona,

I was very pleased to receive your letter as almost no one these days writes to our little whistle shop and we only check the post there once a month. I am very pleased to tell you that we still have some whistles left and each of them is attached to a particular dragon. We are not selling them any more and are just keeping them to ourselves. But I was so pleased to see your interest that I decided to just give it to you for free.You can keep your favourite toy. Usually I would never give to anyone one of our precious whistles, but just because you are so young and I am very proud that you are interested in dragons, I will make one just for you.

I must tell you something you should know. Dragons existed on our planet long ago together with Dinosaurs and long after them , but because many people started to hunt them for their skin and teeth, dragons started to die very fast. The remaining dragons decided to migrate deep in the mountains of our Planet Earth. Some other legends and people are saying that dragons became invisible and are now living amongst us but in parallel dimensions, like kind spirits. Dragon’s stopped trusting people and so we can’t see them anymore.

Although we are still keeping our whistling tradition and every first Sunday of each month we are going to a particular place and we are whistling in hope that once the dragons will forgive humans and come back to us. For many hundreds years our grand grand fathers were doing this, but we didn’t see anything. Some whistle obtainers sometimes report finding a tooth or a dragon scale, but they like to keep it to themselves, so we don’t have any examples to prove that.

So before you have your whistle, you need to know how to use it.

It’s not a regular whistle even if it may look like one. Sometimes you will notice that it doesn’t sound at all, but if you blow hard enough it can make a loud sound.

The idea is not to make a lot of noise with it. The idea of “dragon whistling” is that you blow into the whistle very slightly and think about the dragon, imagine it. Dragons that live in parallel dimensions can’t hear the whistle anyway, but they can clearly feel your thought about it and a vibration of your breath, as if you would be there next to him. So thoughts are your best friends to connect with dragons. You don’t see them, but they may choose to see you and everything you are doing if they will become close to you.

Try not to whistle too often. As legends say, dragon’s don’t like a lot of noise, so whistling once a month, like we are doing it, on the first Sunday of each month would be just enough to let the dragon know that you love him , that you remember about him and that you would love to see him. All the rest will be up to the dragon. He may never come. But as they say, if you haven’t seen something, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. So keep trying and keep believing.

Unfortunately as a whistle maker I can’t promise you more than that. I myself never saw a dragon, but I am a person from the family of ‘dragon whistle” makers, so I keep my family tradition and make whistles whenever someone requests one.

My grandfather once brought this beautiful turquoise piece of skin that looks just like a dragon skin. I can't be sure that it is, but I cut a little piece of it to share with you. I am sure you will like it.

I am wishing you good luck.

Reggards,

Ernest Mortor Drake

I hope you enjoyed my story and with all my heart I wish that this little girl would love the story and wouldn't make a big deal of it, still would keep dreaming about dragons and feel happy about having such a precious whistle and a piece of "potentially" a dragon skin!

On it's belly it says: "Faithful to you".. in dragon language, of course :)

Thank you for reading this story, 

Hugs x

NEW HOME

Hello my sweet honey bunnies!

I missed you a lot because I was very busy moving house. It's been 2 months since I moved but some parts of it are still in quite a messy state! Although I would like to share with you some decorating progress! Less talk, more pictures:

Make sure you click on them to see them bigger!

And yes, my studio is not ready yet to show to anyone :)

My bathroom turned to be very green and modern oriental style

This is my kettle and toaster set from Morphy Richards

This is how we decorated the doors of both flats and the first entrance room which is communal. Beannie is a little guarding spirit!

This is the living room and Ash is responsible for arranging things in it. I helped with accessories.

"Curious Froggy". Polymer Clay Jewelry Box.

Hello my sweet honey bunnies!

Days are going hotter and summer is here for sure! This made me very happy when I received this custom order. I was contacted by a wonderful woman who is a mother of a 15 years old girl.
She said that her daughter loves frogs and nature and she requires a jewellery box to be made for her with some sort of important saying. I asked her if there is anything she as a mother want's to tell her. She told me that there is a funny but wise phrase they two have and it sounds like: "Don't kiss without love!". I don't think I need to explain what that means. As a mother she tries to let her daughter how precious real family relationship should be.
But enough of that theory, enjoy the box! :) Find more pictures HERE.

I am in a Bead Magazine

Hello my sweet honey bunnies! I just wanted to share my 4 page feature in a Bead Magazine Issue 55. It's a cool british magazine where they show amazing jewellery making tutorials from seed beads, polymer clay, crystals e.c.t. Enjoy!

Starry Eyed (Native Americal Style Owl journal) - Work in Progress

Hello my sweet honey bunnies!

Today is monday and it's been a week since I wanted to show you my newest journal which actually isn't a custom order but a product of my own heart, mind, soul and hands! Yay! First one this year together with the necklace I made last week.

Exclusively here in my blog I would like to share all work in progress pictures so you can see how I started and where I ended up. Of course I would appreciate if no one uses this as tutorial and makes an owl like this. No copycats allowed :) Just love and respect, okay?

So everything started with a morning where I were laying on my back in bed and I saw a vision of an owl, just an owl with goggly eyes staring at me from the leafy forest. I jumped up, dressed myself, got all the clays out, all the tools and things... then somewhere in the process I brushed my hair and had a breakfast (can't remember when and how.. I think Ash looked after me all that day as I told him that today I am in a creative trance mode, meaning I am diving into something for all 100%). 

I made the eyes from a 12mm big glass cabochons which I have quite a lot as I like making my own custom made eyes for creatures I make. For these particular eyes I used Precious Metal by Viva Decor and Perfect Pearls in ocean blue and gold colours. I also used gold acrylics on one eye to make an appearance of a falling stars reflecting in owl's eye. For some reason I decided to do it only with one eye. 

Then of course I started my work on the journal where I cut the right size of clay sheet for the base and placed it on the ceramic tile. I struggled a little bit to see how the face will look like, but I had a sketch of an owl which I took from google. I liked how the feathers were assembled and I decided to use it as a reference. This owl was drawn by amazing artist Ben Kwok. His art is truly amazing! I liked how the feathers are looking like Native American head piece and it really inspired the colour theme as well. I used Photoshop to play around with colours and get some sort of understanding of which clays I am planning to use. Unfortunately for some reason I can't find this picture anymore on my computer. But anyway. So I decided to cut out little clay shapes to zone out the main head parts of my owl. This way it is always easier to work and you can lift up some important parts to give it a more of a 3D look. I always start from the house or eyes and so I started my fine work with building up the layers of feathers in deep blues and green with a hint of brown. I sort of wanted to reflect the eye colour on owl's feathers next to his eyes. I formed this sort of feather ornaments on both sides and moved onto the forehead and nose.

It wasn't easy to use bold and bright colours and when you play with raw clay sometimes it looks quite ridiculous and so my owl started to look like a chicken. I sort of had my concerns but I trusted the spirits that were guiding me and I always knew that the redness can be taken away by shading and adding pearls or some other paints or effects, like matt black mica powder for example.

When the eye lids were put into place and two main feathery eye brows formed a full correct composition, then the owl started to look serious by all means. Even with the massive red headpiece it looked good, sort of royal, like a shaman, the head of the tribe. I was happy with the result. I struggled a lot to understand how feathers would go around the nose and owl's neck and so I jumped onto working on his body hoping that the inspiration for the face part will come at the right moment. 

I truly believe that the process of creation can't go without trusting your guiding spirits. Sometimes you do things you haven't even planned at first and when you start to head towards some nice, but completely different direction, the understanding that it's not actually you who is in charge of creation but the God inside you, quickly settles in your mind. I honestly truly believe in it. I believe that I am only a tool. God expresses himself through me  and tells me stories of beauty, shows me how he likes to create, how he likes to innovate. 

And if to be completely honest, call me crazy or what, but I pray before I start any work these days and I am asking for help, guidance and inspiration. 

So... I made quite a few gradients in the colours I felt are good for this sort of artwork and there were white perlescent - turquoise perlescent, golds to golden greens ( premixed with mica powders first)... Greens to turquoises. And then of course I cut each little feather with a scalpel separately and I made a texture of each feather also separately with the same tool. I love feathers and it's never enough feathers in anything I do in my life. I wear them, I draw them, I clay them and even have boxes of raw feathers from different birds hanging all over my place.

In the end I filled in the owl's face with brown and gave it a fluffy texture. I worked on the background too. I engraved leafs and branches into clay with a carving tool and coloured those with eye shadows ( mate colours with no shimmer).I also used black matte mica powder to calm down the reds on owl's head and to add up some shadows on the brown part of owl's body. I sort of wanted to give it a colourful depth. 

After all was baked I used black acrylics to make it look older, deeper, a bit darker and, as I always call it, more serious. And so here is the result! Enjoy and I hope you like me telling you how I make my journals. Please let me know your thoughts as writing this post took some time and I want to know what you think.

Thank you very much,

Diana Shulce Palma and Her Clay Spring

Every day on Facebook I see hundreds of polymer clay artworks. Not always I can notice all the pearls and beauties, but some of them can't pass by unnoticed. 

This floral headpiece made by Diana Shulce Palma was made from our polymer clay relative - air dry clay. I never had an experience of playing with it and when I was in Riga last time I purchased a pack of Daisy Air dry clay but I never opened it. Never felt quite inspired to make flowers. Still every time I see all the amazing things artists can do with it, it takes my breath away. 

When I saw this piece I decided that I want to buy it straight away and as it's owner is a member on My Clay Fantasy group it was very easy to contact her. 

Item arrived very fast and when I opened the box I couldn't believe my eyes. It looks real! Not just beautiful but very real. Hide this piece in a sakura blossom and you will never find it again.

Besides the beauty factor this piece of art is also very well technically made and in spite of it's fragile look it is very flexible and sturdy. Of course you can't drag or pull it same way you wouldn't do with any fine silver chain, little fragile things, but it can survive an accidental drop on the floor and nothing will fall off it. It is also very light in all meanings.

Diana also makes rings and necklaces with air dry clay and apart from that she also likes making a very festive looking vintage jewellery where she implements air dry and polymer elements, too.

These pieces are perfect for weddings, for all sorts of braid's maid accessories, for a romantic date. Flowers have always been the best decor for a female and so it will fit for all occasions. 

Besides of all the jewellery making skills Diana has she is also a very friendly person and she lives in my motherland, Latvia :) So if you are interested in seeing a lot of feminine, gorgeous beauty on your Facebook wall, you can happily CLICK HERE to like her page.

And before you go and like Diana's page check me out wearing her amazing Sakura headband.

Diana Shulce Palma

http://www.lagoadesigns.com

ETSY: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/lagoadesigns

TUTORIALS and Air dry clay flowers: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/lagoaclaycreations

Thanks for reading, 

I always appreciate that x

Wait for me by the Lighthouse ( end of the story)

Some of you may remember that I had a pair of journals made with a female and male bunny about a year ago. Here is the picture to refresh your memory :) 

The main story of these journals was that both male and female were separated when they were very young lovers and they only managed to find each in another 10 years. So my journals are showing that particular moment of their date by the lighthouse. They both became much older, but they still recognise each other and she is holding a bag in her hand that looks like a lock, the lock from her heart. And he still has a key to this heart lock, meaning that he still loves him. And of course she does as well, especially because for 10 years she had someone that would everyday remind her about him while they were apart... their child. READ FULL STORY.

So the idea of this pair of journals was that they would be sold together and I proposed this idea in my Etsy shop. But one day the female journal was purchased by a guy from England and he refused to buy the second one. This made my heart hurt, but of course from the business side of view I made a sale and I was happy. And so the year passed and the journal wouldn't sell. I brought it with me to

Malta Synergy conference and many of you had seen it in person and who ever had a chance to speak to me heart the story of this and the second journal. In the end of conference I gave away all of my journals and only left one of them with me, the other bunny journal. 

Yesterday I sold a journal with a beetle and this made me very happy, but something felt weird. I recognised the name of my customer and it had a little green star next to it meaning that this is a return customer. I checked and it was the same guy who purchased my female bunny journal. 

You can imagine how happy I was that he came back! The fact that he came back meant two things for me. First, his wife had finished the first journal and second, she needs another one. And why would she want to have a beetle journal if there is a second part of the bunny story for her. So I wrote a message to the guy and offered him bunny journal half price just so that his wife can have them both and keep them together. Also, because he came back for another journal, I knew they don't waste them, they fill them in and then keep them. Otherwise why would he come back to me? Not for the paper quality, right? :)

And so to make the story short, he decided to buy the beetle journal and the bunny journal together and he was very happy to have a discount. He is not a very talkative man and after a massive story I wrote to him he only replied in one line. But this one like made me completely happy and now I am feeling content and I know that the wondering of two loving souls is now officially over. The bunny family is safe and sound. 

As you can see polymer clay means much more than just sculpting to me. I am a story teller and I am very very grateful to God that this unfinished story is now found it's happy ending. I can now silently say:

"All so all three of them lived happily ever after...here in England, Gloucestershire!"

Skinner Blend Leaves

Recently I was making couple of journals and I had a lot of skinner blend left over. I decided to play with it and came up with some nice elements which I really liked and I decided to work on them on a more professional level and made a tutorial and some brooches and also a beautiful necklace.
I hope you like these! I will let you guys know when the tutorial is out so you can see how I make them.

And here is the necklace. It is not yet assembled, just put together! I am waiting for super glue to arrive lol :) I like how organic it looks like and it will perfectly fit my evening dress which is also indigo blue.