Passover is almost here

This year I was lucky enough to have enough pre orders for my items so I don't have to sit in a craft fair. I know some artists love the direct contact with the crowd but I find it stressful and unpleasant.The best sellers for me during the holiday seasons are home decorations and jewlery. you know how it is, a woman comes to buy something for her mother in law and eventually goes out with a new necklace for herself... LOL

A fellow Israeli artist, Hadas, included my Hamsa key chains as one of the things on her wish list for the holiday isn't that cool?

you can view her intire wish list on her blog and maybe you will find something for yourself too.

Inspiration

Although this is not PC i still find the work of Dawn Estrin and George Wilson very inspiring and I can easily imagine how it can be adapted to polymer clay and metal clay.

Through a miniaturization process that retains every element of detail in each image, Dawn Estrin and George Wilson inspire viewers to closely examine and be swept away by their art.
Each piece of their jewelry is born of a single photograph. Estrin and Wilson first decide on a shape in which to frame it, and then incorporate additional design elements, creating a richly detailed setting for the image. Their designs are influenced by their love of decorative arts from the European Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-Classical periods, as well as American Art Deco and the architecture of the Middle East.

What I find most interesting about their work is the scale they work in and the 3 dimentional effect acheived in the process.

I first came across these artists when browsing the artful home site.

A flickr find

fleur2, originally uploaded by Ma-belette.

Just stumbeled uopn this very talented artist from Chine name Ma-belette.

She discovered polymer clay only 2 years ago. Her work reminds Dona Kato's style- simple shapes, bold colors and perfect design. I love it when someone takes a common technique and gives it her own interpetation.

you cna see her work on her flickr site and on her blog

Have you done your nails today?

Cat has really gone wild this time with her nails decoration. she used raw canes that were pre sliced- isn't this cool? is there a better way to show off your creations?

Cat promises that a tutorial for that will come soon. mean while you can enjoy her "nail adventures" on her site

Passover is right around the corner

yes, whether you like it or not, Passover is right around the corner- say bye bye to your diet and get ready to eat.
Matza, Hebrew מַצָּה), an unleavened bread, is the "official" food of Passover. When the Jews were leaving Egypt, there was no time for the bread to rise, and the resulting food was matzoh.
Sharon Amir created these cute wine charm to accompany your glass wined during the "seder" and any other festive occassion.
you can see more of Sharon's work on her flickr site

An eye candy

Carol Simmons is a master in Kaleidoscopes canes. Looking at her work makes me want to hide my canes in a deep dark drawer…
Carol has a talent for color combinations and shapes- it is as if she sees how the cane will look like in the end.
I accidently stumbled upon her work and I was sad to find out that on her website there aren’t a lot of pictures to see…
Well anyway- better see one good one than none right?

Invitaion to follow me on Twitter

I heard so much about this twitter thing that I finally gave up to the trend and opened an account for my self.
So, if you would like to follow me on Twitter please add me to the people you follow
http://twitter.com/naamaza

What is thi sTwitter thing anyway you ask?
in their own words: "In countries all around the world, people follow the sources most relevant to them and access information via Twitter as it happens—from breaking world news to updates from friends"

cake server

Utencils, originally uploaded by * naamaza *.

New cake server are now up for sale on my Etsy store.
I made this one from my flower canes and two more from my new line of kaleidescope canes.

Drying in the air

I was playing with my Kaleidoscope canes over the weekend, making fresh canes for my Etsy store. This green purple one was the one I immediately fell in love with so I left a piece for myself to play with.
This picture is of my new pillow beads made with this cane’ drying in the sun- yummy!!

Polymer clay Kaleidescope cane

Polymer clay Kaleidescope cane, originally uploaded by * naamaza *.

love the way this one turned out- it took me a while to notice the rectangles in the backround in two shades of green.

after apploading them to my Etsy I started cleaning the table from all the cane ends but I found it very hard to squeeze the cane ends- the looked so pretty so I made swirled beads from them and added one focal bead. after baking they were sanded and covered with glaze as the final touch.

can you beleive these are left overs?

Goldene Rose

Goldene Rose, originally uploaded by Magic_Toscana.

Magic Toscana created this lovely piece from Polymer clay.using gold leaf and inks. it catched my eye because of how the entire pieces were combined together- the rose shape is so pretty and laxurious

forget me not necklace

chili crab is a german artist living in singapore makes romantic jewlery from polymer clay combined with filigree.

a bit about her in her own words: "The biggest influence on me becoming a creative person definitely comes from my parents and my mother-in-law. My mother loved to do any kind of handcrafts, from knitting, crocheting to silk painting and sewing. She did everything. My father is talented with any kind of woodwork. And my mother-in-law is a great painter and artist in general. But the decision to keep my fingers busy with other things than typing the keyboard in a software company came during my first pregnancy. I felt almost forced to create crochet treasures and made a lot of gifts for friends and family. After that my interest evolved into designing home accessories. Later I got interested in creating jewelry. Nowadays, I still maintain my interests in all these areas."

you can see more of her on her flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/chillicrab/

and on her Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6824305

My beads featured

My pendant is featured in Dorit's treasury, originally uploaded by yonatdascalu.

haven't figured out yet what my feelings are about the treasury issue on Etsy- does it really help in selling my items? unless you make it to the front page there is little chance that anyone will even get to see the treasury isn't it? not to mention trying to create your own treasury- I only succeeded once to get the chance to make one but it was fun..
why am I whyning here? I should thank Dorit for including my beads in her treasury (i was too lazy to print screen the treasury so I used the one that Yonat posted on her flickr)- THANKS DORIT
hope they will get better exposure
what do you think about the treasury think? do you sell better after being featured?

Transfer Technique

found this cool tutorial on transfering images to the body with speed stick jel dedorant .
do you know this "Transfer Paper for Stencils "? where can this be found?
looks to me like something that can be done on clay - what do you think?

Kaleidescope cane

Kaleidescope cane, originally uploaded by * naamaza *.

made this cane today. I really like how it turned out. the picture doesn't really do it justice (it was very cloudy today so I couldn't go out and take a better one).
see my Etsy for purchasing info http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21663524