I really want to freshen up. I mean it wasn’t enough for me to greet
spring with making polymer clay butterflies. For one, I got tired of
wearing layers and layers of clothes like a cabbage the whole winter. I
want to start wearing nice thin dresses, skirts… Everyday I receive a
mail from the skin care products brand that I use. I used to delete
these without having a glance before. But now I decided to get an
appointment for 19th of this month. I will change my make-up this
spring.

I frist sketched the shoe above and added the polymer
clay later. I cannot describe how happy it made me feel. I had so much
fun preparing crebro’s first shoe.

I was sketching randomly the other day when I realized I had drawn a lot of shoes. Why? because I am crazy about shoes.

I don’t know when did the last week pass. It was already Friday before
I knew it. And spring had already come. We were just starting to enjoy
the cafe that we have newly discovered but now came the times for the
lake-side and open air. It was getting warmer on Thursday when we
stopped by the lake for a few minutes though there was still a thin
layer of ice on the water. A bunch of ducks and swans were also there.
I wish I had my camera with me that day. Anyway, we will be going to
that lake side again pretty soon.

I had come up with the pattern below before.
When I was convinced that the spring came, I could not resist but
started to make butterflies. I could not stop there and decided to
introduce my butterflies to nature.

I have seen a freezing rain for the first time in my life here. Everywhere got covered with a thick layer of ice.

This week, I will make the room upstairs my study. I have started
making some ceramic masks for the walls. I will also try to make a
torchiere lamp if I can. I’m so excited about the new room.

I was at home yesterday and worked
with polymer clays from eight in the morning to ten in the evening.
Since I was trying new techniques, nothing remarkable resulted. Around
10 pm, I threw all the things I made to trash and just as I was having
a disappointment crisis, my love came and saved me. We watched a movie
together and I tried convinced myself that the time I spent was not
waste since I learnt a lot of new things anyway. I get more upset when
I remember my plans of spending a total of 7 hours in ceramic studio
today and tomorrow. How to find time to all the things in my to-do list
is still a big question mark. The only useful product of yesterday is
the photos of the work that I prepared for my site.

I cut the clays as seen above and rolled through the machine.

A key point in folding is that each color should fold onto the same color.

Repeating the folding and rolling for a while produces a nice gradient of colors.

When it reaches the level of mix that I want, I fold the clay in two as
seen above (again each color fold onto its equivalent) and roll through
the machine one last time.

Lastly, I wrap the clay as seen above and I obtained a spiral of colors
as seen in the first picture. Of course you can use this gradient
colored clay in many other applications.

I was sick yesterday, sleepy. We were at a chinese restaurant with my
love the last and best day of the week. Food was excellent as always
and we ordered more than we can eat as always. We watched the movie "The Island" in the night and the results is that the post I wanted to write yesterday is being published today.

The original work shown above is named kaftanlı kız
or "the girl in kaftan" in english. My later posts about polymer clays
will mostly be in the form of tutorials. For now, I am trying to design
basic applicatins to get started.

I discovered polymer clay three years ago at a time when I was browsing
a small stationary store. I have been reading a lot of books about
polymer clays and trying to reproduce the crafts presented ever since.
But, the one I posted above is one of my original works. I selected
this one to introduce you to the world of polymer clays. It is all
about your liking, you may choose to use translucent clays which
provides a bright look when you light a candle inside. If you want the
color to look vivid even without a candle, you might mix translucent
and opaque colors. You even have the option of glow in the dark clays.

Main
advantage of working with polymer clays is that it can be baked in
regular ovens or even toaster ovens. And it comes colored so you do not
need to paint it after baking. It does not dry during working which is
great if you work slowly, especially for beginners. There are a few
catches though; it is not harmful, however it is not good to inhale the
gases emitted during baking. So you may want to have a smaller oven and
bake your products outside. If this is not possible, carefully
ventilate the area. I personally apply the former method.

This
post is just to introduce you to polymer clays. Soon, I will be posting
detailed information on clay selection, tools and some step by step
applications. I hope you will enjoy working with polymer clays.