Bottles of Hope

This will be my project for this week. I have been so far behind on this and I need to get them done hopefully by this week, even though there is no submission deadline.

Here is my first BOH...

... will have it baked tomorrow.

To learn about Bottles of Hope, go to http://www.bottlesofhope.org/

CHECK THESE OUT!

I was supposed to work on the photos of my new items... but just not in the mood to get through with it. Probably it has something to do with the weather.

As usual, I'll be sitting right in front of my pc browsing through ETSY just to check out what others has to offer. There are so many talented artist out there doing all sort of amazing things -- HANDMADE!! I need to feed my brain with inspirations and ETSY is one of the place to go to. Sometimes I ended up shopping a bit too, lol.

Here are 2 shops which I came across and would like to share:

Dragons' Lover -- you'll definitely love what this shop has to offer! Dragons with characters and stories behind each of it. My favorite is this Hugoo of the Water Clan.

SHOP: elementaldragons.etsy.com


Another favorite finding is this extraordinary sea creature -- The OCTOPUS!! This artist also works on items inspired by CF (like me) and I must say that she did a great job on her pieces. Seeing this gives me the urge to start trying out sea theme.

SHOP: time4coffee.etsy.com

PEACOCK Focal Pendants Sneak Peek''

First batch of Peacock Focal Pendants finally DONE! Yay!!

Although the lighting was bad, I had to take a few shots tonight so that I can have them posted here for sneak preview.

p/s: I saw these peacock feathers at Hobby Lobby and can't leave without them. Aren't they gorgeous??

PEACOCK Week!

My head is loaded with ideas designing the pendant(s) using the peacock feather cane. Work is still in progress... nothing much to show for now.

From My Studio This Week (Part 2)

TURTLES Focal Bead Pendants

It has been a long while since I did my last turtle. This week I was in the mood for these cuties... so adding to my turtles' collection is...
"TANNATOO" - Turtle No. 29

I never named my turtles before, so I guess I treated this batch of turtle differently.

The next sweetheart is...

"CASSEY" - Turtle No. 30

I was thinking, perhaps for my next turtle batch I would give them characters... probably a story... that is, if time permits.

The manly green turtle. His name is...

"HULK" - Turtle No. 31

Why HULK?

Well, when I showed it to my hubby the words 'Incredible Hulk' came out from him. What a name for my incredible turtle!!

From My Studio This Week (Part 1)

PEACOCK FEATHER CANE

Oh well, I did a feather cane for my peacock before but I used Skinner Blend roll cane method back then - it was simple and easy to make comparing to this one. Check it out at my blog dated 2007, June 19.

Again, this was my first attempt and the peacock feather cane turned out (almost) the way I wanted. I will be using it for my next Birds' Collection.

FACTS: I love canes but hate the cane-reducing process. Although I found good tutorials on reducing cane but it requires a lot of efforts, patients and practices to master it. Due to my LOVE for canes I had to keep challenging myself... for the sake of art. (lol)

BOUQUET

This lovely piece was created by chance. I was running several colors of clay through my pasta machine and boom -- my eyes was caught on the pretty color stripes. So after twisting and shaping here and there, I got a shape which I am finally happy with. Next, what to do with it? Staring at my containers of beads and pearls for quite a while, the idea of making a bouquet pop right up. So I sculpted the flowers and leaves, added a couple of neutral color freshwater pearls -- wahlah! A masterpiece!

PCAGOE AUG 2008 It's Show Time Challenge

.................................

IT'S SHOW TIME!

.................................

Guess which movie inspired me

with the following creation??

DRAGONHEART

(1996)

I made this today for PCAGOE August Challenge. When I found out what the theme was, I knew for sure it has to be the movie "Dragonheart" - the Best Dragon movie ever made!! And of course, partly because I like Sean Connery (though you won't see him in person in the movie) whom gave the dragon the perfect voice!

For this piece, I named him DRACO as in the movie. He is a focal pendant, hand-sculpted using Premo Polymer Clay. He has a pair of hematite eyes and embellished with genuine fresh water pearl and fancy Czech glass beads. The red Swarovski crystal bead (which makes the heart) forms an accent to the piece. I finished it with a layer of satin glaze. As usual for my drakon piece the stringing hole is hidden through the wings, horizontally. DRACO measures approx. 2-1/2” long from the tip of the wing to the end of the body and 2” Wide.

Drakon DRACO will be available for sale at my etsy shop... soon.

To vote for your favorite entry and maybe win a fabulous prize pack, visit pcagoe.com between August 1st to 3rd! Click on VIEWSLIDESHOW for easy viewing with entries descriptions.

My favorite quote from DRACO in the movie:

"I mainly chewed in self-defense. I didn't swallow."

First Custom Order - Dachshund BAILEY

Following the experimental K9, my first custom order Dachshund is finally done!! It turned out better than what I have visualized in mind (grinning..) and adding a collar with name tag perfected it.

Meet BAILEY!

What a lovely name for Dachshund!

I got an "F" !!!

In case you are wondering, I am not failing any exam. LOL.

Currently there is a collaborative alphabet project going on at PCAGOE and I was assigned with the letter "F". I can't wait to get my hands on it... so here is my masterpiece!

This is so exciting! I am looking forward to see how the final project turn out after assembling. It will be donated, where to?? To be advised. Stay tune! ;)

HEARTS

Love is in the air! Don't need to wait for Valentine's Day because to me everyday is Valentine's Day!

Today (should I say yesterday since it's past midnight now) I planned working with the Magic Transfer Paper samples which I have received couple days ago (thanks to ilysa). Somehow I just had something else in my mind. My wedding anniversary is on the 5th so following my heart I feel like making "HEART". Again this was my first attempt as I have long wanted to give it a try after seeing all the lovely creations by other polymer clay artists but usually I just don't have the right MOOD to do it.

So, today is THE day and here are my HEARTS!

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

VOTE NOW! PCAGOE "PERSONAL HEROES" July challenge

This is a monthly challenge at PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy) and the theme for this month is "PERSONAL HEROES". VOTE for your favorite entry and be entered in a drawing to WIN one of two July prize packs.

If you haven't heard about this, or yet to vote, you still have chance to do it!

It's easy, click the link below take a look and VOTE!

http://pcagoe.com/

Thanks for looking and Good Luck!

Dachshund

I've received a request to custom make a "Dachshund" couple of days back. As this is my first "DOGGIE" project, I had to experiment it to see if I am up for it before committing myself.

On left is a Dachshund image I found on the web for inspiration... and next to it is my fruit of labour. What do you think??

More views:

Remarks: This Dachshund is not bake yet.

Back in Business!!

After the long MIA (Missing In Action) ArtByLilin is now back in business. Where have I been this while?? Well, I got pregnant and had a baby. Many moms can still carry on with their normal routines during the pregnancy but for me, unfortunately is not the case.

Meet my Baby Lucas:

Since Baby Lucas is turning 6 months old and is getting more predictable (with his established routines... hopefully), I can spend some time on my other baby -- polymer clay! Yay!!

Lilin