I am so happy to be once again a Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Finalist. This time it was for the Metal Competition. The requirements for this competition were to create a design using: metal clay, metal beads, wire, chain, jumprings or findings. Needless to say that I wanted to make something really special for this competition. Then I remembered that I always had in mind to create a necklace with flowers made of recycled aluminium cans. I always keep the soda or the beer cans (I also use them as support for polymer clay bracelets when I bake them) so I had plenty of aluminium cans to cut and shape into petals and to assemble into flowers. The margins of the petals were a little bit sharp so I though it would be a good idea to coat them with polymer clay. I tried also to color the petals with alcohol inks (and the result wasn’t bad), but I preferred the silver look of the raw aluminium. It wasn’t really hard to cut and shape the petals, but I had to be very careful not to cut my fingers:) I have also used jumprings, findings, memory wire to make sure I meet the contest’s requirements.
To add a little bit of glamour to the necklace, I placed a beaded rivoli flower to act as a focal on this slightly off-set necklace. Even tough it is a made mostly of recycled aluminium it does not have a cheap look (in my opinion) and I must say that I love the combination of recycled aluminium cans and polymer clay and I will surely use it in other designs.
Have a wonderful day! Mihaela
Learn Polymer Clay 
I Love ……. very, very nice
https://blackcoral4you.wordpress.com/
Thank you very much! I loved your wonderful coral jewelry! I only knew the red coral, but I must say that I like the black coral very much. Best wishes! Mihaela
Thanks Mihaela I will visit more time your site, you have interesting stuff, the black coral is more difficult to find. Have a very very veryyy nice weekend. 🙂
Thank you very much for visiting and re-visiting my blog! Have a wonderful day! Mihaela
My pleasure Mihaela 🙂
Congratulations on your recognition for this wonderful piece. I love it! the asymmetrical format was perfect to show off the variety of shapes you created, and the embellishments you added really gave the piece a nice POP of color! Well done.
Thank you so much, Lynda, for your kind words and for taking the time and sharing your impressions with me. It means very much for me to have sincere feedback for my work. I wish you all the best! Mihaela
Beautiful necklace, beautiful title… Loved it! 🙂
Thank you so much! I hesitated a little bit about the title (in Romanian, my mother language, the word eternal is a lot connected with funerals and sadness – eternal regrets, eternal glory), while I just wanted to convey the idea that these flowers are unbreakable and that they can last forever. I know that polymer clay is a very durable material (and I love making lasting flowers from this material), but it is sure that aluminium is even more resisting in time. Best wishes! Mihaela
Congratulations Mihaela. It is very beautiful ! And what a work ! I imagine how much time it had take to do it !
You have great taste and talent and a lot of patience.
But a proverb says : When one loves, one does not count!
One more time congratulations Mihaela ! Best wishes to you. Lise.
Dear Lise, thank you so much for appreciating my work! Your wonderful words went straight to my heart. Thank you for encouraging me too. Me, I admire your paintings, your imagination, your way of expressing the beautiful feeling of creation. Amitiés! Mihaela
Thank you, Lise, for this wonderful message! Thank you for congratulating me! It is true that I love what I do and that I am grateful for having found my purpose. My best wishes to you too! Mihaela
congratulations 😀 ❤
Thank you very much, my wonderful traveling companion! I especially loved your post on Nice, France. Have a wonderful day! Mihaela
🙂 Thank you
Asimetria florala din dreapta sus, umple de continut intreaga compozitie. E ca dopul unei sticle de sampanie, care promite o efervescenta a metalului incremenit. Iti tin pumnii stransi!
Multumesc din suflet pentru cuvintele frumoase! Mi-am dorit foarte mult sa creez ceva intr-adevar deosebit: pornind de la ideea de a folosi aluminiul de la cutiile de bere, pana la forma asimetrica. Eu nu lucrez foarte mult cu metale (mai degraba cu margele de sticla si cu Fimo), insa a fost o experienta interesanta si, din fericire, rezultatul n-a fost tocmai rau. Toate cele bune! Mihaela
Absolutely gorgeous! I wouldn’t even begin to know how to make anything close to this.
Dear Lori, it surely looks more complicated than it really is. In fact it is very easy to cut out forms from aluminium cans (I have drawn the flower shape and cut it out using scissors). Thank you for the blog hop and for helping artists get together and admire each other’s work! You are a very talented artist and a wonderful person!
These are beautiful! Best of luck 🙂
Thank you very much! I wanted to tell you that I loved your post about the scrap iron art. https://kasturika.wordpress.com/2015/04/14/art-from-scrap/ Best wishes! Mihaela
🙂 thank you! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
Congratulations on being named a finalist.
Thank you very much! For me, this means a lot, because this is a sign that I am on the right track, that I am improving my skills and most of all, it is a confirmation that when I decided to follow my passion and started something new from scratch, I did the best choice I could make for myself. Best wishes! Mihaela
Congratulations! This is a beautiful piece very creative statement necklace. I love the idea of using the metal cans for the flowers. I made cans flowers in the past but I never used them in my jewelry! Beautiful!
Thank you, Carolina! The aluminium from the cans can be cut, embossed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9xlYXc6u7g), colored with alcohol inks and used to make jewelry pieces as well (you have to take care of the margins, they could be very sharp – maybe rolling them inside with pliers ). Recycling is a wonderful thing and I don’t think that the finished pieces have a cheap look. If you already know how to make aluminium can flowers, you might want to use them in your beautiful jewelry pieces! Best wishes! Mihaela
Thank you for sharing this! Yes recycling is a great way to use certain materials and creativity! Your necklace look beautiful and not cheap looking at all you created an amazing piece! I will try it out and make something…
Congratulations! Your work is stunning, very creative and unusual!
Thank you so much, Cathy! I adore both your wonderful colorful paintings and your art jewelry! Best wishes! Mihaela
Oh my goodness, this is incredibly beautiful! I love the statement it makes and it really doesn’t look like it’s made from recycled materials at all. It’s amazing! Congratulations on being a finalist! 🙂
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Nadine! I was very happy to be a finalist and I am proud of it! This is one of my favorite necklaces! Best wishes! Mihaela
You are extremely talented. Do you have an Etsy Shop?
Thank you so much for your wonderful words. For the moment, I don’t have an Etsy shop, but I hope that, in the near future, I will be able to sell tutorials to inspire even more people to create, to make a piece of jewelry for themselves or to give it as a gift to someone special. I will keep your positive affirmations in mind to continue working towards the realization of my dream. http://cathylynnbrooks.com/2015/10/31/a-dose/ Have a wonderful day! Mihaela
It’s very reasonable to start up an Etsy Shop. You could easily sell your beautiful creations.
I hope to be doing that soon! Have a wonderful day! Mihaela