ONE TUTORIAL A DAY FOR 31 DAYS – DAY 31 OF MY JOURNEY – INSPIRED BY A FLOWER WREATH

FREE TUTORIAL – Inspired by a Flower Wreath by Mihaela Georgescu

Hi.

This is my 31st tutorial and I wanted this blog post to be a celebration. This explains the flower wreath inspired necklace. 

First, let me tell you about my journey: one month turned into two months (I am sorry for that), partly because I understood that there were days when I would be less inspired or in which the project would not turn out the way I would wanted it to be. Yes, this happened also. The most important lesson is that the more you look for inspiration, the more you will find it everywhere around you. I truly think that. 

There are two more things that I need to work on: better time management skills and self-sabotage (as a translator I was not used to being complimented for my work –  people would thank me for having their translations in time – so, when I started to receive compliments for my work as a jewelry artist, I did not know how to handle the situation. I was so happy that people would appreciate my work, but in the same time I felt that nothing I did afterwards was good enough. This is something I have to learn to control: to be less hard on myself and to trust more the process. ) There are some days when I think I should go back to translating (because this is my comfort zone, this is something I know how to do, I did this 10 years of my life), but this is just an excuse not to assume what I really want to do, what really makes me happy and what I consider to be my purpose in life. 

I am grateful for having been able to make these tutorials, for all the wonderful comments I received from the people I met during this journey and for all the amazing paintings, drawings, sketches, jewelry pieces, poems, photos, inspirational readings that I have discovered while looking around at my blogger friends.  

I also want to add that I have chosen these colors to match the monthly inspiration of ArtBeadScene. Even though it is too late for the monthly recap, I will still add my necklace to the ArtBeadScene Pinterest Group Board.

                                                             Feuilles, 1928 by Seraphine Louis

Before starting my photo tutorial I want to thank all the wonderful people that encouraged me all the way. Thus I want to thank Irene from http://irenedesign2011.com/ for sharing her thoughts with me. I want to thank http://sketchuniverse.wordpress.com for always having a kind word for me. And also Lise for her wonderful comments: http://agneslise.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/primheures/ (her blog is in French, but the beauty of her paintings need no words). My list of blog friends (that encouraged me) is longer, so sadly I will not be able to mention every person that touched my heart by sharing her/his impressions with me. 

I also want to thank two amazing bloggers that nominated me for an award (I decided to keep the best for this last tutorial from the 31 series). 

Thank you, thegreyeye.wordpress.com, for the nomination to the Creative Blogger Award. I know that not everybody is happy with getting awards, yet I consider awards to be a way to know each other better so I am proud for this nomination. The most difficult part is to select from my blogger friends (and there are so many creative and wonderful people here) the ones that would like such a nomination.

These are the rules: 1. Nominate 15-20 blogs and notify the nominees. 2. Post the link of the blog that nominated you. 3. Share five random facts about yourself.

1. http://admirablylegal.com/ Thank you, Mira for your wonderful blog post! I am grateful for everything!   http://admirablylegal.com/about/

2. http://rebeccayoungnicholson.wordpress.com Meet Rebecca and her amazing pastels. http://rebeccayoungnicholson.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/rambler/ 

3. http://passiondew.wordpress.com I love flowers and pictures of flowers. And Magnolia http://passiondew.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/the-soul-of-magnolia/ 

4. http://yourartisticjourney.com/ I would like to introduce Magny to you. She is a wonderful artist and we share the same love for bright and vivid colors. I just loved her watercolor tutorial: http://yourartisticjourney.com/2015/06/08/how-to-paint-a-parakeets/

5. http://whatareyouworkingonthisweek.com/ As I love polymer clay, I must introduce you to this amazing polymer clay artist. She has made these 26 bowls and I can tell you it’s difficult to pick just one. I love them all. http://whatareyouworkingonthisweek.com/2015/06/27/the-bowls-are-finished/

6. http://mylandrestorationproject.wordpress.com/ Debra’s photography blog. Needles to say that I love to look at pictures (especially those of flowers, but not only). I also love her motto:  

Walk in beauty outside and you walk in beauty inside

7. http://kindnessblog.com/ Read these stories and you will feel different. Touched by kindness. 

8. http://susannesemchuk.com/ I love paintings and I am sure that you will love Susanne’s work as well. She also shares her creative process with us. http://susannesemchuk.com/process-made-visible/

9. http://artandwordsjanetteleeds.com/ Meet Janette! She puts words and drawings together into a wonderful combination! http://artandwordsjanetteleeds.com/2015/03/21/a-drawing-on-my-ipad-a-haiku-and-haiga/

10. https://sandsaltmoon.wordpress.com Beautiful watercolors and work in progress. And a amazingly beautiful butterfly: http://sandsaltmoon.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/for-a-friend/

11. http://janellmithani.com/ Janell is a wonderful jewelry designer and a painter. Needles to say that I love her jewelry pieces, but I also love her fairy paintings http://janellmithani.com/paintings-2/fae/#jp-carousel-2366

12. http://tropicalfloweringzone.wordpress.com Beautiful tropical flowers. http://tropicalfloweringzone.wordpress.com/2015/06/22/nerium-oleander-splendens-splendens-double-pink-oleander/

13.  http://countrywomanpaints.com/ Amazing art. I just love her vision and her motto: ” I paint because I am. I paint because I must paint.” http://countrywomanpaints.com/crazy-art/

14. http://alexandrahappycolours.wordpress.com Wonderful pieces of jewelry! I cannot help but look at jewelry of all kind, from any material and that makes me happy! http://alexandrahappycolours.wordpress.com/2015/05/04/purple-mandala-neclace/

15. http://999rosesinmylife.wordpress.com A quest for beauty http://999rosesinmylife.wordpress.com/2015/06/12/0112-co-dau-mot-minh-single-bride-999-roses-in-my-life/

Thank you, thegreyeye.wordpress.com, for the Creative Blogger Award

Random things about me:

1. I hope to travel all around the world some day.

2. I love cruise ships.

3. I discovered meditation and personal development books recently  and I love reading on these subjects. 

4. I am a big fan of Marc Levy (a French writer). 

5. I love dancing. 

Now, I want to thank Carolina from http://yesterdayafter.com/ for this award nomination:

1. Pass the tour on up to four other bloggers.
2. Give your nominees the rules and a specific Monday to post.
3. Answer four questions about your creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires you to do what you do.
   • How does my work differ from others in my genre?
   • How does my writing/creative process work?
   • Why do I write or create what I do?
   • What I’m working on at the moment?

1. I would nominate for this award http://jotsfromasmallapt.wordpress.com/ because I love her art work very much!

• How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I hope that my endless quest for creative ideas and inspiration and my willingness to take risks make my artistic statement different from other art jewelry designers.

• How does my writing/creative process work?

Well, this is a difficult question. I just can say that the more I trust the process, the better the results. 

• Why do I write or create what I do?

Primarily because this makes me happy. And also because I want to inspire other people to follow their creativity, their dreams…

• What I’m working on at the moment?

I am working on a piece of jewelry for Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Creative Clays Contest. 

And now the tutorial:

I have made several flowers (using orange polymer clay, yellow polymer clay and pastels to color them). I have played a little bit with the shape of the petals and with the central part of the flower. I have used leaf cutters to cut the leaves and colored them with pastels and alcohol ink (so I skipped the varnishing part for the leaves, no need for varnish).

Materials and tools used: orange polymer clay (which is in fact the result of mixing red and yellow polymer clay), yellow polymer clay, green polymer clay, pastels, a craft knife, the pasta machine, tull fabric, and varnish.

I have mixed red and yellow polymer clay.

I have made a  2 cm ball and them flattened it (using a bead container cover).

I used  tull fabric to imprint a pattern on the back of the bead. I added 4 screw pins. 

Then I started to work on the petals. 

I cut some round forms (with a round cutter).

I cut it in half.

Shape the resulting part into a petal (with sharper ends for the orange flowers and with elongated round end for the yellow flower). 

 

I am drawing a line (with the back of the craft knife) in the middle of the petal (for the orange flower). 

I put the petals all around the base. 

I repeated the process to make the center bead (I rolled a ball, flattened it, pressed it with the tull fabric) and colored it with brown pastels.

And then applied the center using Liquid Fimo and pressing gently. 

For the yellow flowers, I have made the same base (from orange polymer clay).

For the yellow flower I wanted a slimmer petal, so I cut the round for in three parts.  

I drew lines (with the back of the craft knife) from side to side.

I arranged the petals all around the base. 

For the center I have played with several ideas:

I made a large round ball, cut it in half, put it in tull and colored it with pastels (like silk-screen or like I was using a stencil).

or I used the back of a perfume dispenser to imprint an interesting pattern (that I pressed on the center bead textured with the tull fabric and colored with brown pastels). 

And pressing an old brooch (for the red flower center). 

I colored the petals with pastels.

I  put them in the oven to bake them according to the manufacturer’s specifications and varnished them (after cooling down).

Thank you for accompanying me in the journey! I think my quest for inspiration will never end and I will try to share with you new inspired ideas (hopefully once a week). 

Have a wonderful day!

Mihaela 

Free Tutorial – Inspired by a Flower Wreath by Mihaela Georgescu