Photo of the Day: Best Pictures of December 2011, Gallery - National Geographic

Photo of the Day: Best Pictures of December 2011, Gallery - National Geographic

I just had to share this with you! 

(And how cool that national geographic includes in the galleries blogger buttons for sharing!)

What a beauty! And what a unbelieveable image...!

Lines and shadows

Some days are just not worth it. Not a moment of it... or so it seems at the first glance.

I am still happy to go into my bathtub now with some great bathing stuff smelling of wild roses and with a little bit of girly sparkles. I bought one but being at home it was not enough so I made some stuff by myself. It's a lot easier than most people think if you have the right ingredients at home. Some of them will be not really cheap but they'll last forever! And after the bath: Just go to bed! Cuddling with my cats, reading a little bit and then just falling asleep... and forget about the day.

On the good side there are the people who will be at your side at a day like this. Giving you some reassurance, helping out of the black hole, drink some champagne with you...

...or tell everyone that their earrings were made by me! ^^

But still... such days drains out every little bit of energy which I have.. and for which I had to fight for over the last days, weeks, months... just emotions but harder than any exercise... so the mind is sleepy but the body is wide awake. In some old evolutionary ways waiting for the attack to come which made the body so nervous.

In this "in between time" I crave to create things. A quote of me is that crafting or better creating keeps me sane. A lot of people smile or laughs when I say this and most of them never realize that I don't mean this in some figurative sense but just the way I said it.

It is like breathing very deep and hard, like getting this nervous energy of the body and the drained moments of the brain in a line. Both together are able to create and not only craft. Although the line between stuff and art is a very thin line and at least in my simple opinion also a very subjective line in a lot of aspects, if I am in a state like this I cross this line at least for myself.

I don't think about what I am making. It is more like looking at something which is already there and creates itself. Sounds strange? Try to image how it is to see and feel the creature which comes out of the broken and rough rubber-like material while you are carving.

They are just shadows, some lines, they are rough and cut within the quadrate... but they have life. They look at me, straight, quiet, watching, and in their own way they are a essential part of me.

I am not sure whether I like them. But I do love them.

Whispers in my ear

You can never have enough octopi.... or tentacles! This beauty is from Karen @graphics fairy (secretly I belive this one was just for me ^^). 

What else to do than to print it, cut it, glue it and put a thick layer of 3D laquer on top?! 

And what else to make out of it than earrings?!

You see how the octopus helps to get all his tentacles on the paper circle? ^^

If you are quiet you may hear what he whispers in my ear :)

Years ago... my old silver stuff...

For a short explanation: my uncle (the brother from my father's side) is a silver smith and his wife a gold smith. During the 9th class (school) I had to do a work experience for three weeks. My aunt had a shop and studio with another artist in a little and also one of the oldest quarter in bremen (it is called "Schnoor" ). 

I learned how to work with metal... cut, sand, solder... It made a lot of fun! This little lizard is my final piece I made during my time in her studio. My design, my work... I was soooo proud (and I still love it!). It is a hollow body made out of silver.

Oh... is this long ago... I mean, huh, I was fifteen! 

This were my first practises... (yea, I still have them all ^^) 

Only a little silver UFO pin is missing... *sniff*

This was a present for my 16th birthday. It was from my aunt and my grandma (from my german family part / father's side) together. My aunt made it after my design and my grandma got the stone... a gorgeous and big precious opal... (no, I don't want to now how much it cost)

You see, my love for cephalopodaes and tentacles is an old one ;)

I tried to catch the beautiful play of lights... but in reality it is more stunning and intense colours :)

Tentacles and jelly fishs - salt and pepper shaker

Not the first ones, definitly not the last ones!

What can I say? I love them!

I made them some time ago as a present but only can show it now after giving them to the intended person :)

 

And of course these paints I use for ceramics (and glas) are on an acrylic paint base. Therefore I can create structures with them: Suckers on the tentacles! Can you see it? ^^

Mail art - Tentacle cards and fish envelopes

The fish on the envelope is from graphics fairy (No surprise ^^). I made the envelopes like the last ones (just have a look here and / or here). The air bubbles are painted with acrylic paint and the outlines of the fish is overpainted with a black pen. This brings the fish and it's shape really out! Gives the fish more contrast :) (I also used a little bit more black at the scales)

The background paper was the one I made accidently by painting on fabric (have a look). I ripped small parts out of the paper and painted black tentacles with acrylic paint over it.

Look at the details! Although it is black on black there are a lot of little suckers painted through the structure of the used paint :) I love the effect you can get with acrylic paint.

Birthday impressions

Okay, I miss my mark by not doing very much creative stuff the last few days. But...! It was my birthday on monday, therefor you will get some birthday impressions ^^

With tentacles and eye balls!

Octopus fabric

I got mail! From spoonflower across the ocean ^^ They had a free swatch day and I wanted to test how good my octopus would be on their fabric and how it looks printed :)

Isn't is cute? Need more of it! Fabric with lots of tentacles...!

Glowing small octopus bag

Yesterday I was drinking coffee and chating with friends. During this time I kept my hands ocupied by sewing this little bag. It is really small, just big enough for my mobile, keys, ID card and some money. Perfect to go out dancing and it is so small it won't disturb too much!

Although it is so small it consist of four layers fabric on every side. Between two layers of black cotton is a quilt stuffing fabric and the inside bag is made out of violet silk. The strings are made out of braided jersey strands. The same I used for my jersey scarf "Lisboa II" and some of my warmers. Can't have enough of them! ^^ I even braid them into my own hair if I go out dancing.

And a keyholder! Absolutley neccessary! Belive me! Never ever again without on in my bags. :)

I wanted to have an octopus on it. White for the contrast in daylight as well as to stand out if there is an UV lamp at the dancing floor and also overlayed (you can see the greenish in the colour) with an night glowing colour. So after getting a little bit of light it will glow by it's own.

It's just so cool!

Need more of small glowing bags like this!

I think there are a lot of possibilities in this glowing colour. I will try out how good the colour will survive the washer (and at which temperatures) so maybe I could make some cloths with paintings like this. :)