crafty – The Garden Smallholder

I started using polymer clay for the first time recently, I wanted to try my hand at making beads. Being naturally drawn to woodland and nature themes I made these beads and pendants. I have to say that I know some amazing polymer clay and ceramic clay artists and their work knocks spots off of my little creations, but I really enjoyed seeing what I could create and I had fun doing so.

Each piece you see was formed by hand, if I make more than one of the same they’re all a little different. After baking hard there’s sanding to be done to make each piece smooth, then I applied artist paint to bring the pieces to life. I guess my style is a little rustic, I’m generally not one for perfection but neither is mother nature.

The rain is back. I thought the roof of our house was going to cave in on us last night, from the sheer volume and speed of which the rain came down. I really miss my veg garden and allotment, I haven’t been able to get much done out there, or at my plot. There’s not much point trying to either, part of my veg garden has flooded with water sloshing up to the sides of some of the raised beds. Thankfully, these beds are empty of crops or seeds. Once it finally stops raining it will take a while for the soil to dry out enough for anything to go in these beds. I’m so glad I didn’t plant the potatoes there.

Once I’ve done my rounds of watering seedlings in the greenhouse, potting a few on and sowing a few seeds here and there, it leaves little for my itchy fingers to be getting on with, creatively speaking. You may be wondering why I have photos of jewellery on my blog, perhaps you thought you’d come to the wrong blog for a moment? Well, let me explain. Every now and then I get the urge or time to make something, be creative or just mellow in the art of being crafty. Making things by hand is a wonderful hobby. Yes, I actually do something other than gardening and collecting chicken eggs from coops (although there hasn’t been much of either happening lately).

Weather like this is perfect for staying indoors, warm and dry with beads, jewellery making tools and lots of ideas floating around in my mind.