Anachronism. Misplaced in Time.

I'm so excited about my new collection. I know that few people read my blog, and I'm not very good at keeping it updated. However, I wanted to talk more about this project of mine.

I have been sculpting for some time now, I still make the cute and kawaii stuff I usually do, but I always wanted to sculpt figurines so I'm going towards that now. I know the things I make are a little rough but I hope I will get better;  they do seem better than the ones I used to do and even throughout this collection you can see that my style improves. I will add another piece every day, as it is ready because I want to take time on each.

I don't know what to say about this particular collection other than the fact that it has been quite a journey for me. I feel now that I have a sense of direction in my shy pursuit for art.

I used a lot of metallic colors and a lot of geometric shapes. I wanted it to be a bit gritty and a bit romantic; I also wanted a bit of sadness and tragedy to transcend from my pieces.

I don't know where I'm heading yet, but this is an interesting journey I am about to explore even more.

Busy, busy

Like usual, whenever I make plans to post more on my blog I become suddenly extremely busy. I've had and still have a lot of projects at work and I'm also going to be in a craft fair in Brasov so I've prepared for the last week. I also did a few personalized items, one for somebody who wanted Elsa from Frozen and another for someone who wanted dog earrings. I also got inspired to make more kawaii charms that I hope I will show off next week when I have time to take pictures.

Ca de obicei, atunci cand imi propun sa postez mai mult pe blog devin subit extrem de ocupata. Am avut si am extrem de multe proiecte la munca si voi participa si la un targ handmade in brasov asa ca incerc sa ma pregatesc. Am facut cateva produse personalizate printre care si un pandantiv cu printesa Elsa din Frozen si niste perechi de cercei cu catelusi. De asemenea am fost inspirata in ultimul timp sa fac niste charm-uri kawaii asa ca sper sa le postez saptamana viitoare cand am timp sa fac poze.

Little Friends

Painted complications

Rain, water, oceans and seas.../ Ploaie, apa, oceane si mari...

...all have inspired me to create this pendant. I used a marbled type of polymer clay and I really loved the effect I got in the end. I wanted something blue and pretty simple and I hope I obtained that with this pendant.

...toate m-au inspirat sa fac acest pandantiv. Am folosit un lut polimeric marmorat si mi-a placut foarte mult effectul de la final. Voiam ceva albastru si destul de simplu asa ca sper ca am obtinut asta.

Abstract Geometric

I've been feeling more abstract lately so I made a lot of simple abstract patterns. So this is the first series of pendants:


M-am simtit mai..abstracta in ultima vreme asa ca am facut modele mai abstracte dar simple. Prima serie de pandantive:

Summer, water, fog, rain and sea / Vara, apa, ceata, ploaie si mare

I was inspired by water in all its forms lately so I made a pendant and a pin that would remind me of that

Am fost inspirata de apa in toate formele ei in ultimul timp asa ca am facut un pndantiv si o brosa care sa-mi aminteasca de asta. 

Sea and seaweed/ Mare si Iarba de Mare

My latest pendants have been inspired by the sea and seaweed. Each of them is made of polymer clay and has a small Swarovski crystal in the middle. 

Ultimele mele pandantive au fost inspirate de mare si iarba de mare. Fiecare dintre acestea este facut din lut polimeric si are in mijloc un cristal Swarovski.

Armenian Inspired Collection - Heart of Armenia/ Colectie inspirata Part 1

I've been working a lot for this collection, gathering all sort of resources, reading about history, mythology and religion in Armenia. It took me about 2 month of research and trying all kinds of colors and designs, I wanted to make sure that I included most of the patterns, the right colors and all the characters. This is the first of the countries I am planning to be inspired by. Some pieces are painted while others are made out of polymer clay using different techniques.

I tried to get inspired by the traditional clothing as well as the bridal traditional dresses, but also by some of the patterns that I noticed were most used in their art. This is definitely my take on Armenia and in no way I tried to create something that was exactly the same, I just wanted to make sure that I incorporated some of the elements in my jewelry with a modern touch. All jewelries and figurines that will be shown are unique and cannot be remade. I also hold copyright for all the designs shown in this collection and of course all pieces that are signed Abigail Smycken.

Am lucrat mult la colectia aceasta, am strans tot felul de resurse, am citit despre istoria, mitologia si religia Armeniei. Mi-a luat cam 2 luni de studiu si de incercat tot felul de culori si design-uri; voiam sa fiu sigura ca includ majoritatea modelelor, culorile potrivite si toate caracterele. Asta este prima dintre tarile pe care am de gand sa le folosesc ca inspiratie. Unele piese sunt pictate in timp ce altele sunt facute din lut polimeric folosindu-se diferite tehnici.

Am incercat sa ma inspir din hainele traditionale si din rochiile de mireasa traditionale, dar am folosit si multe elemente din arta Armeniana. Asta este cu siguranta o versiune personala asupra Armeniei si nu am incercat in niciun fel sa creez ceva care sa fie exact ca anume lucruri cu specific armenian. Am vrut sa fiu sigura ca incorporez unele dintre elemente in bijuteriile mele cu detalii si aspecte moderne. Toate bijuteriile sunt unice si nu pot fi refacute. De asemenea, detin drept de autor pentru bijuteriile postate in aceasta colectie si evident toate piesele semnate Abigail Smycken. 

We'll start with earrings/ Vom incepe cu cerceii:

Sisian Earrings - named after the beautiful Armenian city/ Cercei Sisian (numele frumosului oras Armenian)
- made with steel, polymer clay and silicone/ inox, lut polimeric si silicon:

Armavir Earrings - named after Armavir province/ Cercei Armavir - (provincia Armavir)
- made with polymer clay and antiqued brass/ lut polimeric si alama antichizata


Face 1/ Fata 1:

Face 2/ Fata 2:

 Ararat Earrings (Ararat Mountain) - Cercei Ararat (Muntele Ararat):

-steel, polymer clay and silicone/ inox, lut polimeric si silicon

 Masis Earrings - named after Masis Town/ Cercei Masis - (orasul Masis):

- made with steel, polymer clay and silicone/  inox, lut polimeric si silicon

Simple Girl Brooch

This is one of my favorites and I'm planning on doing it with more colors. I love its simplicity.

Raspberry Pie Tutorial

We take a piece of polymer clay that looks like batter and roll it through a medium size on the pasta machine. 

 This is what we are going to use to fill the "pie".

We use a toothpick and use it to create some realistic edges for our pie. 

We also want to make it more realistic on the outside.

We add some polymer clay small pieces. 

The edges are too smooth so we want to use a toothpick to make small holes in them(sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step)

We use an extruder to make some "cream" for our pie.

The end. 

Old Favorites Part 2

I wanted to make something that would feature stars so I made this:

 Here is a Christmas decorative piece made out of polymer clay for a Christmas contest a few years ago:

 I really loved this piece, I already talked about how the edges broke because I didn't make it sturdy enough.

 I really liked this piece, it remembered me of a girl that was sleeping on a bed of flowers:

 I wore this for a very long time, it was one of my first pendants:

 This was a brooch I really loved making, I wanted to make it look a bit more vintage:

My inspiration and some old favorites

I get inspired a lot from anime or fairy tales. Since I was little I loved reading fairy tales and I had a big collection of books. I'm planning on doing collections inspired from various fairy tales around the world, a lot of unknown fairy tales, not just Snow White, Cinderella or stuff like that. Some of the old polymer clay jewelry were a bunch of girls that were living in this fairy tale world. However, I sold some of them so I only have some old photos. Here are some photos: 

 This was one of my favorite, it was a girl who had a lot of things stuck to her hair. Unfortunately, the whole embroidery thing I was trying to do on the edge was not a really good idea because it didn't last and broke while I was wearing it.

So if you plan on doing something similar, you should fix it really well with some translucent clay. I even advise you to put translucent clay in those gaps and it will look the same.

                                           For other old projects you can check out this page. 

Some old favorites of mine...and their stories Part 1

I remember doing this, I wanted something that reminded me of the sea but with a darker attitude. I loved this pendants because it was simple and only came with a rubber cord. 

When I created this brooch I wanted something that was inspired from Ancient Greece. 

 After creating pendants and brooches, I figured that perhaps people would want to see some earrings, so these were my first earrings featuring little girls.

You can see other old projects of mine on this page.