New Design!

dare I say it?...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!
ha, ha!  just in time for Valentine's Day :D

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm simply thrilled with my latest design.
"Cascade" (below) is a look I have been flirting with for some time now, but not quite meeting the mark...until now.

 In fact, I've borrowed the name from a much earlier design, a once made & never repeated prototype (right).  In actuality it bears little resemblance to the original manifestation of the idea, but it encapsulates everything I wanted from the beginning in a far simpler way that better showcases the heart of my work, that is to say, the polymer clay flowers.
One down (and sold, much to my delight), another heading for the oven, and a third in production...you can expect to see plenty more of this one!

Like a calming sigh of relief...

another necklace was born!

It's been so long since I've taken the time (well, fought external forces to make the time) to make something, anything...and that it should be business related was all the more sweeter!
Well, not exactly business related, unless you count that it was a new design, so in that respect it was progressive for my repertoire and creative juices.

To explain a little why I've been away so long (seems as though I'm having to do this quite a bit...sorry!), I'm taking some time to look after my two little ones.  One which I believe I've told you about, my now 21 month old son Evan, and my second son Lucas, who just turned 7 weeks old yesterday.  Needless to say they keep me busy!  And while I do have loads of help from my husband and my mom, between trying to "catch up" on near sleepless nights and the daily grind of toy-clean-up and other such mundane things of life, there's been little to no time for work...so far.  I'm beginning to see the light at the end of that tunnel though, and just this past weekend felt a little of that light shining on me when I took just a few hours to flex my creative muscle.

My muse was a children's necklace for a friend's daughter's "princess" birthday gift.

A little about the design:  I thought to myself that I needed to create something really different from my usual designs, something far more whimsical and fun.  Taking my inspiration from a dollar store gift bag (yes, you read that right!), I set out to make a piece that was full of bright colours and bold flowers.  I quite literally pulled the colours out from the image of 6 or so Disney princesses imprinted on the bag, and bearing in mind that this was to be worn by a little 6 year old, I set out to make 3 different, small, single-flower polymer clay beads that would be durable for everyday wear.  The other thing I wanted to experiment with was larger scale single flowers (you may have noticed that I usually work with miniature clusters of flowers of varying kinds).  I thought this to be more appropriate for a little girl, in that I could give more attention to detail to each flower, increasing that "whimsy" factor!  Before I even began making the pc beads, I already had in mind how I would string them together to form the necklace.  I knew that I wanted to use some of the coloured memory wire I had on hand, making sure to add lots of princess crystals of course!

This design was all about colour, lots of it, and whimsy.  I loved the freedom of creating something that didn't have all the restraints of a mature, more subdued piece.

What I took from this experience?  Well, a few hours of baby-free time for one, and a resurgence of that long-forgotten, incredibly satisfying feeling I get when I create something beautiful and new.  I'm inspired and encouraged that routine will again fall into place, and I will be back to my old self...nestled into my little studio, happily playing with my clay.

Karen Pasieka
Subtle Details

the little Art Show that could

Just winding down from a busy weekend (and the resurgence of a cold that I thought had gone away).
I decided at the last minute to participate in a first-time Art Show & Sale at the Richmond Hill United church last Saturday, Nov. 5. Am I ever glad I did!!!
After much stress trying to juggle show preparation with home renovations (my husband's doing the renovations, but I'm doing the organizing), baby's 1st birthday parties (we had two for Evan), and Halloween, the show went off AMAZINGLY!
I was a little late getting my display ready (probably about 10-15 min. into the show), but in just 3hrs I was thrilled to sell 5 of my Li'l Art framed sculpture pieces, and several Li'l Bouquet sterling silver jewellery pieces! (below: "A Winter's Day", sold at the Art Show & Sale last Saturday)
Without a doubt my BEST SHOW EVER!
I sincerely hope that the organizers plan on a 2nd Annual, because I hope to be there for it.

Very happy to add that the fee for a table at this event was a percentage of sale, of which I was pleased to be able to leave a sizable sum by the end of the night. Proceeds went to the Stephen Lewis Foundation for African families affected by AIDS.

I didn't have my camera with me, but I'm hoping to receive some photos taken of my booth by the organizers, which I will then post to this article.


BTW, I've got my work cut out for me, since this weekend is the Heintzman House Auxiliary 40th Annual Artisan Craft Sale, of which I am participating again this year, and I NEED MORE PRODUCT, YIKES!!!

...but don't worry, my hands will be busy all week with my polymer clay!

whew! another busy weekend...

not this past weekend, but the one that preceded it. I had so much on the go two weekends ago that I needed a full week to recover, which is why this post is being made today and not last Monday.

Where to start? In a nutshell, Friday was packing, Saturday was Mom-to-Mom sale shopping, Evan's baptism and celebratory dinner, AND loading of the car, and finally, Sunday was The Original Wedding Soiree.

The Original Wedding Soiree, Subtle Detail's first bridal show since January of 2009.

You always meet the nicest of people at these events!

Among them are Jennifer Arp of Cakeaholic, Stephanie Casino of The Press Fine Stationery, and Shiri Shapiro of Focus Studios. I "tasted" many of Jennifer's mouth-watering mocha-hazelnut sample cupcakes through the day...that's probably what inspired me to make some of my own cupcakes yesterday, though nowhere near as good (no offence Betty Crocker).

Shiri was kind enough to photograph my booth.

She captured in a few seconds what I can never get in hours of snapshots with my little camera.

The photos in this post are hers

(with exception to one, my last).

I've added all three to my links page on my website:

www.subtledetails.ca

Someone who's been on my links page since it's inception, my own friend and cake designer Julie Tan-Ramos of Yummy In the Tummy Cakes. Julie kindly lent me one of her displays for my Li'l Newlyweds cake toppers. I just love the delicate pearlized white flowers and leafy scroll on this canary yellow 4-tier cake! I've been wanting the opportunity to display my toppers on a real cake for some time (please, if you're one of my customers and you're reading this, SEND ME YOUR PICTURES, I'd love to see them!), and this did not

disappoint. My "Simply Beautiful" sample Li'l Newlyweds settled in nicely amongst the fondant flora, and the yellow complimented the purple roses perfectly.

There's so much more that I could mention, like a chance encounter, show prep. and show setup agrivation, but this post feels like it's getting a bit long in the tooth (where did that phrase come from anyways? *shrug*)...another post, another day...

An eventful weekend to be sure.

The vendors mentioned in this post can be found at the following:

www.cakeaholic.ca

www.the-presse.com

www.focusstudios.ca

www.yummyinthetummycakes.com