Cottage North Soapworks...and a bathroom makover.

Oh wow, I wish I could copy-paste the fragrence of this stop from my weekend adventures!

Found on Main Street in Port Dover, Ontario, Cottage North Soapworks produces all their own soaps, and carries a selection of other locally handcrafted items, including my own Li'l Bouquet jewellery, and a specially commissioned Li'l Art framed sculpture to fit with the colour pallet of their collection.

I LOVED the way they displayed my work, with "Is It Just Me, Or Are They Dancing? II" center stage just behind the sales desk, accompanied by a Li'l Bouquet "petal pouf" hydrangea necklace on the ceramic bust.

And here's the rest of the Li'l Bouquet jewellery collection in store.

In fact, the whole store is styled beautifully!  Full of soft, watery shades that remind you of the cottage, beach (which is just down the road by the way), and summer!

All those beautiful soaps, I couldn't resist picking up one myself, though oh so hard to choose!  There were "beach glass" ones that I loved (you can kind of see them on the center table, front left in the above picture), but I opted for this soft green soap with bicycle relief (as a nod to the hubby's cycling obsession!).  And isn't this just the cutest bird bath soap dish?!!


Go to Port Dover and stop into Cottage North Soapworks, a must see...and smell!

Cottage North Soapworks
359 Main Street
Port Dover, ON
1-877-742-7475
www.cottagenorthsoapworks.com

P.S.  You may notice all the paint chips.  We've had to renovate our main bath (ceiling replacement), very difficult work that my husband has taken on all by himself (much appreciated)...the upside, I get to change up the decor!  As you see, I'm thinking teal for the walls, just not sure how light or dark to go. The floor tile is the same as the beige accent wall tile.  White subway tile, esspresso vanity, and a couple beautiful prints of my husband's photography.  On the one hand, I want to go light and spa-like, then on the other I want to go dark and rich!  Thoughts?

P.P.S.  So I decided to throw this one into the mix, "Pick Me II".  I may have to keep it for my new bathroom!  Hmmmm....does this mean I have to find a new home for "Itty Bitty Kitty"?...I'll keep you posted.



Subtle Details designed and handcrafted out of polymer clay by Karen Pasieka

Our Product now in Cottage North Soapworks, Port Dover, ON!

I sent this order out just before leaving for our family vacation at the end of last month, so I'm a little late getting to this blog post.  Normally I would've just posted a pic of everything & posted it to Instagram, but I was short on time to be fussing with a massive photo shoot, so I have an assortment of pictures to show off the lot!

"button blooms" polymer clay & sterling silver necklaces

"petal pouf (hydrangea)" polymer clay pendants with sterling silver chains

"button blooms" polymer clay & sterling silver earrings in post & teardrop styles

"ranunculus" polymer clay brooches

It should be noted that, in discussion with the customer, their desired colours sounded very similar to what I saw in this product picture from their website, and so I used it as my reference for their Li'l Bouquet custom jewellery order...

 

Nearly forgot!...

They also really wanted a Li'l Art piece that complimented their jewellery order, so I made them this piece...

"Is It Just Me, Or Are They Dancing? II"

...that uses the resultant canes from the Ranunculus brooches from their order.

I think it all ties in nicely together, don't you?

Cottage North Soapworks is in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada.

www.cottagenorthsoapworks.com

Colour Story - the best of Li'l Bouquet jewellery in ...Orange!

So I started off this past weekend having a little more styling fun with a photo shoot.

I have a lot of beautiful Li'l Bouquet jewellery pieces sitting here in my studio, and I simply have to share them with you!  So while I muse over potential ramblings for their Etsy listings, I'll present to you this orange colour-themed selection...

the creative process...

so I had an idea that I've been wanting to try out since I created this:

"waiting"

...notice the little pink flowers, ranunculus.

this modern looking flower was abundant at last year's The Wedding Co. Spring Show...and I simply fell in love with it!

So I wanted to take it further.  I thought, how about a brooch?

Ok, well, I'm sharing with you the process.

You see, it's one thing to make a miniature version, it's another to bring the design up to a larger scale.

So here are the results...

...hmmmm, no

...definitely not

...not quite, but better

...aha!  that's it!

from start to finish....

They're each about 1" in diameter.  I'll be adding brooch backs to them shortly, up for sale soon after that :-)  What comes next?  I'd like to try making them bigger.

Oh, and the added bonus?...

Oh yeah!

Simply in love with this piece, entitled

"is it just me, or are they dancing?"

Yes, that's right, those tiny little "radiant orchid" (this spring's it colour according to Pantone) coloured flowers, and the even tinier white flowers were made from the almost accidental canes that came out of my large-scale ranunculus brooches!

You can expect more Li'l Art pieces like this coming your way soon :D!

in good company with Dickens and Shakespeare

finally got a few shots of one of my favorite pieces, Li'l Bouquet "cascade" bib necklace...

(along with Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and Shakespeare's King Lear & Macbeth, my personal favorite!)

looking at the pictures now I'm thinking of a few tweaks I'd like to make to the styling...perhaps later :-)

birthday Li'l Bouquet

Whipped up this Li'l Bouquet necklace for my friend's daughter's 4th birthday.  Purple is her favorite I am told, but I simply couldn't decide on any particular colour so I used them all!  I think in future I'll just use 3 of my polymer clay "button blooms" flower beads per necklace, but thought this was quite fun!  The apple-green memory wire is 4-strands thick, adorned with an amethyst-coloured Swarovski crystal (the birthstone for February), and is 14" long with a 2.5" long extension chain.  This one will grow with her :D

Happy Birthday Rebecca!

Like this one?  Check out this Li'l Bouquet "princess" necklace I made a couple years ago...
http://www.subtledetails.blogspot.ca/2012/08/like-calming-sigh-of-relief.html

a little birdie told me... spring is here

Just two of the Li'l Art pieces you can buy from Subtle Details at the Beaches Arts & Crafts Show this weekend...

"a little birdie told me..."                     "...spring is here"


Beaches Arts & Crafts Show
Saturday June 8th & Sunday June 9th
10:00am - 6:00pm

www.beachesartsandcraftsshow.ca



we'll be there, rain or shine!

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

having fun with Etsy

I thought I'd take the opportunity given to me by my mom (who's babysitting Evan), and the weather (giving me a break in the clouds) to try out some new product photo shots I've been dreaming up for Etsy.

My posts to Etsy come in spurts, just like my blog (many apologies), which I hope to improve on with much more regular attention!


So I begin, again, today with showing you a couple of my favorite shots. I say "a couple" because there really are only two that I love. The others are simply OK, so I'm choosing to ignore them (though the items have been posted to my Etsy shoppe).

This first image was really a last-minute stroke of genius (as I give myself a pat on the back). Starting with the realization that I needed a neutral, soft white or cream background. I quickly searched for paper that suited (finding this beautiful cream with words of love embossed in shimmery highlights), and my eyes gazed over a recent garage sale find, this ceramic pillar candle holder. Simply love the results!

As for the second image, well, it was one of my first from this morning's exercise, but I think quite effective. Simple, highlighting the lavender shades from the hydrangea bauble bead of the earrings, and soft, with the faded background (somewhere in the far depths of my brain there lies a word to describe this photographic effect, but alas, high school photography class was a LONG time ago!).

I posted 6 new items to my Etsy shoppe today (I am very proud to say!), which can be found at www.subtledetails.etsy.com.

fantastic photos & a custom order

Always promoting my custom design services, I was thrilled last fall when a customer contacted me (after finding my booth at the Binder Twine festival in September) to have her friend's bridal bouquet made as a keepsake necklace.

Now, I've done this kind of custom work before, including a Nested flora design of my own bridal bouquet (the real one, which had about a centimeter of dust on it, got affectionately placed in our compost bin after the necklace was completed), but never have I seen such beautiful photos! No, this customer is not a professional photographer, she's just really handy with her camera!

See the results...

Elisabeth's Bouquet, in the Petals-on-Petals necklace design.

You can have your bridal bouquet made into a keepsake necklace too! Just send me your photos & we'll talk!

-Karen

karen@subtledetails.ca

New to blogging!

Hi! This whole blogging thing is new to me, I'm not quite sure how to start it off!
Where shall I begin? Introduce you to the ever changing, ever evolving Subtle Details traveling show? How about a little rant about my struggles with jewelry display? Or should I write about how flowers (a.k.a. Li'l Bouquet) aren't just for the spring & summer?
What do you think?
Be back soon...