Logo Challenge

    This time my monthly challenge post won't be about polymer clay. You know already - it will be about our logo! It truly was a challenging task to complete.

     Logo may seem and easy thing to do but it's not. It doesn't mean it can't be created quickly by professional but since we thought we would like to have our own input it took a lot of time and effort. It must have be over a year ago when we first tried to come up with logo for Valg Studio. So many ideas and attempts starting from round shapes, including birds and flowers but it just didn't feel right. Maybe we didn't have clear vision, maybe we just weren't ready, maybe we felt we are alright for a while without it, but I kept dreaming about a great logo one day we would have.

Very helpful task to describe your  logo vision. 

     Towards the end of the summer I knew that we will need to work on packaging and logo was the missing element. I started to visualise different ideas and I was very confident that the logo will include bird with crown I created almost two years ago in Printmaking Course in Carlow. But every time I touched the pencil my bird changed until it disappeared completely!

     Great ideas and advise I took home from PR & Branding workshop organised by Craft Council of Ireland, Kilkenny and Carlow CEBs for craft and design enterprises at the beginning of October. During the workshop we had to describe our own product in one word and list them. You can see in the picture what was on my mind and I hope we have managed to 'translate' these emotions in our brand new Valg Studio logo.

     Some logos have great hidden meaningful symbols. In our case Valg has itself become a pink-purple symbol, can you see it?!

Here is how it all started with pencil and little template.

     Branding is about continuity and united style  - colours, fonts, design, proportions and  so much more. We still have a lot to do to achieve great concept but it feels like a good start and I would like to thank a lot everyone who helped with opinion and pointed in right direction.

 

     It would be really great to hear you thoughts about our logo, feel free to comment or add any tips or ideas you may have.

 

     I also would like to share with you couple links I found useful during the designing process:
 

10 Tips for Designing Logos.
Branding, Paskaging & Opinion
The Whitney Museum's Logo Video

 

Thank you for stopping by, take care and talk again soon,
Liga

My Knitting Challange

     Rainy and grey sky on the last day of September suits very well to share with you my monthly challenge pieces and this rich autumn colour cake photo. Days are getting shorter and we lit our fire place almost every day, wrap up warm and start to think what this winter will be like here in Ireland?! Knitwear will have its season and it will be interesting to see where my faux knitted accessories will find their homes and lovely owners. 

Chocolate cherry cake and asters.




Dark Chocolate Brown Threads & Pin Brooch. 

     It was my second time to knit with polymer clay "yarn" and I still feel it will take time to master my knitting but I really enjoy the process and rich texture. I had sketched few ideas I wanted to achieve but some designs came as I was working away. I think it is good to leave the space for impulse and exploring. One of unexpected designs were the earrings below. I like to call them Acorn Earrings because their shape remind me the wonderful nuts of the oaks and suddenly earrings have a story. I have been often told that it is important to have the story behind the design and it's true.

     If you would ask me what was the hardest part of this challenge I would say two things. First, you have to be very careful not to squish the thread and now I have a couple of tricks in my head for next time that could improve the look.

     Secondly, I used chocolate brown, indian red and ecru colour polymer clay and it is hard to keep light colours clean after all the editing, flipping over, smoothing and other steps until the curing process but some how I managed. I really enjoyed this challenge and I can say that it's not the last time when I am knitting with clay threads!

 

Have a lovely fall season, keep yourself warm and talk again in October!

Playing With Clay

     To be honest I'm quite speechless at the moment and it's not because my Monthly Challenge project would be something extraordinary. Simply I was trying to do so many things today and also wanted to finish this blog post before September arrives. Some people say they work better under pressure and get more things done and it's true, but it can be nerve wrecking too.

     It is second month in a row when I'm challenging myself  with bracelets and I am having great fun. As you can see I have gone big and bold with them! This time I wasn't worrying too much about colours and finish, just wanted to try an idea. My intention was to make wide bracelet with strip of clay twisted around. At first I was planning to attach strip to the bracelet but then decided to make bracelet separate and form strip of clay separate. Next step after sanding  was to twist strip around in desired way and fix it with button detail! It is quite simple project but I will keep exploring and better sketch and write down all the ideas I had during making process before they are gone.

 

 

     I'm looking at the  picture on the top and it feels like I have just created new accessory to go with my wool jacket. Great, roll on September!





What If?

     My monthly challenge isn't finished yet, but I didn't wanted to give myself excuses not to write monthly challenge post, so what if l show what I have done so far.

My "dumplings" on the stick.

     I had "Pastel Dreams" cane since beginning of summer 2012. Polymer clay canes can be kept for years, just need to know how. I keep mine in plastic tubes and containers and it's fine.

     I had a plan that I would like to make a sheet with the slices from this cane combined with white and translucent white clay. I also had a new shape to try. I had a "what if?" moment when playing with wavy beads and was trying to see what else I can do. Basically it is folded bead in my interpretation. I was told that they look like "pelmeņi", Google translator says it's dumplings in English.

Before playing with acrylic colours.

      

     Anyway, when I made these beads I liked the shape, not so much how sheet has worked out. So here I was saying to myself what if I try acrylic colours. I have been intrigued about use of acrylic colours and inks with polymer clay for a while so I decided to try.

     I googled to make sure I'm doing what I supposed to do and started to play. Picture on the top of this post shows the result after today's painting. I'm thinking to varnish them for lovely shiny finish, but also thinking what if I give them another coat of paint.

It is good size bead, light and colourful.

     At the moment it's quite hard to imagine finished piece, but I think I have to leave these beads for a couple of days and come back with fresh mind. This often works for me.

     I already have an idea for July challenge! Someone special is getting married so I am thinking what if I create special keepsake. Hope I can come up with something really original and sweet.

Mosaic Cane

     May is the first month of the summer here in Ireland. While it's definitely not one of  the sunniest countries in the world living in Ireland's sunny south-east would give us a little bit more chances. I could say that summer and recent sunshine must had some impact on the colour choice for my latest monthly challenge project. I worked with yellow, white and gold effect Fimo.

     Blending colours, making Bullseye canes, cutting them into 48 triangle shapes and building my Mosaic cane took a good few hours of work. It's not a proper Mosaic cane, but it has mosaic effect and I still have to cut more slices to see design fully.

     It is still very much a work in progress but I managed to play with the new cane a little bit. I am in love with my wavy shape beads at the moment and that's why there is more wavy pieces made, including this bracelet and ring.

       Sending lots of sunshine  your way! Liga

April One Colour Challenge

     It is the last day of April and it's time to get organized and write my Monthly Challenge post. Last month I was challenging myself with tropical colours, this month I challenged myself with one colour. I always wanted to try to make something with one polymer clay colour and see the possibilities.

     Early this month I was impressed by fellow 12 Polymerclay Projects in 2013 members' work using only one colour - blue.

Water Anemone by Elvira Krick.

     Days were galloping quicker and quicker, I didn't have time to make new cane but I had ideas for curvy shapes. Actually I made my first black wavy beads two months ago but then I was just playing, thinking about neutral complementary beads for my neck pieces. During April I have developed my wavy bead designs and I'm pleased with the results. They are little steps, I still have a lot to learn.

Wavy Beads Necklace by Valg Studio.

     One of the ideas was to create long wavy bead, I decided to try it with one colour, just to see if it works. Process was very interesting. I was curious how durable the big wavy bead will be. I had a surprise, it feels like a piece of leather, very flexible and soft!!! More testing needs to be done, but I feel very good about these long wavy beads.

Black Elephant Liquorice by Kni.Kni.

     Can anyone stop time, days are galloping too fast.

March Colour Challenge

     March is nearly over and here I am with my monthly challenge post. It has been long and busy month and it's not over yet. Still 3 days to go until we meet April. And they won't be 3 normal days - they will be busy preparing for Easter and second Creative Carlow Pop-Up shop experience.

     Back to the topic. Similar to February I had couple ideas I wanted to achieve. Definitely one thing I haven't been entirely happy in my  projects recently are colours. Dark tones just won't let me to work without them. I tried to ignore black and here you can see my latest colour challenge.

     When I look at this pair of earrings it reminds me about butterflies in my stomach and I want to dance. I think that's because they have a little bit like a skirt shape too. I am happy with the result and now officially can start to dream about my April challenges.

Monthly Possibilities

     February - it means I had 3 days less than in January to enter 12 Polymer Clay Projects monthly challenge. Of course it wasn't my intention to leave it so late but here is what happened.

Glazed and ready for assembling.

      I had a couple ideas what I wanted to try including Tribal Necklace, Flower Beads and Goose Bumps Project. None of them fulfilled my expectations, but I believe there are great opportunities and I will definitely go back to them and explore more.

Beaded part measures 3.5 x 4.5 cm.

      There was 6 days left in February when I decided to use 3 colours of translucent Fimo and striped cane from one of my previous projects. I also wanted to include Mokume Gane technique elements and if possible to play with shapes. 15 small pieces, sanding, glazing and here you have my final piece - "Gathering" Necklace.

Eye-catching "Gathering".

 
      Challenges. First, I knew that translucent clay will change its colour during baking and from beginning I was a little bit unsure about the whole concept but when I started to assemble everything came together nicely. Working on this project was quite spontaneous, that occurs when one idea sparks another, I just had to let my fingers to do what they like.

Challenge of the Month

     Hard to believe it is the last day of January, but at the same time it feels like New Year's Eve was at least three months ago.
      It's been month of more planning and organizing things, less working with clay. But I would like to highlight one creation and tag it as monthly challenge.
      My task was to create brain badge. From the first look it may seem to be quite easy but actually it took couple days to come up with ideas, create samples and to complete this little project.

Polymer Clay Tie Pin/Badge

     I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. And it was funny and a little bit strange too when I tried to explain people what I am working on.

    This little tie pin measures 3.5 x 2 cm. Probably most hardest part (because of its size) was brain folds and not to leave fingerprints.

     What do you think? First impressions! :)