MEDIA

Although I have indulged my creative side in many different media, resin casting and polymer clay sculpting have remained my main go-to materials. They are very different medium, and that is what thrills me the most – variability. The main motivational force in advancing my brand is excitement for innovation and the restless urge to experiment while creating. In my designs I use many other different materials, often repurposed, to create original mixed media art. I intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of every material, art media, techniques, and processes for enhancing communication of experiences and ideas. That is why the style of my collections cannot be easily summed up.

RESIN
I work with epoxy casting resin and UV coating resin. The brand of epoxy resin that I use is water-clear and glass-like, lightweight and yet very hard and UV resistant. It hardens on its own and there is no need for melting or heating. Manufacturer does not recommend using respirators when using it as it has no dangerous vapours for me or the environment.

To create a jewellery piece I first create moulds to pour resin in. Moulds are made from liquid silicone. Liquid resin is poured into the mould. When the resin hardens it is de-moulded and rough edges are sanded. The piece is then polished and finally drilled or glued.
Epoxy resin is very challenging to work with. It is crucially important to measure liquid parts precisely. It is very tricky to eliminate bubbles that are introduced into resin when mixing components. It is very temperamental medium that negatively reacts to temperature above 24 °C and high humidity. Most difficult part is sanding and polishing. Because the cured epoxy resin is very tough, it requires at least 5 grits of sanding stages, if you are willing to put in patience and hard work.
For small projects and simple resin coating I use UV resin that does not require measuring and mixing. UV resin is non-toxic and has no odour. It is ready to use anytime and can instantly cure hard in minutes with UV lamp or strong sunlight.

TECHNIQUES

My brand DNA draws strength from my desire to try my hand at a number of different materials, techniques and shapes. I adopted a spontaneous playful approach to creating and experimenting with new, inventive techniques and that is why I tried many techniques with both, resin and clay. I will just give examples of a few that I utilise the most.

Resin techniques that I most frequently return to are:
Embedding objects in resin castings is limited only by one's imagination. I embedded seeds, beans, pasta, flowers, buttons, ribbons, metal off-cuts from my work, and many other items. Sculpting is a technique that I developed long ago. I use it sparingly as it requires a lot of time and effort, patience and perseverance. Colouring in a way of marbling and colour layering are always exiting as they are mostly unpredictable.

I love polymer clay because I can achieve many effects that are not possible with other mediums. There are already dozens of techniques that are developed or still developing in the realm of this medium. And a young medium like this has so many exploration possibilities still available. You can shape polymer clay in various ways — coil it, stamp it, texture it, layer it, mold it, weave it, ruffle it and even carve out designs. Often, ideas are born by borrowing from the traditions of some other materials, such as Japanese metalsmithing (mokume gane), ceramics, glass (millefiori), etc. These techniques that I showcase here are just a small sample of what I tried.

INSPIRATION

Inspiration for me is a journey. It is based on my observations and emotions. It builds and accumulates over time, only to burst occasionally in a spur of a moment and contributes to a creation. My jewellery art is an expression of my life, full of playful, funky and quirky ideas. My creative process is guided by originality and expressiveness, informed and inspired mostly by nature, visual art and literature. The story behind my inspiration is told through proactive harmonising of bold concepts and vibrant colours with inner balance to produce emotional response to the story I am telling.

Thousand years – as long as it takes for some rocks to form – belongs to my collection inspired by a peacock. The second example is titled – Aboriginal women collective based on the symbol for a woman and my interpretation of tightknit family units. The third example here is called Starry night which I created some time after I watched Vincent Van Gogh’s digital exhibition. These big images of his artworks on a huge screen obviously imprinted colours, contours and feelings that found its way in my jewellery art.