Each year, on 1st of March, Romanians have a tradition - they offer to each other little "martisoare" which are little decorative objects that symbolize the beginning of the spring. They resemble brooches and they absolutely necessary have to have a white and red ribbon with tassels attached. After you receive your "martisoare" you wait until you see the first bloomed tree and you tie it up to a branch of the tree. Quite a lovely tradition. This year, hoping to save a little money I made my own, from polymer clay which I gave a golden patina. I'd say they turned out great! They were appreciated little gifts. You can use this method to make much more professionally looking jewelry of all sorts:
This is just a little thing made for fun, but if you wanna go pro with polymer clay, I recommend you invest a bit and get yourself a real tutorial here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/101144233/polymer-clay-pdf-tutorial-oriental. Check out the pretty polymer clay canes too while you are there:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sigalsart
How wonderful! Such a creative idea for making martisoare. Who are you giving them to? It would be great for three girls who are best friends and can share and complete it like a puzzle :) And I happen to know just the right ones, hehee!!!
ReplyDelete:)) Haha Teo :) Since I've got this blog, I can't surprise you with anything anymore, you read it here before I tell you :) Your martisor is in the mail and should get to you shortly!
ReplyDeletethis is lovely. in Bulgaria, we call them ''martenitsa'', they are made of red and white wool thread :) use google for more info :) btw, I'd love to wear a pendant like this one not just as ''martisoare'' :))
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely tradition!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Maybe we should start this tradition here to! It's sweet :)
ReplyDeleteI love it! What did you use for the gold?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I wish you had a tutorial even though it looks simple. I'm not yet familiar with working with polymer clay, but I intend to buy some to try it out. I saw something similar made into a bracelet. Very inspiring. Also, I love the dress worn in your blogspot.
ReplyDeleteBaghy, that is absolutely fabulous little piece. And I like the tradition as well, never heard of it before, we do not have anything like that in Czech.
ReplyDeleteThank you all, I am so glad you like it!
ReplyDeleteI think Bulgaria's martenitsa are the same thing actually, even it sounds similar :)
Yeah it would be nice if for a change other countries would borrow Romanian traditions... we imported quite a few from others :)
Yeah I thought of making a tutorial but thought people familiar with polymer clay would find it boring :) But really, it's as simple as it looks. For the gold, I used Jaquard's Pearl-ex, like this one: http://bit.ly/ykGTkW but I think you can use any fine golden powder.
Encouraged by the responses I'll be adding more polymer clay projects - an excuse for me to play with polymer clay more :)
This is such a unique and amazing DIY! Loved and Pinned :)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this tradition! How lovely! Your pendants came out quite beautifully.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.eyeseefaeries.blogspot.com
Great tradition!! and I love the pendant you made!!!)
ReplyDeleteGreat Picture tutorial.
ReplyDeleteWhat program did you use to add the pictures together so nicely?
Anca, where's this magical garden in your banner?
ReplyDeleteDori :) this magical garden is... in my garden! :)
DeleteWhat a brilliant and easy way to make a fabulous pendant!
ReplyDeleteThese look wonderful
ReplyDeleteThank you :) Yes, they are very easy to make and you can use a wide range of textures to press on it and get a lot of different results. Lace fabric also is a lovely option!
ReplyDeleteThe lace fabric idea to press into clay would be a great idea! This was such a pretty post and a great DIY project. Hope to try it out someday soon!
ReplyDeleteNever heard of this tradition.
ReplyDeleteit is great, what do you use as the gold dust?
It is a Pearl-ex powder pigment... those pigments are great, they have some interference ones, they are so cool... and they do not change their color when baked.
ReplyDeleteI knew it was Romanian the moment I saw the red and white thread! An excellent idea to cut it into 3 and share.
ReplyDeleteHi, the trinklet came out really well. I wanted to share this with my readers and hence I have featured this on my page here, with backlink ofcourse. Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.letscreatecrafts.com/polymer-clay-crafts-ideas/