AJE March 2015 Themed Challenge Reveal ~ March Hares

I think you all probably know me best for my little sleepy critters beads… I do love them and making them with all their snoozing cuteness, but there's also another side of my creative style that I've been slowly working to develop. A bit more stylized and somewhat primitive or tribal would be a good way to put it, I think. Last year, I finally started to do more with the ideas that I'd had for so long… and I made my first leather feathers and got back into making my rustic tribal birds. I've really been having fun with these first steps in this new and exciting direction!

 So… when Jenny suggested March Hares as our first themed challenge at AJE Blog I quickly signed up to play along. New hare designs were hopping around in my mind immediately and I was going to take them in this new direction.

As so often happens for me, life finds ways to make things busier than I'd planned and I didn't get quite enough time to finish everything I had wanted to, but I do have a little peek behind the scenes for you…

A stamp of approval from a certain furry cat means a whole lot in my studio. Actually, my adorable little guy was asking if telling me it was dinner time… which it was.

Here's what I've been working on: new handmade stamps, sculpting brand new hare shapes, and even a bit of colored polymer is going to make its way into my new designs, if all goes as planned. Of course there will still be some painting, but it's fun to do more with colored polymer once in a while!

Most of yesterday I was busily making my new stamps. I started with a simple drawing of each pose…

Transfered to my stamp bases…

And then very carefully carved away the edges… I can't wait to use them in new beads!

I still have a bit more sculpting and refining to do with these new hare shapes, but I'm liking the direction so far and I'm looking forward to the finished beads coming next!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of my latest studio happenings! Be sure to check out what everyone else has created for the March Hares Challenge below. Thanks so much for stopping by today and thank you to Jenny for an inspiring theme!

AJE Team:

Jenny

Caroline

Lesley

Linda

Niky

Melissa

Rebekah

Lindsay

Guests:
Aural - Woodland Bay Native

Heather - Hidden Ridge Studio

Cindy Martin-Shaw

Keren Panthaki

Jackie Ryan

Karin Grosset Grange - Ginko et Coquelicot

Pamela Traub - Klassy Joolz

Paisley Lizard Designs

Karen - Ditsy Blue

Michelle McEnroe (4 pieces pinned on the AJE Pinterest page)