Learning new skills

Wow, it's been a whole year since my last post, and of course lot has happened during that year and I will not make you all yawning while I tell you about everything. So I'll skip last year and just tell you about two great weekends in February this year and about VKnO learning new skills.

The first weekend-course I went to was to learn how to transfer digital photos on to fabric. I was looking for a new technique to use on my bags, and I was amazed when I learned how "easy" this was. My head has been producing lot of new products in the weeks after this course - I'm just waiting for the perfect time to get my hands and sewing machine to start producing what my head's already completed ;)

Here's what I made at the course:

- a handbag with photo of my two girls on one side, and on the other side there is a photo of the local nature.

The second weekend-course was held already the weekend after the first one - and the theme for this one was "Sterling silver jewellery with soldering". 20 hours with sawing, forming, soldering, polishing.......wow, it was fun! I really loved to work with silver, and I'm really looking forward to start to make my own jewellery using the newly learned silversmith skills. But, I reccon it will take a while before I can list any of my own silver products in my shop at Etsy of Epla.......I need to practice a lot first ;)

I made myself 3 rings during the course:

I've already started to work on a few projects involving sterling silver - practicing on the techniques and having fun!

....stay tuned for more news from VKnO and my products.....

Taking it a bit further....

Those of you that have seen my Etsy-shop, may remember my Pop Art Pendants made of soda pop cans and newspapers, maps and magazines. So far I have had 3 different lines of Pop Art Pendants:

* Windows of the Past, Pop Art Pendant (with vintage newspaper/magazine)

* Windows of the Sea, Pop Art Pendant (with lighthouses or other items related to the sea)

* Windows of the World, Pop Art Pendant (with a piece of a map)

This week I've been working on a way to improve my Pop Arts, and I've ended up with 3 changes to the product:

1. Making a mini-stand so the Pop Art can be displayed as any other piece of art
2. Stamping the frame, this makes me able to add a title or a statement directly on to the Pop Art.
3. Using a piece of fabric as the motife.

This is the first one I've made involving all three changes:

This item 'Aqua et Ignis' is inspired by the weekly challenge of the European Street Team. This week the theme is aqua (Take a look Amandas blog for more info and all the other entries).

I've have not added the little 'loop' on top of this item, so this can not be used as a pendant. It is ment to be on display, and I will call this line of product for 'Framed Fabrications, Pop Art on Display'

The three next photos shows the different shapes I've used on the mini-stands and how the backside looks:




The mini-stands can also be used with my pendants, and will look really great on any shelf. The mini-stand will soon be available as a separate product in my shop.



While I was shooting a lot of photos of my new product today, my two little girls (Marthe and Lilly) were having a great time climbing. Looks fun!