For Happiness

So I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve become a tad bit obsessed with making polymer clay jewelry. It started out as a little endeavor to add a summer-friendly product to my etsy store, but now it’s probably what I think about the most after the cute husband and my lovely daughter. I am having so much fun with it, and there are so many things I can still try. Here’s just a few of the things I’ve been working on.

Jewelry 3

Jewelry 4

Jewelry 5

Jewelry 7

Jewelry 8

I have to say that I’ve been pretty inspired by the artist profiles I’ve been doing. I expected that the last question, what is your unique purpose for creating work, would lead to all manner of profound and earth-shaking answers. I was surprised to find that several artists make art because they like to make art, or because they think it makes people happy, or just because that’s what they do. Hearing that from artists that I really respect and admire has set me free to make these pieces just because I love making them, without having to worry about what kind of impact it’s having on the world or whether this will fulfill the thirst of my soul for significance.

Sebahat Cetinkaya

I’m always looking for new ideas for my crochet hats, and I stumbled into some of Sebahat Cetinkaya’s work and could not stop looking at it. Here is the image that first caught my eye.

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Although this is nothing like what I do with crochet, I was struck with this overwhelming feeling that I want to do that. I do not usually feel that way about art, usually I’m so stunned that anyone can do that. This piece is no less stunning than the other things I’ve seen, rather it is so beautiful in a way that feels native to me. I want to learn to do that.

Sebahat Cetinkaya doesn’t have her own website, but she and her children have an amazing etsy store that you could check out here.

This is a great article on Cetinkaya’s creative process and history (super interesting stuff)

Finally, this is a short video of her and her daughter which makes me feel all warm and gooey inside. Pretty sure that’s what it’s trying to do, but I like it anyway.