Natali Stoiyanna Erkaraman

My inspiration is in my backyard. I feel little under the weather 🤧 I don’t feel strong enough to go further.

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Once broken 😞 now it’s energy is back ⚡️🌝

Now it’s ready to play on grass again.

The well is dried, Paper mache station 🚉 is moved to its new corner and a new circle ⭕️ has begun.

I have wet papers to make some big beads. I will round this bead on little plates.

Between the beads and plate there will be a word sandwich 🥪 saying; 1) grow, 2) listen, 3) smell, 4) love ❤️

With this 4 plates, I’m trying a new product.

First month of my basement adventure.

First month of paper mache experiments. First month of Checkmache ♟ production. First month of being a florist 💐

It is not going anywhere but still it is something I can roll and play 🎲

I have these 💡 brilliant outcomes as products

• Checkmashe ♟: my show off project
• Paper plates : mass product project
• Keten Helva : lights, candles
• Vases : jar 🫙 projects
• Beads: jars 🫙 of colored paper beads.

My Little Recycling Shop

For this last week of the month let’s set what I can do;

• 📌 🎨 paint black rook 🏰 with new technique – colored varnish
• 📌 mush some dough: dry the well
• 📌 new well circle ⭕️ : need paper
• 📌 A special thin mache, to smooth the surface
• 💀 🌳 stool renovation. It is not doing well 😔
• 📌 🥨 sculpture Nights 🎠
• 📌 🥨 sculpture Pawn ♟ V2
• 📌 🎨 paint restoration: blue stool 🏺
• 📌 🎨 paint plate
• 📌 🎨 paint 👑 and 👸
• 📌 🧩 model bishop 🗿

New technique

I tried a new coloring technique for a restoration project. I mixed the color in glue and paint 🎨 wood 🪵 with it. The glue is for interior use so I assume it will last longer in outside.

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I’m going to try 📌 mixing color with varnish to apply on Chess-Mache ♟ base. I go with the rook 🏰🫡 I will add some water 💧 in my mix

Also I’ll try this technique in my special fine papermache that I’ll use to smooth the surface instead of acrylic paste, which is quite expensive to use anywhere, everywhere.

To make a special fine papermache, I’ll use some unliked 👎 toilet paper 🧻 that aren’t used for years. They are not much but I hope 🤞 they will be enough for a start. At least it will be cheaper 💵 I can add color and make it easier and cheaper to color all.

My last new technique try will be a new product idea 💡 which is to cover jars 🫙 and make vases 🏺 or 🕯 candle holders.

After all they may not end up as I imagine. I imagine them so pretty 😍 🥹 But if they end up like home craft fckdup DIY projects, I switch some other wave 🌊 and go on that way. Till I find it, the right problems that I’m 😊 happy solving, lifetime…

Florist 💐

Everything is in mass as a florist. Unfortunately no seedlings 🌱 no flowers. Even the blossomed ones are 💀 dead. I rushed and planted them when it was too early 🥶 they are freeze, drowned, and dead ☠️ pretty quick. One of the is pulled out by my son after rescued 🛟 from freezing . Some are just forgotten in the hottest corner of the house 🏠 .

I am not a good florist. I am impatient and didn’t give them enough time to get strong 💪 and ready.

But why did I rush so? It is because of our gardening 👩‍🌾 renovation plan. I wanted to use some old bricks 🧱 for potting but we are also planning to get rid of them and use step stone all the way. That made me try using that corner a little longer as I imagined. But apparently time wasn’t on my side.

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I left last hours of Sunday to plan my week, rest, and feel happy 😊 to actually do it.

And if I really want it in my life then I will open up more time and space for it. 🚀

My third week is over.

The time I felt kind of block – not knowing what I do – I switched to some other projects, like restorations of broken 😞 ceramics, or painting old cages, trying new techniques…

After doing a lot of tidying and cleaning 🧹 updating kitchen counter and opening up new spaces… I poked by a little dried sculpture that I had made.

This littles are just like my profile illustration and like my little people on my drawings ✍️

I noticed that I used this littles on the other checkmate pots too ♟

With this realization I figured out the 3D shape of my pawns ♟ as well 🤗 And now I see why I stopped in this project. It is because my pawn ♟ wasn’t right 🙄 and I didn’t know how to fix it. Now I have a go 🫡

New technique

This week’s new technique is came out well done 👍

I’ll vanish this piece with dishwasher safe product. It can be used as any other plate.

It is easy to duplicate it in same size and shape. They look like the plates once I have seen in Mexico 🇲🇽 I’ll try to color mines as bold as they were.

Knight 🎠

I figured the Knight 🎠 but I’m out of dough. 📌 I need to go to the well. I might need to drain it. I’m also out of shredded paper 📄 to restart the well circle ⭕️

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I love ❤️ ✍️ drawing over and over again. Each time I draw, they become more iconic. So by doing over again, I do not repeat but improve.

Now I’m good 😊 to go for the fourth week. It will also be, the end of the first month. And I’ll have 2 more months to go before we travel to Turkey 🇹🇷

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How many well circle ⭕️ did I turn?

How many new techniques did I try?

How many new models did I build?

How many new sculptures did I mush?

How many new pieces did I paint 🎨

How many 🥚final products do I have?

Final product 🥚

The end of painting 🖼 with a fine vanishing💫 will be the final step.

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After all drying there will be my 🥚 final products, and I can go on trying some photo shoots ⚡️ with them.

I have a little white 📦 shooting box for little pieces -📌 needs assembling, and my iPhone 📱 will be enough.

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Once I got some photos, my products will look 👀 alive 🐣

And once I put them online 🐥, they might walk away. 😊👍❤️

And this circle ⭕️ might be what I want to do over and over again 😃

I remember that this is my very first restoration project. It didn’t need any mending but only polish and paint 🎨

It was hard to remove the old plastik paint and all that rust. But underneath, it was silver shine ✨

At first I liked to keep it shiny ✨ but once I decided where to put it, it was clear that it needs to be black.

Still I can do more than just paint it in all black. I left the foot beans and very corner of the fence silver. Now it looks more special than ever.

My husband cut a wooden stand for candles 🕯 and placed it in the bird 🐦 house. It will have a hook 🪝 around fire 🔥 pit, in our backyard.

And who knows some birds or fireflies would like it too.

I’m feeling useless, worthless, and I’m unfair to my family. I got more then I share. But that is what I have. Nothing and nothing more. Zero.

All I do is laying and complaining and arguing screaming 🙀

What am I screaming 🙀 for? Help? No. To be seen? Whom am I want to be seen by? It can’t be just my family. I need to be seen and appreciated by a community, a group of people that I can communicate and discuss about common issues.

There is a gourmet market 📌 close by. It also has stands in its parking lot for a fresh market. Flowers, fruits, local products might be there as well. I can ask what do they do there and how I can apply for a space.

I also pinned 📌 a flower shop. Where I can get in and talk about my work. Also I can ask if any help wanted?

There must be some other farm markets in Westfield. 📌 it is time to list and start reaching out every one of them to understand what I need to book a stand for my pots.

Then I might feel more real, more here.

3 weeks start a routine. My ☝️ weekly task cycle is in its third round. It has a momentum but I only can hear 👂 little cricks cracks…

Knight 🎠

First knight is coming out of shadow.

Paint 🎨 station

I used almost half of the paste on the Queen 👸 and King 👑. I need to polish maximum before it got all dry. To do so I needed paint knifes and today I used them on my second knight 🎠 and it helped a ton.

My biggest missing piece was my painting knifes. Now I have a useful set of six. I picked a tool set of 3 knifes, ☝️ brush, fine sand, and my box of acrylic and paste.

This is Wednesday and I got a seat for my kid for a daycare 🎉 the days (Wednesday/Thursday) full time ( am 🕘 🕕 pm) 2 hours walk 6 hours of mytime 💪