Welcome New Members to the EMC Team

The Etsy Metal Clay Team has welcomed four new members to the team. These new members are Lorena Angulo of Pueblo Folk Art, Carrie Benvenuti of Uranium Cafe, Mieko Takahashi of Shizen Designs and Lucia Gulino of Gulino Art Jewelry.

I first spotted Lorena's work through Flickr and have been a big fan ever since. Lorena's highly detailed, hand crafted pieces reflect her Mexican heritage. Her folk art jewelry style is inspired by the traditional jewelry wore by the native Indians in South Mexico, Chiapas and Oaxacaamerican. One of my favorites is the pendant listed below called Arbol De Vida

Lorena's "Arbol de Vida" Pendant

Carrie of Uranium Cafe considers New Mexico her home. She find the diverse culture and history of the southwest to be the driving inspirational force behind her jewelry. Carrie enjoys creating items composed of silver, leather, polymer clay and mixed metals. She has a website http://www.uraniumcafe.com/ that has virtual tours of the famous Route 66 and toys and collectibles from the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's.

Carrie's Sun God Pendant

Mieko Takahashi of Shizen Designs was born in Tokyo, Japan and came to the United States in 1992 to study accounting at a Boston College. The name of her store Shizen is really a Japanese word meaning nature. Mieko launched Shizen Designs in 2006 and has been working on her jewelry as a full time endeavor since then. I love Mieko nature inspired/ minimalist designs. My favorite are her Lotus Flower Earrings listed below.

Mieko's Lotus Flower Earrings

Lucia Gulino of Gulino Art Jewelry was originally a photographer and a ceramic artist before she was introduced to metal clay. Lucia is interested in all arts that use chemical changes, particularly fire. Lucia loves the fact that metal clay has a tactile quality that was similar to her ceramic clay but she was able to form metal objects from her new medium metal clay. Below is Lucia's Alligator Skin Necklace.

Lucia's Alligator Skin Necklace