Fellow Canadian, Shireen Nadir, is like many of us. She loves to create. But what makes this Toronto based artisan very different is how she excels in so many things. Her Etsy store, The Blue Brick, showcases her awesome nature inspired resin jewelry and her handknitting patterns. She actually lists, a long one at that, all her interests in the About page of her blog.


Also stunning are her photographs.  As an art director of a small company, she does get to enjoy photography as part of her day job.  Shireen said, "I am inspired by so many things, but definitely photography is my original love.  I started when I was 8 and my Dad let me use his Minolta; it was love at first sight."


She said, "My journey in resin started because I had taken lots of photos of autumn leaves a few years ago and was seeking a way to use the actual leaves from my images in keepsake jewelry."  

After much experimenting, she was able to create many lovely resin jewelry designs, some of which are shown here. They consist of those with real leaves and flowers done in her unique style. I particularly love the ones where she incorporated polymer clay backgrounds.





The reason why the book came into being was because, "the resin was really so much trial and error that I wrote the book as much as a way to keep track of my own discoveries at first, when it got really big I thought 'hey! I should self-publish this'!"



Besides, resin, beadweaving and polymer clay, she also does lampworking and glass blowing. That's just the jewelry making techniques. On the non-jewelry front, Shireen is a potter. She says "I also dye, spin, knit, weave and crochet." She is entirely self taught except for pottery and glasswork where she did take classes.


Shireen takes creativity to new heights in so many areas. But she firmly believes it all comes together to make up who she is. "Lots of folks think it's unusual to try to specialize in so many things, and that my blog is not just about knitting, or just about pottery. To me, everything I do, including my day job, adds to my creative vocabulary, and that cross-pollination is crucial to my work. I would never want to specialize in just one medium because I think being able to think in multiple mediums is my strength.

I never stop learning, I never stop growing, I never stop trying – I just never stop."

 Don`t miss the review and giveaway for Shireen`s how to book, Resin Jewelry next week.

 Hat tip to reader Aims for this find.

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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