The following interview is brought to you by ~sammyluvsdanny. If you have suggestions for deviants that could be interviewed here, please do send me a note.

In Malaysia where the sun is out all day, all year round lives a fickle crafter who just can not seem to stick to one art form for a long time, is the talented artisan Luthien Thye. She is also Deviantart mixed media artist ~luthien27



When was it, approximately, that you began crafting & was there any training involved?


I have been tweaking stuff around my house for as long as I can remember. I’ve no idea if you can call that crafting, my mom seems to think it was vandalizing! I painted the walls, painted on her chairs (to her horror) and anything else I could get my hands on.

One of the first things I tried my hands on was costume design and costume making. I use to be a professional dancer and choreographer. Although I do not dance anymore, my day job still involves the entertainment industry both on stage and on TV. Anyhow, when our dance troupe started out, we didn’t have lots of budget for costumes, so I resorted to making them myself. I had no formal training in sewing (the glue gun was my best friend ) but I use to watch my grandma sew on her manual sewing machine when I was a kid. She did leave me that sewing machine and to this day, I swear that that’s the best sewing machine for sewing PVC. Here are some of the costumes I made when I was actively sewing for the troupe.
[link]

Later on I decide to stop making costumes for a bit and took up folk art - [link] - I went to a little local art store for lessons once a week. I enjoyed painting and the people tremendously. That lasted for about 6 months After which I became pregnant and totally stopped creating for the next 3 years, dedicating my life to being a mother - the most difficult art form to master in my opinion!

Can you give us a descriptive process of creating a piece?

I am generally a very visual person. I am very inspired by the stage, movies and their characters (for obvious reasons!) and I am especially inspired by fantasy movies and characters! However, I am not only inspired by the things I can see, I am also inspired by characterization and storytelling. This is because the characters and the stories they tell, allow me to visualize, emote and imagine. Besides visuals, emotions must be the other element that spurs my imagination!

For instance, I find that I love it when books are turned into movies, I find that the reading experience is always made more intense for me when I have visuals to compliment. (vice versa depending on which one I do first) . And I never like to compare them, as they are different media of storytelling and shouldn’t be compared.

After saying all of that, I think this sums up my creative process in a concise way

Visuals --> evoke Emotions --> spurs Imagination --> manifest Creations

  

What are the mediums used?

As I am so into mixed media nowadays, I always try to use or meld different elements together. Sometimes they work, other times, not so well - but then again that’s the most fun part, the learning process! I am partial to polymer clay, acrylics, metal (which includes wires and filigree! YUM!) , leather, jewels, fiber, fur (the faux ones only) and stamps. Oh! Paper of course when I do handmade books & preferably recycled paper

I would like to explore the potential of driftwood as well later



What are your preferred materials that can be used & how does it affect your pieces?

To me, different materials give out different auras. For instance, a piece of antique gold filigree exudes vintage, a silver filigree could look very elven. Having said that, it also depends on how you combine the materials. With the right combination, any materials could be given a totally different feel, most probably something you’ve never experienced before.

But polymer clay must be one of the most versatile mediums which you can turn to whatever you wish & if you have the right skills that is I’m so new to polymer clay and its limitless versatility intrigues me to no end!



Owing to the fact that your pieces are mostly mixed media, are your crafts pre designed before you make them?


Nope, not 98% of the time. I think I can count on one hand how many times I have pre-designed my stuff, and even if I did the 2% of the time, it probably turned out nothing like the design!

I may start with an idea in mind or a theme, then I hold on to something that catches my attention, it could be a piece of wire, a piece of leather or a filigree & I look at it and let the imagination take flight. That’s how I create. I cannot tell you how each piece would turn out in the end because they evolve as the creative process takes place.



Per individual pieces, you tend to limit the amount of colours used from two - three, at most, does the colour combination for your jewelry comes naturally or is it well planned?

I don’t know if it’s a conscious choice, but I do love accents, and I can’t have accents if too many colors are fighting against each other for the limelight! I also have “stick in the mud” phases when it comes to colors! I get stuck to certain combination of colors for long periods of time and all I can think about is creating in those colors only. I am generally a blue and green girl, but lately, pink and gray have caught my eye. There was one point in time I was all about hot Mediterranean colors! I still do use hot combination on my black items. But there are 2 colors (or non colors) that will always exist in my work - black and white.

  

You seem to be the "Jack of all Trades" {like most artist on deviant art} however for a piece such as you've seem to exhaust all talent you possess. Approximately, how long does it take to create a piece such as this?

It’s funny that you should ask this question. I was pondering about the “look” of my jewelry just a couple of months ago. I realize that I have been inclined to create more dramatic pieces of late. When I started I just wanted to make pieces which are simple and easy to market. But I haven’t stuck to that, as you can see. My pieces, it seem to me, have taken a “costumie” quality to them, so  I guess maybe “exhaust” isn’t the best word to describe my current pieces & I think I’ve probably come a full cycle

As to how long it takes me to create a piece such as the above, well  I only get to physically craft after my baby goes to sleep at 9pm. So I’ll start at around 10pm and craft all the way to about 3 or 4 am.

But you know, this piece we’re referring to - [link] - is inspired by “Wolf man” & so the creative process began after I watched the movie. After which it involved a lot of ogling at Wolf man trailers and scenes on Youtube (told you I’m a visual person!) and then a lot of dreaming about Benicio Del Toro   before the physical creation of this piece took place LOL! I also take pride in the photographing of the piece. That to me is also part of the creative process, how best to present a certain piece of work. Well, from the day of the Wolf man movie, to the completion of this piece, to it being seen on the net - probably one and a half weeks?

Are you influenced by any other artist?

Oh yeah! I picked up polymer clay because I stumbled upon our very talented Chris Kapono of Mandarin Moon you can find her on DA as well! But perhaps, I am more influenced by the style of certain groups of artists. For example fantasy artists, not only jewelry artists, but also 3D fantasy artists.



I've acknowledge that almost, all of your jewelry, including your handmade books carries a signature filigree swirl, is there a significance?

Well, filigrees feed my desires for vintage romance, and swirls - they pay homage to my elven incarnation

  

Though you've created coasters before, these do not seem to carry your usual style with respect to the colours chosen & the way they are drawn, by what was their outcome dictated?

This was actually the very first piece of work that I put on sale. They still bring a smile to my face each time I look at them. At that point in time, I was very into the hot Mediterranean colors! I was also very influenced by the power of crystals, new age and pagan elements, and the night skies.

When I first started, the only medium I was a little more comfortable with was acrylics. So I designed and painted the celestial bodies on A4 size canvases, scanned them into my computer, resized and reprinted them smaller to fit the coasters. The base is actually a poem called the Witches Creed! Isn’t it cool!?

I don’t think I have developed my style yet at that point in time - but I wanted to make this happen, so I started with creating things that I could create to the best of my limited abilities and knowledge of the art forms.

Would you share with us your favorite piece & what it means to you?

My favorite piece changes from time to time, also depending on my most current mood. For now, it must be Iaur Eryn - [link] - Simply because it’s born of ancient mysteries and filled with elven magic!  

Is there a particular piece that is most famous amongst your fans & supporters, if so do you have any suspicion as to why?

I think it must be Ainu Estel! - [link] - Mostly because it was featured in DD I think I had 1000+ faves on this one and loads of comments. I would never forget that day when I opened up to 700+ messages on my DA! Woohoo! I think people like it because of the lacing on the cord and also on the heart. I’ve also gotten comments saying that it doesn’t look like it’s made from polymer clay.

Have you ever participated in shows or exhibitions?

Curiously – no, I have never been in craft shows or exhibitions. Perhaps it’s because we don’t have a lot of those here. We have a lot of Sunday markets but not craft shows. I’ve always wondered how it’s like to be on a craft show



Would you please share with us some of your accomplishments you've earned through creating your crafts & where you see it taking you in the future?

Professional accomplishments I have close to none, but I have earned lots of encouraging comments on my work and met lots of wonderful artists on the way. It has been a great learning process for me. I began going back to arts and crafts because of the economic downturn. I didn’t have many jobs as a freelancer - people we’re cutting down their “entertainment” budget, and I didn’t want to feel useless. So I started blogging and going back to arts and crafts. I reckon that I could at least do something that I loved, and would give me some new skills and knowledge. I think I have achieved quite a bit of that in this one and a half years!

I would love to continue doing what I do. Be it my jewelry, my bookmaking, my mixed media or my work on stage and TV. I would love to have the time to do them all and learn some more new art forms LOL! I have been toying with the idea of opening a physical shop locally and introducing my work to the people here. And maybe give some classes. The truth is, what I do with mixed media, has not caught on in my country yet. It’s very new terrain and would be a great avenue to explore!