How did I end up working with clay?
It all started in 2019, when I stumbled across a YouTube channel called NerdForge. A girl from Scandinavia who makes miniature things. At the time she was building a castle out of tiny pieces — and inside were all kinds of little characters. I sat there in front of the screen thinking: what are those characters even made of? Could I make something like that too?
Ideas started flying around in my head. Like transparent candles with my own handmade characters sitting at the bottom. I searched, I researched, and eventually found out — polymer clay. I went and bought a 56-gram block. And then it sat in a drawer for years.
A second chance
In October 2022 I moved to Tallinn and found that forgotten block again. I started googling, scrolling through Pinterest, and discovered that you could make so much from such a tiny piece of clay — it was just amazing.
And that's how the experimenting began. My first piece was a donut
and of course I wasn't happy with it at all. So I tried again and it came out so much better straight away.
But it still wasn't quite enough for me. And eventually I managed to make ones I could actually be proud of.
That's when I realised there were no limits anymore. I made keychains, magnets, name tags, earrings. I bought more tools, tried different clay colours and brands.
But then came another move — this time to Finland — and between work and life, the clay got pushed aside again.
2024, a third chance
In August 2024, still living in Finland, I suddenly had a big creative moment. I pulled my clay kit out of the box again and started experimenting, this time with air-dry clay.
I'd already made some cat magnets that I liked, but I wasn't happy with the quality. So I tried again. And to my own surprise, it actually made a difference. The new magnets came out really detailed and beautiful, even I was taken aback.
But then work got busy again and everything was put on hold until November. In November I gave it another go, this time making larger magnets. The small ones took hours to make and selling them for more than €5 felt a bit odd. The larger ones turned out even more beautiful.
That was also the moment I thought: why not, I'll make my own website. So I took product photos, wrote descriptions and opened a shop through Shopify. Since I was in Finland, shipping to Estonia was quite expensive (€10 per parcel), so I tried selling in English and Finnish to customers in Finland. Unfortunately it didn't bring much success, and three months later I closed the shop. But I gained experience and that counts for something.
2025 — and the feeling that this is it
In spring 2025, my social media started filling up with polymer clay artists. One of them was Uncomfy, who I still follow. Watching her videos gave me this quiet certainty: this is what I want to do. For real. Create my own designs, create my own characters and stories.
By the end of summer, social media was full of mushroom pictures, and something warm stirred in me. My childhood was full of going to the forest to pick mushrooms — it always felt like home. So I decided to try making mushroom keychains. And the more I made, the more creative my mind became. I just couldn't get my head around how many possibilities there are with clay.
That was also when I made my very first worry stone experiments. The idea was a red fly agaric mushroom with white dots for texture. And being the cat lover I am, I also made my first cat worry stone.
My first market
That same autumn brought something I'd been wanting to try for a long time — I went to a market for the first time. In Paide. Since my mum also goes to markets around Estonia selling cheese, I already had a good contact to go with, and so I took that step alongside her.
The atmosphere at the market was just amazing. Walking around there I felt like this is where I belong. There weren't many sales, but that wasn't the most important thing — mum and I had fun, we got to spend time together, and that warmed my heart.
I've now been to one more market since, and the plan is to make it a monthly thing.
Worry stones — and why so many cats
One of my favourite ideas so far is worry stones. I can never keep my hands still, I always need to be fidgeting with something, a worry stone is exactly that kind of thing.
But why so many cat-shaped ones? Cats have been by my side my whole life, from my childhood cat right up to today. I currently live with two very dear boy cats. Meet Mango(white-orange) and Spike(the one in the hammock), my little troublemakers.
On top of that, I've always been captivated by the beauty and individuality of cats. Every cat is its own personality. And that's exactly the feeling I want to carry through into my work.
Right now I have endless ideas and every day I try something new.
Looking back, the road to clay wasn't a straight one - more like one big experiment, a pause, trying again, and going on. But that's exactly what's made it something truly my own. Thank you for taking the time to read this story, it means more to me than you might think. And thank you to everyone who has supported my work, bought something, or just said a kind word. Without that, it would be a lot harder to keep going.
Thanks for reading! Follow Keidi Käsitöö to see what comes next. 🌿