Web Spotlight....Daily Art Muse

I don't know why I haven't shared this one earlier. I love Susan Lomuto's website... Daily Art Muse. She updates it daily with all types of art work. I think she has a really great eye. Go over and page through her site. You won't be disappointed. Plus if you click on BronzClay under categories you will find some of my pics :))) But that isn't why I go there....I just really like the art that she highlights. BTW. She has an etsy shop that sells old typewritter keys and letterpress wood types. I brought a G back from Paris. I like the XYZ set she has for sale.

And the enamel dots that she has featured under Tidbits is Kathy from the Cleveland Handmade.

B&B program

I finally got my hardcopy. Choices, choices.....although I know a few classes I won't be taking. Yes I still have a small chip on my shoulder over that twit-brained teacher from last year. I probably won't take a real look at the program until this weekend. There seems to be sooo many classes this year. Anybody have any preferences?????

Artist Spotlight...Richard Salley

I have a thing for found object art. Although I don't make it much, I am really drawn in by it. That's probably why I love Kazmer so much. But I ran across Richard Salley a while ago. Check out his website....especially the tutorial on his site. I truely am a geek because I love to study pictures of how things get put together. There is usually an AHA moment when you see something...like the metal staples he uses....and you realize you can put this to use in other pieces.

Hey Katie.....he does workshops. What d'ya think???

Books for Sale

I went through all my jewelry books today and have a number I am putting up for sale. If you want to buy one, drop me an e-mail (moonriverbeads@aol.com) and I will send you an invoice through paypal. Items not sold by Friday will go on Amazon for sale.

The Art and Craft of Making Jewelry by Joanna Goldberg. Never used. I brought this home from the bookstore to find I already had a copy. $14 plus $3 shipping in US.

Working with Precious Metal Clay by Tim McCreight. Excellent Condition. $15 plus $3 shipping US.

Precious Metal Clay: Creative Projects for the Beginner by Peggy Linial and Lindsay Stoms. Excellent Condition. $10 plus $3 shipping US.

Metal Clay Magic by Nana V. Mizushima. Excellent Condition. $10 plus $3 shipping US.

Creative Metal Clay Jewelry by CeCe Wire. Excellent Condition. $10 plus $3 shipping.

Lights of Paris

I'm sitting here nursing a cold that mercilessly attacked me yesterday. I have been feeling lonely for Paris. Sometimes a place just gets under you skin. Most people living in the midwest right now would look at these pictures and think they look cold because it is winter here. I'm looking at these thinking they look inviting....because I have a fever :) I'd love to dunk my head in a bucket of cold water right now. But the lights and their reflections in the water are beautiful. One year I'll spend Christmas in Paris.

I am making some headway cleaning my workroom. I have about 30 books that I am taking to the library...no jewlery books. I'll probably go through those tomorrow to see if there are any that I'm ready to pass on. I'm also going to thin out my stock of beads. That will probably wait until next weekend.

Nothing makes you clean like guests

Rachael and Matty are coming over on Tuesday night and I spent the evening cleaning up the living room and kitchen. Lou and I are pack rats...I didn't use to be and I go through spurts of throwing things out. So tonight I started in one corner of the living room/dining room and started to empty the rooms of things that shouldn't be there. We have a small house so we tend to really occupy the rooms that we have. The downstairs was full of my jewelery / photography stuff and Lou's computer / martials arts books and I hauled them all upstairs to our respective workrooms. It's amazing how big our little space can feel with all the junk out of it. Now if only I can keep it this way. But OMG...you should see my workroom. There is stuff everywhere. There is only a small path through it into Lou's room. It's such a mess. We are both taking Friday off and I plan to spend the entire 3 days up in my workroom cleaning and organizing. I have shelves that need to go up...I've only had them for about 2 years. They have been sitting in a corner. They go up this weekend.

If I don't get around to blogging tomorrow night.... Happy Holidays to all my friends, family, and readers. Have a merry, caring, sharing, loving few days. I will be back on Friday.

Web Spotlight....Metal Clay Academy

I stumbled upon Metal Clay Academy a couple days ago. I spent a couple of hours on it just browsing around. Every page has links on the side which take you to tons of info, websites, shops, artists. I've surfed the web alot looking for various sources of information and places to buy supplies, but they had sites that I hadn't found yet. The advisory board consists of well-known artists from the US and UK. The links they provide also span across the two countries....which I love. You never know where you'll find the cool stuff!! Check it out but be prepared to spend some time there.

Blog Spotlight....Kris's Color Stripes

I am really a monochromatic person...just look in my closet and you will see a majority of black. Working in metal is perfect for me because I don't have to guess at what colors to put into my design. For those of you that have trouble with combining colors like I do....travel over to kris's color stripes. She takes a picture or an item and creates a color palette of stripes. These can be useful in your jewelry designs or in redecorating your house.

The Milk House Door

The farm where I grew up had a number of barns. There was one that seemed absolutely huge to me. It had a tin roof and I loved being out there in the rain. The noise of the raindrops on the roof was thunderous. There was a small building attached to the front of the barn on the left hand side that we referred to as the milk house. As far back as I can remember we didn't have dairy cows, but I have to think there had been dairy cows there at one point. The barn and milk house are long gone except for this...



...the door knob and lock from the milk house door. Somehow when it was getting torn down the hardware was cut away from the door. It was bound for the pile of wood and other things that were being taken away but I rescued it. It has been sitting in my garage until today when I went in search of it. I have no clue what I will ever do with it, except for now it makes a great background for jewelry photos, like these.....

Thanks Elaine..

A big thanks to Elaine for listing my site on her blog today. She is from Chicago....a city that I love...and linked to my posts from November when I was there. I wish I could get to Chicago more often than once a year. I tend to live in the Art Institute and the Field Museum when I am there. I have seen so many great exhibits over the number of years. I never hesitate to go back. A little tit for tat here....Elaines blog is one I watch on a daily basis. She seems to scour the net for entries to shows, tutorials, new tools, ....pretty much All Things Metal Clay :)) Check out her site if you haven't yet.

Thre are a number of sites that I visit daily or weekly but haven't listed as a link on my blog. Tomorrow I am going to start sharing some of these. Some you have probably heard of but maybe I can direct you to some others that I think are cool.

So we hooked up the Wii tonight and we bowled, golfed, played baseball and tennis. It's fun. And it gets your butt up off the coach and moving. Not excessively...but more than I am usually do in the evening. I want to look into the Wii fit to see if it can get me back into exercise.

Back tomorrow.

Face Transplant

If you are squeamish...don't read this.

My day job is at a hospital...Cleveland Clinic is ranked the 4th best hospital in the nation. This week surgeons performed the first face transplant in the US. It took 22 hours, 8 surgeons, and who knows how many nurses and assistants. They transplanted 80% of the patient's face and included bone, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. Apparently the patient had an injury that left her without a nose and a portion of her palate. Basically her face was caved in on itself and she couldn't eat or breath on her own. There is an short animation on the CCF website that shows the transfer of the donor's face to the patient. If this is successful, the patient should be able to eat, breath, and speak on her own. I have been amazed by this. The patient's sister talked about this being a time of tears. Tears for the donor's family because this is a time of great loss for them. They had to give special permission for the face to be donated. It isn't part of the normal organ donation. In doing this they understood that they would have to have a closed casket at the funeral. Tears from the patient's family because the organ donor has given their loved one a new lease on life. She has endured people making fun of her and humiliating her and she may now have a chance to go out into the world again. Amazing and so very touching. I wish them all the best.

I got a wii wii

Lou and I decided to buy ourselves a Wii for Christmas. We played with his brother's Wii Wii :0 and had a blast so that is our present to each other. But it hasn't been easy to find one. We checked at a few stores and they were sold out. One place over the weekend told us to come back on Sunday at 8AM..... yeah right...I don't even get up to go to work that early. So today I stopped at another store on the way home....a voila...I found a store that had them. So I bought a Wii. And on my way out of the store I realized I was singing..."I've got a Wii Wii, I've got a Wii Wii". Ooops....better not sing that too loud :)

GRRRRRR

more animals

Love this...I growl at Lou all the time and ever since Paris I give him a Parisian growl.....Le Grrrrrr. He picks on me until I say it.

I spent 2 hours tonight cleaning the bedroom...hanging up clothes, dusting, sweeping...and I'm only half done. It's small room so that gives you an idea of how bad it was. So much was just left while I was doing the holiday shows. We threw out a wicker couch that was in the room. The cat had used it as her scratching post and the arms were all ripped up. Sometimes you just don't notice these things because you see it day in and day out. So out it went. Tomorrow night I play carpenter and fix the dresser because it's falling apart. Then I clean out the closets. I decided tonight that I am going to rip up the carpeting over the weekend. It is about 20 years old and disgusting. There is hardwood floors under the carpeting. Let's hope they are in good shape.

Drowning in e-mails...

and not the type I like. I love to get e-mails from family and friends, but in the past 2 weeks I have gotten tons of e-mails from any business I have ever in my lifetime bought anything from...trying to sell me something before Christmas. I've also gotten those e-mails from royalty of little know foreign countries asking for assistance in getting their money out of the country. Oh the promise of riches they make. I'm also getting e-mails from banks that I have never done business with telling me I need to contact them about my account. You can tell the economy is bad because the scam artists are working overtime.

Cleveland Handmade...

The Cleveland Handmade group is having a last minute show on Saturday evening....stop by and see all the great handmade items. Giving handmade is soooo much better than buying that last minute gift from Walmart. It means so much more to give something that an artist put their heart and soul into making.


Click here for more information...Cleveland Handmade

Etsy....

More things are posted on Etsy .... more to come. I've joined the Etsy Cleveland Street Team. It is a group of artists from the Cleveland Area that sell on Etsy. There is also a Cleveland Handmade website that list all the different area shows where artsits will be exhibiting. Hop over and take a look.

Life Never Fails to Disappoint...

and neither does greed, politics and bureaucracy. Last year Cris and I took a class from quite possibly the worst teacher I have ever had. No...that's not true....she WAS the worst teacher I have ever had. Take a look at my list of favorite teachers over on the right and you will know where the bar lies. Anyway...we did let the organization know what a horrible experience we had....teacher left the room multiple times, was gone for about an hour, equipment didn't work, supplies were in horrible shape, and the teacher for the most part laughed it off.....SKANK. This year's classes have been announced and guess what....did they remove that class for the list, did they remove her as a teacher....NOOOOOOO. They expanded the class to 2 days...OMG. I pity anyone who takes that class....what a waste. The best I can figure is there is more interest in making money than upholding standards. Greed and politics win out as they usually do.

Holiday Lights

Taken at Vivo in Chicago. These were so cool. When I looked up the website for this restaurant I discovered that there is a Vivo in Cleveland with the same menu. The food was fantastic. I will definetely be dragging Lou down there for dinner.

No bronze posted tonight...I am really tired and I have to play hostess at my departmental party tomorrow night. Talk to ya'll over the weekend.

Bronze on Etsy

I have a few pieces of the bronze on Etsy....more to come. It seems to take forever to take pictures, edit, and post. But I will chug along and get a few up every night until they are all there. Tomorrow is date night and Thursday I have our department party....but the weekend is free so I should have a bunch done by then.

Tilt-Shift

Check out this photo....it is real but has been manipulated to look like it is a miniature model. For more go to here.

Sue's Backside

So yesterday during lunch all I could see was Sue's ginormous backside. By Sue....I mean Sue the T. Rex at Chicago's Field Museum. She is the largest, most complete T. Rex discovered yet. 42 feet long and 13 feet high....that's one chic you don't want to mess with. Her head alone is 5 feet long.

But the big draw for me was the Aztec exhibit. It was well worth the time. Rather than focus on human sacrifice...which did occur, they focused on other aspects of their society like farming, arts, their warriors and high priests. It was interesting to see that pregnant women were considered the equivalent of a male warrior. A successful birth was considered the same as taking a captive in battle. A woman who died in childbirth was compared to men who died in battle and their spirits were believed to accompany the sun on its way towards sunset. They did cover the bloodier side of life. They brought home captives to be sacrificed to maintain harmony in the universe but when they captured villages they let the farmers live so they could help provide for the empire. Growing up on a farm...I thought that was interesting.

The capital city of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan, was where Mexico City now lies. The National Cathedral in Mexico city lies on the central square of Tenochtitlan. The majority of the ruins of the Aztec empire still lie beneath the modern day city and are still waiting to be discovered.

So I scoured the exhibit for patterns and texture. There were a couple of ceramic molds and stamps. I stood there and drooled over them....If only I could just have them for a few days....PLEASE :))

But I did manage to find a top to wear on New Year's Eve while I was there. I think it will go quite well with my black jeans and gold stilettos. I hope it doesn't pinch.

A Lion in Winter...

Every time I am in Chicago I take a picture of the lions in front of the Art Institute. They were all covered in snow this time.

A view of the gardens from inside the museum and outside. The snow puts a hush on all the city noises. It was sunny today so I decided to walk around the city and do some window shopping. Tomorrow the Aztec exhibit.

It wasn't me.......

I spent the day at the Art Institute of Chicago. What a great place. I always spend time here when I come to Chicago. I didn't go see my beloved impressionists but instead I spent most of the time in the Asian art section. I was checking out all the bronze pieces. Amazing. Plus there was alot of great textures and designs to be gleaned from those pieces. If only I could just slap some molding compound on them:)) So I was taking a picture of some stone tablets...



and instead of using the zoom I thought I would just get closer. And as only I can do.....I set off the alarm. IT WASN'T ME....I didn't touch it...but I guess I got too close. There was an attendant in the room....I just looked over and said..."too close...huh". She looked at me like I was an idiot and I started laughing. Oh well.

Below is a bronze bowl with little women at four corners to hold it up. I thought this was really cool. Wouldn't you just love to have something like this in your home?? I wish I could find reproductions of this stuff somewhere.



The museum also has a exhibit of tapestries until January 4th....Four Centuries of Europeon Tapestries


They were beautiful. It took 13 years for them to be restored. A company in Belgium did the work. They had a room that explained the restoration process which itself was amazing. They vacuum them and then exposed them to a mist and then suction the water out to remove even more dirt. They also special dye thread to match the tapestries so they can repair them. The immense size of these pieces are mind boggling. The one above is probably 12 feet high. My head came up to the soldiers waist. I sat and stared at one of a village scene and what amazed me is the shading that is done with thread. When a painter doesn't get it right, they can paint over or retouch the error. When a weaver doesn't get it right they have to take out all the threads. The tapestries are displayed under low light and for every month that they are on display they are "rested" for 1 year. These tapestries are going to be on display for 2 months which means they will be in put into storage for 2 years minimum. If you want to see them...get there before January 4th.

One other piece I wanted to share.....

Which one of my favorite teachers does this remind you of...if you are thinking Susan Lenart Kazmer...then you would be right. She spent time in Africa which is why some of her pieces have nails driven into them. They are to exhibit power.

I picked up a book on Assyrian and Babalonian art and found three other books that I have put on my wish list. It was a good day. Lou is so worried that I am by myself....I love these types of days when I can do things at my own speed and just be.

Now I understand....

why they call it the Windy City. We got here yesterday and it is the only day that we had to spend together. So we walked around...saw this great statue and right there on the street was a mounted policeman...my weakness....

....horses....I had the chance to go scratch his head. He must have liked it because he lowered his head so I could keep doing it. I grew up with horses but I haven't been around them since I was 16...but I still feel very comfortable around them. I have no qualms walking right up and petting them. The downside of my little love session with the horse was my hand smelled really...horsey. So we had to find a place where I could wash up. We stopped in to Bistro 110, some place I always stop at for a nice little lunch and a few drinks....

We walked around a bit and then went to dinner at Ballo. Excellent restaurant with huge portions!!! I ate too much. We walked around the city. It is all decorated up for the holidays...even the high rise condos.

This is marina city. We are staying just across the street from it. There is an art store in the lobby of the Westin and they have this amazing wire dress in the window. It is so delicate. It looks like a fairy dress.

Yesterday was a nice day but today was totally winter. Rain, sleet, snow and wind. But I went out anyways. I walked over to Bloomingdale's home store. It is in what used to be an old Shriner's Temple. It's a great building with onion domes at the two corners and stained glass windows all around. The domes are a feature seen on many religious buildings in Eastern Europe. I went in mostly to see the features of the building. There is a great dome in the center of the store on the third floor. The store itself is really nice. If I were rich I would be able to decorate my house very well. They have some beautiful pieces of furniture. These were on top of an entertainment unit. I can't figure if they are decorations or weapons or both.

Monday is suppose to be snowy so I will do something indoors. Probably the art museum. I usually spend my time looking at the impressionist, but this time I will be looking at the eastern art...looking for more inspiration for texture sheets.

Happy Thanksgiving...

to all of you. We spent the day at George and Sue's house. Sue cooked an amazing meal for about 20 people. All Lou's kids were there along with one of the grandchildren...Matty. Jason and Magaly announced that they are pregnant. It was good to spend the day together. We ended up playing Wii. I am hooked. I think we need to get one. I can see why they put straps on the controllers. It would be real easy to accidentally let go of it and send it crashing into the TV. I hope you all had a peaceful day surrounded by family and friends.

I am trying to design a logo picture. Here are a couple of my first attempts. Which one do you like??

Number 1

Number 2
I work Friday and then we are off to Chicago Saturday for Lou's conference. He is in meetings and dinners for the entire trip so I am virtually on my own except when he gets back from dinner. Most of the Lou's peers are stunned that I don't have a problem with being alone and most say their wives wouldn't put up with this.....but I like being on my own so I'm fine with it. Besides...he is there on business and it gives me an opportunity to sleep in, stroll around the city, window shop, museum hop....especially museum hop. I love the art museum and the natural history museum. There is an Aztec exhibit that I want to see and hopefully find some more patterns for texture sheets.

I wish I could go to Tucson....

I have used up all my vacation time at work and need to work out a deal with my boss to use some of my 2009 vacation so I can go to Chicago with Lou next week. But if I did have vacation I'd be heading to Tucson for the Gem Show in February. I haven't yet had the chance to go to this show but I'm sure it is mind-numbing to travel around to the various shows and see all the beads, gems, and what-not. But most of allI would love to go to Anne and Gail's Patina and Metals Workshop. Check it out if you are going to be there or even have an inkling that you might go to the Gem Show. Anne makes my short list of "Best Teachers" and will be receiving Bead and Button's Bead Excellence in Bead Artistry Award at the conference in June 2009. Gail is this amazing and creative artist that just seems to do it all. To say her work is beautiful is and understatement. They are both great people that I love to hang out with so I'm sure the class is going to be awesome.

I spent a long weekend in Tucson with Anne and Cris in August and it was such a great time to just hang with the girls and work side-by-side at Anne's house. I was thinking about that weekend today and I miss them both.

All Done...

I'm done with shows for the year and it feels great. I have the next 6 months to play...create new texture sheets, design new pieces, remodel the house...hell...clean the house...that would be a novelty. I also need to start applying for next year's shows. The brochures are already coming in.

The show was OK. I did better than last year which is good, but not as good as the ladies selling booze labelled sweatshirts across the aisle. And I think the ladies selling decoupage planters next to me did quite well too. I might need to rethink this show :)) But I made more doing this in 8 hours than I do at the hospital. They had a high school jazz combo playing 2 booths away from me. At one point I started laughing because of all the bad notes they were hitting. For the two hours they played I couldn't talk to any of the customers without yelling. I had one man look at my bronze pieces....then he asked me about my suppliers...wanted to know if I bought my stuff off the internet. Hello....I make all my pieces. I had a lady ask if I had any bronze in purple cause she had a purple shirt she wanted to match up. Go figure.

I was ripped off yet again.....$125 bracelet. What is wrong with people??Why can't they understand that artists work hard to make their money and the pieces are not mass produced by some machine but made with our heart, our spirit and our imagination. Go rip off Walmart and leave artists alone. I have one wish for the thief..... I wish that I see you some day with it on.....there's gonna be a smack down.


moar funny pictures

Pretty Maids All in a Row....

Some of the earrings I prepped for Sunday's show. Her name is Athena. I didn't name her. A very nice gentleman who was at the By Hand show gave her the name. He wanted to know where her image came from and I told him he would be disappointed when he found out......it's a mold of a button. But he liked then just the same. He bought his wife a pair.

More earrings...hoops with various textures.

This piece split in the kiln and everyone kept telling me how great it was. I added one of Meesh's bone beads.

A zen snowman :)

I am looking forward to getting this show over with. The house is a wreck. I need to clean it from top to bottom. You know things are bad when I look forward to cleaning. I also have some e-mails to answer. If I haven't gotten back to you yet....I will after this show.

Next Show

I'm getting ready for Sunday. I am doing a one-day show at Landerhaven. It benefits the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital....specifically the Drew's Beads Program. Children being treated for cancer get colorful ceramic beads for various milestones in their treatment. The strand of beads chronicals the process. One day shows are tough because you have to set up, do the show, and tear down all in the same day. It usually ends up being a 12-hours day. I'm always glad when they are over. How do people do this for a living?? It seems so exhausting.

So I used my last pack of bronze to make about 30 pairs of earrings. They sold so well at the last show. I fired a batch last night and the rest are firing tonight.

The next few weeks are going to fly by. We have a family dinner at my Mom's tomorrow night. Show on Sunday. Dinner at Lou's brothers on Thanksgiving. Saturday after we go to Chicago until the following Thursday. Back to work on Friday...Yikes. When I was in my 20s I remember thinking that I wanted to cram every second of my life with doing things and going places. Now I live for those weekends when I have nothing to do...but even those go by too quickly.