Jen's Wedding

My niece got married yesterday and I have pics.  The wedding took place in a converted warehouse in The Flats.  I loved the girders and rivets...of course.

My sister Nancy, Mom and me before the wedding.

Lou and I...he looks so happy...maybe it's the death grip I have on his neck.

Jenny and my brother Dave

Jenny and Chris.  Poor Chris was so nervous. They make a nice couple and I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Jenny was so beautiful.  Her dress was more of a cream color than the pictures show and it was beaded.  It was gorgeous.

A storm rolled through while we were there.  Here is a picture of the Justice Center across the river.  The clouds were black and rolling.

Dave giving a toast to Jen and Chris.  Check out the background. This was right on the river.  There's a tugboat in the background

A better picture of Lou...aka Sean Connery...at least that's what he tells me.

 My two brothers, Ed and Dave, and Mom.  For those of you that know my crazy side....now you know where I get it. 

Dave and Kathy dancing the night away.  Her dress was gorgeous too.

We all had fun.  It's great to spend time with the family.  We don't get to do it enough so I appreciate the time we get.

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What to do...what to do...

There is so much to do....work on the house, work in the yard, work it the studio.  It's frustrating not to be able to do it all.  But there are only some many hours in a day (24 I think) and I have to pick and choose. 

We hired someone to mow the lawn but that still leaves all the flower beds.  I've gradually been switching them over to things like hostas and other annuals that I don't have to plant every year.  But I still have to weed....and I haven't been into the beds in the back yard for three years.  It's weed heaven.  But I plan to make it a long term....all summer project. 

The house...that's a bigger project.  We've been here for 20+ years and most of the work had to be done on the outside.  It's beyond time to redo the inside.  But there are so many things that it's overwhelming.  I need to take the "how to eat an elephant" approach....One bite at a time.  Since repainting it best wth a top down approach....I guess painting the ceiling is first.  Time to tell Lou to paint the ceiling...HAHAHA.

Then there is art.  That's must every weekend.  I feel like I've missed something if I don't make it into the studio.  And you can see by the picture below that I have a great big pile of pieces that are calling my name...waiting to be made into jewelry.  

Today we have a wedding.  My niece is getting married.  It's an evening wedding dowtown.  I'm going to wear a dress for the first time in about 3 years...HA.  I prefer to think of myself as a Tom Boy but I did find a cute black and white polka dot dress....about as far away from Tom Boy as you can get.  I have a pair of killer shoes and a red purse.  I need to figure out my jewlery.  Bronze isn't going to go with this outfit.

Later.  There a silver necklace I need to finish and wear tonight.
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Time for a Change

I'm giving up metal clay.......(pregnant pause)...... so that I can do some assembly.  Assembly is too much of a manufactuing term.  I love the word assemblage but that usually refers to 3D compositions with found objects. I suppose if you really stretched the definition it could be used...but until I find a better word...assembly will have to do.

And we all know that I couldn't give up metal clay.  Bronze is in my blood....and it's not just because I do a lot of sanding..LOL.  Don't tell the safety police. 

I've spent the past few months working my way through a couple of kilo's of BronzClay.  Here's a portion of what I have stockpiled.

HeHe....It's fun just to rummage through the pieces.  But now it's time to turn them into necklaces and earrings....and maybe some bracelets.  I have some many cool African beads to go with these pieces.  I can't wait to get started. 
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I drank the kool-aid...and it was good

For my birthday, Lou got me an iPad. I'm not an apple. My big-girl computer is a PC. But I was sucked in by the lure of a traveling with a small pad rather than my larger laptop. When I travel, I really only want to blog and answer e-mails so this is perfect...and just in time for Bead and Button. Is it an extravagant toy...YES...but I'm worth it.

Besides...he made me buy dinner...LOL.
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Queen of Color

Yes...I am the (self-proclaimed) Queen of Color.  When Rachel was a little girl she proclaimed herself the Queen of Farts.  After living with her father for the past 24 years....I know where she got it from.  Now I am proclaiming to be the Queen of Color...and I have no idea where it comes from. 

Check out the colors that I got in the last 2 kiln firings.  The first firing gave me blues and reds.  I got some amazing texture on the large piece

The second firing just a day later gave me oranges and yellows.

For whatever reason I have making some really large pieces.  See the pic below.  The small piece in the picture is the size of a quarter....which shows you just how large this piece is.  It's awesome..LOL.

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New texture sheets...

I've been working on some new designs for texture.  Last night I finally created the texture sheets.  I have the polymer clay tear-away technique down to a science.  I get amazing results.  Too bad they are discontinuing the type of polymer clay that it takes to create these sheets.  They contain phthaltes which is considered hazardous and since polymer clay is used by kids the company has discontinued this line. Personally I don't understand why they can't continue to create this line for artists and market it as such. 

I must have 50-60 texture sheets.  I'm need to go through them and decide which are my favorites.  I will eventually etch them in copper.  I've also been thinking about getting some of them made into stamps.  Anyone interested in stamps??

Like a kid with a new toy I was anxious to use the new sheets.  I blew through 200 grams of bronze tonight.  Some of the pieces are huge.  The jewelry I've been making has evolved into larger pieces on longer chains with lots of embellishments in the chain.  The chain is where I include all the cool African pieces I've picked up at Bead Paradise. 

I still have to finish off all the pieces that I started tonight.  I should have pics later this week.


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Treasures

A couple of pics of the treasures I've picked up from Bead Paradise on Oberlin.  I love that store.  They sell on-line so if you want to pick up a few things check them out.

I'm off to a PMC Guild meeting today so there will be no time in the studio this weekend.  Maybe next weekend. I have a pile of bronze to assemble. 
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Cold hearted orb that rules the night.....

That's a line from a Moody Blues song...Friday night was not kind to me....metal clay wise.  Everyting that I touched was a disaster.  Saturday wasn't much different.  Did you ever have a day...or two like that? 

I have been playing with bracelets and keep breaking them prior to getting them into the kiln.  And it's not because they are too thin.  I rolled out a bracelet at 11 cards thick but as it dried it started cracking.  This is what I think is happening...as it dries, the clay shrinks about 5% and because of the weight of an 11 card thick bracelet, the clay itself is having had a hard time physically moving so it cracks to relieve the stress and allow the clay to move.  Plus it seems to dry out very quickly on the edges and remains wet in the middle.

So out of two bracelets on Friday night, I balled one back up and am trying to recondition the clay to make it useable.  The other I total shattered trying to sand it.  I couldn't overcome the cracks.  On Saturday I tried another one. Again...cracks...but I was able to remove them and on the final sanding of the interior of the bracelet I broke it in three pieces. 

So I thought...lemons...lemonade.  I fired all three pieces thinking I would rivet them together but again the clay Gods would not be appeased.  The size of the pieces were so different that they shrunk at different rates.  Putting these pieces together will take some thinking. 

I did manage to make three pieces that didn't totally flop.  Two of those were from a mold.  Hard to screw those up.

Hmmm...I think I'll do some drawing this week.
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Death Star Canteen

Cake or Death?...For my friends...you know who you are