Gail's Tales...and Jewelry Designs

A Bead Paradise kind of day....

2012-01-30T00:27:00.000-05:00

Some of the girls took a field trip to Bead Paradise today. Katie, Deb, Heidi, Terri, Carolyn, Brenda, Deb and I ventured out to Oberlin for the January sales which go until Tuesday. I am convinced this is the best bead store ever!! We had such fun. Unfortunatley Ruth wasnt there today...she's out in Tucson. But her girls took really good care of us.

I think we were in the shop for about 2 hours. I told Ruth once that I wanted to have a slumber party in her store....that would be the only way that I would get to see everything there. Katie and I looked at a lot of artifacts from Africa. Here are a few pieces I picked up.

I've been wanting an African Mask for the studio, and I'm still on the look-out for a wooden one. But this brass one caught my eye. It's about 6" tall.

I'm also going to hang this on the wall too. I have not idea what it is...it's braided leather and has coins from the Belgian Congo.

And of course I decided to put them on my head. It somehow seemed appropriate.

I wasn't the only one trying head pieces on. Here is Katie trying on a winter hat....You look marvelous girl!!!

This is an incense burner from Ethiopia. Lou might steal this one from me. He burns incense when he's in his cave.

I have no idea what this is...but I liked it. It looks like an animal head.

This is a kohl applicator from Morocco. Kohl was...and still is...used for embellishing the eyes. It's use dates back to the bronze age.

Silver beads from Ethiopia. These are for me. I want to make some bracelets. I have a thing for bracelets these days.

We went to Waia Teia for a lesurely lunch. All in all it was a great day!

OH...except for one thing.....I got a speeding ticket on the way there....go figure...79 in a 65. I realized that my mind was racing....and my foot was to the floor. Every couple of years I get a ticket just to remind me to slow the fuck down. The only high point about it. The cop looked like Matt LaBlanc. Now I was never into Matt LaBlanc when he was on Friends....but I kinda like the older, grayer version...he has a Cary Grant vibe going on....and I have always loved Cary Grant.

Spool Holder for Chain....

2012-01-27T01:18:00.000-05:00

If you use a lot of chain in your designs...you may have spools of chain all over the place... like I do. I found a really cool spool holder at Wisteria. They have pretty ribbons on theirs...really expensive pretty ribbons.

The overall dimensions were listed but not the distance between each peg. So I measured the picture and and did a few extrapolations and decided that this just might work. I got it today and it's perfect. It's iron so it's heavy...especially when you put all the chain on it. But it's going to help keep all my chain in one spot.

Keeping Up...

2012-01-24T23:48:00.000-05:00

I feel like I'm drowning in things to do. How do I keep up with e-mail, Facebook, Etsy, reading my favorite blogs, writing my blog, and the latest new social media toy...Pinterest. And those are just the things I do when I am sitting on my butt in front of the TV....which is a lot more time than it should be.

Then there is my real life activities...as opposed to the virtual ones on the computer. Family, friends, work, exercise, my art, reading books, the house and all the chores that come with it. Recently I've found it overwhelming. Something has to give. If I had the choice it would be work...LOL. Then I would have time to do all the fun stuff.

I guess this is where setting priorities comes in. I have to pare down what I do to the most important and essential. I just haven't decided what those are yet....I haven't made setting priorities a priority :o Work obviously stays. It's what allows me to do all the fun stuff. I have to get into a regular routine of exercise...that's my commitment to myself. Art also has to stay...it's my passion and keeps me sane.

Mindless Internet surfing and TV have to go. LOL...over the weekend I was up until 3AM on Saturday night watching a Benji move...Benji!! I get sucked into a story and I have to see the end. Even with movies I've seen before. Time to stop being an electronic zombie.

I need to limit the number of e-mails I get. I clear out my mailbox and by the next day I have over 100 e-mails. To much advertising and e-mails lists. Time to opt out.

For some reason Timothy Leary's phrase...Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out seems to be fitting. Not in the way that it was originally interpreted by the drug culture of the 60's. But in my way...being present, focusing in, and opting out of the extraneous noise in life. I guess I just set my priorities.

I did get some time in the studio this weekend. I had previously made a bunch of molds from some artifacts and amulets. Here are some of the pieces straight out of the kiln....you can still see some of the carbon stuck in the nooks and crannies.

This first pendant was made from a vintage textile block I found on Etsy. I added faux rivets to the piece and used a triangle needle file to carve out the open spaces.

This was the block and mold that I made this from. If it was oiled up enough I could also impress this directly into the clay.

This pieces was made from a vintage die mold that I found on Etsy. This one was easier in that I just pressed the clay directly onto the mold (pictured below). I put faux rivets in all the little divots around the edge....and luckily they all stuck.

I bought a handful of Buddha amulets from....Etsy. I molded most of them. The amulets themselves are clay. They are really cool but too fragile to use directly.

The next two I left without a bail or hole for hanging. I am going to use real rivets and mount these on sheet metal or maybe silver PMC.

This one came from a really cool coin that I got on.....say it all together now....Etsy. It's an Indian temple token from the 1700's

It's funny...I've looked at a lot of pictures on Pinterest this week of "masters" and "excellence" in metal clay. There is no doubt that a lot of work was put into those pieces to make them complex, perfect, polished and gorgeous.

LOL....There is a lot of work put into my pieces to make them look wonky, old, scratched, and beat up. Sometimes I sand down the details. I decide on a direction of wear and run files across the pieces to scratch them up. I use an exacto knife to up-end the edges and chip pieces out of them.

(Heavy Sigh)....as always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
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Mold Making Monday

2012-01-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was off work...waiting for the delivery guys to show up. After 30 years I finally bought a new bedroom dresser and night stand. I bought from a local furniture store that sells pieces for Yutzy's Woodworking. Yutzy's is located in Millersburg Ohio and the pieces are Amish made. It took 8 weeks for the pieces to be made but it was well worth the wait. They are gorgeous and the craftsmanship is outstanding.

It's so nice to have drawers that glide open silently rather than ones I have to yank, pull and tug on. It's also going to be nice to not have sawdust on my clothes. The old pieces are antiques....which in this case just means OLD. I had glued and nailed and put both pieces back together more times than I want to remember. The last straw was when I went to open up one of the drawers and the whole front of it pull off in my hands. Hence...new furniture.

So, while I waited for them to show up I pulled out the molding material and went to work. I found some interesting wooden print blocks from India on Etsy.

I also found an Etsy shop that sells Buddha amulets. The shop is based in Thailand.

I also have some small brass African masks. There was a DUH moment here. Not an AHA moment because there was no epiphany involved. It was more of an....I have been so stupid moment. Usually when I make molds it involves pressing the item down into the molding material. When they are relatively flat...like coins...this works well. When they have high relief or have a shape other than flat it becomes a problem.

I have been stuck in the way I do things. I've always put the molding material on a flat surface and pressed into it. Sometimes with deeper things I pressed right through the molding material. It never dawned on me to pick up the molding material and press it onto the item I'm molding. I did this with the mask since it was deep and rounded. You can see that the molding material is cupped around the mask.

Love those DUH moments.
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Make your own mud cloth

2012-01-16T20:43:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun site at the Smithsonian...Discovering Mudcloth. You can design your own mud cloth with their interactive software. Fun!! And you can print out the design to use for making texture sheets or etch copper plates for your metal clay designs.

Priorities....

2012-01-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of every year people talk about resolutions and set their priorities for the year. I would have done this New Year’s Eve but I was too busy drinking champagne and wrapping balloons around my head. I was having a good time. We all had a good time.

So I’ve been thinking about my priorities for the year. What I want to accomplish…things I want to learn. We do this at work. This year it is mandatory to write an IDP….Individual Development Plan. Organizations do this at a very high level….they write strategic plans….but they usually don’t require each and every employee to do this. The employee’s IDP’s has to align with the goals of the organization. The idea is that if all the employees have goals aligned with the overall organization then the organization has the collective momentum of everyone moving toward the same goals.

So if I have to write one for work I should at least give some thought about my personal goals. There are so many things I want to do, books I want to read, jewelry I want to make, places I want to go. I need another lifetime. I don't have the time to do everything so it's time to prioritize....to figure out what is important....what direction I want to take....at least for now.

Maybe my first priority should be to not wrap balloons around my head.
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Bead and Button classes

2012-01-09T13:04:00.000-05:00

Registration opens tomorrow. Don't forget that Cristina Leonard and I are teaching 4 classes at B&B.

Metal Etching 101 is on Wednesday evening

Riveting: A Keepsake Pendant is both Friday evening and Sunday morning

And the Mixed-Metal Layered Acid Etched Pendant is all day Saturday

I've been going to Bead and Button for what seems like ages. Probably from the 3rd show that they ever held. I've only missed one since I started attending. This will be the 12th year for the show. The first was in Portland and all the rest have been in Milwaukee.

Cris and I meet there about 4-5 years ago. We took a class together...in fact it was a class with Anne Mitchell. We struck up a conversation and we've been BFF's ever since. Every year after that we've managed to take most if not all our classes together. This year is a new adventure for us in that we are teaching....and it's going to be a blast!!!!! There are quite a few basic techniques being taught in each of our classes and we're going to make it fun. So sign up early and often. :))

If you've never been to Bead and Button you really need to go. They advertise it as the biggest consumer bead show in the world and they are right on that. I've been to quite a few bead shows and this is the largest and by far the best. There are over 750 classes over 10 days and the vendor exhibit has over 360 booths. First time attendees usually get blown away by the size, choices, and the shopping...and shopping....and shopping.

I still get blown away. It's an extended week of catching up with old friends and making new ones.....of learning new techniques and making some really great jewelry pieces....and buying lots of treasures in the vendor exhibit. At the end of it I am exhausted...but a good exhausted....fill with lots of memories.

Buddha Amulets

2012-01-08T21:48:00.000-05:00

I've been collecting Buddha's lately. I picked up some clay amulets from Thailand. Which I could say I picked them up myself...but I had them shipped. Time to pull out the molding material.

11 days of nothing....

2012-01-04T23:21:00.000-05:00

I recently had 11 days off from work and now I'm trying to remember what exactly I did during that time. Of course we did go through Christmas and New Year's. But with 11 days off I should have been able to remodel the house, design 2-3 new jewelry lines, write a book....or at least read one.

What did I do??? I relaxed...big time. I slept...something I'm very good at. I watched movies. I played way way too much Angry Birds. I found some really cool things on Etsy (just got a shipment of clay Buddha pendants from Thailand today). I did start formulating some ideas about new pieces of jewelry. And I've narrowed down some colors for the bedroom...finally.

I was going to rip out the carpeting but then decided it's better to leave it down since we are going to paint. Better to spill paint on the old carpeting. I was going to start painting the ceiling but then realized that I want a new ceiling fixture. Best to replace that first.

So I've got a starting point and hopefully this weekend we will start on remodeling the bedroom. The color palette is based on this picture from Olympic paints. I'll use two colors on the walls...earthy cane and willow tree...both earthy greens. Now I have to talk Lou into painting this weekend.

What I almost got for Christmas

2011-12-25T22:55:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! I picked my sister up at the airport on Friday night and Saturday morning we headed to my Mom's house. We spent Saturday and today eating, watching movies, eating, talking, eating.....and more eating. I definitely need to get back to Weight Watchers after this weekend.

The best present was being able to spend time with my family. Mom pulled out a couple of old photo albums when Dad was in the army during WWII and Mom had just graduated from high school. Those photos are priceless. I'll have to post a few here when I get them scanned.

So on the way home tonight I almost got another present. Lou and I hadn't been on the freeway for long when I saw flashing lights behind me....OH GOD....I looked down at the speedometer and I was going 80. I wasn't paying attention and it is so easy with the cars these days to go fast and not realize it. The officer was very nice....he reminded me that the limit was 65 and I apologized and told him it just "got away from me". He took my license and told me as long as it checked out he would let me go with a warning. Lucky for me that he had the Christmas spirit. And I heard him exclaim as I pulled out of sight....try to keep it under 90 mph. LOL....he really did say that.

I put the cruise control on the rest of the ride home.
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2011-12-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

I was so happy to leave work yesterday that I was dancing in the elevator...luckily I was the only one in it. It's been brutal lately and it all came to a head these last few days. We finalized a $12 million grant that was the most complicated thing I have done in 15 years. It was a massive project and trying to manage all the doctors and scientists involved was like herding cats.

I decided that I need a break....so I'm not going back to work until January 3rd. I have 11 straight days with no grants, budgets, or scientists. As I walked out.....I had a smile from ear to ear....and that's when I started dancing.

Today I'm cleaning house, doing laundry and getting ready for Christmas. My sister flys in tonight from Montana. Presents aren't part of the picture for us anymore. It's more importnat just to spend time together. We talk, watch movies, and eat....family life revolves around food. Meals are what bring us all together in the same place.

So I'm going to dance my way around the house, finish the laundry, and enjoy my time off.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year.

Last Minute Market...SATURDAY

2011-12-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

The Last Minute Market....my last show for the season..really just my second show for the season. This one is a really cool show. The Screw Factory is a factory turned into artists lofts and then an additional 65 artists come in for the day to sell all their cool stuff the Saturday before Christmas.

If you look close at the flyer...those are my earrings in upper left corner....YAY!!
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Colors...

2011-12-12T20:59:00.000-05:00

I sound like a broken record but the colors that come out of the kiln on the original bronze never ceases to amaze me. It's the same carbon I have been using for 3+ years. I let it sit out in the open and absorb everything in the laundry room. My reward for this abuse is tons of color.

Of course a lot of it will disappear once I polish these. But an underlayer of color will remain on the textured surfaces.

Buddah has a broken neck. I saw the crack when I was sanding this piece so I added clay to the back and a small snake to the front. It still cracked a little when I fired it but without the extra clay it may have cracked wide open. I tried breaking it. It's strong...just a happy accident to make it look old.

This is the Parisii coin that I have been working with for a couple of years. I first made it with a polymer clay texture sheet. Back in October, Holly Gage came to town to teach her repousse class. I decided to work with the coin again. I made it in silver in class and now in bronze. The next thing I want to do in repousse is the stylized horse that was on the other side of this coin.

This was a piece I had sitting on the bench for a while. It has an African pattern on it but you can't see it because of all the color on the piece.
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Firing up the kiln...

2011-12-12T00:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't been in the studio for about a month. Work has been so insanely intense these last few weeks. We are submitting a $12 million grant for cancer research. I am totally wiped when I get home. I can't wait until this thing gets submitted.

So I slept 12 hours Friday night and had lots of energy to work in the studio. I meant to go in and clean it but instead I made new bronze pieces. I put a few in the kiln tonight.

Ready for Winter....

2011-12-07T23:39:00.000-05:00

Ben is!! He looks so good in scarves.

12 years together

2011-12-06T22:52:00.000-05:00

Well...really it's 24. Lou and I have been together for 24 years...married for 12. He asked me to marry him within the first year and I said "No... not yet". He told me he wouldn't ask again. So when I was finally ready... I started dropping hints...and more hints.

He wasn't getting it?? He's not stupid....he just refused to ask me. He finally said...."Do you want to get married...is that what you want?" And I said "Yes"...and a few other choice words for yanking my chain.

But we're like that...constantly teasing each other about something. It's flirting. We still flirt with each other after 24 years.

This was a second marriage for both of us so we eloped... and got married in a cave north of Santa Fe. We hiked 2 miles out into the desert to a place called Windows in the Earth.

Inside this massive sandstone butte is a shrine. It looks out over the Ojo Caliente River Valley and the Jemez Mountains. It's a beautiful place and it was a beautiful day. The next day is snowed 2" so our timing was perfect.

It was just Lou and I....and the minister...and the photographer...and the videographer...and the woman who helped us plan it...and the van driver...and I think there was someone else. All our closest friends....LOL.

Our finery for the day amounted to blue jeans and hiking boots....just like I wanted it. I did manage to wear a pearl necklace and Mary, my friend from work, gave me an old handkerchief with blue embroidery to carry.

So last weekend we celebrated out time together, looked at the wedding pictures, and talked about everything we've done together...and what we want to do in the future.

A little something extra....

2011-11-30T23:50:00.000-05:00

When I first started working in bronze, I hung the pendants from simple chains. About 2 years ago I started mixing different sizes of chain and adding little beads here and there. A little something to catch the eye.

I spent the last 6 weeks prepping for an art show. And during that time I saw my necklace designs evolve. I no longer liked a little something....I found myself drawn to necklaces that had a lot more to them. Probably because I have all these beads hanging on my wall that are just screaming to be included in a design.

Here are some of the pendants and necklaces I made over the last 6 weeks. I made good use of all those beads.

Beaded Shoes....

2011-11-30T20:12:00.000-05:00

An awesome pair of beaded shoes by Christian Louboutin. No idea how much they cost but I'm sure I can't afford them. And even if I could I wouldn't be able to walk in them without falling over.

I like the next two better...especially the brown pair...with the Indian mirror embroidery... called Shisha. I'd like some of that fabric for a purse. I've been fascinated with making purses since the last Project Accessory.

Good Theft vs. Bad Theft

2011-11-27T12:09:00.000-05:00

Theft is never a good thing. In the context that Austin Kleon uses the words "theft" and "steal"... they are more like hipster terms for where/how you find your inspiration and creativity. Austin is really interesting. I've been following his Tumblr feed and I'm looking forward to his book "Steal Like an Artist".

People ask me where my inspiration comes from. I think it comes from the sum total of everything I see, hear, smell, feel, read, love, etc. It all goes into my brain and percolates somewhere in the dark cob-webbed corners and then comes tumbling out again when I sit down to create.

Sometimes it's good, sometimes it bad. We all strive for the good...for originality.
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The Cure for Black Friday...Salvation Army Saturday???

2011-11-26T12:56:00.000-05:00

Getting pepper sprayed over discontinued toys.....rioting over $2 waffle irons....REALLY. I find the whole phenomena of Black Friday disgusting. Holiday shopping the day after Thanksgiving is nothing new, but the "Jerry Springer" mentality that a good portion of this country has....has brought it to new lows. I mean really people....how many of you are going to make waffles once you have that waffle iron. Or are you more the type to pop an Eggo into the toaster. The panic that occurs on Black Friday is something that is created by retailers, usually over stuff that nobody really needs. But we've been brought up on greed....he who has the most toys wins. So masses of people go out to push, fight, pepper spray, and shoot our way through the crowds. Not exactly what celebrating Thanksgiving is all about.

I spent Black Friday cleaning out my closet. We all need to clean out our closets now and then. I needed to get rid of clothes that no longer fit...but I usually clean it out once a year anyway. So today I'm on my way to Savation Army to give away 5 bags of clothes.

What would happen in this country if we all cleaned out the "things" we no longer need or use and give them to a charity that could use them or resell them?? Or if you must go shopping.....how about giving an equal donation to charity?? I know, I know....my bleeding heart is showing.

But think about it....think about the change we could make in our country if we all just remembered that Thanksgiving is about family, giving thanks for what we have, and helping others who may not have anything.

I'm loading the car up and I'm off to Salvation Army. See you later.
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Repousse Class

2011-11-19T13:10:00.000-05:00

A few weekends back I took a repousse class with Hollly Gage. Great class. The technique is something that I've been wanting to try on the coin pendants that I have been creating. Here is the result.

The first one came out OK. It was the result of just learning the process and getting a feel for how much pressure is needed on the mold to get a good impression.

This second one is much better. I had a better feel for how to do it to get a good impression and I put more work into the surface texture to give it a hand hammered look.

It was a fun class and Holly is a great teacher!! I really want to see her come back to Cleveland to teach her pod class. And bring Chris....his gourmet lunches were gooooood!!
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It's all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye....

2011-11-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

I ended up in the emergency eye clinic this week. I took a hit in the eye with the hook of a bungee cord while setting up for the show. I was having some symptoms of a detached retina so I decided not to take any chances....and after many friends yelled at me....I went to the eye clinic.

Interesting procedure to examine the retina....she had to put pressure on the eye and look at it under a bright light with a opthalmascope. She took two long cotton tipped swabs and pushed on my eye from various sides....oh that was so much fun. The good news is that she couldn't see any rips or tears. The bad news is that I now have a large floater in that eye. It's annoying but I guess I can get used to it. Hopefully it will dissipate with time.

And I found out I have a cataract in the other eye. Woo Hoo...I'm getting old!!!!

You don't see stuff like this at Michael's.....

2011-11-14T22:12:00.001-05:00

We all have stories of comments that are made to us or that we've overheard while doing a show. I remember two years ago at Cain Park I overheard some guy wondering about the price for a booth because he wanted to sell his old t-shirts.

Well....this show was no different. It went something like this....

Lady: Where to you get the pieces to make your jewelry? I can't find anything like this at Michael's

Me: That's probably because these are all handmade by me out of bronze. Most of the embellishments on the necklaces are artifacts from Africa.

Lady: Ohhhhh. Well you just don't see stuff like this at Michael's.

Would "No Shit, Sherlock" have been an inappropriate response?? I just smiled and laughed.... politely.
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By Hand Show...Success

2011-11-14T19:52:00.001-05:00

The show is over. It was a good one for me. Good thing since I'm only doing two shows this year. It's a lot of work and I don't know how some of the artist do 30+ shows a year. But set-up and take-down become routine. Although this year I almost had a CSI moment. It got hit in the eye with the hook on a bungee cord when I was setting up. It hurt like crazy and my vision in that eye is a little blurred now. I think I have a visit to the eye doctor in my future.

Talking with the other artists is a high point for me. I was across from Paul for the 2nd year...he's does amazing encaustic paintings. I was fortunate to have this as my view across the aisle for 3 days.

I was also able to catch up with Tim and Marsha from Studio by Ski and Joanne and Dave from Wren Works.

There was a fantastic carving of an amoured horse on exhibit. The artist, Joe Leonard, carved 17 different armoured horses for the carousel at Euro Disney.

Another huge piece was a dinosaur made by Roland Paronish.

Brandon Holschuh was there. He has some amazing new work...gemstones in metal geodes. They are really cool and he's making stands that go with the jewlery that make them sculptural pieces when you aren't wearing them.

It was an intense 6-weeks getting ready for this show but it really hit me how my work evolved over that time period. I realize that I have to spend time each week in the studio to keep my work moving forward.

My next show is December 17th at The Screw Factory in Lakewood. I have so much stock that I don't think I will need to make more before the show but I will...because I still have a pile of bronze pendants just calling to me.

au revoir...bye bye
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Photo Essay....Fail

2011-11-10T20:55:00.001-05:00

I was going to put up a photo essay of my booth construction. I thought it might be fun to see it take shape. I got two photos into it and my battery went dead. Here's what I have....

So here's a picture from last year. The booth looks essentially the same.

Come see me at the IX Center in Cleveland. 10-7 Friday and Saturday. 10-6 Sunday.

And Monday I will be sleeping in!!!
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Off the Grid

2011-11-06T19:45:00.002-05:00

I have really been off the grid lately. I am exhibiting at the By Hand Show at the IX Center next weekend. The show runs November 11-13th.

This has been my schedule for the last 6 weeks.

Wake up
Shower
Get dressed
Feed the cats
Go to work
Come home
Feed the cats
Eat
Go into the studio and work, work, work
Sleep
Rinse
Repeat

Occasionally I see Lou. The other night he came into the studio and said he will be glad when this show is over.....he misses me....AAWWW!! I miss normal life....but I have put together quite a few pieces. 100 earrings and about 90 necklaces....not that I will sell all this at the show....wouldn't that be nice. But I have another show on December 17th and I will be re-stocking the Etsy shop once this weekend is over.

Talk to you later.
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Tribal Bells....

2011-10-23T00:32:00.002-04:00

I have an entire huge strand of bells from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria. I'm using them to make necklaces just in time fo the holidays.... Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells!!

This started out as a drawer pull. I picked up the master in Tucson. This one is made from bronze and hammered for a dappled texture.

The writing on this pendant is from a tablet in the Louvre. I hand drew the tablet from a photo that I took and etched a copper sheet that I use for texture in the bronze clay. I started cutting windows out....I have no idea why...but it reminds me of the windows in a high rise building. It has both an ancient and modern look.

This bad boy is an Aja Vaz bead....so cool . I have 2 more....I think I need to make one of these for me!!!

Close-up of the necklace. It has bronze pieces, turquoise (which is actually the brown bead), Roman glass, Dogon glass donuts from Mali, some teeny-tiny ceramic beads and a wood bead inlaid with silver and copper spirals.
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More work...with beads

2011-10-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

There is something that feels so right about putting beads in with my bronze work. I've said it before...it's like coming home to me since I started stringing beads. THEY...COMPLETE....ME....sniff....sniff.

Order Out of Chaos

2011-10-16T00:17:00.000-04:00

My workbench turns into such chaos when I'm working. I was thinking that I needed a bunch of small containers to hold all the little pieces parts and then I remembered I had something that would work. I was cleaning out an empty lab a few months back and found these tiny petri dishes. They were headed for the dumpster so I brought some home. I knew I would find a use for them.

A few pieces that came out of the studio this week.

And what bench would be complete without some phallic beads?

Steal Like an Artist

2011-10-15T00:13:00.000-04:00

A while ago I stumbled on Austin Kleon's blog and a post called How to Steal Like an Artist. A number of his points resonated with me. Nothing is original. What we create is a distillation of the things we have been exposed to, the things that we are drawn to and the things that we collect.

When looking for inspiration, grab that thing that sets you on fire...that thing that Jim Jarmusch refered to as "speaking directly to your soul" and run with it. Or as Twyla Tharp put it...."run like hell". Use it, refine it, revise it, riff on it until you are sick of it and then move on to your next inspiration.

Austin recently gave a talk at The Economist's Human Potential Summit. I thought I would share it.

New Lickables....Beads That Is.....

2011-10-12T23:22:00.000-04:00

I mentioned before that I'm throwing non-metal beads into the mix when I'm designing. And with all the beads that I have in the house you would think that I could find some that would work. But my beads are all sparkly and shiny and colorful. My current work is matte and earthy.

So I blew out of work and rushed to my FAVORITE bead store....Bead Paradise ... before they closed. I picked up some new lickables. Ruth showed me some fantastic strands of rare antique brass beads from the Ivory Coast. The were so amazing. I would have licked them but she probably would have thrown me out of the store...LOL. Unfortunately, I will have to love them from afar since they were way out of my price range...for now. I borrowed a picture from her. Here is one of the strands. You can see more on her website under Baulle Metal Beads.

So I bought a stash of very earthy beads to design with.....

and a few metal beads as well....I have no self-control....it's just sad...

These babies are bronze and awesome!!!

I've been in the studio for about 2 weeks straight. I took a break the last two nights. With this new stash I will be back into the studio for another couple weeks and should be ready for my November show.

Is it true you are DEAD??

2011-10-10T12:26:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I just love spam e-mail. I got this one today....

Re: Payment Notification:

We are writhing to know if it's true that you are DEAD. Because we received a notification from one Mr. Bob Chantler of USA stating that you are DEAD and that you have giving him the right to claim your US$ 5.5M funds. He stated you died on a CAR accident last week. He has been calling us regarding this issue, but we cannot proceed with him until we confirmed this by not hearing from you after 3 working days. Be advised that we have made all arrangements for you to receive your funds of US$ 5.5M without anymore stress, and without any further delays.

Kindly reconfirm the below information’s if you are not dead and also get back to this Office for immediate delivery of your fund at your home address.

1. Your house address
2. Your Full name
3. Phone Number,
4. Age
5. Male/Female
6. Occupation
7) A copy of your ID

All we need to confirm now is your been DEAD or still Alive. Because this Man messaged brought shock to our minds. And we just can't proceed with him until we confirmed if this is a reality OR not but if it happened we did not hear from you after 3 days, and then we say: MAY YOUR SOUL REST IN PERFECT PEACE"

YOU'R JOY AND SUCCESS REMAINS OUR GOAL. May the peace of the Lord be with you wherever you may be now?

Yours faithfully,
Rev Father Augustan Goodluck.

I never answer these but I couldn't resist this one. I answered....

YES, I am DEAD. Now let me Rest In Peace!!
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New Shows, New Work

2011-10-10T00:26:00.001-04:00

I've just listed two shows that I have coming up. In November I will be at the By Hand Show at the IX center and in December I'm at the Last Minute Market. So I've been busy designing pieces. Every night after work I'm in the studio. All weekend long I am in the studio.

Mostly I'm designing the finished pieces but every now and then I hop over to the metal clay bench to make a few extra accent beads. The kiln is firing right now with pieces parts.

I'm really liking the things I'm designing right now...that's sounds funny. For about a week I was blocked....artistically speaking. I sat in the studio and just stared at things. But then it started to flow. I had to pull all the beads down off the wall and start mixing and matching. The pieces are really coming together nicely.

Here are a few pieces from this week.

BIG NEWS!!

2011-10-09T14:24:00.002-04:00

You've heard me talk about the Bead and Button Show before. I've been going to it for the last 8-9 years. I've learned a lot of what I know from classes at this show. I have friends around the country that I've met here....including my best friend Cris Leonard. With Cris and I it was practically love at first sight. We are so in tuned that the joke at the show is we are connected by an invisible umbilical cord. Going back to the show every year is a wonderful combination of learning new things and catching up with old friends.

The June 2012 show will be a whole new experience. Cris and I will be TEACHERS!!! We submitted three classes and they have scheduled us in for FOUR. They want us to teach one of them twice. The show draws 14,000 people from all 50 states and 40 different countries. It is the premiere show for this industry. I'm stunned, giddy, honored, excited, speechless (well...maybe not speechless). Cris called me on Friday to let me know and we were both screaming on the phone.

It's going to be fun...because if there is anything that Cris and I are...when we are together...it's FUN. The classes are great. We will teach students the basics...sawing, riveting, drilling, etching, texturing, patinas, and more. Below are the pics for our classes. Come join us. Have some fun and learn a lot!!

Full Circle

2011-10-02T22:13:00.000-04:00

When I started making jewelry, I created beaded necklaces...seed beads, Czech glass, silver daisy spacers. My signature style was three-stranded necklaces. They were verrrry symmetrical.

I moved on to making bracelets and necklaces with lampwork beads. I still have a number of pieces that I want to put up on Etsy. And I have a ton of lampwork beads I still need to do something with.

When I started working with bronze metal clay, I felt like I had really found my voice. Over the past three years it has evolved little by little. This weekend it felt like I came fill circle. When I go to the bead store I'm still drawn by the beads and recently I picked up a few strands and they ended up in this piece.

And this piece.....where I mixed up the beads with chain and bronze accent pieces.

How You Doing??

2011-10-02T21:29:00.000-04:00

Let the chaos begin....

2011-09-27T21:21:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of my workbench. As much as I try...I can't keep it clean while I'm designing. Neatness and creativity don't exist at the same time in my world.
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Check out the beads Lenny Kravits is wearing...

2011-09-26T22:28:00.000-04:00

YEAH....like I'm looking at the beads.....LOL.

Holly Gage Classes in Cleveland...Seats Available

2011-09-24T22:13:00.000-04:00

In this 2-day class, learn the secrets of transforming original photos or drawings into highly detailed, low relief images, which look similar in style to traditional Repoussé. Discover how to wet-work a reverse polymer mold of your image; manipulate silver metal clay and use tools to create different hand-wrought textural effects; and to carve details for the finishing touch.

Dates: October 27-28 & October 29-30, 2011

Cost: $195

For more information: http://www.metalclayclassesincleveland.blogspot.com/ or contact Katie Hanrahan at katieskreations@yahoo.com
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Big, Big, Big...Bad Ass Beads

2011-09-13T20:08:00.000-04:00

These are spindle whorl beads. Here is the description of them.

These come from ancient Mopti-Djenne (Niger and Bani River area). Reports coming from the 1300s say that one could not speak in a normal tone due to the noise of the weavers' looms at Djenne during the time of the great King Sundjata. There are written comments dating to the early 1400s about Djenne and the great number of weavers there. Although often collected and strung as beads, these were originally spindle whorls used to help spin thread. Made of clay and stone and incised with geometrical patterns, they are recognizable by their enlarged central hole. Recent excavation in the old city of Jenne-Jeno, near the modern town of Jenne, show these whorls to have been used at least since AD 1000.

I got these in an auction. I’ve been looking at similar beads and finally decided to go for it. I didn’t realize how big they were. Of course I should have paid attention to the description that stated they were "HUGE". They came in a large box and I thought…”Oh how nice, the company really took a lot of care in packing them".

I pulled out all the packing paper and finally got down to the package of beads...the size of a dictionary....like the ones they have in libraries.....the ones that weight like 20 lbs. Well, I knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. These ARE huge. These are "one bead to a necklace" type of beads. Otherwise you'll end up with a dowager hump.

I told you they were HUGE!!! HA!! But they are awesome. I made some bronze end caps with a mud cloth decoration on them to go with them.

I ran across a link to a pictorial on The Making of Modern Spindle Worls in Mali. It's really interesting and reminds me in many ways of working with metal clay...but on a much larger scale. Check it out. make sure you click on the arrows at the bottom of the pages so you see all the pictures from start to finish.
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Laundry Room Carbon....

2011-09-05T13:01:00.000-04:00

I've long had this theory that my carbon gives colors because I keep it in the laudry room, just sitting in a bowl absorbing all the smells in the laundry room. I also occassionally keep it next to the cat litter...absorbing whatever...LOL. I've had two people e-mail so far to say they are getting colors since they moved their carbon to the laundry room or next to their cat litter. Carbon absorbs and when it gets fired it puts all that it absorbs into the firing.....at least that's my theory.

Here are some of the pieces I fired this weekend.

All polished up.....

The gods have been appeased.....

2011-08-22T21:03:00.000-04:00

....or maybe it's the fact that I left my carbon sitting next to the litter box for a few days. Honestly all the talk about storing carbon air-tight, priming, sifting....I just let mine lay around and it just keeps on giving. Candice left a comment on yesterday's post....she read my blog and left her carbon in the laundry room.... and got great colors.

All these pieces below were in the same run...single layer. Below is a piece that I molded from a Gary Wilson fossil. I haven't polished this piece yet. I think I might just try to seal it as is.

I have been trying to master bracelets with mixed results. This time I rolled out and textured a strip of clay and placed it around a wooden bracelet mandrel. Take a look at the mandrel below. Close to the bottom you can see two faint parallel lines. This is where I placed the clay to dry. When it started to dry and pull away from the mandrel, I pushed it up and off so it could finish drying with the constraint of the mandrel. Look how it shrunk...it tightened up...a lot.

Check out the texture in the unfired clay. This is from one of the etched copper plates that I made. The text is from a picture that I took at the Louvre. It has a much sharper texture than the polymer tear away sheets.

The fired piece...again...in the same batch as that bright red piece above. The texture really held up well in the firing.

Another dilemma piece....I carved a hole in this piece after it was dry. This is always risky because the pressure of cutting into the middle of a piece could crack it...but I liked the ragged edges on the inside of the hole. Well...it wasn't the carving but the fact that I dropped it that made it crack. So I tried to patch it together with a pseudo staple on the front and the back.

But it split anyway and you can tell that my cutting wasn't all that precise because it started to split in a few other areas. I am gong to try to rivet this together with metal straps and then lace it together with leather.

The Kiln Gods Must Have Been Feeling Blah.

2011-08-21T16:37:00.000-04:00

I put a few things into the kiln last week and the result was all tans and pale greens. I figured the kiln gods were feeling blah that day. Or there is a possibility that the carbon was exhausted. I remember being told that the carbon will eventually lose it's abiity to produce color. So far I've not seen it. I've had tans before and then have it produce amazing colors in the next batch.

I picked up a fosillized sea urchin from Gary Wilson at Bead and Button and made two molds...the front and back.

A couple of amulets that I molded.

A couple of new shields. The second one broke so I will see what I can do with it by lacing the top and bottom together.

A clean studio

2011-08-21T16:04:00.000-04:00

I've been cleaning up the studio....a reoccuring theme. It never stays clean but it gets to a point where it is so disorganized that I have to clean it. I found a new tool bag at Home Depot. This one had all kinds of pockets so I could stand up my hammers and saws. It makes it more convenient when I'm looking for something.

I also bought more hooks so I could hang up the strands of beads. Lou took one look at this and told me I could start a bead store....if only he knew.

The workbench is so clean now that Sophie has a place to sit while I work at the other bench.

International Metal Clay Associate Discussion Minutes

2011-08-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

Below are the minutes from the discussion that took place at the Metal Clay World Conference about a single metal clay group
Two volunteer facilitators, Sherry Chaples and Mary Ellen Giffels, drew up an outline for discussion and created ground rules. The notes reflect the discussion that took place.

Proposed Agenda:

- Introductions
- Background/Purpose of Meeting
- Ground Rules
- Discussion Areas
o Purpose/Mission of the Organization
o Services Provided
o Customers/Members
o Geographic Scope
- Next Steps
o Who
o What

Ground Rules
- Cell Phone off
- One person talks at a time using the microphone
- There are no bad ideas
- Each speaker is limited to 2 minutes
- Introduce yourself when speaking

Purpose/Mission should be:
- Brand free
- Single source for certification and educational programs
- Professional organization to educate and be the professional face to the public
- Marketplace for teachers/students to find each other and classes
- Independently gather information and provide education needed to grow
- Neutral education and teacher support
- Conferences – share knowledge, network, bring community together
- Will need resources – video, web, etc.
- Will require time to develop
- Promote Metal Clay
- On-line publications
- Advancement of knowledge and excellence
- International/global in scope

Purpose/Mission shouldn’t be:
- Certification focused. Current certifications are company/brand owned and operated and should have nothing to do with the organization
- Not-For Profit vs. Non-Profit vs. Profit….discussion tabled until a later date.

It was acknowledged that this is the beginning of a very long process and we must go slowly to achieve what we want the organization to be. In addition, we will need a lot of planning, work, volunteers and money. Everyone needs to actively work for this organization to happen. Questions that should be asked:
- What can a brand neutral organization do for the members?
- What can a brand neutral organization do for metal clay?
- Will the organization promote instructors or the clay?
- Will it be education based?
- Is a brand neutral organization a logical venture?

Services Provided
- Conferences – info oriented presentations
- Retreats – demos, hands-on workshops
- Education
- Expand into other demographics like high schools to capture the younger generation
- Advocacy
- Outreach / Charity to give back (as with Shelter Box)
- Advancement of knowledge and excellence
- An Annual where excellence in metal clay is showcased
- Website

Who our Customers are:
- Metal Clay Artists
- Galleries
- Educators
- Museums
- Everyone who is interested in working with or advancing the medium of metal clay
- Levels of membership
o Artists (active, students) – different payment structure, potential scholarships to students
o Corporate members
o Local guilds

Who our customers are not:
- No one
- Corporate members should not influence the organization. There needs to be transparency in membership and sponsorship. No hidden agendas.
- There should be no “masters”

Geographic Scope
- Multi-cultural
- Global in scope

How will the new organization affect the existing organizations and corporations?
- Many people are already members of both Art Clay Society and PMC guild. As artists, many are already brand neutral in that they use all brands of clay.
- PMC Guild and Art Clay Society are very supportive of all metal clay artists regardless of brands of clay used.
- Art Clay Society has never been brand specific. It is, however, based at Art Clay World. Once a brand neutral organization is created, Art Clay Society would be willing to merge with it.
- The companies, Mitsubishi and Aida, will always be separate corporations.

Currently there are many sources of support
- Art Clay Society, PMC guild
- Yahoo Metal Clay list,
- Metal Clay Artist Magazine,
- Metal Clay Academy
- Metal Clay Today.

Next Steps
- Get ideas from other similar guilds on by-laws, etc.
- Enfold PMC Guild members
- Figure out what happens to Art Clay Society and how does this impact relationship to Aida
- Members to help guide the organization forward
- Survey regarding what we discussed today (PMC guild, ACS, Yahoo, other venues)
- Consider having someone from the business community on Council/Board
- Legalities, where to incorporate, etc – Sandra Graves
- Put video on You Tube for 3 months – Jackie/Tom Truty
- Written recap of meeting – Katie Hanrahan, Judi Weers, and Gail Lannum. Gail will consolidate the notes and send to Mary Ellin D’Agostino. Those who have blogs are encouraged to post the notes on their blogs to get the word out to as many people as possible. Also place on Yahoo board.
- Google Doc outline – Mary Ellin D’Agostino
- Website Plan – Signe Lalish-Menagh
- Translation into other languages
o German, French – Verna Sowersby
o Spanish – Elizabeth Del Monte
o Dutch – Inge Verbruggen
o Are there others who can translate?
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Book Review Saturday

2011-08-13T19:22:00.000-04:00

I have so many jewelry books stacked up in the studio that I want to read or study....but this book showed up on my doorstep yesterday and I had to sit down to look at it.

Ring a Day: 700 Photos from a 365 Day Jewelry Challenge

It's a cute book about the size of the moleskine I keep in my purse...I love moleskine's. And it's printed on glossy graph paper.....I love graph paper. I know....I'm a nerd. When I was in college I loved to take notes on graph paper. So without even looking at the contents of this book I was in love.

I had heard about the Ring a Day project. This is a 250+ page collection of some of those rings...obviously 700 of them. There are pictures...lots of pictures... on every page with a few quotes from the artists on their designs. There is lots of inspiration in this book. Some of the rings are fabulous, some are unusual and some are just weird...LOL. But when you've challenged yourself to make a ring a day... no matter what.... sometimes you grab the twist tie off the bag of bread and get to work.

One of my favorite jewelry artists...Sara Westermark...has work in this book and some of my metal clay Facebook friends...Lorena Angulo, Angela Crispin and Lora Hart.

This is going to be a book I'm going to pick up again and again.... write and draw in the margins....put sticky notes in.... and get tons of inspiration. Making rings has been one of my goals so maybe this book will help me take those first few steps.

A nice day for weeding

2011-08-10T23:23:00.000-04:00

After weeks of 90+ degree weather it is finally in the 80's and tonight it will be in the 60's....great sleeping weather. I left work early, threw open the windows and doors when I got home, then went into the backyard to weed for two hours. It was so nice to go outside and not wilt.

The summer has flown. I still have half the flower beds in the back yard to weed. I haven't touched them in a couple years since I'm usually doing art shows. At this point I might be better off just plowing them under and starting over. Anyone want to help me weed??? I can pay in jewelry :))

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Metal Clay Classes in Cleveland.....Seats Available

2011-08-03T22:53:00.000-04:00

The NEO PMC guild is hosting Lora Hart and Gorden Uyehara on August 25-29, 2011. Our own Cathy Davies-Paetz will also be teaching. Besides metal clay classes we will have classes in photography and use of the flex shaft. I have created a page with the class brochure. Just click on the Metal Clay Classes In Cleveland link over on the right side of my blog under PAGES.

If you want to sign up for a class, contact Katie Hanrahan at katieskreations@yahoo.com
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Pretty Kitty...

2011-07-31T13:47:00.000-04:00

She's just hanging out while I take jewelry pics.

Polished up...

2011-07-30T21:54:00.000-04:00

I polished up a few of the pieces I made last week. Next stop...the assembly bench. These are far from finished. I love the extra cut that the copper texture sheets give the metal clay.

I'm going to lace this one up

She lost a faux rivet. Lou told me I should "pick off" the other ones. I just started laughing. I had to explain that I couldn't just "pick" them off. It is all one piece after firing.

Tribal designs

Orange dots on this one....if only I knew what goes on during the firing to make the colors and patterns.

It Never Gets Old....Bronze Fresh from the Kiln

2011-07-24T13:48:00.000-04:00

It's been crazy hot here in Cleveland. Driving home on Thursday the car was reading 107 on the freeway. Lou headed to Michigan on Friday for a golf weekend so I decided that this was a good weekend to just stay inside and work in the studio.

I recently made a few (40+) etched copper sheets to use as textures for metal clay. I had used polymer clay tear-aways in the past but the polymer clay company changed formulations so the process no longer works. It was time to try something different. I picked my favorite designs and nailed down acid-etching on copper.

I tried out a number of these yesterday. And I have to say I LOVE them. They were easy to use and because I can control the depth of the copper etch, I can make a stronger texture on the metal clay. It's not as much as with a rubber stamp but more than a tear away. I haven't polished them up yet but I can't help posting pics of the pieces fresh out of the kiln. The colors are just so great.

My typical tribal designs mixed with some industrial girders and rivets. Check out the orange spots on some of these.

These are all from nature. Molds of drift wood from my brother's beach and part of a seed pod (heart shape) from an Amaryllis that sits in my office at work.

The gear was made from a shaped frame I picked up at the MCWC . It's from polymer clay express. It's was a really easy to use. The other two pieces.... I have no idea....they were sheets that I had cut small discs and rectangles from...but I liked them so I threw them in to fire.

New Directions: Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) in a Sheet Metal World

2011-07-19T21:55:00.000-04:00

New Directions is a book that "embraces the unique personality that metal clay brings in the form of jewelry, vessels, functional and decorative objects". It brings together some amazing metal clay artists and I'm proud to be included in this book. A portion of each sale will go to CERF+ which is an organization that provides emergency relief to artists.

New Directions: by Susan Breen Silvy & Christine Norton | Make Your Own Book

I borrowed a picture from Christine Norton. It is a pic of me and the book open to the page that features my work.

Back from Metal Clay World Conference

2011-07-17T15:46:00.000-04:00

Got back yesterday. It was really great to catch up with friends...especially Facebook friends. To actually see them in person and get a chance to talk was great!! The MCWC is a well run meeting, in a nice location, and there were lots of good lectures.

I picked up some photography tips from Lisa Pavelka and my most favorite was a lecture by Lisa Barth who does amazing stone setting with silver metal clay. She has a book out...Designing From The Stone: Design Techniques for Bezel Setting in Metal Clay Using the Stone as Inspiration

She makes beautiful pieces and the book goes through her design process and how she uses the features of the stone to guide her in designing the bezel...on both the front and the back. If you have any interest in bezel setting stones in metal clay....you need this book. Of course I bought it and had her sign it :)

Speaking of stones....here are a few I picked up from Joe Jelks at Horizon Mineral. Joe doesn't have a website but he does shows. You need to check out his stones if you ever run into him at a show.

Anasazi Pot Shards...very cool and after Lisa's class my mind is buzzing with thoughts of the bezels I can make.

Fossilized Dinosaur Bone....really!! I have a hard time grasping that I have a piece of dinosaur bone.

Agate Tubes. Finding these were worth the trip.

I thought they might be thousands of years old. Joe said they are more like millions of years old. They are the result of volcanic ash deposits on the stems of silica rich marsh plant stems in Sumatra.

This is a picture of the primordial place they were created.

King Jakob....

2011-07-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

Jakob is the cutest little guy in the world .....and he's 1 yr old............

Scavenging Mother Earth

2011-07-09T22:43:00.000-04:00

I was at my brother's on the 4th so I went beach combing for rocks and drift wood. Textures and shapes and rocks to drill...what more can a girl ask for??

Summer Reading...The Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry

2011-07-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that I love ethnic jewelry and artifacts. I have quite a few books that I've bought over the years and stuffed into my bookcase. Well I've had this book for a while...a long while...and never really read it. So I pulled it out to finally read it and drool over the pictures. There are over 400 pictures in this book. It showcases the collection of Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels. It's a beautiful collection and book. I'd tell you to go to Amazon to buy one but it's out of print. If you run across this book in a used book store....pick it up. It's worth it.
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Etching Update....

2011-07-05T00:12:00.000-04:00

In one of these posts I think I talked about making a dozen or so etched copper plates. Final count.....I made 43 plates. I used copper in gauges ranges from 26-20. Why??....because I had the copper and decided to use them all to see which I like the best for making jewelry and for making textures plates.

Now it's time to play with the etched plates.

I writting down instructions as I go so one of these days I will have a tutorial.
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God I'm Obsessive....

2011-07-04T01:33:00.000-04:00

These are all plates that I have prepped for etching. I think I've got this thing down :) It's all about getting the metal up to temp and burnishing until you can see the image come through. Smaller pieces are easier becasue they come up to temp faster. Larger pieces have to be worked...especially on a small craft iron.

Tomorrow I will etch...and etch...and etch.........
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Christmas in.....June??

2011-06-28T00:38:00.000-04:00

Lou came home tonight and told me there were Christmas lights on just down the street....I love my neighbors...don't know who they are....but I love them.

We have a lot of pine trees in the back yard and I've always wanted to cover them in little white lights, especially in the summer. It would be so magical. We all need a little magic in our lives.

Still Etching....

2011-06-28T00:19:00.000-04:00

I have some obsessive tendencies when it comes to doing things....or maybe it's just that I don't want to pull out the supplies and equipment again....but I'm still etching. I've done 17 plates so far and will probably do a dozen more before I'm done.

I'm trying to figure out the best method for transferring the image on the PNP paper to the copper. In class it worked perfectly but then again I was working with little 2" squares. I've had some issues with the transfers....but I don't think I was using enough heat or using it long enough. Today I altered my technique a little and got better results. And sharpies work miracles in filling in spaces that don't transfer.

So I'll be etching all week...and then some.

Trouble is...once I get all the etching done....I'm going to be obessive about trying them all out with the bronze clay.
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Etching...

2011-06-26T00:01:00.000-04:00

Doing some etching this weekend. I'm converting some of my tear-away sheets into something a little more permanent and with a deeper cut.

I made the entwined fish from an old tapestry design that I found. The picture below this one...the medallion is actual this same image put into a kaleidoscope feature I have in photoshop.

The next two are from photos of ancient tablets.

Mudcloth designs

I an anxious to roll out some clay on these and see how the designs come out compared to the tear aways.
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Happy Father's Day!!

2011-06-19T23:52:00.000-04:00

My Dad.....

He married Mom before being sent to fight in World War II in Europe. I asked her once how she was able to endure having Dad so far away fighting a war. She said it's just what you did....what everyone did.

This is a picture of my Dad and me at my wedding. I was 19. No wonder my Mom freaked out....I was just a baby. But I was determined to get married. It lasted 10 years. We divorced. But I love this picture. I remember him walking me down the aisle. I think he was more nervous than I was. It was September. Dad was so tan compared to me. He was a farmer and was outside all day long.

He also worked a factory job at night so he could afford to send my brothers, sister and me to college. Who does that??? How many people do you know these days that work 2 jobs so they can give their kids a better life?

He raised cattle. He rode horses. He was a pilot. I never had a chance to tell him what a amazing, heroic man he was to me. He did it all so quietly. He was a quiet man....something I did not inherit from him...LOL.

But I have his ears. When I look in the mirror I see his ears and it makes me smile. He may be gone from this earth but he is always in my heart.
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Godzilla....at Bead and Button....

2011-06-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

and he's chewing on a sea gull bone. The waitress at the Hyatt was a bit surprised when she came over to see if we wanted more drinks. We had covered the entire table with beach glass that Karen brought. Godzilla was part of the stash she found on the beach....along with feathers and the bones.

I think he makes a good mascot. I like him better then Keishi.
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More from Bead and Button

2011-06-13T20:39:00.001-04:00

I went back to work today. My boss stuck his head in the office this morning and wanted to know if I was grumpy because I had to come back to work....LOL. I'm used to a very structured day so it was good to get back and it only took 8 hours for me to get pissed off.

But then all I have to do is look at this pic and I'm better..... LOL.....Cris and I were visiting Susan Lenart Kazmer's classroom and while she was giving her class a demo....we were trying on her jewelry. This actually is a neck cuff but makes quite the crown for Cris. She looks like she belongs at a Renaissance Festival.

We shopped Thursday night and all day Friday. Boy did we shop. We got in early and went straight to Gary Wilson's booth. We've decided that he is a very dangerous man!!! If you've ever seen his booth you know why. Here are some of the things I picked up...some cabs and some pendants.

The other dangerous booth is Ruth and Ebrima from Bead Paradise. They always have fabulous stuff. Ruth has great things on-line so if you can't make it to a show or her shop you can buy on-line.

We also stop to see Abe at Afghan Tribal Arts/Sturee Tribal Village. He's such a flirt!!...and he has great beads.

And some cool beads from Joanne Zekowski....

and this was all on Thursday. Friday we roamed the floor for tools....and a few more stops to Gary's booth to see if we had missed anything cool. We stopped at Karen's booth for a rest.

LOL....there were 4 of us sitting on the floor of the booth just resting out tired bones.

I can't believe it is over. I was ready to come home but I already miss all my friends.
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Bead and Button...let the recovery begin

2011-06-12T19:02:00.000-04:00

WOW.... I can't believe the week is over already. As usual it was a blast. There is a core group of us that get together each year. We behave and laugh like little kids. The classes were good and shopping is always phenomenal. I wish I could have blogged more during the conference but the iPad doesn't upload pictures very easily nor is it very compatible with blogger. Besides...most of my free time was spent in the lounge talking to friends.

The first class I had was with Joe Silvera on soldering bezels. I managed to make a pendant in 6.5 hours...which is much faster than the last one I made which took 6 weeks of classes. He and his wife, Anat, are great. I would definitely suggest a class with them if you get the opportunity. He has a number of DVD's available and wrote a book on soldering.

The rest of the classes were with Richard Salley. I took those for practice on fabrication....sawing, riveting, layering pieces. We worked with various sheet metals and faux bone.

A very funky hinged bracelet with a metal Frappacino lid as a base. The hardest part about this was deciding what to put in the lid and how to put it together. The rest of it was sawing and forming.

Cris's bracelet on the left and mine on the right. Cris coined the term post-apocalyptic punk. They look like eyeballs.

A locket....again a metal lid as the base. We acid etched the design (both inside and out) and hammered, riveted, wire-wrapped the rest of it. Etching withe PNP paper was fast and easy. Over the next few weeks I will be taking some of my favorite tear-away designs and etching them onto copper.

A picture goes on the inside.

Here I am... hard at work doming the lid. I need to wear two sets of glasses to see anything.

A faux bone and metal pendant. All the dimples were made with a hole punch that Richard modified to produce dimples rather than cut. Being the tool whore that I am.....I bought one in each size that he had. He sold his entire inventory to the first class we were in.

Cris's pendant on the right and mine on the left.

Richard doing a demo.....

Brenda and Deb watching the demo...

Cris and I gave each other tattoos during class. This is hers. LOL.... It's dangerous when we have spare time on our hands.

More later...

Richard Salley class

2011-06-09T14:23:00.000-04:00

Last class of the show. Richard Salley's ancient shield pendant. Mine is on the left and Cris's is on the right. Fun class and it has pushed me to go 3-D on my jewelry production. Lots of possibilities!

The people I come to see each year

2011-06-07T23:26:00.001-04:00

These are the people I come to see each year....

Karen...the Queen of corset rings!!

Anne

My sista of the heart....Cris

Class hasn't even started and our bench is already a mess

Gigi, Cris, and Paul. I think Paul is getting the best part of this hug!!

I am running out of TIME!!

2011-06-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

Saturday I leave for Bead and Button and I am just running out of time. I still have to work tomorrow and I've got too many deadlines that I have to meet before I leave. So I will be going in early, early, early tomorrow in hopes that I can get a majority of things done before all the time sucks get to work. Yes, TIME SUCKS....you know....those people that just suck the time out the your day.  I hope to avoid them tomorrow.

I still have to pack. Although I have all the tools and supplies in various piles....I still need to pack them in some order.  I also have 5 loads of wash to do tonight so I have some clean clothes to pack.  I still need to pick up some butane for my soldering class, munchies for the road, and various other travel things.

To add to the mess, I wore a new pair of 3" heels to work today and had to walk all over campus.  Now I have blisters.....on the balls of my feet!! So I'm hobbling around and feeling like an idiot. Blisters on the bottom of my feet right before a week of walking around the Bead Show. Luckily I don't have meetings tomorrow and most of Saturday will be spent in the car. I am hoping they heal up quick.

I'll be blogging from the show on my iPad so I don't know how well that is going to work. The iPad won't load pics into Blogspot so I have to mail them to my account and then blog. We'll see how that works.

Next time you hear from me I should be in Milwaukee. See Ya.

Last year at B&B...Cris and I making plaster for the glass casting class.

Jen's Wedding

2011-05-30T15:24:00.000-04:00

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.

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

2011-05-29T11:23:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-26T22:55:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-25T22:17:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-19T22:32:00.000-04:00

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.

New texture sheets...

2011-05-17T00:25:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-15T11:12:00.000-04:00

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.....

2011-05-08T21:15:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-06T18:58:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-05T18:31:00.000-04:00

Book Review: 500 Silver Jewelry Designs

2011-04-26T22:08:00.000-04:00

To start with....this is a gorgeous book...just like all the 500's. My only disappointment is that there are no pieces made with metal clay....at least none that could be readily identified as such...which is a shame because there are many metal clay artists that I think belong in a book like this. But this is a collection of "top studio artists" and it has a decidely modern art flavor to it.

The pieces run the spectrum from very wearable to those that I couldn't figure out what they were let alone how you would wear it....the '"l'art pour l'art'' pieces....like a silver spinal cord, a ring that takes two hands to wear, a silver wire mohawk.

Like modern art, there are pieces that I really like and others that make me sit and scratch my head. But I find it's the head-scratchers that I keep coming back to...the ones that challenge my views on what makes something a piece of art and what makes it a piece of jewelry. I like having this book in my library for that reason alone.
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Bummer....

2011-04-24T19:42:00.000-04:00

I mean really....BUMMER. I know it was cracked and tried to patch it before firing but it split apart anyway. It was turning out to be a really cool bracelet. Oh well....back to the drawing board and this time I need to be a little more careful. But I'm having fun experimenting with bracelets.

Here are a few other pieces from this weekend.

We were at the art museum on Friday to view the Japanese and Koren exhibit, "The Lure of Painted Poetry" and for a taste testing of saki. This was a favorite for both Lou and I (and the saki was good too!!)

They also had an exhibit of items from South Africa, "The Art of Daily Life: Portable Objects from Southeast Africa". This was more to my liking.

Vessel with Lid

Apron

Headrest

Today we were at Mom's for Easter Dinner. Nice to get the family together but it was too short. Everyone had other dinners and family gatherings to go to. You just have to catch time together when you can.

The weekend is over much too quickly....DAMN.

Little Windows

2011-04-17T18:09:00.000-04:00

I love to cut holes in things and recently I started cutting little windows into the pieces I've been making. Windows I can string things across, windows with a glimpse into an unknown world, windows just because.

The languages and images are all from pictures I took in the Louvre.

New Colors from the Kiln

2011-04-13T23:24:00.000-04:00

Gordon has teased me that I have magic laundry room carbon for my bronze...but I always wonder if leaving the carbon in a bowl in the laundry room might have something to do with the colors I'm getting and the fact that I'm still using the same batch of carbon for two years now.

Before I loaded my stainless steel pan last night I noticed something gooey on the edge. Some liquid laundry detergent had dripped on the pan. I wiped it off but wondered if it would have any effect on the color. I don't know if it did, but this time I got greens/yellows when I was getting blues/purples. It's a mystery....I never really know what I'm going to get.....it's Forest Gump carbon.

Here are the pieces straight out of the kiln. There is a little blue and purple but mostly it was green and yellow.

And polished up....

Book Review: Vintage Jewelry Design

2011-04-10T21:44:00.000-04:00

Vintage Jewelry Design

I love this book. It covers jewelry trends from the 1890’s to the modern day by decade. It’s a time capsule with pictures on every page interspersed with explanations of the trends and features on the designers who influenced them. And this isn’t just jewelry that only the rich could afford….although there is good amount of that. This book also features jewelry from major designers, design houses and costume jewelry...or jewelry for the masses. Some of the jewelry featured will bring back memories of what was inside both your mother’s jewelry box and your own.

From the belle epoque era in Paris. Caroline Otero was a famous courtesan and amassed a fortune in jewels from her lovers....you go girl!!

Pendant by Josef Hoffmann links Art Noveau with Art Deco, 1910

Actress Kay Francis layers in pearls, 1935

Fulco di Verdura. 62 rubies, 232 diamonds

Fulco di Verdura and Coco Chanel, 1930's

Irene Dunne in diamonds, 1935. She was so pretty.

1940's costume jewelry. Don't we all still dress up like this and lay around waiting for our man to come home :)

An awesome Calder, 1940's

I started recognizing my mother’s jewelry in the section on the 50’s with a picture of the iconic Jackie Kennedy and her pearls. When I was very young, JFK was elected into office and it seemed the whole world was focused on him. Jackie set the trend for fashion in the US and her pearls took center stage. I remember watching my mother dress up for parties and her style seemed to emulate Jackie’s. I thought she was every bit as glamorous as Jackie. Every time I see a picture of young Jackie, I think of my mom at that time.

The 60’s also hit home with aurora borealis rhinestone jewelry. Mom had earrings and broaches that I was fascinated with. They were colorful and sparkly. To this day anything colorful and sparkly will stop me in my tracks. One of my favorite saying is…”I was going to conquer the world but got distracted by something sparkly”.

Gorgeous rhinestone jewelry by William DeLizza and Harold Elster, 1960's

By the mid to late 60’s the innocent world that I lived in changed with the Vietnam war. College students were rioting and Pop Art became popular. Jewelry followed the Pop Art movement with mod plastic and futuristic jewelry. Hippie jewelry was also popular. That is when I got my start into making jewelry. I would buy seed beads and string long strands of “love beads”.

Paco Rabanne, dress from plastic squares, 1967

Hippie Chic body jewelry by Adrien Mann, 1969

The 70’s are when I started buying my own jewelry. Remember Sarah Coventry jewelry?? I do. I was also a fan of turquoise. I had a fascination for American Indian's and Cher being part Cherokee influenced that trend. I still love turquoise.

The 80’s brought on Madonna and layers upon layers of belts, necklaces, and bracelets. TV shows like Dallas and Dynasty had women is glitzy jewelry. Remember Joan Collins, Linda Evans, Linda Grey and Victoria Principal walking around in big furs and even bigger jewelry.

Yves Saint Laurent, 1980's

It’s a fun look at jewelry over the decades and is an easy, interesting read. Plus there is a great jewelry glossary at the end of the book defining jewelry terms.

Spur of the Moment Shopping Spree

2011-04-10T01:05:00.000-04:00

Thursday and Friday were so bad that I decided I needed to pamper myself. And what better than a trip to my favorite bead store....Bead Paradise. I pampered myself big time...LOL. I had been looking at their website and fell in love with way too much stuff. And as I got a large refund from the IRS I decided to put it back into supplies. So I took a road trip to Oberlin.

Here are some of my goodies.

Hebron beads. Made from the 12th Century to around the 1880s in Hebron, near Jerusalem, using salts of the Dead Sea as their alkali.

Gaspeite

Nickel Silver and Brass Beads

Tiny brass heishi from Nepal and charms

More brass. Very phallic.

Vintage Czech glass beads.

Bezel set quartz from Nepal. These are so cool. Old and scuffed up. They are gorgeous.

Glass beads from Cambodia

Roman glass

Old silver pendant from India, circa 1890-1920’s, depicting the Brahmanical triad of Hindu gods: Lord Brahma the first, with Vishnu being the second and Shiva, the third. Circa 1890-1920

Rajasthani hero/horseman that was deified and is considered a village protectorate. Circa 1900.

A horse buckle from India

The next three pics are the from the same strand. Chin/Burmese bronze bells, beads, and heishi circa 1950's

Ruth has a amazing amount of items on her website so if you want to pick up some things for yourself and don't live close enough to go to her store...you can buy on-line. If you do live close enough...go there. It's such a great store. Great clothes, accessories, and obviously fabulous beads. This is one of those places that I'd like to be locked inside overnight. Then I could spend hours checking everything out.

Shiny Bits....

2011-04-09T00:17:00.000-04:00

Work wasn't much better today than yesterday. The only saving grace is that it's Friday and I have two whole days to decompress. Not enough but it will have to do.

I polished up the pieces that I fired this week.

My mood today is.....

2011-04-07T21:14:00.001-04:00

We've all seen the computer icons that display someone's mood....or signs on people's desks. A little smiley face when their happy...a frowny face when their sad....and other cutesy or pathetic faces to signify various moods. Well today my mood was......"don't mess with me or I WILL hurt you". What kind of face do you think could relay that mood.....

Yeah.....that face will do. By the end of the day I had to leave because I just wanted to either hurt someone or break something.
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Fresh from the Kiln....

2011-04-05T23:04:00.000-04:00

and they still has carbon sticking to them. These are large pieces. I kept making them bigger and bigger and then started to embellish with girders and rivets and drilling holes in them. I'll polish them up tomorrow.

We need to buy a TV tomorrow. The one we currently have is a tube TV. It's about 10 years old. At the time we bought it, the flat panels were just coming out but were unaffordable. So our Sony decides when it wants to turn on. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. It will cost about $300 to repair which is way more than I want to put into an old TV when the technology has moved on. Now I have to figure out how to dispose of it. It weighs about 200 lbs and I want to find a place that will recyle it rather than put it on the tree lawn for the garbage men to pick up.

If anyone knows how to recycle let me know.
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Big Bad Ass Beads.....

2011-04-01T22:38:00.001-04:00

I picked these up from Aja Vaz at Wandering Spirit Designs on Etsy. They are fabulous!!! And big...but light because they are hollow. They are going to be great with the bronze. And they've go that tribal feel to them. Check out her Etsy shop and her blog. Thanks Aja!!

Picutres by Aja Vaz

Geek Joke

2011-03-29T20:27:00.000-04:00

One of the interesting thing about working with scientists is seeing how they view the world. What they think is interesting or funny. One of my guys told me about a dinner party he went to where the topic of discussion was a rousing discussion about 27th president of the United States. WOW....I had to stop my self from laughing out load....and most of you know how loud I laugh. Not that they had a discussion about the 27th president...or any president....but that the discussion was "rousing". I have to remind myself that I work with the cream of the crop when it comes to geeks.

So I got this joke today in my e-mail. A little off-color...just a little...but funny...and truly a geek joke. Not sure I believe it is an actual essay as I've seen stuff like this before.

Hell Explained By A Chemistry Student:

The following is an actual question given on a Penn State University chemistry mid-term, and an actual answer turned in by a student. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. There fore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+
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Finished Pieces

2011-03-27T22:12:00.000-04:00

Below are pics of some of our finshed pieces from the workshop with Hadar Jacobson. It was a good weekend. I learned inlay, how to make canes / putting those together to make a finished piece, and mokume gane in metal clay. The only piece that I have completed so far is the inlay. That is pictured below. The cane pendant was still firing at the end of class and I had to leave so I will pick it up at the next guild meeting. I have the mokume gane with me and will fire that up this week after some testing of Hadar's clay in my kiln.

Deb's piece on the left and mine on the right.

Group Photo. These are the inlay pieces.

I really enjoyed this class and Hadar is a good teacher. Everyone is buzzing about the new techniques learned.

Classes always seem like a good thing when I first hear about them but as the weekend approached all I wanted to do was stay home. I know I sound like a broken record, but working full time wipes me out by Friday afternoon and the thought of spending the entire weekend in a workshop was not what I wanted. But I have to say my mood turned around very quickly when I started to work with the clay and doing the inlay. It's a simple technique and there are lots of possibilities for it. And things only got better from there. I've never made canes before...that was fun. Putting them together in a piece can be challenging when you start to fill in the gaps with inlays. At one point I thought my piece was going to be horrible. But once you have a solid, dried piece you start sanding off the surface to reveal the canes. That's the fun part...seeing how your design is coming out. Same with the mokume gane. As you condense and squish all those canes together it isn't very appealing....until you flip the piece over and start to see the burling that is occuring on other side. The pic below is from Hadar's blog...hope she doesn't mind. It is a mokume gane donut pendant. Very Cool!!

Thanks Hadar. I'm a fan!!

Class with Hadar...

2011-03-26T22:16:00.000-04:00

Hadar Jacobson is in town to teach a workshop for our local PMC guild. I've never worked with her clay before so this was a chance to try it out and learn some new techniques. I wasn't sure if I was going to like mixing up my own clay, but it was easy and much cleaner than I thought it would be. Today we worked with bronze and copper. We did inlay and created bull's eye canes.

It's a two-stage firing schedule, the first stage is to burn off the binder. For the second stage you let the clay cool down and then refire. Tomorrow we will work on finishing the pieces we made today and hope to get a second firing in with the cane pieces we made today.

Here are some pictures from class...

Deb... my partner in crime for the weekend.

Vanessa and Katie

Pat, Marilyn, and Noreen

Kaite and Hadar

My first piece. Bronze inlaid with copper. Still sanding it down.

My sanded piece before it goes into the kiln

Group picture

The firing container is a ceramic blanket.

Sally, Katie and Hadar

Me...hard at work.

What I've been up to....

2011-03-23T22:56:00.000-04:00

Working away in the studio....LOL. One of the guys at work heard me talk about "the studio". He asked (seeming somewhat impressed)..."you have a studio??" No...I have a room. As small room at that. But it is my studio. As is my dinning room table and my laundry room.

Besides it sounds better to say "I'm going to work in the studio" rather than "I'm gong to work in my room".

So here are some new pieces....

The surface design is from a photo I took of an ancient, cracked tablet. It's why I love museums....so many ideas

I've been riffing off the idea of girders and rivets....for a long time.

And for some reason I have been making stalactite shapes. They make good earrings or necklace embellishments.

This is something different. I was experimenting with carving. I started with what was suppose to be leaf veins but it turned into a stick figure, then one that was running. The best of the three is the one on the right. It's very fluid.

A big pile of bronze. I've gone through about 800 grams in the last few weeks. At some point I need to start making things.

Best compliment so far this year....."WOW"

2011-03-18T01:02:00.000-04:00

I ran into one of the guys at work today. He works on the dock and we have known each other for about 10 years now. I know his wife and his kids used to take martial arts with Lou. I see him maybe once a week. This morning as I walked in he stopped to talk some business with me.

As I walked away I heard him ask..."What have you been doing?". I turned around to see if he was talking to me...he was. "Have you been taking martial arts?". I realized he had noticed my weight loss. I'm down 40 lbs. now. I smiled...a really big smile...and told him I have been doing Weight Watchers. He looked me up and down and said...."WOW" and then gave me the thumbs up.

I have been smiling all day.
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Polishing up the bronze

2011-03-16T23:48:00.000-04:00

I've been polishing for the last few days. I don't know why I hand polish my pieces instead of throwing them into a tumbler. I guess it's part of the process for me. After putting all that work into making the piece before it goes into the kiln, I have a need to come full circle by polishing.

So all that color you see when they come out of the kiln....gets polished. Most of it goes away leaving just a shadow of what was there. Some pieces retain more color than others. Don't know why. It's a mystery!!

A big ass lentil, some coins and other pieces. The coins came from molds of the originals. I bought some ancient coins a while back so I could mold them. The coins are really cool and some date back to 300 A.D.

The piece on the right really held onto it's color when I polished it. Again...I don't know why.

I drive through an industrial ghetto on the way to work everyday. There is one bridge I go under with these huge metal girders and rivets...hundreds of huge rivets. Seeing this everyday has sunk into my conscious and subconscious brain. You see girders and rivets show up in my work all the time.

The pieces with holes will be laced with leather.

I love the piece in the center. It came out much better than I expected. It's from a mold and very dimensional. More coins

Except for the sundial, these pieces are Adinkra symbols from Ghana. They each have their own meanings. I made these too large. I need to make them much smaller. I can see these being worn as small medallions close to the neck or included in a grouping of items.

The sundial is from a pottery shard in the Louvre.

Smaller pieces, earrings, and some dog bones that I used as connectors in necklaces.

I still have more bronze pieces to make. The list is piling up in my head. I'll get back to the bench again Thursday night and over the weekend. And the housework will once again pile up....I need a maid...anybody want to clean my house for jewelry??

Weekend in the Studio

2011-03-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we go hit with lots of snow.

This is the neighbors car. Our bushes on the south side of the house were so heavy with snow they bent over and captured her car

A look out the front door

I decided on Thursday to take Friday off. Not so much for the snow but to have a 3 day weekend in the studio. My boss is a scientist and we were discussing how ideas come to you more easily is you have a concentrated block of time to work. Starting and stopping...like I do during the week...is counter-productive to creativity. It's a "now where was I" situation. When I have 2-3 days to work non-stop...the work and new ideas flow.

I've blown thru 600 grams of bronze over the past few days. I fired a load last night and I have a full days work upstairs just finishing off pieces that I started yesterday. The colors I'm getting are amazing.

BTW....here is the same shot out the front door today. What a difference a day makes.

Back to the studio!!!!

More Colors....

2011-03-08T21:42:00.000-05:00

Just a few pieces in this load but the colors are different from last night. Check out the pink...

I was asked about my source of the carbon. I am still using the same batch of coal based, acid washed carbon that I got from RioGrande over 2 years ago. I don't know why I get the colors I do. When I'm not using it, it sits in a plastic bowl on a shelf. I don't even seal it. So it's probably absorbing all the stuff in the air in my laundry room...which is off the back of my garage. And I don't know if the colors have anything to do with the fact that I don't get around to taking it out of the kiln until after I get home from work... so it has had all day to cool down.

It's a mystery!!
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This is why I still use original bronze metal clay

2011-03-07T18:54:00.000-05:00

Yes I still use the original (slow fire) bronze metal clay.

All day I was thinking of the load in the kiln. I put it in last night when I went to bed and it was done this morning by the time I went to work....but still too hot to take out of the kiln. Besides....I'm convinced some of the colors I get are due to the slow cool down.

Sifting through the load was the first thing I did when I got home. It's always so much fun to see what the colors will be. The first few pieces that were at the top were a drab green, then I started seeing a bright blue. As I got down towards the bottom of the container the blues were combined with oranges.

I love this stuff. Now back to the studio. I will have a second batch in the kiln tonight.

In the Studio....

2011-03-06T22:36:00.000-05:00

How can it take 1 day to go from this......

to this.....

Oh who am I kidding?? It took about an hour to create total chaos. But I have bronze going into the kiln tonight!!

And the winner of the book is....

2011-03-06T14:41:00.000-05:00

NJRoll Designs!!! Please e-mail your address to me at gaillannum@aol.com and I will ship it out to you this week.

Tear-Aways!!

2011-03-05T13:40:00.000-05:00

West African symbols...except for the the sundial.

Ancient language tablets and a mudcloth design

Fish, geometrics

Now it's time to get back into the studio. I'll post the winner of the book tomorrow.