Big Ass Bells

Bought myself a present.  These are some big ass bells...LOL.  They are very cool and have some great patina on them.

They kind of look like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.

Legacy: Jewelry Techniques of West Africa

I don't pre-order books...usually because I don't like waiting for them and I don't like giving my money to someone well in advance of getting my book.  I guess I'm an instant gratification kind of girl :)  And I specifically don't pre-order books or videos from artists directly. Sorry...I know this seems like a huge slap in the face to my own group of people.  I've seen a few go well beyond their estimated date of publication....and some never get published.  I've never quite figured out the ethics on that one.  If you take money from someone but don't deliver the product...does that count as theft or fraud...or both??

But I digress.....I heard about this book called Legacy: Jewelry Techniques of West Africa by Matthieu Cheminee. 

Well...this was a no brainer.  First this is something I can't wait to get my hands on...I mean seriously...I'm drooling. Second it is from Brynmorgan Press...Tim McCreight's publishing house...he always delivers a quality product.  I love Tim.  He is one of the nicest and most generous teachers I've ever had.

Watch the video about the book.  It's amazing.  How many of you file your metalwork on the side of your foot?  After watching this video....I'm ashamed at all the tools I have.  I would love to take a trip through Africa meeting up with the locals artists like this.


 

Can't wait for the book!!!

The Task of Art...

Quote from Jorge Luis Borges, a writer from Argentina....

"The task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us, to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man’s memory. That is our duty. If we don’t fulfill it, we feel unhappy. A writer or any artist has the sometimes joyful duty to transform all that into symbols. These symbols could be colors, forms or sounds. For a poet, the symbols are sounds and also words, fables, stories, poetry. The work of a poet never ends. It has nothing to do with working hours. Your are continuously receiving things from the external world. These must be transformed, and eventually will be transformed. This revelation can appear anytime. A poet never rests. He’s always working, even when he dreams. Besides, the life of a writer, is a lonely one. You think you are alone, and as the years go by, if the stars are on your side, you may discover that you are at the center of a vast circle of invisible friends whom you will never get to know but who love you. And that is an immense reward."

The Gap...interesting video

THE GAP by Ira Glass from frohlocke on Vimeo.

What's your spirit animal....

HA!  You see those quizzes all the time on Facebook.  I came up with my own spirit animal.....Hermit Crab.  I have definitely become a Hermit Crab this winter.  Crusty, cold, grumpy, pale....carrying around my own shell and crawling into it most of the time.

I think part of it has been the extended winter we've had this year and the other part is stress at work. I come home and I don't want to talk to anyone or do anything.  I signed up for a Zentangle drawing class just to get myself out of the house one night a week.  I enjoy doing it and it is very relaxing.  

I did manage to test out some of new shape templates I made.  Making adjustments here and there to get the size and shape just right. 

This last piece is made from a cork that I carved. 

I want to play with the patina a bit more.  Get the recessed areas a bit blacker.  Well...back into my shell for the rest of the day. 

Shapes

I'm drawing shapes.  Seems so basic but when it get to the bench I seem to make the same shapes over and over.  Even when I free-hand a shape they seem to be all the same.  So I have been studying some books on Ethnic and Tribal jewelry to get a feel for the different shapes.  Here are some of the drawings.

And of course I'm so mathematical (anal), I can't just freehand these drawings.  I"m using graph paper and making them precise with various drawing templates and tools.

Bright and Shiny

All polished up.  I'm loving some of the new textures.  It took me a long time to create them. A number of times I put them down and walked away.  Glad I stuck with it.

I love this one.  Based on a African Barkcloth (see below).

African Barkcloth

Front side of a lentil.

Backside of the same lentil.  I realized that I like designs that are embedded in the clay...like the front side....rather than raised.  The embedded designs work better with patina or even things like gilder's paste.  

This was a dual texture.  The top has an embedded design and the bottom a raised design. 

More from the kiln

I had a chance to finish a few things this week.  They came out of the kiln last night.  Still getting amazing colors.  What appears to be tan in the picture is actually green.  I couldn't get my camera to capture that color.

And though I didn't get out to Bead Paradise I did manage to take advantage of their on-line sale (25%off!!).  The sales goes through today.  I bought a strand of quartz, a strand of Tuareg silver and a ring.  

My new textures...

I finally have some pics of my new texture sheets at work.  I have fired a few loads of work and still have a few more.  Funny how the first few loads have reds in them and then the next few loads shifted to a bluish green.  I'll never understand why the colors shift.

The textures came out really nice. Creating a second batch of copper textures sheets with a deeper etch was the right thing to do. Although I went through a lot of copper and totally exhausted a gallon of ferric chloride, this deepth is just perfect for me.  Sometimes with a shallower depth the design gets lost on the piece when you look at it from a distance.

Unfortunately that big beautiful lentil bead blew out at the seams on the top and bottom.  I am not very good at getting a knife edge on lentil beads.  I usually square off the edge.  The edge on this bead came out really sharp but I was concerned with how little contact there was between the two sides.  I should have listened to that inner voice.  The bead is beautiful but blown out.

The other lentil bead in the picture...squared off the edge...came out perfect.  I think from now on, squared edge is how I will make these.

Below is a look at the texture after tumbling.  I always feel so bad tumbling these since it removes 99% of the color.

Next step is to put a black patina on these so the recessed areas really pop.

Saturday Afternoon at the CMA

The Cleveland Museum of Art is always a good idea.  Lou and I went this morning to see the "Fragments of the Invisible" exhibit.  It's a collection of sculptures from the Congo collected by Rene and Odette Delenne. The CMA acquired 34 scupltures in 2010.

We must have been some of the first people to arrive today because we had the entire exhibit to ourselves.  Unfortunately they didn't allow photography but there were a few pics form the CMA website I grabbed.

Female Figure

Songye Male Figure

The Songye sculpture is an amazing power figure.  The face is covered in copper and there are iron pieces embedded in the head as well as a redbuck antelope horn. The abdomen is embedded with various substances that were considered to have magical powers.

Exhibition Catalog

The exhibition catalog was a finalist for Tribal Arts Magazine's book of the year.  On the cover, you can see a close-up of the Songye sculpture.  One eye is made of copper and the other of iron.  There are two human molars embeded in the head...which gives me the creeps...but adds to the mystique of this piece.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Funny last Saturday... I felt terrible with a cold but I needed something to do so I worked in the studio.  Played with some bronze.  I had etched up all that copper and I wanted to see what the designs were going to look like.  I also worked with some molds.

The good...the molds came out nicely.  But molds usually do.  I've been using the actual object that I molded to give the backside of the piece a mirror image design.

This came from a mold of an African gold weight.  This is the front side.

Back.  I like that it's not perfect.  And is has my fingerprints on it. 

Another gold weight mold

The one on the right shows the back side.

This came from a mold I made in a Holly Gage class.  This is from an ancient coin.  It's the head of Apollo.

The bad....The copper I etched looks really great but in my rush to etch all the sheets, I didn't etch them as deep as I wanted. They etched about the depth of a tear-away...which is OK but I was going for just a little bit of a deeper etch.

The ugly....well..I love the shape, love the texture and love the faux rivets.  But....the texture is too shallow and some of the faux rivets fell off.  I am going to try to attach and refire them.  If that doesn't work I will drill out the spots and add real rivets...maybe with some screws to make it different.

Well...back to the drawing board.  I am going to etch new sheets so I can get a deeper texture.

Bead and Button Registration Opens Tomorrow!!!

Cristina Leonard and I are happy to be teaching classes together again at the 2014 Bead & Button Show! We will be offering 6 metalsmithing and metal clay classes.  Below are the pictures of our classes.  We guarantee you will gain new skills and techniques and have a great time doing it!!

Hot Forged, Twisted Bronze Bracelet ‪#‎B141347

Bronze Metal Clay Pendant Necklace ‪#‎B141445‬ 

Carved Wood and Fine Silver Pendant and Earrings ‪#‎B141568

Metal Clay Embellished Bracelet ‪#‎B141553‬ 

Mixed Metal Layered Acid Etch Earrings ‪#‎B141551‬ 

Metal Clay Tube Bead Bracelet ‪#‎B141351‬