Keeping Up...

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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