For Donna.....

A little shoe bling....I've asked but nobody stocks your size :))

The Seine at night

We decided to take another boat ride but this one at night....well worth it. You look up and get a glimpse into some of the apartments. Alot of old beamed ceilings. We were also able to see many of the famous sites all lite up.

The Eiffel Tower is lite up with blue lights. On the hour the blue lights go out and it twinkles....very romantic.

This is Pont Neuf which means "New Bridge" is actually the oldest bridge in Paris. The first stone was laid in 1578. The large building is actually a department store with one of the best views of the river.

Not on the boat tour but I have been scoping out the jewelry. This is one of the stores that I found interesting and it is right across the street from the apartment.

And something to tempt your taste buds. The desserts here are amazing.

Walking, walking, and more walking

Paris is a city you have to walk in to really experience it. I just forgot the amount of walking that it requires. Probably 5 miles a day or more. How many of us walk that much in a normal day? Today we took a boat ride on the Seine so our feet got a small break.

A view of Notre Dame from the Seine. Ever the PMC'er...there is some amazing texture on the walls that direct the flow of the Seine....if only I had some molding compound.

The Conciergerie is where Marie Antoinette spent her last 2 months before her execution. I love the turrets.

The oldest house in Paris is right in the middle of this picture. The yellowish building with the Tudor slats on it. Dates back to the 14th century. The rest of the day we spent walking around the right bank. For a change we are not going out tonight. We picked up food to bring back to the apartment. My feet need a break.

One last pic....We were in BHV, a department store that has basically a home depot in the basement and found this leather tool box just perfect for my Fretz hammers. They also had them in lime green, bright yellow, and hot pink. Only in Paris!!

Au Revoir Bye-Bye...

Saturday in Paris

We went north to Porte de Clingnancourt to the mother of all antique and flea markets. Interesting neighborhood. Once off the Metro you walk through a gauntlet of men trying to sell you knock off D&G belts and Chanel purses. It seemed like a dicey neighborhood... more so than last year. We did spend most of the afternoon there browsing. I ended up buying a pretty blue bottle...which Lou told I probably could have bought at home. But with this one I will think of Paris everytime I look at it. There was a tool stand with beautiful old tools and anvils. I have an image but it is vertical and I have no way to flip it. I'll post it later

On the way back the subway was jammed. There were four Metro cops watching people and turning some away...like I said...it was a dicey neighborhood. If my mother would have seen it she would yell at me for being there

Saturday night it seemed like everyone was out walking around having a good time...including us.

More later

Victim #3

Not a person but an object. I broke the leg off a chair....when will the carnage end??? If things really go in threes then hopefully I am done. Yesterday we spent the day back in the Louvre in the Egyptian section. Amazing pieces

Canopic jars which were used to hold the internal organs of the person being mummified. I had always heard they placed mummified cats in the tombs with the dead but I hadn't seen any until now....

Some of them were painted up really nice....thinking of the upcoming art shows....I think stuffed versions of these would really sell. I have some closeups that I will post when I get home.

There were a ton of tablets with hieroglphys and figures on them.

Today we went to Saint Chapelle church. It was built to house the crown of thorns of Jesus (at least they believe them to be). They have since been moved to Notre Dame and are only brought out at Easter. But Saint Chapelle is still a major attraction due to the stained glass. You are surrounded by it.

As the sun comes in through the windows is sends ribbons of color around the room. At one point this chapel was used by the King as a place of worship.

A few nights ago we were on the Metro and I had a moment...not one of my typical dofus Gail moments, but a moment when I thought...I am in Paris on the Metro. I grew up on a farm in Ohio and never thought growing up that I would ever venture out of the country. And here I am walking the streets talking to the people in my very limited French. It's like....I'm a big girl now moment. As long as nobody is yelling...Hey Big Girl...I'll be OK.

It has been "interesting" watching the world economy collapsing while we are in France. The TV in the apartment only gets 3 English channels and they are all news so it is hard to avoid hearing about it. What an absolute mess. I stopped my employee 401K before I left. God knows what has happened to my investments. I don't want to think of it. So much for any type of early retirement. The Europeans for the most part put the blame on US for this mess. I don't understand any of it. I am also sick of watching the election coverage. So many lies and BS being spewed by at least one candidate is making me ill. There has to be an end to all this and a return to sanity.

Well I'm off to take a nap before we go out on Friday night....Au Revoir Bye-Bye

EHHHHHHHH

So in two days I have managed to assault two people and go brain dead.....at least according to Lou. Yesterday we went out to dinner in the pouring rain but that doesn't seem to stop people here. We found a cafe that had and outdoor table available (it's 40 degrees out and raining but as long as there is an awning and heaters it doesn't stop people from eating outdoors). So we ate and drank and drank. I was pointing something out...Anne and Cris know how subtle I can be....and my hand came down hitting my fork sending it flying across two tables and hitting some guy in the leg.....desolee, desolee (sorry, sorry) I said....but he was victim number one. Today at the Louvre I found a very cool terra cotta tablet with ancient writting on it but I had to ask a clerk for help. I walked right up to her, said Bonjour, then went brain dead. I was thinking it is probably rude to ask her if she speaks English in English and on the tip of my tongue was parlez-vous anglais?...but all I did was stand there and say EEEHHHHHHHHHH. Probably very used to dealing with dumb Americans she responded with...Did you vant to zee zomething?? I started laughing...Yes Please.....brain dead. So tonight we went out to eat on the Champs Elysees...again outdoors in a crammed cafe. The waiter told us to sit at a table back in the corner. In the process of getting there I hit a handicapped man in the head with my purse....victim number two. And we still have 10 days to go :)))

We spent the day in the Louvre looking at the art from ancient Mesopotamia. We saw the Assyrian Bulls. They were beyond magnificent.

I have a number of pics of tablets with ancient writings and I found a book in English in the gift shop on the history of writing focusing on ancient alphabets, hieroglyphs, and pictograms.

Tonight after dinner we went over to the Arc de Triomphe to see it at night.

I have so many more pics but will wait until I get home to post the best.

I have pics

This is the street where we live...Rue de Vieux Columbier. We have a ground floor apartment which is set back in the building. You wouldn't even know you are in the middle of Paris it's so quiet.
The dining table opens onto the back patio as well as one other window and a door. Feels like we are in our own little cave.

Lou getting comfy in the living room.

So today we went to the Musee National du Moyen Age....Middle Ages. Small but interesting. The remanants of a Roman bath dating back to 200 AD are on the grounds. It is housed in an old abbey.

An ancient Scandanavian cross. I was admiring the handmade chain it was on.

This was a collar...for a very large dog or disobediant husband.

The tapestries were beautiful. This museum houses the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. No pics...they are in a special room with control conditions and lighting. They were beautiful.



This is the ceiling of one an exhibit room in the museum...just amazing. In places like this you see just as many fascinating things looking up as you to the exhibits on the wall.

The rest of the day we just wandered around the city. One branch of the Seine.

A Christian Dior purse for 2500 Euros....what does that even calculate into in dollars....I think the answer is too damn much.

Live from Paris

Wow!! 32 hours and going strong. I'm typing on a French keyboard...similar but not a qwerty so it's going to take a while to type this....not that you will notice. We got here at 7:30 this morning and got into the apartment to drop our luggage off. We left so it could be cl"eaned. Walked up to Saint Germain de Pres area for about 2 hours until it started to rain. I have to say that if you are rich and skinny this city has some of the most unique clothes I have ever seen. So cool. And if you have a shoe fetish...Donna....you can lose your mind. It seems like every 3rd store sells shoes. After a 4 hour nap we went back out for dinner. Even though it's in the 50's, all the cafes still have people sitting outside dinning. Lou asked the waiter if the Andouy Sausage was good and he said "NO".....strange so we questioned him. All he would say is that is was special. The couple next to us leaned over and told us it was intestines. Ah...say no more...but they did. Apparently it is actually intestines...it's hollow. So we ordered the scallops. Stopped into a very small bar to listen to a French jazz band and now we are ready to crash. Not a bad way to spend 32 hours.

Back after some well needed sleep;

Chinese Stamps from Rio

Anne e-mailed tonight about the Rio e-mail that went out announcing the Dynasty stamps that they have for metal clay. I just logged into Rio to get a good look at them. They have quite a few. They look interesting. I'd like to play with them on the shields that I have been making. The designs go very well with the artifact quality that bronze lends to pieces. Check 'em out.

I find that I am researching old shields to see the shapes and designs as well as various artifacts from archeological digs to get ideas for the bronze. I think I'm addicted to the stuff. Now if I can just figure out how to take the clay and kiln to Paris with me I will be happy.

We all know that isn't going to happen...but I will have a new focus when I walk through the museums. I'm driving Lou crazy because I keep talking about the things that I want to search out in the museums. He finally had to tell me that this trip isn't all about me and my jewelry design. Silly boy.....of course it is. He knows that I am going to drag him to museums and flea markets all in search of ideas. And in between we will do the things that he wants to do....a boat trip on the Seine at night, a visit to Le Crazy Horse, some jazz bars and wine bars. Liquor him up, show him a topless girl and I can drag him just about anywhere :))) If I could line up a golf game for him he would be in hog heaven.

I don't know if I will be blogging while I'm gone. I hope so. If the computer in the apartment doesn't work, there is suppose to be an internet cafe fairly close so I am going to try to blog a bit and maybe get some pics up. If not.... I will talk to you all on the 19th.

a bientot mon amies

My smile gets bigger.....

the closer we get to Saturday. At work...almost all the grants are done. In the past month that totals 16 with the majority of them due October 5th. I have one left to get off my desk and that one will go tomorrow. We had our 2009 budget meeting with the Division on Monday. Now it's triage time. I look at a piece of paper and decide whether it will be handled before I leave or after I come back. It is amazing the sense of clarity you get when you know you have 2 days. It's either doable or not. If not it goes into the pile that will wait until I get back. I need to prep my coordinator and secretary and assure the Chairman that most things can wait until I get back and if they can't give him the name of another Administrator that can help. When I walk out of Friday I will not be thinking of work for 15 days. We will be totally cut off from work....the blackberry's don't work in France and we are not taking an international one. We do have a phone in the apartment with unlimited calls to the US, but I already told Lou there will be no phone calls to work. The only person that has the number is my mother and that is for emergencies.

Spit Shined...

well...not really. But I buffed up all the pieces that I posted last night. I really love using the 3-sided nail buffers to clean up these pieces. I only use 2 sides, but the flat surface polishes up the high points without taking the color out of the background. Plus they have some flex to them so they can go around curves.

I lost two of the rivets on this piece....the question is...do I tack on a couple more clay rivets and refire....or leave it just as it is. The perfectionist in me wants to replace them, but if I want these to resemble artifacts then I'll leave it as is with missing rivets. What do you think?

Egyptian background. I am playing with the size of the straps....some pieces have thin straps and others have fatter ones. I am liking the thinner straps.

When we were in the Louvre last year they had numerous tablets with ancient writings. I want to check out their bookstore next week....they have a ton of books....to see if there are any on ancient languages/writings or maybe replicas of the tablets in the museum.

This is a lentil bead.....really hefty with a lot of depth. We have a couple of cocktail glasses that I picked up at Crate and Barrel in Chicago. They have....of all things....round bottoms. When you fill them and put them on the table they actually roll around and rock back and forth. I hate them because I always think they are going to spill....but the bottoms make really great molds for lentil beads of all sizes. Again, two of the rivets are missing...what to do, what to do?

Xena, Warrior Princess battle shield or if you prefer (Cris)...nipple ring. I suppose it would be better suited for the later. It would make horrible shield because of the hole. I might have send a couple to Cris.....give Paul a thrill.

So I also confiscated something else from the liquor cabinet....besides the booze. We have a number of tall thin shot glasses that Lou was collecting at one point. They make really great molds to let these pieces dry over.

Another Eqyptian piece. The color on the back of this one is even better than the front. What looks to be shadows on either side of the beetle is actually a gun-metal gray.

Prehistoric horses like those in the Cave of Lascaux in France. Imagine being one of the few people that had an opportunity to actually see these cave drawings. They closed the cave to the public in 1963 because the presence of humans was altering the environment of the cave and destroying the drawings. I do have a book on the drawings.....I'm going to pull it out again.

A Mayan pattern. I am attracted to the patterns but I find some Mayan art very disturbing. It can be very primal and brutal. I'm a tad superstitious about using ancient figures on pieces. The rational side of me knows that something or someone only has as much power as you give it. But the irrational side of me doesn't want to accidentally use a symbol or pattern that in it's time respresented something evil. I found a really nice coffee table book on Mayan art at Borders. It was on sale for $5 so it's also part of my collection. Too bad it is about 300 pages or I would take it on vacation with me to read.

Earthy and Rusty

The carbon may be exhausting based on the colors that I am getting.....but I am really loving the earthy, rusty colors. Nothing has been cleaned up or polished. These are fresh from the kiln. I learned how to take hot metal out of the kiln from the master....Cris. The fork that Rio sells is perfect for pulling out the pan, but then I use the long tongs that I have to dig in the carbon and pull out the pieces. Crash cool in a container of water and you go from 1500 degrees to room temperature in seconds. It's really cool to see the water boil as you drop the pieces in. Of course this is all dangerous. If the pan would drop or the carbon spill out on anything flammable it would ignite and probably burn the house down. Good to keep a fire extinguisher around. As Anne knows....I'm dangerous around hot metal :))

I am so addicted to cutting holes in the pieces and then covering the holes with straps. I roll the piece out, texture it, cut it into a shape that I like and then look at it and think that something is missing....Oh Yeah....it needs a hole slashed into it. I'm sure at some point this will pass or evolve into something else. But for now it's my thing.

Unpolished they look alike...but underneath there are all different patterns and textures that are waiting to come out. So I've put away all the wet clay tools. Now it's time to polish, patina and assemble into finished pieces.

Off the Grid

Wow...I've been off the grid for a while. I had 150 grams of opened bronze to use up. I spent the weekend making pieces because I didn't want it sitting around for the next 3 weeks. So the kiln is running and I will have pieces out by 10PM. I made a number of large pendants. It will be fun to see how they turn out. I am wondering if the carbon is becoming exausted. I'll take some pics and post tonight.

We're getting ready for Paris. Holy Crap....we leave on Saturday for 2 weeks. I've never been on vacation for 2 weeks and this will be 2 whole weeks in another country. It should be interesting...if you spend 2 weeks at home there are tons of things that you spend you time doing...little things. In Paris there is no bronze clay, no jewelry to be assembled, no errands to run. The entire time will be very sensual...not in the sex sort of way....of course there is that :)) .......but without all the little distractions of everyday life in your normal habitat there is time to see, smell, hear and really experience the surroundings. There is nothing to rush off to, no pagers or phones going off, but there will be time to sit still and absorb everything around us. There will also be time to just be with each other. Lou and I really enjoy each others company but on a day to day basis we seem to fly past each other in pursuit of our jobs and past-times (he owns a martial arts studio and teaches in the evenings). In an average day we see each other about 2 hours. So this will really be a time to reconnect.

Haven in Paris has been in touch and they know when we will be arriving. The apartment is rented the night before but the occupants are being very nice and allowing us to drop off our luggage if we arrive before they leave. They will be leaving at 10AM so it should be close by the time we get a taxi from the airport. But we can't officially get into the apartment until it is cleaned. One of the HIP people will meet us and show us around the neighborhood for things like a grocery store, pharmacy, etc. So this next week we be spent tying up loose ends at work and figuring out what I will be packing for the trip. The apartment has a washer/dryer so I won't have to try to pack 2 weeks worth of clothes.

Be back later with pics

I have been violated......

I got home today and found 3 messages on my voice mail.....fraud alerts for 2 different credit cards. One is my jewelry business card and the other is a personal card. They are from different companies but both are VISA cards. I haven't used either in quite a while. They have been sitting in my drawer upstairs. This makes me think that either VISA got breached or one of the companies I buy jewlery supplies did. I only use the business card for in-person purchases when I go to bead shows....last one was the PMC conference. The rest of the time I use it for on-line purchases. But I don't always use it to make supply purchases .... sometimes ... OK a lot of times I am too lazy to walk upstairs to get the business card so I pull my personal card out of my purse. Interesting....

So I called both cards.....I never call the number they give me on the phone because I always think it's a scam....so I called the number on the back of the cards. Both cards have been cancelled and they are sending me new ones. Damn...right before going to Paris. I asked the one company to rush the new card to me because I planned to take it with me. They aren't sure it will get here in time. Lucky I have a back up....it's called LOU :)))))

I'm trying to use the remaining opened bronze that I have. I don't want it sitting around for 2 weeks. That shouldn't be too hard since I have been making bigger and bigger pieces. That's another thing that I like about this clay.....the price allows you to go bigger and chunkier.

Later........

This is so me at work......

People walk in my office and this is what goes through my mind.......


more animals

Pendant and Earrings

Here are a couple of the things I pulled out of yesterday's batch. I'm having so much fun with this stuff.