ALLY'S ART

Shot, needle, shot....shot

2012-01-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

My parent's house had a jagger bush on the side of the house by the driveway When we were kids we played a game (that we made up) called shot, needle, shot,shot. This was a game of tag, where the object of the game was not to get caught. I guess that's the object of any tag game. But if you got caught in this game you got a shot in the arm with a jagger from that bush. The jaggers were big and thick and looked like a sharp claw. We learned how to run very fast!

I thought about that game the other day when I got a shot in my shoulder for a possible tear in my rotator cuff. About a week and a half earlier, I got a shot in my knee for a tear in my meniscus. (That one was verified by an MRI.) The shot didn't look like a claw, but it sure did look big. (I didn't look while they were giving them to me. I'm a wuss that way.)

If you follow my blog, you've read about my knee pain, etc. so I just thought I'd update. The knee feels better and I no longer walk like a ninety year old woman. Not sure about the shoulder, only time will tell.

Okay, next post will be about metal clay. Enough about my aches and pains!

Syringe technique

2012-01-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post on the copper slip trailed earrings, I mentioned how easily Debbie handled the syringe. Before that class was over she was going to give me some tips on how to fill the empty syringe with slip. We got busy, the weather started to change and we never got to it.

When she was in on Saturday she showed me what to do. I can handle the readymade, filled syringes just fine. (Although it took months before I was able to control the darn things.) It was when it came to filling the syringe with liquid that tripped me up and created the blobs (although blobs can be good. But it's better to have some control over the blobbing process. Is that a word?)

Deb's tip #1. Before pushing the plunger totally in, tip the syringe so the air inside is at the tip and not at the back of the syringe. That way, when inserting the plunger, the air will push out first and not a blob of slip.

Tip #2. Use the syringe like a baster and draw the slip up through the tip. This method just requires that your slip is in a larger puddle.

Thanks for the info Deb.

They're finished

2012-01-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

The copper slip trailed earrings are all done. Mine were finished several days ago and Deb finished hers yesterday.

The pictures don't do them justice.

Deb chose to add swan neck ear wires which add length to the earrings.

And, since I had drilled holes at the bottom of mine (remember I had no faith on how they were going to turn out) I added some blue/copper glass beads.

Differing viewpoints

2012-01-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

Another jewelry artist in the National Transit Studios is Swan Daashur. Swan is an amazing artist and she and I are as different as night and day. I'm more traditional in my designs and her pieces are definitely art pieces. We've shown our work together for that very reason.

A while back I was working with copper clay which I rolled onto a bent wire to create my design. I had done this with bronze and created a necklace that I really like. The copper clay I was working with was a brand that is not my favorite, but since I had it......... might as well use it up.

Well.....this technique was being very difficult in copper. Every single piece I made broke when I was sanding it. The first plan was to trash it all, then I decided to try pasting the pieces together and see what happened. As I progressed it looked like a bunch of bananas. Still wasn't sure I liked it, but maybe it would work out so I fired it, polished it and added a patina. Still not sure I liked it.

It laid around a few weeks before I found some beads that complimented it. At first I was going to just use the beads, but felt that it needed more. Hence the "run-over" beads in yesterday's post. They fired with a nice earthy color, so no polishing here. Since wire was used in the design, I decided to also add a wire element. Saturday I played around with making some ying-yang wire connectors.

Swan stopped by on Saturday and I was telling her about this piece. She flipped the focal piece over and said.... "You know me, I like the unusual. I like the back better." (Swan calls it as she sees it!) After she left I kept taking a look at the piece, flipping it back and forth from front to back. You know...... I think I do too.

Laziness is costly!

2012-01-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

Today was the Second Saturday at the National Transit Studios. Every month on this day a majority of the artists are in their studios from 12:00-5:00. The studios are one of Oil City's best kept secrets (even though we try to get the word out there.) Many times Second Saturday is poorly attended and considering the weather this weekend, we had no reason to expect anything but the usual. But, surprisingly it was quite busy today. Many people decided to stop down and see what we were all about.

I had a chance to share information about metal clay with quite a few, talk to a former student who now lives in London where she works as a model, talk to the mother of a former student who is majoring in art at Edinboro University and catch up with a couple who attended a demo I did over a year ago. I made contacts for possible students and just plain met some very nice people.

It's interesting to hear people's perspective on things. In yesterdays post I said how messy my studio was. Well, today a visitor made the comment about how neat my studio was. Go figure!

Today I also saw how costly being lazy can be. The price of silver has skyrocketed since I started making metal clay and many of the pieces I made early on carry the price calculated on the price of clay at the time. Instead of updating the prices, I decided to leave them the same. (Too much work to go back and do all the recalculating. Besides, if I had to reprint all the pages of my catalogue, the ink alone would cost me a bundle. At least that's what I told myself. ) Anyway, I sold a ring today and just for the fun (?) of it, decided to recalculate the cost to remake the piece at today's prices. Using the same formula, the same price per hour and the same overhead charge, todays charge would be $12 more due to the increase cost of silver. (Multiply that by the amount of inventory I have of finished pieces and that's a big chunk of change.) Maybe I'll find some energy somewhere.

I also fired the slip trailed earrings today and managed to get both firings done. Before I left the studio today, I polished the pieces and added a patina. The unfinished pieces looked like there wasn't much there. But, once the pieces were fired I was quite satisfied. The slip did show up well. Just in case, I had drilled a hole at the bottom so I could add a spot of color in the form of a bead. Oh me of little faith!

Sometimes, I'm just plain lazy!

2012-01-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

My studio is a disaster. But I don't care! I've been in some kind of funk now for several months. It might have something to do with my achy shoulder and knees.

Yesterday (after getting an MRI last week) I found out that I do indeed have a small tear in my meniscus. It's annoying, it's achy and affecting the surrounding muscles (not to mention the other knee which has been compensating.) But it's not so serious that I need surgery right this minute. I can get surgery if I want it or I can not. It all depends on how much I want to deal with. At this point, I don't want surgery (but that may change.) So in lieu of surgery, I got a cortisone shot. In a few weeks I hopefully will find out what is wrong with my shoulder. (And maybe get another shot!)

Knowing what is wrong helped a little with my funk. I was hoping it would change my mood dramatically but that hasn't happened yet. The biggest evidence of my funk (besides my eating everything in sight) is my messy studio. Basically, I am not a lazy person (although I've never been known for my housekeeping skills.)

Usually I consider "a funk" to be a bad thing, but today it was a "creative" thing. I was working on making some "run over beads" via Hadar Jacobsen's directions. (I call them slouch beads cause they look like the floppy socks.) In order to keep their round shape, it was suggested to suspend them between two boxes and dry them in a dehydrator or with a hair dryer. My box with the hairdryer suspended through the top was on the top shelf of the vault. I was too lazy to get it and as I was sitting in my chair looking around the room I spied the radiator. It had perfect spaces to suspend the beads and dry them at the same time. (Lots of heat coming through today as the temperatures were in the teens this morning and the snow was flying.)

At least my funk created a new drying tool!

Third time is NOT a charm!

2012-01-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

Slip trailing is a ceramic technique that can be applied to metal clay. It involves creating a background piece, thinning clay down and dripping it over the backing in a random fashion.

I've only done this a couple of times before. The first time I had great success. The second time was not quite as successful; but acceptable. Well today, I tried it again for the third time and the third time was NOT a charm.

A friend of mine, Deb Crisman, who had admired the first set of earrings emailed me the other night and wanted to come in to make a pair of slip trailed earrings. There have been several times I could have sold that first pair if I had wanted to. (But, I like them too and wear them often.)

We decided to try the technique with copper. Why not? It should work and it did. The slip is poured into an empty syringe, which is passed over the backing in a random fashion. The backing is made thinner since the slip will add more weight to the finished piece.

First, my slip shot out in a big blob. (Wiped that off.) Then I used a tip on the syringe with too big of a hole....... more blobs. I ended up taking a spoon and dripping the slip on that way. By this time, there wasn't much texture or design on my pieces and the back (which had texture at one point) was covered with slip that ran under the back. Do you notice that there isn't a picture of my pieces here? (Good reason for that!)

Deb on the other hand, handled it like a pro. She's worked with syringes (her daughter is a veterinarian) and it shows. Zip, zip, zip and Deb had a gorgeous design on her backings. So....... I share her beauties with you. I'll show them again after they are fired.

220 and counting

2012-01-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

With the first of the year comes the annual taking of inventory. As I've said in the past, I tend to be a little anal when it comes to counting my materials. Others I've talked to don't do it or just guess. For the most part I count every little piece and fudge it once in awhile when the pile looks overwhelming.

Today was my second day of inventorying and this year I decided to put it directly on my computer (without going through a printout first like I usually do.) Figured that would save some time although it's taking me awhile to get use to doing it that way.

I'm not the worst there is at computers but I'm not the best either. My accountant set up a formula for me to add and subtract costs on one of my spread sheets. All I have to do is copy and paste, to place the formula wherever I want.

Another thing I always did was use the calculator to multiply the price and the number of pieces. That takes quite a bit of time to pick it up after counting, do the calculation, put it down and enter the number into the computer. So...... I decided to try to figure out the formula for multiplying (by myself.) The hour I spent searching and trying it out were worth it. How much quicker it is when the computer does the math. And it's even fun! (Only took me four years to get to this point, but at least I got there.)

It doesn't take much to entertain me..... I know!

Life is a circle

2011-12-28T06:55:00.000-08:00

For 13 years I taught elementary art before I transferred to the high school level and finished out my last 22 years there. Usually I had three elementary schools that I saw each week. One of them was Oakland Elementary which consisted of K-6 classes. Oakland was a rural school that sat in the middle of one of those weather centers. There could be a major blizzard at Oakland, but in town the sun was shining (which meant that school would not be let out early.) Often whoever had bus duty had to stay until after 5:00 because the buses couldn't get through. Even though it made for longer days, Oakland was a wonderful school to work in. The people I worked with were great and the students were great.

I saw about 300 children a week (and in those days I could remember every single child's name...... don't ask me about names now though.) Surprisingly there are elementary students that I still remember. One of them from Oakland works with my son. In the mornings Dan use to carry boxes to all the classrooms for me (there wasn't an art room.) Dan's wife, Angel was a student there also and I remember her crying when we got a letter back from Andrew Wyeth. (He painted Christina's World.)

For Christmas this year, Dan wanted a necklace made for Angel that included a pearl they'd gotten at Sea World. (The pearl was such a pretty teal color.) How convenient that I had taken Gordon's class on a box ring with pearl. I kept the design simple and made the necklace reversible but I had to work out a different method for setting the pearl, as it wasn't drilled. (And I wasn't about to drill the pearl since there was only the one.) Instead of setting the pearl on a post, I created a small dish to work as a well to hold lots of glue. This would create more surface for maximum contact with the pearl.

This isn't something I would have done with a ring, but a necklace doesn't take the beating a ring does. My biggest concern was getting the dish the right size for the pearl (which luckily worked out.) I torch fired the little dish so I could check it's size and remake it if needed. My next concern was that it would shift inside the box during firing (but it didn't.) When Gordon fired our rings, he filled the box with vermiculite to keep them from slumping. I wasn't able to do that since the dish enclosed the opening. That was another concern but it all worked out.

At least for this piece, the Jewelry Gods were watching out for me. I think they were on hiatus when I was doing my wrapped piece!

Now I'm sure

2011-12-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

For the past four months I've been dealing with knee and shoulder pain. I always thought I had a pretty high tolerance for pain but this chronic stuff is for the birds.

We suspect that the knee pain is a torn meniscus (in both knees.) I was looking up information about the meniscus on the internet (because of course that's what we all do when we can't sleep at 3 AM) and discovered that meniscus injuries are common in athletes and old people. Now we all know I'm not an athlete so where does that leave me?

I've suspected lately that I'm getting old. Now I'm sure of it. Damn!

Fourth time is a charm

2011-12-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

Most of my post-graduate credits are in fibers. So, basically I have a masters equivalence in weaving. Metal clay can be woven, both in the paper and the clay form.

There is another weaving technique that is used in the jewelry making process called wrapping. It's done to bundle loose yarn ends and is done with yarn. It consists of looping a single piece of yarn, using the long loose end to wrap around itself and the yarn to be bundled. Wrapping is done from the loose end up to the looped end, where the loose piece of yarn is pulled through the loop. The other end of the piece is pulled, which causes the loop (with the other loose end) down inside the wrapping to secure it.

The wrapping technique is easy and fun to do until it has to be done with wire which is what this post is all about. I truly admire people who can do wire wrapping. I tend to be all thumbs when it comes to working with wire.

I was making a necklace with a copper and bronze focal point, which needed a copper clasp. The copper crimps have to be glued onto the cord and I don't trust them so I decided to do the wrapping technique. (Which is just my favorite thing to do..... yeah, right!)

I probably went through five or six tries before I got something I considered acceptable. Then, when it was time to trim the cord I accidentally cut through the good side. Augh! More practice ensued before I finally got it right. Time to trim the cord and guess what. I cut the good cord, AGAIN! Back to the practice board and finally after several tries it was done. I very carefully trimmed the ends and this time I didn't cut the good cord. But......... I accidentally put the wrong focal point onto the cord. So......... for the fourth time I started again. The fourth time was a charm. Thank God. I don't think I could have done it one more time.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

Only one school program this year. (Thought that was odd.)

So just a little Santa Cody to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or what ever you celebrate, I hope it's a good one.

I'll be posting again before the New Year but I still want to wish you all the best in the coming year. May peace reign and love abound. Hope your new year is full of all that glitters and shines. (Like silver jewelry!)

Granddaughter post

2011-12-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Olivia's dance class is in the National Transit Building where my studio is. Often on Mondays I stay late in my studio so I can take her home. After dance she always wants to visit the donated library books on the first floor and usually manages to talk me into making a donation for a couple of books.

She usually gets there early and spends a few minutes looking at jewelry in my studio ( trying to get me to give her some) or drawing and coloring. Last Monday she wanted to draw jewelry, so we chose several pieces, set them up in front of her and she got to work.

Just thought I'd share her drawings. She's five and I think it's great that she wants to draw what she sees.

This is the last one...... Honestly!

2011-12-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

This is my last post on the Ginkgo tree. (At least until 2012 when the leaves come out.)

Lately I haven't parked down under the bridge as the lots have been full so I haven't walked by the Ginkgo tree. Surprisingly the other day there were tons of parking spaces so once again I passed my favorite tree. Of course it was bare, but there were plenty of viable leaves laying on the ground. The leaves were beginning to have black mold spots on them but other than that they were in perfect condition.

Earlier on I made very tiny silver leaf earrings from this tree, but this time of year all the leaves were either big or huge. So, making a full leaf earring was not an option. Instead, I tried to tear the leaves in half but that didn't work well either. I ended up cutting the leaves up the middle while trying to keep the flow of the textures.

Using different leaves for the earrings gave each pair it's own unique look. The pair I made for myself is rather large. The other pair is much smaller. (Even though that was not my intent.) While drilling the second pair a piece broke off. So, of course I had to break off a piece on the other earring which lead to another piece breaking off and so on and so forth. (Hence the smaller size.)

I also learned some other facts about the Ginkgo tree. First off it is from China and is similar to Jurassic Fossils. Another name for the tree is "Maidenhair Tree" which makes sense. I had been told that the female tree puts out a rather pungent scent. According to an article I was reading, it smells like vomit. There was a town that had many of the trees and for years there hadn't been a problem. But, the male trees can ( it doesn't happen very often though) change into a female tree. That's what happened in the town and nobody could stand the smell, so they cut them all down.

The woman beside me at the craft show last week also said she was told that the Ginkgo tree drops it's leaves all at once. (At least the leaves could be raked all at once.)

Okay, I've had my say. No more Ginkgo leaves for awhile. I promise!

Okay to be Square

2011-12-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

It's okay to be Square, especially when credit cards are accepted. For a while now, I've had the "Square". The Square is a little white plastic piece that can be plugged into a cell phone and used to process credit cards. Up until now, I did not take credit cards because it was too expensive to do so. (When I first started out I had a plan that cost me $30 a month and I used it only once. Got rid of that plan; not at all economical for the small businessman.)

At the Bizarre Bazaar last week I got to see the Square in action. The girl just picked up her phone, swiped my card and had me sign right on the phone with my finger. It was pretty slick and she said she loved it.

So, today I was scheduled to take part in a small show at the Montessori Charter School in Erie and figured that maybe I would have a chance to try it out. Let me just tell you that in VA she made that swiping technique look so easy. I did find a section in the program that was set for practice. There are three check boxes showing and every time it's done correctly, a pretty green check appears in one of the boxes. Well........ let me tell you that it's harder than it looks. I practiced and practiced and practiced. Finally I got six checks in a row and success went to my head. (I knew I should have practiced it again last night!)

Today, I got my chance...... a charge! Thankfully, the guy making the purchase had the patience of Job (is that the right spelling?) After what seemed like twenty five tries (about six of those were by my friend who accompanied me) it finally went through. (Thank God..... I was getting pretty embarrassed and stressed.) The customer was even offering suggestions. But boy when it works it's really fascinating. What technology can't do!

Sales today were ho-hum, but as usual I made some contacts and met lots of nice people. Check out some of their sites.

Dottie Gilbo.... www.dmg-creations.com (She works with metal clay too.)

Yvonne Lewis made jewelry (just realized there is no web site.)

Michelle Shuey.... www.cocobonitacreations.com ( Michelle like me loves to take classes.)

and Lynn Fizel...... www.quiltingbylynn.com ( Lynn makes beautiful quilts from photos she takes.)

This was only the second year for this show. It was a small show but had some nice work. Wish I'd been selling baked goods today though. I think they made out the best.

The Bizarre Bazaar

2011-12-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted. Last week I was in Virginia with a friend. We stayed at her daughters house (complete with grandchildren, so I felt right at home.) We went there to visit The Bizarre Bazaar. This was the 36th Christmas Collection (there is one in the spring too.) It was held at the Richmond Raceway Complex in Richmond, Virginia. There were 541 exhibitors and I think I saw them all. (At least I thought I did.)

Now I don't know about you, but I've been to so many craft shows during my life that I have a tendency to walk through quickly (as quickly as my bad knees will allow) and look for something that jumps out at me. I'm looking for something I don't usually see. We had two hours there and I was afraid it would not be enough time, but for me it was. It was a nice show, but there were a lot of commercial vendors there which I don't want to see.

I did find one jeweler that I really liked. It was obvious that she did indeed make her own jewelry. (It wasn't something you would find just anywhere. I found myself wandering back to her booth several times until I finally bought a pair of earrings. ) This was the only booth that had unique jewelry and something that wasn't just assembled purchased parts. Not everyone realizes the difference but if you make jewelry you do. She said she could tell I understood handmade jewelry by looking at the earrings I was wearing. (I had on a pair of slip-trailed earrings. No way that duplicates can be made of that.) Check out her website, www.celestefriend.com. She names each of her designs by the first person who buys them. My pair was called Denise (I think....... don't expect me to remember everything exactly. I'm old!)

There were some other places that I did make purchases too. They were not necessarily handcrafted but they were interesting and gifts for friends and family. I had to buy some sweet treats too. (There were lots of samples out there and of course I had to taste them. Weight Watchers be damned that week....... but not this week.)

One thing I did find that really, really tickled me was a pair of cherry wooden salad tongs made in the shape of the gingko leaf. (Don't know what it is about that leaf, but I'm hooked.) The site for these is www.cpbasils.com.

Several years ago, my daughter and I stumbled upon the North Carolina Craftsman Guild show at the Raleigh Fairgrounds the weekend after Thanksgiving. That show has to be my all time favorite. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Knowing what has to be done

2011-11-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

Many of my high school students put so much effort into not doing something. Often, it would have been easier if they just did it, got it out of the way and moved onto something they did want to do.

That's exactly how I feel with a couple of different necklaces that I'm working on. I want to be finished with them but I know I need to make a matching clasp. Instead of just getting down to business I keep looking at some of my ready made clasps, thinking there has to be one that will work. There isn't. I know what has to be done and now I just need to do it.

Often, I feel that I need to design a piece of clothing to be worn with some of my pieces. Like that is going to happen.

Actually it did once, back in college when I designed a body ornament using silver, ebony and a very large agate. I did make a floor length velvet dress in a color that picked up one of the colors in the agate. Didn't have anywhere to wear such an outfit though. (Still don't.)

"A New Addition"

2011-11-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

For some reason I'm fascinated with the ginkgo leaf; ever since I discovered a tree down by the river.

This week I added a new bronze addition to my ginkgo leaf jewelry. I already had a silver gingko pendant and a copper gingko pendant. All the leaves came from the same tree.

The silver pendant was made from a leaf when the tree was in full bloom. The copper pendant was made from a leaf that was finding it's way out from a limb that was cut off and the latest addition was made from a leaf that was lying on the ground this fall. (Interesting that the last leaf was yellow like the bronze clay.)

No Grandma

2011-11-24T19:43:00.000-08:00

This little guy is the next to the youngest of my grandchildren. One would swear he was his Dad incarnated. After our Thanksgiving dinner today, we were sitting around looking at pictures. My children were sharing their childhood pictures with their children. Every time we showed Cody a picture of his Dad, we asked him who it was. That's me he said. It sure looks like him.

A few weeks ago I took Cody and his cousin Olivia to the library. Cody went right over to a shelf, picked up a book and said this is the one I want. (Olivia spent an hour looking for just the right book. She ended up with several Angelina Ballerina books.) While she was looking, Cody sat down by a box of blocks and began to build. As I passed by him, I thought something smelled a little funky. So, I asked him if he needed to go potty. Without raising his head he said, "No Grandma, you'll have to go by yourself."

A little later in the week I was watching all the boys and their friends after school when Chad stopped to pick up his son Drew. Chad asked Cody where his Mom was. "Picking up my brothers Dad." Chad and I started to laugh. Isn't their Dad your Dad? "No." Oh, okay Cody what is your Dad's name. (Cody) "He's bald." Drew looked at his Dad and said "Dad, you're bald."

Never a dull moment. He keeps us in stitches. Out of the mouth of babes!

Tis the Season

2011-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

About this time each year I host an Open House for people to see what I've been working on the past year and to help them kick off their Christmas shopping. (Or, shopping for themselves which most of them did.)

The very first year I held it at my house, but since I acquired the studio I've had the last two there. This year I decided to take it back to my house for several reasons. First, the elevator at the Transit Building is down and it's quite a little hike up to the second floor (which really seems like the third floor, especially if you have a bum knee like I do right now.) And secondly I began to think that maybe it would be cozier and more comfortable for people to sit around and visit (which they did.)

Hauling everything home (especially since the elevator isn't working) was a lot of work but I really do like it better at the house. People stayed longer, ate more of the snacks and visited with other guests. I was also able to spread my jewelry out over a bigger area so people could see everything better.

Economically, this year was decent (measured by being able to pay my rent and other bills for the next month.) Times are tough and compared to the first year sales things were definitely down. (But, compared to the two Open Houses held at the studio, sales were up.)

So, for one day my family room became a jewelry showcase. It's all down now, packed and ready to head back to the studio for the Christmas Season. (Actually this worked out well, as I now will be able to decorate with everything off the tables.)

In a couple of weeks, I pack it all up again and head off to Erie for a show on Dec. 10 at the Montessori Regional Charter School at 2910 Sterrettania Road. I'll be displaying my work on one table, so it will take some creative display work to keep it from looking cluttered. If you are in the area that day, stop in and say hi.

Miracle oil

2011-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

I actually did work out a design ahead of time (at least for the one side.)

One side of the copper and bronze bangles

Other side of the copper and bronze bangles

When attaching two pieces of fired silver together, it has been found that the addition of lavender oil to the paste gives a very strong attachment to the pieces.

As I said in an earlier post, I had to repair my bronze bangle bracelet by replacing a couple of balls and adding a new ball. (Actually I decided not to use the errant balls but made three new ones instead.) I wasn't sure if I should add lavender oil to the bronze or not, but thought what the heck! I added the oil to a small piece of lump clay which I used to make the three new balls. Then I made the paste from the left over lump of oil infused clay.

After careful drying in an upright position, I held my breath when it came to firing. Since there were some freshly made pieces in the container with the bangle and the three balls were fresh clay, I did the first firing over again. The first firing burns out the binder. The second firing sinters the metal.

Today I got to open the kiln and Christmas came early. Everything was perfect. The new balls are permanently attached. (The only bad thing is that the bracelet is a little big for my hand and could slip off.) That was easily remedied by wearing two bangles. An earlier copper bangle is slightly on the small size and by putting it on after the bronze one, it keeps the bronze bangle from slipping. (There is one more bronze bangle waiting to be fired. Two bangles are pretty noisy. Just wait until I'm wearing three bangles. I won't be able to play hide and seek with the grandchildren.)

By the way, I think it's time for a grandchildren post. Got a couple of goodies from the three year old. Will share in a post soon, after I check to make sure I haven't shared them already.

All wired up

2011-11-17T17:54:00.000-08:00

Metal clay is a medium that makes use of so many different techniques, materials and tools. As I've said before I think that is one of the reasons I am drawn to it.

Wire is used in jewelry for wrapping stones, stringing beads, and creating bent wire creations among other things. (I'm not really a wire person..... all thumbs!) It can be used for those purposes in metal clay also, but it can be used as a tool.

My last couple pair of earrings were made by bending 14 Ga. copper wire into a design, flattening it with the chasing hammer and rolling clay over it to make an impression. (This technique can also be used to create a design for the copper/bronze inlay technique which I wrote about in an earlier post.) It's great for earrings as the wire can be flipped for the second earring to create a mirror image.

Another technique involves bending the wire into a three dimensional form and draping the clay over it. After drying, the wire is removed and the open side is inclosed with a slab of clay. It's a little difficult to control what the finished form will look like. (At least I found it difficult.)

The two pieces shown here are both in the greenware state (dried but not fired.) They also haven't told me yet what they want to look like when they're done. (Remember my jewelry talks to me!) That's why they look a little strange yet. I drilled three holes into the bigger piece, intending to put copper, bronze and silver rods through it. As usual, it's an organic form.

Yarn Bombing

2011-11-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

Until a few weeks ago I had never heard of yarn bombing (I live in rural Pa. remember.) I had to look it up and was pretty impressed with how elaborate some of these are. Basically, yarn bombing is covering public items with something knitted, crocheted or woven.

Since the parking ramp in Oil City closed down, parking has been an issue. So, some artists decided to yarn bomb some of the parking meters on the North Side of town. The pictures are located outside the Transit building. I even hear that the statue of Cornplanter now has a leg warmer.

Between the painted rocks showing up around town and the meter warmers, the city is starting to look "arty."

88%

2011-11-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

I was trying for 100% but didn't quite make it!

There is a tendency for me to make the kind of jewelry that I wear. I don't wear post earrings so I tend to make dangly earrings that hang from ear wires. There are a lot of people who do wear post earrings, so I've been trying the last few days to create some earrings for them.

Of course, this involves soldering the posts on (unless I use fire-in posts that are expensive and bend easily because they're made of fine silver.) Soldering ear posts is very easy (unlike some of the soldering I had to do in college.) No fancy torch is needed, just a creme brulee' torch.

When soldering on fine silver, the back needs to be very clean and more solder has to be used because of the fired clay's porosity. Silver solder can be used on copper and bronze pieces too. The solder will show as silver, which looks a little messy to me since it doesn't blend in like it would on a silver piece.

Last week I had two pair of bronze earrings that needed to be soldered. It took me three times "each" on these earrings. I cleaned them with the 3M bristle brushes with my flex shaft and that is where I think I made my mistake. The 3M wheels must have a compound in them that kept the solder from working. After I cleaned the backs with a wire brush, things went more smoothly.

Today, I had four pair of earrings to solder. Cleaned them first with the wire brush. The first seven earrings soldered on without a hitch. The eighth earring took two times. Hey, 88% isn't bad considering my batting average last week.

These have not been cleaned up yet.

Friends of the Transit

2011-11-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night the artists of the Transit Building held their first annual Friends of the Transit Award Event in the Graffiti Gallery. As a newly created subdivision of the Civic Center, the artists Maureen James, John Manders and myself created the Friends of the Transit Program.

The purpose of the program is to bring the community into the Transit Buildings and with a membership become a part of what is going on there. Not everyone feels they have artistic ability but they may have an interest in the arts and the program will allow them to help develop the arts in Oil City. They can do this by helping out with promoting the art events, volunteering to work in the Graffiti Gallery as a sales associate, helping artists in their studios, giving tours of the building, etc. Any money generated through a membership in the Friends program will be passed onto the Civic Center and will be used to preserve, restore and upgrade the buildings.

So, Saturday night was our kick off event. It was a fun filled and busy evening. (I do apologize for the photos. Took them with my phone and wasn't very diligent about checking what I was doing.)

Festivities began at 5:00 (after our usual Second Saturday Open Studios) with a social time for people to look at the artwork in the Gallery, have a little something to eat and drink. From 5-6:00 Mitch Littler, a young man from the area (oh Oil City has so much talent) played his guitar and sang. He shared his music with us again from 7:00-8:00.

Mitch Littler

At 5:30, four of the building's artists took part in what was called the "12 1/2 Minute Painting." Abby Bunnell, George Cooley, Shon Gaworski and Carol McDonald each shared their unique styles and vision by beginning and completing a painting in the time it took to play a rousing song. At the end of the evening the works were given away to some of the participants.

Shon Gaworski

Abby Bunnell

George Cooley

Carol McDonald

At 6:00 I gave a basic demo on metal clay, complete with a torch firing demo.

The award presentation to Dr. Robert DeShong was given at 6:30. Dr. DeShong has put in many hours doing physical work at the buildings as well as donating funds to help with various projects. He gave a very nice speech following the presentation (which I can't remember but I remember thinking how nice it was. I was cleaning up my area so John could do his caricatures there and I was listening but not totally catching everything that was going on then. Didn't even get a picture of it.... darn!)

6:45 to 7:45 John Manders, our resident book illustrator did caricatures of many of the attendees. (Sorry, didn't catch a picture of that either as I was upstairs at the Forestwood Performing Arts Academy learning how to do the cha cha.)

At 7:00 Darin Paden, owner of the Forestwood Performing Arts Academy on the fourth floor of the Transit Annex, gave a mini-class in the cha cha and a demo on the 4 step swing. I gave the cha cha a try and it really was pretty easy. Darin did a great job of breaking it down and taking it slowly. I was doing okay until he added a turn and twist (which right now is not too good for my bum knee.)

The evening was full of good people, good art, music, dance and food. (All donated by the Transit Artists.) What a party!

Anissa Gage's center piece made from vegetables and dried plants

An Alien in my kiln

2011-11-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I did fire the bronze bangle bracelet. I thought I might have to flip the bracelet and re-fire it to get it fully sintered throughout. I tested the side of the bracelet that was closest to the door (where it can be cooler and cause a piece to not fully sinter) and luckily it too was completely fired. But...... I had added some small bronze balls at various points around the bangle and three of those fell off during firing. (I had all three errant balls in my possession until I dropped one of them on the brown carpet in the hallway. Ugh!) And, a small crack showed up in the main body of the bracelet. So, I do have to fire the whole thing again after all. What works out in one area, screws up in another.

I'm going to blame it on the alien who was peeking out from inside my firing pan!

Is this the Art floor?

2011-11-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

Yes Kong, this is the Art floor!

Thanks to Carol McDonald, Swan Daashuur and Heidi Heck for painting the entrance to the National Transit Studio.

Rising up as you climb the stairwell is an explosion of color and abstract expressionism.

Feel free to visit!

Just like butter

2011-11-09T07:14:00.000-08:00

Barbara Becker Simon was wearing several cuff bracelets when she was in Pittsburgh teaching her wedge class. I really liked the bracelets and always thought I'd like to try to make some, although for the longest time I resisted working with the bronze and copper clays. (Although that has definitely changed thanks to Hadar's powdered clay.)

Clay that is already mixed has a shelf life and needs to be used not long after purchase. I've had 200 grams of BronzeClay which was invented by Bill Struve. Worried that it would dry up on me, I decided that now was the time to make some cuffs bracelets. So, last Saturday at my Guild's play day, I finally got a couple of cuffs started.

The design for the cuff was not apparent to me when I started. Rolling the clay on a texture sheet didn't give me a sharp enough impression, so I just rolled it into a smooth slab. (I figured I'd worry about the design later. Hey, that's my usual MO!)

Back in the studio on Monday, I sat down and tackled the design. (I did work it out on paper first.) I pulled out my dockyard carving tools and went at it. The bronze clay was very easy to carve and the carving process was fun. (I always did like carving linoleum blocks and this was just so much easier.)

The photo shows the bracelet in progress and once it's done and fired I'll post the finished piece. My biggest concern is getting full sintering since the piece takes up the entire firing pan. I suspect that I'll have to fire it once, turn it around and fire it a second time.

Big Bauble necklace

2011-11-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

Painting layer upon layer of metal clay paste onto Kix cereal to make beads puts me to sleep. (Although I did try it once...... ended up firing them before they were done and adding them to my scrap jar.) I also like the look of natural leaves in silver, but again find it boring to paint them with paste. (Got to find some other outlets for using my paste up.)

Using a core that will burn away in the kiln leaves a hollow bead, but there are also armatures available that don't burn out. They're called bisque beads and they come in all shapes and sizes. For the longest time I've had a few of those (and like lots of my tools) never got around to trying them. I did do a small bead once though, covered it with paste and embellished it with paper clay.

There was about a handful of very large (honker size) barrel beads in my collection so I bit the bullet and began to paint. Not sure how many layers of paste got painted on (I keep losing my way after the first layer.) Then I added textured shapes of rolled out lump clay, syringe lines (which I usually sand down to square them up) and more punched out paper embellishments. After firing the first couple and brushing them (this was when I was still using my brass brush) I noticed some paste wore off, so they got repaired and put back in the kiln.

Here is the result of that endeavor. It's much bigger and chunkier than I usually wear (although I wore it for a couple of days and liked it.) I keep trying to make my jewelry smaller and daintier but somehow I seem to be going the other way. (At least my weight is going down, whew!)

Box pendant

2011-11-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I taught a box pendant class using a combination of techniques I learned from Gordon Uyehara and from reading Kate McKinnon.

This was the piece I created in the process of demonstrating the techniques. I had a package of tiny fine silver balls and used those along with some syringe work to embellish the area with the pearl. (Actually the need to do embellishing came about because I miscalculated when I drilled my holes for hanging. The pearl was a little too centered for my taste.) Oops, another design technique exposed.

The texture was created with my tear-away, mentioned in a previous post.

Finally...... color!

2011-11-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier I said I never got color on my base metal pieces. Well, actually what I said was that the only colors I got were ugly colors.

Well, that's changed. Here's some bronze pieces that have some pretty impressive color.

Sleep well old friends

2011-11-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Ever since I started working with metal clay, I've been using a brass brush on my freshly fired pieces; followed by a spin in the tumbler.

No more! I can't tell you the last time I used my tumbler (my new magnetic tumbler hasn't been used yet either) or my brass brush. Since I've discovered the polishing capabilities of the Flex-shaft the old tried and trues have been put to bed. (They would probably come out of hibernation though for a class.)

Guess it's time to pull other new tools from my collection out of hibernation and see what they can do. "He who dies with the most tools wins" has been my mantra. Time to see what they can do.

More "Kissin" Cousins

2011-11-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here's more pieces made from some of my Photo Polymer Plates. Again, it's interesting how different the pieces made from the same plates can be.

15 minutes

2011-11-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

Everyone is looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. I guess that's why there are so many reality shows. I'm not a big fan of reality shows although I do watch American Idol.

But there is a new reality show that caught my attention. Runway Accessories is on Thursdays on Lifetime at 10 PM. Last Thursday was the first night. There were 12 contestants who had fifteen minutes to rummage through a storage unit and come up with items to create a necklace, a belt and an accessory of their choosing. Their creations were made to enhance a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. They were able to work until midnight that day and for a few hours the next day. Then they met with the model who would model their pieces. In order to enhance their pieces they helped direct the make-up and hair styles of the model.

Chandeliers, couch springs, and teddy bears were among the materials some of them used in their creations. They had a working studio (to die for) that had every tool imaginable for them to use. And in true reality fashion, someone had to go home.

Of course I found this interesting because I like to make jewelry. But I also found the challenge of making something out of junk interesting. Now that concept is nothing new, but I've never done it. Maybe with the increasing costs of precious metals, I'd better consider it. (But for now, I'm happily working in copper and bronze!)

Oh Grandpa

2011-10-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

I have this photo done by Herb Ritts hanging in my bedroom. For my family, this photo has a history and it keeps growing.

Years ago, when my daughter was a teenager, she saw this photo somewhere and really liked it. So, when I was in DC I happened to see it, bought it, had it framed and gave it to her for Christmas.

When she got married, her husband said the photo wasn't part of the dowry (Why does this photo intimidate men so much?) so it stayed.

Much to the protest of my husband, I hung it over our bed. He wasn't happy (again, why are men so intimidated?) but he left it be. He even told the grandsons it was a photo of him and they believed him!

The photo has been the topic of many guests at the house. Again, most of the women see nothing wrong with it. My husband has the men on his side. "How can you let your wife hang that thing in your bedroom?"

Today, we added another story to the photo. My five year old granddaughter was running through the house into the bedroom when she stopped dead in her tracks and said "Grandpa was soooooooooo hot!"

The grandsons proceeded to let her know that the picture was NOT Grandpa. "See, the guys name is Herb Ritts. Grandpa's name is John. It is not Grandpa" And the intimidation goes on!

(Maybe I'll just have this photo buried with me when I die. It should fit in the casket.)

Ghost Stories

2011-10-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight my husband, son, grandson and I went to hear a Clarion College professor (sorry but I can't remember his name) give a presentation on the results of his team's investigation into paranormal activity at the National Transit building in Oil City, Pa. He also discussed three other buildings, one located at the Venango Campus (also in Oil City) and two located on the campus of Clarion College.

Our main interest was in the Transit findings (although the other buildings were interesting too, especially the Hart Chapel.)

When I first told my family that I was getting a studio in the National Transit Building, my son told me it was haunted. (If you know my son and husband, you know not to believe most things they tell you...... so I didn't.) But I heard it from other people too. Supposedly people have smelled either cigar smoke or pipe smoke. One of the musicians in the building said he saw a man and smelled the cigar. (The Transit building was built in the 1890's and was a "men only" building.) I thought I smelled cigar smoke once myself (but that's a whole other story.)

Tonight was interesting. I learned things about the building I didn't know. Things like the arched walkway between the two buildings (which is right outside my studio) was called the "fire walk" because employees had to walk over this just to find out they were fired.

I did know that John D. Rockefeller built the building and had a pent house at the top of the Annex building. I also knew that the steam powered elevator (which doesn't work and never will again) is only one of two. The other one is in the Eiffel Tower.

Did they find evidence of ghosts? Yes they did. We saw pictures of a very clear orb down in the conference room. Other orbs appeared on the steps to the penthouse.

Another technique they used was to sit in a dark room with a flashlight. Using an infra-red camera to capture the moment they asked questions and got responses by having the ghosts turn the flashlight off and on. This technique did generate activity near the pent house.

We heard audio that was pretty impressive, although I don't think any of those came from the Transit Building.

The building has many, many vaults throughout. I have one in my studio area. I asked my grandson if he wanted to sit in the vault with a flashlight. Wasn't something he was interested in. I can't understand why.

Besides being a beautiful piece of architecture, this ghost thing adds an extra added dimension to the building. How cool to have a studio in a haunted building. Especially at Halloween.

Variations on a Photo Polymer Plate

2011-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I like working with metal clay is that techniques from other media can be used. From the art of print making, we get the photo polymer plate. Photo polymer emulsion is used to create stencils on a silk screen and the plates are used to print letter press, blind embossing, intaglio printing and to create a dry offset plate. In metal clay, we use the plate to create a "mold" for our clay.

The plate material is UV photosensitive and has to be kept in the dark until ready to be used. A high contrast negative is printed on a clear transparency sheet and this sheet is placed on the plate, then exposed to UV light and finally washed with plain water. The unexposed portions of the negative (the black areas) will wash out leaving a recessed area in the shape of the blackened areas.

Metal clay is rolled out onto the PPP plate. The recessed areas of the plate now project from the clay and the opposite areas are now recessed. The finished plates have to be kept oiled and in a dark area. The polymer plates can become brittle over time and can break. Some of the plates come mounted on a metal plate and these don't seem to bend like unmounted plates do.

The PPP plates are a perfect mold for creating the inlay designs with copper and bronze clay so I pulled out my collection of plates and gave a few of them a try. The photos here show some of the variety of finishes and clays I've used with a PPP plate.

Here is the exposed PPP plate. This design was based on a necklace I fashioned after an Ojibway Indian Design. The original necklace was loosely based on the design and this earring design was taken even farther.

The first earrings made with the plate were silver. I actually made two pair and colored both pair with enamel. (Sorry but the picture isn't the best.)

I used silver again when I used the plate for the third time. This time I just polished them up and added a patina.

Yesterday, I tried using the copper and bronze inlay technique with the plate.

It's interesting how different a look each pair gets just by using a different metal or a different coloring technique.

He cracks me up!

2011-10-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday I took my granddaughter and my three year old grandson to the library. Olivia looked at many, many books, finally settling on six books about Angelina Ballerina.

Cody walked into the children's section, grabbed a book and said "I want this one!" (Just like a man when he goes shopping.) Instead, he sat on the floor by a box of blocks and began building. As I walked past him, something smelled a little funky. I suspected that he'd passed a little gas so I asked him if he needed to go to the potty.

He said "No Grandma, you'll have to go by yourself!"

Follow directions

2011-10-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

My husband refuses to read directions (until after he's done something wrong!) I do read directions and try to follow them (when I remember what I've read. That's getting harder to do the older I get.)

As mentioned in the previous posts, I've been working with Hadar Jacobson's powdered copper and bronze clays. Hadar has four books out and the most recent book has directions for doing inlay with copper and bronze. (Hadar is a smart cookie. It's necessary to have all of her books. She mentions a technique and instead of repeating herself, tells you where to find it in a previous book. Smart!)

Anyway, the inlay technique (and there are several ways for creating a base for the inlay..... will talk about that later) requires a base which has a deeply impressed design in it. Then contrasting clay is rolled out and worked into the recesses. In the process, the entire piece gets covered with the contrasting clay which has to be sanded down until both colors of clay can be seen. Hadar says to do this with the top, face down on the sandpaper. As soon as you can see the two colors coming through, she says to turn the piece over and work from the top. That way you can see your design and this will keep you from losing parts of your design. It's true........ take the extra time it takes to sand from the top.

Look closely at my fish and you'll see what I'm talking about. I've learned my lesson. No more shortcuts! This piece will be added to my visuals of what not to do. (Got one of those for torch firing too. Everyone has to see what it looks like when you melt silver.)

The Jury is in on Hadar's copper clay

2011-10-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

I love Hadar's copper clay!

Tiny Dancer

2011-10-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

I bet you looked at that top piece in the last post and thought "What the heck?"

This piece was made by draping and folding a thin sheet of copper clay as if it were a piece of fabric. There was no idea in mind when I started (so what else is new) but as I looked at the piece it had a fluid feel to it which reminded me of a dancer. I added a head at the top, carved into the leg area to add to the movement and finished it off with a pink sapphire.

Working with the clays is like opening a present at Christmas. The piece changes so much from it's dry leather hard stage to the finished metal piece when it comes out of the kiln. (Once in a long while, it's a big letdown. Things happen in the kiln that are not pretty. That's when I have flashbacks to the robotic sweeper my husband got me one year for Christmas. Those who know me, know that story.) Then, it's Christmas again when I take the flex-shaft to it to polish it up. What a difference!

I hear music when I look at this piece.

Fresh out of the kiln

2011-10-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

These aren't the pieces in the previous post, but they are copper and they are fresh out of the kiln. This is the first time that any of my pieces have shown any kind of color after firing. Usually they have been a very dull brown color.

Sometimes the colors that appear on copper and bronze are worth saving. In order to do that it is necessary not to polish them or the color will be lost. Eventually the color will just darken and disappear as the metal tarnishes. But, as you can see, the color on the large piece is definitely not worth saving. My friend Carol Scheftic ( http://convergentseries.wordpress.com) has been getting some nice colors on her pieces lately and check out the gorgeous bronze pieces at (http://gaillannum.blogspot.com.)

Firing copper clay

2011-10-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

In a previous post I mentioned how copper and bronze clay have to be fired in an oxygen free environment. This also applies to steel clay, rose bronze clay and the new PMC Pro (a stronger form of silver clay that has some copper in it for strength.)

There are various containers for firing these clays. I use a stainless steel container that gets a black coating on it during firing that is messy and dirty. (My vacuum cleaner is seeing the light of day more often now.) Even though there are containers that don't get a black coating I figure that I already had a container and might as well use it. It's been working great so why mess with a good thing.

My friend Carol Scheftic takes a photo of her pieces before they go into the kiln so that if something goes wrong she knows where it was located in the container and thus may be able to figure out why the piece did not sinter. I've started to do this too. (It also helps my brain remember how many pieces are in there. ) It's not obvious when the firing is done because a one inch layer of carbon is covering the top.

Here's a photo of a load before firing. Because the pieces need to be toward the back of the container the number of pieces that can be fired are minimal. (Unlike silver which is fired on an open shelf. Several shelves can be stacked with ceramic spacers between them which allows for even more pieces and the silver can be placed anywhere on the shelf.) Because the firing time is shorter and there are more pieces in a firing, silver is much cheaper to fire. But, much more expensive to buy. I'm still trying to figure out if the cost of working with the base metal clays are really any cheaper in the long run.

Obesity is rampant!

2011-10-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

We went to Port Farms in Waterford on Monday with our children and their families. Port Farms is a working farm that has taken several acres of their land and set up a place for children and their parents to learn about farming.

Part of it is educational and part of it is just fun. The grandchildren had a great time on the slides, playing in the dirt with dozers, milking a wooden cow, getting lost in the corn maze, taking a hay ride (well actually it was just a wagon ride..... no hay,) among many other activities.

Instead of a room full of balls, the farm had a room full of corn. (I understand that rolling around in the corn for awhile was quite the skin softener.) It only took the oldest grandson a few minutes to blossom into a very rotund little boy. Luckily his obesity was solved by pulling his shirt out of his pants. (Boy I wish it was that easy!)

His mohawk hairstyle fit right into the country theme. I overheard a father commenting on my grandson's hairstyle to his son, "That boy looks like a rooster!"

New classes

2011-10-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Finally I'm getting around to setting up some classes. This summer was very, very busy. It was a good busy but busy just the same.

Upcoming classes include inlaying bronze into copper clay. This class is using Hadar's powdered clays and a technique that Hadar uses.

It's been a long time since I've offered an intro course so it is back in a shortened version. The class will be shorter and focus on learning how to work with the clay in a variety of ways.

The final class for the month is based on the box ring I made in Gordon Uyehara's class. But in this class we will be making it into a pendant and exploring different options for hanging the piece. It includes a pearl or learn how to make a faux pearl in a color.

Check out the dates and times in the right hand column of this blog. For questions, email me or give me a call.

Girlfriend

2011-10-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

We just spent the weekend with some good friends we met on our honeymoon forty years ago. Linda and Keith Weldon are from the Harrisburg area and we share the same wedding date. For awhile we saw them about once a year and then life got in the way and we didn't see them for probably somewhere around thirty years. A couple of years ago they got back in touch with us and it was like we never missed a beat. We had such fun this weekend that I hated to see them go.

While playing the card game, "Five Crowns," last night my husband made a comment that he never likes it when I refer to my female friends as "girlfriends." Linda and I didn't see anything wrong with it although we noted that they (men) call their male friends, buddy.

Now I have to think when I'm talking (which I often don't do and one never knows what will come out of my mouth.) Hey, if they can have male buddies, what can we call our girlfriends? (Excuse me our female friends.) Any suggestions?

The finishing touch

2011-10-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Flex Shaft is a great tool (if you use it and I finally am.)

The past May I took a class at The PMC Retreat at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, TN. It was a short class that gave us an overview of how to use our Flex Shafts. (Seems I wasn't the only one to own one and not use it.) Ruth Greening taught the class and made up kits that included rubber wheels, sanding drums and 3-M wheels. Basically, the class consisted of us trying out the different wheels on a scrap of copper sheet.

My favorite is the 3-M wheels. They are rather expensive and you don't use just one. A minimum of three wheels are used on the mandrel that is inserted into the Flex Shaft. Luckily they last a long time.

The wheels are used progressively from the coarsest (the white) to the finest (the green) to clean and polish the metal.

Another reason I like the 3-M wheels so much is that they don't hurt your fingers if you happen to hit them. (Unlike the sandpaper wrapped around the split mandrel.) I'm such a klutz.

Copper firing schedule

2011-10-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

As you can tell by my latest posts, I've been dabbling in copper clay; specifically Hadar's powdered clays. Several years ago I took a copper clay class from Debra Weld. In that class we worked with CopperClay which is in lump form. It was the very first copper clay to be introduced to the metal clay world.

True to my usual self, I had several pieces laying around from that class that had not yet been fired. (Didn't have to worry about whether they were dry enough or not.) According to Hadar, her firing schedule would work on all the clays, so I thought I'd give it a try. It certainly does work.

This piece also was textured with a tear away texture that Debra had available in class.

Hadar suggests firing the clay in a two-step process. The first firing burns off the binder and the second firing sinters the metal molecules. First firing is 1100 degrees for a time of 30 minutes to two hours; depending on the size of the pieces and the amount of binder to be burned off. The second firing is 1650 degrees for two hours. (That's the schedule for copper. If using copper and bronze together the second firing is 1520 degrees for two hours.)

Firing is done in an oxygen free environment. This is accomplished by firing in an open container that contains powdered charcoal. (All charcoal is not created equal, so I used Hadar's to be sure.) There's a half inch of charcoal underneath the pieces and an inch above the pieces. Since I have a muffle kiln, I have to position my pieces towards the back of my container. (The area by the door is cooler.) After the first firing has cooled down, the thin layer of burned charcoal is blown off the top. Then more charcoal is added to to the container to make sure there is enough on the top before starting the second firing.

In the past I've had some copper firings that did not turn out. (The water in the tumbler turned a pretty metallic color as the pieces disintegrated.) So far this method has been the most successful for me.

You know you are old when......

2011-10-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling exceptionally old lately. Getting out of bed in the morning doesn't feel any different than when I got in.

Signs that one is getting old......
Achy joints aren't temporary.
Going down the stairs with two feet at a time on each step.
Lightening the hair color instead of darkening like you really want.
Can't see a damn thing without the glasses on and even then it can be questionable.
Adding blood pressure medicine to the growing list of prescriptions.
Finally remembering that person's name...... six hours later.
Being ready to go to bed at 8:00. (What happened to the night owl?)
Not being able to get up off the floor. (Please don't make me sit on the floor sweetie.
This being said to the grandchildren.)
Not wanting to do the things you use to find fun (waterskiing, riding roller coasters, and other extremely physical activities.)
Not being able to pass up a bathroom (you never know how close the next one is.)
And the list goes on... feel free to add to it.

Getting old isn't all that bad. But right now I can't think of too many of them. The shoulder aches, the knees ache, the feet ache. Ah hell, it all aches right now.

Maybe going to the studio will make it feel better. Will see.

Favorite tools

2011-10-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

What is your favorite tool or tools? (It doesn't have to be related to metal clay.)

If we were talking about power tools it would have to be the band saw and the router. (I had a college professor who cut his hand in half with the table saw. So he had us all scared to death of it and of the planer......... I didn't want to get scalped! Needless to say they were not among my favorites. Neither was the circular sander....... too many bloody knuckles.)

But when it comes to metal clay I have a couple of new "favorites." Both tools are ceramic tools but like many other things, they "work" for this medium too. I discovered them at the Arrowmont store when I was there last May taking Holly Gage's Repousse class. (Actually I think I bought them the day I cut my hand on the glass.) These tools are great for scraping and cleaning up details. I used them to undercut the design on my repousse piece and lately I've been using them to help carve the copper clay. (So, not only am I using my new tools, but I'm also using what I learned in Holly's class.) That's a two-fer-one in my book.

These tools are very similar to some dental tools that I have, but somehow they are still different.

So...... how about sharing your favorite tool or tools with us!

Draping

2011-10-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I like metal clay so much is because it incorporates a variety of techniques from other mediums. I became an art teacher because I like to do it all and metal clay still gives me that chance.

The technique I was playing with the other day was draping, which comes from the ceramic world. I had forgotten all about the technique until I saw it in Hadar Jacobson's book. I use to teach it to my 3-D students where we would roll out the clay into a thin slab and then drape the clay over a form (usually upended bowl.)

In metal clay, the clay is rolled thin (I made mine 2 cards thick) and then draped over an object or folded back on itself. The clay sheet can be manipulated as though it were fabric.

The left hand piece was a rather large drape. It's in the greenware stage and will be worked on some more. The two round pieces are fired and were supposed to be a matching pair of earrings but my brain could just not get them draped the same way. Doing the drape in reverse (as is needed) for earrings just befuddled my mind more than it usually is.

I was a little nervous when I opened the kiln. I figured that the two round pieces would need to be fired again. They were all copper and were fired with a couple pieces of copper and bronze combined. Copper is to be fired at a higher temperature unless it is fired with bronze. Obviously, as long as there is bronze in the kiln, it must work because they were sintered just fine. They were also a very pretty color.

Tearaway technique

2011-09-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

Paper side of tearaway

Paper and polymer piece (detail is in the clay although it's hard to see)

These are used to roll the clay onto to create texture

It's been eight months since I've been to a guild meeting. I belong to the Western Pa. chapter of the PMC Guild which has meetings whenever we can find a place to host them.

Last Tuesday evening we had a meeting at the Four Directions Jewelry Studio of Barb Kaczor (one of our members.) The studio is located in Springdale, Pa and is very impressive. Stop in and check it out if you're down that way.

We usually have show and tell and some type of demo. Donna Penoyer gave a very informational demo on tearaways. (Any demo Donna does is great.) Tearaways are another thing that metal clay artists have adopted from the polymer clay people. I've used them but never made one (until today.)

A basic description would be that a toner based copy of a black and white line drawing is made on glossy paper. White polymer clay is conditioned and rolled into a thick sheet and the copied drawing is laid face down on the polymer clay. Using the palm of the hand, the back of the sheet is rubbed to create heat and friction. Slight pressure is applied while doing this and the rubbing continues for a specified time period and then allowed to rest and cool. This rubbing and resting process is completed one more time and then followed by a final rubbing. After the final rubbing the paper is torn off with a quick pull.

This process creates two plates that can be used to create texture on the metal clay. The paper picks up polymer clay on the inked lines and the drawing cuts into the polymer clay. Both pieces are cured in a toaster oven when finished.

The polymer piece can be used indefinitely unless it cracks. The paper piece can be used multiple times until it wears out.

I tried making one for the first time today. Rubbing the back was a little warm (and tiring..... I'm such a wimp.) I was anxiously looking forward to the ripping action and I have to admit it was fun. (Like ripping off a band-aid.) My piece turned out perfect. I was thrilled.

Can't keep a Ginkgo down

2011-09-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I was lamenting the fact that the Ginkgo tree along the path I walk to the studio had been trimmed. And, all the branches (and leaves) were no longer within my reach. (But some of the path has such low hanging branches that I have to duck to walk through there. Can't figure out why they weren't trimmed.)

Well, you can't keep a Ginkgo tree down. There were five little leaves breaking through where a branch had been cut off. So I was able to get one last leaf today to use with the metal clay.

Since we were working with copper clay today, I now have a copper version of the Ginkgo for a pendant. (At least in the greenware state. Will wait and see what happens when it's fired.)

It's all out war!

2011-09-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

I tried being humane. I put out mouse traps that did not kill them and then they could be released. (Although the last time I did that a hawk was watching me let them go. Needless to say they didn't all make it!)

But this time they wouldn't crawl in those kind of traps. (Well, one did and he was smart. He now lives in the nearby woods..... I hope.)

We put out the snap type of trap under the kitchen sink. I was downstairs when I heard it go off. Gingerly I opened the door and there sat the darn mouse looking at me! He stared at me and I stared back. The trap wasn't even visible; it flew to the other side of the cabinet.

Now if they would just stay out of the kitchen I would have kept trying to catch them humanely. But no they had to crawl across my stove and on my counter. That's when the war started. Out came the D-Con. There's one under the stove, under the sink and behind the toaster.

Haven't found any dead mice yet, but every last piece of D-Con under the stove was gone. It's just a matter of time!

Copper and Bronze clay

2011-09-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

As was mentioned in my previous post, I've revisited working with copper and bronze clay.... via Hadar Jacobson's powdered clays.

A little over a week ago several of my friends and I had a play day to try out the clay. Ginnie Weltner, who is a frequent student and friend and my college roommate, Cindi Armstrong (who visits every Labor Day weekend and is a once a year student) helped me test out the powdered clays.

We each mixed our own clay and tried Hadar's "inlay" technique which is one of the first projects in her most recent book, Pattens of Color in Metal Clay; Canes, Gradients and Mokume-Gane. My friend Carol Scheftic has a photo of two of her pieces in Hadar's book. One of them is the inlay project. The book is worth checking out.

The inlay project is made by rolling the copper clay to the thickness of two popsicle sticks, impressing a deep texture or object into the clay, filling the depression with the bronze clay and sanding the piece to expose both of the clays in a level surface. (Now I know that my description is not very detailed and it's not meant to be. For more detail, check out Hadar's book.)

For the most part it's not working with the clay that stresses people out but the firing process, which I'll talk about in another post. Luckily, both my test piece and the final pieces fired successfully at the recommended temperatures.

The only thing I noticed was that the bronze appeared to be more porous looking and had small cracks in it. (It wasn't the same in all the pieces which could be attributed to us each mixing the bronze clay differently.) I also know I wasn't as careful mixing the bronze as I was the copper and felt that we all had it a little drier than it should have been. (Another learning experience!) We could repair the cracks and re-fire the pieces. (Which we don't plan on doing as they were very small.)

The final step was to apply Baldwin's Patina to the highly polished and cleaned pieces. Baldwin's Patina is specially formulated to work on copper and bronze. I found it worked best when the piece was warmed up in very warm water. (Otherwise the clay just seemed to suck the patina right in. It didn't do that in the video! Hadar's blog offers a video on how to apply the patina.) The patina highlights the contrast between the copper and the bronze.

So far, the only thing I do not like about using the bronze and copper clays is that they are very dirty to work with. Using liquid gloves does help keep the hands cleaner, but somehow the darn stuff manages to still get under the fingernails and the dark dust is everywhere.

I have several other pieces ready to be fired before I decide for sure whether I like this clay or not. They all use the drape method and will be much lighter in weight than the inlay pieces. I'll keep you posted.

The jury is finally deliberating

2011-09-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

The containers of copper clay were two different shades of red

Clay pieces contain both copper and bronze clay

Larger piece is by Virginia Weltner

Years ago there were only two brands of clay and two kinds of clay, silver and gold. Now there are a myriad of companies making the clay. Copper, bronze, white bronze, rose bronze, steel and pearl gray steel clays have been added to the family of metals available.

In several previous posts, I have mentioned how the jury was still out on these base metal clays. Well, the jury has finally gone to deliberation on at least the copper and bronze clays.

In March my local guild, the Western Pennsylvania Metal Clay chapter of the PMC Guild, in conjunction with the Cleveland Metal Clay Guild, brought Hadar Jacobson to the area for a class. Unfortunately (well actually it was a mixed feeling about missing the class), I was not able to make it to the class as I was in Florida at the time. (Sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures eased my pain of not being able to take the class.)

Hadar's clay comes in powdered form instead of as a mixed lump of clay which means it has unlimited shelf life (unlike the other clays.) This past week I finally was able to "play" with her copper and bronze clays. I think I'm in love. They mix up so smoothly and feel much silkier (and less stiff) than the other base metal clays.

In the past, firing issues kept me from working with the clays more. My "test piece" this week fired up beautifully. Hopefully it works the second time when I fire the actual pieces. I'll let you know.

Forget new, I want to the old ones

2011-09-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

A very simple and fun project is making polymer clay covered pens. My art club use to make them to sell.

On Saturday, I offered an appreciation class in making polymer clay pens. Luckily I had eleven Bic pens made with a white plastic barrel as these have been successful in not melting in the toaster oven. I never dreamed that I would not be able to buy them any more.

Instead I had to buy pens that "looked" like the Bic pens. They were different in two ways; they had 1/3 less ink in them and they melted in the oven. Darn! I may never be able to make these pens again. Now I'm stuck with sixty pens I don't want. Anyone need a pen?

Some of my favorite things

2011-09-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

Lake Erie was exhibiting beautiful colors

The lake was just roaring

A view of a grape orchard (There are miles and miles of grapes!)

Whiskers on kittens and warm fuzzy mittens. (Wait..... that's not my favorite things. Those are Julie Andrew's favorite things.)

My favorite things are listening to train whistles in the distance, smelling the grapes when they begin to ripen in wine country (there are thousands of acres of grapes) and the sound of the water lapping at the beach. (Well, actually this weekend it was pounding the beach.)

This past weekend I was able to enjoy all three of those things as it was my annual holiday to spend with my college roommate. We go to our family camper at Lakeside Campground in Ripley, NY.

The campground is near the Chataqua Wine Trail. Now I am not much of a wine drinker. (Although one might disagree as there are six bottles of wine in my camper refrigerator at the moment.) Every time I go up I try a new winery and this time it was The Heritage Winery. Their Half and Half wine (half concord grapes and half niagra grapes) was recommended to us. So...... It joined my bottles of Dazzle from the Courtyard Winery, Blueberry Wine from the Presque Isle Winery, Pink Catawba and Lambruscano from the Penn Shore Winery.

Hey, it helps me get to sleep!

Do I have enough?

2011-09-01T19:06:00.001-07:00

What do you think? Do I have enough rings?

Obviously I'll never be a hand model!!!!

Box Pearl Ring

2011-08-31T15:52:00.000-07:00

Drying box with post for pearl

Pouring in vermiculite to support the post

Rings ready for firing

My finished ring

I do love making rings and I happened to have had an empty finger to cover. So it was very convenient that Sunday's class with Gordon was on making a box ring with a pearl.

Lora Hart once said that when she takes a class she doesn't try to be creative. She's there to learn the technique and creativity can be her focus when she's back in her own studio.

Keeping that in mind, I kept my ring simple and just followed Gordon's lead. (Not that I didn't draw up a design that involved carving, stippling and adding coils..........but thought twice about it. I'm so glad I did keep it simple.)

The techniques I learned can now be expanded into so many other areas and that is why I take classes in the first place.

Classy Turtles

2011-08-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

One of Gordon's turtles

Gordon's second class at the Cleveland Metal Clay Retreat made fine silver turtle pendants. Again, I wasn't able to take the class but at least I was able to ooh and aw over the finished pieces of those who did. There was a story behind the reason for making the turtles but I did not hear what it was.

Patina Turtle belongs to Mary Lou McMullen (on the left)

Silver Turtle is Brenda Kessler's

Both turtles are just gorgeous!

(Another class I wish I'd taken!)

Just amazing

2011-08-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

Gordon and Jan Durkin from the Western Pennsylvania Metal Clay Guild

As was mentioned in an earlier post, I headed to the Cleveland Area this past weekend to take a class with Gordon Uyehara. He was offering three classes while he was there, but unfortunately I was only able to take one of them. His work is simply amazing. There is no other way to describe it.

The Cleveland guild combined with the Guild from Columbus, OH and the Western Pennsylvania Metal Clay Guild to promote the Retreat. Cleveland organized and hosted the four day retreat at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. (What a pretty town. I might just have to go back.) Many thanks to Katie Hanrahan and anyone else who helped her for such an enjoyable gathering.

Gordon's first class was a bracelet making class. Even though I wasn't able to take the class I was able to see the results of the class and they were all awesome.

The examples above were made by Gordon. (He was very generous in letting me take pictures of his work for my blog..... such a nice guy!)

Check out his work at www.honudream.com

You're never too old

2011-08-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm sixty two years old! What am I doing riding the Mega Vortex at Waldamere Amusement Park........ twice? (Having fun with my family. That's what I'm doing.)

The Frog Hopper was a favorite of the little ones. It did look like fun!

Ancient relics?

2011-08-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

No, it's just modern day sand castles created by my grandchildren at the beach

The rain did stop and the sun came out but now we are fighting the wind. I thought our camper was going to blow away last night but it sounds worse than it is.

A couple more days of sun and fun, then back to work. (Fall is a busy time for classes and jewelry.)

Time to renew the spirit!

2011-08-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

Has your summer been as busy as mine? I hope so and I hope not (depending on where you want to be.)

This is one of the reasons the posts this summer have been few and far between. Hopefully you'll hang in there with me until life settles down and I can get back to work.

Keep an eye open for upcoming classes this fall. Fall is always a good time to take classes and renew the spirit.

I plan on renewing my spirit this coming Sunday with a class with Gordon Uyehara. Anyone in metal clay knows who Gordon is. He does phenomenal work and you can't miss his style.

The Cleveland Guild is hosting a retreat this weekend and Gordon is one of the guest teachers. He is offering three classes (one is a bracelet class that just didn't work into my schedule. Darn!) I'm taking a boxed pearl ring class with him. (And I love, love, love making rings.)

I'll be sure to share a photo next week. Until then I'll be hoping the rain ends so I can enjoy a week with my family.

Maybe I'll share some Grandchildren photos. They're always good for a story!

New Toys

2011-08-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was going to recycle some of my silver by sending it into Rio Grande to be reclaimed. If a credit is taken, 75% of it's value is given. If cash is what you want, 65% of the value is given.

Rio was very quick with getting back to me and within a few days I had my credit. I used my weight watchers scale to weigh my stash but the weight wasn't right. It weighed everything in at 16 oz. +. The actual weight was closer to 11 oz. (Does this mean I can eat more since my scale is weighing heavy? Guess I'd better check first.) Since they wanted troy ounces, I used the converter on my computer which was accurate. It was just my initial weight that was wrong. I received $339 dollars credit.

Money burns a hole in my pocket so I used my credit about a week or so later. There were a few tools I wanted (and if I need supplies I buy them. Tools would be put off so I opted to buy mostly tools with my money.)

My order came today; some bezel wire, one package of metal clay, a magnetic tumbler and a small drill press. Just like Christmas and I had a little credit left over.

Both the tumbler and the drill press are made in China. (As a kid I remember that was a good thing. These days I'm not so sure.) The tumbler had no directions of any kind and the drill press might as well not have had any directions. They were so poorly written by someone who had a limited understanding of English. (Thank goodness for the pictures!)

The drill press came wrapped up with lots of grease to keep it from rusting, (I presume.) As I was unwrapping it the grease and oil were literally dripping off it. I went through quite a few paper towels and was very careful not to get it on my clothes.

I rearranged the room to accommodate my new toys. Just as I was getting ready to do something else, I thought I'd better test both of them out to make sure they worked; first the drill press, then the tumbler. Great! They both worked.

As I was getting ready to leave for the day, I noticed some strange orange stuff on the walls around the drill press. Yikes, it was more grease. Guess it was in the drill chuck and during the whirring of the drill it flung the grease everywhere.

My shirt is now soaking with stain remover covering five different grease spots on the front and sides of my shirt. So much for being careful!

Ew!!!

2011-08-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

My daughter and her children are staying with us for a little bit while she waits to get into her house.

Yesterday, Olivia, who is five came up to tell us that her two year old brother Beau had a stinky diaper. Her Mom was finishing up something for work and told Olivia that she would take care of it in a few minutes. A few minutes passed and we heard Beau go Ew!!! That was not something you want to hear from a kid with a dirty diaper. (You should have seen us both jump at the sound of that.)

Yes it was not something we wanted to see. The diaper was off and the mess was on the floor and on his foot. His mom gave him a bath while I attended to the carpet.

Guess next time we won't wait!

Accountability buddy

2011-08-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Van Gogh Palette earring collages by Cassy Muronaka

As was mentioned in an earlier post, I'm taking the Artful Success class from Tonya Davidson. The class is packed full of good information (which is an overwhelming task to process.) But, bit by bit we are all making progress (at our own pace) and will eventually put into practice what we are learning.

We have "Accountability Buddies" in this class to help keep us on track and to have someone to bounce ideas off. My buddy is Cassy Muronaka from California. Cassy is a photographer, writer and polymer clay artist. We've communicated by email and by phone. Due to the time difference it's a good thing I'm a night owl. We've discovered that we are very much alike in many ways and talk like we've been friends for years.

Check out Cassy's website, http;//cassymuronaka.com (which will also take you to her blog.) Especially look at her publications, many of which I recognized as being something I was interested in. How cool (okay, I've dated myself again) to know people who write articles that I've read.

(Getting into metal clay has also afforded me the chance to know lots of people who write magazine articles and books.) And while I'm at it, here's a shout out to my friend Carol Scheftic who had two of her pieces published in Hadar Jacobson's latest book. Check her out at the Convergent Series link in the right hand column of my blog.

"More is Less"

2011-08-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

In the world of art, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe coined the phrase "more is less". Work created with this philosophy is called "Minimalism" and the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. (Actually I discovered that the first person to coin this phrase was Robert Browning in the poem, "The Fabulous Painter", written in 1855.) But, I'm most familiar with the art concept.

In this era of economic decline I imagine that "more is less" will be most people's mantra. I know it is mine. My husband and I are trying to simplify our lives by spending less (wish us luck on that one.) We have decided to give up the debit card and pay cash, hoping this will make us think before we pull out our wallets for something we don't need.

What made me think of this tonight? I bought a bag of butterscotch chips and used (what I thought) was half a bag to make my recipe. I was going to use the other half (which should have been one cup) to make some cookies. What a surprise when I read that a bag of butterscotch chips is now 1 2/3 cups. When did that happen? (Must have happened while I was dieting!)

I also noticed that the price of garlic toast stayed the same but the pieces are noticeably smaller. So are the cereal boxes.

So what does this mean for me? Well, the price of precious metal is way up as well as all the components made with it. My costs are up but not the paychecks of my customers or students. So I not only need to design my pieces smaller but make designs that are simpler. I tend to lean toward the tendency of horror vacui (the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with detail) so this minimalist approach will be a challenge. (Which I think design wise will be good for me.)

I'm also going to have to be creative to save my students money on the supply end of the classes. (Going to have to oil the creative channels in my brain...... I think we are in for the long haul!)

OH NO!

2011-07-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

Remember this piece? Last July I posted about finding a ginko tree on the trail I take from the parking lot to my studio.

Earlier in June I picked a few leaves to use in a demonstration I was giving. That was a rather hurried creation so I did not keep the piece. (Ended up back in my lump of clay.)

Well, the other day I was prepared to make some more jewelry using the ginko leaf but was not pleasantly surprised when I discovered that all the lower branches (the ones I could reach) had been chopped off. Of course it was 90 degrees out and they had been cut several days before. So all the branches were brown and crispy. (They were also laying on the side of a very steep bank that led to the river.) My nickname when I was a kid was Ally Bumps because I fell a lot. I wasn't about to take any chances, even if they had still been green.

Anyone got a ladder? (Oh wait a minute..... I could fall from that too!)

Kind of a drag

2011-07-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

If you are a child of the 60's you'll remember The Buckingham's song "Kind of a drag."

I took part in a two day Arts and Crafts Show yesterday and today. (Actually I was set up one day before too.) Last year the show was successful for me. Not this year. It was kind of a drag!

Oh well, things happen.

Other side of "need a pearl?"

2011-07-22T20:16:00.000-07:00

In my previous post "need a pearl" I was asked if the piece was a lentil bead. Yes, indeed it is. Besides making rings, I love making lentil beads. I think that's because they so easily lend themselves to reversible pieces.

The other side to the faux pearl piece has Aura 22 on it. Maybe it's my old eyes, but for me the gold never shows up very well. (I also knocked off the post for the pearl when I was torch firing the gold side. Live and learn.)

And, as usual my photo skills leave something to be desired. But for what it's worth, here is the other side. Oh, and take a guess what color of shirt I was wearing the day I took the picture.

A Paradox

2011-07-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

In my Artful Success class we were asked to think about who we are, why we make the jewelry that we make and how our jewelry shows who we are. In the past I've been asked to do this in other classes but never really took the time until now. Instead of just thinking about it I started to write it down.

Here is where the paradox comes in. Do I really know myself. I say my decorating style leans towards the mission style (actually it's mostly eclectic but I like the mission style. Except when it come to dusting in between those little slats!) But my jewelry does not have the clean simple lines of the mission style, it's very organic. This contradiction, I've noticed before.

But with this new class I've discovered another contradiction between who I think I am and my work. We have accountability buddies in the class and I told mine that my ideal day would begin by waking up in the mountains and seeing the mountain tops shrouded in mist. So..... why do I have so many pieces that deal with water? I'm not a beach type of person (although if someone wants to give me a free vacation on the beach I'm not about to pass it up.) My latest piece "Diving for Pearls" pendant is about water. I haven't actually counted the number of water pieces yet (but I will.) I have a feeling I'll be surprised.

So what does this say about me? Oh, too much to think about!

Diving for Pearls Pendant

2011-07-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

This piece started out as one of my negative space designs. (That's what I call my pieces that are made from the left over scraps of paper clay after I have used the paper punch.) Usually they involve several pieces of negative spaces but this piece uses only one.

The empty spaces reminded me of waves and as usual I dove right in (an appropriate word since we are talking about waves.) One thing led to another and the piece came together. ( I had no idea where it was going.) I use to teach my students that planning saved time and money. I need to follow my own advise. Think not! No fun!

Anyway, the focal piece has been finished for well over a year but I had no idea where to take it next. Not until the other day when a friend of mine came to me with a request to fix a bracelet she bought somewhere else. The bracelet was beautiful to look at but just was not made to fit the normal human's wrist. (There wasn't much I could do.) But the curly wires in the bracelet turned on the light bulb in my brain as the perfect complement to my focal point.

At first I was going to use wire (wasted about three inches of fourteen gauge wire on that one) but it didn't feel right. Then the light bulb went off again (I was seeing spots from all the flashing that was going on.) Since I had used coils of clay for the focal piece, why not use them for the connecting piece.

I'd also had the beads for quite awhile. I knew I wanted them for this piece but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. I also had some very large round beads in the same color but they were way too big. (But not to worry. They now have a place as soon as I finish firing some big ceramic beads that I covered with silver paste, etc.) Big beads need to hang together.

It feels good to finally have it finished and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It's a good thing I took the (long) time to listen to the piece. Otherwise there were some other plans that would not have been so successful. It pays to be patient (and have multiple pieces on the work bench at once.)

Oil Heritage Festival

2011-07-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time Oil City celebrates their heritage with a festival. This year's festival begins on Thursday and runs through Sunday.

Activities for all ages are planned for the next few days, including an adult and a young peoples art show at the National Transit building (where my studio is located.) Tomorrow is a children's olympic competition and tomorrow evening is a children's pet show. Friday and Saturday is the annual craft show. Also on Saturday is a run and a parade Saturday evening. At some point there is a car show, plus many other activities. The culminating event on Sunday night is the fireworks. (Since I'm too lazy to go find my paper with the information of all the activities for the festival, I'm missing lots of the details.) If you are interested just google it.

Last year I tried my hand at a booth during the Art and Craft show. I was planning on doing it again this year and then just got too stressed out thinking about all that work (that sounds pretty simple but I'd just been in some kind of funk.) Last year was successful and I felt good about it. But this year it just wasn't appealing to me.

Instead, I am setting up my work in the Graffiti Gallery. There are eight of us that are offering our art for sale. Assemblage artists, a stained glass artist, painter and book illustrator, along with Swan (another jeweler in the studios) and myself. My work and hers are so different from each other that we feel we can exhibit and sell together. Hopefully people will come in off the street to visit. (It's supposed to be hotter than you know what, so maybe they'll come in just to cool down.)

If the weather is anything like last year (hot, stormy and windy) I'll be glad I'm not out on the street.
If you're in town, stop by and say hello.

Tomorrow I'll share a photo of a new piece I just finished today. (Another one of those things that have been sitting around for a year or more. It finally talked to me and I love what it said!)

Bragging rights

2011-07-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Just a little bragging. (Grandmas are allowed to do that you know!)

Middle grandson Ethan won "Best of Show" at the Oil Heritage Children's Art Show for his painting, "Chinese Bell."

Way to go Ethan.

Need a pearl?

2011-07-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Make one! (Well actually make a faux pearl. It was the easiest thing to make so far.)

SSSSSS!

2011-07-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last week I got a commission for a snake ring. For once, I got right on it and finished it today. As usual, the pictures don't do it justice but I'm very pleased with it.

The snake was based on the green tree snake. Originally, I wanted to wrap the snake around the ring several times but decided it would make the ring too thick and too heavy. So, I opted instead to wrap it around once and rest the head on the tail.

Faux Stone

2011-07-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

The two jades with metal clay and the turquoise that sort of turned out. Still more practice to come!

Time to play!

2011-07-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

I've always been somebody who has been a little on the reserved side. I follow the rules, do what I'm told and usually don't make waves. (Although once in awhile in my old age I've surprised myself.)

I can laugh and have fun but am not overly playful. But I think I need to learn how to let go and play!

My jewelry leans more towards the traditional although I try to break out of my box. Sometimes I make it but usually not.

I'm saying this because I am trying to put together a class that incorporates both metal clay and polymer clay.

Years ago I worked with polymer. I taught it to my students at the end of the school year. It was new enough and different enough to keep their interest. I mostly taught them how to make canes (and there in lies my problem.)

Metal clay is totally different than polymer. Besides being much cheaper it handles differently. It doesn't harden until cured in a toaster oven. It sticks and drags when a needle tool is pulled through it. Rolling it causes it to stretch out. These differences were not a problem when making canes, but it became a problem when I tried to make slabs of faux stones.

I'd gone through a variety of polymer clay books to find "formulas" and
directions for making the fake stones. The list I came up with is long. As usual I ran out and bought more supplies than I needed. (That's another side I need to work on!)

Well, I've been following the directions (which sometimes leave a little to be desired) with a minimal amount of success. There are a couple of "jades" that looked better once they were buffed up. I've gotten one "okay" batch of "turquoise" and one bad batch. That's as far as I've gotten.

What I've decided I really need to do is lay out some real stones to look at. Pull out the polymer and just start playing. Heck what's the worse that can happen? I'll waste some polymer! It's not like it costs as much as the silver clay. So why can't I do it? It's just not in my nature.

Maybe I need to go down the slide a few times with my grandchildren to get me warmed up!

They're all doing it!

2011-07-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

This past week we had all the grandchildren at our house at one time or another. My daughter and her two children were up for the week. Thursday night Olivia stayed at her other Grandparent's house so we invited "the boys" over to spend the night with Beau.

Thank goodness we had four IPhones between us. The boys were sitting in a row playing games on the phones (until Beau decided to get up for a snack!)

They do still play traditional board games though. Tyler has been learning to play Chess and he does pretty well at it. Ethan's favorite is Blokus. The little ones (two and three) want to play anything that has lots of pieces.

But, video games are here to stay. I even find myself addicted to BeJeweled and Bookworm. (Which keeps me from getting my work done. Okay, Alice..... put the phone down and back away.)

ART!

2011-06-27T09:33:00.000-07:00

The main hallway into the studios was pretty drab looking. It's a huge hallway and the lighting is dim. Not a very inviting entry.

Down at the other end of the hallway the lighting is brighter and the artists whose studios are at that end have added little paintings to the walls here and there. It is fun and inviting. (Will share a photo of that area when I take one.)

So some of us at the other end decided to do something about it. John Manders came up with the idea of creating a wall that said Art when you looked at it. (It literally says art!) Using left over paint from a previous project, we painted the wall purple and added the lettering. It's something you can't miss. Even walking by the doorway it catches the eye. We've done one wall so far, but it's just the beginning.

The day I painted the "R" I decided to add to the corner outside my studio. Just a little flow to lead the eye.

Rock on Oil City

2011-06-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

Holly Berlin from the National Transit Studios started a "Rock On" movement in Oil City. She read or heard somewhere about people who painted rocks and set them around town in unexpected places. Thinking this was such a great idea she suggested that we try it.

Many have jumped on the band wagon with both clever phrases and ideas involving the words rock and actually painting rocks. I think Holly had a painting party last weekend that got even more people involved.

I think this is a great idea (but so far haven't painted any rocks myself....... so far.)

But today, I did come across my first "Rock on Oil City." Don't know who painted it but it was outside the Transit Building in one of the flower pots. What an appropriate place and what an age old question.

The windows on the second floor have signs in them that say "Art Inside" and there are also banners lining the streets that say the same thing so the rock's placement couldn't have been better. Can't wait to "come upon" more. What fun!

It's a Mind Set

2011-06-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

This evening I listened to a web seminar presented by Tonya Davidson from Whole Lotta Whimsy. The presentation was on The Five Keys to Success.

The first key to success is "Mind Set" Tonya went through a variety of things we can do to help make ourselves think successfully and actual techniques to do everyday to make that happen.

Her discussion on mind set brought to mind an experience I had when going to grad school. (Actually, at the beginning of every school year I would tell my students about this experience to get them to understand that what they learn is up to them.)

Most classes at the college level were taught during the day. A 4:00 class was considered an evening class. I taught until 3:30 and the college was an hour away, so my choice of classes was limited. The weaving class was always twice a week from 6:00-9:00, so they fit in. (But boy was that a tiring ride after teaching all day. How did I do it? Oh, I was younger.)

I really had an interest in art history and there were a few of those classes offered at 6:00. The first art history class was being taught by a woman who had been teaching fifty years. I had signed up for the class but dropped it when several of my colleagues told me that I wouldn't learn anything from her. All we would do is go to her farm and draw her horses.

Another class that I really wanted to take was "20th Century Criticism" and guess who was teaching it? That's right..... she was. Instead of dropping the class I went into that class with the mind set "She is going to teach me something whether she wants to or not." And guess what, it was the best class I ever took. I not only learned about 20th C. criticism but also some philosophies of life. I attribute the success of that class mostly to my attitude. As I sat in that class, taking it all in I saw other classmates who skipped class at the break, read books, and slept. No wonder they didn't learn anything.

After the class was over I wrote her a note about how much I had learned. (Never did that before.) I did it after the grades came out so she wouldn't think I was brown nosing.

Also in that class (and here I date myself again) we had to write a twenty five page paper and make a presentation. I had just gotten my first computer and the spacing for double spacing looked so much farther apart than my typewriter did; so I didn't use the double spacing. Instead I did what "looked right" to me. When I ended up with l00 footnotes, someone told me that shouldn't be. There shouldn't be more than two per page. Well, it was okay because my paper was actually a fifty page paper (so much for the spacing not looking right.) No wonder it took me forever.

Anyway, the point is that the mind is a powerful tool. Our attitude and mind set can make all the difference in the world. (Better practice this on the golf course too!)

Just scrap it!

2011-06-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

At home I'm on a mission to "Simplify." (Which is going to take me years!) So, what's good for the home is good for the studio too in a variety of ways.

Certain things I'm getting rid of at home can be used in the studio. (Although I will never be able to give up the studio...... too much stuff in there.) Then, the simplifying concept also applies to getting rid of things at the studio I'm never going to use.

Things like........ pieces of fired silver that never made it to fruition as a piece of jewelry. (I've been hanging on to them, telling myself that I'll eventually use them in something....... I won't. I need to face it.) So yesterday I started to sort through my stash and look at every piece realistically. Into the recycle bin they went, along with pieces of sterling silver wire and old sterling jewelry.

A few posts ago I mentioned a piece I was working on after seeing a work by Ruth Greening. It didn't go so well and I tried to save it by ordering smaller CZ's and adding more clay to create a smaller hole. The piece still was not successful so it also ended up with the rest of the scraps. (I'll explain why in another post.)

It feels good to clear out all those unfinished pieces and start fresh. There are still more to go (can't do it all at once; got to go in waves.)

What is done with the scraps? They get sent to Rio Grande who will melt them down and recycle them into new pieces of silver. I might as well get monetary credit through Rio as have all this silver setting around.

From NC

2011-06-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were in NC at my daughter's house. We were there to celebrate both my grandson's second birthday (a bit belated) and my granddaughter's fifth birthday (a bit premature.) We also went to my granddaughter's pre-school graduation ceremony on Sunday evening.

The ceremony was very cute (all those little caps and gowns.) It was also a little heart wrenching as we were all reminded how fast they grow up. (Don't we know it!) My husband and I both got a little teary eyed and so did our daughter. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead (and as usual, I forgot to take the camcorder.) I'll share some photos when I get some from my daughter. The two year old was a model child during the ceremony. We were a little worried about that since we sat in the back row with him and his Mom was down front.

One of the gifts we got our granddaughter was a face painting book with paints. (About now my daughter is probably cursing us since I'm sure she has to be the guinea pig every night.) She painted my hands, face and feet (which I share with you.) A budding artist? (She wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. Does that make Grandma proud or what?)

One track mind

2011-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

In a previous post, I shared one of my many "didn't quite work out" experiences with a piece of beach glass my girlfriend had given me. Actually she gave me three pieces to see if one of them would work out to make a necklace.

Today I sat down and tried to work out a design with the remaining two pieces. Since they were both part of the neck of a bottle, the curve of the pieces was a challenge. Nothing seemed to work and then the "light bulb" in my brain came on. The entire time I was designing for these pieces, the focus was on making the metal clay piece. The beach glass was secondary.

Since my friend found the beach glass while she was on vacation in Florida, the glass should have been the focus of my design and not the metal clay. Also, my friend wanted something small and my usual method of design tends to be on the big side.

Once I realized those two things, the design became easy. Rather than try to "encase" the glass with silver, I glued on a sterling silver bail and added a silver palm tree to represent Florida. Simple, but I think the right solution. I hope she likes it.

Only three years

2011-06-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

Finally finished a piece I started in Linda Kline's bezel setting class at the 2009 PMC conference. (At least I think it's finished..... have to sleep on it. Not totally satisfied with the beading but already wasted some sterling silver wire and crimps trying to get it right. It's one of those things I know what I have to do but balk at doing it.)

Anyway, after three years I finally figured out what I wanted to do with the main focal piece. (The current price of silver got me moving on unfinished pieces.) In past posts, I've talked about how my jewelry talks to me and tells me what it needs to finish it. Well, this one was mute on the subject until a couple of months ago. Even then I had to drag it out of it.

Many ideas have passed through my brain in those three years as to what to do. The original piece was made with no holes as the main focus that day was on making the bezel. I had done a bezel setting in my Level 2 class where we were required to push the bezel into the wet clay base. (Something Leslie Tieke felt needed to be changed.) Leslie told us about the two (or three depending on how you want to look at) part firing method. The bezel is measured, fitted around the stone and then soldered or pasted together with metal clay paste. If pasted, the bezel is fired. The backing is also made and fired. Then the bezel and backing are pasted together and fired again. (Basically that is the method in a nutshell.) Pushing the bezel into wet clay may result in cracking.

At one point I was going to make a mini-face (of a lapidary artist) to hang off the bottom of the focal piece. He was supposed to be thinking about the stone. As you can see that changed and a metal clay bead ended up at the bottom.

The piece needed more than just a jump ring to hang it from the cording (which later became beads) so I pulled out my extruder (another tool that's just been sitting in a drawer) and made a curved bail. What fun! Plan to do more extrusions. Originally I was going to hang the piece from the bail but that just wasn't going to work, hence the textured piece draped over the bail.

As I've done in many of my pieces lately, I made a clasp to match. I do like the looks of the focal point (even though it took so long to design.) What I don't like was the craftsmanship on my beading. Much as I don't want to do it, I'll probably be taking it apart and redoing it. This time I will measure very carefully and not try to eyeball it. (I know from past experience that I'm no good at eyeballing. Got to pull out the measuring tools.)

Oh, and wish me Happy Anniversary this Sunday. I've been married 40 years. (Kind of scary though..... I actually could celebrate 50 years. I've been with the same guy since I was 12. And my mother thought it wouldn't last!)

A True Phenomenon

2011-05-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

As was mentioned in an earlier post, we are in the process of remodeling.

Now anyone who has ever dealt with wall paper knows that "strippable wallpaper" exists in name only. No matter what one does, the wallpaper always separates from the backing. Which means steaming, using DIF or what ever method works best for the circumstances.

Well, for once in my life (and probably the last time) I have found truly strippable wallpaper. I put it on all four walls of our bedroom over thirty years ago. (See, it definitely is time for a remodel!) I was dreading taking it all off, but I knew it had to go. And I also knew that I would "never" paper anything again. To my surprise, 90% of it peeled right of the wall like it is supposed to. Not sure why it did not all come off that way but I do have some work to do on the upper half of one wall. Wow, never ever thought that would happen. (But so thankful it did. I "hate" stripping wall paper.) It was actually fun peeling it off.

The other phenomena in my house are the lights in the stairwell chandelier. All six lights have been there since we moved in thirty four years ago. We've never had to replace even one of the bulbs. Let's see the new bulbs last that long!

Where does the time go?

2011-05-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy lately. I just noticed that it's been a long time since I've posted. Sorry about that!

Grandpa helping Cody

We've been remodeling a couple of bedrooms and that's been taking up my time. Then last Wednesday through Friday we were at Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio with my son and his family. (This old lady can still go down a water slide and live to tell about it.)

It's not that I haven't been in the studio working. But, what I was working on did not work out. It's embarrassing to mention that I experienced one of those "Senior Moments" when I was planning my piece.

Captured Fire by Ruth Greening

For some reason (don't ask me why) I was thinking that holes would become larger when the clay shrank. (The knowledge that we make rings two sizes bigger because of the shrinkage, never entered my head.) I was trying a piece that Ruth Greening taught a class in at the Arrowmont Retreat. (I did not take the class, although I should have. Was a money thing!)

Now, I've had three honkers of CZ's (12 mm in size) for several years and haven't used them yet. (10 mm ones yes, but not the 12 mm.) Her project looked like a good use for them so I went ahead (without any instructions) and tried to make one. That was my first mistake. The second mistake was thinking I could just go out and buy mini bolts and nuts. (Nada on that one.)

So now I have three pieces of silver, two with holes in them (that are too small) sitting on my workbench. Things are looking up though as I've ordered the nuts and bolts and can adjust the holes (but not without work.)

I'm also almost done with a piece I started in Linda Kline's bezel setting class at the 2009 PMC Conference at Perdue. (Hey, better late than never.) Will share a picture of this piece Thursday night as it should be done by then.

Also, bring on the hot weather. My studio now has air conditioning. (Sure needed it last summer...... hope this summer is hot too.)

It's done!

2011-05-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

Well my repousse' piece is finally done. I've taken lots of pictures (which I'm not great at) and this is the best of them (it doesn't have the reflection of my orange shirt in it like the others.) And as with most of my photos, the picture doesn't do it justice.

The design was from a plant I photographed at the North Carolina Zoo in Ashboro, NC. We often take our grandchildren to the zoo when we visit and the plants were near a children's play area. It was an interesting plant that was very green and very twisted. (Should have checked to see what it was.) I've always been interested in negative spaces and the twisting of the plants created all sorts of interesting spaces.

More Eye Candy

2011-05-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

Two more finished pieces from the metal clay repousse class at the Arrowmont Retreat. (Darn I knew I should have gone in today and fired my piece. Hopefully will be able to share by Friday.) Took a nap instead..... it was a good, dreary, rainy day for sleeping.

Created by Lynne Edgar

Created by Laurie Yoder

Eye Candy

2011-05-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

When we left Arrowmont, all the pieces from the Repousse class were in the greenware state (dry but not yet fired.) The first person to finish and share her piece is Dona Miller.

Dona started with a linear design of a Husky. (One of my favorite dogs. RIP Hanna and Sasha.) I think it turned out great and can't wait to see the others as they get finished. Thanks for letting me share your work on my blog Dona.

Busy day

2011-05-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a busy day at the National Transit building. It was our usual second Saturday at the studios, the Oil City Student Art Show and the Graffiti Gallery reception for a poster contest that was open to Art Institute Students and Clarion University Students.

The day was a rainy one but many people still ventured out for one or more of the events. Many people were just passing through to get to the student work, but many did take the time to stop in the artist's studios to visit and see what was happening. Since it was one of our quarterly events, we had refreshments in the studios. (For my studio my cousin made a wonderful hot dip served with bread. She found the recipe on line but added her own flair to it. She's good at that.) One of the young visitors said that if the dip was a person they would marry it. Guess they liked it.

The student show was a floor below us. Years ago we set up a "Living Painting" at the art show to educate the public about art. This year they revived it and did an installation based on the work of Sandy Skoglund. (Look her up on the internet. Very interesting work. Almost got to hear her speak years ago but got turned back by a tornado.) I didn't get down in time to see the students in the installation but I did get a picture of the set up.

The Poster Contest was held to try to interest young artists into coming to Oil City. The judges were young people because they would know what would attract the younger viewer. Guess I dated myself when I was drawn to the Abstract Expressionist styles.

(Darn..... I don't feel old...... most of the time!)

Have to charge a fortune!

2011-05-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on my Arrowmont piece. I just have to know when to stop (think I finally convinced myself of that today.) Between the silver and my time, this thing is going to cost a fortune.

I have been carving and carving and carving, thinking that I needed to perfect it more. When I decided it was time to stop carving I began to add stippling to the background. The background was carved so thin in some places that it broke through and had to be repaired. (Twice!) So, after the repairs I tried stippling again...... very, very gently. It worked pretty well, but I just couldn't leave well enough alone. (This is not the first time I've done that!) Since the piece was thin, I added a backing to it to give it support. With that in place I thought I could go deeper with the stippling (which I could) but now I didn't like the way it looked. So..... back to the carving and pushing clay around to smooth it until all the holes were gone.

Next step was to decide how to hang it. Easy enough! No it wasn't. I spent too much time looking at the piece, turning the piece and trying out different bails. Finally after many hours and sleeping on it, I've decided that a hidden bail is the best. All that's left is to make the bail and fire the piece. Will share the finished piece early next week.

Oh, and I got my stitches out today. Piece of cake!

Making Progress

2011-05-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Friday was the last day for the Retreat and since I didn't have any classes I stayed back in the cabin and worked on my repousse piece. It still needs more work but I'm making progress. At least it's out of the "ugly" stage.

The Big Finish

2011-05-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

Jude Carmona testing out the 3-M wheels

Glenda Hinson showing off her Bling Ring after the Big finish with the 3-M wheels.

For me this class was the Big Finish; my last one.

Thursday night Ruth Greening taught a class on finishing metal clay pieces. The class was a chance to play with our Flex Shafts or Dremel tools and try out different finishing wheels.

I sold my floor loom a while back so I could buy a jump ring maker and a flex shaft. Also, got a book about flex shafts when I ordered them. It has nice pictures! (That's as far as I got.) Up to this point I was only using it to cut jump rings.

We got a small kit with several wheels in them so we could practice on a piece of copper before we used them on our silver.

I took only one heavy duty class (Holly's) this year. My other classes were not as intensive (but every bit as informative.) Two years ago I wore myself out taking heavy duty classes every day so this year I took it easy. (It was also easier on my pocketbook.)

Already looking forward to the next one.

Marketing

2011-05-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

Pmc Connection has four levels of Certification. The first three are skill based and the fourth level is business oriented. Level four focuses on marketing yourself as an artist and as a teacher. The retreat offered all three levels during the week.

I took Level 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday evening with Mary Ann and Ken Devos. It was an informative and interesting class. Most of the things we talked about I was already doing (but I need to get out there and do it with a vengeance.) It was a good refresher course and I did pick up some good ideas.

Marketing myself as a teacher is easy, (I've had 35 years of experience doing that.) Marketing myself as an artist is more difficult. Even though I was trained as an artist first and a teacher second, teaching was always my goal.

We had to write an artist statement and an artist bio. It sounded easy, but it wasn't. A bio is not a resume. So far I've written three and still writing. The lesson plan was a piece of cake.

As with any of these classes, there is much to learn and try. But what makes it all great is the friends that are made. The metal clay community is a sharing and giving group. I'm glad I'm part of it.

Things that go in threes

2011-05-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in yesterday's post, things the first two days at Arrowmont didn't go as planned.

Well....... neither did the third day.

I thought I was doing pretty well at packing tools and such for the retreat, but I still didn't bring enough carving tools. The metal clay vendors had some things I wanted but not everything, so I headed down to the art store inside the building and found more exciting tools. But, in the process of checking out the supplies I caught the edge of a piece of glass in the stained glass area and gouged my thumb.

With blood dripping at a darn good pace I turned to head to the bathroom when the store clerk directed me to the sink in the back room (dripping all the way.) Hansel and Gretel could have taken lessons from me on how to leave a trail! After many blood soaked paper towels, I held pressure on it and returned to class (I had too much to do to let this interfere.) Everyone thought I should get stitches but that takes time. (Didn't have any.)

Lora Hart (one of the Senior Instructors.... check out her website) said she wasn't squeamish since her Dad had been a doctor and agreed to apply butterflies and band aids. She did a great job and I sat down to get back to business, when Teva Chapin (another Senior Instructor who is also an EMT) came into see and offer her opinion. Darn, the cut went through three layers of skin so it was off to see a doctor.

Jennifer Roberts of PMC Connection and the Arrowmont staff were all so nice and found a doctor (who was close) that would stitch me up. So off I went assuming that I would get stitches and be back ASAP (which did happen but not without a few nervous moments.)

The staff at Doctor Vickie Moore's office was waiting for me when I got there. (Such nice people!) They took a look and thought that I might have to go to Sevierville to the Emergency room. The cut was deep and they weren't sure it hadn't gone through things it shouldn't have or not. Now anyone who has ever been to this area knows that the traffic through Pigeon Forge is atrocious. So I was really nervous about the work time I was losing.

But when Doctor Moore arrived, she took a good deep look (that's the only time I could have said ouch!) and said that she would be able to stitch it up. Thank God! She loves to do suturing (her staff had already mentioned that) and it was true. She was as sweet as can be (they all were) and did a great job. Ended up with three stitches underneath and four on top. (Also learned that a tourniquet can only stay on for twenty minutes.)

My thumb is in good condition today. No pain and I'm ready to work. (With my rubber gloves on of course.)

Stopped by the store today to show the assistant director what had happened and the clerk forgot to clean up the blood spots where it happened. She got the trail cleaned up but missed those. Kind of weird seeing my dried blood on the floor.

I filed an accident report today with Arrowmont and learned that the doctor is a gynecologist. Too funny. That just adds to the story!

Third time's a charm!

2011-05-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of classes at the PMC Retreat being held at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. (One of my favorite places.)

My first class was "Metal Repousse" with Holly Gage. (Check out her website.) Holly's work is amazing both technically and artistically so I was really looking forward to this class.

Day one (Sunday) was eventful because of our alarm fiasco.

Day two (Monday) was also eventful. Our class was supposed to start at 9:00 AM. It didn't start until 3:30. Poor Holly was held up by problems with (I think ) a couple of airplanes. She finally was able to get out on the third plane but that didn't include one of her bags with most of the supplies, her make-up and toothbrush. That bag arrived at midnight.

While we were waiting for Holly, Janet Alexander (one of the new Senior Instructors) filled in with a demo on carving a rope border and a demo on how to use a variety of torches. She did a great job.

Holly is quite a trooper and teacher. She was determined to get class going and not dwell on the stress of the morning. We were able to get our pieces started and we all stayed later to make up for lost time.

The process is interesting and challenging. It involves carving a mold in different levels and then carving and refining on the metal clay that comes from the mold.

Mine is not finished (for another eventful reason that I'll post about tomorrow) but the pictures give you an idea of the process. Holly says the piece is in "the ugly stage" when it first comes out of the mold. That's where mine is right now. "Ugly" Hopefully I can get mine to look as nice as the rest of the class. There were some pretty impressive pieces. I'll post more pictures after I refine it (in other words..... in a few days. It's pretty intense work.)