I'm a Pisces

 I see my last post was over a month ago.  Sorry!

As usual this time of year I get into a funk.  I've just spent several months in Florida and developed a new routine.  Then I come home and it takes a while to get back into the old routine.   Plus it was 27 here this morning and 68 there.  Need I say more?

Anyway, I tried to get somethings done around the house before I went to the studio.  I straightened up, put things away, swept and dusted......... Then my husband decided that now was a good time to put in a new tub.  So........ now I am straightening up every day, putting things away every day, sweeping every day and re-dusting.... everyday.  So...... I've decided that now is the time to get back to the studio and get out of the house while this remodeling is going on.  I can keep my sanity better if I only have to deal with the aftermath

I volunteered to donate a piece for the Tionesta Art Auction and to make a piece for the silent auction.  The theme this year is the Zodiac and since I am a Pisces, it just seemed logical for me to do that particular sign.  Needless to say, I knew about this since back in early March(?) but procrastinated until the week it was due.  (Oh how working under pressure drives us.)

My original thought was to do a necklace with the two fish we usually associate with that sign.  I used a  Koi fish texture plate for the back of the piece and cut it out in a water droplet shape.  (Clever, Eh?)  Then I used a texture plate that had native American style fish for my two fish.  (Didn't think of it at the time but Tionesta has a rich Indian heritage.)    The original design didn't have the aquamarine in it (that was an afterthought.)  Here is a picture of the piece before firing as I envisioned it. 

I really liked the look of this and planned to put a hidden bail on the back.  Then I decided to add the stone............ that's when things started to change.   Once I added the stone it looked like an "eye."  I tried to ignore the eye.  But it wouldn't go away.  All I could see was this eye which looked like the eye of a bigger fish.  As much as I tried not to think about it, I knew I had to put a tail on this bigger fish.  It was no longer elegant (what I was aiming for) but now became whimsical.  (Which is okay.  I guess my jewelry this time wanted whimsy.)

This is a picture of the finished fish.  (But not the finished piece for the auction.)  

Oh how he changed.

Stop back tomorrow for the trials and tribulations of finishing the piece for the auction.  

Another first

Usually when I do a post of one of my classes it's all pictures of the class and the student's work.  For a change I'm going to post pictures of me..... teaching the class. (Thanks to Stacey Brown.)

These were taken when I was demonstrating torch firing (while the kiln was firing the student's pieces.)

Annemarie Blue  also sent me pictures of her pieces.  

(Obviously she is a better photographer than I am.)

She plans on hanging things from the bottoms of her pieces  

Family Time

Sometimes a class will go and sometimes it won't.  Luckily this summer was one of the "will goes."

The Oil Valley Center for the Arts scheduled two classes for me this year.  In June I taught an Intro class and in August I taught an applique ring class.  Both classes were filled (plus one more in each) so they were taught in the Art Center's classroom.  

In June there was a mother and son who took the Intro Class.  They returned in August to take the ring class and this time the father and the daughter came too.  Quite often the classes become a family affair.  

The first time I had a family in class, each member got to pick an activity for the month and they all did it.  The father didn't seem too interested at the time, but he later told me that he wasn't a morning person and hadn't had his coffee yet.  All turned out well.

Then for Easter a mother gave her son and daughter a class instead of giving them candy.  She took the class too and they used stones in their pieces that she bought off QVC.

A friend of mine gave her daughter and son-in-law a class as a birthday gift.  Which is what Beth Orris did this summer for her daughters.  

This time I'm not sure what the occasion was, except that the mother and son really enjoyed their first class and wanted the family to share in the experience.  Dr. Brad Fell and family did a great job on their rings.  Having a doctor in the studio came in handy as he was able to use his expertise with tweezers to retrieve a piece from the Liver of Sulfur solution.  (Another lady and I must have tried twenty times.)  Dr. Fell got it out with one try.

Tina and her daughter both made two rings.

Julian appliqued fishbones to his ring.  It appears he has a theme going here as he did a radioactive symbol on his pendant in the Intro Class.

Brad liked the way the patina added a variety of colors to his ring and decided to leave it on, rather than polish the piece.  The colors will eventually turn dark and disappear but for awhile the ring will have a unique color to it.

The daughter carved words into her ring to compliment an existing ring she owned.  

It's fun to teach classes with families.  There is some interesting interactions going on that doesn't happen usually with people who don't know each other.