All done!

I finished the last of my unfinished projects from my classes a few weeks ago.

Here is the metal clay "wet" inlay technique.  The backing was made of copper and the bronze clay was inlaid.  I wasn't able to get it as smooth as it should be since I included a stone in this one, but still got it pretty smooth so it would take the Baldwin's Patina.

Welcoming

My front studio is basically a jewelry store.  I'm always playing with it and trying to make it more appealing by redecorating it every so often.

A seventh grader stopped in the studio tonight after her dance class.  As she was looking around, she commented that she liked the way I decorated the studio.  She said it looked "welcoming."  (That surprised me, coming from a seventh grader.)  But it was exactly what I wanted my customers to feel.

My latest venture was to add a fountain.  They always sound so soothing and relaxing; just the atmosphere I want to shop in.  I grouped the fountain with a painting my then eight year old grandson had painted and some "water themed" jewelry.

Today when the teenager stopped in I was playing Celtic music.  Earlier I had relaxing spa music on.  That kind of music is a perfect compliment to the sound of trickling water.  But I've been known to play Lady GaGa, Adam Lambert and Kid Rock.  Do you think it will work with the "welcoming feeling?"
I'm not so sure!

Making a dent!

My bead horde was out of hand.  It's been in my inventory for way too long and as I said in an earlier post, it was time to use many of them up.  That's exactly what I've been trying to do these past few days.   This time I have an assistant, as my friend Helen has been helping out by stringing and doing some designing too.

We've made a dent in the horde (but just a small dent.)  Nothing major, just some simple beaded anklets.  Now I'm not much of a bead artist (which is why there was such an eclectic assortment of beads.)  Considering that fact that I usually have a good eye for color, it's surprising that I have trouble picking out beads.  

If you've ever been to a bead store, you know how overwhelming it can be.  All those colors and shapes.   It's enough to make your head spin (which is exactly what happens to me.)  My daughter goes in and she can see in her mind's eye exactly what she wants to make.  

I guess I'm also influenced by my pocket book.  Many of the beads are expensive and I'm cheap.  Maybe someday when my ship comes in, I can head to the bead shop and choose my beads by what I really like.  Until then, I'll just keep working away trying to use up the hodgepodge and painting my toenails to match.  

Sometimes, I'm just plain lazy!

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!

New classes

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.

It's a Mind Set

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!

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.

Something... not so simple

Here is something I'm working on that's not so simple. The branch was my focus for today but I wasn't able to finish it. Hopefully it works out the way I envision it but I'm not sure. Figured I worked on it enough today to make me dislike it. It's best to get away from it for a few days and come back to look at it with fresh eyes. Time will tell.

The Jury's still out

The bronze pieces came out of the kiln today, but I'm just not sure about them.

Are they metal or not? They sound like metal. They look like metal. (But somewhere I read that some test pieces should be made and tested after firing. I think it said to try to break the bronze pieces with pliers after firing.) Well, I did just that and the test pieces bent and then snapped. I can't break or bend them with my fingers though. And, they didn't disintegrate in the tumbler like my last batch of copper pieces did.

They're not as pretty of a color as I expected either. I fired them in the carbon base charcoal which doesn't produce the colors that the coconut charcoal does but they still should have that buttery gold color I've seen pictures of.

The edges of the pieces that were cut with a tissue blade were fine. The pieces that I cut out with a needle tool were prone to cracking (even though I tried to file them smooth before firing. The book said the cracks would be amplified and they were!) The needle tool tended to drag through the clay, distort the shape and tear the edges. (Again, maybe it was the age of my clay.)

I still don't know if I like this clay or not. I'll give it a couple more tries (with newer clay) before I pass sentencing, but it's not looking too good.

LOS or not?

LOS stands for Liver of Sulfur which chemically tarnishes silver (called a patina.) It's original form was in lumps, but currently on the market is a liquid LOS and a LOS gel. There are other chemicals like Black Max that also chemically darken silver. Other kinds of metals have their own patinas.

The lump forms break downs very easily if it is exposed to light or dampness. It is very upsetting to open a can of LOS and find it all stuck together. (Can you tell I'm speaking from experience?)

Cool Tools has LOS in a gel form. I used their first gel LOS and it worked great. The newest version is more stabilized and isn't as picky about light and moisture.

LOS is mixed with hot water (and sometimes other chemicals to control it's color). The mixture looks like "pee" and smells like rotten eggs. (The stinky smell is the one constant among all the kinds of LOS.) The silver piece is then dipped into the mixture (but not left laying in the mixture) and watched until it is the color or darkness desired. The silver piece is then neutralized with water or a mixture of baking soda to stop the tarnishing action. The piece is dried and then the LOS is polished off, exposing the high spots. The recessed areas stay dark.

Not all pieces need LOS. Some pieces look better with a matte silver finish. Some look better with a high shine finish and some look better with an antique finish (hence the use of LOS.)

Some artists would never dream of using LOS on any of their pieces and some use it on everything. (I'm somewhere in the middle. I look at the piece and make my decision after everything is done.)

Sometimes I make a bad decision and add a patina, thinking the piece needs it. Whoa..... what a mistake! Not to worry, it can be fired off the piece or the piece can be dipped in silver cleaner. The only problem with the silver cleaner is that the pieces seem to tarnish faster once they have been cleaned.

The students in my last dichroic class all opted to add a patina to their pieces. Good choice as the patina brings out the details of their designs.

I am not a monster!

Another movie quote, (I just love movies!) But it should say that I am not a painter.

Here are a few examples from my painting class. The individual face parts are in oil. (It is really hard to paint face parts without the face around them.) The girl's portrait is done in watercolor. (What a change that was!) All in all, my painting ability is equivalent to a high school ability. (Actually they are pretty much the way I did paint faces in high school.)

Somewhere down the road I'll share some other portraits I've done over the years. (Some I like and some are pretty scary.) But, faces are fascinating and I use to love teaching caricatures to my students.

At Arrowmont I took a class on making faces in clay from Vera Lightstone. (A really neat little lady.) We used red clay and made them large, but they can translate into metal clay. I have a piece I've always wanted to add a face to. (Now I know what I can do this afternoon!!)

Anyway, just thought I'd share what I've been doing lately.