Can you draw this in ice?

Before I explain the title of this post I want to show another one of the charms from a Japanese artist, Mika Tajiri.  Mika is a Senior Metal Clay Instructor in Japan.  Her charm was so exquisite I just had to put it on a chain to wear as a necklace.

Mika's Charm

Mika's Card

My ancestry is Irish (among other things) so I'm obviously not going to do origami because it's not in my history.  But I did buy some square metal clay sheet at the conference so that I can give it a try.  For me, the most obvious origami to do is a "Junk Boat" as it was part of an assignment I gave to my students years ago.  

I can't take credit for coming up with this assignment.  (I would give credit if I could remember his name. )  This was one of those inspiring things I picked up at an art education conference.  (My students always dreaded when I went to a conference because they knew that meant more work for them when I got back.)

This was about a 1600 point assignment which took the entire six weeks grading period.  They first learned how to fold a junk boat.  Then they had to draw a schematic drawing of the process that would teach someone how to make one.  The rest of the assignment could be done in any order they wanted but they had to do five or six drawings of a junk boat as if it were made out of another material, such as ice.  (Hence the title.)   They also had to do five to six drawings of a junk boat as if a famous artist had drawn it.  (Let's say..... how would Van Gogh have drawn this?)  The choice of art material was their own.  Lastly, they had to design a working folder to keep all their work in.  The folder had to have a cover that made the viewer want to look inside.  It was an exhausting assignment that lead to a lot of complaining along the way but a sense of accomplishment when they were done.  (The students out did themselves on this assignment and I wish I had more pictures to share.)

Comic paper junk boat

It was also an assignment that lasted for years.  Even though the students complained, several of them kept the "Junk Boat" alive.  They continued to make them smaller and smaller, until they were smaller than a penny. (How they ever did that many folds with that small of paper is beyond me....... but I guess I will find out.  They were about the size of earrings.)  Then they went the opposite direction to see how big they could go.   One of my seniors even made one hundred of them (from McDonald's fliers) and hung them in a mobile.  

Small, smaller, smaller and smallest

Bigger

Biggest  (Probably could have handled 8 students in it...... if it hadn't been so flimsy!)

I guess that time does cycle around.  Now it's my turn to do my assignments.  

Tim McCreight Workshop

Yay!!!! Tomorrow I head to Pittsburgh for a workshop with the head Guru of metal clay, Tim McCreight. What a nice break in the middle of a snowy winter. It's a two day workshop on adding color to metal clay with a variety of mediums, like enamel, colored pencil, resin, etc. Tim is also teaching a Rio Grande Certification class the following three days. I really wanted to do that too, but the class filled up so fast. But, I am registered for the same class in June. Then on Friday night the local Guild is having a reception for him. He's going to make a little presentation that night too. Can't wait. I'll be sure to take pictures.

As I've said before, I love taking classes. I also think that anyone who teaches, should take classes. It helps us understand what problems our students may face.

I already have Level I and II Certification through PMC Connection, but each company's certification class is different and the more variety of instructors one has, the better.

The one problem I am going to have is keeping to my resolution of putting one item a day on my Etsy site. I'll have to put four on tomorrow or two tomorrow and three on Saturday. At any rate, I'll be averaging one a day. (Hopefully!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year everyone!

Well, I started my challenge to myself to post at least one item on my Etsy site every day for the next thirty days. I did it with one hour and eight minutes to spare. (Did you really think I would get it on early in the day?) Actually I had planned on getting it posted in the morning, but only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep last night. (Not the way I planned on starting off my year.) We watched the kids last night and the 18 month old got sick in the middle of the night. We went to bed at 1:30 and he got up at 4:00 with a bad bark. Couldn't get him back to sleep until 6:00, so we cuddled and watched "Little Women". (He really did watch it.) He slept on and off until 11:00, but I couldn't sleep well since I was worried about him rolling off the couch.

Want to place bets as to when I come down with his cold?

Still cleaning

The cleaning continues.......

This past week I spent many, many hours, trying to figure out what to do with a fairly large (actually to me it is down right huge!) piece. I made the piece probably about two years ago; mostly as a what if project.

When I was teaching, the last six weeks were tough. The students were tired of being in school and were more focused on getting out of school than on their assignments. It was a perfect time to introduce a new medium to them. So, we spent the end of the school year creating with polymer clay. (The bad thing about doing it then was how warm the room was. Not the best thing for polymer.)

Of course, I played with the polymer too. I made a couple of pieces that I used to decorate the tops of some wooden containers. One was in warm colors and one in cool colors. The design reminded me of a Van Gogh painting.

It was one of these polymer pieces that I used for an impression with the silicon mold. It was rather a large mold, but I used Standard PMC since it shrinks 30%. (Even still the finished metal clay piece is big!)

It was also my first try with Aura 22. I used the gold as an accent on the small circles within the piece. But I don't think the consistency was right as the gold came out rather lumpy. Aura 22 requires having a medium mixed in with it and I wasn't sure exactly how much to add.

I really didn't like the piece when it was done. So away it went to be hidden in a drawer. Every so often I would pull it out, take a look and put it back in. Occasionally I would ask someone for some input. It wasn't until Laurie Kulkulski suggested that I turn it on it's side, that I decided it wasn't so bad. A different viewpoint was just what was needed. So, I drilled some holes in it and put it back in the drawer.

Another year would go by before I would pull it out again. Every so often I would take a look, still not knowing what to do with it. But, some ideas were formulating.

I had it laying out in my studio, when Swan, another jeweler in the Transit, said she could see it curved. So, I did just that. Another couple of months went by while I kept trying to find the perfect beads to compliment the piece. (You won't believe how many different strands of beads I bought for this purpose.... most ended up in other pieces.)

Now I am not a beader and maybe that is why this was such a struggle. I finally finished the necklace on Saturday. Even then I had to go ask for help on how to keep the twisted strands from untwisting.

I'm still not sure it is finished. I wore it today to see how it would hang (even though it is not me.) It didn't hang quite the angle I thought it would and it might be too long. I really don't want to work on it anymore, but that is exactly what will probably happen.

But I'm still considering it as one more piece finished. Haven't opened a package of clay in over a week. (I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms though.)

Cleaning House

The process of making jewelry isn't always a straight road of designing and finishing a piece. Instead it is often a zig-zag process. (At least my approach is a zig-zag process.)

As I said in an earlier post, I do have a sketchbook full of ideas but most of my creative process is intuitive. (I design as I go, which is not the most economical method.) So, this method lends itself to lots of unfinished pieces. My goal this month has been to not open one more package of clay until I use up some of those pieces.

The little dove was punched out of a doubled piece of metal clay sheet. I didn't realize that it was not a solid piece on the back, but I liked the negative shape that showed up. When the dove was torch fired, little bumps showed up on it which interestingly were positioned well. I think there must have been a gap between the layers which is why it puffed up. I had a massive stone bead (don't ask me what kind of stone it was) that I glued it to. I named this piece "Wounded Dove". He's been through the war and survived.

The other piece was a water droplet, (actually there were three of them.) I tried several variations where I strung them on a chain, but that didn't work. Not only am I trying to use up fired pieces, but I'm also trying to reduce my inventory of beads. So, the turquoise bead and the water drop were a simple solution to achieving that end. The other two droplets became earrings to match the pendant.

Big Frog in a little pond

As usual I just start playing with the metal clay and see what comes. Well, it isn't as easy as it would seem. Often, it takes more time than is necessary and there are times when it appears that nothing is going to work. (Although I only have one piece in my scrap jar that I gave up on.)

Big Frog in a Little Pond is one of those pieces. It started out as a circular disk for a demonstration on rolling, texturing and cutting out the clay. Now I don't even remember what my original intent was. The piece sat on my work table for weeks while I waited to hear what it wanted to be. There was a frog that was fired also sitting nearby and I decided to use it with the piece. Originally the frog was going to sit on the rippled water surrounded by a variety of leaves. But, the piece was too small and needed to be enlarged, so another textured piece was made to put on the back to enlarge it. Since this reminded me of water, I used the texture with the Koi fish on the back. (So I guess it could be said that this was also a big fish in a little pond.)

The leaf punches that I had just looked too plain so I used a leaf mold that I got from one of my Tennessee friends. It worked great but was rather large and hung over the edge. So again the design took another direction as I designed a bail on the back to mimic the overhang.

The next step was to move the pendant up a notch by making the clasp, rather than using a ready-made one. The clasp is simple, just a toggle and bar done in the same Koi texture.

The turquoise beads add an earthy feel and the crystals represent water. (For some reason I've been on a water kick lately. Maybe I can sound very artistic and say it's part of my water series.)

No diving!

My latest beach glass pendant took a dive into a hot bath of liver of sulfur. I'm thinking it was too hot. The glass cracked in several places. The cracks aren't all that visible, until the piece is held up to the light. It is still wearable but not sellable. So, I have myself another new necklace (which is okay.)

This experience is "another learning experience." (There are just too many of those!) If the water for the patina is heated in the microwave, wait until it cools down.

But I do like this piece with a patina.