Exploring the Art of Polymer Clay

Disappearing Act

2012-01-27T08:22:00.000-05:00

If you've been wondering where my blog posts have been, well, I've been having a bit of a problem recently with Windows again. A recent Windows update created havoc with my computer. Right now, I can't upload any photos on either one of my computers. Crazy, right? I've tried many, different things - thanks to all the info on the web, but nothing has worked for me. Because many of us Windows users have different computers, what may work for one may not work for another. I've been using my iPhone to communicate with customers - which has worked ok for now. But it's not something that can go on forever. So, it got me going in a direction I probably should have taken a while ago. This week I began to take a serious look at the Mac desktops. I'm going to make that purchase soon - and hopefully the transition will go smoothly. But I'm very excited about making the switch and look forward to owning a Mac. I'm forced to take a blogging break until this is all squared away. But I will do my best to continue my Monday posts during the transition.

Marvelous Monday

2012-01-23T08:44:00.000-05:00

An inherited box of tools and her apartment location (across the street from the "Y" - where a jewelry class was being taught) was how Susan Chin got her start down the path of art jewelry. Included in the tool box was some ebony and bone which became her early work. It wasn't until 18 years later that these warm, compelling materials led her down this metalsmithing path again. Her combination of materials makes for some very beautiful jewelry. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

“I hope that people will not only enjoy my art, but feel the need to learn more about these fascinating creatures. Expanding their awareness and becoming more sensitive to reptiles, bats, amphibians and our shared environment.”

Karen Bell brings her respect for the natural world and her love of clay together to form very realistic sculptures of reptiles, amphibians, insects and bats. Her website is filled with beautiful images. Here's a few to start your day. Enjoy - and have a marvelous Monday!

It's in the Bag

2012-01-11T08:19:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased something I thought I would share here. I had seen a recommendation on the Metal Clay Yahoo group about a company that does logo stamps (or any kind of stamp actually). I was curious as I had never heard of Jet Stamps. I went to their website and saw that their stamps are made from a generic delrin. I thought I would give them a shot as I also needed another stamp larger than the one I currently have. I happened to have an Illustrator file all set so I emailed the file to them. I heard back that day with a proof and was given a link to put it in my shopping cart. I paid for it Thursday night and had it in my mailbox Monday afternoon. The thing that I liked most about these stamps is that you can choose your own size and shape. And their reasonably priced at $28.00. Anway, here's a few photos. I would highly recommend using them (no affiliation, just one happy customer).

Marvelous Monday

2012-01-09T07:00:00.035-05:00

Susanne Klemm uses nature as her inexhaustable inspiration. She captures the moments between growth and decay, covers them with a fine plastic covering (polyolefin), and brings the objects to full bloom. Her website is full of beautiful images of her jewelry. Be sure to look at the redlight collection where she installed a temporary workshop in a former brothel in the Red-light-district of Amsterdam. There's also a small article here regarding a talk she did from the workspace. Ok then . . . enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Goings On

2012-01-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

Last week Carol Simmons had blogged about creating color swatches in Photoshop. I had to give it a go. So using a photo from my pictures file, here's what I got:

It was SO easy and is a great tool. Thanks Carol! So putting those instructions to good use, I thought I'd make some swatches of the colors from this cabochon.

And here's what I got. Now if only I could figure out how to change the eye dropper tool curser on my other computer I'll be real happy.

Oh, and one last note - Lily did get her driver's permit last week. So anytime we go anywhere together, she's always at the helm. Patience, this would be a real good time to get me some!

Marvelous Monday

2012-01-02T07:00:00.003-05:00

Lesley Strickland is a London based jewelry designer who uses cellulose acetate paired with sterling silver in her designs. The effect has a look and feel like polymer and her colors are yummy. Unlike polymer, the acetate is cast rather than cured in an oven. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-12-30T07:00:00.043-05:00

I thought I'd be taking some of this week to clean up my studio, but I tend to get sidetracked a bit. I clean, I make more of a mess, etc. I dragged out my etching supplies (tub filled with ferric chloride) and wanted to make a few etching plates out of copper. I had made some drawings on white paper with my Pigma markers and transferred them onto transparency.

Where you see black is what ends up being etched. I hadn't done an etching in a while so I figured I was going to have to go back through some old notes on how to transfer the drawing onto the metal. Before I did that, I was looking through some of my other supplies from Sherri Haab's e-forming and etching kit and lo and behold I came across some UV-30 film. I had totally forgotten about using this film to etch with. Working with it is so easy. I found these instructions on Sherri's website if you want to see what's involved. It may seem like a lot, but it goes fairly quickly. But I also wanted to try drawing on the metal with marker to see how those etchings would come out. I came across a fine tip Sharpie oil paint marker in my studio (yes!), so figured I'd give that a try. The drawback with this is obvious. Once you do the etching, there's no back-up drawing.

"Cobblestone"

Close-Up

                                                    "Matisse Leaves"

"Scrungie" (marker)

And while I was in the chemicals, I figured I'd take out a few more to make these electroformed earrings.

So, from my studio to yours - I hope you have a healthy, happy and safe new year!

Marvelous Monday

2011-12-26T11:49:00.000-05:00

I'm just lounging around the house today enjoying the quiet while my daughter and her friend are studying. Lily was born on Christmas Day and Gabrielle was born on Christmas Eve. What could two girls possibly be studying for the day after Christmas? They're both studying to take their driver's test. The DMV is closed today but tomorrow I may very well be celebrating yet another milestone in the Abarbanel home.

While I was buried in the internet, I came across these beautiful simplistic designs of Katja Prins. She's got over a decade of jewelry designs on her website to enjoy. Have a marvelous Monday!

Pushing It

2011-12-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

Well, things haven't quite stopped, but definitely slowed down a bit so I wanted to talk about the new book that was on the horizon and now in my inbox. Back at Synergy in 2009 I had purchased some die sets from Tracy Holmes and Dan Cormier. Having done die forming with the hydraulic press in my past life, I thought these new tools were genius. Sawing through an acrylic die can be a long and arduous process - and then there's sanding of the die. And rather than a 20-ton press, which is a hefty investment, your fingers are your tools. And you don't just get one die, a get a set of nine concentric shapes. And a whole slew of shapes to choose from. Nicely done.

Remember these earrings? Textured, die formed and electroformed. Backless. I can't tell you how many times I've used that die. Love the shape - long pebble. Now to go read, shop and imagine. Just another late night. And not to mention all those blogs I NEED to catch up on! Happy holidays!

Marvelous Monday

2011-12-19T07:00:00.004-05:00

"Clay transforms in the kiln: an irreversible process from mud to sharp edges, vibrant colour and translucency. I am drawn to develop this transforming quality in the work itself; making pieces that alter in pattern or give an allusion of movement and depth by using clay’s potential for creating surface texture and building sculptural dimension."

Today I'm sharing the work of ceramicist Fenella Elms. Her mobius structures are so delightful and I enjoy the way my eyes are carried through their twists and turns. The shadows these forms create at night must be so dramatic. I hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday - Friday Edition

2011-12-12T07:00:00.016-05:00

I forgot to check if my scheduled post went live on Monday. Obviously, it didn't. So here's Monday's post. Life's been so busy, that something had to fall between the cracks.

I came across John Turner's work on Etsy and was smitten with his work. I love all the different shapes and patterns found in his bowls. And then where you least expect it, there's that beautiful white/translucent raku pattern seen in this bowl below.

But then there's this effect, that I'm just crazy about.

The last few weeks were busy ones for me in the studio, so the blog came up short. I'll try to get back to the original routine when the dust settles . . . hope you have a marvelous Monday! (or Friday as the case may be)

Marvelous Monday

2011-12-05T07:00:00.006-05:00

A bunch of last minute orders that came in yesterday while I was away from the studio, left me burning the midnite oil. I couldn't start the week without this post. Lucky for me that I stumbled fairly quickly on this artist! Jorge Lopera is a jewelry artist from Bogota, Columbia. These photos were taken from his flickr page, but he also has a website to peruse. His colorful, playful designs put a smile on my weary face! Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Behind the Scene

2011-11-30T07:00:00.105-05:00

Today I thought I'd share my photo props. I've used various things over the years - the last being museum wax - but found it way too greasy. Here's some old photo paper so you can see the mess that was left behind over time.

So - what to do? I ended up purchasing a white acrylic riser to photograph on. The nice thing about it, you can clean it fairly easy from any waxy residue that's been left behind.

A while back I realized that there's a wax sold in most drug stores as "ear plugs". I've found it to be a wonderful solution. It stays in shape for quite a while (hardens over time). The wax gets a little dirty, but it doesn't really matter because the residue it leaves behind cleans up so fast. Here's a few photos of some recent shots I took. The shots to the right are all taken so you can see how I've used it.

I simply just balled up the wax on the bottom of the ear wires and was able to prop the earrings up. One thing though, be sure to take rubbing alcohol and clean the ear wire after for any residue that's left behind.

This last photo, you can see I used about a 1/2" round piece to stand the earring upright.

Marvelous Monday

2011-11-28T07:00:00.004-05:00

Thomas Hoadley creates colored porcelain art pottery, made with the Japanese technique of Nerikomi. This technique uses more than one color of clay for decorative effect. Slabs of different clays or clays colored with stains or oxides, are stacked, folded, pressed into logs, sliced, and arranged to form a vessel. In this way, the numerous stacked layers appear as fine undulating lines embedded in a surrounding color in the finished vessel. Sound familiar? Here's some of his beautiful work. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2011-11-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've been wondering what's been happening with faux bone these days so I headed over to flickr and thought I would highlight a few pieces.I This is not polymer faux bone, but Robert Dancik's faux bone. The first few rings are by Catherine Davies Paetz. The ring on the left is faux bone, coral and a sterling rivet. The piece on the right is faux bone and copper.

And this last ring is faux bone, jasper and copper.

The next two pieces are from Vickie Hallmark. The first is silver clay front and back with faux bone and resin insert, riveted together, bezel set rainbow topaz cabochons. The second piece is fine silver, sterling silver, faux bone stilt rivet brooch

And this last piece is from Angela Crispin. It's faux bone, wood, leather, suede, metal clay, and a lab sapphire. Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-11-17T07:00:00.002-05:00

The other day I came across something on flickr that I had been thinking about re-doing. The organization of my polymer swatches and formulas was needing my attention. I had taken a bunch of 8 1/2" x 11" cardboard, used a 3-hole punch and put them in a large 3-ring binder. My polymer swatches were glued on with Aleene's original tacky glue. Unfortunately, some of the swatches had begun to unglue. Also, all the formulas are written by hand below the swatch - so it could be neater. Serendipitously, Roberta Warshaw shared a photo via Flickr of the way she organized her color samples and recipes. Actually she bought her recipes from CraftsbyChris. If you haven't spent any time on that site, it's definitely worth checking out. Chris has done all the work - why re-invent the wheel? Roberta took the recipes, went to Walgreens and bought a photo album. She suggests using the albums with the metal rings vs. the albums with the glued in pages. Those tend to be harder to close when the pages are filled. She glues the swatches in with superglue. But I also think the sheet protector aspect of the album is a good idea - just in case you lose a swatch here or there. But don't you just want to flip through her album?

Marvelous Monday

2011-11-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

Sterling and polyurethane resin are the elements found in these necklaces by Australian artist Leslie Matthews.

She embosses her metal with a fine rice paper to create the illusion of skin texture. She brushes and pumices the surface until she has created a luminous brushed sheen. Others are patinated black.

Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-11-09T07:00:00.002-05:00

I had purchased this labradorite cab back when my guild took a trip to Gemstar Gems in New Hampshire. It has a nice flash of green to it with just a touch of blue. The cut ring blank and the bezel w/backplate have been sitting in a little ziploc bag for at least a month now and it feels great when I can say I finally finished it.

I have one other ring in the works which will include a faux stone. Then it's time to get going with the earrings I've been thinking about. I've made some nice textured sterling pieces that will be used with them.

And if you're thinking about working your photography, Etsy did another post on steps to taking great photo shots of your work.

Marvelous Monday

2011-11-07T07:00:00.005-05:00

Vicki Mason's work is inspired by all things botanical. And she believes plastic is a material of this age. She uses its playful colorfulness as a replacement for the precious gems of more traditional eras.

And besides, remember that one word Mr. McGuire said to Benjamin in The Graduate? "Plastics. There's a great future in plastics." Yes, indeed.

Another Ring

2011-11-04T07:00:00.001-04:00

I was able to make this new ring the other day. I'd always wanted to try to flush set some stones into a ring - so here's a first for me. After I set the stones, in order to see if they're set well, I threw it in my ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes. I was happy to see that no stones came out. Prior to this, I had textured the sterling a little before I gave it a patina. The interior was polished and then it was thrown in the tumbler. I haven't taken many photos with crystals, so you really can't see the sparkle. But they have a nice contrast with the ring, which actually looks like shiny hematite.

Today I hope to work on one last ring - a Labradorite. Then I'll be getting back to polymer with metal so I can start working on adding pieces to my jewelry shop.

In the Dark

2011-11-02T09:10:00.000-04:00

The recent storm wreaked havoc here in Massachusetts. For us, we only got a couple inches of snow, but the downed wires were a problem. So much so, that both school and Halloween were cancelled in our town. It was too dangerous for trick or treaters and walkers. I've never experienced Halloween being cancelled. I've heard rumors that other towns have rescheduled it. But so far, not our town. The downed wires were caused by trees and branches. We had many branches come down on our property. There was a lot of cleanup left to be done. Also, our street was hard to drive on as you had to maneuver around all the fallen branches.

When our power came back on, our phone, internet and tv were still out for a couple days so I took advantage of the time and organized closets, cleaned and organized cabinets and cleaned and organized my metal studio. It's amazing what you can get done when there's no tv or internet to distract you. But today, I'm heading to the studio and going to work on something new. I hope to blog about it on Friday.

Power Outage

2011-10-31T11:31:00.000-04:00

The snowstorm this past weekend left us without power. I'll be back when our services are returned!

Mooving Along

2011-10-28T07:00:00.022-04:00

My order finally came in from Moo. I ordered new cards and some labels to send with my packaging. The cards are 2-sided. The front has the new logo and the backside of of this card is a photo of one of my earrings. The nice thing about Moo is that you can upload up to 50 photos to be shown on the backside of their premium cards.

These photos were taken from my phone so the lighting isn't that great. But once my raffia comes in, I'll take a nicer photo to share.

And finally, my Etsy shop banner. I made it so I can add/change pictures every so often. What I need to do next is figure out a way to change the borders around the photos. The black just doesn't work for me.

Meanwhile, the first show of Project Accessory was on last night. Have you seen it? I've tivo'd it and will be watching it within the next couple days. I'm looking forward to the buzz.

Social Media

2011-10-26T07:00:00.017-04:00

This past Sunday, Lori Magno of Moda di Magno, gave a presentation on Social Media at Metalwerx's Vendor Day.

And as you can see by the photo below, there's so many ways to put your work out there. It's pick and choose. Overwhelmed by the choices? Lori suggests to just start with one.

Sites like Google, Yahoo, Bing, MSN - they want to find you. Keywords are how they find you. Use them wisely. Do a test. Think of something you want to buy and then choose some keywords to describe it. What links do you get? Change the keywords and see what other links you get.

The three main reasons to use social media are:

1. Your audience needs to find you and you need to be in communication with them.

2. They need to find your work, whether your work is branded under your name - or a company name.

3. It provides opportunities to connect to your market. You need to be in contact with your customers - keep them close, keep them informed -- not always selling, sometimes just sharing.

There are other opportunities via social media:

1. Connect to other artists

2. Connect to your suppliers and vendors

3. Shows are using social media to announce ‘call for artists’ (the days of mailing in slides and CDs of images are quickly coming to an end!)

There's something else to think about. The keywords you use - they stay out there. Say for instance you made a bridal necklace and it sold. The keywords you entered for that item on your page will still bring traffic to your site.

And finally, Lori talked a little about Google+. Another social networking site. It opened to the public on September 20th and has attracted 40 million users. It took their rival Facebook three years to reach the 25 million users mark. So people seem to be flocking to Google+. Here's a brief video that talks about circles and sharing.

And one of the nice features of Gmail is the chat. So, it would make sense they would take the chat feature and pump it up. It's called the hangouts . . . what do you think?

. .

Marvelous Monday

2011-10-24T07:00:00.014-04:00

Meagan Chaney works with low fire earthenware clay. Her work has been shown nationally and resides in several permanent collections. In 2004, she was awarded an Artist Residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. She's taught numerous workshops on basic and advanced glass fusing techniques and mixed media sculpture at the John C. Campbell Folk School (Brasstown, NC) and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN). There's something very soothing about her work. OK - I have to stop the madness. Eight photos are enough, right?

This past Friday's post, which was scheduled, somehow never made it to the web. So Tuesday I'll be sharing that post. For those of you who have tumult in their studio from time to time, I know you'll feel my pain.

Ring Toss

2011-10-21T07:00:00.012-04:00

I know I'm not the only one of us that suffers from a messy bench. You can clean up one day, and just a few days later - you've got a mess again. For me, show preparation is usually the time where it's at its worst. The biggest problem with this is that it makes it impossible to find things. So, t's happened again. I've lost something in my studio that I made for myself a couple of weeks ago. It's not that often that I actually make something just for myself. But every now and then I have this need to remove my rings when working. So what have I lost now? It was the ring I made myself as a reminder of Jerusalem. I swear I must have a studio gremlin who has a rather warped sense of humor. I know I'll find it, 'cause it's in there somewhere. But, on the positive note, a friend of mine just happened to give me something that I hope will avoid these mishaps in the future.

So why didn't I think of this earlier???

Squaring Up

2011-10-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday was the Bead Affaire. Sales were great - but not as good as prior years. Mailings were up, yet attendance was also down a little. It was a beautiful day in New England so maybe people were out enjoying the weather.

I had also really hoped to have the new iPhone by the time of the show. Specifically so I could use Square Up.

I had preordered my phone online and it was being shipped on the 14th which was cutting it very close. The phone arrived at around 6:30 p.m. By the time I got the line transferred and my contacts in, it was 10:00 p.m. I logged onto the app store, did a search for the free Square app and downloaded it to the phone. Prior to that, I had signed up for Square and already received my Square reader. So I was pretty well set to go. To do a test, on Saturday morning I put through a small charge of $1.00. Here's the receipt I found in my Inbox. Notice it even has a little map of the location where the charge was made.

From your account, you can see all the charges that went through that day as well as download spreadsheets of your sales. And two days later, the payment was in my bank. It was so easy.

The Square I think is changing and will continue to change a lot of people's businesses. Taking credit cards has always been an expense that many businesses can't commit to. But with the Square - there is no annual fee, no monthly fees, no activation fee, no gateway fee and no chargeback fee. The swiped card fee is 2.75% and a keyed in fee of 3.5% + .15 cents. And every card (no matter what kind of benefits i.e. miles, that those cards have) the percent is the same for all - Mastercard, Discover, Visa and even American Express.

So I'm loving Square up. I'm still pretty new to my iPhone, but really enjoying it. And if you have any really great apps - please share!

Marvelous Monday

2011-10-17T07:00:00.002-04:00

"Tim Harding became intrigued with the intimacy of fiber and textiles - their textural, tactile richness, the inherent grid of the weave, the pliable plane. His pieces, comprised of cut, layered and stitched bits of silk, have a pixel-like quality reminiscent of pointillism. He uses "simultaneous contrast" - multiple solid colors in tight proximity to create the kind of vibrant richness associated with the Impressionists."

His use of iridescent hand-loomed Indian silks are collage-layered and done in a reverse applique technique. It creates such a ripple effect that I found myself mesmerized. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!
Gold Orange Wave

Chrysanthemum Triptych

Koi No. 22

Bead Show

2011-10-14T07:00:00.002-04:00

Time has sure gotten away from me this week. I've been organizing and getting ready for the Bead Affaire show. For more info, you can go here. I'm looking forward to getting out there again. It's been a while since I've done a show and it's way overdue. And this show is a very well run, brief show. The doors open at 10 and close at 5. One day. Easy. So - have a great weekend and I'll be back next week!

Marvelous Monday

2011-10-10T07:00:00.008-04:00

"Lino Tagliapietra was born on Murano, a Venetian island which has served as the world’s glass capital for the past millennium. At the age of twelve, the artist apprenticed with Archimede Seguso. Training for glassblowers on Murano is traditionally structured, rigorous and slow; yet, within this system, Tagliapietra was a prodigy. After nine years of assisting, he achieved the title of maestro. Subsequently, he worked at several of Murano’s greatest factories: Galliano Ferro, Venini, Effetre International, and La Murrina (which he founded). A massive shift in the Studio Glass Movement began in 1979 when Tagliapietra accepted Benjamin Moore’s invitation to teach at Pilchuck Glass School. There, he established many enduring professional contacts and continuing relationships with students. The importance of his teaching to the development of glass as an artistic medium cannot be understated."

These are just a few photos I've pulled off the internet. Google images has many images of his work. It's definitely worth the trip. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Pausing to Remember

2011-10-06T08:48:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, died yesterday at age 56 after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives," Apple said in a statement. "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

He was also known as Apple's pitchman. Here's a great video of him pitching many of Apple's products. It's kind of a fun walk down memory lane. I've been spending a lot of time on the Apple site lately as I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the iPhone 4S as I'm sure many others have been doing. So, today, I'm giving pause to wonder how different our lives would have been without Steve Jobs. I came across an inspirational speech given by him to the graduating class of Stanford University back in 2005. It's titled "How to Live Before you Die". Great words delivered by a great man. Take the time to listen - it's so very inspiring.

Marvelous Monday

2011-10-03T07:00:00.005-04:00

Davis-Vachon Gallery is a shop I came across on Etsy. It's owned by the husband/wife team of Dave Vachon and Sue Davis Vachon from Fort Wayne, Indiana. After working as professional artists, they gradually began collaborative work and have been working together for 25 years. They also have a website where you can see their complete line. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Ceramic Sculptural Vessel

Ceramic Jar

Squared Plates

Lunar Temple Vessel

Out of the Studio

2011-09-28T07:00:00.002-04:00

I've been in the process of getting ready for my October Bead Affaire show every chance I get. My beads always seem to be changing - I'm not sure that's a good thing or a bad thing in terms of my customers. Here's a few beads I've recently added to the shop. As you can see in the top two beads, I'm enjoying working with translucent clay. It's not a clay I've worked with a lot in the past, but I love the magic that sometimes happens.

The last bead was for our recent BAO Challenge. It's always great to see how other people interpret the challenge. I'm finding lots of inspiration for the challenge contenders on Pinterest. You can get lost in there for hours. I haven't spent a real lot of time there as I know myself too well. But so, so tempting.

This past Sunday I went to the Boston Metal Clay Guild's meeting on Kumihimo. One of the members, Monte Nikkel, gave a fabulous demonstration. We all came bearing kumihimo boards, rattail, thread and beads. What a fun time. Monte brought a suitcase, filled with her goodies - no kidding. There will be pictures over at the Boston Metal Clay Guild's blog in the near future so I'll be sure to post a link here. Thanks to Lori Magno, the iPhone wizard (I'm so jealous) for all the on-the-spot photos.

Beginning Thursday is the Jewish New Year so I'll be back on next Monday for another Marvelous Monday! Happy New Year to all my Jewish friends!

Marvelous Monday

2011-09-26T07:00:00.005-04:00

It was love at first site when I saw the work of Melissa Huff. Her enamel colors are scrumptious and her designs are done beautifully in copper and/or silver. I didn't realize it until I read her "Processes" section and saw she gets the results by using organic materials such as seed pods and electroforms them. To add the enamel, she paints a resist to where she wants to have color and continues to electroform. This, as a result, creates an etched effect on her piece. Where the recesses now are is where she places the enamel. Hope you enjoy her work as well and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio Wednesday

2011-09-21T07:00:00.087-04:00

I finally got around to finishing a project that's close to my heart. This past July I had the pleasure of travelling to Israel. One of the sites that really struck me was driving into Jerusalem. Every building has to use a particular stone on its facade. The stone is known as "Jerusalem stone". It's no wonder that Jerusalem is called the City of Gold.

Anyhow, I was compelled to make myself a ring using the color of the stone as the inspiration. So . . . after fooling around with polymer, some paint and some silver, my ring was complete.

Marvelous Monday

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

Using the ancient technique of cloisonne to decorate her jewelry, Francis Kite adds wonderful color to all the compartments (or cloisons). Each compartment is made up of silver or gold wires that are soldered to the metal preparing it for the enamels. Her final pieces are a combination of enamels, precious metals, diamonds, or pearls. These pieces become family heirlooms and will be passed on to future generations. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-09-15T12:05:00.000-04:00

Here's a new design I've been working with. They're basically two different sized sterling discs, dapped and cold connected with the balled up earring wire. I did the first one for the most recent BAO color challenge.

Because I've been working with translucent clay lately, here's the pattern I used for the 2nd pair.

And here's something I finally got around to trying - my Nikolas Spray. I had purchased it from Whole Lotta Whimsy a while back. Can I tell you - I LOVE this stuff. If you do any patina treatments on silver, this puts such a nice, clear finish on it. I've been brushing the silver with scotch brite pads, treating it with a patina, brushing the patina off a little and then spraying the clear lacquer on. It's my new favorite supply. Here's a photo of the backside.

Marvelous Monday

2011-09-12T07:00:00.033-04:00

Every now and then something catches my eye on the front page of Etsy. It came as no surprise when I saw the shop name as I had blogged about this artist back in 2007. So this past week, it was the work of bbusbyarts. Betty Busby is the quilt artist behind this shop. Her designs seem to have become more organic yet are still very polymer friendly. There's lots of skinner blend color combinations to be had. Like in her Endoplasmic Reticulum for example . . .

or this Primordium.

Primordium

Here's the original quilt that caught my eye. Take a look at her beautiful quilts - they're sure to inspire. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio, Pantone Fall Colors 2011

2011-09-08T13:33:00.000-04:00

My rather large order is officially filled and on its merry way. Rather than playing hookey like I might have done in the past, I'm trying to remain focused on getting some things done in the studio and organizing other things that need to be worked on. One of things I've been working on, happens to be branding. This is something, I'm ashamed to say, is something I just haven't dealt with in the past. My packaging consists of a box, with my business card attached under a tie ribbon. Yeah, people recognize it's from me because of the business card (photo of my work on the card), but every time I wrap a box up, I always feel it's a cheesy way that I represent myself. It's one of those things that was always on my long term "to do" list. But I do admire those artists who have really created a brand for themselves. Branding doesn't necessarily help you with sales, but it will help make your work stand out in the crowd. BlockPartyPress, Humblebeads, and SandFibers are just three I thought of off the top of my head who I think do a nice job of it. Maybe I just never really understood the importance of it. But one day, I received a package in the mail from my friend Carol Dean Sharpe and it all made sense to me. Without even looking at the return address, I "recognized" it was from her through her packaging. So I'm finally coming clean, I'm announcing my inadequacy and am vowing to move forward. So, hopefully soon, I'll be posting some photos of the artwork I'll be using.

Even though it's already September, I thought a post on the Pantone Fall Colors for 2011 might help serve as a reminder for help in making those design and color palette choices that we sometimes struggle with. Similar shades of cedar, phlox, deep teal, coffee liquer brown (love me some of that), orchid blush and bamboo are colors within my usual palette, but it's going to be a real stretch for me to incorporate honeysuckle, emberglow, and especially quarry. Is it my imagination, or has sea foam green (or a cousin of sfg) reared its, well, not so pretty head again? Sorry if I offend anyone . . . just my personal taste. I really should force myself to create something with that color. Really.

Marvelous Monday

2011-09-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

"I developed an unconventional technique using a chain saw and other specialized tools that allows me to test the limits of the medium to create sculptures that, though static, retain a sense of fluid movement." - Hunt Clark To see more of Hunt's work, go here.

Have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-08-31T07:00:00.063-04:00

I keep meaning to blog about our BAO challenges but somehow, it always escapes me. Anyway, our latest color challenge was to create something using 3 colors from this photo. The photo is a print by Obsolete World.

And as usual, I hadn't started making anything until the last minute. Sadly, but fortunately for me, my metal clay guild meeting was cancelled due to the hurricane, so it freed up my afternoon. So, while the family was upstairs bonding over Hurricane Irene, I was downstairs in my studio with Tess Gerritson's "The Keepsake" playing in the background. Safe and sound.

Anyway, after I made these earrings, I made one of my reversible beads.

And after that? I started working on filling some orders. Here's a few of the beads. Can you tell I've had a few marathon bead making days and evenings? I always seem to get so much more done working late into the wee hours. I'm really going to have to change these habits as school is starting up again and I won't have the luxury of sleeping in anymore.

Did you see Heather Powers blog post about Pinterest? I've been hearing about Pinterest, I've glanced at it a couple of times, but decided to give it a go after reading Heather's post. I haven't spent much time with it yet, but know that it's definitely someplace I could get lost in . . . for days. So if you can't find me here, I just might be there!

Marvelous Monday

2011-08-29T07:00:00.021-04:00

Leroy Bayerl is a self-taught artist whose hollow wooden vessels have earned national acceptance through juried exhibitions across the country. His attention to design detail and material choices make his work sing. Although I enjoyed looking at all his photos from afar, I was smitten with them up-close. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Here's how he describes his process: “I start with the finest timbers available. Each vessel is hand-turned on a lathe the first time while still green – and then turned again to its final dimension after drying. I give each piece its unique character by texturing, carving, or dying – then finish it with oil, wax, lacquer or urethane.”

Desert Ironwood and Birdseye Maple

Box Elder burl with walnut legs and lid, enamelled parts

spalted Maple and Ebony

Out of the Studio

2011-08-24T07:00:00.005-04:00

Here's a little that's been going on in my studio this week. Other than cleaning, placing a few orders and organizing to get ready to show at a local shop, I've pulled out one of the stones I got in Israel and started working on it. First came the rough sketch that I laid onto the cleaned metal. Next, I made the bezel for the cab and placed the stone inside to check the fit.

And finally, I placed the cab over dental floss which was laid in the bezel as I hadn't pierced the backplate yet. The piece will be textured in sort of an organic pattern to mimic the stone.

Marvelous Monday

2011-08-22T07:00:00.021-04:00

Although this couple have spent 27 out of their 37 years living aboard boats, they met 9000 ft. above sea level in Colorado where they both worked on a dude ranch. They now have a home base in Bali, while their other home is Cuchura, a sailboat that has been described as "one of the most beautiful boats you'll ever see". They're currently sailing around the South Pacific with friends visiting the primitive islands of Northern Vanuatu and the Solomons. It's on adventures like these where they collect unusual pieces for their one-of-a-kind jewelry.

The name of their business is Eb-u, which is an Indonesian name given to a mature woman as a form of endearment and respect. They define Eb-u as more than a jewelry company, it's a way of life. Their story is fascinating. I enjoyed reading about them in an article about their life and work which can be found in their flickr pages (under the "Artisans" tab). I originally found them through flickr when they uploaded the last picture shown below to my Crackling with Polymer Clay group. When going through their flickr photos, I didn't think I'd ever make it out alive. Their work is so unique and exciting. Here's a few photos to picque your interest. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

This first ring has brass zipper surrounding textured polymer and amber set in sterling silver as an adjustable ring . . . SOLD.

A fossil ammonite from Morocco is set in silver and set off by ammonite textured polymer (also SOLD).

"Karma Circle" - made from extruded polymer.

2011-08-17T11:52:00.000-04:00

Isn't life weird when you go to some place that is so large and filled with so many people, that you bump into someone you know? I was telling my friend how last night we went to a Red Sox game and lo and behold, of all the 35,000 or so people that were there, we

end up sitting behind an old neighbor. Literally. His 4 seats were right in front of our 4 seats.We've all had these experiences of travelling somewhere far away from home and bumping into people you know. Strange, huh? My daughter came home just for this game so we could do our yearly family outing there. It's just such a fun environment to be in and a great place where you can embarass your kids in public and get away with it. Julienne now seems impervious to our antics and she is now acting just as goofy as we were trying to embarass Lily. Score!

Anyway, why a state of flux? Two reasons actually. I had been running low on flux (used to keep metal clean, and needed to make the solder flow) this week. As luck would have it, a job came last week in that required repetitive soldering. My supplier stopped carrying the Superior No. 6 flux that I always used, so I had to purchase it through the internet. Rather than wait three or 4 days, I decided to try my hand at the cupronil I had (which is an anti-firescale/flux combination spray bottle) again. The times I used it previously, it made a mess of my soldering pad. Like I should really care, right? Turns out, I really enjoyed working with it. It kept the metal beautiful and no more bubbling flux. The only thing that I see happening is the spray nozzle clogs a bit and you get some wonky sprays happening. I also have a bottle of Firescoff (similar product) that's been sitting on my bench that was never used. I picked it up to use it first, but as luck would have it, it wouldn't even spray as it was totally clogged.

The other reason I'm in a state of flux is I had way too many ideas floating around in my head and in my journal but I couldn't get to any of them until the job was done. I don't know which is worse. Not having the time to get into the studio, or being in the studio, and not having the time to do what you really want to do. And funny how today, of all days, I get an email from Craftcast that was titled, of all things, "Are you overwhelmed with great ideas, and wondering how to make them happen". Don't you sometimes feel that the universe it speaking directly to you?

And then there's back to school shopping. Fortunately though, Lily always seems to know exactly what she wants and where she has to go. So with her, there's no mindless wandering in malls. Thank God.

But before I can get back in the studio, I'm putting a necklace together that I had promised I would make for a friend. It involves suede lace and coin pearls. After it was all put together yesterday, I put it on and wouldn't you know it . . . it doesn't hang right so it's back to the drawing board today for me.

Marvelous Monday

2011-08-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

This week I figured I'd share some inspirational work made from polymer clay. I recently came across this artist's work (her flickr name is julli_ya - sorry, I couldn't locate her real name) and loved these bangles she made - doesn't this look like yarn? She also has a flickr page where you can view more of her work. I have to go make me some bangles! Have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2011-08-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

At first glance of Candone Wharton's work, I thought her ceramics were a mixed media of some sort. I wondered whether it was fiber or even possibly beading.

I was surprised and amazed at her use of carving to create such wonderful texture. Below is a photo of a piece made from coils that were flattened and carved.

Mixing raku with these beautiful textures, makes for some really exciting work. Here's a few samples of the extraordinary work that she creates. I hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

A Day at the MFA

2011-08-05T07:00:00.010-04:00

Yesterday I finally made it over to the MFA to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit. And I even rememberd to bring my camera, hence actual photos for a change. I wasn't quite sure what to expect in terms of a crowd seeing as this is basically the last week of the exhibit. There was a rather long line out in the front of the museum and inside it was a bit crowded. The red chandelier below looks to me a bit like a firecracker frozen in time. Much of his work is now done by his team, but I've shown some of his renderings that were included with the exhibit.

Ikebana Boat

These photos are from a room called the Persian ceiling. His rondels and sea creatures really do appear to be floating up there. Can you see the octopus in the photo on the left? I took the picture on the right so you could get a feel for the room and the effect of the colors from above shining on the walls.

It's rather mind boggling as to how all these pieces get shipped and installed. I've included a link here if you want to see a short film of some of this exhibit.

Today Luca's being brought to Camp Bob and we're leaving for a long weekend in Sunapee, NH. I probably won't be able to sneak out to the Sunapee fair as I'll have my family with me this trip. But hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll be spending lots of time on the lake. Have a great weekend!

Marvelous Monday

2011-08-01T07:00:00.001-04:00

Hideaki Miyamura is a potter from New Hampshire who grew up in Japan and spent 5 years apprenticing with a Japanese master. During this apprenticeship, his assignment was to develop new glazes, mainly Tenmoku glazes, in a brown-black color with an iridescent quality. During this time, he completed more than 10,000 test pieces.

Over the last few years he's discovered new glazes which combine crystallization with iridescence (which had never been done before). He calls this newest glaze "Yohen Crystal Glaze". Yohen means "stars glistening in a night sky". More of his remarkable work can be found on his website. I hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Color Challenge

2011-07-29T07:00:00.022-04:00

Twice a month, my Bead Art Originals team does a color challenge. This past challenge, we were to use three colors found in any photo from this mosaic from Studio G's blog.

Originally I had planned to go with the colors found in the photo with the fish. But the colors in the photo below really caught my eye as it somehow reminded me of the colors of Jerusalem and the beaches of Eilat. Together. Anyway, I followed my curiosity and here's what I created. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Out of the Studio

2011-07-27T07:00:00.004-04:00

Last week I blogged about my hollow bead beginnings. I had purchased Christine Dumont's tutorial on making hollow beads back when she offered the online class. I knew I would be make these large beads eventually, it was just a matter of time. This technique is a lot of fun, yet totally addicting. I posted my first bead here.   If you haven't taken Christine's online class, I see that it's being offered again in November. I think the class was extremely well done (not affiliated with her - just a fan of her work) and would highly suggest it.

Anyway, as a lot of you know, I've been playing with imitating stones here, here and here. So I wanted to make some hollow beads with that in mind. I tried to create a similar pattern of either rose quartz or rhodochrosite. I wasn't working with any images - just what was in my head. But here are some images of them both.


                                                                              Rose Quartz

Rhodochrosite

And here are my beads. Getting there?

Marvelous Monday

2011-07-25T07:00:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, 3 carloads of women from the Boston Metal Clay Guild ventured up to Gemstar Gemstones of Enfield, New Hampshire to do some shopping. I apparently didn't get my fill of looking at stones so today's post are photos taken from a website called Dandy Slabs. I hope these patterns and colors inspire you - and have a marvelous Monday!

Australian Marra Mamba

Blue Mountain Jasper

Blue Namibian Pietersite

Brecciated Green Rhyolite

Bruneau Jasper

Butterfly Jasper

Deschutes Picture Jasper

Indonesian OrbicularJasper

Morgan Hill Poppy Jasper

Morrisonite Jasper

Palm Jasper

Ocean Jasper

Pastel Willow Creek Jasper

Pilbara Jasper

Polychrome Jasper

Purple Cow Agate

Morrisonite, Bracelet

2011-07-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

Back in April, I blogged about making some morrisonite cabs. At the time I was just beginning to bevel some of the edges and apparently put the project down for a few months. I'm pleased to report that I've finally actually finished my first cab! I had a hard time letting going of the backside because I liked the image as well. So what I decided to do was to polish it as well and it will have more of an open bezel on the backside. I like the way it appears as if you're looking through something to see beyond.

Have you noticed the bracelet that's become really popular this summer? When I was in Israel, I had commented on the bracelet Triz had made. And then just this week, Cynthia had sent a link to this DIY bracelet. The tutorial that Triz used was here. The bracelets are not exactly the same, but very similar. But no matter, they're usually worn in multiples. I couldn't resist. Here's mine - made with silver ball chain, black waxed linen thread and black soft glass, brown soft glass or pink soft glass. They all have a polymer button closure.

And what's up for the weekend? The Boston Metal Clay Guild is going on a field trip to Gemstar Gemstones up in Enfield, NH this Sunday. Maybe I'll pick up some beads to make some of these similar styled bracelets for friends. What I really noticed was a lot of younger kids were wearing them. Oh well, we can pretend.

And if by chance you're interested in setting stones in metal clay, Mikki Verani gave a great demo which was blogged about with photos included. Here's the link. And speaking about setting stones in metal clay, Lisa Barth has a book out called "Designing from the Stone: Techniques for Bezel Setting in Metal Clay using the Stone as Inspiration". I'm a big fan of Lisa's work so I just ordered the book. I should have my copy in about a week or so. It's been getting good reviews over on the Metal Clay Yahoo group.

Have a great weekend!

Out of the Studio Wednesday and a little Israel Shopping

2011-07-20T07:00:00.015-04:00

Sometimes you just need a little push to get that energy moving. That's what I got when I talked to my friend Ruth and told her I was thinking of making one of Christine Dumont's hollow beads yesterday. I'd been experimenting with new lentil bead patterns and decided put that on hold so I could finally get around to making this hollow bead from Christine's tutorial. I originally just grabbed some scrap clay to use but figured I better try a striped pattern to see if I could make the stripes go towards the center of the bead as they're supposed to. Not the nicest looking bead, but a good start. Lessons learned: these cotton balls sometimes aren't always perfectly round. If you notice the bead on the right - the upper left hand corner has a flat spot on it. This was from using my knitting needle a little agressively. As you can see, the rest of the bead didn't flatten like that section did. Also, when making your pattern, it's really best to make the stripes really straight - no warping as in my pattern. It turned out ok in the end, but not a great way to start.

As for my new pattern - here's a cabochon I made using gold, translucent and black.

front back

When I went to Israel, the first day I got there, I literally dropped off my luggage at the hotel, hopped in a cab and met Triz in Tel Aviv for a shopping trip in the jewelry district. It was so nice to meet this talented bead artist - finally. It's crazy how today, people do so much communicating via the internet that sometimes you lose sight that the person you're dealing with is halfway around the world. Needless to say, I would have never thought that one day I'd be shopping in Israel with her. And it was really wonderful having her with me to shop seeing as my communication skills were a little lacking to say the least. We had fun combing the bead aisles - what else is new? Here's some cabs I purchased.

And I took a photo to commemorate the moment. Thank God for camera phones!

After that, she took me to the Carmel market which is a large outdoor market. The fruits and vegetables were displayed beautifully and there were a lot of people getting their grocery shopping done. But they don't just have food. I was even able to find a pair of water shoes Lily needed for the Dead Sea. They've got everything there! One stop shopping.

From there. she took me shopping to one of the trendy areas in Tel Aviv. Surprisingly, I saw numerous American stores. Can you ever really get away? If I had known then what I knew by the end of the trip, I would have stopped in every SINGLE store! When you're on a tour, you really don't get much shopping time so in hindsight, I should have taken advantage of the opportunity! And then sadly our time was up. It was back to the hotel for dinner and some much needed rest after our long flight.

Marvelous Monday

2011-07-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

My vacation is over and I'm finding it tough to get back in the swing of things. The trip was inspiring, and there was much to see and learn about. We did so much walking and standing throughout the 16 day tour of Israel that a visit to my chiropracter would make me really happy. I'm one twisted sister right now.

And speaking of twisted, these whimsical, colorful sculptures are the work of Tania Radda. They may remind you of something that Kathleen Dustin or Jeffrey Dever may have created, yet they're made entirely from wood. The sculptures are so fluid as the leaves and tendrils twist and turn, that I had to keep reminding myself that it's not polymer! Tania's site is filled with many wonders. Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2011-06-27T07:00:00.001-04:00

I couldn't leave town without this one last post. Who doesn't like a great handbag, right? But wait. The colors, textures and patterns on Bo's Art Opera Collection of handbags, belts, etc. will leave you clicking for more! I was inspired when I came across their bracelet section. I like how they recycle together several scrap pieces to create an unusual one of a kind bracelet.

This unique collection is handcrafted by artists Bozenna and Lukasz Bogucki in their Los Angeles studio. Several different grades of stainless steel mesh are used, with larger mesh being more rigid and industrial looking and smaller mesh being smoother and silkier. There's such a variety within their line with over 40 models named after famous operas. Everything is made to order so the combination of model and color make for a possible choice from 2000 variations. Feast your eyes and have a marvelous Monday! See you when I return!

Note: when I brought these photos over into my blog and made them larger, they became too blurry. So to get a really good sense of their work, you will just have to visit their site!

Goings on - In the Studio and Out

2011-06-24T07:00:00.002-04:00

My blog posts have been a little erratic lately - have you noticed? I haven't been spending as much time in the studio as I would have liked. This is always a busy time of year with the end of school. It means shortened days (yesterday was the last), numerous commitments, endless carpooling, and too many appointments that I care to even think about. And then I recently opened a new shop. I've separated my jewelry under a different shop name - "StudioNaftali". As I mentioned before, I'm looking to add more metal to my work. When I initially started working in metal, I was doing sterling wire beaded bracelets which was a technique taught by Lynne Merchant (which would work wonderful with polymer by the way) and made very popular by Connie Fox. I had never put them for sale in my Etsy bead shop and have now put a few in this shop. I mean, do they really need to be kept in my studio closet? I almost forgot all about them. Crazy! Their prices are really wonderful considering the silver market, design time, and work involved.

Here's a couple pairs of newer earrings I added to the shop. They are made with copper discs. One is etched and the other has a textured sterling disc.

They both are patinaed Many moons ago, I bought a bunch of patinas from http://www.sculptnouveau.com/ with intentions of using it as another way to add color to my metal. Just another one of those things I hadn't gotten to. When I saw Missflickermedia's tutorial on patinas a while back I figured I would purchase it when I had some time to experiment. Lo and behold, I finally got around to it and thought she did a great job. It sent me back in motion. I'm adding base metals as a way to balance the cost of materials. Besides, the patinas can really add some nice color to these metals. But that's all going to have to wait a few weeks because I'm going on vacation. I'll be out of town for 16 days and will be closing my shops on June 28th and re-opening them up on July 14th. Lily, myself, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law will be going to Israel together. We're all pretty excited as this will be the first time for three of us.

And who would ever think that I'd be getting in touch with my my BAO teammate Triz for a shopping date? Another one of my favorite stones is a Chrysocolla. And when you have Chrysocolla mixed with malachite and turquoise, it's known as the Eilat (Israel) stone as this is where it is mined. So, I'm meeting up with Triz to go shopping for Eilat stones in Tel-Aviv - as long as all the stars and planets are aligned.

Below is a necklace which I set my first stone in a bezel. It was a Chrysocolla.

Oh yeah, and then to our surprise, we received 4 tickets to the Jimmy Buffet concert. This was our 25th year and we thought for sure we'd be missing it as we didn't receive the tickets until 4 days before the concert. For a number of years we've been renting an RV and taking anywhere from 10 - 12 of us. So this was the year of downsizing. It was kind of like a flashback as that's how it all began - two friends from CT, myself and Mark.

And finally, every few weeks we have a color challenge with the BAO team. So every chance I get to experiment, and it's usually for this challenge, I experiment with patterns. I almost started to write the directions down for one of the patterns when it dawned on me to pick up my camera. I've done this for tutorials, but NEVER for myself! So now, when I'm in the process of discovery, I pick up the camera, and shoot. And as they say, a picture's worth a thousand words. SO MUCH EASIER! So now I've started some folders of just pattern development. Every now and then I poke my head out of the cave and say "huh"? Have a great weekend!

Helen Otterson Ceramics

2011-06-20T07:00:00.017-04:00

With only a few glances at Helen Otterson's work, you get a clear sense that succulents play a key role as her inpsiration.

"My work is a hybrid of human cells and plant forms that share the pursuit of survival and beauty of natural form. Drawn to the succulents of my native Californian landscape, I am intrigued by the succulent’s ability to survive in a harsh environment, yet produce colorful lush forms. I am drawn to the dichotomy of these plants that thrive in water-deprived environments yet, produce voluptuously plump leaves and tendrils."

Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2011-06-13T07:00:00.004-04:00

The original Series 7 chair (1955) was designed by the Danish designer Arne Jacobsen. Australian artist Lisa Jones made a symbiosis series of chairs based on his original design. Each chair represents a human organ system. My jaw dropped a bit when I came across her work. I hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Some of her previous works include these laser type cut acrylic and pencil drawings.

Your Best Shot

2011-06-10T07:00:00.011-04:00

Even though I've been working with the same camera for a number of years, I recently saw an Etsy camera workshop that I thought was pretty informational. The two videos review cameras, provide a photography checklist, review camera setups, backgrounds, aperature settings, lighting, photo sizing, photo setup and more. It's given me a few things to think about and I hope you find it helpful in creating the best possible images. Have a great weekend!

Watch live streaming video from etsy at livestream.com

etsy on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Out of the Studio

2011-06-08T07:00:00.006-04:00

Every two weeks, the BAO team does a color challenge. I never seem to get it done ahead of time. It's usually completed at the last possible moment. Bad habits are tough to tame. But for one of the future challenges, I thought it might be fun to actually take some time and experiment a bit with patterns and see what evolved. It must be late because I'm now seeing faces and bodies within these patterns. Yikes.

Sally Bright's Basketry

2011-06-06T07:00:00.016-04:00

"Sally J. Bright began collecting baskets as a teenager, searching for unusual examples in local shops. As an artist, she strives to continue pushing the definition of basketry.’” In her Fenton, Mich., studio, Bright grows each sizable basket from rattan and palm, sometimes including metal or plastic, then applies up to 50 layers of acrylic paint. “Entropy Overcome,” which incorporates copper, is a whopping 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 feet!

Sally has a website which is only temporary as the new one is currently being built. Most of the photos on her site are found here within the In Print tab. Click on the magazines to view. This next particular one was taken from Timothy Reddy's flickr photostream. He took a bunch of shots at a Fine Art Fair in Peoria, IL. Here you get a really good sense of scale.

Regarding the photo below, here's what Sally had to say. "I realize that not everyone can afford the type of work I am obsessed with making and I have tried innumerable times to create smaller, less complex work. But my brain is not wired that way. So I created an affordable poster with photos of my "Amoebas" series."

And to get a sense of Sally's adventurous spirit, she has a "For Fun" area. There, you can read about sky diving, parasailing, and other fun stuff. Her description of the sky diving gave me a really good sense of the experience. Kind of like being there . . . well, almost. Cowabunga!

Out of the Studio

2011-06-03T09:35:00.000-04:00

Here's a few photos on what's been on my bench this week.

This piece was etched and has been percolating for a while. The silver is pretty unfinished at this point.

I punched a hole in the silver and layed it out on a piece of copper. Using a circle template I marked the copper with the size w/sharpie.

Cut the copper, sanded and polished both pieces.

Next, I'll be etching the copper piece. I originally planned to etch it using the same pattern as the sterling. But the piece of polymer that will fit inside is more of an organic look so now I'm thinking that the copper should have a different pattern. We'll see what develops. And finally, a pair of earrings that are actually . . . finished. Yay!

C. T. Whitehouse

2011-06-01T07:00:00.020-04:00

C. T. Whitehouse creates simple vessel forms with bronze in such a way that they seem to just illuminate the space they're in. If you're a fan of patinas, then I'm sure you'll enjoy his work. They are filled with color and light.

"The intent of my work with bronze is simply to express the nature and beauty of the material itself. From the original designs in wax I make each bronze form unique each showing subtle variation of texture and color. Use of simple forms frees the viewer to see the qualities of bronze without concern for subject or detail."

"The patina of each piece is created by heating and chemically oxidizing the bronze, giving each piece its unique look. Finally, the edges of the forms are highly polished until they hold a halo of light. The artist's signature marks his pleasure in completing this art." - The Artful Home

To see more of his work, you can visit his website here.

A Little Cupcake Indulgence

2011-05-27T07:00:00.006-04:00

You know how the story goes, you're watching calories, and all you can think about is food - specifically sweets. I saw these two sisters on one of the morning talk shows and enjoyed hearing their story. And man, do those cupcakes look goooooood or what? Both sisters left their corporate jobs to open the bakery. They had started baking when ages three and four along side their grandmother. They learned how to bake by folllowing their grandmother around the kitchen and imitating her. So, armed with only their grandmother's recipes, they opened the first cupcakery in Washington D.C. called Georgetown Cupcakes. It literally became a sensation overnight. And they even have their own reality show "DC Cupcakes" on TLC - perhaps you've seen it. They produce thousands of cupcakes a day (and now have a second location in Bethesda Maryland). The key to their cupcake success they say is using the finest ingredients and knowing how to make a moist cupcake. The secret's in the mixing and timing.

And here's one of their nice ice cream cupcake cupcakes "how to" video. If you like to bake, you can find a number of their recipes online. I might just have to make some of these ice cream cupcakes. . . I'm weak I tell ya!

Out of the Studio

2011-05-25T07:00:00.009-04:00

We had a little sun here in MA today so I was inspired to bring my iguana lawn ornament inside for a new look. Kinda cute, isn't he? I love the look of the natural rusted metal, but what happens is he kind of disappears into the landscaping.

So, I figure I'll clean off the metal today and start the process. This iguana was purchased last summer up at the Sunapee Show (League of New Hampshire Craftsman) from Junker Studio. Their website doesn't have lots of photos, but they always have a great selection every year at Sunapee.

Marvelous Monday

2011-05-23T07:00:00.004-04:00

Lisa and Scott Cylinder have been creating jewelry together since 1988. Somehow, they obtain discarded musical instruments, deconstruct them, add metals, resins and wood and resurrect them into new pieces of jewelry. Their compositions are sheer delight!

"We share a love of materials, and we have allowed ourselves to be free to explore any materials that we feel are appropriate for a particular piece, whether they be found, manufactures or made by us"

Bing Clarinet Key Brooch

Cherry Tree Clarinet Key Necklace

Scarlet Damper Piano Brooch

Seahorse Bass Clarinet Key Brooch

Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-05-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

I've been scurrying around trying to finish up that kit/tutorial I spoke of earlier this month. But alas, it's finally complete. I contacted Christine Dumont to do another tutorial launch. So, if you want to get a sneak preview as to what it is, head over to Voila! now. And watch the site early next week (hint, hint) for when it goes live if you want to be one of the three lucky winners.

And funny how life takes its twists and turns. I did on post here on "making connections". I'd been doing a lot of thinking about coaching, mentoring, connecting, etc. I mean think of it, it's all around us. Isn't that what a lot of the reality shows to some degree are doing? Now we've got the show "the Voice". What an opportunity for these kids to be coached by such big names in the business. Last weekend I had a really cool experience which had to do with coaching. I went back to Yale with my daughter for a basketball tournament. Turns out, 3 of her 4 games were held in the Payne Whitney gym - the same building I used to train with Robert Kiphuth. So I just had to go upstairs and look at the old practice pool. When I opened the door and saw the pool - man did it bring back many memories. Hard. I took my cell phone out to take a photo (ok, I admit, I've never uploaded a picture from my phone yet onto the computer) when a woman sitting at one end asked me if she could help me. She introduced herself as Christina Teusher - the head swim coach for Yale's Women's Swim Team (and, um, didn't know it at the time, but a 2-time Olympic metal winner herself). I told her my story and heard probably for the first time in my life some history about Robert Kiphuth. We had a rather lengthy conversation and I've also learned a lot about him through the internet since. So . . . it got me thinking - why in the world would a Yale and U.S. Olympic Swim Coach want, agree to, and even select 6 kids from CT to train under his auspices? And with Yale's Men's Swim Team? How did that ever get approved? There was no reality show, commercials, or endorsements. Looking back, I'm seeing it from a totally different perspective. It was an incredible opportunity and pretty life-changing as well. This weekend, we're headng down to my sister's in CT and my brother is in from Colorado. They've both heard the details of my weekend experience and we are all looking forward to getting together, kickin' back, remembering and talking about the good ole' days!

BAO Color Challenge

2011-05-17T12:16:00.000-04:00

After a long weekend, I'm trying to get back on track with business as usual. Every couple weeks, the BAO team does a color challenge. I haven't posted one of the challenges here for a while but figure there's no time like the present. Here's an image of Bali which was the inspiration for the work of 5 BAO members. You can go here to see what they created.

Honestly, Can You Tell the Difference?

2011-05-13T14:59:00.000-04:00

Just this week I saw two posts regarding alternatives to silver as the price for silver is high and still fluctuating (the spot price for today is $35.09/oz.). One was about copper (can't remember whose blog that was) and the other was about polymer clay (Polymer Clay Today). I wanted to do a post about this but was delayed due to blogger problems. Anyway, another option is nickel silver. After polishing some nickel silver pieces, I took this photo - honestly, can you tell the difference? Scroll down for the answer . . .

Left - silver, middle and right - nickel silver. And just a fraction of the price!

Going Back

2011-05-13T14:32:00.004-04:00

This weekend I'm attending yet another basketball tournament. This time it's in New Haven, CT. One of the games will be held Yale. I used to swim there everyday as a kid with the Men's Swim Team (before Yale went co-ed - I guess that kind of dates me a bit). Anyway, it's been 45 years since I've been there. I'll never forget my first experience with the coach. He told everyone to get bands and tie up their legs. Then to hop in and do a warmup of 100 laps. I thought he was joking . . . he wasn't. And this was a 50 meter pool. I think I cried in the water the whole time! But it got worse. At the end (this was at the deep end), I untied my band and it fell down to the bottom of the pool. When the coach saw this he yelled at me to go get it. I tried but my ears made it impossible to get down there. Then he screamed at me when he saw I swam back up without it. I still have to smile when my mother yelled at the coach to stop making me try to get the band. He then threw her out of the pool area and she was never allowed in again. Needless to say, on the way home I told my mother I wanted to quit. She told me I had to give it one more try. I don't know how I got through it, but I did. I ended up practicing with them for probably 2 more years until the coach passed away. Things were so different back then. To this day, I have no idea how or why 6 kids, ages 11 - 15 were practicing with this team. It's funny what feelings and memories come up when I think of that time. I remember the guys on the team used to talk about the clubs they would go to. It was the whole beatnik era. Does that bring back memories to anyone? Jack Kerouac perhaps? Here's to going back! Have a great weekend!

"I hope it is true that a man can die and yet not only live in others but give them life, and not only life, but that great consciousness of life.” -Jack Kerouac

Making Connections

2011-05-11T07:00:00.003-04:00

I remember when I first started this journey how I felt pretty much on my own (as I'm sure many of us have) to figure things out. I remember thinking so many times how much easier it would be if there were someone I could network with that might be helpful. I tried networking groups but the two I met with didn't seem to be a good fit. Fast forward . . . 12 years later. I've been reflecting on how things fell into place for me. Probably about 8 years ago I joined my local art society. Through that group, I met two women who became an important part of my life. And I met a third woman (I've spoken of Mary in the past) in a metalsmithing class. Each of these women are unique and have helped me in different ways. Years ago, three of us used to talk about forming a mastermind group. The group was never formed but these mastermind sessions do take place on a regular informal basis. I cherish these friendships. I have my team. We are constantly exchanging information and learning from one another. Recently I joined the Boston Metal Clay Guild. And through that guild, I met others who are starting to sell their work or need website help, photography help, etc. I see things that I can offer people and things I can learn from others. So, my question to you is - do you have a team? Do you belong to a local guild or some sort of networking group?

Recently on the Metal Clay Yahoo Group forum, Tonya Davidson from Whole Lotta Whimsy invited people to join the Sunday Social Circle on the WWW facebook page. There, you can share your Etsy page, website, FB, Twitter, etc. The goal is to connect + collaborate + create together. Just another opportunity . . . thanks Tonya!

And this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning my Etsy team. The BAO team has been such a great resource for me. They offer wonderful support and promotion for their members, and an opportunity to network with others on a deeper level than you may have otherwise. If you sell on Etsy, teams are a wonderful resource well worth looking into.

Marvelous Monday

2011-05-09T11:27:00.000-04:00

I'm back from my short break. I needed to free up some time and something had to go. I've been cleaning and purging. First it began with my closets. Have you ever wanted to seriously take everything in your closet and just get rid of it? And, in conjunction with that, I began a diet - probably the first real diet I've ever done where you have to actually be accountable. I had "cut back" my food intake but I wasn't getting any results. It wasn't so much how much I ate this winter, it was more about when I ate it. Dinner (and my biggest meal) at 8:00 or 9:00 in the evening is definitely not healthy. I've been working out religiously 3 times a week and walking on off days and nothing was changing. So I joined weight watchers on-line. Great diet - but it can be a little time consuming - finding points, entering them, and finding recipes that I would enjoy and wouldn't leave me feeling hungry took a lot of time. The first day of the diet I spent SO much time online, not fun but necessary as I was pretty clueless as to point values. It's been fairly simple to follow and my first week was a huge success. Nothing like positive reinforcement to keep you going!

I also cleaned the studio, yet again. However, one week later and you'd never know it. I've been working on another project as well. It's another tutorial, but with a different spin. I hope to have it done sometime this week - so stay tuned.

And now - for my inspirational photos for the week. I selected the work of Sydney Lynch. Her site has a wonderful home page. I could get lost watching it forever. And she has many, many pages of fabulous jewels to look at. And if you like the combination of gold with oxidized silver, you'll love her work. Her designs are really incredible - I would love to own any one of those pieces! Doesn't the boulder opal resemble a skinner blend??? LOVE it! Hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2011-04-25T07:00:00.004-04:00

What do you get when you cross technology and nature? The Insect Lab, but of course. "Manmade technology is finding that the most manuverable and efficient design features really does come from nature. Ironically and often, this technology closely resembles the musings of science fiction. This hybridization of insects and technology from both fields, is where Insect Lab borrows from."

Mike Libby graduated from RISD with a degree in Sculpture. You may wonder, as I did, as to how you get from sculpture to the Insect Lab? Here's what he says. "One day I found a dead intact beetle. I then located an old wristwatch, thinking of how the beetle also operated and looked like a little mechanical device and so decided to combine the two. After some time dissecting the beetle and outfitting it with watch parts and gears, I had a nice little sculpture." And my next question of course was, I wondered what kind of toys he played with as a kid.

Although the work does not intend to function, but playfully and slyly insists that it possibly could. Delicate work and oh so timely (sorry, couldn't resist). I hope you enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Out of the Studio

2011-04-20T07:00:00.022-04:00

Last week I had mentioned getting a photo sheet made at your local copy store. I basically, through Photoshop, created a new blank file. I filled the layer with a radial black to white gradient and reversed it so the inner circle would be white vs. black. Last week, I had shown this photo with the sheet I had made. I told them to print it on photo paper, but was unhappy with the paper. It was rather thin and was a little wrinkled (which ended up actually showing on the photos). I re-did the job and told them to put it on heavier photo paper. I also changed the gradient a little so that the circle on the inside was only about 3" wide vs. 5" previously. The original photo done on the first photo paper from last week is on the left.

And here's the most recent photo.

I really expected to like the newer photo as I tend to like more contrast, but realize I like the softness of the original better. So I went back to the 2nd photo and added a light grey translucent fill layer. Here's what I got (below):

I didn't care for this so much either, so I went back in and made the translucent fill layer a litter whiter (notice how the green is very washed out). In the end, I'll go back to the first gradient and have it printed on heavier paper.

And one other thing I thought I'd look at - a photo with the piece on a white acrylic panel. There was no photo editing done on this photo, it was just cropped. The photos above were cropped and the levels were adjusted. For most of my bead photography, I use the white acrylic panel. No color adjustments really need to be made and the photo editing goes pretty quick. So that's it - now to get into the studio and do some work!

Marvelous Monday

2011-04-18T07:00:00.010-04:00

Today I'm featuring the work of Sharmen Liao. Sharmen makes beautiful knitted and crocheted wire jewelry. She uses traditional textile techniques to form unconventional structures for her jewelry. My favorites are her limited edition pieces. And for all of us Skinner blend addicts out there, notice how she "step patinas" this piece to create a beautiful effect. Her photography is purely exquisite and teases me to reach out and touch. But wait, she makes knitted handbags as well. I love the shapes and ripples she creates with her textile techniques. Collections of today - heirlooms of tomorrow. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Translucents

2011-04-15T07:00:00.001-04:00

I love the scheduling aspect of blogger as I am in actually in CT today helping my sister prepare for my niece Jaime's baby shower. I blogged about the IKEA vases I got for it here.

But I actually finished a necklace which was started last year. This is the first of a series of work that's been sitting on my bench. One of them is probably 9 or 10 years old. Does that ever happen to you? For whatever reason, that's the way I work sometimes. When I started experimenting with making faux stones, I started working with translucent polymer clay. I had never really worked with it much in the past but am finding how wonderful the effects can be. I set it in one of my etched sterling pieces.

Also, I took my own advice and had a couple radial style gradient sheets printed out at my local office supply store. Unfortunately, the radial needed to be tighter so I've got another order in to be picked up later today. The first photo was taken over a white acrylic panel.

Have a great weekend!

Out of the Studio

2011-04-14T07:00:00.002-04:00

I'm rather a day late from my usual Wednesday post, but life has been a little crazy lately. Just when you think things will settle down - wham! 12 hours in the emergency room with my daughter is 11 hours too many in my book. Anyway, she's fine. Don't you just love it when you leave the hospital with absolutely no other information than you had going in? She's back to normal from her mystery illness and even the dog is recuperating from his surgery. He's feeling so good I guess he thought he'd celebrate and help himself to one of Lily's cupcakes. Jumped on her bed, onto her night stand and onto her bureau for the oreo cupcake prize (he's gotten amazingly agile with that collar of his on). Remnants were found on her carpet. Evidence is never good to leave behind. And what's a cupcake doing in her room anyway you might ask? Yeah, I was kind of wondering the same thing.

You may not be surprised when you see what I've been up to. I've been really having an itch to get ahold of some morrisonite and I finally managed to buy a few slabs. And no, I'm not stopping working with polymer - just taking a little detour. But can you blame me? This stuff is crazy beautiful. I bought a few pieces from Philip over at Rare Rocks and Gems . He has these live sales every month or so. You have to get on at the exact sale opening time and act fast. I equate it to like going to a Filene's Basement sale- when it used to be good - only you have to act really fast on the computer). Sluggish computers will not do. I kept seeing . . . SOLD . . . SOLD . . . SOLD. I was scrambling and managed to capture these slabs. Ah the stress of it all! His rocks are top quality and he is a wealth of knowledge. And when my package came, there was some surprise Owhyee Jasper in it to boot!

So this past weekend, I spent some time at Mary's and began sawing off the tabs and sanding the stones. I cut one of the slabs into 4 pieces and began forming one of those into a cabochon. I sure wish I had my camera. Water has to drip on the stone as you cut, otherwise it would break. So as you saw, water squirts out and about. You have to protect yourself from getting wet so I literally had to wear a yellow poncho with hood. Such a sight!

It was very satisfying when I got to the point where I could begin to shape the stone. Aside from the color, the pictures that are formed within these rocks are amazing. Faces, rivers, caves, funnels, lightening, planets, universes, it's endless. The King really rocks!

Marvelous Monday

2011-04-11T07:00:00.037-04:00

This week, I'm featuring the work of ceramic artist extraordinaire, Suzane Stumpf. Suzanne's work has been published in numerous books and has won many accolades in various shows and exhibitions. I originally was going to show pictures of her wall sculptures, like this reticulated plate on the right, but I was totally smitten when I saw her interactive sculptures.

Don't you just want to go play? To see more of her ingenious interactive sculptures, go here. Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Smorgasbord

2011-04-08T07:00:00.006-04:00

I said I would be blogging with photos of the Morrisonite Mary is working on. Unfortunately, the photos didn't come out that great. I could only photoshop a couple, the others had glare, camera movement, and bad photograph backgrounds (cooktop and paper towels - nothing you'd want in your photo studio).

She's also working on a couple opals that have some nice flash. For some reason - these photographed better with the paper towel background!

Mary let me have a go at the lapidary wheel - can you tell I'm getting the itch?

On another note, I had to take a trip to IKEA to pick up some vases for baby shower centerpieces. I've been told I'm really lucky to have an IKEA near me. You'd never know it as I've only been in there a couple times. Each time I've gone in, I've been on a mission. No time to shop - just pick up what I had previously shopped online for. I'm probably the only person you know who doesn't take hours in there. No time to even pick up one of those wonderful smelling cinnamon buns. Am I crazy or what? But I have to tell you, it's killin' me! They had some fabulous plants (palms and orchids), cool frames, great fabrics, organizing stuff, housewares, etc. - man I could get lost in there . . . one of these days.

AND, it's so close to NTR metals where you can recycle your metal. I'm hooked. They now know me by my first name. Can you blame me? This time last year, silver was $18.24. Today, it's $39.59. It was especially convenient this past time. I dropped it off on the way to IKEA, and picked up my check 1/2 hours later. They pay 90% (which is probably the best % I've heard of) and they take sweeps! You gotta love it!

Never a Dull Moment

2011-04-06T07:00:00.058-04:00

Meet my studio mate Luca. He looks pretty innocent, right? For anyone who owns a dog and has had to have one of these contraptions on their pet's head, you know what it's like, right? When walking and his head bobs down and little, wham, stops dead in his tracks. Stairs? No, he doesn't do stairs. He waits for me to give him a lift. Going upward usually doesn't work - unless of course, you're jumping on beds. Somehow, he's got that mastered. And then there's the warm compresses he gets and the medication routine (place in mouth, spit out of mouth, etc.) Eating food? If I wanted to terrorize my dog, I suppose I could just sit and watch him attempt to eat for hours. How long would it take for him to give up? So I did take the collar off for a brief eating time (which was supposed be used for eating his food), turned my back for one minute, and he nibbled where he shouldn't have. Now, he's got 10 days hard labor in this thing. This little collar has turned my toddler free life upside down.

My friend Mary purchased some Morrisonite slabs and rough and has begun to make some cabochons. One piece was too beautiful to cut and will be used for display. So stay tuned - I'll have some of those photos on Friday. And maybe some photos of the work that I am determined to get to this week!

Marvelous Monday

2011-04-04T07:00:00.002-04:00

Janice Vitkovsky's kiln formed and carved murrine glass is rather mesmerizing. I found myself scratching my head and questioning what it was that I was seeing. Her use of light, color create such a visual treat. The glass is cut and layered into strips, fused, then stretched numerous times to create the patterns. The glass is then fused again, carved and hand finished.

"This work focuses mainly on the depiction of motion and the perpetual. By referencing a mapping of sorts, I employ rhythmic and flowing patterns that convey a sense of motion and fluidity." - Janice Vitkovsky

Enjoy and have a marvelous Monday!

Marvelous Monday

2011-03-28T07:00:00.002-04:00

Angela Cunningham is a ceramic artist from Somerville, MA whose work recently won her a Niche Award in the hand-built category. She specializes in vessel-based sculpture. Her forms are sensuous and have a voluminous tactile quality. And if you're in the Boston area, she'll be doing a solow show "Lure" at Vessels Gallery in Boston, MA. May 6 - June 5, 2011. Opening reception Friday, May 6. Have a marvelous Monday!

"Matriach" "Sprout"

"Converge" "Succulent"

"Spiky Nesting Set"

An Evening with Kate Fowle Meleney

2011-03-25T07:00:00.010-04:00

Two nights ago the Beadesigner International scheduled a talk by Kate Fowle Meleney on small scale electroforming for the studio artist. I've been smitten by this art form and Kate shared her wealth of knowledge on the subject including some wonderful tips and tricks. She has been plating her beads and vessels for nearly 20 years now. She brought the equipment and materials that she uses in her studio and explained the process step-by-step. She then gave a slide presentation of a number of artists who use electroforming in their work. There were many sighs and gasps as she moved through the powerpoint presentation. Here's a few of my favorites from Kate.

The piece on the left is by June Schwarcz (whose work is recognized as one of the nation's leading enamellists) followed by the work of Kim Vredenburg.

If you'd like to take a class in electroforming, Kate will be doing two separate workshops on April 9th and April 10th at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Socity in Lexington, MA. For more info, go here.

What's New with Metal Clay

2011-03-23T07:00:00.002-04:00

With all the formulations of metal clay that have surfaced over the past few years, it's no wonder that the latest formula was due to materialize. And thanks to the people over at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellry, the dream became a reality. Lisa Cain, the Director of the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellry made the announcement on Monday of some big news that she and a handful of others have been coveting. Over the past 6 months staff at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery in England have been researching and developing a sterling silver clay. You will now be able to mix and fire this yourself (hallmark quality sterling silver clay) in your home studio from either Art Clay or PMC brand clays.Take a look here
http://www.mcsj.co.uk/sterling-silver-metal-clay-developed-at-MCSJ.html

Lisa has chosen to reveal her method, recipes, firing schedules and detailed test results in Metal Clay Artist Magazine which is due out in a couple of weeks. This is such exciting news in metal clay. I'm a subscriber and I'm so looking forward to getting this issue!