Crafted Findings Riveting Tool

A new toy for all the tool junkies out there!

Wanted: For Obstruction of Creativity

Ok, here's the disclaimer up front. This post will have a lot of pix- most of them are not pretty- please have all small children and pets leave the room as they may get lost in the clutter and i can't be held responsible! You can click on a picture and then click a second time to make it really large if you dare!

That being said, yesterday was my husband's birthday. He spent part of it fishing with a few buds of his and then he had work he wanted to get done on his boat before the weather turned bad this week.  SSoooo... I had most of the day to myself. I decided to tackle ,start reorganizing what used to be known as my studio.  Now I'm not going so far as to even go into the pottery rooms, just the front room. I will start at the front door and try to give a surround view play by play. Here goes-

Standing inside my front door looking straight ahead.  When we first renovated this old store, the back rooms were for my studio, pottery and kilns, this front part was going to be a shop, but that was right before the fire at the restaurant when all those plans changed. So the antique display cases that we had for the shop are now being used for storage units.  Notice the storage containers on the floor, think they'll hold it all, nah, me either! The bookcases are filled to the brim , hence the books and magazines on the floor, will need to figure that out. The commercial t shirt machine was for when i made the shirts for my son's FIRST robotics competitions andmousepads for our restaurant.  There is a gas fireplace set beneath the mantle.

This is looking now to the back right corner. There is an old shoemakers rack with fabric on it, the red barnwood cabinets in the corner have beeswax figures that i cast from vintage chocolate molds, the green cupboard has ephemera, sealing wax, some plates for mosaics, cigar boxes and mache doll parts that i also cast. There are 2 ships figureheads on top of the green cabinet which i started and have yet to finish, they were for the restaurant as decor. The pie safe with the doors open houses sewing supplies and there are vintage sewing implements on top along with a redware doll i made who has yet to be dressed. Behind this glass display case sits a library table and vintage oak desk which I used to make all my jewelry on but since bringing those items into my home, it now is my sewing space. Notice the little purple sewing machine behind the spinner rack? It is a real sewing machine sized for little girls, for my grandaughter.

The 8' display case hold lots of vintage trims that I had used when i was making outfits for the redware dolls. The illustration on the left is from a book from the 1800's of a sailor and his mermaid. i'm a hopeless romantic what can I say? The cardboard drink holder on top of the display case holds dead butterflies, I had the holder in my car and when i would find a butterfly lying on the ground in the street or parking lot, i put them in there to keep from getting crushed in my car.  My nephew saves dragonflies for me from the Navy ship he is on, he says they come there to land and die so he collects them for me (all for jewelry) He gets the weird gene directly from me!

This is standing at the front door looking a little to the left. The black canister looking thingie on he floor in the front is a frit crusher, for crushing glass to cast. The open door at the end of the corridor is a closet that spans the length of the wall and is beneath the stairs leading to the Up-Art-Ment. The frame is from a rug I hooked (rug punch) The rack on the wall holds rubber stamps.  An enamel kiln, PMC kiln and small glass kiln sit atop an old science table with black stone top.  Behind the rug frame sits a light table that my husband built for me 20 years ago when i was back in school and needed a light table to do the series of silkscreens accurately.

From the front door looking left, you can see the original door from inside the building which leads to the upstairs apartment. Behind the white sideboard is an old formica table which is for the torch and hot glass setup. I plan on removing this sideboard and replacing it with a workbench for my enameling ( yea Barbara!) It currently has my glass saw and grinder and tumbler and a dremel set on top but is an inefficient use of space. (that's funny isn't it?)

The mantle has a wonderful old confessional sort of doors that had been backed with a mirror and also my dada doll from Linda and Opie O'Briens class. The shoe organizer holds glass rods.

A better view of that corner

A view down the corridor. The bookcase on the left has paints, glues etc on it, the black bookcase on the far wall has all varieties of shells for making Sailor's Valentines, and the white bookcase on the right has catalogued  magazines. The slant front display case, one of my favorites, used to hold all the clear plastic storage containers of beads and gemstones and findings for jewelry making. It was great to be able to see them all from both sides with the light passing through.

Standing in the door to the pottery room looking out into the corridor. The fridge holds inportant things like water, yogurt, apples and chocolate !

Standing at the bookcase with the shells looking back towards the front door.

Closer view of the hot glass table. Note the Carlisle mini cc torch on the hardi backer board which is protecting the floor. The Barnes and Noble bag (on the table) is full of cleaned cat food cans for use with the torch fired enamels.

Standing near the hot glass table looking back across the room.

Now some of you out there are probably thinking " I would never show this" but you see that's exactly why I am doing it. Life gets busy, things get dropped and stacked and shuffled and disorganized from time to time. It's been over a year since i worked in here. Other more important life happenings took precedent over this. I am on a mission now though and showing these pix will keep me to it, keep me honest so to speak. I will be back with the final results in pix as soon as i finish.

In the meantime....

Happy Birthday Ray!

Now let's eat cake!

 

 

   



I'm A Fan

OK, so that was too easy, but really, I am a fan of Michael DeMeng's. I have been trying to squeeze in a class of his for the past 2 years at Art and Soul Hampton and next year will be the year! I will be taking his Strange Angels class.  This is a sampler of his color combinations and how to achieve them.  A great reference to have.  They are new and available on his website here.

This also just arrived in the mail yesterday

Talk about a wish book for jewelry artists!

I have several pages dog-earred already!

And those Schauer enamels!!! OH MY!

Visions of sugar plums for sure!

New Pretties

I need to share with you my treasures from the meet and greet at Artbliss.

There was so much to choose from,  but these are the pretties that came home with me. Aren't they beautiful? The fold formed and enameled earrings on the left are from Melissa Manley. The copper and turquoise earrings on the right are from Deryn Mentock.  The gorgeous lampworked bead set is a limited edition for the bang gals bracelet from Kerry Bogert.  I haven't had the pleasure of taking a class with Kerry yet, but I met her at Beadfest Philly and watched her do a demo and purchased her book Totally Twisted. These colors are all my favorites! Yummy!

Follow your bliss!

I'm off to ArtBliss, a new retreat , to meet old and new friends and take some great classes! These are the charms I have made for our "leaf" charm swap. The backgrounds are images of Van Gogh's trees and I have attached patina'd leaves to the back of the charm and wire wrapped Czech glass leaves and flowers to the tops, there are 22 in all, each different. I will post about my adventures as soon as I get back!



All The Comforts Of Home

OK, if you've been following along, you know that before I went back to school I had a business called Comforts Of Home where i made custom quilts.  Well, one of the classes I took while in school was ceramics which rekindled in me a love for all things clay.  The same year that i stopped going to school, my parents retired and moved from New Jersey to Florida.  One of the things that i purchased from them before their move was my Mom's old hobby kiln.  This is when i was making porcelain dolls for everyone and every occassion. 

 But my attention soon turned to historic pottery, predominantly redware. I loved redware. I took every opportunity to study historic pieces, travelling to museums, reading books, anything i could get my hands on.  I even timed a visit to Plimoth Plantation to coincide with our trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island so that i could take a pottery workshop there! Through trial and error ( lots of trial and error, there are no how to books out there for redware) I found my way through and soon hit upon a signature look. I formulated my colors and glazes and techniques to give just the appearance I longed for.  My Dad is a woodturner and made some of the wooden molds that i drape my plates over.  Soon after i began to make some of my own molds for larger pieces.  I started doing shows to sell my work and eventually in 2000 started selling online at Ebay.  From there I created my website.

My husband and I renovated an old store near our home and i moved my studio in and began working there in 2002.  I enjoyed everything about what I was doing and the ideas flowed.   Time would disappear while I was there. 

I prided myself in making original designs with lots of historical flavor and would get so annoyed and discouraged to see others copy my pieces. I guess that's what's happens when you put your work out there on the net as so many artists have found. But I had a loyal following and was very grateful for everyone's support.  One of my original ideas was that i would do patriotic pieces and fire them in the kiln on the 4th of July each year. These pieces all were marked with my original Fire-Works signature. It was the only time i would do patriotic themed pieces.

 My pottery actually carried us through a dark time when we had the fire at our restaurant in Nov of 2003 until we reopened in April of 2004.

 I continued to work in my studio along with the restaurant until 2008 when my second grandchild was born.  My daughter could no longer work in the office with the 2 children ( my grandaughter would come to work with her, but 2 would be too hard to do).  I couldn't do both anymore either. Pottery takes a considerable chunk of time that i no longer had.

Feel that wind blowing again?  What did John Lennon say "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans"?  I have always loved that saying,  just never expected it to be my theme song!!

If you were to go into my studio this day, you would find pieces of pottery, drape molded trenchers and plates and other goodies just sitting there on the table awaiting my return!

I had to find a new creative outlet, one that would allow me to work a little here and there , leave and come back to it and not lose the piece as I would with pottery.

I started to learn jewelry techniques and am expanding on my skills all the time. I have learned lampworking, metalsmithing, cast and fused glass. I have 5 kilns to my name.

This is where you came in...with my first post, here on this blog in June,  "just who do i think I am?" 

In recapping my life thus far i have found out certain things.

• I Love all things historical
•  I love glass in all it's forms, mosaics, lampwork, glass glazes on clay, glass enamels on metal, fused glass, stained glass, roman glass, czech glass,  sea glass, you name it, glass wins me every time!
• I have to be authentic, original
• I love to learn
• I. have. to. create. something. all. the. time.
• I am strong. determined. ambitious.

Now to take everything I know and find my direction!

P.S. I had a small epiphany last night after writing this post. I started to see very clearly why I am finding myself  unsure of my direction. My husband has questioned whether I may be in the wrong medium. I considered that as well but I think it might be more this- as i look back over everything I have done, with each endeavor I started with an idea, a vision, a passion.  I did all the legwork myself, teaching myself what i needed to know and finding my way through all my ideas. 
 With jewelry it has been just the opposite. I have started with classes, instructions in techniques and all the technical aspects of the trade.  I am struggling to find my own way with this medium.
The one series that I did that was original work of mine, Vintage Metamorphosis, I created in 2008 and had copyrighted in March 2009.  I want what i had with all the other work that I have done, a look of my own, identifiable as my own, not just as a student of someone else. Perhaps this will require nothing more than what i gave to everything else, time and effort. I used to have a lot more time to "just be" in my studio. I think that is what is most needed here. Time alone in my studio to think through ideas and find my own way again. With this medium or maybe even another, who knows? That is where my muse resides and I trust she will guide me yet again.

The Vikings are coming!

Last week I had the pleasure of taking a class with Denise Peck , editor of Step by Step wire jewelry magazine, at Beadfest Philly.  At first when she started the demo I was thinking "what have i gotten myself into?"  But in short order we were all merrily knitting away on our bracelets. I found it to be very zen like once getting going and i hope to make many more pieces using this method, especially some neck chains.  My son was especially impressed with the weaving when i showed it to him.

The beads that I added are artisan lampworked beads and Kazuri beads along with some hill tribe silver.

Trade Ya

I intentionally left these out of yesterday's post as I think they deserve attention all their own.  The first picture is of African trade beads, more specifically Dutch donuts.  They are from the late 1800's and most likely were used in the slave trade.  A lot of these  glass beads were made in Thuringia Germany and Europe and were used as barter for trade in Africa.The seller had one strand left in this beautiful cobalt blue.

This next picture is of beads known as Padre beads getting their nickname from the time when European and Spanish priests came to America and gave them to the American Indians in their efforts to convert them to Christianity. 

The next strands of beads are the pinnacle of my hunting and gathering.  They are called tradewinds beads.  They were of course pricey and the seller had 3 strands, I picked up 1 but upon hearing of their age and history promptly went back and picked up a second strand!  They are about 2000 years old, they hail from a time when the tradewinds carried sailing ships in season and they had to wait for the tradewinds to shift to carry them home. They were used to purchase spices and incense and other wordly goods. Their age is very evident in all their beautiful imperfections!

The last picture is of Roman Glass shards. I was actually searching for them when I came upon all of the above beads. It was a very reputable dealer and i felt confident that I was getting what I was paying for which is very important if you should choose to purchase some yourself. Roman glass is antique shards of glass that have recently been found during site excavations. Due to the high mineral content of the sand and water in the mideast, the glass has taken on an iridescence on the surface.

Now the hardest part will be to actually USE these beads and not hoard them away!

Under The Influence

I am back home now from Beadfest where I had a wonderful time. Meeting up with old and new friends, learned a few new techniques and of course shopped and shopped and shopped! I got some cool new tools and metals and of course beads of every description.

They had made an announcement that there was to be NO PICTURE TAKING ON THE SHOW FLOOR- but I asked permission for a generic shot into the entrance. This was Sunday morning, no where near as crowded at the start as was Friday and Saturday

The reception area had a ginormous necklace on an even bigger display

I came down from my room about an hour before the show opened because I thought it opened at 10 again and it was 11 on Sunday. Apparrently so did a few other people.

Now when i say that I was under the influence I don't mean alcohol, although a nice glass of wine after all that shopping would have been welcome . No I am talking about how what we see in our daily experiences have a way of creeping into our subconscious and coming out in our work.  Remember a week or so ago when we went to see the Tiffany exhibition? As I unpacked my stash today i noticed a theme happening. I didn't realize it when i was shopping but I was clearly drawn over and over to the colors and feel of that exhibition. Take a look-

Lapis beads in several cuts

Real turquoise

cultured pearls

Czech glass beads

Handmade artisan beads, Raku, clay, lampworked and Kazuri beads

Glass and Agate beads

Misc. beads

See what I mean? As an artist we can't help but be influenced by what we see- nature, the change of seasons, fabrics, decor and even exhibitions of another artist's work.

All in all, being at a show like this is like being in a huge candy store, all filled with colorful confections set in beautiful displays, just tempting you at every turn!

As fun as it is to go away, it is always best to come back home. Some of the loveliest colors I saw were waiting for me when I arrived. My love, my husband always has a bouquet of flowers waiting when I return from a trip. I am a lucky girl indeed!

New Inspiration

I am here at Beadfest Philly, and I am going to try to get this post done although I am sitting in the foyer  by the elevators because the wireless reception in my room is virtually non existant tonight.  I had a wonderful class today with Anne Mitchell and Gail Crosman Moore called Colors and Patinas on metal. It was so much fun, lots of cool new techniques and the atmosphere in the class was very laid back.

These are some of the class examples provided by Gail with her beautiful felted beads.

More samples to inspire

These are the 2 pieces I finished in class.

I had to edit these in flickr so forgive the pix but wanted to try to post while here. (Corrected the pix now that I am home). Tomorrow the show opens with 280 plus vendor booths so I need to say goodnight to rest up for the big day of shopping ahead!

I'm Off To See The Wizard....

The wonderful wizard of GLASS!

Yesterday my husband and I took a daytrip to Richmond, after finding out just last week that this exhibit was taking place! It meant driving 3 1/2 hours each way but it was well worth it!

Doesn't he look happy? And yet he was the one who opted for the headphones and recorder and was walking around telling ME all about the pieces! I think it surprised him how much he actually enjoyed it! There' nothing like seeing work like this up close and personal, it is overwhelming!

Now me? I was excited from the get go! I had seen a Tiffany exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY many years ago and knew just how spectacular it was to see his work in person.

While we were unable to take pictures of the exhibition, there was an Art nouveau wing as part of the permanent collection that I was able to take pictures in.

There was works by Mucha-

And another love of mine, Lalique-

And Dragonflies and moths and butterflies of every description

After leaving Richmond we made a stop in Virginia Beach at the Harbor Freight and had a fun time shopping for new tools. I really wanted this wooden workbench they had there on sale, really sturdy, plenty of room for metalsmithing, 5 feet long, yeah, that can fit in my Prius!  Oh wait THAT's the box it's in? Nevermind, will have to wait until we have the truck! The Chesapeake Bay was beautiful and slick calm as we crossed the bay bridge tunnel to head home.  All in all it was a wonderful day off!