HappyDayArt!

My Journalfest story

I got to the airport and my friend Maria surprised me there.  I didn't know she was going.  We talked all the way up and that was really fun.  At the other end I met up with Vivian McDonald and Traci Bautista and we drove up to Fort Worden together.  I got to sit in the back seat of the car for the first time ever going up there and it was cushy!  We stopped in Poulsbo and had coffee and pastries because you know, and it's been proven you don't ever gain an ounce on the way up to an art retreat!

Outside and around the corner of my dorm.

When we checked in there were so many people there that I knew, it took some will to go take our suitcases to our dorm rooms.  But then, we just turned around and came back because it was already dinner time.

view from my dorm window

 

It was a much smaller group than I am used to so it was more personal and I enjoyed that.  We ate dinner, traded things we had made and then went over to the theater for the opening night ceremonies.  That was fun too and I met old friends and new ones. I really like meeting the new people.  They are all so enthusiastic and fun.  After all of this we walked back to the dorm and downstairs in the common area everyone was hanging out, journaling, trading, making jokes, singing, laughing, eating and staying up late.   We did do that every night and I loved it!

Check out this amazing thing everyone got in their goody bag.

Three 1/3rd size sheets of special edition rubber stamps.  One each designed by Teesha Moore, Tracy Moore and Tiphoni Moore.  They are gorgeous!  No I won't share.

After going to my dorm room I stayed up until 2am just rearranging things and getting ready for the next day of class and activities.  

This was my view from the window first thing in the morning.

Inspiring to say the least.

I didn't sign up for breakfast.  Too early for me to eat at 7am.  I just waited until lunchtime at noon.  

On my first day of class with Ingrid Dijkers, "Over the Edge", we cut down big cardboard binders and made interesting pages for journaling along this theme.  Here are some of the pages I've started, cutting them into interesting edges.  The first page is begun and we each got everyone's autograph.  She was a really good teacher with so many ideas, lots of collage pages for us to use and a number of pages of notes she handed out that I will be using for working on this tome.  Her books were amazing to look at.  I am not a very fast worker so here are my humble beginnings.

That night after dinner there was an event called the "Journal Jam" and almost everyone got together in the commons to work on our journals and also in our friends' journals.  Teesha had these larger than life size vinyl murals up that looked like her collaged girl series and each of the four "girls" had a round hole cut where her face was.  Look at me!

and me with Maria.

Yeah we were laughing, non-stop.

It was a fun party and ended too soon.  But that's okay because after that we all just went back to our dorms and houses and hung out in the common area until late, eating chocolate and some drank wine and we laughed and learned about each other.

the schoolhouse

The next day I had a class with Orly Avineri called "Attachment Theory" and that was really interesting.  She had us do a few exercises that I thought were very original and gave us new ways to look at Journaling and ways to express ourselves.  Here are just a few of my bits so you can't really get much of an idea about this class but I think it was a great class and I highly recommend it.  She is a wonderful teacher!

 

below, a treasured note from my son

 

I'm just starting out here.  I learned so much but I am slow to decide what to write.

HA!

 

I printed that photo out on my pogo.  Those have really taken off. I talked to at least 8 people who had one and more who were off to go get one.  These little printers are definitely a hit with the journaling and mixed media crowd.  I was an early adopter.  And yes I am truly silly but I don't care.  It was great to get to be silly with people who were not worried about it.  You have to love that.

Walking back to the dorm after class.  It is fall, FALL, FALL!

 

 

Really?  So I stopped to take pictures.

That night after dinner was the Artist's Sale and I got a couple of things that will remind me of Journalfest and the fun I had.

Here is a very nice journal I bought from Doris Arndt.  She does very nice work and she's careful and the pages fit perfectly.  They are black inside.

And then there is Daphne.  I got her from Ty and Marcia Schultz. A couple who make curiously odd things from molds and other interesting parts.  That's Daphne hanging in the dorm room while I am in class.

 

This is her close-up.

 

She's tough.  She's a loner.

On the last day of class I had "Spiraled Re-Creation) with Traci Bunkers.  I have always wanted to take a class of hers and so finally here I was.  She was a thorough teacher and she explained many things about journaling I had always wanted to know.  I love her rubber stamp line and I think I own most of it.  Here are some photos of class that Roberta, a classmate took and posted to her blog.

We made spiraled journals with lots of different kinds of pages and design elements.  I made two of them.  

The covers of the small one are the corrugated pizza box.  I still have to paint it and add more details.  The possibilities here are exciting to me.

Inside:

 

I used some of my son's homework pages as collage fodder.

And the cover of my other one is the corrugated part on the outside.

That night a few of us went out for a fun dinner in Port Townsend and an opening night show over at "Artisans on Taylor".  When we got back the last "Journal Jam Party" was well under way with a band, treats and lots of friendships blooming in our shared journaling adventure.  I think Vivian and I went home last around 12:30.  Hey, I was waiting for HER!

I didn't want to get up the next morning.  No way, but I did. Dawn Sokol was waiting for me and we rode to Seattle together and went sightseeing until our planes were leaving later that night.  Surprise!  Maria was there and our new friend Onna and since I got to board first I saved them seats and we sandwiched Onna between us and talked all the way back to the bay area.

Sunrise on the last day in Port Townsend from my dorm window.

 

Daphne and I,  we are all right.  She likes it here and the dogs haven't found her and chewed her up.

 

sleeping on her tube mailer

her quirky shoe situation

Her freaky attitude.

Ah the memories.

  

Ever have one of those weeks

where you honestly don't know how you are going to do everything you need to do?  You've promised things to people, everything comes together on the same day and you know you never planned THAT.

But wait, that's only the half of it... then someone else makes really important plans that take 3 days of activity to bring to a close... and then...

 

the worst... thing... happens... the flu!  

First you go down and then luckily, if you ARE lucky, you have a partner for back up.  But that's only going to get you so far until they get it and hopefully you are well on the way of recovery because you know someone else is going to get the flu too, you just don't know who.

For me, it was the partner, then my son but my daughter got off free... so far.  We have stayed away from her as much as we could. We still gave her rides though and filled the refrigerator with easy to make food so we wouldn't have to touch it.  

I didn't like it.  I was so tired, sad too and I hate being sick.  It is the closest I ever get to feeling depressed and I just tell myself I will get better and my mood will lift but at the time it is hard to swallow. When I did get better and yet I was still living in the "sick bay", I did what I usually do and got back onto the computer looking for something to buy to cheer me up.  It's the American way! So I buy myself a gift and then I pretend I can't keep up and start doing the most fun things first and pretty soon I am back on track, happy again and ready to tackle the rest of the chores.

When my husband was still dragging he kept asking me every 20 minutes what time it was and then being surprised at how long the days are when you are sick.  But it didn't bother me very much because I was back doing the things that needed to get done and I knew that he would be coming along soon.

I still go in and out of having energy and fading out but my son is the happiest sick person I know because HE is really being helped by the medicine and has hours where he can happily wile away time playing his gameboy.  Tomorrow is Monday and I just broke it to him that he is well enough again and that I would be sending him back to school.   He's okay with it I guess.  We did have a nice time when we all started feeing better and I think that's what we'll remember after it's all done.  I think I am going to take Grace off for a flu shot on Monday afternoon though just to make sure.

Oh yeah, here's what I bought:

 

It was made by a member of my Etsy MetalClay Team, Liz Hall and it is a stunner!  You should keep an eye on her and her shop and get something before she gets too famous.  That was my thinking exactly!

Anyway, I'm feeling better and I know you are curious about  MY VERSION of the Journalfest story and I am really sorry it has taken me so long to re-enter the real world.  I'm just going to go behind the scenes and edit some of the many photos I took and write something descriptive and I'll be back a little later with the whole thing.

   

My ebay win and Calendars!

My ebay win!  I got this awesomely cute necklace that I have had my eye on ever since Ruth and Kelly told us that the pieces from the book "A Charming Exchange" would be put up for auction.  It was made by Sara Lechner (at her blog you will get a pop-up, just click on cancel and it will let you in), Martha Brown and Ruth Rae.  I love that little lady pendant!  Kelly Snelling said this about it:

"Sara is a fiber artist whose work purely blows my mind. She works with textiles to create sculptural pieces that are deeply layered, embroidered, and embellished that you will not begin to imagine how she accomplished it all. For this piece she made one of her famous characters into a small fabric pendant. Ruth took the little woman and made a necklace for her from love knots, pearl circles, and a soft fabric charm from Martha. It is light, thoughtful, and so pretty." - Kelly

So now there are three days left on the latest auctions over at ebay and it's highly possible they have left the best for last.  Trust me.  I know!

Hadar Jacobson's newest book is out!  It's called "Mixed Metal Jewelry From Metal Clay" and I am waiting patiently for mine to get here.  

All I can say is I would buy any book she writes with no reservation.  She packs a lot of information in each one and each builds on the last!

It's that time again when calendars start coming out for the new year.  You say you're not ready for the new year.  Well, neither am I but I still got myself 2 calendars.  One for the kitchen and one for my studio.

First up is the one put out by my friend, metalclay artist Lynn Cobb.  It's full of photos from the ultra talented members of my San Francisco Bay Area Metal Clay Guild.

 

On the front is a picture of a stunning necklace made by Lois Inman Engle.  She is an amazingly creative thinker and mixes metal clay and mixed media elements in her designs.  She's been in the PMC Annuals published by the big national PMC Guild.  I want this necklace!  I have at least four photos in this calendar.

Here is the back with some of the photos just to give you a very sneaky peek but they are small so it's just a tease.  

 

It's $18 at Lynn's website here.

Then there are Marjorie's Oxman's Calendars.  She made four of them!  

She's got a 2010 Metal Clay Jewelry Calendar, a 2010 Polymer Clay Calendar, a 2010 Wire Art Jewelry Calendar and a 2010 Glass Bead Calendar and they are all beautiful!  I and my Etsy MetalClay Team members are featured in the Metal Clay one.

I know there are lots of you out there that probably work in these other media so go check them all out at Lulu.  The link to Marjorie's calendars is here.

Lora's visit!

Lora Hart came to San Francisco from Venice, California.  

That's me on the left, Lora Hart, Jennifer Smith-Righter, Sue Urquhart and Ruth Baillie.  See their links to get a glimpse of each artist's style.  We are all so different!

It was a rare Lora sighting (hopefully she liked us up close and will come back for more) that got us all to come together in San Francisco for a day of lunch at the fancy "Rose Pistola" restaurant in North Beach, visiting Velvet DaVinci and also the DeYoung Museum.

I'll tell you that because I work on my own most of the time, I do crave the interaction of fellow artists and that's why I go so many places and meet so many artists and take classes too.  I have always wished for a get together with my peers to talk about art, jewelry making, business, family, laugh and be together happily sharing what's important to us.  THIS WAS IT!  It was great!  We had a wonderful time and everyone is just the best.  I missed them already by the next day.  I miss them now... But of course I wouldn't get a thing done if they were still here now, would I?

I finally got some great things posted to my etsy shop with more to come in a couple of weeks so you can check that out.  I have already had a few sales and it has made me feel excited and ready to make more things that I have ideas for swirling around in my head.

Class on October 17th is done and I had some eager and interesting students.  We had a day FULL of questions, information, ideas and PMC forming.  One of my students, Lisa Ostrin of Under her Charm made a birdhouse and some charms that she loves and is now probably as excited about PMC as I am.  Is that possible?

She already makes jewelry and is really good at it.  I'm glad I could help her learn something new.

No, I don't have any more photos from the class.  Dang it!  I was talking and forgot about the camera.  Lunch was good... Wait I remembered something else.

She asked me why a person should invest in a tumbler.  So I got all the rings I made when I first got into PMC and they were a bit worn looking (between 5 and 10 years old) and I put them in my tumbler that is filled with stainless steel shot, a few drops of liquid soap and warm water and tumbled them for a couple of hours and this is what I got:

They are so shiny and new looking and the details are still black and sharp.  Here is a photo of some newly tumbled things that haven't been oxidized:

FYI, the little pendant and the heart on the right have been oxidized and are there for comparison.  All the pieces were tumbled together.  It's really up to you or your customers' preference which way you finish your pieces.  If you don't have a tumbler, now you can make an informed choice.  I myself, I like to tumble.

Journalfest

I am sitting here with my list of things to do before I head out of here tomorrow morning for the first EVER "Journalfest" in Port Townsend, Washington.  I am taking my journals (4 of them with free space) my supplies, and umbrella, layers of clothing, rainhat and rainboots, (I love the rain!) the biggest bag of artist stamps I have ever made (for trades) and my happy shining face!

 

Have a week you are interesting in living and see you when I get back.
 

I CAN'T BELIEVE you all are going to let me have my pick

of the items up for auction right now on ebay for "A Charming Exchange"!  The bids are not very high with 2 days left on the current batch of 14 beautiful items up right NOW.  Yes, right now.  

NOW!  

I'M NOT TELLING which one I am bidding on.  Not going to jinx it for myself...  I wasn't born yesterday you know.  Mwahahahaha!

I am so LUCKY!

 

Yeah, I am trying to throw you off the scent of the one I am going to win!  Nyah!

Details of the class - Saturday, October 17th

Hi everyone,

It's me.

 

I'm having a class here at my house on Saturday, October 17th and have a couple of open spots left and thought maybe someone out there would want to come over and play.

THE GOREY DETAILS:

It's the Second Annual Silver Clay Class at Catherine's House

The hours will be 10 am to 6 pm and we'll take some time to cover basic clay
handling techniques first and then jump into making some interesting forms. I
have ideas for bead caps, birdhouses, bezels and will explain the tear away
technique, carving molds from polymer and using textures and rubber stamps to
make your own designs. I will also speak about what people are wanting to learn
if we have more time. If you are interested, just email me and give me a short
list of what you are looking to learn as well.

This 8 hour long class is $120 for the day and includes a kit of items I use
most when I work, use of my other tools and rubber stamps, about 3 ultralite
kiln firings, use of chemicals and lunch!

Email me.  The link is up there under my photo.

 

 

 

 

Silver ♥♡❤ ✽ and more about "What to do with 'the bead', the ongoing series."

✽  means LOVE!

Shimmering Stars bracelet:

Spiral Excess bracelet:

 

and because it's all about e x c e s s .......

 

Now wouldn't you like to know how to make that?!

Maybe you say?

Auction! Pieces from the book "A Charming Exchange"

 

Many of the beautiful and whimsical necklaces and bracelets from this book will be up for auction on ebay to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  The auctions will go up on Sunday October 4th.  Please go over to the blog "A Charming Exchange"  and to author Kelly Snelling's blog to get the latest news as well as previews of the jewelry that will be up for auction.  It's sure to be a wonderful and heartfelt gesture if you decide to bid and win one of these beauties for yourself.  All the money will go to the charity.  Bravo ladies!

I have so much to tell! FIRST Thing! and another installment in "What to do with 'the bead', the ongoing series."

I took a fantastic day of two classes on Saturday with one of my favorite teachers Kriss Silva!  In the morning the class was called "Twisted, Knotted and Fused Rings". In the afternoon we had 3 hours devoted to "Fused Bangle Bracelets".  I learned some great new tricks and I am crowing about what I made.  The pictures follow.  Please click to see the larger version. 

All the rings I made in 3 hours...

twisted, fused ring with a patina

knotted, fused ring, no patina

stacked rings, stamped and with a patina - the ring on the bottom is made with argentium silver wire which also fuses beautifully

my cute little "princess solitaire"  and the way the bead is attached

Close up of the top - looks like a shoe print, but did you notice the striped texture is echoed in the part of the ring where the loop is attached?  I just made this one up while I was waiting for the bead reamer.

Why the bead reamer you say?  Because we were making bracelets and bangles in the afternoon and we needed big holes in our beads so we could slide them onto the large gauge wire.  This is where my silver handmade beads come in.

One of them is adjustable:

The other is just plain fun!

See how I am using one of my treasured larimar beads?  I got a whole strand a couple of years ago that cost about as much as a car payment.  I have been using them sparingly because (I am a hoarder at heart) I love them!  Here is a close up of the join.

 pretty isn't it?

I had such a good time on this day with Kriss.  She has the BEST ideas.  Do you think she knows that I am one of her biggest fans?  Yes, because I told her!  Oh yeah, you can find her online classes at BEADUCATION.

Remember the deco leaf earrings?  Here is a photo of the original pair (pacific opal, jonquil aurora borealis and moonlight).

and a second pair in other colors (black diamond, heliotrope and jet) 

You can compare them.  One for day and one for night.

I got my little statue from Georgia Mann who came and taught at Artfest in 2007.  I always hang a couple of pairs of earrings on her.  I haven't seen or heard anything about what Georgia may be doing now.  I do love her little sculpture though. 

And then there was the Etsy MetalClay Charm Swap and my charm assembly line. Well the charms were gathered and distributed and here they are in all their precision and beauty! 

 Ta Da!

We each contributed an extra charm and that bracelet will be auctioned off for charity soon .  What a wonderful and talented group of women I have the pleasure to be involved with.   That's the bracelet I am going to attach them to.  I just haven't had a spare moment to do it.  I've been pretty busy this week.  

I got a new car.  (woooopeeee!)

I made a tile for a collaborative mosaic.

I packaged and shipped jewelry out of here.

I got a new order right away and started making one of my fancy peony necklaces and that is going to be fun to make!

I did an amazing demo for my Metal Clay Guild on "Chain Making with Silver Clay and with Wire" and we video taped that.  We're editing it and going to make it available for people to buy in a few weeks, so stay tuned for that.

People have been writing to me asking when I am going to put new things in my etsy shop and well, if you have been following my blog a little you may understand that I haven't really had much time to load things in there.  I am going to do my very best in the next few weeks to load it up and make things available that I have been holding on to and try to focus on that until I am done.

AND I have been planning and putting together a new class, set for Saturday, October 17th.  I have students coming to learn new things and techniques I have spent time learning and getting used to this year.  I'm calling it:

  the Second Annual Silver Clay Class at Catherine's House 

and it is sure to be a blast!

 Email me if you want to know more.

Note about something I wrote in the previous post:

If you are interested in the tearaway technique I wrote about, I have located another book that was written by Celie Fago who made the technique popular with metalclay enthusiasts.  It's called "Keum Boo on Silver" and it's a really good book for the beginner as well as the more advanced student.  It is $20 plus shipping.  I loved it!

"Show and Tell" or "What I was doing the last two days"

It's the tearaway technique.  Peculiar that I have been working with PMC for about 10 years and I never did this before.  It's so interesting.  My friend Lore just took a class from Celie Fago on the other side of the continent and learned this technique from her and so I got inspired to try it myself.  You can find the instructions for this in the book "Metal Clay Beads" and on the internet.  

First you roll out a thin 1/8th inch sheet of polymer, specifically Sculpey III.  You place a small scale detailed laser toner copy or laser toner print design in high contrast black and white face down on the polymer and rub it on with a spoon or a flat rock or burnishing tool, let it sit for about 45 minutes to a few hours and then pull the paper off really fast.  There will be a thin layer of polymer that has stuck to the toner and that's your stamp.  Bake it for about 8 minutes on the temperature printed on the package before using it.

Remember to grease your stamp with a bit of olive oil or hand salve before you roll out your clay on it.

I felt like I had it down so then I made a bowl.

 

and a pair of earrings.

Then I carved a mold and made a flower.

I fired and tumbled it.

I made a mold of one of my heart pendants and then made pieces for a bracelet, and finished it for a friend for her birthday.

It looks like a perfect compliment to the necklace she already wears.

Then I was inspired by the organic style of Kathy Van Kleeck and made a freeform ring with a fat little slab of clay and textured the flap with the tearaway.  I added the dots!

It did patina a pretty purplish blue color and I just polished off the high points. I've been wearing it on my left thumb and I love it.  I FEEL SO COOL and MODERN!

Yeah, so the thing that really got me thinking about the tearaway a while ago was this app I found for my ipod touch. It has the very strange name of "Re:NancyKPH - woodcut image filter" and it turns your photos into stencil-like or rubber stamp type pictures and one day I went crazy putting my photos into it.

Black is perfect for the tearaway technique.

And you don't have to use black, you can choose combinations of colors and graduate them in the controls of the app for some pretty fine color adjustments and shades.

That's what I was doing.  And I am so excited about learning that tearaway technique, matching it up with the ipod stencil photos and thinking I could make some stickers from those stencils for Journalfest trades.  What I am thinking about and doing is all so interconnected and I could just keep on going until my next idea arrives.

Thanks for reading. 

❀

Didn't think I was done posting did you?

I'm just hopping from project to idea to next step and back.  This week I got a couple of the wrecked journals in my possession and I did a bit of work in them.  Here is a short picture show...............

close-up of an accompanying tag:

My journals below:

 

The hands were inspired by Ingrid Dijkers who I will be meeting in class in about 5 weeks at Journalfest!  

gesso and paint and re-inkers and alcohol inks

I sanded the pages after they were dry so the white shows a bit through the colors.

This one above I did with light molding paste.  I am a sucker for new art supplies, yes! But it was really fun working with it.  The container almost feels empty but it was full. Regular molding paste is heavy and dries hard.  This one is kind of foamy and absorbent.

Below, again gesso stamped on with foam stamps, covered with paint and re-inkers and alcohol inks and then sanded a bit,

and this next one altered in the iphoto program of my mac!

When I get going on something that's exciting to me I like to throw myself in!  So by a fortunate turn of events I found my way over to LK Ludwig's blog after following links the other day and I saw that she is going to have an online class called 

Point & Shoot Journaling  I think that's a link there.  If not another here.

I signed up for it sure!  I haven't used many photos in my pages yet and I haven't even started writing.  It's a long process for me and I am absorbing and trying as much as I can.

Art doesn't have to be just pretty.  It can be crazy, messy, simple, colorful, not what you would expect, dare I say it UGLY!, dark, spazzy and fun to play with.

Are you still here?  Why don't you just go and make some art now!

Cathy's Clever Photography Corner

Have you heard of "The Impossible Project"?  Their mission is to re-start production of Polaroid films for vintage (now) Polaroid cameras in the year 2010.  I have a few of these cameras and I am going to tell you about one in particular, the SX-70. 

 

You may have heard about it and the film called "Time Zero" which is the one that was manipulable and became very scarce.  Right now, I think we are pretty much on the tail end of the expiration dates for any of these packages of films, if not completely out.  The Impossible Project purchased and has been working on the formula and finding sources for some of the chemical components that made Time Zero film so unique.  I still have a few packages that are expired and have tried one of them.  The photos are a bit weird when they come out of the camera and one of the problems is that the developing goo inside of the pocket squirts out the ends as it is pushed out of the camera when you take a photo.  It has just been in there too long and has made the paper that holds it weak at the seams.  the photos are a bit strange and blotchy from my first roll but I kind of like that so I am going to experiment and see if I can alter them later on my computer and get something interesting.

I signed up to be notified about the new type being released and when a company who is distributing it called "POLAPREMIUM" contacted me, I got some and shot my first package.  It's called "ArTistic Z".  

Here are 3 of the best ones I took which I manipulated.  They are journal pages. 

 

At first glance these 3 photos are a bit strange to me.  I'm not exactly sure yet if it's because my camera is a) not perfect, b) I set the exposure too light, c) it's the film that is greenish and has a more white-ish look.

Here is the actual journal page from the first photo in real color:

There's quite a difference.  The polaroid on the right was blue and the photo on the bottom came out first, got hooked up in the chute and has some exposure issues but I like it and altered it but it looks nothing like the colors on the page.  

Close-up of the best photo:

I'm going to try another package outside in better conditions and make sure all my settings are correct and see where that gets me.  Here is a link to a search I did on Flickr.  and here is the discussion about it.

On POLAPREMIUM'S site I found an interesting piece of equipment.  So if you have one of these SX-70's (and I don't get better photos and the film doesn't get better) you can still use your old camera with 600 film.  It's a little filter that costs about $13 that you can put over the camera lens and it lets this camera use the 600 film.

Look what I accomplished with it.

Now here are all 6 photos so you can compare:

Well the photos are much better but you can't really manipulate the 600 film.  It is too gel-y and just separates and you get a black line in your picture where you are trying to draw.  The Z film is more creamy and moves around with the color to make a more fluid and painterly effect.  

I think I need to take a few pictures of the tomatoes and bananas with the ArTistic Z.

I'll get back to you.

A class with Barbara Becker Simon

the author of the book "Metal Clay Beads" I mentioned a few months ago fell into my lap! 

 

Patrik Kusek, a talented member of our Metal Clay Guild is a friend of hers and he set it up for us.   So I jumped in head first knowing that the projects in this book are challenging and interesting and I wanted to see her working in person because that's the way I learn the best.

The class was held in one of the big meeting rooms at Fort Mason in San Francisco and  

 

happened to fall on a Tuesday and Wednesday right after Labor Day and right on the tail end of some repairs being done to our Bay Bridge.  Getting to the place was going to be tricky.  I thought there was a big chance that either there would be so much traffic I could not get to class on time, or there would be too many people on our rapid transit system and that would have it's problems too.  I decided to take the rapid transit, get off at the first stop in the financial district, get a cab and cross my fingers I make it on time.  The class started at 10 AM.  By the time I got to the station in my town (8:05) there were no available parking spaces so I had to drive to the next station and park on the street.  Luckily it was under the freeway in the shade and only cost $5 and about 20 extra minutes of travel time.  These kinds of things get me really stressed out.

Anyway, you know I made it.  I was the last one getting there on the first day.  Whew! The second day was easier by far because the bridge was back on.  They were two of the most gorgeous days you could ask for.

The class was packed with activity and information.  Here's Barbara showing us how to:

Of course I can't really tell you all that happened in class, but I can show you what I made.  It may encourage you to take a class for yourself.  I highly recommend it.  

First two big wire armature beads.  You can find this project in her book.  Don't forget to click on each photo for a larger view!

In the process of building and drying:

Front

Back

and then after they were fired, patinaed (I may have made that word up) and polished

I made a custom chain for this next one because it was just calling for something fancy.

You see that it's a heart?  What else?

We also made box beads with a little recessed window!  I love mine.  

Here is the front before firing

the back

and then here finished after the usual hand processing:

That little picture in there is my tiny photo of the doll we saw at the Antique Faire with a patterned paper background behind it.  All that is left to do is add some clear resin to the top of it so it is protected, dimensional and finished.

the back all polished up:

I used a stamp sheet I got recently from Michelle Ward for this box bead.  Everyone was asking me where I got this sheet.  Follow this link to find out.   Now go and try this.  It may take some extra time than you are used to but I think it was well worth the effort.  I got IDEAS now!  So many directions to go and so little time.

So I'm on Facebook one day

and one of my friends who lives nearby, Vivian posts an invitation to a bunch of us to see if we want to go to the Alameda Antiques Faire, you know, the one that only happens the first Sunday of the month and the earlier you go the better the stuff for sale?  So I say I want to go and fast forward to Sunday and I meet her at the "Addison Endpapers" booth -E 14.  Vivian said they had a big sale that week and the extras are going to be here.  The lady selling there is Wendy Addison's sister and she has some serious stuff!  We spent quite a while there and I got some very interesting things, too many to list here but here are some cool beads, the mauve nubly strand inside.  I also got this very great vintage ivory strand of carved tulips at another booth!  I saw beautiful earrings in my mind's eye with metalclay caps and I had to have them.

We had a great time.  We bought lots of cool little things, like I got some silver glass glitter in small vials, a package of aged and old looking fancy doilies in a pattern I have never seen and also one of these blue jars with a great galvanized steel lid. 

It has small bubbles in it too and seems like treasure to me.  Oh and an old sun bleached package of 3-3/4x3-3/4 inch silver leaf in perfect condition made in Japan that is 5/8ths inch thick with leaves.  It still has the thin string wrapped and tied around it and I can hardly wait to use it.  Here are some more photos from our day. 

a rusted heart lock and key

metal roosters

my favorite metal rooster

an old door knob with a pattern I like

metal ceiling tiles - there were so many colors!

Had to go and get a drink because it was hot and sunny and we got thirsty and hungry.

There was a great booth there with Indian food and I would go back there just for that alone, it was so good!

A wooden statue from a booth of a woman who collects things from the far east

and then we saw "the doll"and we both wanted her BUT

she cost $800.00 

She had a head and hands carved from ivory.  The guy who was selling her seemed pretty attached to her so we didn't even try to bargain with him.  Would you?

Vivian says she goes almost every month to this big one day sale.  I was there from 8:30am to 3:30 and we covered a little over half of it.  I need to go back there. Everyone was right.  It is really fun!

Etsy MetalClay - the charm swap

So we are having our first charm swap over at Etsy MetalClay and I made some very special charms for this very special occasion.  I started by drawing some pictures on my polymer molds and then carving with my carving tools.

I chose the top two on the right and made a 3 part mold.

Then I began my assembly line.

Two parts together,

three parts...

and above they have been fired and tumbled and below they have patina and are polished.  Click on them to see up close.  You must!  I am so proud of them.

Each participating member of the swap will get one of my charms and I will get 26 charms back.  I overnighted them today and our swap hostess will get them tomorrow (Wednesday) around 3PM.  I am so excited to get them all back.  

With a few extra I made a lovely pendant and some fantastic earrings.  I call them "Teeny Peony", because they were inspired by my "Peony Pin" and by Linda Greiss who suggested I make them.  Here is another pair of earrings with embedded sterling wire hooks and fancy red garnet drops!  Like them?

And while I was working on these I got another idea for some deco leaf earrings.  I'll show you all the parts and you can try to guess the rest.  

A pair of the finished earrings below with swarovski crystal additions.  Sparkly and spectacular!  Think you'd like to learn how to make some of these earrings or some of my other designs?  Come and take a class with me!  

And I was very lucky a couple of weeks ago after entering Birdland Creations' caption contest to win one of her darling little "Quentin" birdies.  He is the cutest little dear I have ever seen!  If you'd like to have a chance to win one of your own Quentins, go here and enter the last competition in which the winner will be announced Thursday, September the 1oth.

I am so lucky!

A little back track...

Went to Santa Cruz, the beach and Boardwalk with Leighanna before sending her off to teach and it was HOT! all weekend. 

Here are some scenes from the beach and the wharf I like. 

There was some major "rust".

It cooled off at night and that was nice. I came back and took her class Saturday and Sunday. Just thought I'd show what I did in class. This is my finished piece using her techniques 

and while I am not sure I like it, I did take a journal and some blank ATC cards and I love the cards! Look! 

The presentation center down in Los Gatos was very peaceful. They even have a pool you can use. I liked the salad bar and the whole class ate lunch together.