HappyDayArt!

Like a recipe, I'm going to start with the basic ingredients.

and one of the ingredients to making rings is metal of course and another very important ingredient are "ROCKS".  

I've been thinking about this and planning for months now and I've got almost everything set up to start making my own cabochons and carved stones.  I've been reading everything I can find on the web and I even got some great books like "Introduction to Lapidary" by Pansy D. Kraus, "American Lapidary, Designing the Carved Gemstone" by Henry Hunt and also another of his books called "Lapidary Carving for Creative Jewelry".  

I scoured ebay and lapidary sites for photos of stones so I could develop a bit of judgement about what I was getting and I've been to two rock shows and stayed almost all day asking questions and sifting through  ROCKS! 

I got this fantastic ring from Tess at dolldisasterdesign on etsy.  

It's a smashing silvered druzy agate in a setting that she made for me in a ring of size 9-1/2 (the lady with the fat little fingers!).  I haven't found anything like that druzy yet myself.  I stalk her shop and admire her quirky sense of style.

Anyway, I did take that class I mentioned From Dana Driver back in August and it was wonderful!  

Here's one of her class samples:

I learned so much.  I came with many questions about rock of all kinds and left knowing:

 a) how to tumble rocks and why

b) how to cut and carve rocks using diamond drill bits and my flexshaft

c) how to embed silver wire into recesses I carved myself

d) the process of finishing the rocks in almost any manner I choose

e) building things with the rocks

I found this ring of hers at one of the galleries in Mendocino and snatched it up!

♥♥♥♥♥

Since then I purchased a combination trim saw and lap machine for myself so I could make some cabs and attempt faceting too.  

Wanna see how my studio is shaping up?  Sure you do!

I spent a couple of days and cleaned it all out.  It looks so clean now.

That's my sink area cleaner than it's ever been and here's the "carving, tumbling and dop station" area.

This tumbler can hold 6 pounds of rock and grit at a time.  It was an anniversary present from my husband.  Sigh . . .

I also got another tumbler (one with 2-3 pound capacity barrels) so I could have dedicated tumblers for each size grit I want to use, course, medium and fine.  

Then I got those rock slabs (see them again 2 posts back here) that I've been planning out the cutting of and I'm going to get to work on them soon.  I've been reading a ton about rocks, hardness, diamond drill bits and bezels.

Check out this beautiful red reticulated quartz I found in a shop online.  It's huge!  It's peachy pink and I am going to set it into SOMETHING! (click on any photo for a larger view)

Here's my dedicated rotary drill I got just for carving rocks:

It wasn't expensive and not a name brand but I got a foredom foot pedal that makes it worth using.

Here's my carving station:

the dop station with sticks and wax ready for melting:

The tabletop convertible trim saw by Inland:

This is what a trim saw looks like and it's used to trim small slabs of rock into the smaller pieces for cabochons:

and this is the lap unit that's an interchangeable table top for the same machine and will hold discs with diamond particles on them in various grit sizes to grind stones into the shapes I want:

and the info sheet so I can refer to it when I am wondering what the hell I am doing:

I'm waiting for a warm sunny day because it's been very cold out there.

I just wanted to show you these two stone specimens I got, of all places on ebay.  The stone is called "Ajoite".

The color knocks me out!  I lllooooooove it!

I'm planning to cut the sparkly druzy looking one down and set pieces of it somehow and I'm going to fabricate a setting for the chunk of it on the left as is.

Here's a little bit about this stone I found on the web:

Ajoite was first found identified at Ajo in Arizona where it was discovered by the Papago Indians and highly valued as a bringer of purity and peace. Up until the early 1960's it was thought to be the only occurrence of this mineral. In fact it had been found, but not correctly identified, in 1947 at Messina (now called Musina) in the far North of South Africa. Only when a second pocket was discovered in 1960 was it correctly identified. The last discovery was in 1991 at the Messina mine in excess of 4000 foot below the surface. Since then the mine has been closed due to the very dangerous conditions - the mine in South Africa has become flooded. It is highly unlikely that the mine will ever be opened again. As a result of this the Ajoite crystals, which are much prized by mineral collectors, are virtually impossible to obtain. 

Ajoite is highly prized by mineral collectors for it's intense blue/green coloring and also for it's metaphysical properties.

Scientific Properties:

Mohs Hardness of 5 with a microcrystal crystal structure.

Mystical Properties:

It is a strengthener, healer and harmonizer of the emotional body. It has very sweet vibrations not only to soothe us but to draw out the poison of one’s subconsciously held sorrows, fears, rage and old woundings. It can help release and overcome the sorrow, anger, fear, and heal old emotional wounds. Ajoite also helps connect to the Higher Self and God/Universe/Goddess/All That Is.

Excellent for meditation, Ajoite can bring both tears and laughter as feelings arise in what is often a deep yet gentle release of inner tensions. It can awaken feelings of forgiveness and compassion- for oneself as well as others which is key in the healing process on all levels. It acts as a stone of transformation, bringing change and growth in a spirit of love.

Healing Properties:

Physically, ajoite is a very powerful healing booster, and is a great stone for healers and spiritual seekers. It can be used for preservation and rejuvenation on all levels and can stimulate total well being.  

I was never one to believe in such things but I really do like what I have read about this stone and that's why I had to have some.  The package took over a month for it to get here.  I was so glad to get it!

Today's quote:

"Anything you're good at contributes to happiness." -Bertrand Russell

I'm going to attempt to get good at exploring this new avenue.  It makes me happy already.

RAW #2

I made this second ring for the challenge by cutting a piece of flat bezel wire with pinking shears and shaped it to my stone - a teardrop blue labradorite.  Then I soldered it at the join and onto a little rectangular base that was bigger than the bezel using little cutout bits of sheet solder.  I sawed out the shape of the base after I drew it on the silver with a sharpie.  Very high tech work.  After the sawing, because the points were sticking straight up my fingers were really sore trying to keep the piece on my bench block.  But I persevered and shaped some heavy gauge 1/2 round wire and soldered it to the back.

I did saw these two little teardrops out of the back of my ring before I attached the band.  The stone was so beautifully blue I wanted it to show on the other side and I'd seen other people do this and I wanted to give it a try. 

See the little gold bits?  I cut a couple of little short lengths of 22 kt gold wire and balled the ends, drilled a couple of holes in two of the rays of my ring and riveted them from the back.  The other dots were stamped on with a marking punch that had the point hammered down by accident by a student of mine.  A fortunate accident and I'm glad I kept it.  The last things I did was add a patina to the little dots with a tiny paintbrush and polish off the top.  I gave it a satin finish with a hard brass brush.

RAW #3

I made another set of stacking rings with PMC.  

I got the rainbow colors on the one on the left by assembling parts together with thick PMC paste, sanding with medium grit sandpaper for texture, firing and adding patina with a warm solution of LOS. I think the yellows blues and reds were a result of using paste with a different level of silver particles in the binder.  These two can be worn together and one peaks out from behind the other.

See some more rings here.  It will boggle your mind!~

Completed work and RAW

The house has really quieted down since the kids went back to school last Monday.  I was happy about it because I got to have some quiet time to myself to finish some of my projects that needed more work.  I'm just going to show you the photos I took yesterday and today and I hope you enjoy them.

I'm showing this photo because I decided to do something differently than I usually do.  I didn't tumble them, only brushed them with a soft brass brush and I used a different patina solution.  I wanted more black and liver of sulphur wasn't going to give me that.  I used "Black Max" and it's a stronger chemical and contains hydrochloric acid and I only have a little and don't use it very often.  I use a small paintbrush and paint it on and I skip the back of the pieces except for the little spot where I sign each piece.

By the time I'm finished painting a piece with the Black Max it has dried but I still rinse it off in water and then drop it into a small container of water that has a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda in it and it neutralizes the hydrochloric acid.  I rinse it well again and dry each piece and then I polish with a pro-polish foam pad or a sunshine cloth.

This is what I got:

I'm very happy with them.  Here is the flip side of the biggest focal pendant on the bottom right:

You wouldn't know it if I didn't tell you but that center piece I got from  a wine glass:

The detail on the wine glass is an "innie".  I think it looks great on that pendant!  I made a mold of this next piece because it's an "outie"

 

and I am going to try making another one of these pendants with it.  Many of the other details on that pendant I carved into it.  The rose was made from a mold I got of a bone rose bead. 

This is a great thing for some detail "buttons" I call them:

It's from McDonalds!

So a couple of years ago I made two hearts with my filigree-style syringe technique, put little birdcages with birds inside them and I made a chain for one of them, sent it around and it got into the second PMC Annual.  This one:

The other one has been sitting around on my work bench for 2-1/2 years so I thought I should finish it and also that it needed a fancy chain because a plain store bought chain just wouldn't do.

So I started working on this chain:

So I made a lot of it and it's now 24 inches long.

I used 20 gauge argentium sterling silver wire and I fused it with my handheld torch.  

This is my clasp:

I hammered that hook a little to make it good and hard.  

Finished necklace.  See that this heart is different?  It has some tiny dots on it for decoration and that's why I balled the ends of my wire when I made this chain.

Finally, I have pics of my first "Ring a Week (RAW)".  First three are the ring unfired:

Top side view:

and this last view shows that the shank isn't attached but overlaps so it can be adjusted for size:

I always fire PMC+ rings for 2 hours at 1650° so that they are fully sintered and at their strongest.  I do that because rings can distort in the firing and I like to shape them on a ring mandrel with a rawhide mallet and also because I don't want them to break.  I make my ring shanks "6 playing cards thick" and that makes a good strong ring. 

I've had my kiln for 11 years and it's operated perfectly all those years.  I started firing PMC3 pieces at that time and temperature too and I noticed lately that when I take the pieces out of the kiln they look sparkly like they are made up of crystals but they brush down shiny just fine with the brass brush.  I did an experiment this time and lowered the temperature of my firing to 1550° for 2 hours and I didn't get that quality.  I think because I've had the kiln so long, perhaps it's firing somewhat hotter than it used to.  In either case I have never broken a fired ring using these rules.

.

.

See the way it overlaps in this photo on the top left side?  

I made another ring too while I was working on it:

I think they look great together!

Go see the other rings over on FLickr - RAW!

Hey! Is anybody out there?

THAT'S NOT STATIC, that's the fog clearing with psychedelic awareness.

I am lurking on my own blog, have been thinking about posting for a long while, hmm, actually since I stopped posting back in June.

Truthfully, I was just burnt out on all the activity.  Most of it was about needing to rest.  I had lost my sense of humor too . . . taking life way too seriously.  I had run myself to my stopping point and while I've had lots of ideas and have been jotting them down . . . on any sheet of paper I can find when the ideas hit, putting them into actual hard, reality wasn't interesting enough to get me out of my dream world.  My body needed REST! (so I have been sleeping in - yes I have - can you believe it?  Since June!)

I have pages of lists here!  I've been doing what needs to be done and thinking about the other truth that when I am excited about "it", whatever "it" is, nothing can stop me, not even my husband, my kids, and 3 dogs.  

I have compiled a short recap because to go back would make me crazy - sorry about that.  I was so tired after all the things I was into and I was done keeping all the plates spinning and dropped them all - well maybe not all.

*  I went to Europe for 3 weeks with a 16 year old - "OY!" 

*  I took 4000 photos on that trip and became overwhelmed with them.  There are now 24,624 photos in iPhoto on my laptop.  OMG!

*  I went to the Alameda Flea market 3 or 4 times and got some great loot and met up with some artsy friends - lots of friends.  It is a must do place nowadays, well not when it's raining.

*  I took the class from Dana Driver at the Mendocino Art Center and learned a ton and then I bought some more tools!  Big surprise right?

a few of my carved rocks and the silver I imbedded into the channels I learned to carve.

*  I went to a Bob Dylan concert and also saw Van Morrison.  Great times!

*  I went to 2 gem and mineral shows and a bead extravaganza and I now own rocks and slabs for making my own cabs and carved stones for setting.  Now THAT is exciting!  My favorite is variscite (looks like turquoise with brown lines and inclusions) and I will post some stones I cut and carve in the near future.  Yes, near!  I also got (l-r) moss agate, sugilite, chinese writing stone, sodalite, lapis, green aveturine, sleeping beauty turquoise and that last little chunk is larimar (Ooooooh!):

I found a particularly beautiful specimen (Don't I talk like a rock hound and gem specialist now?  Yes, I am learning all the lingo.) of a stone I learned about online, and found on ebay of all places called "ajoite" and it is gorgeous.  I will tell you more about it in another post.  It is a stunner!

*  I took a bookmaking/collage class from Kelly Kilmer and a PMC class from Christi Anderson.  I also got to go to dinner with each one.  BONUS!  I AM SO LUCKY!

*  I got through almost 24/7 of Thanksgiving week and the 2 weeks of Christmas with my family - and we are all still speaking to each other.  I think it's possible we are becoming more patient people.

*  Some of my best friendships have deepened and some I left behind.

*  My husband and I are happy we are together and loving each other at 25 years.  That's a milestone for me.  There is absolutely nothing else in my life I have ever stuck with for that long, except maybe taking showers, brushing my teeth and driving a car.  Think about that for a minute!

*I have been sleeping in until 8:30 am 80% of my days since summer began and I have no ailments - except teenagers.

*I've been processing, percolating, hibernating, thinking, drawing, reading, changing, evolving in my cocoon and I am almost ready to come out . . . almost.  I guess this means I am out right?

I really don't feel like the same person I was before.  

That's me at 28 years old in my wedding dress!  

I have changed.  Yes I have.  Some of the things I was so sure I wanted I no longer care about.  I can't remember things like I used to and my eyesight is changing quite a bit and that is a big inconvenience.  Thank goodness for 1.5's and 3.0's and being able to afford a pair of each in each room and/or perched on my head.

My resolutions are:

‎1. Have as much fun as possible!

2. Forget the "shoulds".

My words for this year:

"Letting go"  ❄。¨¯`*✲ ´*。. ❄¨¯`*✲。 ❄*´*

of the need to collect everything and keep everything (friends who are moving on as well), of the feeling of being overwhelmed when it comes and goes, and I am letting go of the heat of hot flashes that no one else feels but me (?), of needing to control the outcome for so many scenarios that I have imagined that maybe never even happened except in my own mind.  I am letting go . . . the hurts, the betrayed feelings, the anger I remember and play over and over for myself that makes it hurt more.  What use are these to me?  I am letting go . . .

I am who I am.  I am forgiving myself for mistakes I think I made and for the ones I really made.  I am forgiving myself for the friendships I lost that I thought I cared about and the only person I could blame was me or them.  I have been particularly hard on myself, judgmental of what I have done and not done and this is me saying that it's enough now and the future is open and I am still creating mine as I speak.  It is a glorious feast and I am going to enjoy it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this one day while driving home from San Francisco and smiled to remember the influence and pleasure the Beatles have had on my life.  All the words!  This image!  I love the time I live in!

I'm not going back to cover my tracks.  I'm hoping that by my silence everyone will know I am forgiving us everything and if I ever get the opportunity to loop back on something or someone, I will try to clean it up as best I can.

Here's what I'm going to do:

I am going to make things.  Oh yeah!

That's how this all started in the first place.  I am going to go where the fun and my imagination takes me.  I think it might be hard to do sometimes because I am a creature who likes her comfort and her habits even if they aren't good for her and "it's easy to get lost in the drama in our head".  (read this and then cross your eyes for a second) ( oh, and then stick your tongue out and look in the mirror) Ha, ha!

I am going to journal and cut and paste MORE than ever!

Oh gosh I saw this ad one day during the Christmas email shopping frenzy and I grabbed this because it made me laugh.

Like if I don't hurry up and do what I should be doing, I will lose my chance.  Not just this chance . . . MY LAST CHANCE!  That's when I laughed out loud and got the joke, the one that was making me so mad all along.  I don't want to hurry.  What is the use of that?

That's me at a friend's Christmas party.  I was taking refuge in the bedroom when there were so many people and the heat was getting to me so I went and hid in there and spent some time greeting people when they put their coats in or picked them up.  I took pictures of myself with my friendly iPhone.  On the vanity tucked in the corner of the mirror was a little piece of paper with the quote:

"There is only one success . . . to be able to spend your life in your own creativity." -Christopher Morley

I am going to meet more people and make more friends.

little amigurumi critters I found on Etsy

I think the right things come to you when you are ready and sometimes you get all dazzled by all the shiny lights and your brain goes "tilt" and then you need a good shaking . . . my husband would say spanking, but that's a different story for another blog.

Here is my girl:

changing before my eyes into a young woman in charge of herself and yet,

still so young, 17

Here's my boy:

he'll be 16 soon enough.  Help me teach him SOMETHING!

In November I didn't feel like working much and then in December it was cold and dark and rainy and I started making gifts.  It spilled over into new ideas taking shape:

 

 

A new outlook cued by a calendar at the bookstore:

Altered for my journal in an iPhone app:

I am going to relax more and try not to get too worked up over things.

I have joined "Ring a Week" on Flickr and I am going to make at least 52 rings this year!  And see, I still stay up late, that's just me!

 

That's exciting!  Especially because I will get to virtually brush up against some very talented metalsmiths and metalclay artists and keep learning, one of my very favorite things to do.  OH NO!  I just went over there for the link and almost had a seizure.  Someone made a ring . . . I may be in over my head but that's a good challenge to have.  (goosebumps)

and I am going to have more fun with my family and doggies:

doggies in a pile - Terry, Cookie and Lucky

two in this pile - Terry and Cookie

Cookie is 1-1/2 now and she, of course, likes the sun.

Loving the ads I get in emails from places like "Free People" and "Urban Outfitters".  I found this:

I think people know about me.  Happy New 2011!

 

 

Yeah, I'm packing but I still have a day and a half

and I got side tracked again and I had to show you all.  

The last time I mentioned Traci Bunkers, I had visited her blog and seen that she was experimenting with making double exposure photos with her Polaroid Pogo printer (and a second post here).  Wow!  What a great idea!  

So today I was charging my pogo because I want to take it with me on my trip and I started playing with it.  I printed one set of photos and then found other photos that were complementary to each and put my paper back in there and printed the new picture over top of the other one.  These are some of my results:

 

Click on each to look closer and to compare.

 

 

that's my foot while I was walking on the sidewalk (above) and the next one is of cherry blossoms in full bloom on the tree and a swatch of graffiti up close

 

 

this next one might look better if I outline the word 'grace' with a colorful pen

 

a fantastical make believe scene with my silver rabbit and some holographic metallic wrapping 

 

the house in the next one is from a wine label

 

the flower was from a greeting card

 

the next one is a photo of a dahlia and the other photo on it is of shallow water on the beach

 

 

the same shallow water but with an amusement park carousel (above)

another shot of the carousel with the teeny peony grid (above) and some lace (below) with text as the second print layer

 

and then my very favorite after I altered it to B&W in iPhoto!

 

Aren't these interesting?  These are the first ones I've made and I am going to practice combining photos.  

And I have to explain that I noticed that you can get SD cards for your camera on Amazon and they are really cheap!  So I bought about six of the 2GB size.  Big, but not too big so that if anything goes wrong you don't lose too many photos.  But here's my reason.  For the Pogo you either need a camera connected with the little cable that comes with the camera that has a USB connector on the other end or you need to get your photos sent by "bluetooth".  My little Canon camera has a connector and so when I take photos and after I have uploaded them to my computer, I go back to the camera and decide which photos are good to use as stickers or little collage sheets in the future and then I keep those good photos and erase all the others that don't work, like the ones where the subject of the photo is too small or too dark or I have to crop to get a good composition.  If it isn't a perfect shot, I toss it.  Then I keep taking photos on the SD card until my whole card is full and I no longer have any pictures I want to delete.  Those are my little image libraries and a pool of photos that can be used to print from your camera any time.  I label them and keep them in a safe little pouch. 

Good idea right?  Yeah, it's worth some exploration.

WAIT!  There's MORE!  OH my!  Go see this video these guys have made while manipulating their pogo photos.  I can't believe it.  Things are moving soooo fast, I am barely keeping up.

Wrapping things up before the end of the school year and a big trip

isn't as easy as I thought it would be.  If I thought I could just turn my creative mind and hands off like I could when my kids were small and they were my priority, I was mistaken.  I am having a hard time switching my mind to a slower gear and resetting myself to a new course but I've made many lists and I keep refocusing on my tasks and the next thing I have to do . . . with many side trips along the way. 

Like for instance I had to put all of my supplies away after my last teaching job when the boxes came home.  But then I got side tracked into a journal I was making and a journaling class, and making charms for a swap.  Then I took an  online writing class from Stephanie Lee and that was also about journaling.

Are you wondering why I got so interested in journaling?  It's because I want to know more about myself, express myself better and learn to be more open and also learn new ways of being with my family, my friends and in my creative life.  It's very important to me that this isn't where it all ends.  I am so lucky to have such a good life with health, happiness and comfort.  And yet, at 52, I still like change and I want to be open to what the world will offer me next.  I want more.

I have no idea what it is right now.  I think I would like to stay in present time and not daydream so much about what I wish would happen.  I want to keep my eyes and mind open and then when I see it and feel it I'm going to POUNCE!

In the meantime, I've planned a great trip with my daughter.  She's 16 and on the verge of exploring the world on her own.  Before that happens I want to take her somewhere and show her some things and talk to her and see what she thinks.  I want to find out how she feels about it all and maybe give her a couple of my words, give her my confidence in her ability to sail into her own life.

In a way I think I've been telling her these things all along but without words.  I've also been really wrapped up in my own jobs and making cycles, some of which have been doozies. 

A good friend of mine told me that I was doing it right, even though sometimes I have doubted I was paying enough attention to my family because I was so immersed in what I was working on that I even felt guilty about it.  I think that happens to most mothers but I'm not sure because I only know about this and myself.

Here is a doozie of a cycle that I was in over the last two weeks:

Stacking Rings

a drawing

 

 

 

 

appliqué

 

texture

 

serendipity!

 

☀

 

Argentium Blob Link Chain necklaces

20 gauge and 18 gauge with tiny charms

 

clasp detail:

 

charm detail:

 

earrings to complement the design:

 

Beaded Cuff with a Spiral Clasp

Plain cuff after I built it and hammer textured it:

 

and then I beaded it:

 

 

 

I thrive on the ideas I get.  They are like gifts from the Universe.

Gracie and I are going to Europe on Sunday!  We'll be gone for 3 weeks.  The guys are staying home and we watched "National Lampoon's European Vacation" a few nights ago and my husband said to us "that's why we aren't going with you".  That was so funny!  You really had to be there but if you've seen that movie, you know.

I've got almost everything planned out, hotels, trains, some restaurants are already booked.  For London, I got tickets to the "London Eye" and the "Victoria and Albert: Art & Love Exhibit" at the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace.  Oooooweeee!

I got us some comfortable walking shoes and adapters for our iThings.

After that we are going to go to Paris by train and staying in a little apartment in the Marais neighborhood, then from there Venice by overnight train and we are sharing a little cabin and we get a wake up call and arrive in Venice first thing in the morning.  Staying on the thin sliver of beach they call the Lido.  Then on to Florence for a couple of days and Rome for the last 4 and then home.  It's the longest I have ever been gone from my home.  We are going to do it right! 

We both have medium sized rolling suitcases and they are labeled.  I am taking 3 journals because they are all different.  One is small and just for words.  One is my heart journal and the other one is an old book with yellowed pages that I got from the flea market and I am going to draw in it.

And then because I know this about myself, that many times I live in and for the future, I made some plans for my return.  I believe you should always have something to look forward to and I believe that it's what keeps us going.

 

I've signed up for this amazing class at the Mendocino Art Center for the second week of August.  The instructor is Dana Driver and she lives up near the Art Center.  I want to learn what she knows!

And I want to learn how to cut and polish my own stones.  I want to learn how to carve my own stones.  I have seen some people using carved stones in their work but I can't find any in a reasonable price range.  So I guess I'll have to make them myself!

Anyway,

I'll be taking my iLectronics on my trip and post some photos and things I think are interesting and great that you might like to hear about.  I hope everything goes well for you this month while I am gone and I hope that you are feeling like you have something to look forward to as well.

Please keep in touch!

I'm posting about the bead show, the charm swap, things I've made, the journal and pen classes, the whirlwind I am on and I've got lots of photos!

I went to the Northern California Bead Society show here in the Bay Area a couple of weeks ago for shopping and meeting up with friends.  It was a blast!  I walked in the doors and saw Gail Crosman Moore right away.  Then I saw Ann Mitchell in the booth right next to her and I think I stayed there chatting and shopping for close to 40 minutes.  I got a fantastic texturing hammer from Anne and one of her beautiful loop-in-loop chains, realizing that ever since I have known her (she taught me how to make chain maille and also how to fuse fine silver) I didn't have anything she had made.  Now I do!

 

This necklace is all handmade, looks perfect and feels wonderful on!

At Gail's booth there was a serious crowd and I had to be patient (but not too patient) to get a look at her bronze and copper clay pendant/beads, if you could call them that.  I got two stunning items that were inspired by nature 

 

 
and after I left her booth and went to look at what there was in the booths with beads and gems, I got these amazing Oregon sunstones!  Oh they are soooooo cool!~ 

 

and a string of citrines 

 

that I am going to make into necklaces with the focals that I got from Gail.  Look at these combinations!  The first one is made of bronzclay.

 

side view of this one:

 

It's like a little carousel!  and the second one is copprclay.

 

I've started working on stringing these but still have work to do on them.

I also got a few more goodies at the bead show, like these tiny jet beads:

 

and these pretty faceted chrysocolla from Peru I found at my favorite gem stall, Bonita Creations.  

 

They come every time there is a bead show here and I ALWAYS find something great!  Come to think of it, I found all four strands there, the sunstones, citrines, jet and the chrysocolla.

I found something new at another stall, this metal mesh in some nice colors and they had even more colors

 

and I found another artist whose work I love whose name is Kathryn Finn.  She makes beads and little story focal pieces from ceramic clay and then she glazes them.  Last year I got a couple of little ducks and some tiny birdy nests with eggs in them, painted with colored glazes and smaller than the tip of my thumb. This time I got these turtles and strawberries and a pretty little flower pendant.  Actually, they are made of porcelain.

 

I LOVE them!

and I love the bead shows!
 
Anyway, on to another topic.  We got our charms back from the etsy MetalClay Team charm swap and one of the participants, Evelyn Dombkowski from La Bella Luna Jewelry, finished her bracelet and attached all of her new charms.  

 

Isn't it a beauty?  She fused this chain from argentium silver wire.   

Because I have had work of my own to do and things are moving quite fast at my house and because school is getting out soon and we are planning the summer, I haven't assembled my bracelet yet.  

But I did manage to finish many things I had started over the last few months that I am going to show here now.

flower pod earrings:

 

that have swarovski crystals in them,

 

two fused bracelets that are different and yet the same:

 

two coolio beads:

 

and the bottoms

 

the beads along side some little birdhouses:

 

some tiny dangler charms:

 

a box bead I worked on while showing Vivian how to make them.  She made two of her own.  The front:

 

and the back:

 

See the sunstone and the little dangler charm?  Something to play with.

some peony earrings with pale turquoise drops for a friend:

 

charms for a themed necklace:

 

and some heart charms made from a stamp sheet called "Doodles and Carvings" I got from Traci Bunkers that has been one of my favorites for many years.

 

and I've been practicing using a dremel engraving tool (click on any photo for a closer view):

 

I think I'm getting pretty good at this!

All polished!

 

then a ring I made experimenting with firing genuine garnets and peridots in place and they turned out just fine.  I fired them at around 1300 - 1400 degrees for two hours in the Ultralite kiln.  

 

and then I engraved the inside after it was fired but before it was tumbled:

 

Smoother!

So I am caught up to this last weekend when I took two really fun classes with Kelly Kilmer (read about her pen list!).  We made tall skinny journals in the first and we played with her collection of fancy and fun pens in the second.  

It was like a vacation day for me!  Hmmm, well maybe that won't float with you all.  You probably think I am always on vacation.  I get to do all the fun things and never have any cares.  Well that is true and I do paint that picture now don't I?

I feel stressed!  I get tense!  I have pressing responsibilities and duties!  I have deadlines!  I have decisions to make too!  But I won't write about those things today.  I may never write about those things. . . You'll have to call me to get those details out of me.  HA!

Back to Kelly's class and my journal.

My book cover with handmade paper:

 

and some pages . . . painted, layered and mono-printed, gorgeous backgrounds for future journaling

 

 

 

my sewn binding.  Voila!

Now here is one last sweet thing I wanted to show you and I had forgotten about this in all the activity of the last few months or so.  It's a charming little copprclay bird I was given by Andrew Thornton when he was here for the B.A.B.E. show working the Green Girl Studios booth for his sister who has been busy with a new baby.  It reminds me of a book I once had as a little girl filled with stories by Hans Christian Andersen and all the drawn illustrations inside the book, and in my favorite story called "The Nightingale", looked like this bird.  I am treasuring this charm because it reminds me of that book I once had long ago. Sometime I am going to make something to hang this splendid piece from too. 

 

Enough pictures?  I think so.
  

I got so excited when

the marketing manager from Strathmore Artist Papers contacted me.  She said she saw some of my journal pages in the book "1000 Artist Journal Pages" and would I be interested in sending her some high resolution photos that she could print up and use at a trade show where they were going to show off a brand new product.  She liked my pages and wanted to use some of  MY PAGES?!  I was excited, oh yeah.

 

 

A couple of weeks later, she sent me these:

 

Can you believe it?  The books come in different sizes and types.  I got 90 lb and 140lb Watercolor paper and 100 lb drawing paper and 100 lb bristol paper.  They are strong sturdy papers and are so cool!  Here are some details (click to enlarge):

 

I really like them!  They are bea-u-ti-ful!  I think they are just now hitting the shelves so you can go get some. 

Then I found this interesting package of stencils at the art store. It has ten 12x12 thick plastic sheets with the shapes already cut out and ready to use.  The shapes are very different from the stencils I have seen before.

 

 

I also found this:

 

Dura-Lar matte film.  It is thicker than acetate and matte of course, so I can draw my pattern on with pencil and it will stay. Then I can cut the pattern out with an exacto knife and it will make great stencils.

I found this new book on journaling and I am really liking it.

 

And then Traci Bunkers' new book came out and it is full of great ideas. 

 

So I got inspired again and have been working in my in-progress journals.

I like the idea of a theme and I made this one a couple of months ago.  It's my "heart journal".

 

I used stencils and spray paint to make the covers, a template to cut out each page and I bound it with my rubicoil machine and a huge coil.  This book is about 1-1/2 inches thick and I used Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper.  

 

I've been drawing in it, painting in it, using airbrush, ink and fancy tapes and pens, adding collage, my own stickers and other people's too, found bits and mementos, cutouts from magazines, patterns, pattern swatches, and I have added foldouts.

 

 

 

 

 

and then I got a used TP roll and a leftover wrapping paper roll and some sticky backed foam and made these two rolling stamps:

 

I already had this one that I made in a class I took at the SF Center for the Book a couple of years ago.

 

and then I got busy.

 

 

and then I was in my closet and this was there so I used it!

 

Isn't that nice?  I love it!  I am crazy about it!  I am going to try that shoe with paint next.

And then I heard about zentangles.

  

I am inspired by this video.  And there are many more.  Follow that link!

 

My kids are drawing these now.  I guess everything rubs off on them.  I get so excited and then I'm pushing it under their noses, saying "Look what I found."  "Look what I did."  and the next thing I see is a pattern on my Mother's Day card or on a piece of paper left on the coffee table.  It's interesting to get that kind of feedback.

Well then I noticed that something wasn't complete and so I filled a portion of the design in using a sparkly black sakura gel pen:

 

Much better!

The next day I saw this on a truck and followed it until my car was along side it at the light and I could safely take a photo.  

 

Well, this weekend Kelly Kilmer is coming back to the SF Bay area and is teaching for three days at a friend's house.  She'll be there this Friday the 21st, Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd and I'm going to go on Saturday for sure.  I always enjoy spending a day with Kelly and letting myself be guided.  She's got lots of ideas to share.  Her books are gorgeous and she's fun to talk to. Anyone want to come with me?  Class starts at 10 am.

The Little Blob Link Bracelet

A bunch of us on my Etsy MetalClay team are taking part in a charm swap again. We had so much fun the first time that new members really wanted to do it too and some of us, me included, jumped at the chance to trade charms again.

The last time, our swap hostess Teresa Boland gathered enough charms so that we got to assemble two extra bracelets and they were donated to worthy causes. We are going to do that again this time because we really liked sharing our good fortune at receiving all these beautiful charms made by our enthusiastic members.

I made two fused and textured bracelets last time and one of them went with a set of the charms to our first chosen charity and the other one I kept for my own team charms.

I learned to fuse fine silver wire from Anne Mitchell and I've made plenty of fused chains in the last five years. Recently I began working on a new style of fused chain that was inspired by another etsy seller, Kathy Van Kleeck. She makes some wonderfully organic fused sterling silver chains to accompany her hand formed fine silver PMC links. While I don't know exactly how she makes her necklaces, I was excited to start experimenting in my own way to fuse some fine silver wire links into a handmade bracelet that could eventually hold my new set of charms. I also wanted to share this technique with my team members and our current charm swap hostess Kelly Fehr.

This is what I came up with (click on each photo for a bigger view):

 

And this is how I made it:

I found myself a wooden dowel that wasn't too big. For this small chain, I got one that runs about 5/16th inch.

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That's 7.5 to 8 millimeters in diameter.

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I also used:

20 gauge fine silver wire and I wrap it snuggly around the dowel

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a commercially made sterling silver clasp

a 5 millimeter 18 gauge sterling silver jump ring to attach the clasp

cutting pliers

chain nose pliers OR

needle nose pliers

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a small hand held butane torch - I like this one in particular for the small gauge of wire I use in this project as other more heavy duty ones can be too hot.

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Check it out here where there are some instructions for use.

a fire brick that you can get from any ceramics store, with some grooves scraped into it

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a bowl of water for quenching the hot silver

a tumbler with stainless steel shot for smoothing and polishing your chain

Optional extras:

-your charms

-handmade PMC bead caps

-18 gauge 6 millimeter sterling silver jump rings - one for each charm

-liver of sulphur for patina

-fine silver wire in various gauges so you can make balled head pins to attach beads or charms

-silver polishing pads or cloth

-gems, pearls, beads

So, after you've wrapped the 20 gauge wire around the dowel, pull the coil off and cut the links apart. Make as many as you think you'll need. My bracelet has 28 links. You can also make extra links if you want to. You could make two bracelets and use one for charms and another for pearls and you'll get more practice.

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next, you want to bend each link like this:

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then cross those two ends to make a piece that looks like this:

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Here is the tricky part where you will need some practice to get good. You could start with a thicker gauge of wire, like 18 or 16 gauge which can be much easier to fuse, especially if you are a beginner.

Anyway, let's say you have practiced.

I like to turn the light low, turn on the torch and have my link on the firebrick. I use a small quiet flame and slowly heat up the link:

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It is going to start to get orange hot and I keep heating until it just begins to look a little shiny:

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Now look at this next photo and how much brighter it looks at the join.

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That is the optimum moment to point the flame at that spot and it will melt together very quickly. It's most important to remove the flame as soon as you see it melt together because a split second later the whole link can melt and split apart and roll into a ball and be lost forever.

I told you it was tricky!

After this step, it's okay to quench in a bowl of water.

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This is what the first link looks like fused and this is when I would take my pair of chain nose pliers and squeeze my blob to make it look a bit less blobby and pointy and more even and smooth and also shape the link the way I want it to look:

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So now you want to add another link. Here is the set up:

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Here is another shallower groove I can set a link this small into:

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So remember:

Cut the links:

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bend them and cross them:

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fuse a few:

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and here's a tip to make the process more efficient:

Always link two fused links with one that you are about to fuse instead of fusing one on each time. So when you have a length of chain made, use an open link to attach a new single fused link to the length of chain you already have and you will be adding two at a time.

Here is a relative size comparison and that's the smallest chain I have ever made by hand:

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So when it's done, add the clasp with the jump ring, shape each link, tumble for a couple of hours, give it a patina, polish off the high points so the details show and assemble it with all your charms or beads.

and here are some detail shots (click on each photo for a larger view):

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and the oxidized and polished end result:

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I know, I am a ham. Enjoy making some chain!     

     

Hello nice day we are having.

Same box photo altered in Photoshop Mobile

It's better, right?

Sent from my iPhone