Friday, August 31, 2012

My hero

My Jim....my hero.  I needed an extension to my workbench to hold my drill press, rolling mill & other tools but of course as always, there are the typical limitations of space & $$$.  After searching the web & finding what I needed but the cost was in the hundreds of dollars, I smoozed my Jim and told him, "you can make me something just as good for a fraction of the price".  It took me several weeks to convince him to even consider it but he finally gave in.  I coaxed him into going to IKEA and lo and behold we found a slab of butcher block table top that was just the right size.  I told him I would buy him lunch at IKEA (a hot dog, soda, & ice cream for $3!!) and by the time we were done munching away I had him convinced he COULD do this.  Today he spent the entire day working on this table and it is PERFECT!!  And the grand total is $25 for the material, $0 for the free labor, and $3 for the lunch.  My Jim is definitely the wind beneath my wings.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Yea Scraps!!!

While waiting for my first adventure with Rose Bronze clay to finish Phase 2 of firing in the kiln, I decided to dig through my scrap drawer and see what I could find.  I found a scrap piece of silver that I had etched and created earrings from.  Next I found a Sandhill crane I had sawed out of a piece of sterling silver sheet but had "goofed" and created a flaw so I had to set the piece aside.  I NEVER throw anything away because I know that somehow, someway I will find a way to use that piece of scrap.




As it turned out, between those two pieces of scrap I think I have created one of my most beautiful pieces yet!!!


Monday, August 27, 2012

Schnitzel vs Isaac

Home safe & sound and the show was great even though Hurricane Isaac spoiled Sunday and the show had to close after only two hours.  The people that came to this show were so wonderful & friendly and they not only appreciated the art, but they enjoy hearing how my art was created so I was in heaven.

So what's next??  My next show is October 20-21st at Historic Cocoa Village.  I am feeling adventurous so between now and then I am going to be spending my studio time creating pieces with White & Rose Bronze clays, some "hinged"  & 3-D pieces & delving into more enameling.  My St. Augustine shells have been lonely these past few months so I am planning on spending some time with them as well.  Ahhhh, all of the sudden I started thinking of a colorful enameled piece to frame one of those beautiful shells....

Stay tuned as I will be posting some work in progress!  In the meantime, everyone stay safe & dry.

(PS This picture was taken by my friend Carmen and the star is her "dog" Schnitzel. Look closely and you will see him sitting on the top shelf being snuggled by my "model" doll. Carmen takes him everywhere and is creating "The Adventures of Schnitzel".)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Caladium Festival - Day One

With Isaac out there, obviously the primary topic at the show is not Art or Caladiums but what will the weather bring.  Weather today was beautiful and it is supposed to be nice tomorrow but as we Floridians know, that can change in a moment when a tropical storm or hurricane is in the picture.  Since Jim & I are 100+ miles from home, (and only 142 miles from Miami and that much closer to Isaac I might add)  we are watching things very carefully.  The show ends on Sunday at 3pm and our plan is to stay Sunday night and drive home Monday.  So I guess we just have to see if Isaac is ok with that plan or decides he wants us to drive home Sunday or stay till Tuesday or???

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Caladiums & Art - Beautiful Combo!!!



Headed out tomorrow to Lake Placid, Florida to do a 3 day show at the 21st Annual Caladium Festival.  We're taking the motorhome and adding a couple of extra "relaxing" days to the event.  Lake Placid, FL is the capital for the beautiful Caladium plants so not only does the festival have wonderful artists selling & exhibiting their art but there is live music, great food as well as bus tours to the Caladium fields.  Visitors can take home some of the most beautiful Caladium & bulbs there are!!

Last year was the first time I did this show and when we left Clermont headed south, a hurricane was headed right for the Lake Placid area.  But hubby & I both knew that hurricanes can be unpredictable and that we could always "turn around".  Luck was on our side and the hurricane turned away and the show was great.  We'll see what this year brings.....

If you are within visiting distance,  their website is http://lpfla.com/caladium.htm which will give  directions, information & festival times.  Hope to see you there!!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Sometimes things do just fall into place

Back in June, I made these cute little houses out of copper & bronze clay and they sat on my "unfinished projects" table.  Yesterday I was working on what was going to be a beautiful silver clay bracelet when I damaged the bezel beyond repair.  I salvaged what I could of the silver clay piece and decided this morning to make them into earrings.  At first I was just going to dangle some pretty semi-precious stones from the silver.  While looking around for something I glanced at my project table and the houses called out to me "Pick us!!  Pick us!!"  I so love it when things just come together like that!!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Patience can be rewarding

Item Name:  "The Lady of the Garden"
Created: 8/11/12
Materials & Techniques:  PMC Fine silver clay, 24K gold clay, Sterling Silver, Etching, Silversmithing
 
This past February, I hand carved this 2" x 1 1/4" leaf from PMC (Fine Silver Clay), added a few touches of 24K gold and then placed it on my unfinished project table.  A few months later, I had done some etching in silver so I used a portion of that and added the bail to the pendant and put the piece back on my unfinished project table.  Every now and then I would pick it up and look at it, trying to envision the completed piece and each time I would think to myself, "this needs something more.....".  A few times I would take a pretty stone or something else and lay it on top of the leaf and my thought would always be the same "this needs something more....different.....something...."

A few months ago I found this stunning Cameo that is made from natural Black Lip shell and put it in my stash of "to be used someday".  Then about a month ago somehow I had the Cameo in one hand and the silver leaf in the other, put them together and Viola!!!  This is it!! yes!  So I made a bezel from sterling wire, soldered it to the leaf and set the Cameo in place.  Ahhhhh....so lovely......BUT......what now?  What do I create to make this piece something that can be worn??

Finally this morning it all came together.  Some sterling silver chain, Black speckled Agate, Genuine Moonstone and a beautiful leaf toggle clasp and "The Lady of the Garden" is ready for her debut at the Caladium Art Festival August 24-26.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

One Link at a time

 
Just spent the good portion of  two days creating this amazing bracelet.  The challenge with pieces like this one is that each individual link has to be hand created separately.  It's much more "economical" to do a pendant or a pair of earrings because you are only working with one or two pieces.  With a bracelet like this one, you are working with many multiple pieces which increases the amount of work by that number of pieces.  In other words, a bracelet like this is truly a labor of love.

As I draped this labor of love over my wrist, I  was amazed at how flexible it felt and as I wore it throughout the day, I was even more amazed at how light it felt on my arm.  This may be one piece that I decide is not for sale......but.....as the saying goes.......everything is for sale for the right price.


Just in case you are interested, here is how I created this piece:
  1. I created the "back plate" of each link from PMC3 clay and put it in my dehydrater to dry.
  2. I created each "flower shape" from PMC3 and used a syringe filled with PMC clay to create the squiggles and shapes on the flower. I also used a straw to cut a hole in the flower for the CZ stone.
  3. I joined the back plate and flower to each other using PMC paste and then filled the hole with PMC clay and set the CZ stone.
  4. Once all the links were dry and refined (love those emery boards!), I fired them in my Kiln at 1650 for 2 hours.  Once they were completely cooled, I put all the links in my tumbler for 2 hours to work harden the links.
  5. Now that each link is solid .999 silver, it's time to drill the holes where I need them.  Drilling sounds so simple and easy but guess what, it's not.  Yes, Drilling is easy but it is NOT quick, you are dealing with a very small piece and the hole has to be in the right spot, the piece gets hot (yes I've burned my finger many times), and you have to be careful so drilling this many holes definitely tests my patience...fortunately my patience wins in most cases!
  6. Because patina will make a CZ cloudy, I used a fine paint brush to add patina to each individual link in all the areas except where the stone was set.  Yes, I used my magnifying glasses to do this.
  7. I used 3M ultra fine sand paper to remove some of the patina from each link.  Why?  because you want a contrast between the darker areas & the shiny areas of each link so you have to remove and then leave some of the patina.
  8. I then used my flex shaft and the "pink" attachment (my fellow silversmiths will know what that is) to bring out the shiny silver highlights.  I had to do this on each and every one of the links.
  9. I used jump rings to link each piece together and used a square toggle clasp to finish it off.