Happy Holidays!!! I hope each and every one of you had a lovely weekend filled with family, friends and fellowship. I bring you Holiday greetings from Ninita, our deaf pygmy marmoset. As you can see, she got just what she wanted...candy.
Now, on to the giveaway! As promised, I put all the names of those who left Christmas memory comments on my last week's post in a random name generator program (thank you Google). I want to thank all that shared a memory here, I loved reading each post. The holidays are such an emotional time...we all become little kids again. Thank you for your comments. AND NOW....The winner of my Beautiful Beast copper bangle is.....
TERRY REMPLE MROZ
Congratulations, Terry! I'll be tracking you down as soon as possible. Hope you like the Beast!
Thanks to all of our followers and supporters. I wish us all a fabulous new year full of creativity! See you next year!!
Hello all! Hope your hearths are draped in garland, your trees are covered in tinsel, your stockings stuffed to bursting, and your SANTAUR is shiny and bright!
Nice six-pack, Santa! Seriously....dude has been hitting the gym....
I know we are all scrambling to get ready for next weekend and I wish you all a peaceful and joyous holiday. Eat too much, hug everybody, and let's all hope for a better 2017.
I'm not going to bore you with a long post--Instead, LET'S GIVE SOMETHING AWAY! My gift to you--a new bangle bracelet design (for me) that is big, beautiful, bold, burnt, and BODACIOUS. Eight inches around, hammered copper sheet and wire splashed with silver solder, colored with flame. Two inches wide, fit for a Viking Princess! I call it the Beautiful Beast.
Here's what you do...in the comments below share a favorite holiday memory. On Tuesday the 27th I will put all your names into a random name picker and announce the winner here and on our Facebook page. SIMPLE!!!
Enjoy the season, one and all. Remember to hold friends and family close, and take care of each other and yourselves as well. The critters and I wish you well...May we all enter 2017 healthy and happy!!
I have been so excited about our Dia de los Muertos design challenge! I have seen sneak peeks of works created and am blown away! Can't wait to see more. I will start by showing my most recent design.
I began with a gorgeous labradorite skull cabochon. Labradorite is one of my favorite materials to work with--it's electric! This skull is so full of fire, I wanted to make something really dramatic and over the top with it, so I created a nature inspired Sugar Skull pendant I call "Madre Espiritu" or Spirit Mother. I set the skull in sterling silver and flanked it with two cast bronze leaves on sterling stems. A steel and brass flower sits atop the skull with a brass bee. A tiny bronze dogwood blossom sits on the bronze bail above and a brass rose sits below the chin.
I strung it on a length of flashing rainbow peacock pearls that match the flash of the labradorite. A tiny sterling silver skull hangs from a 2 inch extender. I love her! She is listed in my shop, just waiting for the perfect home....
Now, show us your designs based on Dia de los Muertos, a truly extraordinary holiday full of tradition and meaning. THANKS FOR JOINING US!!! Click the link below to show us your designs, link to your blog and share this blog hop. If you do not have a blog, you can still post images of your work!!
Can you believe it is almost OCTOBER? I. Can. Not. I live in South Florida so the only way I know the seasons are changing anywhere else in the country is by noting the menu changes at Starbucks. Salted caramel pumpkin spice EVERYTHING is on the board, so it must be AUTUMN! When the menu changes to peppermit mocha I'll know I need to start Christmas shopping.
For those of you that do have the privilege of living where the weather patterns are more than "Hot" and "Freaking Hot", I hope you enjoy the change in temps and colors! I miss that--I'm from Michigan and I do miss the explosion of color October through November...send me some pics, okay??
October is a fun month for me. My birthday is in October. I am a HUGE fan of Halloween, and October leads right into another of my favorite holidays, Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead.
Dia de los Muertos (November 1 and 2nd) is an extremely beautiful and meaningful Mexican holiday whose most famous feature is the creation and display of elaborately colored and embellished skulls called "Sugar Skulls". Coming on the heels of our Halloween, many confuse Day of the Dead with Halloween, but the two are completely different. Day of the Dead is a celebration of life, actually. Family members and loved ones who have passed are remembered with offerings of art and food--all in honor of these people's lives and transition through death. It's a beautiful holiday!
So, here at LMAJ we would like to challenge you to create something inspired by Dia de los Muertos. I have posted pics here of some of my past designs inspired by the holiday, along with a fellow LMAJ artist Staci Louise Smith. Staci creates amazing sugar skull beads and pendants! Use the month of October to become inspired, and perhaps to learn more about this holiday, then create something AMAZING. We will "reveal" our designs on Tuesday, October 25th, and encourage you to post images of your designs on that day (on the blog in the comments section and on our Facebook page) as well using the hashtag #lmajdod.
Top left - Alcohol inks on aluminum sugar skull pendant by Karen McGovern Top right - Bronze clay sugar skull necklace by Staci Louise Smith Bottom - Dia de los Muertos pendant in tribute to Frida Kahlo by Karen McGovern
It's not all pumpkins and bats--Dia de los Muertos is a holiday rich in tradition and love with nothing to do with our Halloween. Let's celebrate!
If you are like me, you have a few containers, boxes, drawers, cups, whatever--full of bits and pieces of metal left over from various projects. Considering how expensive copper and silver are these days (I don't even talk about gold--that is WAY outside my skill set and beyond my pocket book's wildest imagination), you don't want to waste a bit of either material. So, what to do with all that scrap? There are practical options, like melting the silver down or sending your scrap to one of several online storefronts that will pay you by the gram for scrap metals (Rio Grande is one of the better known venues for this). Whatever you do--KEEP YOUR SCRAP.
Beyond basic recycling, there are many other options for scrap and I have just recently begun fooling around with my containers of scrap silver and copper. Number one for me at the moment is fusing scrap silver to copper. I had NO IDEA how EASY this is, how great the results are and how fun the process is. Silver and copper are highly compatible metals. To fuse silver to copper all you need to do is clean your copper (sand, de-grease with soap and water, wipe dry), lay some bits of scrap silver on and heat in the torch till the silver flows and reticulates. I use a hand-held butane torch for this and it works beautifully. It's really amazing! You end up with a very organic silver pattern full of ridges, swirls, bumps, etc. fused fully to the copper base. This is great for SO MANY THINGS. I've been making cuffs, discs and rings and adore the organic look of the molten metal on the copper base. I am a fool for fusing!
To make a sterling silver/copper fused band-style ring I set a copper ring blank (cleaned and sanded) in the jaws of a third hand on my solder board. I snip small lengths of sterling wire (gauges matter--I usually use scrap 16 or 18 gauge), bend the wire and lay it on the ring. Heat everything with the torch until the silver melts! It will run down the ring. Quench, clean a little, add more silver if you want, etc. You never know how it will turn out, which I find really interesting. This is such a quick and easy way to create!! No need for flux or anything...super-cool. I did the same for the cuff. Placed my clean copper cuff blank on the solder board, then added a few pieces of scrap on the length, heated in the torch and watched the metal flow. Quenched, cleaned, then bent in my bracelet bender. A bit of liver of sulfur then VIOLA! The other rings shown were made with scrap sterling and copper wire soldered together then soldered to the band. The pendant was made using scrap copper sheet and washers I made into "pods" lined with fused sterling silver. Most of my designs are rustic--that is what I love to create and working with scrap is a great way to stretch your imagination in a new direction. So far I have made a couple rings, working on a pendant at the moment. I like the twig "bundle" look and fusing or soldering scraps together creates some really interesting shapes. There will definitely be more of these designs in my future...
This is a real learning process for me--you cannot predict the outcome exactly. I accidentally discovered what happens if you try to fuse a heavier gauge scrap of sterling sheet on a thinner gauge piece of copper...The silver will melt right through the copper while fusing. In the video below you can see what happened when I first fooled around with fusing and put heavier gauge scrap silver on a thinner copper disc. I thought I had messed up and initially hated the result UNTIL I TURNED IT OVER. The silver had melted through to the other side in a really beautiful way. SCIENCE! ALCHEMY! MAGIC! I made a super-cool leather bracelet with that bad boy....
Leather cuff with fused sterling and copper discs. ROCK ON!
Scrap silver and copper are also great to turn into granules--those little balls so wonderful for use as accent on just about anything. I simply snip up scrap wire or sheet into small bits, arrange them on a fire or charcoal board (smooth surface) heat to melting with the torch and they form into balls! Fool around with this--you will see that if you over heat the balls may "boil" and form air pockets (which can result in some interesting shapes) and the longer you work with this technique the better you will get at forming perfectly round balls (learning just when to pull the torch back and when to quench) or balls with a flat back (which I prefer because it's easier to set them later).
Puff of Smoke ring made with sterling silver granules created from scrap silver.
Bottom line, there are a million things you can do with scrap! Dump out a pile and start playing. Let us know how it goes--we love to hear about and see what you are working on. Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING!
Wow, you guys posted some GREAT summer vacation memories. Thanks to all that did. I too am a beach gal, living in South Florida (or as we are calling it these days, THE SURFACE OF THE SUN). I find it very interesting how much water plays a role in our lives and how much we humans crave, desire and REQUIRE it. Nearly everyone posted about how much they love being near the shore, or near a large body of water. As a conservation biologist I also hope that each of us will do our best to ensure that our world's precious water sources remain protected, clean and HEALTHY. I encourage all of you to educate yourself about your cities water supply, and water management policies. Water will be the world's next fought over commodity and we must protect our oceans, rivers, lakes and streams. Remember, as Star Trek taught us, humans are "Ugly bags of mostly water" and water is what keeps us ALIVE.
There, PSA over!
Now, on to the good stuff....I put all your names in a random name generator and clicked the magic button. The winner of the alcohol ink on aluminum cuff bracelet is....
ERIN FISH!!!
Which is kind of interesting when you think about it. So many posts about loving water and spending time in and around water....then Erin FISH is the name the program chose. Huh. COOL!
So, congrats Erin, get in touch with me as soon as you can and I will get your cuff out to you. Thanks again to everyone who posted and took a trip down vacation memory lane. I really enjoyed reading each one!
I also just posted a video tutorial on working with alcohol inks on metals and stone--take a look if you are interested in giving this technique a try.
Stay cool everybody, and enjoy the rest of your summer. May your pool noodles stay afloat and your drinks stay frosty.
Well, hello there! It's been quite a while since I blogged here...been up to my eyeballs in LIFE. You know, that pesky thing that gets in the way of EVERYTHING?!? As many of you know, my husband and I run a wildlife conservation center focusing on tropical endangered species, (RSCF). Spring and summer = BABY SEASON here and I have had my hands full hand-rearing endangered sparrows and parrots, not to mention caring for our 40 acres of primates, antelope and other avian species.
From left to right, top row mountain bongo antelope, baby red-browed Amazon parrots. Next row Florida grasshopper sparrow chicks, Ninita, the Queen of pygmy marmosets.
It's been BUSY and I'm EXHAUSTED. So, forgive my absence, but my guilt is your gain because I to win your favor again I am going to GIVE AWAY a super-cool cuff while offering a quick tutorial on how I made it.
I have recently begun experimenting with alcohol inks on metal. I've seen many beautiful designs created this way and wanted to give it a go. Aluminum is one of my favorite materials to work with for cuffs. It's hypoallergenic and very easy and forgiving to work with. Forms easily because it's so soft, but hardens up nicely as you work with it, shines up beautifully and will never tarnish (plus WAY CHEAPER THAN SILVER). Yesterday I stole a few minutes to head to the studio to play and this is what I came up with.
I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type artist. By that I mean I have little time to spare, am impatient and always looking for products and methods that yield quick results. I also do not "plan" a design per se...I sit down and kind of go for it. I love "accidental" designs, and this cuff is an example of that.
Alcohol inks are a blast to work with, providing Immediate, INTENSE colors that work well on many metals, aluminum included. I got mine at Michaels, but you can find them at just about any arts and crafts store and a million places online. GOOGLE IT.
First, I covered my work space with paper because alcohol inks STAIN FOREVER. Bear that in mind regarding what you are wearing as well (sigh...goodbye favorite T shirt....). If you are fussy about your hands/nails wear rubber gloves or something.
Prep your metal. I texture all my cuffs by hammering the length of metal on a paving stone I have in my studio. I love organic textures on metal. You can leave it smooth if you want, but texturing gives the inks cool fissures and marks to fill and run--I like that. Next, clean the metal. I gave the cuff a quick scrub in the sink using Dawn and water. Dry thoroughly, try not to touch the surface too much with your fingers (but alcohol inks are pretty forgiving too--I've had good results on metal I totally forgot to wash). I use 6 inch lengths for cuffs and get my aluminum on Etsy. Just search "aluminum cuff blanks". For this cuff I trimmed the metal to give a tapered effect--slightly wider at one end than the other, about 2 inches wide at the widest end.
Lay it flat on your surface and--well--splash some ink on it! I have cotton swabs, paper towel and a small paint brush handy to work the inks around as well. Mostly I drip on some ink (the bottles have a nice dropper tip), tilt the metal and let the ink flow and drip. At one point I didn't like what I saw and while the ink was wet I wiped the entire piece of metal from one end to the other with a paper towel to see what happened. It made a BEAUTIFUL base coat of pale color! Surprise! I then began dripping and swirling again. Once I got the look I wanted I let the cuff dry fully in the sun for about an hour or so, Next I bent the cuff into shape with my handy bracelet bender, adjusted by hand to fit, then sealed the metal with 4 coats of spray PermaLac clear coat for metal, letting the cuff dry between coats. THE END.
This is not my image, I lifted it from Jewelry Making Daily. It is the exact bracelet bender I use. I clamp mine in a vise.
In creating the cuff I had to clean up drips and drabs that got on the back and edges and found the inks really hold up well and do not come off easily. I used a sanding sponge to get the drips off and had to rub pretty hard. After sealing, the colors remain true and bright and really hold up well. I will definitely be playing around more with this technique!!
Sooo, all you have to do to WIN THIS CUFF is comment here with your favorite summer vacation memory. I will add all your names to a random name generator and the winner will be announced NEXT TUESDAY (July 26th). My favorite summer vacation memory is visiting St. Augustine beach with my husband and watching him play in a tide pool like a 6 year-old. BEST. DAY. EVER. Now, your turn!
If you also use alcohol inks in your designs, share an image of your work! In the meantime, I hope you all are enjoying a fantastic summer. Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING!
Once again we are hit in the gut with loss. Prince? Really? PRINCE????
2016 can kiss my a**.
This one hurt me more than I ever expected. Prince Rogers Nelson was a huge influence for me during that wonderful, horrifying time of my life called ADOLESCENCE. When I was trying to figure out who and what I wanted to be in life. His music defined at least a decade of my life and I am torn up with the loss of this vital, amazing, spectacularly talented individual. I'm gutted.
On the heels of LMAJ's David Bowie blog hop where we all created designs inspired by Bowie, recent events have me thinking about a traditional form of jewelry design that many of you may not be familiar with--mourning jewelry.
For hundreds of years, people wore jewelry specifically created to commemorate a loved ones death. Bits of hair and bone worked into intricately elaborate jewelry designs treasured for generations. Rings, brooches, lockets and more created in memory of a family member's death. This was especially popular pre-photography, when these incredible designs were literally the only way to remember someone and honor their passing. I find this jewelry deeply moving and incredibly fascinating. Mourning jewelry has been around since at least the 16th century, but is mostly associated with the Victorian era, when mass production made it more affordable. Members of the royal family would wear mourning jewelry for decades.
Designs were over the top elaborate, like George and Martha Washington's amazing brooch featuring hair from both, rubies, gold and more. Faceted quartz crystal was used to cap bezels containing amazingly detailed scenes created with the deceased hair and sometimes bone. There was often an inscription on the back of pendants and brooches, and on the inside of ring bands. Stunning, deeply personal works of wearable art.
While the trend in mourning jewelry has basically passed, many artists still create some form of this today, myself included. Perhaps one of the most intimate and reverent work I have created to date was a pendant I made for a family that had lost their son while mountain climbing. I created a vessel pendant to their specifications for this man's mother to keep a bit of her son's ashes. I was humbled by the request.
Below are examples of historic mourning jewelry--all are just beautiful.
In closing--I first heard "When Doves Cry" on a beach in Traverse City, Michigan. I remember the exact moment. I don't know what it was that blew my mind more, the lyrics, the voice, or the incredible guitar. I was 17. From that moment on I was a obsessive fan. I bought every record, and played them endlessly. I was also an aerobics instructor. I played Prince in my classes constantly. Every time. It didn't matter how racy or risky or strange the song was I worked it into some sort of a fitness routine. I remember teaching a class that was absolutely packed--stomping to "Baby I'm a Star". We fogged the windows in the gym, and people came in off the street and see what the Hell was going on. I remember the one and only Prince concert I got to attend. I nervously wore a red leather mini-skirt. I'm not exactly a red leather mini-skirt kind of girl, but at that time, I wanted to be anything that I thought Prince would want me to be. I was in the third row center stage, staring with worshipful wonder at this tiny elf of a man destroying a guitar. I will never forget it. I will never forget the music, I will never forget the impact it had on me when I was a young girl trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Prince said I could be anything.
First, I would like to thank everyone for joining us on the David Bowie Blog Hop last week. That was so fun, and it was amazing to see all the beautiful and wacky Bowie-inspired designs created. That blog hop was especially fun for me because I love to think outside the conventional jewelry box, and what better inspiration than Bowie???
That leads into today's post--working with the weird and unusual. I have always been drawn to unconventional materials and gemstones, and lately I have been working with some fabulous materials like natural surface gemstone cabochons, Fordite, and oddly shaped materials like fossils. Weird shapes, cuts and surfaces can be a challenge to set, and can also lead to some really fun and new ways to think about setting gemstones. Here are three ways I set odd shapes and materials.
Pin it - I am a big fan of cold connections. If you have a weird material like a funky fossil or shell, consider cold connections if traditional bezel sets won't work. Can you drill it? Can you sand or grind the back flat? If so, use a micro screw or rivet to set the material on a flat base. I often rivet or micro screw fossil coral and soft material like turquoise and river stones. I prong set the Rio Grande Rustic on a flat sterling base, then also pinned it in place when I set the faux succulent. You just need to know your material and what it can take drill-wise. Yes, I have cracked and broken material in my early days of drilling. I'm still not great at drilling stones, but I'm learning....That is another post for another day and Staci Louise has posted great info on drilling....look her up.
Partial bezel or combo prong/bezel - Totally odd shape but flat back? Consider a partial bezel mixed with prongs. Use bezel wire where you can, fill the rest with prongs (I usually don't go thinner than 14 gauge wire for prongs) to grab the stone. I do this A LOT. Especially with teeth, bone and fossils. In the slideshow you will see a ring I made from an antelope tooth (you heard me...). I used bezel wire and prongs because the tooth had a smooth side (bezel wire) and a not smooth side (prongs). This type setting also works with material that is thick or taller than conventional bezel wire. You can set using bezel wire for a "frame", but also use prongs to secure the material in place where it exceeds the height of the bezel wire. I did this with the garnet in schist pendant in the slideshow.
Grab it like Alien - This is also one of my favorite ways to set odd shapes. Build a "wheel" with prongs like spokes and grab the stone. I did this with the malachite and fairy stone pendants you see in the slideshow.
Bottom line, don't shy away from material you may like because you don't think you can set it. There is always a way!!!
Now, I will share with you my favorite weird gemstone dealer--Angela Fowler. She and her husband gather and cut the COOLEST STONES ON THE PLANET. I have to carefully monitor the time I spend on her Facebook page, I have little self control when it comes to her stuff. Three words--Rio Grande Rustics. OMG. Soooooo amazing. I'm addicted to her stones, man. Tell her I sent you and thank me later.
Show us how you set weird material! We'd love to see what you are working with.
R Cates and Terri Del Signore!!! APPLAUSE! Please get in touch with me! Send me your address so I can get your fancy ear-bobs in the mail as soon as possible!
Thanks to everyone who commented and shared thier 80s music. I now have many, many earworms rocking 80s style in my head.
I hope many of you will make these earrings, and show us your version. ENJOY!!
This is a quickie post about making something I hate to make----EARRINGS. Making earrings to me is the art equivalent of torture. I am not inspired by, nor do I wear, earrings. I love to look at earrings and am totally jealous of the gorgeous designs I see so many artists creating. I wish I could get that sort of inspiration!
I used to wear earrings. Back in the day I wore HUGE, CHANDELIER shoulder duster earrings that went great with my permed mohawk. GOD BLESS THE 80s!
I've moved on....
Anyway, occasionally I sit down and force myself to make earrings. Usually with dismal results. The other day I was fooling around with some 20 gauge sterling wire and this happened. AND I LIKED IT. Mostly by accident, I had been making head pins and these red jasper disc-ish beads happened to be laying in front of me. I started messing around and viola! I made earrings I actually like and would possibly even WEAR.
Now, I DO NOT CLAIM that this is some never before seen design. I'm sure there are tons of these out there. In fact, a friend of mine commented that she had seen this style before. So much for my perceived GENIUS...
But, if you want to make a simple. organic style earring that works really well for flat-stacked and disc designs, this is it.
What you need per pair: A torch (I use a micro torch), four lengths of 6 to 8 inch 20 gauge wire, a chasing hammer, steel bench block, needle nose pliers, flat nose pliers, needle file, a drill or hole punch (Eurotool) with a 1/16th bit, sanding sponge and sandpaper (med/fine), pickle if you want, disc beads and flat-ish accent beads of your choice.
What you do: Ball the ends of all four lengths of wire. Clean how you see fit. Pickle if you want a super shiny wire or hand finish with sandpaper/sanding sponges for a more rustic look. Hammer flat the balled ends of two pieces of balled wire. Punch or dill a hole in the flattened end of each and clean with a needle file. To assemble, thread a small accent bead on to a length of wire with a balled end (here I used a lovely little enamel disc by MaryAnn Carroll). Thread that through the hole in the flattened end of the second wire. Add a disc bead or two (whatever, stay single if you are using a fatter bead, make a stack of flat beads in graduating sizes, etc.).I used a turquoise disc here. The wire with the flat end and hole is the actual ear wire, so orient that up, bend the wire holding the beads flush with the back and do a simple wrap to the ear wire to hold it tight (I like a messy, knot-looking bundle of wire here so I use more). Trim excess wire with snips, tuck the end in with needle nose pliers. Now make the bend in the ear wire any length you like using flat nose pliers. Curve the wire in the back, snip to whatever length you like. File the end nice and smooth. I give the bend a couple whacks with the chasing hammer to stiffen a bit. Repeat for the other earring. THE END.
Since each earring takes two pieces of wire, you can make cool mixed metal earrings too! Copper and silver wire is next on my list...you could even thread a small bead on the ear wire and wrap in in place with the thread wire. Many possibilities here! I could conceivably make a ton of these, but I probably won't because...earrings. So, you GO NUTS! If you do make some, share your pics!
Oh, and did I mention that I AM GIVING TWO PAIRS OF THESE EARRINGS AWAY??? You're welcome! Simply comment here what your favorite 80s song or group is. If you are too young (Oy) GOOGLE IT. For example--Prince's Purple Rain (the entire album) was my JAM. I played it (cassette, people) until the tape BROKE. LET'S GO CRAZY, LETS GET NUTS!!!
I will be giving away the turquoise/enamel disc and red jasper pairs you see here--yummy!
Your turn...I will plug your names into a random generator and post the winners here and on our Facebook page Saturday the 27th. Get out your leg warmers and DANCE!
Ugh. Excuse me while I blow my nose for the 40,000th time today. *Cough*Wheeze*Sniff*
I got bronchitis. Then, because bronchitis is for BABIES, I got low-grade pneumonia. As opposed to fancy high-grade pneumonia--I'm not THAT high maintenance. No, just give me the garden-variety lungs filled with fluid, mucous producing viral infection that only makes you FEEL like you are dying as opposed to ACTUALLY dying. As I said before, ugh.
In all seriousness, if any of you are suffering from this terrible season of snot slinging illness--I FEEL YOUR PAIN. As one friend put it--the Holy Trinity is NyQuil, DayQuil and your cough drop of choice. (I prefer lemon, thank you). Also, I am not an Earth Mother. I did not gather my own organic echinacea flowers to brew into tea. I did not get a Z-pack (whatever THAT is), and if I hear the words "neti pot" again I will punch someone in the throat. Humans are gross, germ infested snot manufacturing organisms and I PEAKED at mucous production. Seriously, I deserve some type of award. My trash cans overflow with used tissues, and I believe I have been directly responsible for the felling of a swath of the Amazon rainforest for paper production. My deep-chest cough would attract a bull moose. My raw, red nose rivals a baboon's flaming butt.Give me the strongest over-the-counter product that will simultaneously knock me out and clear my sinuses. I fall asleep every night on a NyQuil/Zyrtec buzz that mostly gets me through till morning.
That being said, I'm actually feeling better. After almost a month. DAMN! Thank you to all my friends who were kind enough to leave me completely alone knowing full well that when I am sick I turn into a cave-dwelling troll. I appreciate the Facebook messages and the refusal to visit. Seriously.
So, studio time was a distant memory. Up until yesterday (for REAL) I hadn't been in the studio for almost three months. Holidays, life, work all got in the way then the freight train of illness really stopped me in my tracks.
BUT I'M BACK, BABY!!! Yesterday and today were good days. I have continued my Time Traveler series and begun fondling all the cabs I have in stock. YOU KNOW YOU DO IT TOO! Sit and run your fingers over all your pretty rocks....sigh.
The Path Least Traveled - from my Time Travelers Series
Gorgeous natural surface quartz cut by Angela Fowler
Which brings me to my next topic--IT'S ROCK SEASON!
The Tuscon gem show is over, all our favorite vendors and artists are home. Most are also fighting some sort of travel bug, because as wonderful as the Tuscon gem show is it should really be named the Tuscon Gem and GERM Show. Everyone gets sick there--I believe from handling all the gorgeous beads and gems that everyone has literally DROOLED OVER ALL DAY. Anyway, everyone is home with suitcases full of loot and it's now ROCK SEASON! Be sure to check in with your favorite vendors to snatch up all the wonderful goodies they have brought back. For instance...
Kimberly Rogers of Numinosity Beads is offering GORGEOUS stones she got in Tuscon along with her spectacular lampwork. I'm FREAKING OUT over the spiny oyster shell strand...TAKE MY MONEY, KIM!
Nikki Zehler, the force of nature behind LoveRoot, is creating AHHHHMAAAZING works with stones from her endless stash--her new stuff is DELICIOUS.
And my go-to for super-spectacular cabs, Angela Fowler, is offering some serious treasure over at Designer Cabs and More on Facebook.
So, wipe your noses and get back in the studio as soon as you can. There are so many lovely rocks to play with, beads to string, metal to melt and wire to wrap!!! Remember, we have an awesome David Bowie inspired blog-hop, too!!
Here's to a healthy rest of Winter--remember, Spring is right around the corner. Then we can all start bitching about our allergies.
Art is a weird thing. The word "art" encompasses an infinity of creation, a world filled with countless stars. Some we aren't even aware of, others burn us with their brightness, while still others flicker quietly in the periphery of our vision.
We've lost some of those bright, shining stars this past month. So many, too many. David Bowie. Not a star--a SUN, a PLANET all to himself. Even if you aren't a rabid Bowie fan (and to be honest, I was not) we all felt something when he left us. It hit me like a punch to the gut. He was so MUCH an Artist (that's right, with a capital "A"). Even though I did not follow him in depth, I was so AWARE of him. I respected him, I respected his vision of art and style and his wholly unique expression of all of it. He embodies my definition of an Icon. I guess it never occurred to me that someone like him, someone so completely "other", so completely a part of American and International art/music culture and history could just....die. Three days after releasing an album on his BIRTHDAY, no less. An album that is now being played around the world on repeat, as we pour over every syllable and note, searching for hidden meaning--searching for what we will interpret as his last will and testament for the world. That alone is fascinating and wonderful. I've listened to Blackstar--to say that it is "dark" is just a fumbling attempt to put an understandable word to work that is beyond simple words. David Bowie wrote and performed according to David Bowie and spoke in his own language. Respect, my friend, and take your place in the universe. He has left behind a hole that will never be filled because no one else can--or ever should--attempt to fill it.
Alan Rickman. DAMN. Again, an artist that I loved without being really conscious that I loved him. Love Actually is my go-to curl up on the couch with a box of wine fall asleep crying movie. His character in that movie was so beautifully, deliciously flawed and sexy and I loved him and Emma Thompson soooo much. Prince of Theives--absurdity at its absolute best. THAT VOICE. He could read the phone book to me and I would sigh in blissful contentment. I loved him before the whole Harry Potter thing and I'm so glad that a billion tweens, an entire GENERATION, now know who he is and are mourning the death of Snape. An artist who specialized in the subtle twists and turns of characters that sucked you in completely. I haven't watched Love Actually this season (I usually watch it around the holidays but just didn't have the time this go round). Now I know that I will have to do a bit of mental prep--there will be more tears this time. That's a good thing--how amazing that art and artists can grab you by the heart...THAT is true magic.
Enough. More have left us, left us breathless with the loss. Play the music, watch the movie, take a few minutes, hours, and spend them marveling at the body of work these glowing stars left for us. When I say that art is a gift--that's literal for me. These artists have given us so many gifts we get to cherish forever. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
For me, these losses bring to the front of my brain a theme I often visit and revisit in my own work--Time. The passage of time, what we do with time, how we must cherish and not fight our place in time. I'm starting a new series of pendants I'm calling Time Travelers. Stones and fossils accented with vintage and antique watch hands. Stones tumbled by time, ancient fossils traveling through time to somehow find their way to me. Two examples here--a river stone and a gorgeous hunk of petrified wood. More to come.
I hope you all will take the time to support artists you love. Tell them that you appreciate the gifts they give through art. Remember how fleeting time is and make the very most of every minute. Revel in ART whenever you can. Wear it, play it, watch it, share it, CREATE IT. A gift meant to be shared!
Hello all! First things first. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE WHO LIVE UP NORTH DEAL WITH STATIC ELECTRICITY??? We got our first major cold snap last night--the temps dipped into the high 50s and I'M LOOSING MY MIND. In Florida terms this is an apocalyptic weather event and I am completely immobilized by this alien effect you call "static". What is this? Why is my hair standing straight up and sticking to everything? I feel like my head is covered by spiderwebs--It's driving me MAD I TELL YOU! As I type this in the darkened dining room (it's 6:00 am) I can see strands of my hair waving around my face in the light of the laptop screen LIKE IT'S ALIVE. Static is gross and I demand that it stop IMMEDIATELY. I WANT MY HUMIDITY BACK!!
There, I feel better (not).
Second--thank you for all the comments on the bangle post!! I love the direction so many of us want to take into 2016. More inward development and less outward (I'm so fat, I need to look better) fears. I applaud you all, and hope that we move towards a peaceful and fulfilling year. I hope all your goals and dreams come to fruition and I know that if we all can take a few minutes a day for JUST US, we can become the best version of ourselves. Take that class, read a TON of good books, learn as much as you can, make a ton of art and GROW!!!
The lucky gal who will soon be wearing an AWESOME set of copper bangles is....
BROOKE BOCK!!!
Congrats, Brooke, please get in touch with me so I can send you the set. I hope you wear them every day and enjoy!!!!!
Thanks again, you are all warriors capable of incredible things--NOW GO MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING!
A blur. That's what time is these days. A blur of energy and emotion. Time has FLOWN and we find ourselves on the cusp of a brand-new year.
Are your living rooms still hiding shreds of wrapping paper and ribbon? Are your refrigerators overflowing with Tupperware and Zip Locks packed full of holiday leftovers? Do you still have the odd relative snoozing in the guest room? If so, you are lucky. Sometimes it's in the aftermath of a big event that you finally find the time to take a deep breath and reflect on what just happened....savor that.
To all that celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a phenomenal one. To everyone in general I wish you peace and joy during this time and into the new year as well.
The new year. I love opening a brand-new calendar. Crisp pages unmarked, the year divided into 356 neat and tidy identical squares--all blank but for their numerical identifier. Days full of potential--good and bad, but days that mark the passage of time in which we flow like salmon in a stream. EXISTENTIAL, MUCH?
Are you exhausted yet? I am. 2015 kicked my butt. Great things, terrible things, overwhelming things and intensely BORING things happened in my life during 2015 and while I have done my best to learn from all the lessons 2015 felt obliged to SHOVE DOWN MY THROAT, I am looking forward to a gentler, kinder 2016.
NO RESOLUTIONS. Just...stop already, okay? DO NOT GUILT-BUY THAT GYM MEMBERSHIP. Do not set yourself up this year. Simply accept that yes, a new year is about to begin, but that does not mean you have to force yourself to swear by some list of promises you may or may not be able to keep. Resolutions piss me off. Why? Because being forced to make a list of self-improvement implies that from the get-go YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH AS IS. Crap to that, I say. Take the new year for what it is...12 more months to exist and do the best you can as a human being crammed on a planet with 8 billion other human beings. Keep it simple.
My goals? To be kinder. To be quieter. To listen more and speak less. To make more art and give it away. To eat really good food. To smile more. To listen to more great music. To see more of my friends. To buy art from artists I love. If I have one "resolution-ish" thing to add to the list it would be to try---ugh---to not spend so much money on shoes. (Screw that, we know it's not going to happen. At this moment I am anxiously awaiting the delivery of FOUR NEW PAIRS OF SHOES I DO NOT NEED BUT ARE SO CUTE!!!! Seriously, Nordstrom Rack is having an UNBELIEVABLE year-end sale....)
I took quite a bit of time off artistically at the end of this year. My real life job is exploding--so many new and exciting events going on within our organization (Rare Species Conservatory Foundation). My role has expanded and so has my husband's. It's exciting and terrifying. I built our new website from scratch using WIX (more on that in another post--I love WIX!). We have new staff, new programs and babies everywhere. Baby primates and bongo antelope--the best gifts and more than I could ever ask for. My focus has been here, on the farm, not in the studio, and that is really okay. If 2015 has given me anything it is a bit more clarity of purpose. Art will always be my refuge, but I find I don't need to bury myself in it in order to feel better about the world. As a conservation biologist, I am deeply aware of what a perilous time we live in for humans and nature alike. A terrible time, to be honest. But I can't hide from that and if what we do here at RSCF can help a fragment of our natural world survive and hopefully THRIVE, then I am doing good work.
Yes, this is the world's cutest family of pygmy marmosets.
I haven't really been in the studio since October. Considering I finally got a brand-new stand-alone studio on our property that may seem odd. You'd think I'd be in there 24/7. In a way, the new studio has relieved the pressure I felt before to create frantically, whenever I had a moment to spare, standing over the overflowing bench in the garage, working in 20 minute chaotic spurts. No more. My studio is there, waiting. It's not going anywhere and neither am I. I've got time.
So, in this rambling post, I offer you all a few pieces of totally cliched, yet good advice. Slow down. Quit hating on yourself. Accept who you are at this moment and love that person. Make art when, where and IF you want to. Give some of it away, and buy somebody else's. Go outside and look up. Breathe.
To start 2016, I am giving away a bit of my art. A set of two hand-forged, 8 inch copper bangles. Comment below how you plan to make 2016 a better year for YOU, and next Tuesday I will put your names in a random name generator to pick the winner. My gift to you!!!
I wish us all a fantastic 2016--NOW GO MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING!
