Dia de los Muertos REVEAL!!! By Karen McGovern

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!!

Shrinky Dinks and Shoe Doodles: Adventures in Coloring

by Sherri Stokey

Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm still a child at heart so it should come as no big surprise to learn I'm still a big fan of coloring!  I hadn't picked up crayons for a long time, although I've been tempted by the whole adult coloring book craze.  I have so many projects in my head that I never have time to get them all finished and I couldn't see a real "use" for colored pictures.

And then someone reminded me of Shrinky Dinks.

I went out and bought a brand new pack of colored pencils and downloaded a couple free coloring pages and made this:

Which turned into this once baked:

Squee!!!  How cute is that!!  I'll bet at this point you're wondering what in the heck that photos of shoes is doing at the beginning of this post?  I'm getting there, I swear!  I got bitten by the coloring bug and decided to take it a step further and try doodling on shoes.  

Now you have to understand - I can't draw.  I can look at a picture and sort of mimic a shape, but I really have no talent for drawing and realism and shading are beyond my capabilities.  I embraced that and decided to go for fun and colorful doodles rather than anything that's supposed to look like "art" and came up with these:

How fun are those!?  I'm pretty "chuffed" (as my UK friends would say)!  I took a pair of white canvas shoes:

Cheap white canvas shoes, I might add (and I think that's what allowed me to go crazy without worrying about ruining a "good" pair of shoes):

Then I took a box of permanent markers and got busy.  I started with a skull couple:

I'm not all that happy with the way they turned out.  I think I was a bit hesitant with my drawing so the lines aren't as crisp.  I sketched the outlines lightly in pencil and then went over it with a marker and it was hard to trace the lines exactly.  I also wasn't happy with the decorative details on the faces because the area was so small and the markers (fine line ones) do bleed a bit on the canvas.  It got better when I started just doodling without sketching first like the flower and vines.  

To try to keep the two shoes sort of the same (although I wasn't making a matching pair), I decided I'd better do some on the other shoe and go back and forth so I drew a skull on the other one.  This one is larger so I could get more detail in the decoration and I'm much happier with it.

As you can see, I just kept adding stuff and filling in white spaces.  I did try to add similar elements to keep them cohesive (like the blue flower with a magenta center on both shoes, etc.).

Can you tell I'm a big fan of the Day of the Dead?  I'm pretty excited about the Dia De Los Muertos: A Celebration of Life Challenge by Karen McGovern.  It's easy to play along: create something inspired by Dia De Los Muertos and reveal your designs on October 25, 2016 using the hashtag #lmajdod (full details here.)

Facebook and Twitter and Paypal, OH MY! The Rabbit Hole that is the InterWebs by Karen McGovern

It's all MaryAnn Carroll's fault.

It all started with an *innocent* post by MaryAnn to the artists of  LMAJ discussing linking Facebook pages to Twitter, so that every post made to your Facebook also appears on your Twitter page. Great idea....That was Friday....

48 hours later I emerge, bleary-eyed and brain dead, hands cramped from continuous clicking and clacking on my laptop, lost in the bowels of social media rules, regulations, hacks and shortcuts.

What MaryAnn didn't realize is that once I get started on something web-wise, I do not stop until I have figured it out or hit a virtual brick wall.

Here's the deal. MaryAnn's suggestion (and a good one, I might add...) lead to more ideas and questions regarding how this all works. I have, like many artists on Facebook, more than one page. I have my personal page under my name, I have my art page under my business name (Beadkeepers). I also am in charge of the Facebook page for the organization I work for (Rare Species Conservatory Foundation). That's three pages. I also have three Twitter accounts, one for me, one for Beadkeepers and one for RSCF. Sure, it would be FABULOUS if posts to Facebook (which I use and post to almost everyday) could magically appear at the same time on the corresponding Twitter pages. I didn't even know you could do that BECAUSE I AM OLD AND DON'T GET THE TWITTER MUCH.

BUT, I do understand the value of social media when it comes to living in the 21st century, and if you have any presence online it's best to learn and UNDERSTAND as much of this stuff as possible. It's never a bad idea to expand your online toolkit if that is where you do the bulk of your communications, and frankly, it's UNAVOIDABLE. So let's USE this stuff, right????

First, I consulted the mighty oracle...Google. I learned much, and I am here to share...

Linking Facebook to Twitter is relatively easy once you stumble blindly around the Internet, which provides a solid 75% of the info you need. Lucky for you, I did all the stumbling. This link between pages and sites is great to promote your business or organization and is a huge time saver. No more posting one place, then having to start over someplace else!

Here's what you do. I am going to explain this as if you have more than one page on both Twitter and Facebook that you want to link because that is a bit tricky....First, log in to one of your Twitter accounts. Then, open a new tab and go to www.facebook.com/twitter and follow the prompts to open your Facebook page. 

Click the link allowing access from Facebook to Twitter (you need to do this for every page you link). 

You should then see a page with your personal page at the top and all your other pages listed below. Here is mine...

Next to each of your Facebook pages is a button to click that will link that page to the openTwitter account. Click the page you want to link to that account and hit Save Changes. VIOLA! You are linked!

Now, to link another page to another Twitter account, go back to Twitter, SIGN OUT and then SIGN IN to your other page. Go back to the facebook.com/twitter page and REFRESH. Find whatever page you want to link to that Twitter page, hit the Link to Twitter button and the new Twitter page will be listed as linked. Hit Save Changes and VIOLA! You have just linked two different Facebook pages (that you administer) to two different Twitter accounts (that you administer). Now whatever you post to these pages on Facebook will instantly also post to the correct Twitter page as well. THAT ONLY TOOK ME 12 HOURS TO FIGURE OUT. I'm sure a 10 year old child could have done it while I was in the bathroom. ANYWAY....It's a cool feature that can boost your presence on the 'Web and boost your sales as well.

Speaking of sales...you guys know that you can link your shops directly to your Facebook page, right? Under your cover photo on your business page should be a few tabs. As you can see on mine, I have a Shop Now button. Before it was Shop Now it read Call to Action. To link your shop to Facebook, click the Call to Action and a drop down menu appears. Select the Shop Now option, then put your direct web address in the box below for your Etsy shop, website, whatever. Since RSCF is a 501(c) 3 charitable organization, we have the option for a Donate Now button under Call to Action. I linked this to our PayPal donations account. This is super spectacular for us since we have over 15,000 followers  now and we have already gotten donations coming in since I created the button on Friday! 

In figuring out how to link the Donate Now button directly to PayPal, I also discovered something else. I figured out how to create a link in PayPal you can put in a post to SELL DIRECTLY FROM FACEBOOK USING PAYPAL ONLY. No Shopify, no middleman (other than PayPal) no FEES other than PayPal. I have to do a bit more research on this--it's so unbelievably easy it must have a catch somewhere. I've been discussing it with some webby folks and no one seems to have a 100% clear answer on Facebook's policies for selling from your page. Some say it's a no-no, others point out that selling through Facebook/Shopify is...well...SELLING, so what's the problem? I'm sure it has to do with Facebook wanting their cut somehow....Until I do some more digging I'm going to keep this nugget of info to myself. BUT I WANT TO TELL EVERYONE!!! Maybe next time....don't want to get anyone in trouble with the FACEBOOK POLICE. I'll keep you posted.....

In the meantime, I'll close with a recent design I created that is perfect for the season. An AMAZING carved labradorite skull set in sterling silver with a steel flower, brass bee, cast sterling silver twigs and a bronze dogwood flower. I created this in honor of Dia De los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This wonderful holiday is celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. The traditionally Mexican holiday is a celebration and remembrance of those who have passed on, and feature elaborately decorated skulls called Sugar Skulls. I have created many sugar skull designs, but this by far is my favorite and my first carved gemstone skull. The labradorite is ELECTRIC! 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween (if you celebrate) or a wonderful and heartfelt Dia De los Muertos. 

Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING!

Reason for the Season by Karen McGovern

Working seasonal. I used to hate to hear those words. So my other jewelry designer friends would contact me and ask, "what are you going to make for (insert holiday here)"? I've never been one to create jewelery designs based on a holiday or event. Its just not my style. While I do love the work created by others for holidays, I just could never wrap my brain around sitting down and creating earrings in an American flag pattern. Or tiny snowman pendants, or Easter Bunny bracelets, or whatever else you could think of for holidays. Although once I did make an epic steampunk-ish Peeps pendant based on a bunny shaped marshmallow Peep. That was pretty cool, and I ended up giving it away in a fun online contest.

Anyways, I guess what I believe is that if you're going to make the piece of jewelry around a specific event, it should be something that you really believe in, celebrate deeply, or find fascinating. For me that has been Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos. I am really interested and inspired by this particular holiday and festival. Ocurring beween October 30th and November 3rd, it is a traditional Mexican festival celebrating loved ones who have died. One of the central elements of the festival are sugar skulls. These are highly stylized, elaborately painted and decorated human skulls. They can be made out of just about anything. I found an shop on Etsy, Sweet Treats by Gwen, that sells the most delicious sugar skull sugar cookies I have ever eaten. I get them every year. This particular form of art is really fascinating inspirational to me. Sugar skulls are gaining popularity in the jewelry market as well. Lots of artist are doing them. Stacy Louise creates a beautiful line of copper clay and metal clay sugar skull pendants. You've got to take a look, they are gorgeous! I myself have started to delve into the sugar skull pendant world, and have created several that I'm very pleased with. My take on a sugar skull is to create a simple skull out of copper, aluminum, or brass sheet. I will etch the brass and copper, and texture the aluminum. From there I embelish with whatever I have handy. Steel flowers, lampwork glass, enamel copper discs, dangles and more. I'm really into sugar skulls at the moment, and I'm very happy to say that I will have one published soon. It's a tutorial, I can't say much about it right now, but I will let you know the moment it's available!

 

Stacie's GORGEOUS sugar skull necklace

A sugar skull pendant I recently created with a bee theme.

The point I'm trying to make is that here is so much more information about the history of holidays out there than we typically think of off the cuff. Christmas brings to mind snowflakes, Christmas trees and snowmen, but what about the winter solstice? Or even Krampus??? The true folklore and history behind many holidays is far more inspirational to me than what we have commercialized in our culture at this moment. So whenever I think of creating a holiday themed jewelry design, I usually take the time to do a bit of research about the true history and folklore behind the holiday. There's so much history and legend behind many of the holidays we celebrate. Thats were the real inspiration resides!

I know its only mid July, but you can't tell me that you're not already realizing that the holiday season is just around the corner. Especially if you are an artist who actually makes their living making art. We all need to capitalize on this time of year and we also want to create meaningful pieces that will go far beyond just simple gift giving. That's why I encourage all of you to do a little bit more research about holidays, find out some unusual festival or celebration that is now, or was historically held at that time. And then do something really creative with it.

 

An elaborate sugar skull cuff I created last year.

That being said, every year for Thanksgiving my family holds a hand turkey contest and we all create really amazing crap art! I doubt the finished works will ever hang in the Louvre, but sometimes the front of the fridge makes a far better display than some old museum.

 

My epic digital hand turkey.  Yes, I used my hand and then added the rest.
THAT'S SOME ART RIGHT THERE!

I guess what I'm touching on, without getting all preachy, is culture (although I did just post a picture of a giant vampire hand turkey destroying a city...). sometimes I think we forget about culture and history when it comes to holidays. We live in a highly commercialized world and it seems to me that some of the most important holidays have been reduced to really contrived and inelegant elements. Believe it or not, we have a pretty rich history here. It's worth looking into. It's worth transforming and interpreting into some amazing art. I encourage all of you to do it, and I hope to see your holiday art all over the Internets this season.  Do share your interpretations with us!

October - Beyond Pumpkins and Ghosts...by Karen McGovern

October is a great month.  The weather, for most of us, is finally getting interesting.  Trees change color.  The air is crisp, and so are the apples.  Events like hay rides and visits to orchards compete with corn mazes and beer fests--AND my birthday is in October so, yes, the month ROCKS.

 

October's leading lady is, for me, Halloween.  I've always loved Halloween.  The opportunity to dress in costume is an artist's dream.  I also love the history, folklore and mythology surrounding events in October/November.  It's more than just carved pumpkins and bed sheet ghosts, you know.

 

One of my favorite events of this season is Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos.  This traditionally Mexican holiday is celebrated just after our American Halloween, on November first and second.  The holiday is a celebration honoring family and friends that have died.  One of the central figures of the holiday is the sugar skull.  A highly stylized skull decorated with lavish embellishments, flowers and more.  They are beautiful!  I have several artist friends in all media that have created amazing interpretations of the sugar skull theme, one of my favorites is by my good friend Georgette Pressler of Devious Body Art.  Georgette is an amazingly talented body painter.  She turns the human body into stunning works of art.  Her Muertos works are just breathtaking--as you can see here.

 

 

Another favorite artist who specializes in Day of the Dead works is an American gal named Krisztianna.  She creates jaw-dropping sculptural works she calls Muertitas.  She makes them for every season, sculpted from Styrofoam, hand painted, embellished and simply STUNNING!  Check her out and get ready to be amazed.

 

 

For jewelry designers, October is a buffet of inspiration.  Fall colors in glorious peak, so we reach for agates and amber, amethyst and tourmaline.  Copper, brass, all those rich colors--yum.  I have never been one to create "holiday" jewelry, but this year I decided to try my hand at designing a sugar skull inspired series of work.  First, I created a necklace for Nunn Design--I'm part of their Innovation Team--and I used a hand cut skull I created from etched copper, embellished with Nunn's brass floral stampings, crosses, twig connectors, charm and beaded chain.  LOVE IT. 

 

Next I created a matching over-the-top cuff for Plum Gallery in St. Augustine, FL.  I created it from textured aluminum overlayed with a brass dragonfly wing.  In the center is a hand cut skull in etched copper, embellished with brass, sterling silver, steel leaves and more.  I rather like it, in all it's dramatic glory.

 

 

Finally, I wanted to create a more subtle design, so I made a jasper necklace in copper, sterling and aluminum.  A tiny sterling silver skull is held in place with a dimensional brass flower.  I really like this design.  Finally, I've made a bracelet that features a brass cup holding one of MaryAnn Carroll's gorgeous enamel copper discs, the tiny sterling skull and the brass flower, with a white stick pearl accent.  Definitely a favorite.

 

Red creek jasper pendant, brass and enamel copper bracelet with pearl accent. 
These designs are available NOW, so contact me if interested!!

For those of you that do create "holiday" work, what themes have you explored outside the "normal" holiday imagery?  I'm considering expanding on this theme, perhaps to try a winter solstice series.  There are so many wonderful seasonal themes that go artistically beyond snowmen and candy canes...that really interests me.  How about you??? 

Dia De Los Muertos aka Day of the Dead

They are coming and they are going

and you see them passing by.

They are walking over here, they are walking

over there...these are the dead.  

How happy they are!

Today starts Dia de los Muertos.  Where people in other countries are grieving their loved ones, in Mexico the festivities are just beginning.  Offerings to the dead have been prepared and alters are finished being built.  I spent last Saturday working on an alter at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, TX.  There I met local artist, Lorena Angulo.  When first entering the room one cannot help to notice the big alter that takes center stage and the smell of incense burning. Incense represents the physical to spiritual change and maybe keep out some bad spirits.

Lorena arranging a sugar skull.

Lorena also showed me how to make flowers out of tissue paper.  She explained that the colors purple represented grief or pain, orange represented the sun, and yellow represented death.  We talked about our culture, art, and many, many things.  What a lovely lady.

I was not there for the completion but here you have it.  Gracias Lorena for the picture!

Completed Alter at Southwest School of Art by Lorena Angulo

People have always said that I lean towards the macabre.  There is a quote that was put on Facebook yesterday I think explains a little as to why I do.

"While death burns the lips of other cultures, 
Mexicans are familiar with death, 
joke about it, caress it, sleep with it, 
celebrate it; 
it is one of their favorite toys and their most steadfast love."
~Octavio Paz

I have made a lot of designs in jewelry but am always happiest when making skulls.  A friend of mine last night actually told me that she thought my best work was with the skulls and why not concentrate on that alone?  Oh...would not that be business suicide?  Hahaha!!!
Who knows but I think I need to do what I love.

Currently I am having mucho fun at making these skulls and am in the process of designing more skulls of a scary kind.  These skulls are made from recycled Louisiana license plates, found objects, and tin collected from several places, Mexico being one of them.  Although a friend of mine brought the ones from Mexico on over.

Invasion of the TinSkulls!

TinSkull says to "Have Courage".

I was overjoyed when Maria Fomich of Adorn & Conquer said she would like to carry them in her gallery on Magazine Street here in New Orleans.  Yay!

Other artists also lean toward Mexican folk art.  Here are just a few of those Rock Stars...

Lorena Angulo's medium is precious metal clay, aka PMC.  I always joke on how everything she touches turns to gold!  I am surprised that her kids are not solid gold as well!  Hahaha!!!  Anyway Lorena migrates to her culture as well as I and has a passion for Mexican folk art.  Her pieces are fabulous!  More of Lorena's work can be found here.
Can she sculpt or what?!

Lorena 2012

One does not have to be Mexican to have the passion of Mexican culture and this is most evident in Amber Leilani Middleton's work.  Amber is a local New Orleans artist and works with paper clay to sculpt these lovelies!  BEAUTIFUL!!!
More of Amber's work can be found here.

Frida and Diego by Amber Leilani Middleton

Jesse Bert is an artist that lives and works in his studio in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  His inspiration comes from his surroundings and adventures of exploring Mexico when he is not in the studio.  He likes to incorporate recycled material or anything he finds while meandering around Mexico.

Introducing Ms. Catrina.
She was created using torch fire enamel on copper and recycled silver spoons/forks and other found objects.  More information about Jesse can be found here.  Ms. Catrina is currently at display at Thomas Mann's Gallery here in NOLA.

Ms. Catrina by Jesse Bert and Raquel Jasso

November 1st is the time that my spirit misses Mexico the most.  Last year we were in Oaxaca, Mexico to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.
A place to witness one of Mexico's celebrations in full swing.
Absolutely beautiful!

I would like to share a few pictures of Oaxaca during Dia de los Muertos...

Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca, Mexico

So there you have it!  I could go on and on and on about Dia de los Muertos.  There is still so much to talk about.  Skulls are not just for Day of the Dead.  They dominate my life and decor all year round.  I even carry one on my shoulders every single day!  Hahaha!!!  I know...I have jokes.  Not very good one either!  Hehehe!!!

 Here is a picture of just one of my skulls in mi casa.  His name is Alfonso.
Named after the artist who made him.

by Alfonso Castillo

Muchas, muchas, muchas gracias Mary Jane for inviting me to be a guest post.  It is truly an honor.

Have a great Thursday or All Saints Day or Day of the Dead!

BOO!!!

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website:
http://kalayasteede.blogspot.com/

Namaste~

Kalaya