Guest Post - Marsha's Halloween

Hi Everyone! I'm Marsha (of Marsha Neal Studio) and I am thrilled to be asked to do a special guest post here on LMAJ blog for Halloween themed post...

Marsha Neal Studio Halloween Ghost Pendant

I consider myself to be more of a bead maker than a jewelry designer,

although I do dabble a bit.

Marsha Neal Studio Bat Necklace

I find that as a bead maker, it is important to understand how your pieces can be used for creating finished jewelry and also to listen to feedback so you can make your work that much better.

Marsha Neal Studio Porcelain Bat Pendant

For Halloween, I walk that line of in-between.

In between kinda cute and the slightly not so normal.

I am a color and texture person.

Throw in a shape to give it a bit of definition, but other than that I like to see how the clay and glaze react with the textures.

Marsha Neal Studio Porcelain Bat and Silk Ribbon Necklace

I love quick wire wrapping.

I need to sit and figure out some cool handmade closures, but time has not allowed for that.

(And that is something I have to be ok with for the time being).

Fall Gords and Pumpkin

We have a preference in my house for the fun things.

Not the scary things of Halloween.

Marsha's End of Season Garden

I love the end of season garden for gathering bits of decaying plants and seed heads to press into ceramic clay (which gets fired to become a texture plate) and then rolled over with fresh porcelain to get reverse images printing like this pendant:

Marsha Neal Studio Porcelain Nature Pressed Pendant

I have a little family of 4 (me, my husband, and two young children).

So for Halloween, we start decorating in early October.

We read fun Halloween books. We watch fun Halloween movies.

Marsha Neal Studio Halloween House Decoration

I know that as they grow older, they will be wanting to watch horror flicks.

For right now, we avoid watching them when they are present.

I'm the type of girl that watches those movies through the cracks in my fingers covering my face.

The kind of girl, that when the kids are asleep and my husband and I sit up and catch up with The Walking Dead (AMC) - he often has to ask through laughter: "Marsha. Does your running in place in bed help them get away faster? Do you think they can hear you telling them that one is over there and to Run Now! Get Outta There!?"

Oh, man. My kids are going to have fun with me when they get older...

So with that...

My house usually shows off Halloween more than I do.

I prefer the simple design with a hint of that not so pretty (but usually quite pretty to me) texture and color.

What about you?

How do you wear Halloween?

Please stay safe if you are in the path of Hurricane Franken-Storm Sandy.

I hope you and your loved ones make it through this safe and sound and get to have a little fun with Halloween this year.

guest post - fiona dempster

Thank you for having me along as a guest blogger… at first I wasn’t so sure
that I fitted in with the whole jewellery focus; but I was convinced by others
that in reality; this was a place as much about sharing passion and creativity
as it was about the final product, so here I am!

My first love was calligraphy but now I call myself a calligraphic artist and
book artist. Mostly because I love books, words, marks and text and my
artistic world has deviated far from writing poems or quotes and getting them
framed to hang on a wall.

I respond to quiet art. I like artwork that doesn’t shout; artwork that is calm
and quietly draws you in and asks you to spend some time with it. My art
encourages the viewer to be intimate with the work and to have a one on one
experience with it; to be drawn into it’s world, often quietly and slowly.

My work explores themes and ideas about peace and meditation, about
reflection and introspection and about journey and place. I use text, words
and images to express sentiments, feelings, thoughts and beliefs. I believe
that in sharing these thoughts and inspirations in a beautiful and creative way
we encourage peace and calm in our every day lives.

A few years ago I made a few pieces of jewellery – in particular these earrings
that are made from heavy paper 9about 500gsm). I wrote words of healing
and belief on the paper, over and over again, then cut them into tiny squares
and stacked them – so the wearer carried the positive thoughts with them
through their treatment.

Whilst my work is often paper-based and takes the form of books; more
recently I have begun working with metal, timber and Perspex to express
words and texts in ways that take calligraphy off the page and into the
outdoors.

I love the intimate and personal nature of the book form. I like that a person
gets to hold the art work in their hands and slowly and gently move through
it, ‘reading’ a story of images or thoughts or ideas.

I also love rust and worn things and the enduring nature of metal books. I like
the message of steadfastness that metal books tell – that they will endure.
I also think the contrary nature of a book (which should be soft and pliable)
made of metal (which is strong and unyielding) is an unexpected and quizzical
experience.

And to finish; some earrings I actually made myself at a recent workshop.
They are quite long (about 7.5 cm x 2 cm wide). The backing plate is a smoky
Perspex and the decorative element is aluminum which I heated, folded and
formed and then burnished by heating olive oil on it – giving it that nice warm
look. I proudly say that I even made the rivets! I love jewellery and the tools
that jewelers have; but in the end I expect the words, the text, the marks and
the books will keep my heart; and I’ll pop over and play with the metal and
Perspex occasionally…

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to learn more about fiona you can visit her in these places...

website: fionadempster.com
blog: paperponderings.blogspot.com

guest post - brenda gebhart

One Thing Leads to the Next

That’s how the bullet casing bezels came to be.

It all started with the workshop “Uncommon Tassels by Susan Lenart Kazmer”.  One of the examples paired ribbons with a bullet casing.  I had to make one for myself, when I was done the tassel looked great  but the casing was  so  . . . . boring.

Some paper and wire took care of that.

The beginning of some funky earrings, or so I thought.  They were to long with the tassels attached to wear.  No problem just cut off some of the brass.  What I didn’t realize was how  thick the base of a casing is, they were to short for the tassel to be attached.

But what a fun mistake that turned out to be.  The perfect bezel.

Nothing like the plan.

 One thing leads to the next and the next.

editor's note:

you can visit brenda at her blog - www.romantic-decay.blogspot.com

& view her fabulous work - www.romanticdecay.etsy.com

thank you so much brenda!