Guilty GiveAWAY!! By Karen McGovern

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! 

Memories...Like the Corners of My Nose...

Ahhhh, Summer. If you've been following the blog lately, you have no doubt noticed that many of us are in and out of full-on vacation mode, dropping posts between bursts of travel and wonderful summertime fun. For those of us living in or visiting the northeast, we know that these days are fleeting, and have to be grabbed by the handful between May and August. Especially so for those with family and school schedules to factor in.

So, excuse us for our brief or erratic posts, as our brains have turned into potato salad and barbecue for the time being.

 

I have just returned from Northern Michigan, and four blissful days of eating, drinking and sunning on the shores of Glen Lake with two of my sisters and a dear friend. A girls weekend in paradise.

What a wonderful trip...my friend Maria supplied a floaty the size of
my living room (sat six...seriously...with built in COOLERS). 
I now can't imagine living without one...

By the way, re-entry to "real life " sucks, for lack of a better term.

Anyhoo, I'm back home, organizing my memories of the getaway as best I can to better savor them the longest. Photos are wonderful, but I began thinking about what else triggers memory--scent. If I were to make a smell that best encapsulates the very essence of my summer memories it would be a bouquet of campfire smoke with hints of Off Bug Spray, undertones of the breeze off a freshwater lake, a shot of fresh mowed grass, and a layer of sun-warmed skin covered in cocoa butter. Are you listening, Glade?

This in turn reminded me of when I created a line of jewelry meant to carry scent. Years ago I played around with clay, and created some kiln-fired glazed beads. I am one of those people that can't wear perfume. My skin is too acidic or something, and no matter how spectacular the perfume or essential oil, 10 minutes on my skin and it smells like cat pee....Seriously. FOR REAL. So, I tried to design beads and pendants that could carry scent without coming in direct contact with skin. I left a recessed, unglazed window in the bead or pendant where you could apply drops of perfume or oil. The clay absorbed the liquid and held the scent, the glaze protected the scent from my skin. They worked well and I liked them, but you could not change the scent and I got frustrated with the complexities of creating, glazing and firing because, well, I am incredibly impatient and schizophrenic in my jewelry designs. I wanted something that could be used over and over again, with different scents whenever the wearer wanted.

That's when I hit on a metal vessel-based pendant design that has a removable, ventilated front. Inside, the wearer can place a bit of sponge or cloth soaked in their favorite scent, or even dried aromatic herbs and flowers (dried lavender is PERFECT for this). DING DING DING! We have a winner! Easy to create from just about any small, non porous tin or constructed bezel, as long as the front cover has tiny holes and can be removed and replaced. Simply empty and rinse with unscented soap and water before changing scents. I seal the interior of the pendant and back of the cover with clear acrylic so the oils and perfumes won't react with whatever metals I use. These work really well, especially if the pendant is worn directly touching your skin. Your body temperature warms the pendant and really releases whatever scent you have inside. Kewl! No more eu de cat pee!

I had to climb into the way-back machine of my computer to find this
image from 2010.  One of the first metal vessel pendants I made for scent.

When I got home, I created the pendant you see below, inspired by my recent time-out in the beautiful "Up North". I brought home a pocketful of Petoskey stones and a heart full of love and warm memories.  Now that is the makings of a spectacular design. A drilled Petoskey stone sits on top, found on a rock picking excursion in Leland. Below that, silver and brass wire form gentle waves, like those on Glen Lake. A tiny rectangular tin box is riveted in place (the pendant base is textured aluminum), the top drilled and decorated with one of MaryAnn Carroll's beautiful enamel copper discs in a gorgeous liquid blue, almost as gorgeous as the color of the lakes I just visited. A tiny brass dragonfly wing accents. Finally, a fiery red glass headpin by Kimberly Rogers reminds me of the nightly campfire we had to toast our marshmallows for salted caramel dark chocolate s'mores.....Heaven. Not sure what scent I will place in the box...probably dried lavender like the bundles we buried our faces in while wandering around Leland. I think I might finish it with a map fragment on the back pinpointing where we stayed. Yes, that ought to do it...

So, until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful Summer and collect an endless supply of memories touching all the senses--and I hope you savor them for years to come. Enjoy!!!