HappyDayArt!

Out with the old and in with the new but first some reflection:

2011 is over except for the memories.  What a year, full of hope and anxiety for the whole world.  I felt restless but had no big plan when it started so I jumped into the Ring a Week Challenge and it drew me in and kept me going and working even though there was no giant purpose, it gave me a stable one.  A direct train to my album there can be found here.

I made a mosaic of my rings with flickr toys . You can click on the grid to make it bigger so you can see them better.

1. RAW front side 1/52, 2. RAW 2/52 best shot, 3. stacking rings RAW 3/52, 4. RAW 4/52 top, 5. RAW 5/52, 6. RAW 6/52, 7. RAW 7/52 cairn ring twins leaning, 8. RAW 8/52 Keumboo and PMC, 9. RAW 11/52, 10. RAW 12/52, 11. RAW 13/52, 12. RAW 14/52 seal rings, 13. RAW 15/52 -rocking chair - kinetic challenge, 14. RAW 16/52 -Pyrite ring, 15. RAW 17/52 - druzy pearl ring close-up, 16. RAW 18/52 -stacking rings, 17. RAW 19/52 bronze fold ring, 18. RAW 20/52 -tulip ring, 19. Wind God - RAW 21/52, 20. "Unfurling, a response" - RAW 22/52, 21. reticulated sterling oxidized - RAW 23/52, 22. RAW 24/52 -big framed ring close-up, 23. RAW 25/52 - rutilated quartz ring - side view, 24. RAW 26/52 -gallery wire rings - close-up, 25. RAW 27/52 - polka dot grunginess, 26. Tumbling roses ring & peridot roses ring, 27. RAW 30/52 - ruffle ring - polished, 28. RAW 31/52 - Dot Daisy ring, 29. RAW 32/52 alexandrite cz ring partially polished, 30. RAW33/52 filigree crown ring, 31. RAW 34/52 - the sun ring, 32. RAW 35/52 orange crush, 33. RAW 36/52 - Jasper Heart ring, 34. RAW 37/52 river rock & amazonite ring, 35. RAW 38/52 - lapis ring, 36. RAW 39/52 - lilypadz ring

and since the largest grid size was 6x6 and I could only nclude 36 rings, I made another with the rest of the rings in 4x4.

1. RAW 10/52 -daisy ring, 2. RAW 9/52 -wire wrapped agate, 3. RAW 14/52 seal ring, 4. RAW 40/52 - "love you" rock ring, 5. RAW 41/52 - appliqué ring, 6. RAW 42/52 - a 'found object sandwich ring' called "emerging shoot", 7. RAW 43/52, 8. RAW 44/52 - Artifact ring - skateboard side view, 9. RAW 45/52 - hollow heart adjustable ring, 10. RAW 46/52 "pounded" ring, 11. RAW 47/52 - squiggle ring - side view, 12. RAW 48/52 - My "What, me worry?" ring - inside, 13. RAW 49/52 - lace fragment - a prototype on my hand, 14. RAW 50/52 - "Flaming Cross", 15. RAW 51/52 - "leafy bud", 16. RAW 52/52 - My big Finale!

If you need descriptions and verbage, click on the links to go to each ring you're interested in knowing more about.  AND THAT'S IT ON THAT!

I took this challenge very seriously and I did it for me.  Sure, I enjoyed all the positive attention that about 4000+ views of my flicker uploads over the whole year offered me.  I got to define myself a little more fully.  I'm still a person who will try almost anything.  I realized after all that 52 rings really isn't that many and it was a stepping off point for more learning, more discovery and more rings in the future.  There are rings I'd planned that I didn't have time to make and those will get made as this new year goes on, when the urge hits me.

About finishing things I said I was going to do.  I am so happy I finished this challenge!  My husband kept high-fiving me for a whole day, maybe two.  We drank some champagne and we smiled and laughed, the laugh of the instantly unencumbered, and the laugh of success on one's own terms and standards.  

I was sad and felt let down when people I was getting a little attached to and found I was depending on for support and encouragement dropped out and by the end it was me and about 10 or 15 who finished before the year ended.  Oh well, a reminder that you have to find the strength inside yourself to finish what you started, even if few are watching.

About facebook.  You can say whatever you want (and many do) but I have grown to love facebook.  To me it's the epitome of the ever changing face and feelings and insides and pulse of the world, well, the part of the world that posts (HA!).  Truly, I've found it a font of inspiration and interesting starts and new ideas.  I have been able to express my appreciation and dare I say "love" in places and ways that no other avenue can offer.  I try not to spend hours at a time on it, except on Tuesdays :O) and yet I check in almost every day to see what's going on, even if I don't always participate.

Other things I love about facebook:

 Texture Tuesdays (of course)

 Coolest Colors  yeah.

 PaTTerN & MoTiF  the latest page all about those things.

 Wishing people I like Happy Birthday and posting my own photos of flowers to their wall on their day.  I know I'm sentimental like that.
  Keeping an eye on my kids.

  The fun banter with other people who like Facebook.

 Spying, and the "like" option.  

 Being open for the heartwarming moments when someone gets you.  

 Someone you like calling you to chat.

I feel I'll still do some blogging but really, honestly, facebook has become more fun for me.  I spend less time reading blogs nowadays and more time taking pictures and posting them to the three art pages named above.  Does anybody still read my blog?  My stats say yes and at this point also says:

181246  Lifetime Pageviews since December 28, 2005.

That's for six full years of blogging.  I like that.  Thanks so much for being interested!

Here's a link to my first post and I can honestly say that I'm still that person through and through . . . but now I have more experience, I know a little more and my hands do more of what I can see in my head.  AND, I know more people who are just like me. 

Oh man, I remember when I used to start my posts after everyone in my family was in bed, sometimes spending hours on the words and editing photos I'd taken earlier that day, reveling in the luxury of those hours alone in the quiet in my own little world (like right now).  I had some nights I stayed up until the first birdy started chirping and the day had begun and I felt invigorated by writing and the completion of the things I'd accomplished, merely by recording them here.  Aaaah, change comes again.

In other news:

My last post was written on the day before my 25th wedding anniversary.  I was flying to New York with my husband for a romantic getaway.  We had a really good time.  I took pictures morning, noon and night!

The view from our hotel.

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My college attending daughter has been home three times, so who has time to miss her?  My son, a high school junior is becoming an IT expert and is doing all kinds of things with our home network and I'm just glad I have a cellular internet connection and can remain relatively unaffected as he experiments by creating his own server.  What's he doing anyway? 

We had another Bay Area Bead Extravaganza in November.  I got to spend some more time with my friend Christi Anderson (link to her Crafthaus photos here).  I was able to assist her during her "Bohemian Hearts" class and it was really fun with about 16 students, maybe more.  I learned a lot and I think I did help her stay somewhat organized.  She wanted us all to focus and stay in class so she and her husband brought us all lunch and it was a fun and generous gesture that I haven't seen in a long time.  Later that month I worked on some hearts of my own that were inspired by all the things she talked about during that class and here's what I came up with.     

My "Bohemian Hearts" front and back:

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Christi says she likes them.  So do I.  Thanks Christi!

I started a new jewelry journal where I'm attaching a few picture cutouts but mostly doing some drawing of new work I plan to make this new year.  It's fat and orange and full of expectation and space!

I spent some money on more stones from Gary Wilson's booth at B.A.B.E. and what I think I'm going to spend time doing is making pendants this year.  Not tiny pendants with one stone, but bigger pendants with something going on, yet to be revealed to me, germinating in my fat orange book.  ARE YOU STILL INTERESTED?

I made an orange necklace for my friend with red hair like one of my RAW rings.

CRUSH

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I got a cool little letterpress/die cutting machine made by Lifestyle Crafts called the Epic 6 Tool but there are only a few sets of commercially made letterpress plates made for it so I'm going to go to the SF Center for the Book for some labs and make some sets of my own photopolymer plates for use with my ultra cool machine.  There actually are lots of shapes of cutting dies, which it also uses, out there so I don't have to go inventing something like that.  The machine looks like this:

and is best bought on Amazon if your going to get one, ahem, when they're back in stock.  I've seen it elsewhere for a lot more.  Trust me.

In Christi's PMC class, one of her students gave us the idea to look for antique brass cake decorating tools, which I could never find but then I stumbled upon bookbinding tools, the old ones they used to use to apply gilding patterns to leather books, that are very similar but larger.

I've found a few for making impressions

and a few innies for molds like this little leaf

and for possibly applying gold leaf to leather and anything else I can find, maybe thick watercolor paper.  Those experiments are something that interest me too.

BECAUSE really, I can't be doing jewelry all the time.  I've got to have breaks and change and new ideas and places to veer off to once in a while.  I think I'll be happier for it, a little less competitive with others, and remembering that the person I really want to compete with is my own self from yesterday and the things I made before, with my best pieces still ahead of me and something and someone interesting to learn something interesting from.  Yeah, I've got a list. 

Why I take classes . . .

I didn't get a degree in art.  I wasn't encouraged to pursue that avenue and was always told to be responsible and have something else to fall back on too.  Oh gosh, that was a lot of pressure to handle as a young girl.  

I did take many lofty sounding classes in high school and college like Trigonometry, Calculus, Zoology, Study of History, Psychology, Political Science, and I did alright in them but there was always something missing.  And I think I was kind of like the example that if you keep TV from your kid when they're growing up or candy/junk food, or something is kept taboo then they're/I was just going to have to get into it as soon as the people who controled me in my life were no longer there to enforce the rules.  The people were my parents and teachers.

Maybe it was like that or . . . 

maybe it was just the programming had worn off.  After I did everything I was told, I lived with someone (never supposed to do that back then) for a little while before we got married, and a few months later moved into a hippie commune (way after they were in), lived there for four years, up and moved away across the country, got pregnant with our first kid, moved back to where our family and friends were, had a second kid and THEN, it became OK to do things for myself.  I guess I had done what you're supposed to do and then I had enough.

I started out small, very small but of course it wasn't enough.  When the kids were little I crocheted, made things with them out of shrink plastic and made a few pairs of earrings for friends because I didn't care much for the things I could buy in stores.  I had different ideas and I wasn't going to settle for what there was out there.  I made some puppets, then some fancy pillows and every year I made things for the people who were closest to me . . . my mother-in-law, my sister, my best friend, my kid's teacher.

After the kids were old enough to be left for a few days with their dad, I did that and went on my first week long adventure to take a ceramic class with Suze Lindsay at the Laloba Ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. WOW!  What a week and what exciting things we did and made.  I don't really have a bearing on where those photos are.  It's all in my head now.

Then I found Artfest and after a few years of that I branched out to other retreats and classes and followed my nose to what I thought would be the next thing I needed to know. 

I think I've been doing this for about 12 years altogether and I have enjoyed myself and kept on learning. I am an artist, that's for sure.  Nothing makes me feel as excited as the promise of new ideas, new constructions and new conversations and discoveries yet to be made.

That's why I journal.

That's why I paint and take so many photographs.

That's why I use PMC.

That's why I learned to use the torch, and the hydraulic press, and how to saw metal and wood.

 . . . why I learned to set stones and shape and carve them . . . and collect them too

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this is a setting I made in Nanz Aalund's class at the Mendocino Art Center in August

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. . . and here's another one from the same class

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That's why I make rings.

RAW 39/52 - lilypadz ring

RAW 40/52 - "love you" rock ring

That's why I'm on the computer so much.

That's why I like to read books on all of these subjects.

That's why I go all over the place to get the information, knowledge, and brushes with people who were there before me and have something I'm looking for.

. . . made in Thomas Mann's "Found Object Sandwich" class at Art is ...YOU! in Petaluma last week

I made this one too in that two day class!

And that's why I buy things I love.  

A brooch by Thomas Mann.

I have an art practice.  I think about art and about making art most of the time now.   You practice to get good at something and you get happy when you get to do something you're good at.  A lot of things fall into place then.

I wonder how my kids are going to get where they want to go? There are so many steps.  But then thinking about how I got mine, I think they're going to have the energy to get what they want out of life.  I hope they get as excited about it as I have. 

 

Life just keeps happening and when we feel like we're always rushing, sometimes we just have to slow the heck down.

I feel like I'm having a very interesting summer.  My mind is full of ideas and my hands can't keep up - the clock seems always to be racing.  I've been late more times than I can count.  I keep trying to start things and then trying to finish them too.  Was wondering why all the rush?  I don't know.  I should be used to not getting much done through the summer but I'm not.

I guess it's the same issue as happens to most creative people.  I have more things I want to do than I can do.  Does this mean I have to resign myself to eliminating some of these things?  I don't want to hear the answer.

I don't answer the phone, or the door some days.  I try to shut out the little details.  I want to focus.  I've got a message coming through.  I get little bits of it and then I lose it.  I go on to another thing.  The signal keeps trying to get through.  I guess I'll understand it when I'm ready for it.  I need to change the light in the bathroom of my studio.  I can't see in there and I don't know exactly how to change the light.  I need a flashlight to change the light . . . those kinds of details.    

So in my fashion, after an absence from these pages for a couple of months, (I know where the time went but it's gone) here I am with some of my creative memories.  I have photos on my computer.  Hundreds of them, too many ideas to share, part of a consciousness in some state of disarray.  I'm not sure it's worth my time to go back and re-live all those moments.  I'd rather be here now . . . focusing on that thing.  

Well, I'm going to post pictures of my rings, to catch you up on my contributions to the Ring a Week (going to finish this) Challenge.  I'm now finished with #36 and working on ring #37.  I'll be posting 52 rings in all by the end of the year . . . maybe more because sometimes I make a series of a few.  If you've been following along on my little flickr banner (which takes you to my pages there) on the left you would be able to see when I post a new one to the group even if I fail to post regularly here.  You say you haven't?  Ah well, this is my orbit anyway.

Anyway, the last one I posted was #27 my copper polka dot ring that I made with traditional metalsmithing techniques.

The next few I made with silver metal clay.

RAW 28/52 - tumbling roses ring - green clay process shot

hand formed PMC with cubic zirconium, scribbled

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RAW 29/52 - peridot roses ring

PMC with genuine peridot, scribbled too

RAW 30/52 - ruffle ring

hand formed PMC - oxidized above

First I tried it with a full rainbow patina but then I decided to polish it to give it lights.

and the way you can see through it a little

Then I thougth I could make cabochons - that weren't stones or gems or fake stones and gems - for some rings I plan to make in the future.

The top two are filigrees and other bits soldered onto copper domes. All the others were made from silver metal clay/PMC.

Look at this mold I made from a previous plastic cabochon that was set into ring #6.

There's a great example of the rate of shrinkage for PMC3.

RAW 31/52 - Dot Daisy ring

I made this for my friend's birthday on July 31st.  It's the second ring in this dots series - all sterling silver construction with copper dots.

It looked nice in the velvet lining of the box.

She liked it!

RAW 32/52 Alexandrite and sapphire ring

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precious metal clay, alexandrite cz (with the crown flipped over so the point shows) and genuine sapphire cabochons

Here's a comparison for you:

rings with no patina

and the same rings with the full rainbow colors, unpolished

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I thought it was interesting.

RAW 33/52 - filigree crown ring

domed copper and brass filigree cabochon with silver bits on top - under the brass filigree there's a dapped copper disc and the cab is 4 pieces soldered together.  The setting is the gallery wire on sterling silver sheet cut out with a jeweler's saw.

I'm nuts about this one!  I wear it almost every day.  It makes me feel beautiful.

RAW 34/52 - the sun ring

I domed a circle of some banged up sterling sheet, depletion gilded it (technical jargon) and fused 24 kt gold with the keum boo technique (more of the technical) to the surface for my "gem". Used some of those craft scissors to cut my bezel strip so it's not your grandma's bezel anymore and cut my rays with a jeweler's saw. The gold was polished with my finger and it got really shiny!  It's a nice ring too.

RAW 35/52 - orange crush ring

Now THIS is a FLOWER and also my long planned soda pop bottle cap ring.  I read somewhere that every person who makes rings, should make such a ring . . . if only once . . . so here's mine for the record.  I was thinking about making another with a coca~cola cap . . . maybe I will.

I dapped a few of these bottle caps and particularly liked the one that was crushed and wrinkled on the C.  You can understand why.

And then here's the completed ring from the teaser photo I showed you in my last post oh so many weeks ago. Oh and I'm warning you, I'm going to drag this one out - I have 6 pictures.  YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!

RAW 36/52 - Jasper heart

A ring I built around the stone (a swinging heart shaped picasso jasper)

with 9 small red jasper stones and some shaped twist wire framing it with panache!

Look, it fits!

Well, I made it to fit me on my right ring finger in the summer when my fingers tend to swell a little from the heat and to fit my left center finger in the winter when my fingers seem to be a size thinner.  

I was inspired by the Native American jewelry I've been seeing on ebay from a seller called San Francisco House (they are located in San Francisco), some of the most spectacular, big and intricate designs that are going for hundreds of dollars . . . on ebay!

But you know I'm not a Native American so If I copied those pieces I think it might be kind of a joke, right?  Yes, a big ridiculous kind of boob thing to do so what I did was make this ring look like it was influenced by that art - because it was and it had to be to fit this stone in my mind.  

It's big and it's beautiful!  And the band looks like it has clouds wafting over it.

Shhh, I'm posting this to the group this weekend.

Don't think I've exhausted my ideas just yet.  I have pages and pages of drawings

and I just had to get organized recently.  I took my daughter off to college . . . threw summer parties . . . stayed alert on facebook - I do love that place - for news far and wide . . . created a page there called "Texture Tuesdays" (that's a link for you that may work only if you are on facebook - I don't know for sure) that has been going strong for about 3 weeks.  People from all over the world have been posting photos of textures as inspiration for anyone who is interested.  Go to facebook and like this group and you can post your own photos.  You can also follow that link on the right.  

COME ON!

A new friend of mine, Maggie Bergman, a jewelry artist and Senior silver clay instructor from down under started a sister group called "Coolest Colors" and if it's colors you are into the same rules apply.  

Speaking of rules . . . there are no rules . . . we tossed them.  People have been posting to "Texture Tuesdays" every day, round the clock and the first thing I do every morning when I wake up is get my iPhone and see what's been happening.  I am dialed in and digital, metallic and mainstream . . . and I'm still me but I'm having fun . . . as usual.  

Next post will be about my "Custom Settings for Faceted Stones" class.  You won't want to miss it. 

SHOW AND TELL - pictures with just a few words

Photos of the pages I did in Kelly Kilmer's class.  I am so glad I went.  I was surprised when I looked the next day how much I loved what I made. 

These pages aren't finished yet.  There's more I can do to them but I wanted to show how much fun I had and what I came up with so far.

soaring moth

coffee and owls

fleeting moments and beauty - a spread

a statue with transparencies

a drummer

bird-y

heart u

study with strips

and another

cradle of creativity - I like those words and it was like we were there when we were in Kelly's class

that sweet elephant I've been searching for - ganesh

Kelly just keeps tossing out ideas for layouts and we have the opportunity to start, keep up or veer off into whatever makes us happy - to follow our own whims . . . and when we need a jolt, she's there with a bit of electricity to keep us interested and going way past our wall . . . into something we never knew was there, inside of all of us.

chocolate pie quilt

butterfly doll

cupcake with colors I never use

You may ask me why I do this kind of class when I work with metal and clay.  You may already know why.  

Here's why I do it.  Because it helps me to see in a different way and learning about that is helpful to me in so many ways, in art, in life, in my mind and in the real world.  It helps me see.

Photos of my other two boxes chosen for the PMC Annual 2011

la aventura (the adventure)

It has a hollow flaming heart and the whole box is 1-1/4 inches in diameter by 2-1/2 inches tall.

front and back - I wrote "la aventura" in script on the back around the heart.  It may be difficult to see here.

with the top off - it has two tabs of argentium soldered inside the edge to make the fit tight.

detail inside the top

and the bottom

and then the last box is called Coronation Amulet box because after I made it, I thought it looked like something that could be held in the folds of a big regal dress, in some old fantasy of mine, where boxes are held close.  The box is 1-5/8 inches square by 1 inch tall.

and the inside - where I spent much of my time making it smooth and beautiful and consistent

I hope you like it.  

We're having another charm swap - some of the members of my Etsy MetalClay Team - and I made my charms and shipped them off.  Pretty soon I'll have 16 different charms back and then 2 of mine will be used for two bracelets that will be donated to charity.  Here are my charms:

"I thought of the cosmos."

And here is RAW 27/52 - hot off the bench - polka dot grunge

I made a cabochon out of sterling silver sheet metal that I hammered on outside, on the sidewalk.  I beat the heck out of it on both sides.  Then I soldered those little copper dots onto it and sawed out an oval and shaped it in my wooden dapping block to look like an oval dome.

I also roughed up the edge 

and on the back I did this:

It's my new favorite!

But wait . . . look what I found for my newest inspiration.  I'm going to try to make something - a ring - that looks like the inside of THAT!

and here's the one I'm working on now:

and the stone that will be in the center, a picasso jasper

What are you working on?  

Where did you find your inspiration?  

Do you make something when you can or are you able to make art every day?

This is the MORE I was talking about

I changed my about page yesterday after 5 and 1/2 years.  See it here.

And I changed my photo over ⬅ there too.  I'm in motion and who knows what will happen next?  I'm thinking about changing my banner but that's a big step.

I do know some things I am certain I am going to do.  

Kelly Kilmer's classes this weekend at Maria's studio.

(photo altered in Ransom app for iPhone)

I'm taking an online class at "Artful Gathering" with Keith Lobue that starts on July 16th and goes for 6 weeks until August 27th.  It's called "Tools of the Trade" and will be about tools and how to use them.  While I probably have enough tools to build a small house, I'm sure I don't know how to use all of them to their best effect.  I'm excited because I haven't ever taken a class with him and although I've been in his vicinity and talked to him a few times, I was pretty much working myself or taking some other class.  THIS IS IT! 

Then a great class is happening again up at the Mendocino Art Center August 6-8 with Nanz Aalund called "Custom Settings For Faceted Stones".  It's an intermediate class and I think I'm ready for that.  Even though I am getting millimeter by millimeter closer to the advanced setting on my abilities meter.  I AM bragging, sure.

Then I'm dropping Grace off at her new school with living arrangement.

And then in September, there's a new art event happening close to me.  It's up in Petaluma, California and it's called "Art is ... YOU".  I'm signed up for two classes there and I'm really looking forward to that.  Grace will be gone so I like having something great to look forward to after that.

Look at this picture she drew of us for Mother's Day.  I LOVE it!

The first class is 2 days with Thomas Mann "Found Object Sandwich" (I've included two separate links there).  I have wanted to do this class for about 5 years or so when I first heard he was teaching classes at Art & Soul but I was never able to get into any of those classes.  While I know how to do many of the techniques he uses to make his jewelry, I really want to meet him because he HAS influenced my art in may ways.  I couldn't really tell you how, I just know I love his jewelry and I have a bracelet, pin and a pair of earrings of his that I treasure.  I've heard a lot about him but he remains someone who - is way out there - I intend to get a little closer to and absorb some of his philosophy and technique.

In the evening after the first day with Mr. Mann, I'm taking a short class from Laurie Mika, a popular artist friend I met at Artfest who works with polymer clay.  I haven't taken one of her classes in all the years I've known her and it will be fun.  It's called "RELIQUARIES" and her pictures are calling me!

After that it's up in the air!  By that I mean I can do whatever I can ferret out that sounds good.  

I've got a lot of nerve it's true but I've heard - and you've heard it too - that "life is short" . . . and I have a lot of things left to make before I stop following my dream.

I know I will keep making my rings each week and here are the latest few.

RAW 21/52 - Wind God (it just made sense to call it that)

I made this with precious metal clay in layers and the little balls are also precious metal clay.  A fine silver scalloped bezel was attached with pmc paste and it was fired a second time. The sterling silver band and 1/2 bead wire were soldered on afterwards. The stone is a spider web agate - ♥.  It looks like something from the orient to me and that's why the name.

on my hand

the back

RAW 22/52 - "Unfurling, a response"

I made it in response to a friend, Misty Mawn, who just wrote a book called "Unfurling". She always made me think of birds with her art and she's inspired me for years.

It's made of precious metal clay too and collaged of layers of pieces and patterns. I fired the pieces in the kiln once and then used paste to attach them all to a PMC backing. The bezel is fine silver and I pasted that on too and fired this a second time. The small balled fine silver bits (not pmc) were soldered on as was the band that was made of pmc scraps from another project and it complemented this ring so well I put it together like a puzzle.

The stone is ruby in fuschite.

on my hand:

and the back:

RAW 23/52 - reticulated sterling band

Here is an EXPLANATION OF RETICULATION from The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight:

"Reticulation is a process by which metal is made to draw itself into ridges and valleys, creating a unique texture . . . a formulation of 82% silver and 18% copper yields particularly dramatic results.  The buckling is the result of different cooling rates of the two . . ."

Wanna hear my secret?  I just used a narrow band of sterling silver 1 x 3mm rectangle wire and when I was soldering the seam together, because I was using hard solder and didn't know what the heck I was doing, it got really hot and my silver melted a bit.  I yanked away the torch, it cooled quickly and voila!  I liked it.  So then I used a short piece of 22k gold wire I had leftover from an old project, I balled the ends and squiggled it and soldered it on with a tiny bit of 18k gold solder.

on my hand:

oxidized:

and a back view with heavy reticulation.  

I really like that texture so now I will try to do this with a bigger piece and use the kind of silver the book mentions.

RAW 24/52 - big framed ring

This ring was inspired by Rosy Revolver. She makes the coolest rings, I have been obsessing over them! So I was trying to go really big here just to see if I could do it with my small butane torch. 

on my hand:

I used an etched brass tag I made some years ago and it had a hole in it. I made that hole bigger so I could thread a bit of brass tubing through it that could hold that setting for my 9mm chrysocolla. It floats 1mm above the etched brass. Lots of soldered connections here - about 11! The ring measures 1.5 inches across. 

some perspective:

I oxidized with LOS and sanded off the top of the brass, while polishing the silver with a small polish pad.  I made the little tag on the back for fun but you should see hers.  

the back

RAW 25/52 - rutilated quartz ring

This stone is 1 inch by 3/4 inch and 1/2 inch high. The ring is 1-1/2 inch wide by 1-1/4 inch wide - reminds me of those bowler hats worn by women in Peru.

I used some steel stamps with teardrop ends of two different sizes and a very sharp marking punch for the pattern on the rim.

The detail around the bezel was made from some precious metal clay that I cut with a handmade scalloped line cookie cutter, fired and tumbled and then soldered there.

Last, I soldered a thin piece of twist wire over it to hide any irregularities and make it look more finished. The band is 5/8 inch wide and was from my etched sterling stash.  Because I have wide fingers and usually wear a size 9-1/2 on my right ring finger I had to make the band bigger to make allowance for it's width.  It's a size 11 and it fits the middle finger of my left hand and my right ring finger . . . in the summer when it's hot and my fingers tend to retain water.  In the winter when it's cold it will fit the middle finger of my right hand.

Okay, here's the last pair of rings and the culmination of half a year of making rings.  

I'm at the halfway point!!!!!  

26 postings, some were more than one ring because I find that if I make 2 of a style, they each turn out a little bit differently and there's something to learn from each.

RAW 26/52 - gallery wire rings

As the year went along there were many rings made with this and other styles of gallery wire.  It's a type of bezel strip that is already a finely detailed pattern and makes a stone look regal and elevated, special and feminine.  I usually see clear faceted gems set in them or fancy pearls so I decided to use two opaque stones just as an experiment to see if they too would be elevated and taken out of their earthy context.  Did that sound right?

Here I used green malachite and turquoise and I think they look pretty nice.  In fact the more I wear them, the more I like them and truthfully, I wouldn't have ever chosen malachite to wear. I just never liked it.  So there you have it.

If you want more ring inspiration check out the flickr group Ring a Week!    

*************

. . . meanwhile summer is in full swing and I'm trying to find pockets of time to do what I love.

Learning new things is interesting, exciting and invigorating and tossing all the ideas up in the air and combining them in new ways that only my odd mind could do is so satisfying to me.

I'm signed up for three classes with Kelly Kilmer at my friend Maria Moesch's big and beautiful studio in Niles from July 8-10.  If you want to go, click on the date there and it will lead you to the sign up page. Maria's studio is such a great place to go to recharge and have some fun. 

Last time my son went with me and he had a great time. Can you believe it?  He made a journal and collaged in it and he still has it.

He made a house of pages before he bound his book:

I like the idea of driving off to someone's house an hour away and then being able to get back to my comfortable bed at night.  3 days is a luxury.  I always wanted to have an art group here at home but for some reason it hasn't happened so I'm all for getting on someone else's bandwagon, Maria's and Kelly's.  I have a lot of fun with them and the group is getting to be a regular crowd.  

Kelly always shows us how to make some style of journal/book and I just made 4 books of the last style she taught us.  I am loving making books.

Two large 8 x 12 inch books and two smaller ones 7.5 x 6 and 7 x 8 inches,

something on the cover:

and this one has a pocket

And then last month or so I went over to Maria's and we started another journal and I finally finished all the parts and am ready to bind them together.

The ribbon that will be inside the binding is beautiful.  It was Maria's idea.  

I have another ribbon piece I made of contrasting colors for the outside but it's in a big pile and I can't locate it at the moment.  It will go on the outside of the spine. 

So now I've got 5 new books almost completed.  When I carry them around together it's a heavy pile, about 6 pounds because I stuffed them full of pages.  I used Fabriano Artistico cold press watercolor paper for some and Wausau bright white card stock for others and then I also used some big old cereal boxes for the fold-out factor they afford and because I like to recycle too.  I'm binding them with waxed linen thread and I got a few new colors so I'm all set.  Tomorrow will be binding day I think.

✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

Grace is going off to college in a month and a half and I get to take her to Seattle.  We're going to stay with some good friends there, before I hand my daughter off for the next few months to the University of Puget Sound.  I'm so proud of her and she's truly excited.

This is a photo of the kids when they were tiny:

and this is what they look like now:

My buddies are going to help me adjust on the day we drop her off.  They have a son who's out of school now so they've been through this.  Actually, I'm looking forward to the whole thing because as soon as she's on with her new perspective and not living at home, I guess we'll be back to getting along great again and tensions we've experienced over the last year will lessen . . .

or, that's what I've heard could happen.

 

✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

Fred Ball Experimental Enameling Tech 5 week class wrap up:

We each made a construction in the third week of class with copper tooling foil.  I folded and unfolded, folded and hammered and unfolded and then made this box.  I had to paint liquid enamel inside and let it dry for structural strength and then I airbrushed the outside with the same enamel.  I used white but you wouldn't know it.

Front

the back

the bottom

left side

right side

and if you want to look inside you'll have to come over and see it because my photography skills are not that good.

I loved doing this and am making other shapes folded and wrinkled for enameling just this way.  We fired it with a torch and it shows the irregularities you get in only this way of firing.  I'm also going to try firing some of these wrinkled pieces in my kiln and see what the varying thicknesses of enamel without the reduction atmosphere will show me.  I enjoyed the experimentation over all.  I want to see what "Hyacinth Lavender" will do.

On the last day of class we were set the task of enameling nine 2 inch tiles using as many of the techniques - that the teacher explained during these 5 weeks - as we could.  We had to make a cohesive pattern and details had to line up. The firing times of each piece had to be consistent so the surface was reasonably identical throughout.  I got to take home the tiles before the last class and counter enamel them (enameled with one color on the back) and start the process.  So this is what I had done by the time I went back to class:

I drew myself a diagram of the steps I took and also wrote myself a script for what had to follow IN CLASS because 4 of us had 3 hours to complete this project.  Woo!   

My tile pieces from the last day of class mounted on wood:

The teacher Judy Stone was great at explaining the processes and I learned so much!  To top it all off she organized a bus tour of many of Fred Ball's installations in Sacramento, California about a week later.  Here are some photos from that tour: 

Section of "Valley Fields" - Raley's Headquarters, Sacramento

a close-up detail of "Valley Fields"

detail from "Chase the Clouds Away" - Sacramento Community Center Theater

a section detail of a much larger scene we saw at UC Davis Medical Center (I think that's where it was, but I'm not sure yet I had to show this because it glows and is sublime to say the least!)

another beauty I saw at Davis that was so huge you had to look up!

Oh and I got a little video of a mural of his.  I wish I could say what it was and exactly where but I can't.  Forgive me. 

 

I'm happy I get to do these things!  I have it good!  I am fortunate and appreciative of that fact.  

Found a great quote for it by Picasso.   

"I am always doing that which I

cannot do, in order that I may

learn how to do it."

About my blog:  I know I don't write here as much as I used to but it's still a vital expression of what I am currently working on and proud of.  That's what it's been for me, a place to record my successes in the areas I am most proud, not a place to complain about any problems I may have.  While the good and the not so good all have a place in what I create, I keep this blog as a diary of my beautiful ideas and that is worth a lot.  More to come.

It really smells good around here!

Our jasmine is almost overpowering!

The sun's been out and things are blooming.  

Lots of inspiration in my garden . . . and I'm taking an enameling class at a place called "The Crucible".

The class is called "Fred Ball Experimental Enameling Technique" and it's being taught by a smart lady named  Judy Stone  who runs the department there.  I first heard of her on "crafthaus" when I saw a video (follow the link of her name to see the video) about her and the way she works.  Then I found out that she lives and works here in my area and I was intent on taking one of her classes.

The class will hold it's 4th session later today and I've been experimenting at home on the pieces we've started in class.  Judy has shown us pictures of Fred Ball's work (he's considered one of the most innovative artists working in the 20th century enameling field) and explained much of his process, which has been part of her exploration in enamel over many years.  I think she's been at it almost 40 years so she really knows what she's talking about.

I am enjoying myself and her class.  She really keeps the pace going.

On May 22nd, Judy's organized a bus tour of the public artworks made by this guy Fred Ball in Sacramento, California and I'll be going on that tour so I can get more insight and absorb the look of his work in person.  I heard that he really has been a great influence on many of the enamel artists of today because of his original approach to using the serendipitous events that occur during the process and that his approach was not a traditional one.  Here's a link to a book he wrote that is for sale on amazon.

I guess that's as much as I can tell you about him.  He died when he was 40 in 1985.

So I'll just show you my experimental pieces now.  I can't explain them really.  I'm still learning and you'd need more information than I could explain well.  

That's silver leaf on the right piece above (click on any photo for a larger view please)

close-ups:

next,

I love what's going on in the piece on the bottom left!

close-up of that and the other two follow:

and MORE!

super fun reactions!

and . . . 

that IS the real copper showing there.

I hear that Judy is teaching this class again at the Mendocino Art Center this summer.  It's on the coast of northern California and the weather is perfect there when the class is being offered August 22 to 25.

For our last project in class we are going to be given 9 copper pieces and we have to use the techniques and steps we've learned to make a cohesive set or sampler that we're going to mount on wood at the end of class.  I'll show you mine; hope it turns out!

✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

So then I thought I'd let you know that I'm still making rings and what I've posted this week.

RAW 19/52 - bronze fold formed ring

the back:

I fold formed a small piece of bronze sheet metal, just like my friend Mona taught me.  Then I soldered it to this coiled piece of sterling wire.  I pickled it to get the black fire scale off the surface and then I used my torch for a few seconds to heat patina the bronze.  That's how I got those rainbow colors!  

see, it's pretty!

Then I wrapped those beautiful orange spessarite garnets across the top of it and it looks like this from the side:

Now I've made the next ring to post later this week.  It's a tulip!

RAW 20/52 - tulip ring

I etched the silver in a class I took from Mona Clee (yes, the same Mona) about 5 years ago.  I wasn't ready to use it for anything until I got this idea.  It was a small piece of silver and I used a disc cutter to cut out the circle that is the middle of this flower.  What was left over had the piece on the left that looked to me like a petal and there was still the small piece that I used for the tulip backing.  

close-up:

I read somewhere that many people use way too much solder on their joins and so I tried to use a smaller amount than I usually do.  It was very important to do that because I didn't want the solder to flow into any of the pattern grooves on the top of the ring.

What I have here is 3 pieces of the etched silver and a bezel I measured and shaped to fit the circle.  

Step 1 - soldered the bezel around the circle.

Step 2 - soldered those to the tulip base.

Step 3 - soldered that hanging petal thing onto the side using my tweezers to hold the edges together as the solder melted because it needed the pressure to stay together during that crucial soldering moment.  That took a bit of ingenuity and patience.

Step 3 - soldered a small fine silver 3mm bezel cup I had that I got for firing into PMC many years ago -and also the three little silver balls I made beforehand- very carefully!

Then I use my trusty hammer handpiece to texture the top of that circular bezel so it would match the texture of the rest of it, otherwise it might look odd.

Oh yeah, Step 4 - the ring band!

That was another etched silver piece I had from Mona's class.  And I still have some more.  It may turn up in another ring one day.

I actually love all the steps and I love working through what order they should be done.  I think it through with the left side of my brain and then I do it with the right side.  You know how I know that?  It's because I lose all track of time, I feel like I am in a wonderful place and I watch the glow of the metal and go by my gut feeling about when it is the right moment for the magic to happen and then there it is, ready to add a patina, then the polishing and then the last step for me is setting that tiny little citrine bullet cabochon that makes it look like only something I could make.

More!  I want to make more rings!

I drew this, my next idea!

And a few weeks ago I got this amazing red rutilated quartz cab!

It's very big and round.  It's awesome!

And yesterday I found this on etsy:

Does it knock your eyes out or what?!  It's only about 3 centimeters but I love this big photo.  I could get lost in there.

I'm getting to be who I always wanted to be, an explorer, a creator, a maker and I get to do things with color and it's always different.

I feel more rested.  My kids are growing more and more into their independence and they are happy.  I'm trying not to control them so much and I'm trying to get along with my husband better during this transition that is gradual, not really so short, in fact it's kind of long.  We are in an ongoing conversation about what we could possibly do when these kids are ready to get on with their lives and make their own decisions.  We've got some time to work it out.  We talk about it every day. 

It IS scary and sometimes we get tense but I'm keeping my mind open and busy and I'm trying to be nicer to myself and to him and not expect so much of what I imagined might happen.  There are 4 of us sharing this part of our lives and I want those kids to decide things for themselves but I want them to know I will listen . . . and I hope they use me because I know a thing or two.

I'm imagining a day when my kids are adults and they still want to tell me about the interesting things they are finding out for themselves.  I hope I was a good example.

Anyway, I'm walking around with my camera still and collecting.  Here are a few shots from this last week.

Shadows on my window sill.

from a cutout my son attached to the window

and a polka dot shot glass I use as a tiny vase,

and some leaves that are dried out that give me ideas about color and enameling:

It's the dots!  I love them!

 

How long? I posted a month ago? What happened? I think I was in a time vacuum.

It's a good thing I haven't made any promises lately because I would have had to keep a list and then keep track of the list.  As it is I've been trying to pare down my commitments so that I can devote myself to making rings but it hasn't really gone exactly as planned.

I did start a list of things I've misplaced and I did that so that I wouldn't drive myself crazy looking for them over and over in the same places and turning up nothing.  My theory is if you're looking for something just write it on the list and forget about it and you'll find it as soon as you stop looking.  That's working for me.

But then I found 2 other piles of lists buried under some books I put away one day when we were having a big dinner with friends.  Both piles were made up of pages and pages of random notes held together by big paperclips and I got completely overwhelmed reading them and so I put them in a pile by the computer and now I'm afraid to look.  Maybe I should just throw them away and move on.  I almost know I should since the lists are about 6 months to 1 year old and if I forgot about them . . . maybe I should follow my own advice and LET GO!  Hmmm . . . this is so difficult . . . they're my notes . . . hoo ha, I read somewhere that it's very free-ing to do that kind of thing . . . @^@ 

Let's just move along shall we?

Latest news:  I got juried into the crafthaus exhibition called 

New Directions: Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) in a Sheet Metal World 

which will be shown in two parts online and part one is up now until mid May.  The title is the link so click on it and go over and see that.  It's full of amazing metal clay pieces.  Mine is in there now and I am so happy and excited to be named and quoted among those wonderful artists.  It's a dream come true!  

For this exhibit I made a box that was inspired in part by my trip to Europe with Grace last year.  We went to Venice, Florence and Rome and got an eyeful of the sights and the architecture and when I went to sit down and begin working again I designed three boxes.  Each has a name and this one is called 

"In Florence They Dance on Mosaic Floors"  

It's 1 1/2" in diameter by 1 3/8" tall and triangle shaped.

Many of my friends have asked to see other views of this box so I guess this is as good a time as any to show it off.

 

I worked on this and two others for hours and hours and one night during the assembly of the individual parts I stayed up all night, took a breakfast break and went back to work.  There was adrenalin in my veins keeping me going as I saw that my vision was coming together.  I didn't start dropping things and since that's one of my criterion for quitting a work session, I just kept on going.

It was tricky getting the sides to match up.

I collaged my patterns for the bottom

and here's a photo of the inside, a small mosaic style floor, with colors that rewarded me for all my work and patience.

I soldered 3 tabs made of argentium sterling silver onto the edge of the bottom of the box so that it can close snug and tight and won't budge but allows the lid to be pulled up and off.  Click on any photo for a larger view.

I do have two more boxes to reveal sometime soon but this is all for now.  They are going to come in handy for submitting in the near future.

*************

I thought I'd show you the individual seal rings and catch you up on the "Ring a Week" challenge.  I'm proud to say I've been keeping up and my ring stash is growing.

I included all these in RAW 14/52

flower seal ring:

side view:

shield ring:

on my finger:

butterfly ring:

side view:

and this one is my favorite seal ring:

on my hand:

and a little detail I added on the bottom of the shank:

Then there was the "Kinetic Challenge"!  RAW 15/52

 Go here to see them all.  Rocking Chair ring

The minute I found this little chair at a second hand shop I knew what I wanted to do with it.  I even knew I wanted it to rock so when Tomi named the kinetic challenge I was so excited and a little nervous because I didn't know how I was going to do it.  I thought about it for weeks and then after I'd cut out the base and soldered the 3x1mm wire around it, the rest of the mechanism came to me.  I was still nervous though and tried to use hard solder for the base and it just wouldn't work for me so I used "medium" solder for it and for the shank.  Then I used "easy" to solder half jump rings on each end and 18 gauge wire to the sides, crossing my fingers that it wouldn't fall apart.  It was definitely a challenge!

Watch my little video!

 

Cute in't it?

Here are my works:

and the bottom view:

NEXT!:

I used that great dotted silver ribbon I showed off in my last post and made a setting for a pyrite bead.  The bead came from a purchase I made on ebay shipped to me from China!  

RAW 16/52 - Pyrite ring

This was inspired by Victoria Takahashi's ball ended connections.  I was all set to draw down the other end and none of my torches were hot enough to do it.  I think the size of the ring and the 16mm pyrite bead were too big.  I need to get me a bigger torch!  I decided to flatten the other end and roll it up instead.  The great polka dot sterling strip came from "Metalliferous".  It's a big ribbon about 1-1/2 inches wide and you can cut it down to fit almost anything.   I love the texture and color of the pyrite!

on my finger:

side view:

other side:

RAW 17/52 - Druzy pearl ring

This one had lots of parts.  1x3 sterling rectangle wire with some 1/2 big dot wire soldered to it.  Two fine silver square-ish pieces of 26 gauge sheet, both shaped in a dapping block.  On one I melted in the edges and on the other I used metal snips to cut a fringe around the edge and then I melted the strands to look splashy.

side view:

on my hand:

  

Then I created a seat and prongs for the pearl from argentium wire so it wouldn't come loose and so it would also be raised up a little.  Finally, I put a small dab of UV resin into the seat and placed the pearl.  After about 5-10 minutes under a UV light, it was hard.  It was inspired by a beautiful enameled ring posted to RAW that looked like a splash. I like how the peachy colored pearl reflects so beautifully on the wall of the clean silver.

That was a good one for sure!  It must sound odd when I write that kind of thing but if you knew what details I have to figure out and measure and try to work out in my mind before the ring will work, when it DOES work, it's cause for celebration.  This one deserves a drink!

So here's my next set of rings RAW 18/52, which I'll be posting later today:

Shiny stacking pair made with PMC:

head on:

worn:

Whew!  And now I am all caught up!  Carry on!

RINGS, rings, rings, rings. RINGS, rings, rings, rings!

Sneak peek!  Seal rings with their wax seals - precious metal clay/fine silver - for my next posting to the group.  #14

I AM obsessed and I like it that way.  I'm just sitting here thinking of ring ideas, doing laundry, thinking of ring ideas, doing the dishes, thinking of ring ideas, stalking my favorite etsy shop before the new things go live, thinking of ideas for rings, looking outside at the sky, "nice day we're having", thinking of ring ideas, drawing pictures, sending my daughter off to swim practice at 5:45 in the morning with a bag of dry cheerios that she likes and a travel cup full of hot tea and then back to bed for a couple of hours, dreaming of rings, it's a nice pastime and I think I'll keep doing it until something comes up to stop me.  Oh dang, rings!

Short and sweet!  I'm focused and not and yes focused again.  Ha, ha!  It's nice to have the luxury of open time and space to watch my mind's train of thought feed, record some of that on paper and spend some hours with my head up in the clouds.  Wheeeeee!

Current rings are:

RAW 9/52 -  wire wrapped agate

Remember when we used to make rings with the thin plastic coated telephone wire left behind by the phone man?  This is a ring I've loved making and can't get enough of the wire wrapped style.

RAW 10/52 - daisy ring

This is all metal clay.  The pattern was made with a rubber stamp and I painted some thick pmc paste on the back and then scratched/carved some lines in it.  

I raised the band up high and gave it a sort of pedestal so it stands up about a quarter of an inch above the hand.  It floats!   

I got a great patina on this one!  It could have been magic even.

RAW 11/52 - I really am seeing a kind of theme here - stars, flowers, circles, ovals . . .

This was a blast to make!  All the parts were sawed out, brass, copper, fine silver, and then I used a dapping block to shape the silver piece to fit the stone so those are tabs around a 10mm ocean picture stone cab.  Each layer was either hammer textured or stamped and six brass escutcheon pin rivets hold it all together.  

AND I have to say that it's impossible to rivet into a tiny space like that with a hammer and I did use a hammer handpiece that I got about 6 years ago.  Oh lucky me!

RAW 12/52 - rainbow moonstone!

I made this metal clay bezel and ring for the big rainbow moonstone and the bezel was too small so I cut it in 3 places and  MADE IT FIT!  

I still posted it because I like how the impression on the bezel and the band match in intensity and depth and I still think it works although part of the outcome really came about because of a lucky mistake.

RAW13/52 - larimar

a beautiful stone I got from this shop on etsy.  I love this stone!

This larimar fit into it's metal clay bezel and worked the way I wanted it to because I made the bezel from PMC 3 and fired it for two hours, then I shaped it to fit the stone and attached it to the already fired base and fired it again. I used a 10mm argentium round wire for the band and soldered it on with easy solder. The gem was slipped into the bezel and the bezel pushed in around the stone.  Because the bezel was pretty thick, it took me a while to get it to sit right.  So next time I make a ring this way, I'm going to make the bezel strip thinner.

Now, I am making my next ring and it's almost finished.  I got a shipment of interesting bezel strips from Metalliferous in NYC last week and also one from another seller on etsy who sells brass bezel strips.  Look what I got!

I can hardly wait to use these new things in my creations.

I also got a beautiful ring one day from nova of sweden.  She is a marvel!

You know sometimes you get lucky and wait and watch and then all of a sudden there it is, IN . YOUR . SIZE . and . YOUR . STYLE . and it calls you over and grabs you and won't let go.  I've been wearing it almost every day.  That on one hand and one of my own on the other.  I am immersed in rings!

And I'm being careful with my supplies.  I'm trying my best to think things through before I commit so that I don't waste the precious materials I have.  They're precious to me.

I've also been on the lookout for things that aren't so precious but still catch my eye that I could include in a ring.  Like these silver plated copper sequins:

and this red glass glitter:

aren't they pretty?  I got them at a big sale at Addison Endpapers in Berkeley.

And then there's the kinetic ring challenge coming up on March 27th . . . thinking about how I am going to make this ring . . . 

I had a super fun birthday last Wednesday and got so many birthday greetings from friends near and far that my head was spinning!  If you're reading this, and you were one of them, thank you!

A very interesting thing happen to me that day and I was hoping some of you would try this out on your birthday - go to the google home page and see if it has a birthday celebration icon for you like I did, and then roll over it with your mouse and pay attention because I think you'll get a surprise - like this.  Click on the picture for more detail.

I am not kidding and it was real and if that doesn't make you feel special then I am just a softie! . . . and happy to be one too.

Welcome! This is a connecting stop in a blog carnival!

It's a blog post about a topic a group of us - in this case, "Ring a Week" - agrees upon and then we all write about it.  At the end of the post is a list of links to other bloggers in the "RAW Challenge" so you can go from one to the other and get an introduction to their blogs and art and see what they think.  It's a great way to explore, especial if you are into RINGS!

The topic of this blog carnival is: 

What was your inspiration for participating in RAW?

Well, my inspiration for RAW began long before I joined.  I was following the "Ring A Day Challenge" that started with the Etsy Metal Team.  I am a fan of many of their 101 members.  I stalk some of their shops for inspiration and also for jewelry I want to buy that in the past I wasn't sure I would ever be able to make myself.  Their blog is the best I've seen for eye candy and for exposure to ideas and techniques.  They share a lot of themselves generously and that's impressive.   

Then I met team member Thomasin Durgin, online through a "Rings for Haiti" ebay auction event in which I won a very cool ring from Sarah Loertscher.  Here is that ring:

and the back cause its very original.

Anyway Tomi (link to her blog) made a ring a day straight for a whole year.  I could barely keep up reading about all the rings the members of the team were posting and there was no way I had the time then to make my own.  The most interesting thing for me about it though was the fact that she had a creative practice that got her into her studio EVERY DAY to work and play, to strengthen her skills and keep her art evolving. (Link to her etsy shop)

So when I was on Facebook one day I noticed (lucky me!) that at the end of that week, the daily challenge would be over and she was going to start a new group on 1/1/11 and you know the rest. 

I really wasn't prepared for how many rings were going to be posted and how many artists were going to join and how my world was going to grow larger than I could imagine . . . and it's only February!

Ring a Week link (AGAIN! for convenience) - you are going to be hearing a lot about this during the year, I'm just sayin'.

To date there are 278 members and 1703 photos posted.  There is the whole range of experience from alternative mediums like paint and wood through beading to metalclay and complete metalsmithing.

So far I've learned: 

+  that if you don't like it, a handful of other people do

+  if you botch a solder job, you can take it apart the same way you attached it and file off the solder

+  you can learn by just looking at the pictures and sometimes there are full detailed descriptions

+  questions are allowed in the comments

+  you don't have to be a member to ogle or comment

+  anyone can join and you can post whenever you want and I'm the kind of person who is trying to keep up for now

+  it's great when someone explains an accident because we all learn

+  I know I am going to look at every single ring as the challenge progresses

+  I have seen some stellar work

+  I have seen some really "outside the box" ideas manifested

+  my skills are improving and I'm taking chances I wouldn't have taken before

+  everyone needs reasons to create and this one is the best kind

+  it's fun to have an excuse for why I am staring off into space - I say "I just got an idea for a ring!"

+  I like going back to read comments about my rings from people I respect

+  I feel capable and appreciated and doesn't everyone want to feel that?

+  I have been exposed to more

+  I feel included and a sense of belonging in something that is bigger than me and I'm there to cheer people along too

All good things eh?

Here are links to all the other members of this challenge who are taking part in the blog Carnival.  Take a look when you have some time.  You WILL be inspired!

Marcie Abney - www.labellajoya.blogspot.com

Joanne Harrill - www.jojobell.com
Thomasin Durgin - www.metalriot.blogspot.com
Amy Nicole - www.rubymtnbeads.blogspot.com
Janice - www.doxallodesigns.blogspot.com
Aleksandra Micic - www.micicart.blogspot.com
Lana Chu - www.ginkgoglass.wordpress.com
Evelyn Markasky - www.markasky.blogspot.com
Kerry Alice-Twigs and Heather - www.twigsandheather.blogspot.com
Lorena Angulo- blog.lorenaangulo.com/
Kate Jones-- www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
Maria Apostolou- www.createjewelry.gr/blog
Sarah Small - www.bysalla.blogspot.com
Rebecca Bogan - www.Adobesol.com/blog
Elaine Luther - www.CreativeTextureTools.com/news
Rebekah Timlin Meddles - www.lunasadesigns.blogspot.com
Laura M (Zoeowyn)- zoeowyn.blogspot.com/
Kimberly (bahamadawn) - www.bahamadawn.blogspot.com
Erin Austin - www.metalmusing.blogspot.com
Michele Grady- www.michelegradydesigns.blogspot.com 
Joan Furilla - jfurilla.wordpress.com/ 
Kathryn Cole- www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com 

 

Next week - a ring constructed with traditional metal smithing techniques! 

OOOOOOH!

Quiet time and creativity - my favorite things.

Staying home because of the rain is a great excuse to get fun time creating some of the ideas I've had swirling around in my head.  Still, some daffodils have popped out in my yard and I got a picture last week before the rain came

Yesterday was a quiet Saturday because my kids left early to meet up with a bunch of their friends to go hang out in Japantown in San Francisco.  They are old enough now and have had some experiences taking BART and carrying around wallets and ID.  Of course, I still hope it will go off as planned and nothing goes wrong.  Nothing ever has but I'm their mom and some worry comes with the job.  

They had a blast and all that went wrong, if you could call it that, was soaking wet shoes from all the rain.  They went in a big gang and then she went off with her friends and he went roaming with his.  They came home with stories of what they ate, what they saw and what they bought.  It was fun to hear them tell me about the costumes they saw from the "Anime on Display" convention happening there.

******************** 

A week ago I went over to Mona's again and she showed me how to do some foldforming.  It was so much fun.  You know I love to hammer metal and that's exactly what we did.  

This is what I made:

front and back

copper leaves - I especially loved how soft the metal became with annealing

silver earrings

These are rather large for me as earrings so I'm planning to make some smaller that I could wear comfortably but don't they look pretty?  I think I need to get some brass sheet metal! 

Mona and I are signed up for a class at the Crucible in a few months.  It's called "Fred Ball Experimental Enameling Technique" taught by Judy Stone, who is an amazing enamel artist herself and runs the department over there.  I can hardly wait!

I've been working on some things to submit to an online exhibit called "NEW DIRECTIONS: Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) In A Sheet Metal World"   I can't show you anything yet because it's not finished and I am still adding and changing my pieces.  But as soon as I can, you know I will . . .

but I CAN show you the last two rings I made.

RAW 7/52 the challenge progresses

cairn ring twins leaning -sculpted from metalclay

They are like the rocks stacked up in the Hawaiian countryside and various other places in the world I've heard.  I couldn't make just one - one is crosshatched and one has 4 little patterns.

Here is my latest ring RAW 8/52:

PMC and Keumboo

I read about a technique where you get the texture for the metal clay from paper so I found some embossed paper, watercolor paper and a piece of plastic with a grid from a box of chocolates since they seemed to complement each other. I always wanted to make a ring with the edges looking like you tore the label off something and the way it curls up

as you peel it off. I also pulled the edges off the top piece so it would look ragged and rough and it's a bit sharp too but putting it on the top with the other two layers just peeking out from behind it, it doesn't hurt you or catch on your clothes, something I'm wary of because I really don't want anyone to ever have to return a piece I made because the top got yanked off. It has a couple of layers of gold fused on there so it's good and bright and they're all held together, shank and 3 layers with argentium rivets that are just barely seen on the top.

This challenge has inspired me so much that I am about 8 rings ahead and it's hard not to post them all but I'm trying to be patient and pace myself. Each week I see more rings and then I make more rings.  It's a great way for me to hone skills and learn.  

Anyway, in my quest for rocks, I got a few pretty slabs of red jasper and Sonora Sunrise:

Sonora Sunrise is a great new find out of Mexico that was the hot new rock at the Tucson and Quartzite Gem and rock shows! It is made up of Chrysocolla, which is a beautiful blue, and Cuprite, which has some great red variations!  (Click on it to see it up close.)

And I found this small thick piece of mica that's pink.

I probably won't do anything with it but look at it.  It's flaky layers make it too fragile for a ring but I love the color and the thickness of it and it was only $4.

 

TOMORROW at NOON:  RAW blog Carnival!  You won't want to miss that!

 

And the winners of the Beaducation Class Giveaway are . . .

 

We had so many great responses that Kate told me I could award two lucky artists with their chosen class.  Mary MacNeill wins "Torch Enameling" and Kalin Stenhaug wins the "Unbreakable Heart Pendant"!

I'll be emailing the winners with the news soon.

I did want to take the time to thank everyone who commented for participating.  I loved all the comments and wish I could have given out a class per person! 

I am just a party girl at heart.

I'm going to go over there and sign up for the "Fleur de Link" class because I scoped it out a few days ago and I love making chains for my pendants.  I think it could look really good with my Unbreakable Heart.  I have a good idea who I could give it to for Valentines Day.

I hope you got a good look at this exiting website and will use them as a resource for learning like I have.

Now go and make something you love!

Beaducation Class Giveaway! Magically delicious!

Have you ever heard of this online company called Beaducation?  It's a great place for learning jewelry techniques by video.

Here you go . . . Take a look around.  Then you sign up with an account and a password and you can put classes into your cart for purchase.  Many basic classes are free and great for people new to jewelry making and also for a quick refresher if you may have forgotten how to:

Use metal letter stamps to stamp on metal

Use a dapping block

Saw metal

Make jewelry with resin

Videos also cover many of the common metalworking tools that Beaducation also sells.

There are a good number of interesting video classes on more complicated techniques like torch firing enamels, wire wrapping projects, riveting projects, soldering rings and bezels (!!!), chainmail, fusing and chain making, viking knit, felting, seed bead work and an intro to PMC class . . . some of the more in depth classes have very fancy results.  These classes all cost $24.95. 

My friend Kate Richbourg is the Director of Education over there and she asked me to review a class on PMC for you all and show you what I made.

I did an intermediate class "Unbreakable Heart Pendant" taught by Emily Miller and I enjoyed it very much.  The video ran in sections and I could work at my own pace.  I get to keep the class forever in my "my classes" section of the site and I can view it as many times as I want.  With the class I also got a detailed 5 page PDF.  I always love those.

Here are my hearts made by following her instructions and adding my own quirky, asymmetrical flair.

I fired them in my little Ultralite kiln today

and then put them together with Emily's thorough instructions.

front and back - I think I did a pretty good job, don't you?

Beaducation hosts some of the premier jewelry making teachers on the scene today and I am really excited to take some more of their classes, especially because I am in a very stay-at-home phase right now and not planning to leave the house much at the moment, you know, I've got a lot of projects I'm working on.

Oh, teachers - they've got classes by:

Lisa Niven Kelly, who is also the creative founder, 

Barb Switzer, Laura McCabe, Dallas Lovett, Kate Richbourg (who I've taken many classes from in person when she owned the amazing store called Beadissimo in San Francisco), Lisa Claxton (love her classes - taken most of them), Kriss Silva (SHE IS BRILLIANT!), Emily Miller, Mel McCabe, Colin Mahler, YES I THINK I DO HAVE TO LIST THEM ALL, Gail Crosman Moore (I've learned so much from her too), Iris Sandkuhler, Liz Jones, Janice Berkebile (!!!), Becky Nunn and Steven James.  The ones I've taken classes from are in bold letters.

So Kate has empowered me to do a giveaway of one of Beaducation's classes to the winner of a drawing I'm going to have on Wednesday February 9th.  The lucky winner will be able to pick any one class from the catalog of all the classes that aren't free.  You can view all the free videos you want between now and when the contest ends to keep yourself busy and distracted.  Just leave me a comment about how much you'd like to win and which class you want to do if the heavens opened up and granted you the wish of the day - POOF!  

Also, there are always sales going on at the site.  Right now it's "Beadily Dee Beads"

and "Wire Framed Beads" for 20% off.  On sale from February 9th to the 18th will be "Fleur de Link" (I've always wanted to know how to do that), "Unbreakable Heart", the PMC class I just took and "Lilies and Leaves".  I wish I could show all the pictures but well that's why you need to go over there and see for yourself.

INSTRUCTIONS (you must follow to be included in the drawing):  Go see their classes and then come back here and leave me a comment telling me which one you'd like to win and I'll do the rest.  The winner will be announced here on my blog on Wednesday night, February the 9th.

Ring a Week

Just an update of the next two rings I made for the challenge.

RAW 5/52 - a sterling silver piece I had cast from a precious metal clay original I made, soldered to a hammered ring band with liver of sulphur patina, resin and little fine silver balls in the bottom.

RAW 6/52 - brown plastic rose, sawed out sterling backing

and a stepped bezel (I mangled it a bit while trying to get it shaped and straight but oh well), sawed out the veins in the leaves after I soldered the bezel on, shaped the bezel at the top last to capture the flower.

The shank was made from and old sterling bangle I had from the 80's.  It's still available as a stock strip over at Rio Grande.  I used my disc cutter to cut out those little tags and then I stamped them with a very cool set of stamps I got from Beaducation a couple of years ago.  They have more fonts than the usual ones you've seen around.  I soldered the tags on there too.  I LOVE SOLDERING THINGS TOGETHER!  I'm obsessed and a whole new world has opened up for me and making things!  It's really exciting for me.

I've been wearing these rings all over the place and I feel so good because I made them.

REMEMBER the Beaducation Class giveaway . . . remember the class giveaway . . . remember the giveaway . . . 

Playing with my iPad while waiting for a friend at the dentist's office

Spending a little time for myself and dreaming of trees. These were made in an app called ARTREE that let's you choose size, shape of flowers and leaves, colors of those and the background and then takes your impulses to create . . . over and over and over again . . . beautifully random.

Rocks!

So then I went crazy over drusy.  I saw some photos of some on etsy and went on a hunt in person.  I covered two gem shows and stayed all day, asking questions.  Essentially they are numerous small crystals on a rock surface, emphasis on small.  In my previous post the silvered one at the beginning is a great example and so is the ajoite further down on the right side of the photo.

I didn't find any good drusy at those shows but I did find these:

This is Stilbite on chalcedony stalactite from India.  It's a beautiful slate, steel blue.  It looks like this in my hand:

Here's an agate stalactite:

It's black like licorice gumdrops.  In my hand it looks like this:

It's going to look so good cut into pieces, properly shaped and set into a ring or a pendant.  I think I can make three pieces that can be set with this one.

And here is my variscite stash.  

When trying to look it up online I get a link to "see turquoise" but that is a misnomer, even though I also read that "The sky-blue varieties are the most valued as gems."  I also read that "it is hydrated phosphate of aluminum and is sometimes used as a substitute for turquoise".  In another entry at "GEMROCKS: Ornamental & Curio Stones" I found that it's hardness is 3.5 - 4.5 - so it's not every hard and that's why it's mostly used for cabochons and carvings.  Good, that's what I am looking for.

About turquoise:  I found out that most turquoise is treated in some way to be harder and not so porous and/or to enhance it's color.  A lot of "turquoise" in today's market has been treated or is reconstructed.  If you want to be sure that something is natural, untreated turquoise you need to get it through a jeweler you trust or someone who has the equipment to test it.  A few points seem important to note:  "Untreated turquoise is porous and possibly brittle and natural turquoise is often backed with a rigid layer of something to make it more durable.

GEMROCKS says about variscite:  "Two ... things should be kept in mind when sawing and polishing variscite rough:   1. sawing should not be done using oil because variscite and some of the other minerals in the typical nodules absorb and become discolored with oils;   2. polishing ... to a flat surface may be difficult because the variscite and other mineral constituents have different hardnesses and/or different degrees of compactness even within individual nodules.  3. caution when cleaning any variscite that has not been treated:   Do NOT use an ultrasonic cleaner,  common cleaning agents or other chemicals (e.g., alcohol or acetone), steam, or even hot water;  use only soft clean absorbent cloth to clean it;  leave it on a dry absorbent cloth until it is completely dry; [and] never let it soak in water of any temperature.

Some carvers of variscite matrix material have fashioned their works so the matrix material greatly enhances or actually provides part of the character of the resulting figures."

And that's the reason I wanted these rocks, because I don't want treated or stabilized or oiled or waxed or dyed or varnished or epoxied.  I want what it looks like and the ease of cutting in this state.  I may seal my finished stones with a little Renaissance Wax at the end.  I will play it by ear.

At one of the gem shows I bought this beautiful, highly polished variscite cabochon and started making a ring for it last week.  It's my 4th Ring a Week.

I had a blast soldering the bezel and some twist wire around it to a small piece of sterling silver sheet.  It took awhile because I was nervous I would melt it but I didn't.  (hooray!)  That rough spot on the base of the setting is some solder that flipped off the bubbling flux and landed in the middle when I was soldering.  I polished it off before I set the stone.

I also soldered small, balled bits of fine silver to the edge after I sawed out the shape of my back plate.  Here are the top, back and side of my finished ring:

.

.

It's a big one and I am so happy with it!

SO I finished it and then the next day I was off to the 60th Anniversary party of the San Francisco Metal Arts Guild.  I just became a member recently to broaden my horizons.  It was a fun party and I met some famous and interesting people wearing really great jewelry.  Of course I wore my new ring! . . . and my filigree-style heart with the little birdcage inside of it on the spiral link chain together with a 38 inch fused little blob link chain, oh, and some PMC lace earrings and 3 sterling bangles I made and another ring I made of PMC too.  I was all decked out in a pretty dress and ready to meet people.  

All the members who attended received this cute little pin commemorating the grand occasion.  There were two women there who were founding members being honored for their lifelong participation, artistry and craftsmanship.  They each wore beautiful handmade necklaces with matching earrings.  For me it was the right place at the right time!

Many of you wrote to say you liked getting a glimpse of my studio out in the yard.  Thanks for writing.  I thought you'd enjoy seeing my work bench inside the house, downstairs where it's not so organized.  I took this late one night after I was working for a while - real life!

click on it . . . yeah, there goes the fantasy . . .