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This year's Artfest bag. It is one of my favorites ever!
Here is what it looked like outside my bedroom window. The colors!
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Same window, other direction.
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First day I taught a class called "Frameworks" and we made small picture frame pendants with silver precious metal clay. Here are some of the students' unfired work in progress.
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Sorry, when I took the photos, the people who made them weren't standing next to them and with 18 students in each class, I was not prepared to keep track. But these pieces were made by mostly beginners in this medium and I was so pleased, impressed and moved by their understanding and ability.
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Mary Kirkou-Cameron (below)
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and this is what the previous photo's pieces looked like stacked on a chain in two layers. Gorgeous!
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Vicki Lum's frame is so pretty!
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What the kiln looked like when the firing was done and before we took the little ceramic disk out. See the red glow? It's HOT!
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Below, this frame on the left was
Pam Garrison's. Just wait till you see all of these frames finished! No fair peeking...
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Fired but there's still work to do on it.
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Picture frames - FRONT
Click on the photo below to see the larger view. These are amazing! I'll tell you when I was starting out, I made nothing like this. I call those "the primitive years" but that's another story...
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BACK (mostly)
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Day 2 - WOW! "Precious PMC Collage"
I had 18 students again and everyone was so excited to work. Some people got extra clay and we had so many pieces that we filled the warming tray twice. Ooops! I thought this was going to be the easy day! We did manage to fire everything, BUT
... someone turned up two of the ultralite beehive kilns on the third firing of each kiln. I know it wasn't me because I wouldn't do that. The bottom layer on each disk melted to the disk and we lost those pieces.
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Oh, the kiln, the fire alarm, the fireman, and the rest! I wish that person wouldn't have done that, and luckily we were almost done and that is all we lost. I understand maybe someone thought "higher temp... faster firing", but it wasn't so. Because of the fiber blanket and the many layers, the heat went so high on that lower layer that the pieces melted. I don't blame you for not admitting you did it. That is a hard lesson to learn but I'll bet if any of those people get one of those kilns they won't make that mistake... and next time I won't let so many pieces get fired. I was in class for an extra hour and I had to really hustle to set up my vendor table. Still I had so much fun with my students. It was a fast paced class and we got so much done!
Vendor Night
I shared a table with my dear friend Ruth Rae.
(Go here for photos. SHE took lots of photos) OF COURSE she got there before me. She did do a really nice job of fixing it up though. Thanks Ruth.
I had made these earrings for Jean Wade because she bought one of my birdhouses last year (just in case she might need them). She did need them!
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Here is another pair I made with hummingbirds. I sculpted a hummingbird and had it cast in sterling silver. I am going to put these in my etsy shop later today. I am trying to get caught up, but it is slow going.
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Leslie Hale. Shhhh, don't tell Pam ("that I got a monkey pendant too!). I met Leslie at "Play" a couple of months ago and she is really cute AND fun!
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The next day I took a class from
Ruth Rae and I got to sit next to my friend
Martha. What a fun day! I didn't finish my project in class. There were so many things to learn and people to talk to. So when I got home I finished it and it looks pretty good even if I do say it myself.
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And no Artfest is complete for me without Frendl, who jumped up into my lap while I was sitting on the bench outside the commons. I think she likes me.
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Whew! And it was over just like that.
So I planned a night over in Seattle so I could pack up my things and ship them home on Monday. Sunday night I took a walk and saw this.
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I love taking pictures of graffiti, ever since I took that class with
Lisa Engelbrecht a few years ago at Artfest.
Here is something I saw in a cool clothing store window downtown the next day and I took about 30 pictures of all the glass gems hanging in that window from all angles. It was about 7 am and I had to pay my parking fee because Sunday, when you can park for free, was over. Only a few people saw me snapping away.
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When I got home, all the things I had put off and ignored were still there for me to take care of, not to mention a husband, 2 teenage kids and 3 dogs. Oh dear! Luckily it was 10:30 PM and I could go get in bed and not have to do anything that night.
Oh, one of my plants died. I forgot to tell them to water it. The house was quite messy. Dust and fur was all around. I am half unpacked but there is more to go.
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It is the latest and greatest book out on the subject!
My page!
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I always, ALWAYS, ever since I can remember, after I started getting good at this metalclay medium wanted to be on THE PAGE with all these other artists. Hmmm, I wonder what else I can come up with that is that specific to want. I am sure to get it if I can imagine it.
What do you want?
What do you think?
Questions worth asking yourself and then seeing if you can come up with the energy to go and get them.
More bronze clay madness!
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All these pieces have been touched by a torch for the colorful patina that I like. The last piece in this photo is Martha's copper heart cutout from Ruth's class. We traded cutouts and I stamped mine with the word "HARMONY."
and more bronze clay pieces (click for larger view):
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The first one (above) was just polished with a fiber wheel and my flexshaft, the second one was also tumbled in steel shot and the rest were polished with the wheel and then I added the torch patina and polished off the high spots with a little fine grit sandpaper.
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A bronze clay rose and leaf pendant. I just strung it this way to show you the way it looks. I don't know that I will leave it this way. Aren't the colors pretty?
And last, a tribute to my friend
Lora Hart who has made some earrings similar to this, my version with half circles in bronze with sterling wire. I love them!
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Me, tired but happy and satisfied with life.
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The stencil stamp version:
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Ooooh, oooh! What else can I think of? Plenty. I am going to go do some of it now.