The Results are In ... from the dirty studio contest!

So, I want to show you the results of my efforts to pack up my studio for the 13.5 hour drive from Florida to Maryland tomorrow.  I don't think I need to burn into your head the way the studio looked before today. Here is how it looks right now .. on Monday evening.

The winners are Renate at Put a Little Magic in your Life who came in at 2 hrs., 35 minutes.  Green beads are going to Renate.

And, because Sylvia at Studio Sylvia was only 10 minutes shy of Renate's best guess, she will be receiving blue beads.

Thanks to everyone who played along.  It made my job of packing up much more fun.  My successful time of 1 hr and 10 minutes is the result of that great tool bag and the black jewelry case that holds 8 trays.  Actually, the studio is looking a little cleaner than I normally leave it, but if I had said it took me only 40 minutes or something, you all would have thought I cheated!  

On another note, on this Memorial Day in remembrance of those who fought for our freedoms ... no matter in what country you live ... my deepest gratitude.  

A Contest Like No Other!

You have a chance to win beads ... and you don't have to do any of the work.  In fact, I have to do ALL of the work.  The only thing you have to do is to post this contest on your blog and make a prediction!

Here's how it works.  I have a messy studio to repack for my return trip to Maryland.  The person who comes the closest to guessing how long it will take me to clean up the studio ... essentially to repack ... will win a set of 5 ridged beads in any color of your choosing.  You simply need to select an enamel color from any of those on my etsy site.  First, your prize ... remember, you pick the color of your beads.  They will be made to your precise specifications!  :-)

Here are pics of the work areas that need to be packed up/cleaned up for the trip to Maryland and a brief description of the work that needs to be done.

                                      

The enamels need to be put on the shelf, the pliers in the tool bag, the area wiped down.

Bead trays put in carrying case.

Holy crap!  It's getting worse ... enamels sorted out and placed in some logical order and placed in trays for the carrying case. 

Pliers packed up, stainless bowls emptied and cleaned, tools and metal discs packed up in some logical order.  

OMG!!!  Tools, resin stuff and resin accessories packed up. Don't forget the bead boxes in the drawer needing to packed away!

Sink area wiped down, brushes cleaned, baking soda taken into house.

So, post your guess on this blog ... how much time will it take me to pack up, post the contest on your blog, be thinking of what color beads you want, and pray that I don't leave anything behind!  The one that comes the closest wins ... the time and the winner will be posted on Tuesday morning!  

P.S.  If I take a break, the meter will be paused until my foot goes back into the studio!

Sea Grasses Collection

Over the past several months, I've had people ask me if I would sell smaller sizes of enamels in sets.  On my 13.5 hour drive from Maryland to Florida, I came up with some nice enamel collections ... with some cool names.  Each of the enamels are sold in 1 oz. sizes and are opaque, unless indicated as Transparent.

This one is called "Sea Grasses" and consists (from left to right) of Nut, Lichen, Nile Green Transparent, Robin's Egg Blue, and Moca.  These are Thompson Enamels, 80 mesh, medium temperature/medium expansion.  The cost for this collection is $16.40, plus shipping.

Nile Green Transparent over Nut

Lichen

Robin's Egg Blue

Nut 

I'll be adding more collections, like Summer Breezes, English Garden, Hot 'n Spicy, Rum Runner, Cafe Au Lait ....  Don't those sound great?  :-)  I know you're already conjuring up images of what enamels with be in each set.  

Pieces for New a Necklace

I've been working in the studio while I'm in Florida and I want to share with you my progress.  First of all, even though it's been hot, the humidity has been low (a miracle!) so I have not had to resort to working in my bathing suit!  Everyone ... including me ... is appreciative of that fact.

Sterling Silver Flowers and Discs, Lampwork Doodles, Teeny Tiny Enameled Washers

I've been working with the Swanstrom Disc Cutter that I purchased from Jeanette at Fundametals.  Not everyone is at the place where they want to invest that much in a disc cutter.  Will the amount of discs I'll be cutting be worth the investment?  Do I have an ample supply of Advil to handle the headaches I'll be getting if I don't buy a Swanstrom?   These are the questions you should be asking yourself.

When you first get into metal work, if you're like me, you invest in the economy disc cutter.  The main reason is, of course, price, which is why the word "economy" is such a standout.  I mean, you're having to buy a million other things.  It's kinda like when you buy your first house ... the lawnmower, the leaf rake, the blinds for the windows ... it all hits you at once.  But when you're ready to invest in the best, by a Swanstrom.

Jeanette is a great supplier of tools ... competitive pricing, speedy and personalized service.  I know my husband worked with her on buying my Christmas present ... a flexshaft for Florida.  I recommend buying from the independent business owner when you can ... "Buy from the little guy!"  (Hey, do you think I can sell that?)

Without the Swanstrom disc cutter, I would not have been able to cut these teeny, tiny washers (6mm), which I enameled.   Of course, enameling them was no challenge using the Painting with Fire method.  Stick in on a mandrel, put it in the flame, dip it into enamel ... you're done. Of course, if you want to apply Klyr-fire and sift ... have fun!  I would have had all of the enamel knocked off by the time I got them to the torch! :-)

The stylized flowers and discs are sterling silver.  I did not wash the silver, deplete the silver, scrub the silver ... on the mandrel, to the flame, in the enamel ... off the mandrel!  The surface texture is achieved by hammering.

Lampwork doodles

I've done some lampworking ... not a lot ... but I have had some glass rods sitting around, because they don't have a home in my Florida studio.  These were hijacked by the movers!  I used to make my own glass head pins.  These are just a step up in terms of size and are fun to make.  Susan Kazmer had a couple of necklaces that had a lampwork bauble dangling from a pendant and I thought, "Hey, that's a great idea!"  Thank you, Susan!  

                                     

So, how these items will all come together is anyone's guess ... we'll have to wait for the book!

Lichen Bead in Treasury

It's always such a gift when you get added to a treasury.  Thank you!

Enamel Explorations

I had a great semi-private lesson yesterday at the Morean Arts Center, St. Pete, with two students who had taken the Torch-Fired Enamel Workshop I.  Yesterday was all about play.  We worked with liquid enamels, shibuichi a la Maire Dodd, sgraffito, millefiori, cat's whiskers, ceramic underglaze pigments ...

The first pic is of a felted vessel by Vicki, who is a talented fiber artist and teacher.  The final thing we do at the beginning workshop is to embed wire shapes into the enamel.  This is Vicki's wonderful felted piece with her growth spiral pendant.

Next comes a parade of torch-fired enamel explorations ....

                                      

That's All Folks! 

Color on Metal Workshop with Susan Kazmer

It was an enlightening workshop today with Susan Kazmer.  She is masterful at forging different shapes and objects from simple metal sheet and wire.  I can't tell you the restraint it took to not stick a mandrel in my pendant and dangle it in the flame!  Be done with Klyr-Fire and handling tiny shapes and knocking half of the enamel off while getting it to the torch.  I never thought of my hands as being big and clumsy ... but today proved otherwise!

Experimented with some crayons ... forged a cone and some interesting shapes.  For the torch firing I would have to say ... the differences in our approaches is what makes the world go 'round!

Susan had a lot of the pieces on exhibit from her book on cold connections. To be up close and personal to beautiful works of art was a thrill.  She is a very giving instructor and holds back nothing.  It was worth every cent ... and more.

My two table mates ... Britton and Donna ... were wonderful.  Britton, a meeting planner, had just arrived on the red eye from Vegas and got to the hotel at 8:40 a.m.!  Donna Barnanko is an accomplished jewelry artist and treated me to so much beautiful work ... from riveting to woven beaded bracelets that you could stare at for hours and still not see everything.  Donna is a teacher at Stars Beads in Vienna, VA ... so she's only a hour or two away from me.

Here are a few photos from the workshop:

Donna, and her treasure!

The Treasure!  Beautiful Sunset Orange Enamel and Fire Scale! 

One of Donna's pieces of jewelry ... a wonderful ring!

Britton at the bench pin ... filing away!

Our fearless leader!

On to Florida for two weeks where I'll give a semi-private lesson in advanced enameling techniques including use of liquid enamel, graphite pencils, overglaze enamels, liquid enamels with ceramic underglazes ... and to making projects for the book!   Talk to you soon ... thank you for stopping by!  

It's Art and Soul Time!

I'm here in my hotel room at the Embassy Suites in Hampton, VA.  The accommodations are great and I managed to grab a glass of wine before they closed the Manager's Reception.

Gosh, but I wish my buddies were here with me. I did run into a student from the Reston Workshop sponsored by Jeanette and Cindy.   We had a really nice chat and I found out that she is moving to the Tampa Area in the Fall!  We'll be about 25 minutes from one another at times I'm down in St. Pete.

I wanted to share with you my tool tote.  I've struggled with carting tools back and forth from Maryland to Florida before I came across this tote on sale at Target.  If you're like me, you've invested in things you think will make life be soooo much easier.  Sometimes things do accidentally work in your favor!  This tote sits on the corner of my work table and has been great for daily use and when it's time to travel, all of the tools are together.  With the addition of just a few things that don't get daily use, I was out the door on my way to Art and Soul.

I should have taken my camera with me tonight because there were some Mad Hatters getting ready for the Tea Party!  Tomorrow ... I promise more photos.

Fun Little Pins!

Well, the day is almost here for me to go to my first Art and Soul Retreat!  I think I had mentioned this ... well, it's been so long ago it seems like ancient history ... but I think it was in September in a blog post. Can you guess what class I signed up for?   You're right if you guessed Susan Kazmer's class on applying color to metal!  I am so looking forward to it.

So, in the meantime, the studio called out to me today.  Some time ago I had bought some wire at the welding shop. I love the welding shop and hardware stores ... especially the old-time ones in small towns.  They could hold my attention for hours ... which is amazing considering Laura says I have the attention span of a gnat!  But this wire is the most beautiful bronze color.  It is about 20 gauge and very, very stiff.  I suspect it is steel.  Here are the pins I made with it.

"Patriot" ... sans the word "Act"

"Most Delicate"

"Most Delicate"

I cut the wire to about 7" in length.  I flattened one end of the wire by hammering (forging) it.  With metal snips ... actually because this wire is so stiff the cutters were more like 18" long ... I cut the end of the wire into a point and filed, filed, filed ... the edges, the depth and width of the wire.  I polished the wire tip to a smooth finish with my electric polisher and some Zam.  You wouldn't want to snag any clothing. This pin is great on linen fabric or loosely woven knits.  In the Fall and Winter (which we're still recovering from),  it will be perfect with a scarf ... just don't use it on finely woven fabrics.

The rest of the making is pretty self-evident.  These pins are fun to make because you can get really quirky with the bead selection.  It's not like you're designing a necklace.  These are quick and spontaneous and a great way to use up a few leftover beads.  I'll get more details on the wire and will report back.  It's perfect for this type of pin.  

I Don't Sound Like a Robot!

Talk about 1984 ... below is what I dictated into Microsoft Word using MacSpeech Dictate.

"Hey everybody! I'm dictating using this amazing MacSpeech dictate to create this blog entry and I am totally blown away at how accurate it is. I just received it from Amazon.com and I spent about five minutes reading a little story into the computer so it trains the software program to be able to detect my words and here it is.  It is pretty darn accurate.  This is totally awesome! Goodbye now I have to play with my new toy!"

I can't wait to spend time with my computer and this program in my studio.  My intent is to use Dictate to record all of my movements when making jewelry!  Woohoo!

Website Photos

I'm in the process of having a website designed and I needed a model with good collarbones. Laura is home for a friend's wedding ... the first of her friends to tie the knot.  We had fun with the wind today ... it gave beautiful tousled hair without any effort.

Happy Mothers' Day!

First a sprint and then a marathon!

Stele

The first due date ... the finalized Table of Contents ... due tomorrow ... is finished today!  I've been missing my blogging buddies (who my daughter calls, "The Bead-ettes!") these past couple of weeks ... just had to keep my nose to the grindstone.  From this point on, the Table of Contents is written in stone.

But, we artists ... we don't like stones ... we like something more malleable ... But, such is the way of the business world ... and rightly so. We artists like wiggle room!  (why am I speaking in the third person ... well, I don't really know ... maybe it's safer to include a million other people in the tribe called "artist".)

My Favorite Bead in New Colors

Hi guys!  Here is my favorite style of bead done in some luscious new colors.  Bright and shabby chic ... you decide!

Tangerine

Aqua Ice

Cotton Candy

You'll find them in my etsy shop.

I see ... I see ... an I-Pad in my future

Recently I had the joy of showing my potter friend, Sarah Houde, the sites of St. Petersburg.  It just so happened that Sarah had brought with her a glazed pitcher she made of Highwater Clay and Amaco Glazes.  She saw on the website that Highwater has a distribution site at St. Pete Clay.  Sarah had questions about the compatibility between the clay and the glazes she used on the pitcher.  Well, weren't we lucky to find that the President of Highwater Clay and a V.P. of Amaco were on site for a pottery demo celebrating Highwater's grand re-opening in their new location in the historic train station that houses St. Pete Clay and the Morean Arts Center clay studios.  Whew! ... that was a mouthful and it isn't even the subject of this post.

Sarah came up with the bright idea that I should use a voice activated dictaphone to "write" my book on torch-fired enamels.  Well, one thing led to another and after some serious investigation, I decided on the Apple I-pad.  The I-pad is already available, but the one with the 3G network for email and internet access when you're not near Wi-Fi is not available until May 7.  So we ordered one during our drive back from Florida last week.

I had been researching programs such as MacSpeech Scribe and MacSpeech Dictate.  I am jumping for joy over the possibility of using MacSpeech Dictate for the book.  You speak and your words appear on the screen.  So, imagine, I'll be using tools and making pieces and it will go something like this ..."round nose pliers" ... and those words will magically appear on the screen. Woohoo!

I am so excited ... It will alleviate the tedium of cursively recording your movements in making a piece.  Special thanks go to Sarah ... who is also a dynamite potter.  Check out her work here.