Where have you (I) been?

I am way overdue for a blog update. Some of that has to do with the fact that I’ve been working and some to do with the fact that I was away for a week., just before Easter.

First stop on my trip was to see my friend Holly Kellogg in Connecticut. We had signed up for a 2 day class at the Silvermine Art Center. We’ve been great friends ever since meeting on the airport shuttle on the way to a PMC conference at Purdue in 2006. We like to take workshops together, as it gives us a chance to catch up and be creative at the same time. Here is how we look when considering what workshop to take next…..

This time it was a “Box pendant with Concrete” workshop taught by Robert Dancik. Quite a lot of fun and yes, you will be seeing some concrete in my future work. Not sure how soon, but the ideas are definitely percolating.

Here is Robert demonstrating how to do a heat patina on copper, and a few of his concrete pieces from class and from a show he had at Silvermine.  He’s an excellent teacher. (And thank god so is Holly. I came down with a stomach bug and couldn’t travel when I expected, so I missed the first day of class. Holly helped me catch up on the night before the second day.)

With my creativity revved up, I said goodbye to Holly and headed to Rye to see my friend Susie. I was going to be at her house for Easter dinner and we had plans to make out own version of the Easter bonnet for all of the ladies; Easter “fascinators!”   This meant a trip to   A I Friedman for supplies like silk flowers, birds, floral tape and wire; and a quick stop at CVS for some headbands.

For all of the time we have spent together, Susie and I have never sat down to spend creative time on a project. We had a blast. I’m proud to say there is not one bit of hot glue on these wearables. They’re quite solidly wired together and wound with floral tape. Where appropriate, they are also sewn. 

Here are the five finished fascinators. I wasn’t sure if everyone else would just think we were being dorky, but they all seemed to be happy to have something festive to wear for the party.

We didn’t want the guys to feel left out, so we made boutonniers for them.

I think everyone looked great, even fascinating. A lot more happened on my trip but I’ll limit this blog to the creative part of my journey.