October 29, 2012 · 7:54 pm

On Sandy’s edge

When Bruce knew he was going to miss several days of hauling lobster traps, he suggested that we do something we have put off for over a year; paint the living room. The laundry was done, the gas cans for the generator were full, chili was made for supper, and the dishes in the dishwasher were clean. We figured we could get a day of painting in before the power went out.

We started by taking everything off the walls and moving stuff into the center of the living room.

 

Testing the color. (Something we probably should have done before we moved everything. Fortunately we liked it.)

 

While waiting for the first coat to dry, we took a walk to check on the weather. The wind had picked up quite a bit. We tried to take some “selfies” with the wind at our back.

 

 

 

Here’s what it looked like facing into the wind….

 

Low tide, looking east. It’s going to get worse tonight, but we’re much better off than others in New York and New Jersey.

 

It’s now 8 p.m. and we still have power. The second coat is on the walls but we’ll probably wait until tomorrow to do the trim and paint the dining room.

Tomorrow is also the big reveal day for Lorelei’s ceramic hoop challenge. I finished my pieces, and hope we still have power so I can post what I made and see what everyone else made. We may have a generator but if the island loses power, we lose our internet signal. So, if you don’t see a new post tomorrow, you’ll know what’s going on up here on our little island in Maine.

 

Here’s a sneak peak at my finished piece…..

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October 24, 2012 · 7:39 pm

Tuesday afternoon clouds

I’m glad I looked up!

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October 21, 2012 · 10:32 pm

At last. Back to work with PMC.

I feel like I’ve been away from my studio for a long time. Last week I finally started to get back into the swing of things. I have a number of designs in my head, but I wanted some silver components to include in the finished pieces. What a great feeling to get out my precious metal clay, start listening to a new book on CD, and spend a couple days cranking out some of the beads and components I’ll be using this week.

Leaves are a recurring theme for me. I like the simple lines of the bunchberry leaf because it looks great on its own and it combines well with other shapes. So, the first components I made were from the familiar leaves that grow along the side of the road by my house.

Next, some small textured teardrop shapes. (Hmmm, kind of like an inverted leaf!)

I also made several shapes of my hollow silver rock beads, and some flat and domed spacer beads. Here’s the kiln load, before any of the finishing steps. I know, the dish towel looks a little gross.

Why make flat spacer beads with expensive PMC when they could be chopped out with a disc cutter? Because I can make them thicker than the gauge of sheet metal I would be able to cut out with a disc cutter, the holes are easy to drill before firing, and I make the flat spacers out of rehydrated PMC scraps. I can tumble them for a good long time and the edges will sparkle. I use the spacer for accents, so most of what you see are the edges. I’ve never been able to get that reconstituted clay to be as smooth as fresh clay. It doesn’t take a texture as well, and it is more porous. I learned this spacer trick from Fred Woell, and I use it a lot when I have old clay scraps I want to rehydrate.

With this batch of components I also wanted to try something I read about on Vickie Hallmark’s blog.  She has shared a lot of information about fusing Argentium with fine silver and sterling silver metal clay. (Argentium is sterling silver, but instead of sterling as an alloy of fine silver and copper, it is an alloy of fine silver and germanium.) I fuse Argentium wire to make my own closed jump rings and chains, but I have never tried fusing Argentium to any of my fired PMC pieces.

I used to solder the ends of sterling silver wire to the edges of these leaves to have an attached wire for making a wrapped loop of an earring.  It was hard to hold the wire in place while waiting for the solder to flow, and I usually ended up with solder flowing onto the front of a few leaves. That is not where I would ever want to see it. (Oy, I hate to solder!) Then I tried imbedding fine silver wire in a small ball of clay at the back of the leaves so I could fire the wire in place, omitting the need for soldering. This worked okay, but it used more clay than I wanted on such a thin leaf, and the softer fine silver wire did not have the strength I wanted for an earring. Even with work hardening, there was a little weak spot where the wire went into the clay and I couldn’t reach it to harden with a hammer or burnisher.

So today, I coiled a bunch of Argentium wire ends (20 ga), hammered them, and set them on top of the leaves on a fire brick, and fused them with my torch. There was a little trial and error with overheating the wire, but I quickly got the hang of it. It was so much faster than soldering and so much stronger than imbedded fine silver.

Tomorrow, these pieces will all get a little liver of sulfur bath and  some hand polishing. Then they’ll be ready for jewelry action.

Thank you Vickie Hallmark and everyone else who shares information so generously on their blogs! I have learned some of my favorite new techniques and gained so much inspiration from reading the blogs of other artists. I hope I am paying it forward with my own blog.

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October 15, 2012 · 8:36 pm

Wooty woot!

One of the blogs I like to check regularly is the one written by Lorelei Eurto. She is always finding unusual beads and components to use in her jewelry designs, and she has an amazing eye for creating asymmetrical necklaces. Her pieces are sophisticated and funky with an inspiring sense of playfulness.

Lorelei and her fellow jewelry designer Erin Siegel wrote a book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry, published in May of this year.  It’s full of new ideas for using a variety of beads and fibers in necklaces, bracelets and earrings.  I’m  happy to have it on my bookshelf, and I find it evocative every time I look at it.

Lorelei offered a challenge on her blog last week. She would randomly select 6 people to receive identical sets of ceramic hoops, generously donated by Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio. All we had to do was leave a comment, and our names would be thrown into the pot.

Well, wooty woot! I was one of the 6 people chosen by random! Thanks Lorelei, and thanks Karen. A challenge is just what I need to urge me back into the studio.

These cool pieces arrived in the mail on Friday. I have until the reveal date, October 30, to design something new. To think outside the box.  I can’t wait to see what we all come up with.

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October 13, 2012 · 9:27 pm

To get back into practice…

…of blogging more often, I started to sort through my photos tonight, looking for something to post. I came across this great blue heron that I saw on one of my early morning walks in the summer of 2011.

This is a special bird to me for many reasons. I love seeing them return to the island in April, and I miss seeing them in October when they have headed south.

That’s all I’ve got for a Saturday night.

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October 11, 2012 · 11:06 pm

Too long away

The last two and a half weeks I have not been quite up to par. My stomach has been running the show, stealing my energy and causing some pain. I’ve been too long away from the studio and too long away from blogging.

I tend to lean into depression when I don’t feel well, especially when it goes on for more than a few days or when I can’t figure out the cause. I feel like some kind of slacker or lame ass who can’t get her act together. I try to work in the studio, but find it hard to focus. With plenty of work  to catch up on I can’t figure out where to start or what to do first, so I judge myself harshly and decide I’ve done nothing.

That’s how I felt today and it’s time to draw my brakes and stop the downhill slide.  I have not done nothing. I may not have finished the work I wanted to but I have been working on bits and pieces that I’m excited to pick up and use as soon as I can. Taking photos to put up on the blog helps.

Here are some leafy headpins I made last week with translucent polymer clay.

I used some of my down time to wrap a bunch of copper and silver-filled wire into small leaf shapes. I hammered them to flatten and harden the wire, making it a ready base for thin layers of translucent polymer.

I colored the translucent clay with alcohol ink and rolled out thin sheets to apply to the wire frames.  I sandwiched  microbeads between the sheets of clay for most of the leaves. It wasn’t until later that I thought about trying some waxed linen between the layers.

I’m pretty happy with the results, and I have a bunch of ideas that will “stem” from these.

Tomorrow won’t be a studio day for me as I’ll be off the island to get a CT scan to see if we can figure out what’s going on in my stomach. Yeah, it’s hard not to imagine dire things, but I’ll balance those thoughts with the thought that this could be nothing more than a weird reaction to stress.

Meanwhile, I’ll be thinking of plans for these leaves. Maybe I got more done last week than I thought.

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September 27, 2012 · 9:19 am

I can’t go, but you still can

I apologize to all of my friends I sent postcards announcing I would have a booth at this event. An unexpected health issue came up and I had to cancel my plans to be here. (Okay, just so you don’t worry about it being anything dire, it’s diverticulitis and I’m taking oral antibiotics and I feel crummy. But it looks like I caught it in time to avoid having to go in for IV antibiotics.)

It’s a minor blip in the road, but it’s the first time I’ve had to cancel out on a show.  Christina Heiniger, who organizes this fun show, couldn’t have been nicer when I called her. “Oh, I’ve had to cancel out on shows at the last minute. Don’t worry. Just get some rest and feel better.”

So, that’s what I’m doing.

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Beads, Baubles & Fleece Downeast: Fall Bead, Jewelry & Fiber show
4th Annual Show, happening Autumn Gold weekend in Ellsworth.
Friday September 28, noon-7pm
Saturday September 29, 9am-4pm
Ramada Inn (Schoodic room, off lobby)
215 High Street, Ellsworth, Maine

Doorprize of over $150 of beads and goodies.
$1 Admission Adults, children 12 and under free.
25 Vendors will be participating in the show, including Bead Shops, area jewelers and fiber artists.
Something for everyone:
Featuring both supplies and finished work.
BEADS: Czech glass, gemstones, vintage, porcelain, crystal, pearls, lampwork, findings, and more.
JEWELRY: Handcrafted by talented artisans.
FIBER SUPPLIES: Handspun and hand dyed Yarn, Roving, Buttons, felt beads and more.
FINISHED FIBER ART: Knit, woven and felted clothing, accessories and more.

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September 13, 2012 · 9:00 am

Moss on the dock…

 

…and lichen.

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September 9, 2012 · 11:12 pm

Losing and finding some balance in the plein air painting workshop

After the last meal was served to the public, and people said goodbye to the summer of 2012, the Islesford Dock Restaurant served up their 4th annual plein air workshop.

I signed up for the second session with high expectations of having  no expectations of myself. I was going to be relaxed this year when it came to painting. I had finished a small batch of jewelry for the last hurrah at Winter’s Work and I was ready to enjoy the time off, the great food, and the chance to do nothing but be creative for 2 and 1/2 days. My good friend Holly was about to arrive from Connecticut to take the workshop with me.

Here’s the thing. I have not picked up a paint brush in 2 years, which is the last time I took this workshop. When I imagine painting, I picture myself magically being able to produce something I would like to hang on my wall…as if any talent I might have could just develop in the background, over passing time, to be picked up again at a more advanced stage than when I left off.

On my first day I had way more expectations than I realized. I forgot about relaxing and enjoying the plein air. I compared myself to everyone else and judged myself to be  woefully inept at painting or even having a good time trying to paint. 

 

 

 

Lunch was delicious, and then my afternoon attempts at painting  brought me to tears. I hate being the one to cry at these times. I don’t want to be upset. I don’t even know why I get this upset. I hate the attention it calls to me as people try to fix it or make it better. I just want to crawl into a hole. Good times…not!

After the first day of painting, I left in the middle of dinner. The last thing this introvert could handle was making sparkling conversation with new friends. I was disappointed in myself and exhausted. I went to bed before 9, a very smart thing to do.

I started with a fresh attitude and some new ideas (aided by 10 hours of sleep) on Saturday morning. The group was going to Bunker’s Cove which is one of my favorite spots on the island. I also decided I would put aside my oil paints and try some of Holly’s acrylics. I liked the new medium, a lot. I knew nothing about working with acrylics, so the morning was more about discovery than being effective with the supplies. I could have paid more attention to that feeling and stayed in it. But after lunch I was back to the expectations of really liking my creations and I just couldn’t do it. For the second time I was in tears, and so disappointed in myself for having another day like this. Sheesh! What a crybaby! What a jerk! I hated myself and the whole idea of taking a painting class. I was never going to do this again.

I worry so much about what other people might think. I imagine they are seeing most of my actions as social faux pas. (Yeah, I even Googled that to make sure I had the proper form for the plural of “faux pas!”) I judge myself quite harshly unless I am completely alone for hours, or better yet, days. This is not a very relaxing way to live, and it seems to be ingrained in me. It’s part of who I am. The last two days highlighted many of the things I dislike about myself, and I was uncomfortable and unhappy for a good part if the time. BUT…and this is a huge and important BUT…..I stuck with two of the paintings I started yesterday afternoon. I put them down and picked them up again.  I gave them a chance over and over. Eventually I made them into something I liked.

THAT is the metaphor for where I am right now as I  make my way through my 60th trip around the sun.

No matter how many tears I shed, no matter what I am going through, no matter how much I hate it, no matter how many times I knock myself down, I always get back up again. I stick with myself. I do not give up, no matter how low I go. And this is a very good and strong part of myself that I need to claim as easily and confidently as I claim my self doubt. I have a good sense of humor that pulls me along  through so much gloom. Life is pretty damn weird and funny and I’m happy to be able to see it that way, even if it’s not all the time.

I don’t think this workshop was about painting for me. I think it was about finding some balance. About seeing the “bad and good” in myself and feeling comfortable with it. I think it was about trying a different approach and sticking with it for a while to see how it influences the other parts of my life.

As the group left, I stood on the dock feeling pretty happy to still be on the island. I also felt a little bit sad and lost, and a little bit ready to try some more painting.

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August 29, 2012 · 8:47 pm

On the occasion of Bruce’s 61st birthday…

…the sun made a most spectacular exit!

 

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