Finally some silver...

Here's some tiny silverware I've been working on. The spoon was the hardest, just because of shaping the spoon part, but these are a lot of fun to make. They are going to become necklaces this week, although I kind of hate drilling little holes in them...but otherwise, all I can do is sit here and look at them. Next photo gives an idea of scale.....




This is one I did out of PMC. I'll be listing all of this as soon as I can in my store on Etsy.

Back at it...

Well, I'm back to building armatures for a new stop-motion film. I am really excited to get back to business. Can't really say much about it, except that everyone involved seems to be going in good directions and it should be a nice little package with it's own personality. It's wonderful to see it all evolve. Here's to a few years of work!

I'm Back.....

I abandoned my poor little blog for a while there....I'll try to be better. Some wonderful old friends and roommates found me on facebook this week- sometimes that thing is wonderful. Can't wait to catch up with them. It was like getting christmas present in April! So, here's some things I've been working on over the winter, along with revamping my Etsy store (still in the process of that).

I got way into felting and knitting/crochet this winter. I've got a whole bin of yarn and about 8 unfinished projects going on. Here's some photos of the felting...





Working on some silver clay jewelry right now...they are in the kiln as I write this, so hopefully will have images soon. I've decided to try just selling jewelry for a while in my shop and keep it simple, instead of having paintings, prints, sculpture, etc....was feeling too jumbled and not really cohesive. It's nice having a platform to experiment with. And let me finish with the fact that most of the Etsy hacks stopped working with Etsy's site changes!!!! This is truly horrible. Those things were wonderful. I think some still work and the guy who does them is updating them to try and get them to work with the changes on the site....and all I can say is please! please! please!

Having a hard time really being motivated lately. Have a lot of stuff need to take pictures of but just can't seem to set everything up to do it. Probably doesn't help that I pulled something fierce in my lower back today while lifting my dog into the car - taking her to the vet b/c a large puss filled wound appeared over night on her belly - tasty, I know...

Oscar Nomination!

Coraline has been nominated for Best Animated Feature Film!! There's some stiff competition, though...not sure if we'll really be able to pull anything off since "Up" seems to be the favorite, but, like they say, it's an honor just to be nominated.... feels great to be a part of it.

Encaustic marathon

Here's some more stuff I've been working on lately...the bird above is my fav so far - just love the look of egrets and herons. I'll never forget fishing early one morning on the Sandy river almost at Marmot dam (which is no more) - the forest coming up around me, testing out the weird made-up flys I did the day before. No one was there yet (it could get annoyingly crowded and tended to attract a lot of snaggers, chucking all kinds of monstrosities into the water), and I'm standing on a rock, casting out into the water, and all of the sudden this massive Great Blue Heron soars out through the trees and and follows the river a little, coming straight towards me through the misty, crisp morning air, breaking through the constant white noise of the river. It looked prehistoric- like I was on a movie set. It was just SO massive, it seemed unreal. Wonderful bright color, too - intensely dark periwinkle blue. It wooshed over me and disappeared again. It obviously realized what a bad fisherman I was and got the hell out- but I still had a great time climbing around on the boulders trying to find the perfect spot to cast my fancy little flies that no fish wanted... and the heron made my day all worth while.






Been experimenting with jellyfish with the encaustic because it has such a nice translucent quality about it. Still trying to get the tentacle area right. It's been hard to make it stand out enough and look right, but not too much like a craft project gone awry with streamers and whatnot.


Here's some more "stitching" patchwork stuff. I kind of like the idea of a 2-D object having to be stitched onto the page to make it stay.




Here's a little landscape after a scene in a movie I was watching. It's St. Petersburg in Russia.

More encaustic...

Just wanted to show you the beautiful simplicity of the materials needed for encaustic painting. Pure beeswax, Damar resin crystals, a little carnuba wax for hardness, and pigment. Love it. Half the fun and intrigue for me and making art is the mixing and getting to know the raw materials and the recipes that have been unchanged for centuries. I love just looking at the chunks of raw ingredients sitting around in old jars and sacks and measuring and experimenting with it all. There is something so beautiful about elegantly simple natural materials. Beeswax. Tree resin. Ground earth pigments. Perfection...

I think I'm going to try and compile a good listing of link to art supplies. (not just in random posts that you have to sift through). I usually shop around a lot on line before I buy, looking for the best info and prices on everything. It will take me a bit, but I will do it!

good basic encaustic supplies and good prices...
http://www.swanscandles.com/store/encausticsupplies.html

ENCAUSTIC, ENCAUSTIC, ENCAUSTIC!!!

OK, time for some pictures...



Started playing with encaustic and I absolutely love it...it's my new best friend.

Craft fairs done!

Met some really great people at the craft show yesterday in Sellwood, so that made the slow sales a bit better. The really great thing is now I can pack away all the crap that you need for the craft shows that's been taking over my house the last month and a half! Now that I have all the stuff to set up temporary shop, there's really less of an excuse to not do it again when they pick up in the spring. The sales on Etsy have been great because of the holidays, and I'm trying to offer gift wrap and direct shipment for those who still need to send their gifts elsewhere - we'll see if anyone takes me up on it - I hope so b/c I've got some cute pearls and snowflakes with sticky backs that I'll get to play with if someone orders it.

Cobra my a*s

Sorry - no pretty pictures this time...I'm pissed...

Boy, you know, it would have been nice if I actually had received any kind of notice that the cobra subsidy ended last month.
I just had a doctor's appointment today (meaning I've "used" my insurance already this month)and came home and opened my insurance bill and it was 3 times what it had been. Like it wasn't bad enough that it got subsidized, but we didn't hear about it for 3 months, so when we were informed, we still owed for the 3 months we didn't know about, if we wanted to take the subsidy. (Hmmmm.......Maybe that's why not huge amounts of people took up the offer - who has hundreds of dollars laying around when you are unemployed - for 3 months of something you can't use - I used my meager savings thinking it was the "right" thing to do). So I paid out almost $500 for coverage I didn't know I had and was useless to me, just to get the subsidized rate... How much does that kick up the "subsidized" rate? It's kind of important to let people know about these things....oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, we live in the last first world yet socially third world country in this world.

Holiday Artisans Sale

Well, here's my little set up for my first show of the season. This was the practice run to see how it all came together. It rained all day and there was not a lot of foot traffic through the area, but it was great to go and actually do it to get used to the whole thing. Next week I'll have a much larger set up, complete with canopy and more items. Just got in some great shadow boxes to figure out a good way to present the dead fairies as a nice whole package. That will be my fun experiment for the week and will hopefully have some done for the big show at Pioneer Square.

Rediscovered one of my favorite weird places to go when I lived in Chicago, this past week. American Science and Surplus!

Here's the website.. www.sciplus.com

Too bad they don't have a store out here. It is a wonderful place to just go and browse around in - you might even come home with some frogs in formaldehyde, as well as the parts to make a little motor for your mad scientist projects at home, or maybe just a bag of interesting blue buttons!

My hands are going on strike!

I haven't done much of anything lately besides making pullovers! Got into another show in December. It's so hard knowing how much to make for these things. At least I have a week between each one, in case I sell out of something, I can make more...You like that positive thinking! Or should I say WHEN I sell out of something. Trying to figure out credit card transactions, all the bits and pieces I'll have to pack for the day, and then the fact that 2 of the shows are outside - in late Nov.! Just bought to metal 2' x 8' grids to hang prints on for an upright display. They are a little too tall, but they were half the price of the other ones, so I'll be dremelling a foot or two off. Luckily they fit in the car- but they won't once everything is packed for the show - so off with their heads...

Eco-fi Fleece?

I am having the HARDEST time finding any of that fleece that is made from old plastic bottles!!! I would love to start making my pullovers with the stuff, but so far the manufacturer I found has no info on where you can get their product!...weird

More craft shows!

Just found out I'm also in the Downtown Holiday Artisans Fair at the World Trade Center Plaza on Friday, November 20th, thanks to the people at Handmade NW!

Here's a link to their homepage:

http://www.handmadenw.com/index.php


I'll be doing this show and the Portland Arts Bazaar on Sunday, November 29th in Pioneer Square. Hope to see you there!






Here's some Ladybug ornaments I'm making for the show.... back to the factory now...

Portland Arts Bazaar!

I just found out that I have been accepted into the Portland Arts Bazaar in Pioneer Court Square on Thanksgiving weekend!! I am now a one woman factory. My 2 assistants sleep all day and then act like they haven't been fed for 2 weeks at precisely 5 pm everyday. Sasha is especially apt at walking through anything and obliterating any sense of order. Nicolas' specialty is jumping onto a pile of tiny, tiny glitter and me not noticing until I've tracked it through the whole house...I guess it made me vacuum, though. Well, I have some definite goals to meet now. Let's see how much I can get done in a month and a half!

Screen Printing...

Well, I've learned how to silk screen this weekend so that I could add labels to my "Perfect Pullovers" on Etsy. I'm setting up a separate shop called "the Pullover" on Etsy to keep them somewhat separated from the more arty stuff, and b/c I didn't like the name Fairy Funeral being printed on them...It just didn't really make sense.



I've found that I really like the way the actual screens look after you've been printing on them- I'm going to have to find some way to use them.

My Little Lady, Ruby

The love of my life, Ruby, is finally peacefully sleeping forever. She passed away early Thursday morning as I lay next to her on my living room floor after collapsing the day before and never really regaining any strength. She was about 13 years old and the best damn dog I've ever known... more human than dog. I only had her for 3 years. I adopted her from a springer rescue group here in Oregon. I wanted to write about this to encourage anyone thinking about adopting a dog to really consider an older one. I wasn't sure how I would feel after Ruby died about my choice of adopting an older dog, knowing that you will have a limited time with them, but now that she is gone I know that I will do it all over again, because even though death is hard, the few years I did have with her were SO worth it, I wouldn't trade it for the world! And if you have an affinity for a certain type of dog and haven't really had any luck at a local shelter, there is a rescue group for just about every type of pure breed out there - just do a little digging, have a little patience, and you will find a good match. So, consider and older dog - they are already trained at least somewhat, they are beyond needing huge long exercise sessions, and basically just want a cozy person and home to feel secure in and live out their retirement years. Yes, they may come with a few more health problems (sometimes), but you just need to be aware of that and plan accordingly - they are worth a few extra visits to the vet! So, that's all for now....goodbye my little Ruby. I love you forever!

Some Beautiful Glasswork!

I saw some beautiful flame worked beads yesterday while browsing through the Etsy Finds email I get a few times a week. Here's the link to her shop:

AKDlampwork:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5297302




Anyway, her work just has an element of elegance and calm that I always wish I would see in American glasswork, but for some reason rarely happens . I know I've commented before on how I really want to like flameworked glass, but I dislike the "carnival trinket" look of flameworking - and finally I've found some work that I really love!
Funny thing is that I asked her what kind of glass she uses and it was the very same stuff I was looking at yesterday after I got a new glass catalog in the mail. The color palette is much more appealing to me than I've ever seen before. Now, I know next to nothing about Borosilicate glass, but it seems like they are finally making soft glass in a range of colors and effects that I think I've only really seen in the harder Boro glasses before. If anyone knows, please enlighten me!

Music Day

Went into the recording studio yesterday to lay down some cello and violin tracks for a friend's album. I've been so busy, I hadn't had time to develope any parts, but we got some good stuff in the end. The engineer was very good, too. It's amazing watching someone who really knows the board and the programs and is fixing and comping stuff in real time in between takes. It's like magic! I'm not sure if the studio is called "The Odditorium" or the rest of the building, but it's the Dandy Warhols building for whatever they want. Looked like there were some greenscreens around for shooting video/film and an area the size of a large club with a stage for a band. Basically, it looked like a warehouse that had been used for raves and no one took down the decorations. I think they might record there, but it might just be where they record acts they like or work with....all very vague to me! All in all, it's fun going in and acting like a quartet to add a little something something to some songs. Now back to restoring these windows sitting in my studio! Happy Labor Day all!

here's Pill Thief's info: http://www.myspace.com/pillthief

Window Restoration...

Well, I'm in the middle of restoring all the second story leaded glass windows for a client in town here. Pretty basic windows. Re-soldering all the broken metal joints, scraping out all the old putty, and reglazing the entire thing. You scrub the putty in with a scrub brush and the putty is a mixture of the regular window glazing putty, turpentine, and a colorant. It's the consistency of thick peanut butter. Needless to say, you get pretty sore from doing this for several hours! Sometimes it is pointless to try and do this with old windows, but these guys are in the perfect condition for it to be worthwhile.