That's how it feels as we near the weekend! I have a full weekend planned including celebrating a friend's birthday but I wanted to show all of you my newest creation before I head out!
Title: What a Steamship Mechanic Wears to the Ball
Ingredients: hand-finished brass and brass filigree, amber, tiger eye, glass, vinyl, thread.
I hand-drilled and distressed the wing as well as hand-sewing the brass filigree that finishes the ends of this vintage-leather-look vinyl.
I envisioned this wing dripping with jewels! and jewels that had their own inner glow!...but sparingly because less is more and this is a creation of both elegance and substance.
So, If you're a steamship mechanic and, for some inexplicable reason, you've actually been included in the invitation to the Ball along with the rest of the crew, what do you wear? Not many opportunities to wear fancy-dancy things come your way...Here is your answer!
An elegant solution that will both impress and not overwhelm. Jewels that have their own inner glow, fabulous, rich and dark colors, so as not to show any stray bits of grease that missed the quick scrubbing.
For more information or to purchase this fyne creation, visit my ArtFire Studio
This ends this leg of our tour of a steamy, turn-of-the-century, steampunk world.
See you on Monday!
To quote the indelible Yoda.
And my world is definitely in motion!
Yesterday saw me around the Minnepolis and Saint Paul Metro area researching opportunities with Art Galleries and Sprite Services opportunities with coffee shops. The travel was excellent all around and back home, which was a relief. I was uncertain about the forecast of snow and how that would effect the ice already on the road from all the recent thawing.
No worries though!
I am pleased to announce that I have regular Sprite Services gigs at The Edge coffee house (formerly Artist Grind) at University and Raymond Avenues just over the border in Saint Paul every Wednesday evening! Stop on by if you're in the area!
I'll be happy to introduce you to the owner and I've already "tested" some of the yummy treats there for you. Just so you know, they are quite safe to eat and quite nummy. Just another one of those things I do for you-all!! *grin*
I'll try to get a picture of the AMAZING old clock in there and that is the inspiration for the graphics on the awning.
I'm researching future jewelry and adornment opportunities in that as well as other areas and I'll let you know what happens next with that!
I'll leave you with two newer creations. These earrings are: Color in Motion and are really how I feel about now!
I wanted each of these recycled orbs to move on their own, both horizontally and vertically. They are a bit fragile as I used finer gauge wire because I wanted the attention to focus on those fascinating orbs.
The second creation is an earcuff in goldplate. It is titled Winter Wealth. The sparkle in the star didn't photograph as well as I'd like, but I'm sure you can see the idea. I love the warm gold color that we all associate with wealth tying together the deeper, colder colors of this season. The wealth of winter, as I see it, is the warmth of good food and company, the crystal brillance of the snow and ice and the contrasting rich colors of cobalt and navy blues of the winter night.
I included this creation in today's post because I was blessed, as I traveled through my day yesterday, with much warmth and kindness. Many of the folks I spoke with gave me their sincere advice and pointed me in directions they thought might be best for my arts. This is deeply appreciated as I and my creations step out more and more into the world.
My hope is that the same may be said of your days!
I decided to capitalize on the momentum of last week and the Blog Hop and post three times a week, starting this week. Monday tends to be a day full of preparation and reflection; goals for the upcoming week and further time ahead, administrative tasks to help me begin the week. Today,in particular, is a day full of thawing outside and shifting inside. Outside, this is a day of sunshine and warm temperatures whilst inside are paperwork and clean-up tasks that go along with the shifting and moving of furniture and other things. I am preparing for electrical work in the house and all of this shifting of rooms and furniture are more steps closer to completing the construction!
So, I'll leave you with a photo of a few goodies I picked up a few weeks back. I fell in love with this lampwork bead of a fish in his natural environment (I seem to have an ocean/fish theme on my mind lately..huh...) and a few fabulous bits of Moss Agate. It is these two fabulous pieces I'll use to tie into the subject of this day's blog. They remind me of the cycle of freezing and thawing. The stone on the left is a tableau of thick, solid ice and what gets frozen inside. The stone at the bottom reminds me of ice that is thinning as it thaws, revealing more of what has been encased all winter long.
I'll leave you today with a warm winter wish! I wish for you a day of sunshine, warmth and beauty of life revealed!
So, here we are, at that last post of the Hop. This has been a lot of fun for me and I hope for you-all as well! I'll be continuing to play with the resin in the future. Really, how could I not?!
In wrapping up the week, I wanted to show you a few more of the old buttons created with the cabochon technique seen earlier in the week and a proof-of-concept I'm playing with!
I was digging through my collection of old buttons and spied these plain brass ones just crying out to be fancied up!! I spotted those red star-shaped sequins and voila! I had a blast embellishing these two buttons as they instantly called to mind images of Wonder Woman's earrings and costume!
The second button is stamped brass with a noble eagle holding an anchor in it's talons. This is pretty awesome in and of itself, so I merely accented the scene with some bold red glitter here and there. The glitter lends a bit of different texture to the tableau as well as a little pop of color.
I am excited to present this last pendant to you! The idea is to create a pendant with the resin that uses an intrinsic part of the piece as the structure by which to suspend it from a cord or chain. In this case, I chose a Vintaj starfish charm. I created the base from polymer clay, added the seed beads, textured it a bit and baked it. The star and kissy-fish were added and the resin poured. The visual concept was a mini-diorama of the ocean. The starfish nestled in the light-colored sand of the shore, washing in with the tide...the kissy-fish playing farther below the waves in our ocean and the dark ocean floor at the bottom of our vignette. I'm pleased with this first prototype and am looking forward to refining and expanding upon this!
That concludes my part in this Blog Hop! Thank you so much for stopping by! Feel free drop by, pull up a chair and read this Blog again in the near future! And now, be off with you and see what other lovely posts finish up this marvelous Hop!
Molly Alexander http://beautifullybrokenme.blogspot.com/
Ro Bhrun http://robruhn.blogspot.com/
Karen Burns http://web.me.com/vintagefindings/Vintage_Findings/Blog/Blog.html
Keecia Frazee Deveney http://www.lemoncholys.blogspot.com/
Mary Jane Dodd http://mairedodd.blogspot.com/
Melanie Earthenwood http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com
Shea Fragoso http://www.whathappensnext.typepad.com/
Kerin Gale http://remnantsofolde.com/posts/
Vickie Hallmark http://fiberartglass.blogspot.com/
Jess Italia Lincoln http://www.vintaj.com/wpblog/
Jill Liles http://livngoodjewelry.blogspot.com/
Heather Powers http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com/" and http://www.artbeadscene.blogspot.com/"
Jenny Barnett Rohrs http://www.crafttestdummies.com/
Stephanie Rubiano http://www.soigathered.typepad.com/
Lisa Sommerville http://www.lisasomerville.com/2010/02/kitchen-sink-stamps-altered-jewelry.html
Kim Taylor http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com/
And the fine folks at Objects and Elements (Design Team) and Ice Resin's creator: Susan Lenart Kazmer!
Jen Cshman http://www.objectsandelements.typepad.com/jencushman/
Deryn Mentock http://somethingsublime.typepad.com/
Kristen Robinson http://kristenrobinson.typepad.com/
Barbe Saint John http://barbesaintjohn.blogspot.com/
Susan Lenart Kazmer http://susan-lenart-kazmer.blogspot.com/
We've reached mid-week on this hop! I hope you've been enjoying this and all the other innovative and interesting blogs so far!
All the shinies I have to show you today use the Ice Resin as both glue and as a cabachon agent. I played with textures and just wanted to see what the Ice Resin would bring to the mix. So here we go!
This is an old button that had deep recesses in the pattern. I wanted to see if the resin would produce a cabochon effect and I wanted to give it a little more life, so I liberally sprinkled green glitter into the dark hollows and then poured in the resin. I'm not certain if the photo shows it, but the resin beautifully filled in those voids.
This next pendant is made from fishing lures!! I had a few laying around from a manufacturing plant here in town that makes these and ships them all over the world! I know most of the folks that created these, so that is a special goodness to me!
Ok, so I layered the two different size and tones of fishing lures on top of each other and then carefully placed the old watch parts into the hammered divets in the metal. Some of the old watch parts are still magnetized, so this was especially tricky at times!! As a last bit of fun, there was a synthetic garnet watch jewel that I found solo, so I placed that at the bottom of the decorations. It was a bit of a trick placing the resin so it would not disturb the watch bits, but I succeeded!! You can see that the resin flowed around the back and ended up completely encasing the entire pendant, adding another visual layer. I might try to keep this effect, if I can!
And the final shiny I have to show you today is a simple and utterly charms me! I think a bit of the romance from Valentine's Day is still with me!!! I thought of this idea in connection with a bigger creation I'm hoping to create and show you late this week. I used the resin again to both secure the two fish beads on a glass pendant and as a cabbing agent over the entire creation. I hope you love them just as much as I do!
So, here they are....... The Kissy Fish!!
Now, go visit everyone else and see what they've been inventing!
Molly Alexander http://beautifullybrokenme.blogspot.com/
Ro Bhrun http://robruhn.blogspot.com/
Karen Burns http://web.me.com/vintagefindings/Vintage_Findings/Blog/Blog.html
Keecia Frazee Deveney http://www.lemoncholys.blogspot.com/
Mary Jane Dodd http://mairedodd.blogspot.com/
Melanie Earthenwood http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com
Shea Fragoso http://www.whathappensnext.typepad.com/
Kerin Gale http://remnantsofolde.com/posts/
Vickie Hallmark http://fiberartglass.blogspot.com/
Jess Italia Lincoln http://www.vintaj.com/wpblog/
Jill Liles http://livngoodjewelry.blogspot.com/
Heather Powers http://www.humblebeads.blogspot.com/" and http://www.artbeadscene.blogspot.com/"
Jenny Barnett Rohrs http://www.crafttestdummies.com/
Stephanie Rubiano http://www.soigathered.typepad.com/
Lisa Sommerville http://www.lisasomerville.com/2010/02/kitchen-sink-stamps-altered-jewelry.html
Kim Taylor http://sassycrafter.blogspot.com/
And the fine folks at Objects and Elements (Design Team) and Ice Resin's creator: Susan Lenart Kazmer!
Jen Cshman http://www.objectsandelements.typepad.com/jencushman/
Deryn Mentock http://somethingsublime.typepad.com/
Kristen Robinson http://kristenrobinson.typepad.com/
Barbe Saint John http://barbesaintjohn.blogspot.com/
Susan Lenart Kazmer http://susan-lenart-kazmer.blogspot.com/
