So, it's been a while since I have posted here, while I have been in the process of retiring from my job in the real world, done a house search for my new retirement home in the Harford County area of Maryland, and gone through the extremely painful process of cleaning out a home that I've lived in for over 30 years.
In the process downsizing from a 4 bedroom-den-full craft studio in the basement-garage crammed full of "stuff" from 4 generations on both sides of my family, I have filled numerous recycling bins, worn out 2 shredders, brought joy to a couple of homeless shelters, and I'm still not quite done. (Thanks again , Mom, I'm sure you're up there chuckling as I've been wading through the boxes that you religiously moved from Jamestown, NY, to Solon, OH, to California, then back to Andover, to Haverhill, up to Maine, and back to Haverhill, however, I do wish that you had kept all my French books and lost Dad's old accounting books from the 1950's and Aunt Evelyn's nursing books from the 1950's - what were you thinking?!). Right now, the house is full of boxes yet again awaiting the next pod south. And once that pod goes, I will need to rent another storage unit in MD until I find studio space and can move all the craft supplies and display units out of storage.
My younger brother, wisely, has decided to stay in California , until the "Grand Clean-Out" is completed before visiting, and cousins in Maryland are convinced that I'm never "really" going to move there permanently. Not that I can blame them. So far, two pods have gone south, and my condo is more than three quarters furnished. Only the really "good" furniture that I want a professional mover to handle remains "up north". Each month as I attend our condo association meeting I take another car full of "stuff" that I want neither the movers nor the Pod to carry... like unbaked polymer clay, clothes, old family photos or my archive of slides and negatives of photos that I've taken over the years.
So this blog will be a bit different for the next few months. Instead of just sitting here with no change, I'm going to start posting some jewelry ideas that I have , drawings or prototypes, and as the final move gets closer, and I start looking for that ideal gallery/studio space in Harford County, I'll start posting shots of that , too.
My idea is to have a gallery/store in front , featuring primarily artists from the surrounding area (PA-MD-DE-VA) with a front window corner set aside so that featured artists can be invited to come in on the weekend and sit in plain view and create, hopefully drawing in foot traffic. Back of the house will be my work space and a teaching area. I hope to be able to employ veterans who are interested in the arts, to give back a bit.We'll see how things pan out.
I'm still boxing up the basement, wrapping up what feels like a ton of stained glass before the next pod leaves before Thanksgiving, and then hopefully the house can get a good cleaning and go on te market. One of the reasons that I'm pushing hard now is that I've got travel plans in the works for the summer coming up.
I just read a great article on the Afar website (actually 2 articles) about how to choose your travel mates that really struck home. More on that tomorrow. Dinner is calling. Pastitsio (Greek Macaroni and cheese) is one of those comfort foods that once you've had it, stays in your mind as crave-worthy. What can I say- the aroma of hot cheese, ground meat, tomato and cinnamon coming together is just so yummy, it's like a big warm hug from your grandmother. More later from the land of boxes
Judy
Friday, October 21, 2016
Thursday, August 28, 2014
links to our Photographing your Jewelry Demo at the IPCA Retreat in Columbus
hi,
For those of you who've wandered over here from looking for information on my demo on Photographing Your Jewelry as presented at the IPCA retreat in Columbus last week, here are my links.
For those of you who've wandered over here from looking for information on my demo on Photographing Your Jewelry as presented at the IPCA retreat in Columbus last week, here are my links.
The set up we demo’ed on was purchased from Doug Baldwin at http://www.dougbaldwinphoto.com/lightboxes.html , and as Beth and I indicated, if you ever get a chance to take a live class with him, go for it. Purchase information on his lightboxes is at the bottom of the page.
The software that I normally use is Corel’s Paintshop Pro X6. They’ve just released version X7, and I’ll be waiting until the price drops a bit, but at $79, it’s still quite a bit less than Adobe’s full version. They're offering a free trial at http://www.paintshoppro.com/en/free-trials/default.html
Other photography sites that I mentioned included:
Digital Camera Tips for Photographing Jewelry © by Rena Klingenberg
http://jewelrymakingjournal.com/digital-camera-tips-for-photographing-jewelry/
Digital Camera Tips for Photographing Jewelry © by Rena Klingenberg
http://jewelrymakingjournal.com/digital-camera-tips-for-photographing-jewelry/
LIGHTING:How to Photograph Jewelry
Table Top Studio: Jewelry Photography
MK Digital – how to photograph Jewelry- Jewelry Photography tips
Focus Stacking And Bracketing Technique For Marco Jewelry Photography
http://learnmyshot.com/focus-stacking-and-bracketing-technique-for-marco-jewelry-photography/
http://learnmyshot.com/focus-stacking-and-bracketing-technique-for-marco-jewelry-photography/
For Cell Phone photography:
Shoot to Sell: Taking Better Photos for eBay, Etsy & Instructables
http://content.photojojo.com/tips/product-photo-tips-for-ebay-etsy-instructables/
Shoot to Sell: Taking Better Photos for eBay, Etsy & Instructables
http://content.photojojo.com/tips/product-photo-tips-for-ebay-etsy-instructables/
the Etsy Blog-Top Tips for Smartphone Photography
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/top-tips-for-smartphone-photography/
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/top-tips-for-smartphone-photography/
Enjoy!
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Bad Blogger!
So, there's been this little voice grumbling at the back of my head for the longest time, since my last post, muttering "Bad Blogger! Bad Blogger!" and I have been. I suppose I can blame it on my crazy life and a serious case of bloggers' block, but I haven't felt like I've had anything to celebrate or write about since I started house hunting back before I retired.
The search for my new home consumed most of my energy outside of my work life - trips back and forth between New England and the Mid-Atlantic became the norm rather than something to look forward to- the drive has become something I can almost do on auto pilot now. What does it say when the gas station attendants at the Joyce Kilmer rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike ask where Belle is if she isn't sitting in my lap when I give them my credit card (for those of you who don't know, in New Jersey, you can't pump your own gas, an attendant has to do it)?
So after some starts and stops, having to deal with an unscrupulous seller's realtor who caused me to lose out on two units I would have bought, I finally found what I was looking for, more or less- a two bedroom , two bath condo with a sun room and a screened in porch that doesn't require me to walk up stairs in a town where many of my cousins live just far enough outside the Beltway that it's still almost an agrarian community. Except I'm within walking distance to great shopping malls..and there's a Wegman's less than 5 miles away. While I don't see horses in my back yard down there as I do up in New England, when the leaves are off the trees, I can watch herds of deer, the occasional fox and flocks of turkeys wandering around from my aerie, as I fondly call my screened in-porch (which Belle adores).
Of course, there are some flies in the ointment. First and foremost is that it's taking me forever to get the house in New England cleaned out, packed up and ready to sell-and it cost more to do it than I anticipated. New roof, doors and windows, painting inside and out, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the septic inspection. My handyman has been a trooper. Then there was the major set back in January. While I was down "south", someone kicked in my doors up in New England during a power failure, going through 3 deadbolts, and helped themselves to my jewelry and jewelry making supplies and tools. It took me until April to really get past that mentally and get back on track with the packing. Downsizing from a 4 bedroom house to two , with no basement in the new place, and no obvious location for a new studio has made "making" difficult. My new home town doesn't seem to have surplus mill that would make a perfect studio like my old home town does, so I've been searching for a place to set up my kilns and glass-metals-polymer clay studio for over a year now.
Once the jewelry supplies departed with the thief and the rest of the studio got packed up and moved into storage, my creative side ground to a halt. and now, most of my books are either down south or in someone else's home. I've given away close to 5000 paperbacks and hard covers to the library and tossed over 100 accounting textbooks and references. The stained glass is slowly getting wrapped and moved. what an ordeal that is.
I'd like to have the New England house on the market by the end of September/beginning of October, which means probably one more pod south and into storage- mostly glass and boxes of craft supplies from the basement and den-studio. I've done a lot of running around since April, beginning with a trip to Malta and once my August jaunts are done, that's it. I need to buckle down and get to work. seriously.
so ,what I've decided is that I'm going to do a weekly pictorial journal of the New England house and how it's emptying. maybe that will keep me moving. side by sides of various rooms. befores and afters of the train wrecks . Because as anyone who has ever moved knows, once you start packing in a room, it becomes a horrific mess. and I've emptied this house basically by myself. with very little help from anyone. 4 generations worth of "stuff" from both sides of my family. tax returns. medical records. bank statement. shredding up the wazoo.old family pictures that I've scanned and sent on to family around the country. it all takes time. Mom's bedroom is empty and I've turned it into my office. It's got a great view of the back yard, it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and I can sit in my jammies and work without worrying about anyone seeing me from the street.That's where the scanning and bookkeeping takes place now. and the websurfing- looking for new ideas. Which I was doing yesterday and I found an amazing multimedia artist out of North Carolina, Amy Flynn and her "FOBOTS"http://www.ifobot.com
These little guys are amazing. She whips them up out of old spice cans, erector sets, kitchen utensils , car parts and who knows what else and they are the most clever things imaginable.I mean how cute is Rocky and his friend? If you're in the Bay area, you can catch Amy, along with my polymer clay friends, Ford and Forlano, at Fort Mason August 8-10 at the ACC show .Either of them will make it well worth your trip.
so back to my procrastination.... Saturday you'll see the before and hopefully the after of my dining room. fingers crossed.
and once a week hereafter, another room in its pristineness. well, the basement may be in sectors, because it's big,,,and it's bad,,, and it's dark and scary..... and Yes, Suki and Eddie, I know you don't believe me but I really am selling the house and moving! Honestly, I am!
So, there's been this little voice grumbling at the back of my head for the longest time, since my last post, muttering "Bad Blogger! Bad Blogger!" and I have been. I suppose I can blame it on my crazy life and a serious case of bloggers' block, but I haven't felt like I've had anything to celebrate or write about since I started house hunting back before I retired.
The search for my new home consumed most of my energy outside of my work life - trips back and forth between New England and the Mid-Atlantic became the norm rather than something to look forward to- the drive has become something I can almost do on auto pilot now. What does it say when the gas station attendants at the Joyce Kilmer rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike ask where Belle is if she isn't sitting in my lap when I give them my credit card (for those of you who don't know, in New Jersey, you can't pump your own gas, an attendant has to do it)?
So after some starts and stops, having to deal with an unscrupulous seller's realtor who caused me to lose out on two units I would have bought, I finally found what I was looking for, more or less- a two bedroom , two bath condo with a sun room and a screened in porch that doesn't require me to walk up stairs in a town where many of my cousins live just far enough outside the Beltway that it's still almost an agrarian community. Except I'm within walking distance to great shopping malls..and there's a Wegman's less than 5 miles away. While I don't see horses in my back yard down there as I do up in New England, when the leaves are off the trees, I can watch herds of deer, the occasional fox and flocks of turkeys wandering around from my aerie, as I fondly call my screened in-porch (which Belle adores).
Of course, there are some flies in the ointment. First and foremost is that it's taking me forever to get the house in New England cleaned out, packed up and ready to sell-and it cost more to do it than I anticipated. New roof, doors and windows, painting inside and out, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the septic inspection. My handyman has been a trooper. Then there was the major set back in January. While I was down "south", someone kicked in my doors up in New England during a power failure, going through 3 deadbolts, and helped themselves to my jewelry and jewelry making supplies and tools. It took me until April to really get past that mentally and get back on track with the packing. Downsizing from a 4 bedroom house to two , with no basement in the new place, and no obvious location for a new studio has made "making" difficult. My new home town doesn't seem to have surplus mill that would make a perfect studio like my old home town does, so I've been searching for a place to set up my kilns and glass-metals-polymer clay studio for over a year now.
Once the jewelry supplies departed with the thief and the rest of the studio got packed up and moved into storage, my creative side ground to a halt. and now, most of my books are either down south or in someone else's home. I've given away close to 5000 paperbacks and hard covers to the library and tossed over 100 accounting textbooks and references. The stained glass is slowly getting wrapped and moved. what an ordeal that is.
I'd like to have the New England house on the market by the end of September/beginning of October, which means probably one more pod south and into storage- mostly glass and boxes of craft supplies from the basement and den-studio. I've done a lot of running around since April, beginning with a trip to Malta and once my August jaunts are done, that's it. I need to buckle down and get to work. seriously.
so ,what I've decided is that I'm going to do a weekly pictorial journal of the New England house and how it's emptying. maybe that will keep me moving. side by sides of various rooms. befores and afters of the train wrecks . Because as anyone who has ever moved knows, once you start packing in a room, it becomes a horrific mess. and I've emptied this house basically by myself. with very little help from anyone. 4 generations worth of "stuff" from both sides of my family. tax returns. medical records. bank statement. shredding up the wazoo.old family pictures that I've scanned and sent on to family around the country. it all takes time. Mom's bedroom is empty and I've turned it into my office. It's got a great view of the back yard, it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and I can sit in my jammies and work without worrying about anyone seeing me from the street.That's where the scanning and bookkeeping takes place now. and the websurfing- looking for new ideas. Which I was doing yesterday and I found an amazing multimedia artist out of North Carolina, Amy Flynn and her "FOBOTS"http://www.ifobot.com
These little guys are amazing. She whips them up out of old spice cans, erector sets, kitchen utensils , car parts and who knows what else and they are the most clever things imaginable.I mean how cute is Rocky and his friend? If you're in the Bay area, you can catch Amy, along with my polymer clay friends, Ford and Forlano, at Fort Mason August 8-10 at the ACC show .Either of them will make it well worth your trip.
so back to my procrastination.... Saturday you'll see the before and hopefully the after of my dining room. fingers crossed.
and once a week hereafter, another room in its pristineness. well, the basement may be in sectors, because it's big,,,and it's bad,,, and it's dark and scary..... and Yes, Suki and Eddie, I know you don't believe me but I really am selling the house and moving! Honestly, I am!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Patinas, of all sorts
One of the projects in the Metal Clay Masters Registry program is a patina study. I've been working on this for some time- researching patina methods through te ages for silver and copper, particularly; then applying what I'd learned to a variety of polymer clay techniques.
Patinas are funny things - bury a piece of shiny silver in your kitty litter box and leave it for a week and you get a lovely multicolored patina (back in the middle ages, they used horse stalls or the floors of cow byres, but not many jewelers have access to those these days). you can't really control how the patina builds on your piece of silver. You could keep digging it out and checking, but the process frequently does past the stage you want it while you're not looking. And then there are the surprises - sometimes felicitous-sometimes disastrous. Most can be recovered from with a bit of heat or friction. But the outcomes are not always what one anticipates.
it's rather like the surprises one finds in personal relationships - discovering that the super cool old friend you haven't seen in 20 years is now competing in scrabble championships when you expect him to be still racing at Le Mans or Limerock - after all, Newman was still racing at 80 - or still leaping tall buildings in a simgle bound.
well, silver and copper both react to a variety of chemicals, sometimes with unexpected consequences. and then there's added spice of mixing the metals, the chemicals and a bit of electricity... that's my latest tangent. After taking a class on electroforming on glass, I'm fiddling with the hardware, paints, acids and silver. The worst that will happen is that I'll waste some chemicals and have to clean some silver. It's a step back for me to that High School chem class where you looked at your partner and asked "how about we try this while the teacher is out of the room, just to see what happens?" Let's just hope we don't get the same result - they won't be evacuating the school this time - I'll be grabbing the cat and making a run for it out of my house.
Patinas are funny things - bury a piece of shiny silver in your kitty litter box and leave it for a week and you get a lovely multicolored patina (back in the middle ages, they used horse stalls or the floors of cow byres, but not many jewelers have access to those these days). you can't really control how the patina builds on your piece of silver. You could keep digging it out and checking, but the process frequently does past the stage you want it while you're not looking. And then there are the surprises - sometimes felicitous-sometimes disastrous. Most can be recovered from with a bit of heat or friction. But the outcomes are not always what one anticipates.
it's rather like the surprises one finds in personal relationships - discovering that the super cool old friend you haven't seen in 20 years is now competing in scrabble championships when you expect him to be still racing at Le Mans or Limerock - after all, Newman was still racing at 80 - or still leaping tall buildings in a simgle bound.
well, silver and copper both react to a variety of chemicals, sometimes with unexpected consequences. and then there's added spice of mixing the metals, the chemicals and a bit of electricity... that's my latest tangent. After taking a class on electroforming on glass, I'm fiddling with the hardware, paints, acids and silver. The worst that will happen is that I'll waste some chemicals and have to clean some silver. It's a step back for me to that High School chem class where you looked at your partner and asked "how about we try this while the teacher is out of the room, just to see what happens?" Let's just hope we don't get the same result - they won't be evacuating the school this time - I'll be grabbing the cat and making a run for it out of my house.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Klay Karma 2011 is coming! and we've got a special treat- 5 of them, actually!
Klay Karma 2011 is coming July 22-24, 2011
Join clayers from all over the Northeast for the 2011 Klay Karma Retreat!
July 22-24, 2011, on the campus of Rivier College in Nashua, NH
Registration is now open. Join the klay_karma Yahoo group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/klay_karma/ for more info and to download registration forms
This event fills up quickly, so don’t delay!
and as a special treat, this year Klay Karma has added optional classes!
Register for Klay Karma (July 22-24 in Nashua, NH) and you have the opportunity to enroll in up to 5 fascinating classes taught by some of the top Polymer instructors in the country- at a low cost of $50 each!
We’ve all drooled over the gorgeous furniture created by Bonnie Bishoff and J M Syron. Bonnie is bringing her MiIllefiori and veneer techniques to you. See a slide show of her works and learn how to create custom veneers using your canes.
Klay Karma regulars know and love Diane Villano, a double winner (2006 and 2009) in the Clay division of Bead Arts AND a winner of the 2009 Bead Dreams Competition-Polymer Clay division. Her demos enliven every retreat she attends. Diane will be sharing her custom button making techniques, starting with a leaf cane, morphing it into limitless dimensional variations and then creating both sew-through and shanked buttons!
Doreen Kassel, a 2010 NICHE winner, is teaching 2 of her most popular classes , bringing her award bringing Uncommon Creatures to Klay Karma as both tiles and ornaments . Learn how create those clever caricatures, and finish them to perfection, bringing out subtle nuances with multiple layers of paint.
Melanie West and bangles! What more is there to say? Melanie, a 2010 NICHE finalist, will be sharing with us how she approaches organic form, including how to make a light but strong bangle armature using brass channel bangles and Ultra Light polymer clay and how to laminate the armature. You’ll be able to bring your own spin to forming, carving and laminating your armatures.
Check out a full description of each of the classes and download the registration form for Klay Karma 2011 and the optional classes at the Files Folder in the klay_karma yahoo group or the Klay Karma facebook page . This is the only time this year that you will be able to take classes with all 4 of these instructors in one weekend. Don’t delay, both the event and the classes are sure to fill quickly.
Join clayers from all over the Northeast for the 2011 Klay Karma Retreat!
July 22-24, 2011, on the campus of Rivier College in Nashua, NH
Registration is now open. Join the klay_karma Yahoo group at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/klay_karma/ for more info and to download registration forms
This event fills up quickly, so don’t delay!
and as a special treat, this year Klay Karma has added optional classes!
Register for Klay Karma (July 22-24 in Nashua, NH) and you have the opportunity to enroll in up to 5 fascinating classes taught by some of the top Polymer instructors in the country- at a low cost of $50 each!
We’ve all drooled over the gorgeous furniture created by Bonnie Bishoff and J M Syron. Bonnie is bringing her MiIllefiori and veneer techniques to you. See a slide show of her works and learn how to create custom veneers using your canes.
Klay Karma regulars know and love Diane Villano, a double winner (2006 and 2009) in the Clay division of Bead Arts AND a winner of the 2009 Bead Dreams Competition-Polymer Clay division. Her demos enliven every retreat she attends. Diane will be sharing her custom button making techniques, starting with a leaf cane, morphing it into limitless dimensional variations and then creating both sew-through and shanked buttons!
Doreen Kassel, a 2010 NICHE winner, is teaching 2 of her most popular classes , bringing her award bringing Uncommon Creatures to Klay Karma as both tiles and ornaments . Learn how create those clever caricatures, and finish them to perfection, bringing out subtle nuances with multiple layers of paint.
Melanie West and bangles! What more is there to say? Melanie, a 2010 NICHE finalist, will be sharing with us how she approaches organic form, including how to make a light but strong bangle armature using brass channel bangles and Ultra Light polymer clay and how to laminate the armature. You’ll be able to bring your own spin to forming, carving and laminating your armatures.
Check out a full description of each of the classes and download the registration form for Klay Karma 2011 and the optional classes at the Files Folder in the klay_karma yahoo group or the Klay Karma facebook page . This is the only time this year that you will be able to take classes with all 4 of these instructors in one weekend. Don’t delay, both the event and the classes are sure to fill quickly.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Ruth Baillie and Tonya Davidson have done it again
I'm sitting here, getting ready for an electroforming class with Kate Fowle Meleney tomorrow- have some polymer pieces in the oven and glass in the kiln. Kate will be providing us with one of her glass beads for the class (whoop-dee-doo!), and then she's going to give us feed back on how best to approach the pieces we bring in for eval. I'm very psyched for this and so glad that BDI put this together. Kate, along with Josh Simpson's presentation in February have really got my glass juices flowing again.
and then up popped an email from Tonya Davidson about Ruth Baillie's latest Master Muse project, a sweet little hatching chick pin - just in time for spring
Isn't this just the cutest thing ever! and for the greenies out there, lots of recycled materials - the silver, nest and egg are all recycled. Now I know just how to incorporate all those miserable bittersweet seedlings I've been whacking away at. little birds nests everywhere. I'm thinking I can really gild the lily on this one and add a polymer clay veneer is a springtime design to the egg shell... maybe a pale turquoise base with little viola and yellow rose cane slices...
well, the timer's going off downstairs, so off I go. Tomorrow night I'll post pics of my spiffy electroformed glass bead....and probably place an order with RIo Grande for an electroforming kit. I have a feeling this is going to become addictive.
and then up popped an email from Tonya Davidson about Ruth Baillie's latest Master Muse project, a sweet little hatching chick pin - just in time for spring
well, the timer's going off downstairs, so off I go. Tomorrow night I'll post pics of my spiffy electroformed glass bead....and probably place an order with RIo Grande for an electroforming kit. I have a feeling this is going to become addictive.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
why bloggers stop blogging
It's been a long time since I've written here, and this morning, the first of a 3 morning holiday to be spent in bed recovering (hopefully) from the upper respiratory infection that has almost done me in for the past 2 weeks, I spent several hours doing something I haven't had the personal time to do for a while- checking in on the blogs of many of my favorite metal and polymer clay artists. Some, like polymerclaydaily, seem to always be there with something new. But most of the blogs I checked were like mine....laguishing in the doldrums of a life too hectic to take 15 minutes a day to write about their art. some, like me, may have found that real life (and the real job that supports my artistic endeavors - at least for the next 737 days) has intruded too frequently. August through October are usually relatively hectic for me - closing up a June year end. As a town comptroller for a municipality that puts heavy demands on its management team, the audit and post audit season, with outside auditors and state agencies demanding more and more data more frequently, I rarely have time to "play".
the drive to and from work that was supposed to become better when the Big-Dig was finished, hasn't. An average one way drive for me is an hour and a half. why don't I take the commuter rail, you might well ask? well, the ride into Boston is never less than an hour by rail.; then I have to change trains twice once I board the "T" for what has become in recent months another hour ride. and If I miss the 6 o'clock train out of North Station, then I have a 2 hr wait. If I miss the 8 PM train due to an evening meeting, I'm dead in the water until 10 PM and if I have the misfortune to miss that one, I end up sleeping on the cot in my office. so rail commuting is a non-starter. Leaving by car after 8 PM should make for a better commute, but then one runs into night construction up until early December, and badly maintained icy roads from December until Marchm while the night construction usually heats up again in April.
So, today I went looking to see what old and new friends had been up to and this is what I found.
Julie Picarello will have a new book out just in time for Bead and Button this spring. THat's good news, because although I learned how to make a lizardsa tail in her class a LACS this spring, I seem to have lost my notes and my mind- hopefully she'll remind me in her new book.
Luanne Udell seems to be immersed in her hospice work and is recycling old magaine articles on craft- a good thing for those of us who didn't get to read them first time around.; She has a timely recycled article on respecting your collectors.
Elise Winters is pitching Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads - a polymer exhibit we had hoped to visit at the IPCG's retreat in July- sadly it won't be opening until after we leave- a side trip from Chicago to Racine would have been fun with a busload of clayers.
Tejae Floyde has some great pics of what she's been doing over the holidays.
Betsy Baker of stonehouse studios talks about the holiday sales and what's new on her etsy page.
Victoria James has some great new texture plates for sale - I particularly like the crumpled foil texture.
Lynn Davis talks about why she works in so many different media – like me she’s easily bored (would that I had time to be bored at the moment).
Les ethiopiques (mon dieu! I’ve had to go to foreign tongue blogs to find someone, anyone, writing since November!) has come up with great tutes in on faux leather and faux ceramics in polymer – but you’d better be able to read French ! Actually, it’s not that hard, because her illustrations are so good, but I love the instruction “ …puis, on scalpe!” – this is in her hidden magic tute. I knew the 5 years of hs, 4 yrs of college and 2 yrs of post grad French were going to come in handy some day- since I left the teaching of French in 1972, and my Quebequois bon ami moved on 15 years ago, I ‘ve had few opportunities to use it. But Helene has pushed me to refocus a bit, just to enjoy her tutorials- she also has a recent very attractive snowflake cane tute.
Fabi, in Madrid, is a bit harder for me since I never really learned to read Spanish – order food from a LA “roach coach” I can do, but read a language I never studied is a bit harder. If I understand what her current lead story is, it’s an amazing nativity scene in clay. You have to see it to understand what I mean by amazing. http://fabicontusmanos.blogspot.com/
Metal clay academy is buzzing about meteor, the new bronze clay
Bev at mango tango is talking not about her jewelry, but a conch disaster in the Keys
Angela Crispin- she of the bilingual blog so you don’t have to read French to enjoy it – talks about the upcoming art clay festival in Prague (who knew?, probably Katie Baum will be packing her bags yet again!)
Vickie Hallmarks shows a great enameled copper & metal clay piece in her bird design – with dyed concrete that I just can’t bring myself to embrace…to industrial by half for me, but quite nice when Vickie fabricates it.
ArtClayStudio contains news of Carol Babineau’s retirement and Gail Moriarty taking over the studio, but still has mostly Carol’s work in the class guide. I know how hard it is up do a major overhaul on web pages, but hopefully Gail will find time to update with her own spin soon- look forward to her wacky sense of humor showing up on the web pages.
Kelly Russell talks about cardiac med problems (not a good thing, take it easy , Girl!)
Nobody new in the Metal Clay Masters registry in months (yeah, if I’d get off my duff, maybe there’s be one more name. I’m 3 pieces short of the required 10 to submit , but inertia – and the audit season- struck with a vengeance). Last week I came across the half finished steel knife blade from my Tim McCreight knife making class at the Bead House in November, which was supposed to polish off one of the required pieces (silly me!).
So, out of the 95 polymer & metal clay sites I have listed as favorites, only 15 have anything new since November! Several no longer exist at their old addresses, and most of the remaining 80 bloggers write about as sporadically as I do. so I don't feel terribly guilty about not sharing with y'all. hopefully some of the other 80 artists have been so busiy in their studios that they haven't had time to write....
I’d promise to do better, but the reality is, given a choice between blogging, creating and sleep, sleep wins hands down, and while writing is easier for me than the creative process, I really do need to start gearing up for retirement (less than 2 years now) and that means 1- cleaning up the homestead in preparation for moving after retirement and 2- getting off my butt creatively , and starting now to build the retirement life I want to enjoy in 737 days (but who's counting?)
Maybe I'll get lucky, inspiration will rattle me to the core and I"ll crank out several wonderful pieces that I'll be happy to share with you all - it's a new year, and time for an attitude adjustment. now if I could only find the robitussin.....
the drive to and from work that was supposed to become better when the Big-Dig was finished, hasn't. An average one way drive for me is an hour and a half. why don't I take the commuter rail, you might well ask? well, the ride into Boston is never less than an hour by rail.; then I have to change trains twice once I board the "T" for what has become in recent months another hour ride. and If I miss the 6 o'clock train out of North Station, then I have a 2 hr wait. If I miss the 8 PM train due to an evening meeting, I'm dead in the water until 10 PM and if I have the misfortune to miss that one, I end up sleeping on the cot in my office. so rail commuting is a non-starter. Leaving by car after 8 PM should make for a better commute, but then one runs into night construction up until early December, and badly maintained icy roads from December until Marchm while the night construction usually heats up again in April.
So, today I went looking to see what old and new friends had been up to and this is what I found.
Julie Picarello will have a new book out just in time for Bead and Button this spring. THat's good news, because although I learned how to make a lizardsa tail in her class a LACS this spring, I seem to have lost my notes and my mind- hopefully she'll remind me in her new book.
Luanne Udell seems to be immersed in her hospice work and is recycling old magaine articles on craft- a good thing for those of us who didn't get to read them first time around.; She has a timely recycled article on respecting your collectors.
Elise Winters is pitching Terra Nova: Polymer Art at the Crossroads - a polymer exhibit we had hoped to visit at the IPCG's retreat in July- sadly it won't be opening until after we leave- a side trip from Chicago to Racine would have been fun with a busload of clayers.
Tejae Floyde has some great pics of what she's been doing over the holidays.
Betsy Baker of stonehouse studios talks about the holiday sales and what's new on her etsy page.
Victoria James has some great new texture plates for sale - I particularly like the crumpled foil texture.
Lynn Davis talks about why she works in so many different media – like me she’s easily bored (would that I had time to be bored at the moment).
Les ethiopiques (mon dieu! I’ve had to go to foreign tongue blogs to find someone, anyone, writing since November!) has come up with great tutes in on faux leather and faux ceramics in polymer – but you’d better be able to read French ! Actually, it’s not that hard, because her illustrations are so good, but I love the instruction “ …puis, on scalpe!” – this is in her hidden magic tute. I knew the 5 years of hs, 4 yrs of college and 2 yrs of post grad French were going to come in handy some day- since I left the teaching of French in 1972, and my Quebequois bon ami moved on 15 years ago, I ‘ve had few opportunities to use it. But Helene has pushed me to refocus a bit, just to enjoy her tutorials- she also has a recent very attractive snowflake cane tute.
Fabi, in Madrid, is a bit harder for me since I never really learned to read Spanish – order food from a LA “roach coach” I can do, but read a language I never studied is a bit harder. If I understand what her current lead story is, it’s an amazing nativity scene in clay. You have to see it to understand what I mean by amazing. http://fabicontusmanos.blogspot.com/
Metal clay academy is buzzing about meteor, the new bronze clay
Bev at mango tango is talking not about her jewelry, but a conch disaster in the Keys
Angela Crispin- she of the bilingual blog so you don’t have to read French to enjoy it – talks about the upcoming art clay festival in Prague (who knew?, probably Katie Baum will be packing her bags yet again!)
Vickie Hallmarks shows a great enameled copper & metal clay piece in her bird design – with dyed concrete that I just can’t bring myself to embrace…to industrial by half for me, but quite nice when Vickie fabricates it.
ArtClayStudio contains news of Carol Babineau’s retirement and Gail Moriarty taking over the studio, but still has mostly Carol’s work in the class guide. I know how hard it is up do a major overhaul on web pages, but hopefully Gail will find time to update with her own spin soon- look forward to her wacky sense of humor showing up on the web pages.
Kelly Russell talks about cardiac med problems (not a good thing, take it easy , Girl!)
Nobody new in the Metal Clay Masters registry in months (yeah, if I’d get off my duff, maybe there’s be one more name. I’m 3 pieces short of the required 10 to submit , but inertia – and the audit season- struck with a vengeance). Last week I came across the half finished steel knife blade from my Tim McCreight knife making class at the Bead House in November, which was supposed to polish off one of the required pieces (silly me!).
So, out of the 95 polymer & metal clay sites I have listed as favorites, only 15 have anything new since November! Several no longer exist at their old addresses, and most of the remaining 80 bloggers write about as sporadically as I do. so I don't feel terribly guilty about not sharing with y'all. hopefully some of the other 80 artists have been so busiy in their studios that they haven't had time to write....
I’d promise to do better, but the reality is, given a choice between blogging, creating and sleep, sleep wins hands down, and while writing is easier for me than the creative process, I really do need to start gearing up for retirement (less than 2 years now) and that means 1- cleaning up the homestead in preparation for moving after retirement and 2- getting off my butt creatively , and starting now to build the retirement life I want to enjoy in 737 days (but who's counting?)
Maybe I'll get lucky, inspiration will rattle me to the core and I"ll crank out several wonderful pieces that I'll be happy to share with you all - it's a new year, and time for an attitude adjustment. now if I could only find the robitussin.....
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