Piece A Week #4: Yellow Opal Versus ... Me

Here it is. The yellow opal.

Ol' Yeller

It taunts me. Sits there on the workbench and keeps her secrets. "I'm not telling what I want to be..not telling, not telling..."

I have tried a couple attempts and received a big thumbs down from Ol' Yeller. Fine. I was trying to set it to be a pendant - when, really, she wants to be a part of a bracelet. Someone I just met mentioned "a big chunkin' ring..." Hm. A ring like that would be amazing. When wearing, all one could do would be to sit and show it off. Maybe that is not a bad thing. I am seeing it in bracelet form. I guess I can not put a timeline on it. She will happen in her own time.

Meanwhile...I sat in front of a fire the past few nights playing with suede, silk cord and crochet thread. Experimenting. Asking "what if..." and, tonight, I came up with this:

Hand knotted silk cord

I am not a "beader"...and chains don't really go with my style of metalwork - however - a suede or silk cord DO balance out my pieces. I have figured out a way to knot the ends for a nice clean finished look. I dug in to my knowledge of knitting to do that! ;)

Before I go I want to share a find...

Sunday I attended a gathering of women. One of the women was celebrating her birthday and was given a gift. It was a handmade doll. The doll was passed around the circle and each woman spent time admiring her. When I had the doll all I could think was, "I would LOVE to have a doll of my alter ego...."

Today, while re-setting up our space at The Market Place, the booth across from us had....a collection of these dolls! Each one unique and original. In talking to Gloria, the doll maker, I learned that she had indeed sold one doll...the one I saw at the party! (I love how life circles around like this!!)

Here is a shot at Gloria's Girls:

Gloria's Girls. Each has a distinct personality, her own name, her own clothing and her own story!

Listening to Gloria talk about her ideas and the creation of the dolls is just as enchanting as the doll's themselves! Here's more about the dolls and Gloria (click here). You can also check out the doll's at The Market Place.

Piece a Week #3: Creating Peace

I can not work in chaos. I get frustrated and grumpy. Too bad I don't have a before picture of the workbench. Trust me -  it was piled with...stuff. The bench was a confused multitude of things. I needed to get rid of the excess.

After we expanded the entire studio, I began the process of making sense of the confused multitude of things on the workbench. Scrap copper goes in that bin. Little bits of silver saved. Tools have their space. Pieces of paper towels tossed and dust swept up.

Cleaning was its own creative act.

The Zen Workbench

Pristine! Clear of clutter! No stuff! A peaceful place to create!

I thought about pushing through and making something "just" to have a piece to post - but realized that creating a pleasing space is just as valid.

For next week: I have a rather wild idea for setting a chunky raw cut yellow opal...

#2 Piece A Week...or....huh?

This week's piece involved a medium I have never used before, taken a class on or read a book. Well, maybe a few magazine articles and a few online blogs.

This was pure....WHAT THE HAY....HERE WE GO!

I'm that way.

Polymer Clay. Currently on sale at Michael's for 88 cents.

I conditioned and played and made weird shapes. Ran it through the pasta machine...goofed and fiddled.
Finally came up with this heart shape with a bunch of doo-dahs.

Much like our hearts.
Full with people and dreams and memories and future hope. Everything winds and loops and drops...there ARE empty spaces in the piece...just like there are spaces in our heart waiting to be filled. Very symbolic. I love the design...
then I baked it...and baked it...and baked it.

Then I decided to add some ink to it -
I added the ink...and then began to blot the ink...only to realize what I had really done was to make a very groovy heart stamp! hm...ok...place that idea on the back burner.

The colors were vivid - but the ink stayed tacky - so I decided to bake it again.
It washed out the colors and created a whole new look.

I learned a lot and I enjoyed learning on my own.
I definitely will continue to explore this medium.

I am ok that my #2 Piece A Week isn't a "final piece" worthy of mass consumption.
It actually says a lot about where I currently am in my life.

Explore, experiment, play, try, reflect. Begin again.

Piece a Week #1

And you thought it would be jewelry, huh? 

First piece in 2011 is this soft and cuddly gray scarf with brown fuzzy accents!

It's nice and long and chunky and funky! I love it.

There was a sale at Michael's for this brand! Love it. Bought several different colors. I will be adding hand-made scarves to our Etsy page. Probably once I complete about four more scarves!

A Piece a Week 2011

mmmm macchiato...photo by Lisa

Josh and I have challenged ourselves to make a piece a week this year. Each of us. Two artists making a piece a week.
Do the math.
104 pieces!

A few hours into 2011, I came up with a medium that is outside of my comfort zone. Outside and unknown.

Dryer lint clay.
Just found a recipe.

Now...what could possibly say "recycled jewelry" better than homemade dryer lint clay?

I once read a story of a women who painted pictures using dryer lint. She would have the entire neighborhood bring her their dryer lint...for the various colors! I probably won't do that...but I am eyeing a few blankets that have distinctive coloring.

Hmmmmm just realized that much of our dryer lint usually contains cat hair.

I think I have just talked myself out of that type of clay...but there is another clay...that I can make at home...

Off to research and play.

Due date for my first piece is Friday, January 7, 2011. Will report back on the 7th with my results!

PARTICIPATE!!!!
We have created a page to showcase the work that other's have done! Send in a .jpg with a brief description of your work to kewishdesigns@hotmail.com and I will add it to the 2011 Challenge page!