Pieces for week 38: Happy Fall Equinox!

Lisa's Leaves...celebrating the Fall Equinox. Top leaf can be found at High Hill Ranch, leaf on left at Journey Spiritual Center, leaf on bottom (sold!) Hand fabricated copper with silver. Inked for color.

Little matching earrings! Hand fabricated, ink on copper.

At High Hill Ranch. Hand fabricated copper with copper wire, fused silver. Light ink coloring. On jade beads.

Crescent Moon. Hand fabricated copper with copper wire. Fused with silver. Silver granulation. At Journey Spiritual Center.

Pieces for Week 25: of myths and legends...and rebirth

I love old things. Old falling apart buildings, rusty junk, legends, myths and treasure chests.
This week's pieces reflect my love of old...AND have a sense of opening up, tearing away, new growth spiraling out...little seeds tucked away. Because, that's where I'm at in my life.

I just had fun. I either had A Perfect Circle or goth belly dance tunes blaring. I was HOT in the studio this week! (and you can take that in any direction!!!!)

I remembered to take a "before" pic this time! Here are the pieces. All hand fabricated, silver on copper, twisted, bent and fused. 

And then...I hand-painted each of them!

 "Bacchus", or "The Scream"....actually looks more like "Oh!"
SOLD!

"Old Tapes"

"Persephone"
SOLD!

"Poseidon"

"Torn by the Stag King" update: SOLD

"Torn by the Stag King" has already received many ooohs and aaaaahs even before it was completed.
Yes...there will be lots more in this style. I snuck in the studio and made two more this morning (sneeking because I don't usually work in the studio the day before a show...)

I still need to make leather cords for these pieces to hang off of (I am preferring leather over silver chains), but they should be good and ready to be sold this weekend up at Lake Tahoe!

Pieces for Week 24: about 210 in fact

I believe that every artist should take a break from their usual medium and so something completely different.

For example:
Painters should try beading, bead artists take up paper mache, sculptures take up embroidery and metalsmiths take up painting. Or some sort of combination. The point is to step away from your usual tool/creative toy box and do something totally different.

Don't say to me:
OH NO!!!! I could never do that.

Yes, you can. You may choose NOT TO do something different...but you CAN do something different.
It's good for you. Makes you younger, more interesting and sexy.

That being said...last week, at the last minute, I tried something different. After hours in the studio my creative brain, while still very active, needed a break. While wandering around I discovered some interesting components and my very active creative brain screamed "WHAT IF????"

And so I ran with it. I hand painted some acrylic components, put earring findings on them and took the results up to Tahoe...

AND SOLD OUT!

Every artist who vends has to have that balance between their "art" and the "bread and butter" work. The trick is to find the "bread and butter" work...and still be true to "art." Low materials cost, quick to make, low price point, grab and go, but still quality and hand-made....and holds the attention of the public. More than holds the attention... CHARMS the public. Delights the public. Never seen before and, WOW, it's HAND-PAINTED? For only this much money? (don't worry, materials, time etc...was all factored in...)

I had stumbled across the charm+delight+novel+wow-factor+hand-painted+silly low cost= SELL OUT! formula!

We have a three day weekend up at Tahoe coming up. Three days and a huge carnaval in the parking lot behind us. This type of crowd draw does not lend to people making big purchases, but they WILL make small token/momento purchaes...this is what we are ready for.

We spent $60 in materials and spent ten hours hand painting 210 pieces (all day Monday*). This will make 105 pairs of earrings that we are selling at $10 a pair...the math is good.

The pictures I took are purposefully not the best. These must be seen in person...with light shining through them...but I at least wanted to document this week's "Pieces."

And yes...it's only Tuesday. I'm gonna take Wednesday and Thursday OFF, and then Friday at 5am we are off to Tahoe!

 

the smaller painted pieces with have beads and chain incorporated

*Yesterday I was all poised and primed to take myself out on an adventure, but was so excited about making these, that I cut the date with myself short, came home and started painting. This is what PASSION is about.

Pieces for Week 22....

I decided that too many pieces were being overlooked with my "Piece A Week" focus...so I have decided to do "Pieces for Week......"

This week I really only had Thursday to work on pieces. Monday we were up in Tahoe, I don't remember Tuesday (!), Wednesday I spent the day up at Journey Spiritual Center (LOVE it there, I highly recommend going there if you need some meditation/energy work time)....so Thursday is when it all happened. I fiddled with a couple pieces today - but I am DONE. I need to get ready for this weekend's Tahoe adventure.

My main focus this week was on a piece that I have had in my head for several weeks now. I think to really do this piece like I envision it, I would need to have it cast. On the other hand...I challenged myself to see what I could do with fabricating the piece. The idea was a mermaid sitting on a crescent moon...her tail hanging over the edge...all flowy.

Before I share the pics with you...she was a royal annoyance. The EASY part was sawing out the shape...except I sawed out too much leaving the shape weak, with no reinforcement. So I had to change my plan...decided to fuse a full moon behind the mermaid, thus giving her some "support"...except my moon reticulated nicely with the heat....it just withered up....some choice words...then I decided to turn my withered full moon into a crescent moon. I also wanted to have some silver "bubbles" around her...so I made a bunch of silver granulation balls...all fell off of her but two. (no, I am not going to make a comment like, "My mermaid lost her balls....") At the end...somewhat success...but it was so "silvery"...it bugged me. Anyway - here is the shot of the silvery mermaid...rather difficult to make out:

Mermaid on a crescent moon...difficult to make out the details...

I really wanted some color...so I decided to rough up the silver a bit and add in some alcohol ink.

Mermaid in color!

Again, not a great shot - but I like how she looks. Her tail now looks like abalone shell! Anyway, this is one that looks better in person! She is going up to Tahoe...she needs a name...any ideas? I really like this style and will be working more with this.

I also made these yesterday and finished them up today:

Basic silver on copper dragonfly

This dragonfly was actually a "scrap"...I used the cut out dragonfly on another piece. The cut out was in silver. I took the silver and fused it on copper. Then added some alcohol ink for some color.

 Silver dragonfly. I felt artsy so this shot is in black and white!

Next week I have five full days to work on pieces. I have some ideas for rings and may focus in on that!