A Jewelry Round Robin

Inspired by an article in my last issue of Belle Armoire Jewlery I decided to ask a couple friends I have met online to join me in an exciting Round Robin. The premise is, you begin a piece of jewelry and begin a journal as you create. You send the unfinished piece and journal onto one of your friends and they add to your jewelry and journal in your journal, while you receive one of your friend's pieces and add to it and journal in their journal. It continues around until all the friends have added their part to everyone's jewelry and you get a finished piece at the end of the project!

So my friend C sent her piece to me for the first round.

She lives on the shores of Lake Michigan and is an outdoor kind of gal. (She sells those gorgeous blue beads in her Etsy shop.) So I have been pondering what I can make that is unique to me that would be a compliment to the style she has begun. I began a little experiment this afternoon and I think it is going to work. I can't show you pics, since we want the bracelet reveal to be a nice surprise, but it is earthy and beachy!

My bracelet was mailed to my friend S. Here is the foundation for my bracelet. You know it HAD to be old stuff, didn't you?

Lovely old buttons and trinkets. I like to imagine who the original owner of these little baubles were. They are such silly things, but so pleasant to gaze upon. I will update our progress as we move along in our journey!

It is a New Year

As 2010 sweeps gently over into 2011, I have purposed within myself to make some changes. I have been watching my children slowly leave the nest, and every trip they make home becomes shorter and more bittersweet. They are truly becoming men, with their own lives and responsibilities. As much as I sometimes long for a few moments to have them as young children again, I am filled with joy as I watch them grab hold of who they are and what they stand for. A mother's heart can't get any bigger than mine. With less child rearing, I have found more time to reconnect with myself as an individual. "Mom" and "Wife" have been my job titles for 25 years. I will always be a mom and wife, and I will never regret the commitment I made to nurture my family. I have left a part of me within each of them but I wish to re-discover parts of me long buried. It is quieter now, a more suitable time for introspection and rebirth, and I am longing to discover a depth of creativity within myself that defines me as an artist. Therefore, I must diligently listen and respond to that quiet voice. My creative voice. The voice that communicates who I am through works made with my hands. I am mom and wife, but I am also an artist. It is this part of me that I wish to nurture in this season of my life. I must plant new seeds of possibilities and reconnect my hands, my heart and my vision. 2011, I joyfully greet you.

My Jewelry Making Space

For you, Peggy...
My jewelrymaking workspace I procured from a space in my hallway on the first floor. I have been so happy here in this warm part of the house, working on jewelry, scrapbooking and encaustic painting. It needs to get cleaned up before hubby gets home, though!

Encaustic paints and griddle and 20 cat foods cans are under the desk...My studio is in the cold upstairs, so I will photograph it later, on a warmer day.

My new shop http://www.folkarttreefandangle.etsy.com/ has been filled with products made from this very spot.

Box of Heads

I have been a sculpting fool this past couple of weeks. I've made so many santa faces I'm dreaming faces! Each face takes me an hour or two to sculpt. I use glass or plastic eyes (plastic...not a good idea when I am baking the heads, but if I bake longer and at a lower heat, I can manage it without distortion.) The eyes tend to speak to me as I lay the clay on. Sometimes just one swipe of the modeling tool sets me on a whole new track in where I am going with the face. I may start thinking, 'he is a serious face', and then, with a little more clay on the cheek than I wanted, suddenly his eyes sparkle and I am adding more clay and making him laugh. They evolve for me, taking me with them as I bring forth the face they want to be. Once I add the wool to these faces they will take on a whole new look and feel. Some faces that I am not too happy with will sometimes be the ones I step back from and admire as a finished santa, and sigh with pleasure. I never know where this process will take me.

Check back for the next stage of santa building. Bases and bodies....

The Process of Santa

I have a show soon in Cumberland and since I can only make stuff from one category, I chose to make santas. I thought it would be fun to share my creative process while I make them. So here is the first stage. I begin with a ball of tinfoil and shape it into roughly the size I need for a 16-22 inch figure. I then add a pancake of polymer clay to the back of the head and bake. Then I set the eyes, and fill in any deep crevices with polymer so there are no air pockets. I bake them again. This is the result of the second bake.

These creepy little faces are the basis for my santa faces...really...they look better later...