I took a class a couple weekends ago at The Vinery to learn about glass clay. Here are the first half of the results.
BEFORE firing:
AFTER firing:
Patio in progress
I am assembling a small cement patio for under the wisteria trellis.
So far, it’s made of 1 cement stepping stone I made as an example for a class I taught, and the bricks are found bricks (some people throw away perfectly good bricks!). I might have to break down and buy some bricks to finish this… My pile-o-scraps is not really working to fill this out into a nice rectangle right now
Refinishing a cabinet
Found this at a local thrift store and thought it was too cool to pass up. I started stripping the old paint with enthusiasm….. but now I’m not so sure I like the look of the plain wood. Maybe this is a piece better suited to being painted after all? What do you think?
BEFORE starting:
AFTER some stripping on Day 1:
The weather has been nice enough (and I’m back in town) that I figure it’s time to start up on this project again. I would love to put this in its place in my studio/office!
Monhegan Island inspired paintings
I recently spent 5 days on a small island 12 miles off the coast of Maine with a group of 13 other artists. It was an impulse purchase/decision I made at the end of January, and might be the best thing I’ve decided to do so far in 2015.
I started some 9 pieces, mostly acrylic, but a few watercolors, too. Day 1 resulted in this:
Here are the three most finished pieces: Blue, Bluer, and Bluest.
(the progression of) Blue
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Bluer
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Bluest
A request for any of my friends who bike or walk places – REFLECTORS!
I see these all the time on the ground when walking/biking around town and pick them up when I can. If *YOU* see these on the ground, would you be willing to pick them up and save them for me? I have a project in mind and could use a couple dozen more of these. Thank you!
A lesson in recycling
I had always been taught to use a container at my jeweler’s desk to catch metal filings, so I could melt those little bits and make more things…. but I never really took that seriously since I was working on things that seemed so small as to be inconsequential. Well guess what. Even though small, it adds up! See those 10 little balls of silver near the top-middle of this picture? Those are were made from the metal filings from the other silver shown (like, literally I collected all the bits I filed off of all those circles shown in this picture). HOLY MOLY. What didn’t look like a very big pile of metal dust turned into something I use on other jewelry with almost no work on my part, other than to be a little more diligent about where my dust falls.
I can’t believe how much silver I’ve wasted up til now.
O_o
Iron Owls
I didn’t make these, but I made them look like new. When I got them, they were rusty and the four little peg feet on the back had crumbling plastic covers. My favorite gas station attendant helped me get these sand-blasted and then I spray painted them with a self-etching primer, followed by shiny black. I luf them and they live on my kitchen island now (instead of in that box of broken things waiting to be fixed). Picture on the left is with flash, right is without. I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so I am using both.
A few new paintings
Maybe keeping better track of what I make when is in order. I’m not sure when I made these other than it’s sometime since October. Yeah, we’ll say these are from October 2014. Or November.
Latvian Easter Eggs!
Successfully convinced BOTH parents to take some time out of their evening to make these with me! I love making these eggs. Unwrapping them at the end and seeing what patterns you’ve made is the best. It’s like Christmas.
Dichro cabs
This week I learned that if my mom says she has energy to do [some stuff], and if I am at all interested in [some stuff], I really ought to take her up on the suggestion to do [some stuff] right away.
I missed my first opportunity to lure her into her studio, and the second opportunity came more than a whole day later, but that 2nd time she mentioned doing another firing, I jumped on the chance. Here’s what we made – a bunch of iridescent dichroic cabochons (which I will eventually set in assorted silver jewelry). The “before” is on the left, the “after on the right. Only one piece slid noticeably sideways during the firing, and then there’s that puzzling big piece in the middle of the front row that didn’t fire as thoroughly as the rest did. Some kilns have inconsistent heat patterns (usually related to insufficient/inconsistent insulation near a front-facing door to the kiln) but the way this kiln is set up, there is no front-facing door, just a lid, so… I’m guessing it didn’t reach as high an internal temp as the other pieces just because it was considerably BIGGER than all the others. The plan for that one is to cut it into chunks with a wet saw and fire-polish the edges, so the fact that it doesn’t have rounded edges is moot. I think it will still work.