A friend for Max the dog

I've just finished a commission for a lovely customer.  I think she found my work from the New York Times article - I should check that!

Anyhow she saw my bird jack-in-the-box necklace that I made quite a while ago now - and asked if I could make her a similar one with a dog inside.

She has a "goofy" golden retriever and sent me this lovely photo for inspiration of her Max with his girlfriend on the right hand side!

For my jack in the box pieces, I collaborate with Kim from JujuBeadz.  She makes lovely whimsical beads from glass and I like the contrast the colored glass makes with the silver.  She has closed her store for now, but I emailed her and asked her if she could possibly make a glass golden retriever bead for me, and also three red "balls" - Max's favorite toy - one for the box and two for earrings.  She kindly did and they turned out perfect - even with a little tongue hanging out like in the photo!!!

And so I made the little silver box, put Max on a spring - and now, when you pull on the red ball,  he enjoys surprising you by jumping out of the box to see you!!!!

 

Kim also made two extra beads - one bone shaped one and one paw print one in red, so they were added to the clip on earrings!!

Doesn't he look a happy doggie!!!  What a happy jewelry set!!!  Thanks so much Nancy. I hope you love and get a lot of laughs from Max's new friend.

Mondays with Marly - Stepping Stones Part 2

By guest blogger Marly

A major heat wave has hit Southern Ontario. Nothing like it since 2007.  I gratefully bow to our little window air conditioner which is managing to keep the house comfortable and cool. A perfect kind of day to write a blog entry since its way too humid to venture outside. In my last blog entry, I wrote about some early artistic adventures...weaving, printmaking, picture framing, and watercolor.

Around 2005, my color palette started to change. The turquoise blues and greens that predominated my earlier work shifted to warmer colors...maroons, reds, browns and earth tones. I realized how much I loved doing collage and started to integrate watercolor and acrylics with photos and Japanese washi papers

 

I decided to take an early retirement from teaching in 2005 so I could make art and travel a bigger part of my life.  I took a course in fused glass and fell in love with the process. I very quickly started to experiment with collaging different colors of glass together.

It didn’t take long before I fell in love with dichroic glass and the way it reflected colours.
I started to make jewelry pieces using this specialty glass.

In between creative adventures, Angie and I travelled to the southwest in my camper van several times between 2005-2007. It was there that we discovered the silver metal clay community and took some introductory courses that got us hooked on creating metal clay jewelry. It wasn’t long before I started experimenting with previous art mediums and metal clay. Could I put in some of my collage art into a metal clay frame?
I discovered that by laminating miniaturized versions of my collages, I could, indeed, include my art in metal clay jewelry.

I really feel drawn to making artisan jewelry right now. My work in various mediums has always been small, so translating my art to jewelry seems like a good direction to pursue. I also love the personal nature of making wearable art. So many people have told me how they think of me when they put on a piece of jewelry that I’ve made. Its feels good to know that people enjoy wearing my creations.

My art experiences have truly been stepping stones. All of life’s learnings can be built upon and used in many ways. So embrace the desire to learn something new. Trust that pursuing new experiences and having the courage to leave your “comfort zone” will only broaden and enhance the creative spirit within. Here’s to the journey!