Monday's Millinery Musings:

By guest blogger Jennifer

This summer I received an email from a Sonoma photographer, Megan Clouse,  who found me on Etsy. You never know who is following your Etsy shop! Perfect example: Ruth and the New York Times.

Megan asked if she could  photograph my studio for her blog. Now, I must admit, my workroom is an absolute unrelenting shambles every day of the week all year long. Dangerous, teetering piles of what-not threaten anyone who has the courage to enter. So a few things spoke to me about this request: I would be forced to clean up the space, and, it was interesting to imagine how someone else would view the studio, and what would be attention grabbing enough to photograph. So I agreed to it . Reluctantly.

All the photographs included in this post were taken by Megan.

I spent the entire day before Megan's visit digging out the room and moving half of its contents into Dave's office. He was very lovely about that and agreed to remain lovely as long as I moved it all back after the photo shoot. 

It was hard to decide what hat Vivian should wear and in the end Megan decided on the gold metallic rose fascinator.

Vivian

I may not have mentioned Vivian to you before. That is a terrible oversight on my part as she is crucial to my operation. Vivian is the Queen of my Etsy shop. She  models every hat and allows me to photograph her at any time day or night. She is always enthusiastic, never tires, and her hair and makeup are flawless. She is chronically beautiful. Vivian is handmade from a vintage mould of a 1940's department store mannequin. She was made by Deco Eyes, a small family-run business. Did you ever see that wonderful movie, Lars and the Real Girl? It's a bit like that with Vivian and me, although our relationship is strictly professional.

Doesn't this bookshelf look neat? Too bad we don't have before pictures.

Thanks to half  the contents of the room being in Dave's office, it was finally possible to move furniture! When Megan came the space seemed so roomy, inviting, and dare it be said, tidy. This has been a great boon since I had been avoiding the studio for a month. It was too far gone even for me. But it has become a place to dream and work in again. I have so many ideas that need a place to be nurtured and grow into what they are meant to be. The French author Colette has written, "Orderliness cures everything".

All the hats are sewn on my mother-in-law's vintage Singer Featherweight sewing machine.

And so, it is time for me to get back to work. Did I mention that this is my last post? Ruth has been so kind to let me try out my little water wings in the vast cyber sea of blogging, and I haven't drown. Thank you to those who have taken the time to read my posts. Thank you, Ruth, for giving me the chance to blog. It has been so much fun.

Sunday's Spotlight - Lincoln by the Sea

BY GUEST BLOGGER PETE.

Perhaps a movement ought to be started which would promote an addition to the name of Lincoln and change it to "Lincoln by the sea". Not many folk realise that Lincoln has a wonderful beach, golden sands, seagulls, deckchairs, sandcastles etc. In fact there is most of what you would expect to see in  a place by the sea.

There is much to be said for living in a seaside resort, especially when the beach is so close to the many other attractions that the city offers. It's been good this summer to see so many people using their beach. There have been children busily engaged in building sand castles, parents resting or dozing in deckchairs, ice cream, etc, readily available. So why not come to sunny Lincoln by the sea? The title "by the sea" is a little exaggerated; however, "Lincoln Beach" is not.

Perhaps I ought to confess that most of the photos accompanying this blog are offering views of Cleethorpes rather than Lincoln.  But maybe you can spot the odd one out that is Lincoln? 

This year the city fathers brought a beach to our historic city. They took over a nice open area in the city centre and transported about 60 tons of sand, which was laid out on it and is ideal for playing in and building sand castles with. Deckchairs were provided for parents to sit and read from or doze in; in fact so popular were the deckchairs that more had to be obtained on loan from Skegness.

In all, the beach was a great success and it is hoped to be repeated next year. However, in the dead of one night, the sand and the various sand etceteras were all removed and the Square returned to normality. Normality, that is, until the coming December when, hopefully, a skating rink will take its place.

See you all on Lincoln Beach next year!

Weekly Bird in the Hand

Photo by StewBl@ck

It's that time again -gosh Saturday comes around quickly - for my weekly Bird in the Hand - the things that I am grateful for.

• the medical profession - all those doctors, nurses, paramedics etc who take care of people when they most need it
• our health
• friends who care and support
• that in creating, things don't always go smoothly - otherwise we wouldn't be challenged
• being able to try something new and be open to see where it takes you - like my new cartooning class

Yearning for color

 

I'm all ready to start more experimenting with colored anodized aluminum (or colour anodised aluminium).  I tried a couple of simple pieces recently, shown here (the round pair I made for our recent merry go round challenge). 

There is quite a  process involved with coloring anodized aluminum which I'll explain briefly.  When aluminum is exposed to the atmosphere, an inert film forms on it's surface as a protective layer again corrosion.  This layer is chemically bonded to the metal's surface.  When aluminum is anodized by placing in a bath of acid with an electric current, this oxide layer is artificially created - much thicker and more consistent than the one formed naturally.  The surface takes on an appearance similar to a honeycomb with microscopic pores.  These pores readily absorb inks and dyes, if they have the correct particle size, which allows for decorative coloring.  After coloring, the aluminum is sealed which closes the pores and the color becomes trapped in the metal and so is actually part of the metal.  It is therefore resistant to rubbing, abrasion, solvents etc...and as aluminum is light weight, it makes it perfect for jewelry.

As you can imagine there is quite a bit of fiddling in the whole process. So far I've just done some simple earrings but I'm hoping later this month I can dedicate some more time to experimenting.

I just love the colors you can get with aluminum - so vibrant and fresh. Yes - very different from my usual style...but who knows where this will lead?

Here are some I made earlier in the year.

I'd welcome your thoughts and comments......

Expressive birds

So I wonder if you noticed anything different about my bronze bird that I photographed yesterday???

If you look carefully, you may see that, unlike my other birds, this little bronze guy has eye lids and eye brows too!  and yes, a little topknot feather.  Can you see?

I guess my not including eye lids before was an anatomical error as all birds have eye lids. In fact birds have three eye lids - an upper one, a lower one and a nictitating membrane.  Unlike us, however, their moveable lid is the lower one.  As that looks a little odd to us - I gave this guy moveable upper lids instead!

And as for the eyebrows?  Well - no. Birds don't have eyebrows - but I have artistic license!

So how come my new bird has two new anatomical features?  Well, I started a cartooning class last week!  I can't draw and don't particularly want to learn to draw "regular" things - but I thought cartooning might be fun.

When I met my tutor, he'd looked at my website and jewelry etc and he decided that I was a "three dimensional cartoonist!"  I like that phrase!  I started work on drawing cartoons based on Humphrey and Trisha ...... I have a lot to learn but in the process we spoke about expressions and how eye lids and eye brows add to expressions - and voila!  My sculpted birds now have lids and brows so I can start working on different expressions!

I have my second lesson today.  Looking forward to it.  I can see that my sculpting and my cartooning will be switching back and forth with me learning things in one and adding it to the other and vice versa!  And my goal is to be able to show you some little cartoons here on my blog.  Hope they won't cause too many raised eye brows!

What's our story?

Here's a chance for you to name and decide the story of these two little birdies.  What is their relationship? Have they just met or are they related?  What do they call each other?  What are they talking about here?

What do you think....any captions for the photos??? 

I have my own idea but I'd love to hear your version of their story.

Going around in circles

The last couple of days have been somewhat of a whirlwind....so I thought it was a perfect time to show you my spiral rings that I made when I was with Angie and Marly..... My head was definitely spinning on Sunday so spirals seem appropriate!

They are made my hammering different textures into silver wire, then forming the wire, work hardening, adding patina and voila!  An easy, quick ring.

Have you ever tried spiral rings?

Mondays with Marly - Birdland Creations and Studio 28 "International Conference"

BY GUEST BLOGGER MARLY

We had our own kind of metal clay conference here in Waterloo. Very small, just Ruth, Angie and I. It was such a treat to spend time together at a relaxed pace, share ideas and dreams, play with clay in the studio, meander up to Lake Huron and the cottage, and enjoy meals (and cocktails) together! Wonderful! We are so lucky to have such a great friend and mentor in Ruth. She always inspires us to keep growing in our life and business pursuits and her company is an absolute joy!

We decided to spend a day testing various kinds of bronze clay in the studio. Ruth brought some Prometheus bronze and some new Fast Fire Bronzclay from Metal Clay Adventures, and I mixed up some of Hadar's bronze and clay powders and off we went.

Angie and Ruth testing various Bronze Clays

Ruth has already published the results of our findings on a previous blog. Long story short, we all loved working with the new Fastfire Bronzclay. It almost felt, dare I say, similar to working with silver metal clay! Here are some beads I made with this clay. Notice the soft bronze colour and the detail of the texture. Also, the shrinkage was a lot less than the other two clays. Both Angie and I are excited to try more of this clay!

Beads Made with FastFire BronzClay

I have worked almost exclusively with Hadar's clays as I enjoy mixing the powders and making only what I need at the time. The one advantage to working with Hadar's clays is that it is easy to combine copper and bronze together. When I tried adding Hadar's copper clay to the other bronze clays, they did not sinter and broke apart. The beads below are made with Hadar's copper and bronze clay. They both sintered well together. I'll have to experiment more to see I can combine copper with the other clays.

Beads Made with Hadar's Copper and Bronze Powders

It was fun to try out and experiment with various bronze clays...next, its time to experiment with Hadar's White Bronze Clay....we'll keep you posted!

And exciting news!!! One of last week's highlights was to find out that Metal Clay Magic had featured Angie's Dream Box pendant after seeing it here on Ruth's blog! What a thrill! Way to go, Angie! It's always exciting to be recognized by others in the metal clay community. Thanks, Wendy!

Sunday's spotlight - staying home for the Bank Holiday

BY GUEST BLOGGER PETE

Here in the UK we have just had the last bank holiday until Boxing Day. When you are working, bank holidays are an extra bonus that are very welcome but when you're retired you are apt to become rather indifferent to them. I must confess that Pam and I are both wrinklies and as a result bank holidays don't do a great deal for either of us.

About 75% of bank holidays (winter ones excepted) we visit the local car boot sale. This is an open air market where people sell the rubbish they don't want, to people who think it might be useful but then, probably, pass it on to a charity shop.  This year we even gave the car boot sale a miss.

Instead I climbed out onto the roof of the extension to pick up the moss that had fallen from the main house roof and to clean the top of the conservatory. It surprises me how much you can see from that roof. Reminded me of a song by George Formby -- "When I'm cleaning windows". There; that's given you a clue to my age but don't say you've never heard of George Formby.....here he is, just in case!!



It's best not to go on Lincolnshire roads on a bank holiday. At Cadwell Park, just outside of Lincolnshire town of Louth, there is a motorcycle nirvana called Superbike Cadwell Park. It is on the motor bike circuit for the national championship and this year it attracted a crowd of 40,000 -- yes 40,000 and I checked that three times.Can you imagine what the roads would have been like at turnout time? Probably not 40,000 motorbikes but at least 25,000 would-be champions all speeding along Lincolnshire's narrow roads making their ways home.

The other place we wrinklies are apt to avoid on bank holidays is the Lincolnshire seaside resort of Skegness. Our elder daughter, Mary, was with us a few years ago for an August bank holiday. By the way, if Mary ever invites you to a picnic then take your raincoat with you! To be true to her, though, the picnic she arranged for one of Pam's birthdays was the only hot and sunny day we had in the whole of that August. That visit to Skegness was an extremely fortunate one. We went in the afternoon and managed to find a roadside parking space quite quickly. The bonus here was that we actually found parking space on a bank holiday and it didn't cost us anything. Then whilst walking on the beach Mary found a £5 note. It must have been quite a few years ago because that £5 note bought tea for all of us !!!!!!

Skegness beach by EDD07

By EDD07

Hope you had a good bank holiday. Skegness on Boxing Day is very bracing. If you live nearby why not try it?

Skegness Clock Tower by mush2274

Weekly Bird in the Hand

This week's bird in the hand i.e. things I'm grateful for:

Photo by ell brown

• Being home after a busy summer and having some time to catch up
• Meeting a friend unexpectedly and finding time to have a coffee together and hear all what's been happening
• Doing more creating with my new toy - a tap and die set!
• Starting a new class - more on that later!
• Being named as September featured artist for the Yahoo Metal Clay Group
• Starting back at singing again at Grace Cathedral
• Being able to see so much wildlife just in our garden.  This week John saw a Bobcat in the vineyard, a pigmy Owl, we both saw lots of Quails and yesterday we had an otter in the pond.  All were around long enough to really watch them. Hope you like my otter photos - it seemed he was as interested in me as I was in him! 

Room for two......

This little birdie is looking wistful.....waiting for his favorite bird to come and sit with him on his branch.  There is definitely room for two - especially if you don't mind being close together......

"Room for two" is my latest mixed-media necklace combining silver and rare woods.  I've been using my new tap and die set to make my own screws and screw holes which makes connections easy with materials where you can't use heat.

Don't you feel like taking a break and having a seat with this little birdie??

Part 3 - Which bronze clay to use - Prometheus, Hadar's or FastFire Bronzclay?

Finishing up from Tuesday and Wednesday's posts about comparing the three types of bronze clay - Prometheus Bronze, Hadar's Bronze and FastFire Bronzclay.......

Each of the bronze clays had their own individual firing schedules.  We didn't want to do three - actually 4 separate firings (as Hadar's has two firings) so decided to fire Hadar's pieces on their own according to her schedule and then fire the Prometheus and FastFire Bronzclay together.

Hadar's clay was fired according to her instructions which includes phase I for half an hour  in carbon and then cool followed by phase II for 3 hours in carbon.   All Hadar's pieces fired and sintered fine on this schedule.

For the other two clays, we followed the FastFire Bronzeclay schedule where you fire in carbon for 2 hours with full ramp but we had read that some people found that they needed to increase the temperature from 1525 to 1550 degrees F - so we went for the higher temperature.  That is higher than the temperature recommended for Prometheus - but we thought it worth a try.  Again - all pieces fired and sintered fine and there was no blistering on the Prometheus despite it firing at a higher temperature.

(As an aside....On my "anyone" piece I tried adding a hat to the FastFire Bronzclay made from Hadar's copper clay, and Marly tried combining Hadar's copper too on some of her beads but the copper didn't sinter on any of the pieces. Obviously combining the two metals and brands needs a little more fiddling with!)

We used our usual techniques for finishing and found quite a few differences between the clays.  I found that with Hadar's, getting a smooth finish was not easy.  On my bird, it seemed that there were "pits" - that couldn't be sanded out. I'm thinking that may have something to do with unevenness in the mixing and the pits are where there was concentrated binder but not metal??? but Marly really shook the powder well to begin with and mixed thoroughly and carefully......Finishing looked fine with the textured pieces but for that plain finish I guess I would have to refill and refire etc to get the finish I like.

From left to right: Fastfire Bronzclay (FF), Hadar's (H) and (unfinished) Prometheus (P)

Prometheus didn't seem to sand to a smooth finish - I just couldn't get it to have that lovely satiny silky feel that I like in my pieces.   I gave up even trying to do my bird in Prometheus I'm afraid.

The Fastfire Bronzclay finished really nicely however.  As you can see from the photos, I got that satiny silky finish on the bird and anyone (without his hat!!!) and it also finished really well on the textured and carved pieces.

There were big differences in shrinkage between the clays too as the photos show.  The beads I didn't make in uniform length but they were all made with three card thickness.  The least shrinkage occurred with FastFire Bronzclay and the most with Prometheus.

FF, H, P.  You can see the difference in how the clays take texture

FF, H, P.  All beads were rolled 3 cards thick. This photo shows the differences in shrinkage.

So the conclusion of all this is that I actually enjoyed working with the FastFire Bronzclay.  It is a totally different clay from the Bronzclay released 2 years ago and they have made some great improvements.  It was easily my favorite amongst the three types in all categories - and both Marly and Angie also chose it as their favorite too. For once, I am excited to try bronze on some larger pieces and see how it goes - but first I'll give it a try on something small in my kiln and keep my fingers crossed it works like Angie and Marly's kiln!!!

But I reiterate - using these clays is a very personal experience  - both in our individual senses  of what feels good and how we use it.  We are lucky to have choices in our clays that can used for different applications.

 Keep watching and I hope to show you some bronze pieces in the not too distant future!

I'd love to hear your experiences with any or all of these clays.  Do leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Featured artist for Yahoo Metal Clay Group

I'm delighted and thrilled to be the featured artist for September for the Yahoo Metal Clay group.  If you work in metal clay and aren't part of this yahoo group - I highly recommend you check it out.   You'll find lots of great information there and it's a place to share what you are up to as well.

Thanks so much for selecting me.

Part 2 - Which bronze clay to use? Prometheus, Hadar's or FastFire Bronzclay?

Following on from yesterday's post about our testing out the three types of bronze clay.....

I began with Hadar's bronze clay and made a round tube textured bead, a square tube plain bead, a little songbird and a wing for carving.  The clay took and kept the texture just fine on the round bead.  When it came to the square bead, there was some cracking in the clay, but after it dried, it was easy enough to fill in the cracks and sand it down - although when filling you do lose some of the texture.  The bird was easy to shape and the wings joined relatively easily.  When it came to carving the wing, it was quite difficult to carve - even after I had moistened the surface a little. I also tried carving the square bead but it wasn't easy.

Hadar's Bronze Clay

Next up was Prometheus and I made the same pieces as above.  The Prometheus clay did not seem to hold it's shape or texture.  The texture on the round bead reduced considerably and the shape of the bird slumped so that the base of the bird was just flat where it sat.  It just couldn't hold it's shape.  Making the square bead, there was a lot of cracking and these didn't seem to fill very easily.  Joining was OK both on the seams and the bird however I found I couldn't make a small bird like I could in the other clays - it just didn't seem easy to manipulate in small scale.  Carving, like Hadar's, was difficult and not enjoyable.

I do want to make a comment here about Prometheus.  I tried Prometheus when it first came on the market and it was a joy to work with. I liked it.  Recently I got two more packets and the clay is totally different in every way from my initial packet. I don't know if they have changed the formula or changes occurred as they ramped up production but these last two packets just don't seem to "work" like the first one.  I emailed the manufacturer/supplier after I had tried this new batch a few weeks ago, expressing my disappointment, but they never responded.

Prometheus Bronze clay

Finally - I managed to wrestle the FastFire Bronzclay from Marly to try that.  Wow!  No wonder she didn't want to let it go.  It is a joy to work with.  It takes and keeps texture well and the seams on the beads joined very easily.  There was no cracking on the square bead and the songbird was just as easy as anything. I embedded some bronze wire into the bird too.  The wing was a delight to carve - like running the carver through butter.  What a difference to the other two.  There was no need to moisten the surface or anything.  Just a dream.  I was so enjoying this, I decided to try it out on an "anyone" figure too and he worked just fine.

Fastfire Bronzclay

 You'll have to wait until tomorrow for me to tell you about firing and finishing the three clays.