Cristina Leonard Metal Designs

SIGN UP IS TOMORROW!

2012-01-09T23:52:00.001-06:00

B121356 Mixed-Metal Layered Acid Etched Pendant (Saturday, June 9th)

B121468 and B122554 Riveting: A Keepsake Pendant (Friday, June 8th and another session on Sunday, June 10th)

B121469 Metal Etching 101 (Wednesday, June 6th)

Tomorrow (January 10th, noon central time) is the day that sign ups for the Bead and Button Show classes begin. I'm so excited and I'm looking forward to meeting lots of new students in Milwaukee. My friend Gail Lannum and I are teaching 4 metal fabrication classes at the show this year. I met Gail at the show some years ago and we've been great friends ever since. We have so much fun together and such a passion for jewelry and design that I know our students will have a great time. Since I discovered The Bead and Button Show it's been a huge part of my life. I've learned so much there as a participant, I've been awed by the vast variety of what's available on the show floor, and most importantly I've made life long friends at the show. It's an adventurous week, for sure. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of the show. Which is why I'm so honored to be taking part this year as an instructor with Gail. I hope that if you are able, no matter if your passion is metal, beads or glass, that you'll head to Milwaukee this June for your own adventure.

YULETIDE GREETINGS

2011-12-24T17:33:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas to all of you! I wish you all the most excellent and happy holidays and a wonderful year to come.

RETURN TO THE LIGHT

2011-12-21T22:31:00.003-06:00

I like the winter solstice. I always have, since learning about it in school as a kid. I've always thought there was something magical about the longest night of the year. After this night the sun begins its slow ascent and the days become longer until the snow melts and the wheel of the year brings us back to spring. In ancient times Midwinter, as some call the solstice, marked the return of the sun, the giver of life. Such a hopeful and magical thing to think on. Who couldn't use a little magic in their lives?

BROWSE THE BEAD AND BUTTON SHOW

2011-12-13T15:30:00.000-06:00

Browse 2012 Bead and Button classes HERE!

The Bead and Button Show website is now open for browsing the classes in June! You can't sign up until January10th, but you can register and browse and prepare your plan of attack. There are more than 600 classes this year, and happily for me, 4 of those classes will be taught by myself and my good friend Gail Lannum. The variety of classes available is staggering. Whether you're into metal, glass, seed beads, or things I haven't even thought of, there's bound to be a class for you. Take some time to check out the site, I promise you wont be disappointed.

2011-12-12T21:31:00.001-06:00

Copper and Bronze Mehndi Pendant.

Bronze and Copper Vine Shield Pendant

Bronze Prong Set Ammonite Pendant

Bronze and Copper Desert Flower Pendant

Large Mehndi Shield Pendant

Bunches of new things in the Etsy store today. I have lots of new work, but getting it photographed and getting descriptions written always challenges me. I'd rather just make stuff. Time to put the big girl pants on though and get some of this stuff done! I'm working on a lot of new things right now, including a tool and supply store on Etsy. I want to make it easy for my students (and others, of course!) to find the tools that we most commonly use in my classes. I'm pretty excited about this. I'll post here when it's up and running.

THANKFUL

2011-11-24T00:01:00.004-06:00

It's been a very hard couple of years for my family. Still, I am thankful. I'm thankful for all of the people in my life who I love and count on. I'm thankful that I've had such loving relationships with my parents, and I wish with all of my heart that they were here. I'm grateful that I was lucky enough to have them as my parents. I'm thankful for my sisters and Paul and his family and all of our friends scattered near and far. I'm thankful for my sweet cats. I'm thankful that I live where I do and that I get to make jewelry as my job. I hope all of you have lots to be thankful for too. Happy Thanksgiving all!

DREAMING OF RIVETS

2011-11-19T16:58:00.005-06:00

Bronze and copper with brass rivets

German silver and brass.

Jasper, copper and fine silver.

Rivets on a very old Illinois Central engine (in Independence, Iowa)

Rivets from the South end of the Golden Gate Bridge

Lots happening here. Working on new jewelry. I'm on a riveting kick lately. Probably due to the fact that I've had rivets on the brain since Gail and I submitted our Bead and Button classes. There will be a lot of riveting happening in Milwaukee. I swear the other night I dreamed of rivets. Aircraft, bridges, robots, you get the picture. I really enjoy soldering and I'm actually quite good at it. It's a satisfying part of my tool box. Having said that, I like the look of a rivet. Rivets make it clear to the observer what's going on here. They make sure that you understand how a piece was constructed and more importantly that it was constructed by human hands. I never realized how much I employ rivets in my own work until I started to think about it. I spend a lot of time thinking about weird things.

THANK YOU VETERANS

2011-11-11T11:17:00.003-06:00

Thank you for your service. All of the freedom that the rest of us enjoy is because of you.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2011-10-31T00:01:00.002-05:00

Trunk Show

2011-10-27T21:32:00.003-05:00

I'll be taking part in Bead Haven's fall open house and trunk show this weekend. If you are local (eastern Iowa), I'd love to see you there. I have lots of new things to share! Bead Haven will have discounts and treats and I'll be doing a couple of riveting demos on Saturday. The show is Friday (tomorrow) from 4-7 pm and Saturday from 10-5. I hope to see you there!

BEAD AND BUTTON SHOW CLASSES

2011-10-15T14:14:00.005-05:00

Some examples of our acid etched, riveted pendant.

More examples.

Still more examples from our all day class.

Riveted Keepsake Pendant.

Acid Etching 101

I had some wonderful news last week. I, along with my wonderful friend Gail Lannum, will be teaching 4 classes at the Bead and Button Show in June. We submitted 3 classes which they accepted and at the moment at least, they'd like us to teach one of them twice! I am so excited and honored. I've always considered this show the best in the country. I've been attending the show for a number of years and have been in awe of how well such a gigantic event is run. I have taken many classes there myself from phenomenal teachers miraculously gathered in one place for a whole week. I'm excited and humbled to be included in their company. We'll be teaching a cute riveted pendant with a silver bail, an acid-etched, riveted, fabricated pendant and a basic acid etching class. We're excited about our classes because we feel that all three offer a lot of solid metalworking skills in one package. Students will learn basic fabrication, hammered textures, acid etching, riveting, bail construction, chemical and heat patinas, wire wrapping, etc. Gail and I are great friends (we met at the Bead and Button Show!) and we always have such a great time together and I think our classes, while very educational will be a whole lot of laughs too. I hope perspective students will be as excited as we are! I will be posting more information about the classes as I get it.

iNSANELY GREAT iCON

2011-10-05T21:06:00.006-05:00

Steve Jobs

1955-2011

The world lost an icon today, one who I will personally miss very much. He was part visionary, part Svengali (minus the evil), part salesman. He was brilliant and seemed to revel in what he was doing. He made the world a better place. The world is poorer for his passing, but his legacy will live on.

SUMMER AND ALL

2011-09-07T22:37:00.011-05:00

Part of my display at Brucemore.

Tomatoes ready for winter. Sunshine in a jar.

Dan from Chiminey Cricket fixing my chimney.

My girls know how to live. I'm trying to learn to be more like them.

Getting ready for Brucemore. What an excellent show this one is. Beautiful place, lovely people.

More new things.

And more.

Bronze ammonites with copper prong settings.

Bronze shields with handmade bronze chain, bronze nuggets and ancient Roman glass beads

Lots going on here. The last part of summer was full with deadlines for class submissions, a big show at Brucemore, making things for the big show, canning tomatoes from my garden (I should have been weeding, but during the hot spell we had I decided to go another way and try the jungle look. I believe I have succeeded), chimney repairs and trying to live without worries and angst like my cats do (I need to work harder on this one).

Autumn is almost here. Apples, football, another show (this time at my favorite place, Bead Haven), cool nights, football, planting bulbs, hot chocolate, planning new classes, and sitting in the sun watching the leaves turn. Life is good.

CLASSES AND NEW STUFF

2011-08-21T19:58:00.015-05:00

Acid Etched Copper And Bronze.

Acid Etched Copper and Faux Bone Pendants from class. From the top clockwise is mine, Alice's, Pam's, Bonnie's, and Julie's.

Some bronze pieces of mine waiting to be assembled.

Forged Copper and Bronze Cuff

My blogging has been spotty of late, actually non-existant. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better. Lots of stuff going on. Classes are happening and things are being made. I had a very nice all day class at Bead Haven recently involving acid etching, riveting and Faux Bone. If you haven't tried Faux Bone, give it a go. It's fun stuff. It's the invention of Robert Dancik (an artist and teacher himself). It's plastic (I know, but it's very cool, trust me!) PVC actually. I remember being in a class of his once and I believe he said that it's a type of PVC that is used for making containers for caustic chemicals (yikes! fumes!), which makes it pretty indestructible. It's also really easy to work with and it mimics other materials, like bone and ivory very well. We had fun working with it. I've been luck enough to have had a class with both Robert and a class with Richard Salley where we worked with it, and it's a material that I hope to work more with in the future.

We've been having classes at Bead Haven with bronze clay and acid etching too. We'll be doing more of that and lots of other things too as fall unfolds so please come in and join us. I've been working on bunches of new things myself. I have a show this Saturday at Brucemore, a National Trust property (more on this later) so I've been working hard to get lots of new things ready for that. I'll have lots of mixed metal bracelets and bangles, etched and riveted pendants, gemstone and leather wrapped bracelets, and some bezel set silver rings and pendants. Man, are my hands tired!

WHERE IS SUMMER GOING?

2011-07-27T23:31:00.003-05:00

Trying to get things done is not easy with my little helper around.

Lots going on around here. I'm amazed by how fast the summer is flying by. The garden is humming along. The tomato plants are about 9 feet high (I kid you not!) and I will need a ladder to pick them. I guess they like the heat wave we've been having (I'm glad someone does). I'll get some photos sometime this week. I've been doing a bunch of new work which I'll tell you about later. I wish I had a clone. If I did, I'd probably not like how she did things and I'd end up doing it myself anyway. : )

BEZELS AND OTHER NEW STUFF

2011-07-03T00:36:00.010-05:00

A Spider Web Jasper Cabochon set into a sterling silver bezel.

The back of the bezel with my little hallmark tag soldered onto it.

A fossil coral ring that I made in Joe Silvera's class at the Bead and Button Show. The cabochon is from Gary Wilson.

A Lapis Lazuli cabochon set into a sterling bezel with a sterling ring shank. I love how the pyrite makes this stone look like sparkly stars in a night sky.

A bronze pendant with faceted Lapis rondelles . I was going for a somewhat Moroccan flair.

A hammered sun shield pendant with carved bronze beads, bronze chain and Roman glass beads from Bead Paradise.

I haven't blogged much since I got back from Bead and Button. I came back with a lot of fresh ideas, like I always do. Some of that is the inspiration found in being surrounded by a bunch of wildly creative people for a whole week. Some of the ideas come from the show it's self. When you walk through the show, it's hard not to be inspired by the shear volume of exotic materials available there. A lot of it of course, are the great classes that one can take there. I took another class from Joe Silvera. It was a bezel setting class. I have already made bezels before, but I really needed a bit more hand holding I guess, given the price of silver to get me to a place where I felt comfortable. Since coming home I seem to have hit my stride and it seems almost easy now. Thanks to Joe and his wife Anat (Anat helps out a lot in class, she's very talented in her own right). Joe is an awesome instructor with a new soldering book and DVD. Check them out here. I took some other classes with Richard Salley, one of the kings of assemblege, found object art. His work is really cool and I love how he thinks outside of the box. I'll post some pictures of what we did in his classes later on. It was fun, lots of acids and scorching plastic and nasty things like that, all of the stuff I love! Lets just say I'll never look at a Starbucks Frappuccino lid in the same way ever again. Check out Richard's website here.

BELATED BEAD AND BUTTON BOOTY: PART 1

2011-07-02T00:55:00.010-05:00

An ammonite fossil and many spectacular cabs by the amazing lapidarist, Gary Wilson.

Masses of round and rondelle-shaped stones for wrapped leather bracelets. Lapis, Red Creek Jasper, Chrysoprase, Jade, Rain Forest Jasper, And a couple others that have escaped my memory at the moment.

Lapis nuggets, carved tubes, coin shapes, and malachite nuggets from one of my very favorite vendors, Abe from Afghan Tribal Arts (He's a terrible flirt!)

Amazing finds from Bead Paradise located in Oberlin, Ohio. I first learned of them from my awesome friend Gail. The owners, Ruth and Ibrema are so knowledgeable and always have such unique things. This both is one of my three must stops and is hard for me (and Gail too,I think) to control myself in! Shells, Roman glass, recycled bottle beads from West Africa, and a really special vintage Czech glass bead.

A huge drilled ammonite pendant (350-400 million years old from Morocco) from Gary Wilson.

A close up of 2000 year old Roman glass beads. I love these.

Beautiful disc lampwork by Angi Graham

A beautiful metal amulet from Hands of the Hills, I think. I'm not sure because it was a sweet gift from my sweet friend, Gail.

Another amulet from Gail.

It's been weeks since Bead and Button, and I still hadn't shared my loot with you all. This is only part of what I got. I got a few tools and odds and ends and an awesome burnishing tool by Bob Burkett that was a gift from my friend Anne (a fellow tool fiend). I'll share my other stuff and some close ups of some of the Gary Wilson cabs in another post. It was such a great time. So many laughs, great food, great classes (thank you Joe and Anat Silvera and Richard Salley!). It was fantastic spending time with all of my far-flung friends. We spent every evening after dinner in the Hyatt bar laughing. I think the poor staff there was happy to see us go. The Bead and Button attendees must be way rowdier that most of the conventions that they have at the Frontier Airlines Center. Only 334 days until Bead and Button 2012 and I can't wait!

DAD

2011-06-19T11:40:00.003-05:00

Dad, at one of his and Mom's many woodcarving shows.

I haven't posted in a long time. I've been at the Bead and Button Show and been doing other stuff, but I promise to get back to it as I have lots to show you and tell you about. That is if there's still anybody out there who reads this : ).

Most of you who read this or who know me, know that a few months ago my sisters and Paul and I and Dad's countless friends were left devastated by his loss. He was a great man who was a rare combination of humor, patience (sometimes not with inanimate objects!) and compassion. He was funny and smart and so talented. In my experience, he knew everything. I could literally call him and ask him how to do most anything and he would know how to do it. I miss that and find myself wanting to ask him something everyday. I will miss him and Mom until I am also gone. I hope that I can honor both of them with my life by trying to be as good a friend and teacher as they both were to everyone that they knew. I've talked to many people who were students (and friends) of Dad's, so I know what they thought of him as a teacher. I went to many of Mom and Dad's woodcarving shows and watched them share information openly,patiently, and generously with people. I loved that about both of them.

ETSY TREASURY

2011-05-29T02:16:00.007-05:00

Acid Etched Mehndi Earrings.

Thanks to Silver By Andy for adding me to her Etsy Treasury. The treasury's pieces were selected from members of a Facebook group that I belong to called Metalsmiths Unite. I'm honored to be included in such an outstanding group. Thank you Andy! If you'd like to check out the Treasury, click here.

FRIDAY PRETTIES

2011-05-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

Lily and Miss Sophie on the Cat-io (cat patio, get it?).

For no other reason,except that they're pretty, Sophie and Lily. Happy Friday!

SUNDAY CLASS

2011-05-27T00:07:00.005-05:00

One of the bracelets I made in Julie's class.

Red Creek Jasper beads.

The second bracelet I made in Julie's class.

Aqua Terra Jasper.

I love these and they were so fun to make.

Alice's buttons.

Pam's funky buttons.

Julie's bronze pieces .

Rose's buttons.

Last Sunday there was a special class at Bead Haven. In the morning, students made bronze buttons with me and in the afternoon they (and me too!) made these wonderful wrapped leather, stone and bronze bracelets with Julie Campbell. I'd never had a chance to take a class with Julie before and she's such a great teacher. Take a class with her if you ever get a chance. These were really easy to make once we got the hang of it. I liked it so much I've made 2 more since the class. Cindi had made kits in advance with everything that we needed including the beautiful stones and bronze buttons by yours truly! I got all of their work fired today (except for Cindi's which I'm doing right now!) and they came out great. I'm always so excited to take their work out of the kiln. I think we may offer this class again in July, so if you didn't get a chance to join us this time, I hope we see you then.

CLASSES THIS WEEK!

2011-05-15T20:35:00.005-05:00

Julie's bracelet and my button (Sunday's class)

Tuesday's class is the ginkgo leaf. This photo is from the last time we offered the class.

Thursday's class is riveting!

This week I have 3 classes at Bead Haven in Cedar Rapids. On Tuesday, May 17th, I'll be teaching a PMC ginkgo leaf pendant with a nice, heavy-duty fine silver bale. I love this class because I love ginkgo trees (did you know that ginkgo trees have been on earth longer than most kinds of plants?)and I think it's nice to be able to make a closed bale that is made at the same time as the metal clay pendant and fired right on to the piece. No soldering needed!

On Thursday May 19th, I'm teaching a beginning riveting class. We'll use brass escutcheon pins to rivet a brass dragonfly stamping to a copper heart. We'll discuss wire gauge/drill bit sizes for ensuring a proper fit for making a secure rivet as well as metal texturing and patina of metals with flame.

On Sunday May 22nd, I'll be teaching a class on bronze clay buttons in the morning and then Julie Campbell will teach a bracelet class in the afternoon. Julie's will teach a leather and stone wrapped bracelet with a button closure like the ones that are so popular right now. The buttons that we make in the morning of course won't be ready for the afternoon class so Bead Haven will offer my bronze buttons in the kits for the class. You can use you own hand made buttons for your next bracelets, as after you make one, I'm sure you'll want to make several (I'll be staying for Julie's class because I LOVE this bracelet and can't wait to learn how to make it).

If you're interested in any of these classes please contact Bead Haven at www.beadhavenbeads.com.

MOM

2011-05-08T00:50:00.003-05:00

My Mom's High School graduation picture.

Mom

I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. I miss you every day and I always will. I know you are still with us, watching over us. You are very loved.

SILVER'S DOWN!

2011-05-06T15:12:00.004-05:00

Silver chain 2010

Photo by Jonathan D. Sabin

Friends, today would be a very good day to buy raw materials. Silver is at this moment, $35.72. This is, from all that I have read, possibly the best price that we will have for some time. I placed an order this morning that was so large that it made my hands shake. Of course, I could be wrong and it could go down! I don't think so.

BUTTONS AND BRACELETS

2011-04-21T14:23:00.005-05:00

Bracelet by Julie Campbell.

Big pile o' bronze buttons.

On May 22nd, one of my favorite people, Julie Campbell, will be teaching a cool bracelet class at Bead Haven. In the morning I'll be teaching a class on bronze buttons that can be used as the closure for the bracelet. Of course the buttons won't be finished in time for the bracelet class, so there will be bronze buttons available at the store. You'll be able to use your buttons for your next bracelet. I hope you can make it!

MONDAY HODGEPODGE

2011-04-11T22:51:00.003-05:00

Chaco Sun pendant.

Bronze Buttons.

Pink flexshaft handpiece! It's pink!

Knew Concept Jeweler's Saw.

Well, it's Monday. I planted my tomatoes today. They are now in the basement on heated mats underneath the big fluorescent lights. I planted 48 plants, 13 different varieties. Sounds excessive doesn't it? I know. But I really like tomatoes, plus I'll give some of the plants away. Anyone want one? I usually have a big garden. This year I'll plant tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, basil (for the pesto that I freeze), patty pan squash, cucumbers, and lots of cosmos and nasturtiums. Please call me this summer if you want zucchini! I love it, but during a good year I nearly resort to leaving it in unlocked parked cars! Like last year, it's a little sad to plant my garden. It makes miss Mom and Dad even more. But, it would be even sadder to not plant it. When the the tomatoes come up in a few days I'll post some pictures as they grow.

I was in another Etsy Treasury today. It's nice when someone does that. It increases the traffic to your store which is also nice. This one's titled "The Sundance" and includes my Chaco Sun Pendant. See the treasury here. Thanks to CozzeCouture for including me.

Another thing I've been up to is making buttons. Julie, one of the two wonderful bead weaving instructors at Bead Haven is making cool stone and leather wrapped bracelets that are so hot right now and she needed some unique buttons for clasps. Think I made enough for her to choose from? I think we may soon do a shared class (buttons in the morning and bracelets in the afternoon). I think it'd be fun. I'll post photos of some of her finished bracelets as soon as I can.

Next, things I've been coveting. I totally don't need this, but how cool is the pink flexshaft handpiece. I love it! I already have this particular size handpiece, so I can't justify it, but IT"S PINK! Check it out at Rio Grande. The other thing I've been coveting is this new jeweler's say from Knew Concepts. The frame is made from aircraft aluminum making it very light weight and rigid. The reduced weight should help with fatigue, which is great since I'm having such trouble with repetitive injury to my hands right now. The rigidity should greatly reduce blade breakage. I'm a decent sawer (is that a word?) but I break a lot of blades. Not a big deal, as blades are cheap, but it's a pain to stop and replace them. Plus, it looks cool too. I must admit that I indulged myself and bought this. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'll let you know what I think. Check it out at Rio Grande.

ETSY TREASURY

2011-04-10T23:34:00.004-05:00

My little bronze spider from Artlyon's treasury.

Another spider that I'm listing in my store tonight.

One of my pieces was selected for an Etsy treasury tonight. Etsy treasuries are member curated shopping galleries. A treasury features 16 of their favorite items, usually based on a theme. This list's theme is spring. Thank you to the Artlyons for including me. Take a look at the treasury here.

NEW ITEMS IN THE STORE

2011-04-09T01:05:00.003-05:00

I have listed a few new things in my Etsy store. Please go have a look here if you're interested. The proceeds from the first item, the bronze heart pendant will go to the Animal Shelter of Buchanan County building fund. Thanks!

CAT SHOW BENEFIT

2011-04-08T00:31:00.010-05:00

This was one big, long-haired Tortie.

There was even a costume competition. My girls would not have enjoyed this.

Some kitties were shy.

Pretty boy.

George was the star of the show. He won many of the show's catagories, mostly because of what a sweetheart he is. He was a very sick boy when he was found. He's been through a lot. He has frozen off ears and only one eye, but I think he's beautiful. The lucky boy now has a happy and safe forever home.

I love the expression on this one's face.

Pretty, long haired Calico.

A couple of weeks ago Paul and my sisters and I went to a cat show in Independence (Iowa) where my sisters live, in the same county where I grew up. It was actually a benefit for a new no-kill shelter that is to be built there. At this point in time there is no shelter there and stray "nuisance animals" are usually put down. I am very excited about this and wanted to try to bring a bit of attention to it. I'm going to put a few pieces of jewelry up in my store in the next couple of days to benefit the shelter which I believe will be built only with donations and grants. If you'd like to help, please contact the contact people listed above (click on the first photo to see the phone numbers larger) or buy a piece of my jewelry on Etsy! Thanks

TRUNK SHOW AND CLASSES AT BEAD HAVEN

2011-04-07T23:35:00.006-05:00

The only picture I took at last Saturday's open house.

Riveting by Jennifer, Tami, and Bonnie.

I love how great the gilder's paste made these blah pieces of Pam's old bracelet look. Quite a transformation

Gilder's Paste and Nail polish pieces by Alice.

The Gilder's Paste even transforms old garage sale wooden beads and lava beads.

Bonnie's pieces of filigree. I especially liked the orange and rust leaves and the acid green butterfly.

We've had a few classes at Bead Haven since I last posted. Last week we riveted and tonight we colored metal. I wanted to post pictures sooner, but better late than never!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL

2011-03-20T02:30:00.003-05:00

HAPPY DAY!!!!

One of my favorite pictures of Paul in Cambria, California (one of my all time favorite places).

Paul and Miss Sophie, having an earnest discussion.

Paul at the Grandest Canyon of them all.

I wanted to take a minute to wish my sweetheart a Happy Birthday. Paul is probably one of the nicest, sweetest, people in the world (I do not exaggerate). He's a bit of a science/computer nerd and a goof ball, which I like of course and he's really smart. My family has had a lot of loss in the last year and we wouldn't be able to get through it without Paul. We all love you Paul and we're glad that you are our goof ball.

ESTY TREASURY

2011-03-18T18:52:00.005-05:00

My Dragonfly necklace was chosen for an Etsy treasury today. The treasury is called 'Jade is for Japan Aid'. Hopefully it will help the necklace sell faster. I will also be donating the proceeds from these matching charms to the Red Cross as well. Please check out the treasury here and the charms in my Etsy store here.

NECKLACE FOR JAPAN

2011-03-16T03:05:00.002-05:00

Fine silver and jade necklace.

I've been watching all of the footage of the still unfolding tragedy in Japan with utter disbelief. Can you imagine if this happened to you and yours? I have trouble conceptualizing how awful it would be. I wish there was something that I could do. What I can do is make jewelry, so I thought I would offer this piece for sale on Etsy with the proceeds going to the Red Cross relief effort in Japan. I will also ship the necklace free of shipping fees with a little gift to show my appreciation. If you're interested in this piece please click on the link to my Etsy store here. Thank you!

I LOVE YOU DAD

2011-03-12T16:42:00.007-06:00

My Dad, Cato Hoaglan

. . . When you finally reach your port may the

birds you have carved, scattered all over the

land or lining the shelves of your shop, be

convincing evidence of your arrival. Even so,

may the chips of the master continue to fall

profusely to the floor, sharp and crisp. When

the imprisoned bird has escaped the bonds of

his shapeless block and stands poised majestically

on his perch before you, may he speak to you in

unheard words of praise and adoration; may his

message stir your soul in grateful appreciation

of your will to excel and your determination to

carve and carve until the perfect day.

- an excerpt from: Creative Bird Carving, by William I. Tawes

I've been away from the blog for a while. My Dad has been ill and he passed away this week. I wish I could express to all of you what an incredible person he was. He, along with my Mom was an excellent woodcarver, a patient woodcarving teacher, an entertaining story teller and above all, a wonderful and caring father. I wish you could all have known him. You would most certainly have been richer.

ACID ETCHING

2011-02-15T22:42:00.003-06:00

We had a fun class tonight.

I had a new student tonight. Very textile-y. Good job, Betty!

Cindi got to sit in tonight.

Alice's texture seems very tropical to me.

Pam's texture reminded me of an alien map of the galaxy.

Here's the texture that I made in class.

I had a class tonight at Bead Haven after quite a break. It was nice to get back to it. Tonight was acid etching. Acid etching is one of my favorite things to do. The etchant that I use is ferric chloride. Ferric chloride is a salt that becomes acidic when dissolved in water. It has a lot of advantages over more dangerous etchants such as nitric acid. It doesn't produce dangerous fumes and it isn't absorbed through the skin (don't get it on your clothes, though as it never comes out!). The main disadvantage of ferric chloride is that it doesn't work on silver. Given the price these days, I save my silver for other projects anyway. Ferric chloride will etch nickel (which makes a decent substitute for silver, in color at least), copper, brass and bronze.

CLASSES AT BEAD HAVEN

2011-02-08T22:14:00.006-06:00

Acid etched texture plates from an earlier class.

Heart-shaped bezels, filled with hand painted papers and resin.

I have 2 classes coming up at Bead Haven this month. I haven't had any classes for a while, so I'm really looking forward to these. The first class on Tuesday, February 15th is an acid etching class. In this class you have the choice of making an etched sheet of copper for texturing metal clay (the textured sheet can also be cut up and fabricated into jewelry if you're not the metal clay type) or copper and brass blanks in many different shapes for making into earrings and pendants. We'll spend the first part of the class working out designs and transferring them onto our metal. While the pieces are in the etching solution there will be time to break out the hammers and learn some other texturing methods as well. After the pieces are etched we'll clean them up and you'll take them home the same night. This class is a really fun and safe introduction to acid etching.

The next class is on Tuesday February 22nd and is a fun resin class. Bead Haven has a variety of bezels, including the heart-shaped ones shown above to fill with your creations. I will have a large variety of papers and transparencies to embed in resin or you can bring something of your own too. I will also have copies of texts for you to hand paint and personalize like the heart pendants shown in the photo if you prefer.

Both classes will be a lot of fun, so please join me if you can. If you're interested in either class, give Bead Haven a call at 319-247-2323.

BLIZZARD 2011

2011-02-02T22:32:00.003-06:00

This wasn't even one of the drifts!

I couldn't feel my legs!

My front yard.

The snow was as deep as my snow blower.

Those little boxwood shrubs poking out of the snow are about 2 feet tall.

Well, there's been a lot going on lately, but I thought it was time to get back to the blog because I really missed it. I hope some of you are still checking on it from time to time, or I'll be pretty lonely here! Like I said there's a lot going on these days, some good and some not so good, but there you go.

For days the weather man has been predicting a storm of epic proportions for Southeast Iowa. I generally think meteorologists are great at predicting thunderstorms, but not so great at wintry weather. That being said, I really didn't pay much attention to the predictions. Wow, was I wrong. I've lived in Iowa City for 30 years (yikes!) and There has never been a snow storm like this one here. I actually don't mind snow, in fact I'm one of those weird people who actually like it, but this is crazy! I spent 3 hours outside today with my friend Mr. Snow Blower. It was the best workout I've had in months. It really was pretty too.

BRONZE CLAY AT BEAD HAVEN

2010-12-28T18:04:00.003-06:00

I did a beginning bronze clay class at Bead Haven last week. With the holiday, I only got around to firing the students pieces yesterday. I tumbled them afterward to preserve the patina and now they're ready to go. In the class we made silicone molds of antique buttons and used rubber stamps to use as textures. Pam went free form with her heart and she used letter stamps to make her I.D. bracelet part. They did a great job and thankfully the kiln gods were with us and we got wonderful colors!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

2010-12-25T00:01:00.001-06:00

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!"
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

CHRISTMAS EVE

2010-12-24T02:44:00.005-06:00

Miss Sophie wishing you a Merry Christmas.

All of the Christmas jewelry work is done. I wish I could say my workspace was spic and span, but I'll get to that. I'll have to, as I can never start again with it all in a mess. My head is full of new ideas that I hope I can execute in the new year. I have new techniques I want to learn, shows to sell my wares at, new things to teach, the gem shows in Tucson to drool over and spend too much at (and I never regret my purchases!) all in just the next few months. Ah, but not today. Nothing left to do today but to be merry and dream of sugar plums (whatever the heck those are!).

LIFE SIGNS

2010-12-18T02:18:00.004-06:00

A while back my friend Gail posted the above sign (the first one) on her blog. I can't remember if this is a card she got or bought or if it's a sign on her studio wall. It well could be. Such great words to live by. So much of it is very relevant to my life. I love the lines about life being about the people that you meet and what you create with them. It makes me think about the great friends I've met and made in the jewelry world. I am so inspired by all of them and I hope they are a little inspired by me too. We are far flung, but we are still a tribe of our own making and I'm amazed by the strength of these friendships with people that I see so infrequently. What an amazing thing to find in this big world!

Remembering Gail's sign made me want to share the sign that's been on the wall of my workspace for as long as I remember. If there were ever truer or more important words regarding creativity, I don't think I've heard them. I believe we can be whoever we want to be creatively speaking. There aren't any rules except to be who you want. I've noticed that when students struggle, it's not learning technique that they grapple with most often. Usually, it's fear of their own creativity that can stand in their way. When we're kids, we don't think twice about creativity, we just make stuff. We color trees purple and the sky orange. It's not until we grow up that we learn the "rules" and are taught about the right and wrongs of creativity. We lose the ability to give ourselves permission to color outside the lines. We learn to think the things we make are irrelevant or bad. I think this is a shame. This isn't to say that I don't teach and hold fast to there being a right and wrong way to do certain techniques. There are inherently correct ways to form, etch, heat, join, and color metal. It's important to learn the "right" way to do things so that you can be successful and safe. After that, the sky's the limit.

Humans are creative by our nature. Trying is never a failure.

BRONZE CLAY CLASS REDUX

2010-12-15T23:55:00.004-06:00

Chaco Spiral.

Big pile o' bronze charms.

My bronze clay clay that was scheduled to happen at Bead Haven tonight was cancelled due to a snow storm (it is Iowa after all!). Bummer. The upside is that there were still a couple of spots left, so if any of you were interested and didn't get signed up, the class will be happening December 22nd. Call Bead Haven if you're interested.

BRONZE CLAY CLASS

2010-12-11T01:45:00.004-06:00

The Bronze Clay for next week's class arrived today!

We'll be doing simple mold making in this class, to get acquainted with the different and sometimes difficult properties of bronze clay. I made these charms from a clay model that I made, then made a silicone mold from the model.

Wednesday, December 15th at Bead Haven. I'll be leading a class in mold making with Bronze Clay. It will be a simple beginning class on the medium, so not much experience will be needed. Bronze clay is somewhat different to use than Silver clay, and in my opinion more difficult. Once you get past these differences it's fun and really beautiful and I thought it was time we delved into it at Bead Haven. We'll be making two part silicone molds from antique buttons as well as rolling out simple charms and pendants if you wish. I have several buttons for us to use, but feel free to bring one of your own if you have one. We'll be discussing the clays properties and how it's fired and finished. I expect it to be fun and informative and I'd love to see you there.

Please call Bead Haven in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 319-247-2323.

ACID-ETCHED TEXTURE PLATE

2010-12-08T22:39:00.009-06:00

A group shot of our texture plates. Mine's in the middle and is my take on West African mud cloth.

Julie's zebra-inspired plate.

Alice's plate really suggests flowing water to me.

Bonnie's plate uses negative space really well.

Pam's spike-a-lishous heart texture!

Margaret's plate will look great fabricated into a piece of jewelry (which is what she's planning to do).

Tonight at Bead Haven, I led a class where we acid-etched a textured plate from a piece of 18 gauge copper. The plate creates a low-relief texture that is very similar to a tear away sheet, commonly used for adding texture to metal clay. I love the look that tear away sheets achieve, but I find that they don't really last too long. These etched plates are much more permanent and are so fun to make. Of course, they can also be sawed up and fabricated into jewelry pieces too. I can't wait to see what these ladies make with theirs.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2010-11-25T01:51:00.000-06:00

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Surfaces

2010-11-24T23:18:00.007-06:00

Some of our Sunday group. David is such a good sport to put up with all of these women.

Don't Pam and Laurie look happy?

Pam's work. She even found time to forge a bracelet and rivet a piece together.

Laurie's pieces. I love her big, red copper bead.

Bonnie N's work. I think her oxide pigment pieces came out really well.

Margaret got nice color on her big copper bead that she colored with flux and heat.

I like the way May Lynn used the Gilder's paste to color her chain.

David's big copper bead came out really great. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it after he burnished it and sealer it. It looked even better.

I think Alice really like the Gilder's Paste and the dye oxides. I really like the blue filigree butterfly.

Anne's area is just like her, creative and a little crazy! She did great work.

Bonnie G's pieces. I really like the large brass piece that she colored with the green verdigris patina. That product takes a while to develop it's final color, but it's well worth the wait.

Last Sunday I had a class in surface decoration of metals. It looks beyond liver of sulfur for adding color to metals. We had a messy good time. We got to try dye oxide patinas, flame patinas. Gilder's Paste, nail polish, and acid patina (Midas Green). I think we could probably have an all day class on any one of these techniques! I'm really excited about the dye oxide patinas for my own work. With all of the methods, prep is crucial. If you spend enough time cleaning and prepping the metal, you'll have better, longer lasting results. I hope to do another patina class soon! Somehow, I didn't get a picture of Julie's pieces, which is too bad because she gave up her day to help me out with the class and I really appreciate! Thanks Julie!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2010-10-31T00:37:00.003-05:00

EEEKKKKK! It's Halloween already!!??

SURFACE

2010-10-30T23:59:00.006-05:00

Acid etched pieces by my students last week.

Metal pieces colored with assorted dye oxide patinas, solvent oxides, pastes and simple flux and heat patina.

I've been playing a lot with the surface of metals again lately. Creating texture with hammers, etching patterns with ferric chloride, coloring with enamels and heat patinas and now creating color with dye-oxide patinas. I will be offering an all day class called the Surface Embellishment On Metals on November 14th at Bead Haven. We will be using ammonia based verdigris solution on copper, dye-oxides, Gilder's Paste (a type of colored wax), flux and heat patina on copper, and other techniques as well. I'll have tools and supplies for riveting as well, so we practice up on building our patinaed parts into some finished jewelry as time allows. The class is limited in size and there are just a couple of spots left, so please call Bead Haven if you are interested.

In December I'm hoping to do an acid etching class where we will make copper texture plates for texturing PMC. While there are countless rubber stamps for this purpose, it's really nice to be able to make your own textures that no one else will have. There is no better way to distinguish your work from others. I'll let you know when this gets added to the Bead Haven calendar.

LONG TIME, NO BLOG

2010-10-15T23:02:00.001-05:00

Here are photos of what I've been up to since we last talked.

Lily in the bath tub, for no particular reason, except that she's cute. Sophie was not interested in being photographed that day.

Making a ring in the studio with the Little Torch. Don't try to take a picture of yourself using a torch, it's a bad idea.

A lovely bracelet made by Michelle, who was wearing it at the Preview tonight at Bead Haven. She used one of my toggles for it, so I asked her to let me take a photo of it. Very pretty and she used my favorite color of Miyukis.

My friend and photographer, Jonathan Sabin, taking new photos for my website. I will have those up soon. We spent many hours together recently shooting and editing. I really like this photo of Jonathan, it kind of captures his spirit.

Football! Night game at Kinnick Stadium. It was Iowa vs. Penn State. We won.

Homecoming was the Black and Gold game. Fans were instructed to wear either black or gold, depending on your section number. We Iowans are a obedient bunch.

Paul and I spent a pretty fall afternoon at Wilson's Orchard recently. They have the best fresh, hot apple turnovers I have ever eaten.

The view at Wilson's Orchard.

I can't believe it's been a month since I blogged. I really enjoy writing this blog, so I don't know why I took such a long break. Truthfully, since we lost my Mom, I have a had time with tasks that require communication. Mostly, I hole myself up in my studio and just make things. It's the one thing that I can do that seems to come naturally to me right now. I will work harder to post here more regularly, because I really did miss it.

Fall is here in full swing and that means football, apples, pumpkins, and the fall open house at Bead Haven. The preview was tonight and we had a nice turn out. It goes all day tomorrow too, so be sure to stop out and see me.

FERNS OF ELYSIUM

2010-09-17T14:40:00.008-05:00

Photo by Jonathan D. Sabin

Maybe I've seen 'Gladiator' one too many times?

This is a piece that I recently finished for a competition. I find a lot of inspiration in the natural world, museums, history books, etc. But have you ever found yourself watching a movie and you realize that you're paying more attention to the scenery, costumes, props, and most importantly, the jewelry, than the plot? I do that a lot. Especially with a movie I've seen several times, like one of my favorites, Gladiator. In the movie, actress Connie Nielson wears costumes and jewelry inspired by pieces from the era of the Roman Empire. The things she wears in the movie are really beautiful. It all must have cost a fortune. I've often wondered if she got to keep any of it. The jewelry was especially beautiful. Most of it was designed by Martin Adams, who also designed jewelry for movies like Dangerous Liaisons, The Last Emperor, Atonement, and The Kingdom of Heaven. He also made the crowns in the musical Wicked. What a fun job. But it would be a lot of pressure to be very accurate. Thank goodness I don't have that! To see some of the dresses and jewelry from Gladiator check out this link.

BACK HOME

2010-09-15T23:01:00.008-05:00

Paul, at the famous Big Creek Bridge on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Somewhere near Big Sur.

Seals sunbathing near Cambria.

A Harbor Seal at low tide. Is that not one of the cutest things you've ever seen? I think he looks like a puppy.

The Sun setting into the Pacific as seen from Moonstone Beach.

My friend Abner, who lives at a garden store in Cambria.

The Big Sur coast shot from Nepenthe, a cool restaurant and shop set high above the ocean. The Stellar's Jay looks like he's enjoying the view.

Ranch land along the PCH near the Hearst Castle. Thousands of acres of ranch land in this area still belong to the Hearst family. Still wielding power many years after W.R. Hearst's death. He'd be proud.

Turquoise waters. My mind always goes to metals and gems, doesn't it?

The McWay waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, near Big Sur. I'm so happy such place exist in our country.

We had a great trip to California, though it wasn't long enough. I'm back to work, getting ready for a trunk show at Bead Haven and a show in Fairfield and finishing up a piece that I'm submitting to a competition. I need to take new photos for my Etsy store and I'm teaching a bunch of classes at Bead Haven in the next couple of weeks, so there's a lot to do! Can I please go back to California? No? I thought not.

We flew into San Francisco and drove to Monterey, then onto Big Sur the next day. We spent most of the week in Cambria, a cute little town along the Central Coast. We picked up jade and moonstones (they're not true moonstones, but they are beautiful pebbles of glowing white Chalcedony) off of Moonstone Beach in Cambria. The jade is actual jade and I think I may polish some of it and try my hand at some elementary lapidary skills. I haven't done any stone polishing so if anyone reading has any advice for me on polishing jade, I'd appreciate it! Once, I actually found a big chunk of Malachite on that very same beach. I'd love to polish that!

Along with beach combing we saw lots of Harbor Seals, Elephant Seals, Sea Otters, And even a couple of the impossibly large California Condors. I thought I'd post some pictures of the lovely scenery from along the way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE AND BABY!

2010-09-01T22:39:00.005-05:00

Sophie

Baby

Today was my sweet kitty Sophie's birthday. She had a great day of milk, canned food, cat nip, playing with Lily, and sleeping. All in all, a good day. It is also her sister Baby's birthday. Baby is my sister Jamie's kitty. Baby looks a lot like Sophie, although she is much bigger. She's a good kitty too, with a completely different personality than Sophie. Happy Birthday, sweet girls!

BRUCEMORE

2010-09-01T22:11:00.006-05:00

Brucemore with a patch of Bee Balm in the foreground.

A shot of one side of my booth.

Before the breeze blew these over!

Suzi making a sale.

Cindi (peeking out from behind a display) and me.

Last Saturday I took part in the Brucemore Garden and Art Show. Brucemore is a beautiful house on 26 acres in the middle of Cedar Rapids, Iowa owned and maintained by the National Trust For Historic Preservation. The setting was beautiful, the weather was perfect and all of the shoppers and Brucemore people were very nice. I had a great show with the help of friends Suzi and Cindi. The day started out weirdly. On our way we were detoured by streets being blocked off by S.W.A.T. Team trucks and Police. We had to circle around a bit to get where we were going. Thankfully, that wasn't an omen of things to come.

Thanks to Suzi for some of the photos which I shamelessly stole off of her Facebook page!

AN EVENTFUL WEEK

2010-08-20T22:27:00.007-05:00

Some nature inspired jewelry for the Brucemore Garden and Art Show.

Wow, I've been gone for a bit. Actually, I've been here, just not "here". I've been busy with all sorts of stuff. A week ago my cats decided to have fight in the middle of the night. This has never happened before, but it was awful. It involved Lily (the younger one) and a paper bag that she got wrapped around her leg. Sophie (the older one) started chasing the bag and I think Lily thought that Sophie was trying to bit her leg off (except it was just the handle of the bag attacking her leg). I woke up with a start and raced into the living room to see what was going on and tripped and fell and smacked my face and head hard on a chair. I have a big bruise on my face and a bruised hand and rug-burned forehead. I look nice. Why do I have these cats anyway? Lily is still freaked out a week later, but things are finally starting to get better between them. All of this would be hilarious if it happened to someone else, funny how that works, isn't it?

I've got a show at Brucemore in Cedar Rapids on Saturday the 28th. I've been busy making finished jewelry for the show. I'm a bit behind, but I've got a week. It's amazing how much I can get done in a week. Brucemore is a National Trust property with a beautiful house and spectacular gardens. I feel very privileged to be doing a show there. If you live nearby please stop out and see me at the show. Click here for more information.

TOWER OF POWER

2010-08-08T00:22:00.003-05:00

Lily on her Tower Of Power.

A close up of Wild Lily.

Miss Sophie, Princess Pink Nose.

No pictures, please.

Oh, hi!

Ok, so Paul and I are probably the most well trained cat people that I know. First, we put a new porch on our house that even the contractor called the "world's most expensive cat toy". Last weekend we went to Petco and bought the spoiled girls a jungle gym. if you have cat, then you know that sometimes when you buy them toys, they prefer the box that said toy came in. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case here, as the dumb thing was a few bucks. I'm happy to say that they love it! It's so cute to watch them play on it. Their play styles are different. Lily is the acrobat, dare devil who jumps from level to level like a tiger stalking it's prey. Sophie, always the prim and proper princess, likes to lie on one of the levels in the middle of the tower, simply observing her world. I'm glad that they like it, but mostly it's really entertaining for Paul and I.

THE ART OF METAL CLAY

2010-08-02T23:19:00.006-05:00

The newly revised edition of Sherri Haab's 'The Art Of Metal Clay'.

One of my pieces that is in Sherrie's new book.

Photo by Jonathan Sabin

A few days ago Sherri Haab's new book, 'The Art Of Metal Clay' was released. It is a revised edition of her book by the same name which was originally released in 2003. Last winter Sherri contacted me and asked to use some images of my jewelry in the new edition. Sherri ended up using 3 of my photos in her book. I was so pleased because when I first started teaching metal clay, her book was the one that I really found the most helpful and inspiring. I still recommend her book to my students. There is a lot of new information in the new edition, including the newer bronze and copper clays. Plus there's a DVD with 4 extra projects on it. Check it out here .

NICE!

2010-07-28T02:27:00.005-05:00

Gold Wicked Heart (named by my wicked friend Suzi).

One of my pendants was featured on a blog that showcases newer sellers on Etsy. What a nice surprise on the first day of my shop! The blog is called Remember Love and features handmade art of all kinds. My shop was also mentioned in an Etsy Treasury, which are member curated shopping galleries. Check it out here. Thank you Michelle!

FINALLY!

2010-07-27T12:36:00.003-05:00

One of the pieces in my Etsy shop.

I finally got some pieces photographed for my Etsy shop. I don't know why these things take me so long to do. I'd rather sit at the bench and work or think about working or daydream about the places and things that inspire me, anything other than the business side of jewelry. I finally got a few things in there and I'm happy to say I had fun doing it. In the next few days there will be more finished jewelry added. Please take a look if you get a chance by clicking on the SHOP photos to the right.

PICTURES OF SUMMER

2010-07-24T22:56:00.017-05:00

A beautiful summer sky somewhere between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids (don't tell anyone, but I took this photo with my iPhone while driving!).

Queen Anne's lace.

Black-Eyed Susans basking in the sun.

Independence Day fireworks.

The Wapsipinicon Mill and dam in Independence, Iowa in a more normal year. I grew up just south of town.

The Mill on Saturday, July 24th 2010. The dam is nearly obscured by flood waters.

Water pouring out of the windows of the old mill with flood waters breaching the lower floors.

The dam at Fontana Park, north of Independence. The road is beginning to wash out and hopefully wont undermine the dam.

Summer is supposed to be carefree and relaxed. The last couple of summers have been anything but for many people here in Eastern Iowa. I was in Independence (where I grew up) over the weekend celebrating my sister Jamie's birthday. The day before, areas north of Independence in the Wapsipinicon and Maquoketa river basins had 10 inches of rain in one night. The flooding that's resulted is nearly as bad as what we had here in 2008. The dam at Lake Delhi, also in northeastern Iowa broke yesterday due to excessive pressure on the dam. 200 houses were destroyed and 1100 were damaged. It's especially cruel because many of these areas are the same ones that had damage 2 years ago and lots of people just finished rebuilding.

I know that there are normal fluctuations in rainfall and temperatures from year to year, but something is simply different with our weather than it used to be. What's happening here and in other places simply can not be explained by normal fluctuations. I hope our politicians and others who have the ear of the powers that be listen to climate scientists soon, before it's too late to get a handle on.

NEW TOY

2010-07-19T00:38:00.004-05:00

A set of beautiful pliers designed by Alan Revere.

Well, if you read this blog often you know that I LOVE tools. A while back I started having pain in both hands, especially when using pliers to bend metal. While I was at the orthopedist I met with a physical therapist who wanted to look at some of my tools and watch the way that they're used. He suggested that for some kinds of work, especially when bending rings or heavier sheet metal, that I might try shorter pliers without padding as it would be easier to feel how hard I'm pressing. The idea being that this ability to "feel" the metal would prevent me from putting too much pressure on the area of the hand between the palm and the thumb. I normally use longer Swanstrom pliers, which I love. I love the longer length and I just love the quality of them. I suspect that I won't be giving them up anytime soon, but I recently saw these and I was intrigued by them. They're designed by Alan Revere, Master Goldsmith and founder of the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. They're hand-made and hand-finished with knurled, non-padded handles. I'll let you know how they feel this week when I finally get to try them out, but in the mean time, they sure are purdy to look at!

MEHNDI

2010-07-13T01:51:00.003-05:00

Copper pieces, with Mehndi designs ready to be etched.

More Mehndi.

Not Mehndi patterns, but I think these will be fun too.

Sorry about the lack of posts. I haven't been feeling too great lately, but I feel better today. I'm still working on some acid etching projects (you know how obsessed I can be). I've always admired the beautiful patterns found in Mehndi. Mehndi is a temporary henna "tattoo" applied to the hands and feet of people in celebration of weddings and other events in areas of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan and some parts of Central Asia and the Arab world. It's a very ancient art form that may originate with the Egyptians and I've always found it really interesting. I once was lucky enough to have an Indian friend apply Mehndi to my feet. I thought it was really beautiful and I didn't want to wash my feet! Even with washing, it lasted most of a week.

I decided to use some of the patterns to acid etch a bracelet. I cut out all of the pieces in copper, filed and sanded them and applied the designs. Tomorrow, (today, actually!) I'll give the pieces a bath in some ferric chloride. After that I'll drill some holes and solder on some jump rings and a clasp and hopefully it will be really cool. We'll see. Unless of course, I decide to just make a bunch of earrings out of them instead! I'll let you know what I decide to do and post some pictures too.

Read about Mehndi here.

A VERY GOOD IDEA

2010-07-06T12:40:00.003-05:00

Please take some time to think about this. I think it's a great idea. We've already lost some really wonderful places to eat and shop in my community in the last year between the economic downturn and the floods. Think about the places you'd really hate to lose and act before it's too late. Please read more here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY!

2010-07-04T08:30:00.000-05:00

Lily's first day at her new home.

Whatcha doing?

Sleepy girl, napping with the Ugly Dolls.

Lily and Sophie watching cat t.v.

Lily and I the night we came home from the Bead and Button Show. Both of the girls were so happy to see us.

It's hard to believe that Lily is already one year old. What a sweet girl she is. I'm so happy that she's here.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

2010-07-04T02:57:00.000-05:00

I hope you're all off doing something fun today, eating great food and enjoying all of the good things in life. I will be and I'm so grateful that I'm free.

SUNFLOWERS, AND MOUNTAINS, AND BIKES- OH MY!

2010-07-01T23:34:00.010-05:00

Touring through the sunflowers in Provence. It's one of my favorite parts of the Tour.

It's that time again. I love the Tour de France. In fact weirdly, I love pro cycling in general. I keep up with it as all year as best as I can. It's not easy, because here in the U.S., Lance Armstrong not withstanding, it's not too popular. There are ways to keep up. Sites like the Daily Peleton and Cycling News.com cover all of the races leading up to the Tour, like the famous one day races like the Paris-Roubaix over the cobblestones in the country side and the spring Grand Tours of California and the Giro d'Italia. All of those are great, but they are only the opening act for the most famous bike race in the world. I got interested in pro cycling, as most Americans probably do... Lance Armstrong. And did so enjoy seeing him win that first time, and then again and again and.. well you know, 7 times. But the July after he retired 5 years ago, I realized "Hey it's time for the Tour!". I had somewhere along the line become a real fan. In spite of all of the bad press and bad seeds that the sport has had, I had grown to love it. It's loaded with beautiful things. The mountains, the countryside, the cute boys on bikes and the beautiful athletism of the sport it's self. I don't think most people realize how brutial a sport it is and how well trained you have to be. One of the things I like best about it is that most of the best riders aren't young (except for last years winner, Alberto Contador, who was 24 when he won his first Tour in 2007). There's a lot of strategy and team work that goes into winning the Tour and no one does it alone.

This year should be amazing. Armstrong has a new team (Radio Shack) loaded with stars who are loyal to him and there in part to try to help him win. Contador is on the same team (Astana) he was on with Armstrong last year. Astana has few other great riders, and maybe none who will be trying to help Contador win. I admit, I'd love to see Armstrong at almost 39 years old, win one last time. Either way it will be Lance's last Tour de France. No matter who wins, it will be beautiful and it will be dramatic.

The Tour runs from July 3rd-July 25th and you can watch all 3642 miles of it live (if you can get up that early!) or replayed in the evening, on the cable sports channel Versus. Live feed of the race will also be available on Twitter if you don't have Versus.

ETCHED WORDS

2010-07-01T22:28:00.006-05:00

Chinese calligraphy.

An archaic version of Arabic.

Ancient Greek text from a stele near the Parthenon.

Copper tablets etched with Latin passages from the Book of Kells. Paul and I saw the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library in Dublin. It's a truly unbelievable work of art and of faith.

I have some shows off in the distant future (funny how the distant future sneaks up on you!) for which I'll need plenty of interesting earrings. So today, I spent my time doing some acid etching. I photocopied ancient texts that I found on the Internet, onto PnP paper (PnP paper is an acetate used for printing circuit boards), then using an iron, I transferred the images onto copper pieces that I had earlier sawed into tablet shapes. I touched up areas where the toner didn't quite transfer with a Sharpie. After all that, I submerged the pieces in my acid etching tank filled with ferric chloride and left them alone for about an hour. Before anybody starts to give me hell about the ferric chloride, when handled and disposed of appropriately (which I do!) it's a very safe chemical. I think they came out pretty cool. I made bunches more, these are just the ones that I got cleaned up so far. Now I can patina or enamel them or whatever else I can think of to make them more interesting. I'll try to remember to post pictures when I make them into earrings.

I like the idea of written language as a work of art. It's nice that the words have meaning, but I'm almost more excited by the visual aesthetic of them.

HOT TIME AT THE (BEAD) HAVEN!

2010-06-27T22:27:00.003-05:00

Finished pendants from yesterday's class, minus one (someone, I'm not sure who, got away without me getting a picture).

I had a 2 good groups of students yesterday. The ear wire class was fun. It's good to know that there are other freaky people like me who think it's fun to sit around and bend wire! They all did a great job and some even came up with their own designs, like Bonnie who made a really cool twisty ear wire with a bead that I'd show you if I had remembered to take any pictures.

The second class was good too. Everyone did a great job with their riveted copper pendants. It's fast paced class with a lot of steps and I was proud that they all did so well. Thanks to Bonnie, Pam, Alice, David, Mary Lynn, Sheree, Pauline, Margaret, Nancy, and Sandra (who had the fortitude to sit through both classes.)!

OSCAR THE BIONIC CAT

2010-06-25T15:44:00.012-05:00

Oscar is one special cat.

(Photo by Associated Press)

Sometimes I get frustrated with modern medicine. While I know that the intent is good, it seems that the more good that we try to do, the more trouble that we cause. For example, prescribing drugs whose side effects require more drugs to control those side effects and so on, and so on, and so on. Having said that, believe me, I'm grateful to have such brilliant and caring minds working for societies' greater good (I'm married to one of those people after all!). When I see a story like this one all that frustration melts away. Medical science truly can produce miracles. Check out Oscar the bionic cat here. I just want to give that veterinarian in the video a hug!

TOMORROW AT BEAD HAVEN

2010-06-25T03:36:00.004-05:00

Samples for the findings class.

Pieces from the last riveting class.

Tomorrow (Saturday), I'll be teaching 2 classes at Bead Haven. The first is a sterling and fine silver ear wire and head pin class at 9am-noon. I'll be showing you how to form and finish all these ear wires, plus some others, if we have time. The ear wires will be formed from sterling wire and the head pins are made from fine silver. Making your own ear wires is great skill to have whether you want to make your own to save money or you want to make special ones that aren't readily available commercially.

The second class is a sweet little riveted, textured copper pendant with a fine silver bail. This is a fun introduction to the skill of riveting and has been a popular class. The pendant class is from 1-4 in the afternoon. Please call the store at 319-247-2323, if you are interested in one or both of the classes.

BEAD AND BUTTON BOOTY

2010-06-24T22:18:00.013-05:00

Vintage bronze pieces from Ghana. These came from a wonderful African man named Ebrima who with his wife has a store in Oberlin,Ohio called Bead Paradise. My friend Gail introduced me to them a few years ago. It's one of my favorite stops at the show. I'd love to visit their shop one day. These pieces will be used as pendants, combined with my handmade bronze chain and some of the wonderful quartz, jade and lapis that I bought.

Not ancient, even though they look like it. This is lampwork by Joanne Zekowski. I met Joanne in Santa Fe. I think her beads are some of the coolest I've seen (and touched).

More beautiful lampwork, this time by Angi Graham. I am usually so focused on gemstones that I often blow right by great lampwork. Thanks to Gail for pointing these out to me. I bought another beautiful piece of lampwork from my friend Melissa Rediger of Sea of Glass that's not pictured here because I'm in the process of making a pendant out of it. Maybe a photo tomorrow.

Hardware from Urban Remains, found on Gail and my field trip to Chicago. I've never had dirtier hands in my whole life.

Cabochons by the fabulous Gary Wilson, who is always my first stop at Bead and Button. Clockwise from the left, Crazy Lace Agate, Rhodochrosite, Chrysocolla.

More cabs from Gary Wilson. Clockwise from the left, 2 Rulitated Quartz, Native Copper, Hematite Ammonite. The copper piece is really special. It is from the old copper smelting operations in Michigan. The firebricks from inside the kilns became infiltrated by copper after many years of use. The white spots in the copper are remnants of the fire brick. Gary is well known for finding the beauty in the unusual.

One of my favorite things in the world, Lapis. This is from Afghan Tribal Arts. The owner Abdul is a wonderfully knowledgeable person who's lots of fun to chat with.

Ancient quartz beads from Bead Paradise. They are from the Djenne people in Mali and were fabricated 2000 years ago. When I was in college, I spent a lot of time studying African art. Some of my favorite objects in the Stanley Collection (the University of Iowa's unsurpassed collection of African Art) were the objects made by the Djenne. I am humbled by the thought that I own something that they made. I'm in awe of these. I'll need to make something befitting them. The beautiful green beads are jade from Afghanistan, from Afghan Tribal Arts.

More from Gary Wilson. Clockwise from the top, Highly polished Flint (can you believe that?), 2 fossil Coral cabs to make into rings, Turquoise from S and S Lapidary in Tennesee.

African Opal cabs from S and S Lapidary.

Very inexpensive slabs of polished Crazy Lace Agate to practice the prong settings that I learned in Susan Kazmer's class. Beautiful, and only 3 bucks a piece!

Rhodocrosite from Gary Wilson, Turquoise and Brecciated Jasper from S and S Lapidary.

A fancy new German-style goldsmith's Fretz hammer that I got from Joe Silvera, who shares my love of hammers.

A huge piece of Pyrite/quartz from Gary Wilson.

This is a hollow, carved quartz crystal skull done by Gary Wilson. This is drilled as a bead, and truly is a miniature work of art. It looks huge in this picture, but is about the size of a dime.

Ancient Djenne Apatite beads from Mali, purchased from Bead Paradise. I love these. They are quite large, one about the size of a quarter and the other fifty cent sized. These will be great as focal beads with handmade bronze chain and bead caps.

Another view of the Crazy Lace Agate, because I love it.

I know it looks like a lot, but truthfully, I was very restrained. I had a good idea of what I wanted to look for at the show and I mostly stuck to it, though I did go a bit wild in Gary Wilson's booth! The first couple of years at Bead and Button, I wandered around like a crazed person buying what ever caught my fancy. It's really overwhelming when you haven't been there before. It's amazing to see how my taste in what I buy has changed over the years.

I have a show coming up in August at Brucemore for which I will need a lot of finished jewelry, so the timing of my purchases couldn't be better. Of course, it will be hard to let all of these things go, and yet I will. Though, I think that the skull and a few pieces of the lapis, quartz, and apatite might have to be mine.

BEAD AND BUTTON PART 3

2010-06-23T14:07:00.006-05:00

My bronze Ammonite, cold-joined pendant from Susan Kazmer's class.

My friend Karen Elmquist, won first place for lampwork in the Bead Dreams competition.

Paul looking happy with Gigi and Karen.

Gail's wardrobe malfunction involved her Optivisor.

The troupe of finger puppets that Karen bought for all of us (mine was actually a present for my sister's sweet new kitten, Sassy). These puppets provided us with hours of fun (let's just say that it's a good thing that it'll be a year before we go back to the swanky Capital Grille!).

My third class at Bead and Button was another Susan Lenart Kazmer class. It turned out to be kind of a continuation of the metal techniques that we learned in the glass casting class. That was cool though, because I really enjoyed practicing the new prong setting that we learned. I used a bronze Ammonite that I had made at home before the show. I sawed out a backing plate from sheet bronze, complete with prongs. I set the bronze piece onto the plate and then riveted the whole piece to another piece of bronze sheet. I like it, it was sort of an exercise in cold joining. It was a fun class and a good chance to further refine what I'd already learned.

My last class was supposed to be a reticulation class. I woke that morning with a horrendous headache, so I didn't make it to class. Paul went to see the teacher for me, Robyn Cornelius, who made she got the class kit complete with handout. I think I'll be able to learn the technique with the help of her excellent handout. I've never missed a class before and I felt pretty rotten about it. I felt better later in the day and was able to shop the show a bit early with the help of a friend! So the day wasn't a complete loss. More pictures tonight!

BEAD AND BUTTON PART 2

2010-06-22T19:28:00.006-05:00

My bezel set Chrysocolla ring.

Karen's lampwork cab, bezel set into a ring.

Me and friends Karen Elmquist and Gail Lannum at the King and I Thai restaurant enjoying girly drinks with umbrellas in them.

Poor Karen's wardrobe malfunction. She was leaving bits of her shoe all over Milwaukee. Gail and I actually found a large piece of her shoe on the street. Too funny.

My friend Anne Mitchell and Paul also at the King and I. They could be siblings couldn't they?

On the Tuesday of Bead and Button I took a class with metal smith Joe Silvera and his wife Anat. It was a class in traditional bezel setting of stones. I've done this before, but I've never been great at getting the bezel to fit the stones just right. Joe was such a great teacher and both he and Anat are so nice and so much fun. He spent a good amount of time discussing how to choose stones that will be good for bezeling. I found this to be invaluable. It turns out that I was making one little mistake when fitting my cabs that Joe helped me correct very quickly. My friend Karen and I were both in the class. We were supposed to make pendants, but rebels that we are, we made rings instead. My stone was a Chrysocolla and Karen used one of her own lampwork cabs. I was so jazzed by the class that when the show started, I bought many beautiful stones from the amazing lapidary, Gary Wilson. I was able to get into the show early and his was the first booth I went to because it's always jammed with customers.

On Wednesday, Gail and I both had a day off and headed to Chicago to Urban Remains, a architectural salvage company. We picked through old house hardware for bits and pieces that we can use as inspiration and to incorporate into jewelry pieces. There was a great old doctors' cabinet that Gail really wanted until she saw the price, nearly $1100! I need to get her out her to Iowa, as I've seen similar cabinets in antique stores for less than $200. There was also a cool little coffin (not a real one) that I thought would look cool on the wall of my studio. I don't know what it was for, it looked kind of like the kind of thing you'd see in an old Dracula movie. Weird, I know, but I liked it. Also priced out of my league at $350.

More on classes later and photos of all the great stuff that I bought.

NO ONE WAS (PERMANENTLY) DAMAGED IN THE MAKING OF THIS YEAR'S BEAD AND BUTTON SHOW.

2010-06-21T20:12:00.009-05:00

My giant, decoder ring made in sisters Cheri Lenart and Susan Kazmer's class.

Gail's pretty blue/violet/lavender pendant changes in different light.

Gail wearing a giant bead ring of Karen's and both my and Karen's ring from class.

Gail and I volunteered (ok, I volunteered us) to mix the silica/plaster goo.

My sea glass, pronged pendant.

Wow, that was a long unintentional break from the blog. Sorry about that. I got back from the show and it seemed like I've been going non-stop since. Not that I've gotten too much accomplished. The show was wonderful as always. I learn so much while I'm there. I learn new techniques that I can integrate into my own work, for sure, but I always come away with new ways of seeing the things that I already know how to do.

Paul came with me this year for the whole week. We had a lot of fun seeing so many of our wonderful friends (and meeting new ones) all in one place. I needed another week of rest when I came back from Milwaukee.

The first couple of days I took a class from Susan Lenart Kazmer and Cheri Lenart. Both of my friends Gail and Karen were also in the class with me, making it even more fun. The class was in glass casting. The first day we mixed up a silica and plaster mixture and made molds with it. This mixture was poured into small containers and when they were set up we carved into them. I carved a textured, oval shape that I hoped would make a good cabochon once filled with glass. The molds were filled with chunks of glass that we broke off of Bullseye Glass billets which is available in many beautiful colors. The pieces fired overnight and the next day we moved on to fabricating metal pieces to hold our glass pieces. We made a prong setting for the cast glass piece and a sort of tab/prong setting for a piece of sea glass that we altered with a Dremel and oil pastels. I made a crazy, giant ring with my piece of glass. It's so different from what I usually make, but I love it and it's really comfortable to wear. That's what Susan's classes do to you. They stretch your imagination and you end up making wild things. It was so rewarding. I can see that I'll be doing more casting. A few years ago I thought I wanted to get into glass fusing. I bought a ton of Bullseye glass. Soon, my enthusiasm for fusing petered out, leaving me with lots of pretty glass. I'm happy to have a use for all of the glass I have stored in my basement. More on the show and classes tomorrow.

ps. Thanks to my friends, some from whom I shamelessly ripped off photos from their blogs.

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY

2010-06-14T00:30:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm back from the Bead and Button Show. I have so much to tell you all. I had intended to blog the whole time, as I enjoyed sharing it as it happened so much. I just got a new iPad and thought it would be perfect for blogging on the road, and it will be when I get the required camera to iPad cable that the nice folks at the Apple store neglected to tell me that I needed for loading photos directly from the camera or iPhone to the iPad. Isn't technology wonderful? Actually, it is, but sometimes I don't have a handle on all of the intricacies of all of the required cables and do dads that we need to make it all work. I promise to post all about the show, classes, photos and all of the peripheral insanity this week.

PREPPING FOR BEAD AND BUTTON

2010-05-30T01:12:00.005-05:00

Bronze ammonites, waiting to be bezeled.

It's Bead and Button time again. It takes me a ridiculous amount of time to get ready to go to this thing. I'm not even a vendor this year, though I think I might try to do that next year. It's hard for me to decide about that because it's fun to just go and see my friends and soak in new techniques. I really do carry the inspiration that I gain there all through the year. I'm in 4 classes this year. I'm stepping out of my box a little, which I think is good. I'm taking a glass casting class with Susan Lenart Kazmer. The only glass work I've done ever done (outside of an extremely ill-fated lampworking class and a stained glass class) is fusing and enamel work. It should be fun. I think it's good to do things that are out of the realm of normal for you. Two of my very good friends, Gail and Karen are in that class too, so perhaps nothing will be accomplished except for laughter and burned carpet (you know who you are Gail!). And that would be ok too. I'm taking another class from Susan as well, Relics, Rivets and Staples. More up my alley for sure, but since it's Susan I know I'll leave with a lot of inspiration. I'm also taking a class on reticulation, texturing of silver with heat in a controlled manner. It looks a lot like a topographical map when done correctly. I've wanted to try this on my own for a long time, but I believe there's a fine line between a beautiful texture and a puddle of silver and with the price of silver these days, well, you get the picture. My last class is a traditional bezel setting class. I've done this before, but it's been a while and I'm looking forward to a refresher. I'm not as good at this as I wish I were, so this should be really helpful. That's what the ammonites are for. I decided that I'd like to try setting something other than a stone cabochon. Plus in an email the teacher told us that we should chose cabs that aren't too fragile. I'm pretty strong, but I don't think even I can crack a bronze cab!

I made a list yesterday of all of the tools I'm supposed to bring for these classes and it is a long and ponderous list. That's not even counting all the stuff I'll want to bring that's not on the list. How do people fly to this thing? Thank goodness my lovely Sherpa, Paul is coming along!

COPPER DISTRACTION

2010-05-18T21:43:00.005-05:00

Micro-fold earrings (design by Jack Berry).

My first ever attempt of a star-folded form.

The back of my fold-formed piece.

Well, yesterday I was supposed to be cleaning the studio. Honestly, I think if I don't clean it soon, it may collapse under it's own weight and become a black hole. Cool....

Anyway, I was supposed to be cleaning when I became distracted by some 24 gauge copper sheet that I had lying around. A couple of years ago I took a class from Jack Berry on a technique that he created called micro-folding. Micro-folding is a variation on fold-forming, developed by Charles Lewton-Brain in 1985. In Jack Berry's class I made 2 pairs of these earrings and then never made another pair. Yesterday, I made a pair in silver and a pair in copper. After I rivet them together, I post pictures of the finished earrings. After I made those, I was putting books away and found my copy of Foldforming, by Charles Lewton-Brain. I've had this book for a while and had only tried to made one form, a leaf. I decided to try a star-fold. It was great fun! I can see a lot of potential copper projects in my future. I've always wanted to take a fold-forming class from Charles Lewton- Brain. I notice that Mr. Berry is teaching his micro-fold class at the Bead and Button Show again this year, as well as a couple of other classes. I love the technique and he's a very meticulous instructor. If you ever get a chance to take his class, I know you'd enjoy it.

SPRINGTIME IN IOWA

2010-05-11T22:00:00.011-05:00

Bleeding Hearts, one of my 2 favorite flowers (the other is Fox Glove).

Crab Apple trees by my fountain.

Cats on the porch watching the bird feeder are a sure sign of spring.

The brightest double rainbow I had ever seen, in front of Starbucks (my 2nd home).

Baby Robins in a one of my sister's hanging baskets.

Mr. Toad who lives in the stone wall by Mom and Dad's patio.

Our moss covered fountain in the backyard.

Columbine in my front yard.

Irises, so impossibly pretty.

Lilac, one of the nicest smells on the planet.

Another columbine.

I love spring. It's a little sad this year without my Mom though. Even so, it's so beautiful this time of year. Spring in the Midwest usually starts a little slow and then suddenly bursts forth in color and warm breezes and noisy birds. We are in the height of spring now and I thought I'd share some photos of scenes from my and my Mom and Dad's yard.

ALL DAY PLAY-DATE

2010-05-11T12:38:00.007-05:00

A really old photo of pieces ready for the kiln.

Tomorrow I will at Bead Haven all day (it's a good thing I like the place!). In the morning I have a very rare weekday session of the All Day Metal Clay workshop. The workshop runs from 10 am to 4pm. The idea behind this workshop is that if you have an idea that you need help with or a project that you don't know how to approach and you'd like help from someone with a lot of metal clay experience, I'm here to help you figure it out. And if you're not really sure what you want to do, we can figure that out too. It's a class with no set agenda, which I think is really fun and truly promotes creativity. The times that we've done this before everyone, including me, has learned a lot and had a great time.

In the evening I'll be teaching a PMC and Mold Making class at 5:30-7:30. This class is good for beginners as well as people with metal clay experience. If you're interested in either class, please give the store a call at 319-247-2323.

COLLABORATION

2010-04-27T12:52:00.005-05:00

I've been meaning to post this photo since I got back from Santa Fe. This is a lampwork vessel made by my friend Karen Elmquist. I made the bronze collar and chain and sent them to Canada, where she lives. She then used her grinder to shape the vessel's top to fit my collar. It was weird, yet fun to collaborate with someone who lives far away. It was interesting to see what would become of the part that I did and how it would relate to what she created. I liked it. I need to make the collars much bigger as she makes wonderfully large beads and the throat of this one had to be ground quite small to accommodate the bronze. I like it though, especially since she made the bead with one of my favorite flowers, foxglove. I'm looking forward to doing more of these with her. I finally decided to post this today, because both of Karen's submissions into the Bead Dreams competition at the Bead and Button Show were accepted. Well done, Karen! Go to her blog and check them both out.

STRAWBERRY SEASON IN IOWA

2010-04-27T01:35:00.003-05:00

Berry-Go-Round.

Well, not quite yet, but soon. Mmmm, strawberries and vanilla ice cream.......... Sorry, I forgot what I was saying for a second. Anyway, it's spring here in Iowa, and it's been a beautiful one so far. In a few weeks we start being able to grow and buy all of the wonderful things that the Midwest has to offer. Already, my Dad and sisters had a batch of the wonderful, mysterious, most delicious, amazing Morel mushrooms. Can you believe they didn't save me any? I'm heading out tomorrow, hopefully to the lake to search for some of my own(wish me luck!). Anyway, while it's not quite strawberry season yet, I thought I'd share this photo that I took on I-380 South the other day. I took this while driving (my bad!). That's something you don't see every day.

EARTH DAY 2010

2010-04-22T22:56:00.002-05:00

Dear Earth, thanks for giving us a nice place to live. Sorry about the mess, we'll try to do better.

ENAMELING AT BEAD HAVEN

2010-04-18T00:33:00.009-05:00

Chris's pieces turned out really well. I especially liked the mint green one with the super nova in the middle. It reminds me of the meteor from the other night.

Good job Alice, as always! Love that orchid enamel from Thompson.

Of course, David can always be expected to do something unexpected! He brought this sunflower-shaped piece of copper to class. He cut it out on his band saw, I think. He's a very creative soul indeed.

Last Thursday night, I taught an enameling class at Bead Haven. As always, I am amazed at the curiosity and creativity of my students. I feel really lucky to have mostly those kinds of folks as my students. In my enameling classes I like to show several ways that the pieces can be fired. We use a butane torch for the smaller pieces, an Ultra-Lite kiln (which is a small, inexpensive table top kiln), and an electric kiln with a digital controller (ie. a PMC kiln) for the larger ones. I want students to be able to go home and be able to start enameling right away. Most people aren't going to rush out and buy a kiln, or even an Ultra-Lite, but many already have a butane torch, or can afford to get one. I think it's really important to figure out ways to keep art from being cost prohibitive. Of course, if I do my job, students will eventually want to buy every tool out there!

Enameling is a funny thing, in that it's really easy to learn the basics, but would take a lifetime to master (if then!). I learn a lot every time a get the enamels out and play, and it's cool to think of what might come next. I have so much to learn. I'm a little in love with it right now, can you tell? Ah well, back to some serious soldering tomorrow, but that's ok too. Playing with fire is never bad!

GOODNESS GRACIOUS,......PART 2

2010-04-16T00:58:00.005-05:00

I'm still amazed to have seen the meteor last night. Luckily, it was caught on tape by several sources. One of the best videos came from a police officer's dash cam. Check it out, it's way better than my silly fake meteor photo! The action is at about 25 seconds into the video.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

2010-04-14T22:39:00.005-05:00

Ok, this isn't it, but I thought we needed a visual.

Meteorites in Iowa's history.

About an hour ago, I was watching the news with Paul. I happened to glance out the window and just then I saw a really bright light in the northern sky. At first I thought it was the University's medical helicopter. I told Paul that it was way too low and I sort of braced for an explosion. Thankfully that never came, but I couldn't figure out what it was. There was no noise, just a really large bright light. About 5 minutes later the news reported that people all over Iowa had seen it and now on Google News it's being reported that it was a large meteor that broke up over the Midwest. It was seen all over Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

When I was searching Google tonight, I found some cool stuff about about meteors in Iowa. In February 25, 1847, the Iowa legislature (at the capital, which was at that time in Iowa City) was signing the bill that established the University of Iowa. As they were signing it they were startled by very loud explosions to the north. It turns out that a large meteor broke up over Linn County causing the commotion. The meteor, now known as the Marion Meteor is on display at the Old Capital. I think I'll go over and look at it.

CINDI"S BRACELETS

2010-03-30T23:59:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, please go and check out my friend Cindi's 2 bracelets that are featured in this month's issue of Beadwork on page 54. They are these cool, off-loom woven, beaded bracelets with these cool potato chip-shaped copper pieces stitched to the top. The copper pieces are topped by the most amazing sequins you've ever seen. They're very pretty and I was lucky enough to be gifted one by her. Thanks Cindi!

Kits for her lovely bracelets are available in her online store at: www.beadhavenbeads.com.

SHOWS

2010-03-30T22:35:00.009-05:00

My table at Bead Fest in Santa Fe.

My dear friend Gail, who I don't see nearly enough.

Karen at dinner looking either blissful or exhausted.

Stacey, trying on a $9000 dollar coat (hey, it was marked down from $18,000!)

I didn't have much time for shopping, but the booth facing me had some of my favorite kinds of things. Vintage lapis beads and a silver pendant (on the right) from Afghanistan, a vintage silver chain from Nepal and a vintage silver pendant from India. I held out until the last day. I also bought some cool lampwork by a woman named Joanne Zekowski, which I will show you as soon as I can photograph it.

Here's how I felt when I got home from Santa Fe.

I had a good show in Santa Fe. The show traffic was slower than last year, but still good. I met lots of nice folks and saw some that I met last year, like dear sweet Jane. Thank you for your wise, kind words, Jane.

I had some major drama when United Airlines once again lost one of my bags on the way to Albuquerque. It had my displays and all of my clothes and didn't show up until an hour before the show opened. I was without clean clothes for more than 24 hours and United didn't offer me so much as a tooth brush (thankfully, I always carry on in my purse). United's customer service is located in Mumbai, India (I'm not kidding.) and I had to make several calls before it finally showed up. I guess I shouldn't have said bad things about them on this blog before I flew, huh? I don't have as much choice of who I fly with because I travel out of a small, regional airport, but I think I'm going to have to make other arrangements next time I travel west. This is the 3rd time in 4 flights that they have lost my bags. American crushed some of Karen's well-packed displays, so I don't know if any of them are above the rest.

I was able to spend time with friends, which was great. I briefly saw Anne Mitchell, Terri Caspery-Schmidt and Gail Moore (I got to have dinner with Gail and Anne on my first night). They were at the convention center, while Karen and I were showing at the La Fonda Hotel. I got to spend lots of time with friends Stacey Peterson, Karen Elmquist and Gail Lannum. All three of these women make their own special variety of jewelry and I admire all three. I especially admire them though, for their friendship. I'm sure I wasn't as much fun as I normally would be, due to the recent loss of my Mom, but they all three were there to spend time with me and I really appreciate it.

I came home and had to make sure I was ready for another show right away. Bead Haven had their spring open house and trunk show last weekend. It was such a great time. Cindi always works so hard to make sure that it is as fun as possible. Thank you to all of the many folks who stopped by to shop and chat. It was great to see you all. I don't have any shows for a while now, soon new work and new classes coming soon!

SANTA FE BEAD FEST

2010-03-16T22:08:00.004-05:00

Bronze clasps that I've been making to go on necklaces for Bead Fest.

Well, I'm off to Santa Fe tomorrow for the Interweave Bead Fest. I don't know if going right now is the right thing to do or not, but I know that my Mom would want me to go and make the best of it, so there you have it. I am looking forward to seeing friends like Gail, Karen, Stacey and Anne and meeting some new ones and of course selling a lot of jewelry! I am at the La Fonda Hotel location at booth #25, so if you are headed for the show please stop by and see me.

I will try to blog while I'm there, but because of United Airlines restrictive luggage policy I won't have room for my lap top. I guess they aren't fed up with people saying bad things about them (check this out). I'll see how annoying it is to blog from my Iphone. Since I'm easily annoyed, don't count on it until I get home. I promise to take lots of pictures.

To get more information on Bead Fest, click here.

MY MOM

2010-03-01T23:30:00.002-06:00

My family lost our beloved Mom a couple of days ago. She was only 73 years old. She passed away peacefully after a month long struggle. Actually my Mom had struggled with her health for years, surviving illnesses that should have taken her many times over. I know that I should be grateful for that, but right now I'm not, I just want her back. She was the strongest, funniest, most generous person that you could imagine. I know that all of our lives will go on, it's just that right now, it's hard to imagine life without her in it.

One thing that I know for sure is that I have the most amazing friends that anyone could possibly have. You are all scattered near and far, but you are all in my heart and I hope you know how much your love and support means to me. "Thank you" is simply inadequate, but it's all I can think to say, so thank you.

HELLO

2010-02-11T00:25:00.003-06:00

For no particular reason, a fuzzy picture of Lily and Sophie taken tonight with my Iphone.

Well, I'm back. Things have been pretty hectic and stressful around here lately. My Mom is doing somewhat better. In the last 2 weeks she's had 2 surgeries to repair an open fracture to her femur. She was in the hospital for 2 weeks and now is in a care center in the town where she lives. She will have physical therapy there and hopefully she'll be able to get home soon. It's going to be a long, hard road, so please keep her in your thoughts everyone.

KEEP ME IN YOUR HEART FOR A WHILE

2010-02-02T23:24:00.002-06:00

I know I haven't written for a long time and I wanted to let those of you who are nice enough to follow my blog know what's been going on. My Mom fell last week and was hurt very badly. She's since had surgery and is doing as well as can be expected, but the going is slow and very scary. I was going to be posting from Tucson next week while I was to be in town for the gem shows but instead I'll be here with my family. I'll be back to posting as soon as I can. Thanks everyone, for all of your good thoughts in advance.

THE YEAR OF LIVING (NOT) DANGEROUSLY

2010-01-24T03:21:00.000-06:00

Sentry Fume Extractor.

The fume extractor set up at my soldering bench.

All the safety equipment in the world apparently doesn't protect you from a slip of the pliers!

Safety is such a hot button issue in metalworking, as it should be. Nothing is as important as our health. I think a lot of what we do involves common sense, but it's easy to convince ourselves that what we can't see won't hurt us. Recently, I started getting a bit more serious about safety in my studio for my sake and for the sake of my students. I got flashback arrestors for my new torch, better respirator masks for enameling and most importantly (and most expensively!) a fume extractor for cleaning the air of my workspace. I got the fume extractor from a company called Sentry Air Systems. I did a lot of research on how best to extract particulate, soldering fumes, and solvent fumes form the air. This system uses either an industrial Hepa filter or a carbon filter, depending on what type of material you're trying to extract and a pre-filter to catch larger particles. It's fairly quiet, quite portable and really seems to be doing the job well. It's not fun like a new torch or a hammer, but I think it might be the best money I've spent in a long time. Check out Sentry Air Systems here.

7 TOGGLES, 14 PENDANTS, ONE DAY

2010-01-23T23:02:00.000-06:00

Sandra, Alice, Mary Lynn, David, Pam and Bonnie, all concentrating hard.

A pile of toggles, still wired together from their spin in the tumbler.

PMC pendants with fine silver bails.

Unfired pendants with slide bails on the backs.

I had an all day PMC class at Bead Haven today. We did a sort of mishmash of techniques including toggles with riveted toggle bars, pendants with a big jump ring of PMC fired onto them and pendants with a slide bail attached to the backs. We had a full class and a lot of pieces to get done in just one day, but we did it and had fun as well. After class I drove home in a cold, windy, torrential rain storm. A trip that usually takes 20 minutes took me nearly an hour. I was cold and wet when I got home, but was greeted with such enthusiasm by two of the world's most beautiful, fuzzy cats, that I was instantly warmed. At least my heart was, if not my toes.

LILY'S HOME!

2010-01-14T00:55:00.005-06:00

Sleepy Lily.

Lily and Sophie.

Lily tries to wake up Paul.

Lily had to spend a few days at the veterinarian hospital this week. She was being spayed. We all missed her so much while she was away. The house was so quiet without her. How did this little thing get into my heart so fast? After Max died, I really wasn't sure I had anymore room in my heart for another Kitty besides Sophie. I still miss him so badly, but Lily, who is so different from him (yet alike), does fill a space that I thought was closed off. I really don't understand how people can live without a cat or a dog. She's bouncing around like nothing happened to her!

DESPERATION

2010-01-13T22:53:00.003-06:00

A photo of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

Photo from the BBC World Service

The images coming from Haiti the last two days are horrific. There are far worse pictures than this one from the BBC , but I simply couldn't bear to post photos of injured, dying or dead people. I know that I'm not alone in my sadness over this situation. We have so much in this country. When bad things happen here, even the worst things like hurricanes, earthquakes, floods etc., we have resources to care for the injured and the displaced. Sometimes, after disasters like Hurricane Katrina and even the floods that occurred here in Iowa it sometimes seems that we don't. Of course, as awful as these things were and as mismanaged as the federal government's reaction to them may have been, if we are honest, we all have to admit that those situations pale in comparison to what's happening now in Haiti.

Maybe I'm naive, but I never cease to be amazed at the reaction that some people have to tragic events like this. Today when I read comments from hypocrites like Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson I really couldn't believe what I was reading. I know I shouldn't be surprised at the hate and venom that these two fools are capable of spewing, and yet I was. Shame on both of you for using the deaths of tens of thousands of people who already had so little, to feed your own filthy agendas. Shame on you both. I don't often use this space to to vent, but today I felt that I needed to.

On the other hand, I know that most of us are decent and caring human beings who are grateful for what we have and saddened for others who are in agony. If you are looking for something to do to help, here are some great places to start.

The American Red Cross

The William J. Clinton Foundation

OXFAM

Doctors Without Borders

RIVETING CLASS

2010-01-08T14:38:00.007-06:00

I wanted to mention here that I will be teaching a new class at Bead Haven in February. It is a class on cold connections, in other words connecting metals without soldering. In this particular class we will be concentrating on nail head rivets. We will be using copper and brass cut-outs and copper and brass vintage-style stampings. We'll also have time to play with the torch to heat patina our pieces as well. It will be lots of fun and you'll learn a skill that you'll use over and over again.

The class is on February 18th. Contact Bead Haven if you're interested. I promise it will be "riveting"! Sorry. I couldn't resist.

All I CAN SAY IS "HOW BOUT THEM HAWKEYES!"

2010-01-06T14:24:00.002-06:00

IOWA 24- Georgia Tech 14

ORANGE BOWL 2010

2010-01-05T02:33:00.002-06:00

Tonight is the Orange Bowl. The Hawkeye Nation is excited. Ok, by that I mean we are excited at my house! Paul can hardly contain himself. Actually, the buzz in our part of the state, anyway, really is all about football. We couldn't go to the game this year, but we did go to the Orange Bowl the last time Iowa went and it was crazy! There were 50,000 Hawkeye fans in Miami. People who didn't have tickets went down just to party. It was a little overwhelming for South Florida I think. We're having friends over to watch the game and I've made goodies (as if any of us need more food after the holidays!) including a yummy orange cake in honor of the Orange Bowl. Keep your fingers crossed for us and Go Hawks!

THINKING OF YOU, MEESH

2010-01-01T23:40:00.007-06:00

I haven't blogged in a while, I guess I blame the holiday slump. When I read this today on Gail Crosman Moore's blog, I knew that today was the day to come back to it. Michele Goldstein is a wonderful lampworker and an even better soul. I've gotten to know her from the Bead and Button Show and from the Bead Fest and she's a really special person. Please read on from Gail's blog.

"In my ego-centric world things aren't going so great, but my plight will be relatively short lived. I'm going to follow sage advice and bring your attention to my/our dear friends plight....Michele Goldstein is caring around the clock for the dying father of her children. (There is no time for their family to prepare for the end of his life. Steve's sickness was unexpected and the cancer is moving quickly through his body. His death is imminent, and it's only been three weeks since he was diagnosed.)

If you know Meesh, you know that she is the kindest of souls and is always generous and puts others first. She would never think about asking for money from others. That is why her friends are asking you to think of sending her something.

In looking at the dawning of a new 'age', a new year, I want to start it right and send a loving message of direct help to one of us who is in need. Meesh has been unable to work, has needed to cancel shows and is looking at an uncertain future for herself and her two young boys.

It is my hope that we could take some immediate heat off of her situation by laying down a little padding to her nest. Could you help?

If you can help, the most direct route would be through her Paypal account.(meesh@michelegoldstein.com) If you could forward this to anyone who might be interested in helping, please do!

We will be following this up with an interesting auction of donated items, if you would like to become a part of this please contact either me at gail@gailcrosmanmoore.com or Anne Mitchell at aemitchell6482@yahoo.com to develop a trust for her children. "

Please help with a donation or an item to auction.

YULETIDINGS TO ALL

2009-12-24T18:18:00.001-06:00

A STREET VIEW OF A LOST CITY

2009-12-09T01:07:00.005-06:00

The Amphitheatre at Pompeii, with Mt. Vesuvius in the distance.

Ok, this may possibly be one of the coolest things that I've seen on the Internet. Google Maps now has a street view tour of ancient Pompeii that is very cool. When I was a senior in High School, the first exhibit outside of Italy of artifacts from Pompeii came to Chicago. Our senior class trip was to the Field Museum to see the exhibit and the top of the Sears Tower and all of the other good stuff that you do in Chicago. I don't know why it is, but that experience has always stuck with me. It's sort of the same thing as how the tragedy of the Titanic lingers in so many of our imaginations. I suppose that it's partly the sudden and great loss of life that was the ultimate equalizer between the classes. The iceberg and the volcano care nothing for your social status. But I think it's something more. I think it's about how quickly everything can change, especially when you don't heed warnings. I think there's something captivating about all of the fabulous architecture, art, wealth, commerce and simple everyday life being completely covered over in 20 feet of ash for all of those centuries, waiting to see the light of day.

I've always wanted to travel here, and I hope one day I will. Until I do, this very cool street view will make me feel at least a little like I'm there. Check out the link in this article by Discovery News. Once your at the street view, scroll in the direction that you want to see and double click.