In an earlier post I mentioned my experiments with Image Transfer Solution. I really love this stuff--you can now transfer laser printed, toner-based images onto just about anything incuding metal. Since my post I've been asked by ArtChix Studio to create a tutorial of the process and I've included a pdf version here (you'll need Adobe PDF Reader). I created a simple locket pendant using a pre-fab brass locket and images from ArtChix. ArtChix has such great collage sheets, all are laser printed and work well with ITS with a few minor adjustments. Take a peek, then get yourself some ITS, visit ArtChix, and make something amazing!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Please Pardon My Mess...NOT!
If you've read more than one of my artist interviews you will see that many of the questions I ask are often the same. I think it's facsinating to see the similarities and differences among artists regarding interests, influences, and style. One question I always ask is what type of studio they work in--Is it organized and neat, or controlled chaos? I initially asked this question just to assure myself that I'm not the only artist whose studio/workspace often looks like a bomb went off, and I am relieved to know that I have yet to interview an artist who keeps their workspace neat as a pin!
My husband, a brilliant scientist/mechanic/fixer-of-all-things finds my workspace horrific. No matter how technical or difficult a situation is for him (working up to his elbows in the guts of a tractor, or rebuiding a delicate parrot egg incubator) he somehow manages to keep his workspace organized and, dare I say, tidy. Every tool has it's place, whether in the box or laid out for immediate use. I've tried to explain the whole right-brain, left-brain artist thing to him, but I believe he just thinks I'm hopelessly disorganized.
BUT, we creative types know better, right? How can you really explain the artistic process? I try, I really do, to keep my space organized. Every few days (okay weeks) I actually sit down and clear my workspace. Tools put away, beads back into boxes and trays, bits of scrap metal into other storage, patinas and paint on the correct shelf, right down to the bare wood on my table-top. Then I get an IDEA...and the process begins. No matter how detailed a design is in my head, the process of laying it out and actually creating it is as organic as the design itself. I imagined turquoise, but what about carnelian or coral?? Lay that out. I need a opossum tooth, but found vertebrae I forgot I had. Lay that out. Beads, wire, beads, feathers, beads...lay them all out. Inevitabley, while pulling together all the elements I think I need for a design I find stuff I forgot I even had! Might as well lay that out, too. I'm sure you get the picture...the messy, messy picture.
Once, I knocked a small box of 3mm faceted gemstones off my table to the floor, where they scattered hither and yon. I found myself on my hands and knees, flashlight held tightly in my teeth as I searched for anything shiney. I found the gems, and a package of pheasant feathers, a bone moon face, several long-lost silver beads and a length of sterling silver chain I had given up ever finding again. And that was just in the immediate area around the chair I sit in...Ah, the thrill of the hunt!
In all honesty, I LIKE having a crazy workspace. It's like a freaky treasure hunt, and for the most part I do know where everything is....sort of. I like looking at the chaos and digging a design out of it. Where in nature do you ever see neat and tidy?? Look out your window--unless you live in a formal English garden, everything you see is gorgeous, unplanned, natural chaos. I say, REVEL IN IT!!!
My husband, a brilliant scientist/mechanic/fixer-of-all-things finds my workspace horrific. No matter how technical or difficult a situation is for him (working up to his elbows in the guts of a tractor, or rebuiding a delicate parrot egg incubator) he somehow manages to keep his workspace organized and, dare I say, tidy. Every tool has it's place, whether in the box or laid out for immediate use. I've tried to explain the whole right-brain, left-brain artist thing to him, but I believe he just thinks I'm hopelessly disorganized.
BUT, we creative types know better, right? How can you really explain the artistic process? I try, I really do, to keep my space organized. Every few days (okay weeks) I actually sit down and clear my workspace. Tools put away, beads back into boxes and trays, bits of scrap metal into other storage, patinas and paint on the correct shelf, right down to the bare wood on my table-top. Then I get an IDEA...and the process begins. No matter how detailed a design is in my head, the process of laying it out and actually creating it is as organic as the design itself. I imagined turquoise, but what about carnelian or coral?? Lay that out. I need a opossum tooth, but found vertebrae I forgot I had. Lay that out. Beads, wire, beads, feathers, beads...lay them all out. Inevitabley, while pulling together all the elements I think I need for a design I find stuff I forgot I even had! Might as well lay that out, too. I'm sure you get the picture...the messy, messy picture.
Once, I knocked a small box of 3mm faceted gemstones off my table to the floor, where they scattered hither and yon. I found myself on my hands and knees, flashlight held tightly in my teeth as I searched for anything shiney. I found the gems, and a package of pheasant feathers, a bone moon face, several long-lost silver beads and a length of sterling silver chain I had given up ever finding again. And that was just in the immediate area around the chair I sit in...Ah, the thrill of the hunt!
In all honesty, I LIKE having a crazy workspace. It's like a freaky treasure hunt, and for the most part I do know where everything is....sort of. I like looking at the chaos and digging a design out of it. Where in nature do you ever see neat and tidy?? Look out your window--unless you live in a formal English garden, everything you see is gorgeous, unplanned, natural chaos. I say, REVEL IN IT!!!
Artist Interview - Payton Jett of Green Glass Cafe
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This Guy is Sort of Talented...
I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the cover of the latest issue of Art Jewelry Magazine. The cover-shot is of metal clay work by Gordon Uyehara, an uber-talented artist that has taken PMC to a whole new stratosphere. UNBELIEVABLE. I've been on the edge of actually attempting to work with metal clay for years. Frankly, I'm intimidated. BUT, seeing Gordon's work is so inspiring I just might finally take the plunge. Anyone interested in PMC must get this issue of AJM. Metal clay has come leaps and bounds since it's inception. Now you can choose from silver, gold, brass, and the soon-to-be-available COPPER metal clays. How cool is that??? Also, this issue has some great profiles and information about working "green", which is, of course, close to my heart. For more information visit AJM's website. Also, you can visit Cool Tools, my new favorite product/tool supply website, for metal clay, and much, much more.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
What do you Mean it's Almost APRIL???
Holy-moly the time has flown by...Obviously, I've been busy. Spring is FINALLY in the air and the animals are all going baby crazy. The parrots are nesting, the marmosets are having babies everywhere and the bongo are thriving. In the midst of all this I have a real case of Spring Fever and have been creating lockets and necklaces in bright colors (with just the right amount of weird, of course...). Playing with mica powders mixed with chemical patinas and acrylic. Loving the results!!! A picture included here of a necklace I made using patina, copper cups, mica powders and a glass coyote eye I found on a taxidermy website...
New lockets are also my obsession, thanks to influence from one of my all-time favorite Etsy artists, Tessa Rickard. Her lockets got me inspired to try to make my own...the latest is below. I'm calling these "Poetry Pieces" because the each come with an original poem I've written based on the locket design. I've discovered the fantastic world of Image Transfer Solution for metals and have been working with vintage photos from ArtChix transferred onto sterling silver, copper and brass. If you haven't tried this DO!!! The possibilities are ENDLESS. I love using these images in my lockets--they inspire the stories and poems I write...
More to come...I promise!!
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