In the Garden Today

I took a short stroll around the garden on this late July afternoon, right before the rain.

Saturday

My hydrangea is in full bloom.

How did it get to be Saturday again already? The older I get the more I'm amazed at how fast time goes by. The weather is truly summer-like and everything is blooming and gorgeous. I know some people are sweltering and dry, but we seem to have had just the right amount of rain. I've only had to hand water a couple of times,  but now that all the potted flowers are root bound I'll have to water today if it doesn't rain.

My ribs/back are feeling much better. I'm still sore and get a twinge if I move in a certain direction, but the horrendous muscle spasms have stopped. Thank the gods. And good Chiropractors!

 Above is a photo of the experiment that Debbie and I did. (Click here to read that post.) We mixed enamels with wet silver clay and applied it as an accent, according to the instructions I got from Barbara Becker Simon at the conference last month. We made some blue and some green and I put it on a scrap of silver clay.

Well, you can see that it turned out terrible. Both colors turned muddy (and the word "muddy" is a nice word. It actually looks like something out of the cat litter box.) and you can't even tell the blue from the green. Oh well. More silver for the scrap pile.

I made a few pieces recently. Above is one that I made using a pattern that I made with scratch foam. Scratch foam is a thin foam sheet - a little thinner than a tray that meat is packaged on in the grocery store. You score the foam with a pen or a scribe, then roll your clay out onto the design. I'm really happy with how this turned out. 

Above is a ring that I made out of a thick slab of clay. It has cubic zirconias on both sides. 

Next week I'll be going to the big gem and mineral show in Franklin, NC. I have a list of things that I need, but it's always fun to find things that are not on the list, just inspirational. I'll come home with even more ideas! I'll let you know what I find.

And, I had one charm left over from the conference and I hung it from a hand forged sterling chain.

Holey Moley!

Late last week I started having muscle spasms in the middle of my back and they kept getting worse and worse. A trip to the Chiropractor revealed that I have a slipped rib. I'd never heard of it, have you? (Google it, but ignore all the results that have to do with knitting, because that's not it.) Believe me, it's the most painful thing I can ever remember having. Basically, one rib slips underneath the one below it and I have no idea how I did it. The adjustment to put it back in place almost sent me through the roof and now I'm on an ice regiment - 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off - and it's impossible to get anything done. Just as I sit down and get started on something it's time to get the ice pack out again.

Photo courtesy of White Tiger Natural Health Care

And I had company over the weekend. Sort of. She slept at my house, but mostly was up at Grandfather Mountain for the Highland Games. I'm glad I didn't have to cook or entertain her because I'm just not up to it.

Ellen in her tartan plaid.

Before I injured myself I had actually made a few things. I was in the middle of patina-ing and polishing and I hope to finish them before too much longer. These are the pieces that I fired along with the experimental enamel piece mentioned in the previous post, which turned out terrible by the way. I'll try to remember to get a picture when I photo the finished jewelry pieces. I have to feel better and be able to move around without pain first. Back to the ice pack now...

Play Time

I'm sitting on my back porch this evening enjoying a cold beverage, watching the squirrel acrobatics in the bird feeders and thinking about what a fun time I had at Debbie Keen's house the other day. She is mainly a lampworker, but uses some metal clay in her work and we get together every once in a while to try new things or to help each other with projects. 

We set up on the bar in the kitchen of her gorgeous log cabin home because that's where the light is the best. 

One reason it's fun to work at Debbie's because she has different shape cutters and texture mats than I do and I can count on making something that's different than my normal.

 Debbie had orders for a few more of these pearl necklaces, so we worked on them for a little while.

 We looked through the information I brought back from the conference to find the details of Barbara Becker Simon's demonstration of mixing enamels directly with silver clay. No luck. So we decided to just go for it and see what happens. (That's why Debbie's wearing the respirator - you do not want to breathe in the enamels. They're powdered glass, after all.) We mixed some blue and  some green and then we each made a piece and used the colored clays as accents. Who knows how they'll end up? All I remembered from the demo is that you mix the enamel and clay approximately 50-50 and that only the cool colors will work. I thought the handout would be on the disk that came in our conference goody bag, but it wasn't.  This is one of the joys of having a "Play Date" with Debbie. No information? "Aw, hell, let's just go for it and see what happens." we've had some interesting results from these experiments. I'll post pictures after mine is fired - I have a few more ideas from the conference that I'm working on and want to fire at the same time. 

Before the day was done we were in Debbie's glass studio making tiny glass dots for me to embed in metal clay. She's made these for me before, but again, we couldn't remember how she did it. She cut tiny pieces of stringer and when we tried to melt them with a torch, they were so light that they blew away with the torch flame. So, I just brought them home and I'll melt them all at once in my kiln one of these days.

Above are some of Debbie's finished beads, and below one of her colorful bracelets. She's a very talented artist!

We had a fun day and decided to get together again in a few weeks, this time at my house. In the meantime I'll be thinking of projects we can work on and experiments to try.

Double Joy

A few years ago I saw one of these Luna Moths and posted about how beautiful they are and their metaphysical meaning. This morning, when I went to retrieve the bird feeders that have to stay in the shed over night, I saw this one beside the door. 

I returned with the camera and then noticed a second one on the ground, and this one is showing off it's second set of "eyes". I think, after some internet inquires, that the one above is a female and the one below a male. You can tell by their antennae.

I rarely see them and to see two at once really moved me. I believe that they embody the souls of loved ones and it made me think of my Mom and Dad. A joyful day for sure.

Friday Foto 6/29

Whoo, Lawdy, it's hot! It never gets this hot here... well... it probably has, but not in the 21 years I've lived here. I think it's time to get a cold beverage, a lawn chair and go sit in the river.

PMC Conference Re-Cap

This was among the nice things I found in my conference goody bag.

Oh, Wow! What and experience this conference was! It met all of my expectations (except for the hotel itself, which was old and not in the best shape. Let's just say it was like camping with air conditioning.... too much air conditioning.) and at first I was quite star-struck seeing the people who write books and teach classes.

It all started at 2:00 on Thursday and I arrived from the airport at 1:50. I felt like I had skidded in on two wheels! I only missed a few minutes of the key note address by Ellen Wieske, Assistant Director at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. She spoke about the connection between materials and objects.

The next session was a demonstration by Chris Darway and Terry Kovalcik, better known as "The Jersey Boys".Chris showed us how he attaches titanium wire with silver metal clay and Terry demonstrated how he makes armatures out of polymer clay to make three-dimensional metal clay pieces.

Chris Darway and Terry Kovalcik

After the demo I headed to the lobby to meet up with the other seven members of our Etsy Metal Clay Team who attended. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture, but it was sooooo good to meet some of the people in person that I've only known online. I had a feeling that we would "click" in person and I was right. The team members are Lora Hart, Lorena Angulo, Lori Magno, Evelyn Dombkowski, Lis-el Crowley, Wanaree Tanner, Catherine Witherell and me.

On Friday morning our fearless leader, Tim McCreight gave a presentation about the history of Metal Clay in the US. He had some funny stories about the group of artists and scientists who got together in the early days to figure out what the great grey goop was capable of.

The next session was with Helga van Leipsig and her topic was Process As A Design Tool. That was really helpful to me, as I tend to be scattered and her tips on organization will be valuable.

Helga van Leipsig, me, and Catherine Witherell

Next, I went to another demonstration, this one by Barbara Becker Simon and Vickie Hallmark. They talked about combining glass and metal clay. 

Barbara Becker Simon and Vickie Hallmark

After lunch I went to hear Hadar Jacobson talk about how to combine base metal clays. I was disappointed in this one. Not that the presentation was bad, just that there's so much uncertainty when you do this. She often mentioned that pieces either did not sinter (the process of turning from a powder to metal) or that they melted or alloyed. I like good old reliable silver!


Dinner that night was in the company of the Australians. Those women are a hoot! I enjoyed my time with them and would love to go Down Under one day.


On Saturday morning the entire group gathered again to present the Fusion Award to Dr. Morikawa, one of the inventors of PMC, and to acknowledge the work of Tim McCreight for the PMC Guild. Tim was presented with a solid gold business card:

Tim's solid gold business card. He did NOT give this out to anyone. I was lucky to get a picture.

 Next I went to hear Lisa Cain talk about Innovative Textures. She showed us examples of textures that you can find anywhere and how to capture them to be used in metal clay.

Then I went to Susan Dilger's presentation on social networking. She shared tips on how to market yourself and your business online. Again, something that I need help with!

Me, Susan Dilger

The last night of the conference featured a big party sponsored by Rio Grande, the major American distributor of PMC. We had a Dolly Parton look-alike, balloon hat making stilt walker who turned out to be our own mild mannered Donna Penoyer! 

GRRRR!!! Blogger will not let me post the rotated picture! Turn your computer sideways.

They had a DJ playing disco music and I danced so much that my knee is not happy right now. I also had more alcohol than I've had in a long, long time because I didn't have to drive anywhere! It was great fun.

Evelyn Dombkowski with Lis-el Crowley in the background.

Cindy Silas

My trip home was difficult. My plane was supposed to take off at 1:55, but I went to the airport right after breakfast so I could get a good internet connection and have a nice lunch (says a lot about the hotel, doesn't it?). At first the plane was delayed until 4:15, and then until 6:25. Delta gave us each a $6 food voucher and another voucher for $25, good for any shop in the airport, so I found a comfortable seat in a restaurant, ordered a snack and a drink and told the waitress she could have the balance of the vouchers if she'd just let me sit there. She took real good care of me! 

Airport pigeon. It looked as bored as I was.

We finally got in the air and, thank God, the flight was quick and smooth. Unfortunately, when we got to the gate we had to wait 20 minutes for someone to bring us STAIRS!

I had to stay with my Sister on Sunday night because I was so tired I was close to tears and there was no way I could drive the three and a half hours home. I got home yesterday morning and took the day to recover and rest and nap and go to bed early.

I'm glad to be home and this conference will be something I remember for a long time. Deep friendships were formed and I hope that there will be opportunities in the future for us to all get together again.