Open Studio At the Lander Art Center

This fall I will be offering an open studio class at the Lander Art Center Wednesdays beginning September 18th through October 23rd from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.  This will be an open studio with a short demo.  The idea is that we will have 3 different projects to work on or folks can work of their own projects.  I will effectively be the studio monitor but will also function as instructor if needed.  The price is an unreasonably inexpensive $10 plus materials or consumables.

Here are the projects/demos that I am tentatively planning on presenting...

WEEK 1 & 2--EARRING EXTRAVAGANZA


With this class I will show how to create various types of earwires including balled end and open hooks, hoops, posts, hoops with a little latch, those cool spirals and kidney wires.  These projects will feature forging, beading wire, wire work, light soldering and finishing.


WEEK 3 & 4--ROLLING ALONG WITH THE ROLLING MILL AND ROLLING MILL OVAL BRACELET OR NECKLACE

This class will feature use of the rolling mill and various different textures.  I have new leaf skeletons, new brass plates and I am excited to work with new laser cut templates from Rolling Mill Resource, a site on Etsy with some interesting new textures.  I will have a few but if you really want to get involved in it order a few sheets from them before the class starts.

Once we get rolling, pun intended, I want to cut disks and run them through the rolling mill to make ovals that we can use as parts of a bracelet or necklace.  This will entail stacking and beading a wire for a rivet or simply putting them together with a jump ring.


WEEK 5 & 6--SETTING STONES.

In this class we will set stones in bezels, in tubes and with prongs.  We will probably set on simple rings  to facilitate getting something tangible done.

My First Gold Rings

Making My First Gold Rings

I have been making jewelry for a while now and have not gotten into gold.  It's pretty obvious that making something in gold for the last few years has been no minor matter with gold reaching $1800 per ounce in 2011.

I was approached about a year ago by my client to create two special wedding rings in white and yellow gold with a landscape of the location in the Wind River Mountains where they got engaged to be married.  Her ring would also have a small diamond flush set into the ring.

It has been fun working with Anna and Evan (mostly Anna) and seeing her idea come to fruition.  I started out with a silver and brass prototype and eventually made the leap, bought the materials (I ordered more than I should have on accident!) and started the project.  After a few false starts I have to admit that working with gold is a joy.  I have always heard that and now I know it is true.  One of the problems that I encountered was my own fault...I only ordered white gold hard solder and then had to layer and re-solder, upsetting old joins or weakening them.  I bit the bullet and ordered some easy and medium and everything came together, literally, beautifully!

Making Big Metal Flowers

Making Big Metal Flowers

Well, I have been on a flower binge lately, making big showy ones.  The inspiration to make flowers is always with me as plants are some of my favorite things.  I am endlessly fascinated by the shape, color and texture of flowers and leaves and my own attempts to create metal versions are pretty pale in comparison to what Mother Nature comes up with.  Nonetheless... My original inspiration was from a Craftcast class by Barbara Becker Simon.  It is called "Creating a BIG toggle in Metal Clay with Barbara Becker Simon" and is really wonderful--large, well-done with attention to detail and very stylized.  I took some of her concepts, such as thickening the edges of the form and adding carving and came ip with this copper clay poppy.  I really love it and the addition of the coral, green pearl and sparkly Swarovski crystal makes it really dramatic.  I had to go out and find some clothing to go with it and I wore it to the Governor's Arts Awards dinner in February.


This one wasn't a toggle, I wanted to create an inset toggle but it went to wonky so it is just hooked on the back.  So...I made another with the toggle design...

Then I wanted to make something with Hadar's Pearl Gray Steel pieces so I made a Moth Orchid...I also made a wonderful orchid with Fast Fire Bronze that came out with a fantastic patina, as well as several other larger imaginative flowers, but more on those at a later time.  

Back from a Great PMC Class in Jackson Hole

I got back yesterday from a great PMC class in Jackson Hole at the Art Association. Jackson is about 3 hours away from home (Lander, WY) nestled in the beautiful Teton Mountain Range. The fall colors were wonderful, the mountains snow packed and gorgeous and the weather fabulous (none of which I actually took a picture of). I didn't even get a picture of the giant herd of buffalo I drove through!

The class was small and instead of going into my usual 4 or 5 wrote silver clay projects we did a basic textured piece to get the feel of the material and then everyone pursued a project that they were interested in.

Clint made a great cuff bracelet with decoration in the Fibonacci series!, Robin created silver coinage from her antique coins to enhance her handmade chains, Juniper created gift pieces for all her friend's children, as well as a great ring and set of earrings for herself. Sindy made earrings and pendants to enhance her beaded jewelry that she sells at craft fairs throughout the region and Jennifer made wonderful pendants and earrings that she will be gifting to friends and family for the Holidays, if she can wait that long!

Check out my Flikr site for all the photos I took during the class.

Also, don't forget that I will be offering the advanced class on Nov. 4-6.

Viking Knit Tutorial Source

I found an excellent tutorial to make Viking Knit woven necklaces and bracelets. I have been making these for a while now and a lot of people have asked me how to do them. I have attempted to answer them, but it is somewhat time consuming and really requires an hour or two of practice. The author of this tutorial, Trina Ann, has done an excellent job of explaining the process. She uses a small tool that makes the process easier, but it can be done on a plain wooden dowel. I twist my new and old wire ends together, but after seeing her post I might try to skip that part. I also add my wire on the dowel and use an awl or needle tool to open it sufficiently to add the wire addition.

I like the "daisy" that comes with the tool, but I will try making some from polymer clay.

The photo that I have included is on my Flickr site and is a Fine Silver Echinacea leaf with one of my own Montana Agate cabs on the Viking Knit Cable.

Riverfest 2011

Riverfest, our local art in the park event was Saturday. We had a great time and visited with a lot of people and sold a decent amount of jewelry ( sold the necklace on the left, a Labradorite on Hollyhock leaf). My son Sam and his band played a set and they were very good. The event was a little bittersweet for me since I got the event going, along with Nancy Ebbert on the music side and it is getting better and bigger. This was the third year and it will soon become a treasured institution in Lander if the energy can be maintained.

The reports of sales were a bit mixed. I think that the government playing chicken on the brink of default may have had some impact on sales. Also, summer we buy for ourselves, not for others which accounts for the lowered sales compared to the Art in the Afternoon Christmas sale. Also, we must admit that Lander is a small town. 7000 people is not a large basis. We are still working to develop an appreciation for the arts within a larger slice of the population. We do seem to have an inordinate amount of people making art though and that is a wonderful part of our town.

The greenhouse is going great guns (update: installed in early June) with the cukes coming on strong and maybe another week for the tomatoes. Next year we will get the tomatoes in earlier and see what we can do for early crops. Sales have been good in the first two Farmer's Markets with greens, basil and bouquets.

Back At It

Well, I resigned as Director of the Lander Art Center. The job was eating up all my mental space and keeping me up at night. Dannine Donaho, my Assistant Director has taken over and I am sure she has a whole new set of skills to put toward the Center. Good Luck, Dannine.

I am readying myself for the Holiday Sale season with new pieces and several sales. My schedule is:

November 5, 4-6 at the Dubois Headwaters Art Center

November 11-13 at the Nicolaysen Holiday Art Sale in Casper

December 5 at the Art in the Afternoon Holiday Arts & Crafts Sale in Lander at the Noble Hotel

I will teach a class on November 6th at the Lander Art Center called "Metal Clay Gifts" call the Lander Art Center at 332-5772 or go to landerartcenter.com to sign up