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.