Recycled Art

My youngest sister is a fantastic artist....but I think she went over the top with this piece!!!  We had a recycle art contest here in Canon City and when I saw her entry - I knew it was a winner.  And it took 3rd place!!!

Click on any photo to enlarge.  She took the actual keys off a piano and put them on the board!  The background is all recycled paper.  She cut up used wood to make the black musical notes.  The frame she picked up at a thrift store.  She took all kinds of old charms that I had, painted them black and put them around the piece.

It was too cute that the ribbons were made by recycling the comic pages from the newspaper.

Here's what she wrote:

I know the keys don't look right
And the notes don't look right
But even when some things don't look right
We can still see something wonderful an inspirational.
The same is true with our lives.
Sometimes you have to see beyond
What looks right in others
To find something truly amazing, wonderful
And inspiring.

I think this should inspire all of us took at what we are going to toss out and see what we can do with it.  Imagine - piano keys!!!

Altering my Lampstand

I have been looking for a Menorah for ages. Didn't want to plop down a chunk of change....yet still believe that we should not spare expenses when it comes to honoring Jehovah.

Did you know that the 8 candles should all be the same level? And that the 9th candle, the Shamash, the attendant candle sits a little higher or lower than the others. And that you use it to light the candles from left to right.

Actually, rather than candles, one should have oil holders and use olive oil with candle wicks.

It's called a lampstand in the Bible. Mentioned 39 times.

We are only 3 nights away from Hanukkah and I'm getting so excited! The house is abuzz with video preparations, ideas are flowing, and I have to say, this year, 8 Nights of Lights is not going to be for the weak or faint! LOL!!! Hint - get a torch!!! Remember - it's about light. After all, He is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path......

I found this Menorah at my local hardware store and in my mind's eye....I knew exactly what it would look like when I was done with it.



First up, I took off all the cheap charms. Then I replaced them with sterling silver charms and swarovski crystals. It took me a couple of hours and some creative jump ring making....




But oh! How I love the final results! A Menorah that I can use for years to come, and pass down to future generations.


And this one has such special meaning for me. I bought the star in the circle on the far left when Grandma Myrtle House died in 1994. The Mezuzzah on the far right was purchased in memory of Grandma Moore when she passed in 1993. And the star that is second to the right was purchsed in 1992 when my dad passed away. I've kept them all this time and have finally found a way to display them, and continue to honor their memory.

Altered art. Taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary.

Fit to worship the King this Hanukkah season.

PS: Charms were purchased from 1-800-dreidlecrafts

Charmed pendants

Not only have I been working on charms, but I've designed some larger stones that I'm calling my "charmed pendants". The last photo will show you the difference in the size of the stones.

I like the idea of layering silver, stone and swarovsky with sterling silver wire.

I had to do the ducks....just for fun!

For awhile, I thought I would make something out of ever single diecut that I own. Oops! I've run out of time for that idea! But I do like layering punches over diecuts.

Who doesn't love Winnie-the-Pooh?

and butterflies and flowers....

I just love San Diego.....so I might have to do a few more that are beach themed:

That little turquoise stone on the right - that's the size of the charms I've been doing. So you can see, the pendants are quite a bit larger. This one is quilled roses. Not too bad!

I'm also busy making a video of just about everything you can do with paper type Art Clay Silver. Yep, it is homemade.....but who cares? I promise you will learn!!!

And for those who have asked.....yep, Kerry is still in Kingman!

Tues Suz

So, do you just scan the photos, or do you really read what I write? Because this is all about facing your creative demons.....and it starts with Susan! The photos are just fillers. OK, no, Susan is NOT a creative demon! LOL!!! I can just here her giggling as she reads this.

The story starts several months back....well, maybe nearly 2 years ago...when the Basement Babes (take note that this group meets on THURSDAY) had a playday with metal clay. Although I've been working with paper type this month, most fine silver artists use the clay type. It comes in small lumps and you have to knead it quickly and shape it, made your creation before it dries out.

Here is Colorado, the air is quite dry, so this is a learned skill. If you don't work fast enough, the clay will start to crack and eventually it will just crumble. Now, you can spritz it, dip your finger in water and rub over it, all kinds of little trick to extend your working time. And I always use the slow dry brand so my students have a bit more time to play with it.

On this particular Thursday, Susan had a creative demon. She just could not manipulate the clay. It dried. It cracked. It crumbled. I gave her a new block (gasp!) thinking it might have been bad clay. Nope....it was "bad" Susan as she did the very same thing with the second block. And believe me, she was getting exasperated and totally stressed about this time.

So I made a little joke. I told her that we would have to start calling her Tues Suz. She gave me the saddest look and said, "why?" And I replied, "because you can never come back on Thursday if we are playing with clay....you have to come by yourself on Tuesday!"

Guess what? The nickname stuck!!! And we have had many wonderfully funny jokes calling poor Susan "Tues Suz" and suggesting that she return on Tuesday to finish whatever it is we are working on.

HOWEVER.....yesterday was Tuesday. Susan was here. She offered to help me with anything I needed to have done as prep for the Metal Clay conference. We started out with a trip to the Bead Lounge in Longmont, then lunch (I like to segway into my "working" day!) and then back here where I had her looking up product numbers in catalogs for me. Finished that project and I said, "are you ready?" She said, "you bet!" - not having the foggiest idea what my next project might be!

I think Susan thought we were going to go down to the basement and work in my "Lucy McGoo's Little Store"....but I surprised her! I brought out the paper type metal clay and told her we were going to make silver charms!

LOLOL!!!

After being banned from touching metal clay for the past 2 years, Susan did a fantastic job! I think she's even a pro at paper type! And it got me to thinking. What do you do with your creative demons. And I realized I do exactly what Susan did with hers. She flunked our metal clay class (literally) and then set is aside for months on end. When she came back, she approached it with a different angle and had a huge success.

Sometimes, I think we get caught up in the craft media frenzy and push ourselves to do what someone else is doing. Perhaps this is not the moment for us to go that direction. Perhaps we just need to set it aside, give it a rest, and come back to it at a later date.

And then I realized....this is exactly what I do. And it's probably the reason I dabble in so many different mediums. But I truly love it! It also dawned on me that I'm no longer going to struggle with something when it doesn't work for me. I'll just set it aside, give it a rest, and come back to it another day, from a slightly different angle, and see if I can have a success then.

From the photos posted here, you can certainly see that while Susan was here on a Tuesday, I believe she has mastered the art of paper type metal clay!

Susan, you rock! Thank you so much for all the help, fun and giggles you provided yesterday!!!

I really do have the best friends on earth!!!

More charms

I finished up 25 more charms today! WOW!!!



Each one is still different - so easy to do.



And then I started my necklace - sterling silver looped chain - I truly love this!



Here's a close-up, I will have to come up with a large center focal bead. Have it almost done!



And you think this is all I did today? HA! I walked for half an hour (must start exercising again), went to the movies and saw "My Life in Ruins" - cute flick! Went next door and visited with the neighbors, fixed lunch and went out for Hibachi for dinner. Just imagine what I could accomplish in a day if I didn't do all the other stuff! It's not even 8 pm yet....so off to finish a graduation card for a party tomorrow!

10 down, 40 to go!

I am NUTS! LOL!!! I'm doing a charm swap at the Metal Clay World Conference. 10 done, 40 more to go!



But these are not just any old charm.....the silver is .999 fine silver.....

 the wire is sterling silver.....

 Pure Swarovsky beads on each one.....

And the stone is either turquoise or jasper....

And they are soooooo tiny!  smaller than a dime!!!  My fingers will be numb after 50 of these!!!

oh, can you tell?  Each and every one of them is going to be different!  Stay tuned.....more tomorrow!!!

Tutorial: ACS paper type scraps reconsituted to clay

As the previous tutorials have shown, when you diecut paper type Art Clay Silver, there is "negative" space left over.



I keep these little pieces in a zip lock baggie and when I get enough, they go into a mortar pot. I love mine because the pestle is the same shape as the pot and will totally grind up leftover bits and pieces.



The first few times I did this, I ground the pieces into a fine powder.



But what I found is that you can simply spritz the scraps with water and they will dissolve. You can then turn that into a paste as well.



So it doesn't matter. Grind it into a powder as the photo above, or spritz and mix with water. Eventually, you can work it into a paste. You may want/need to have a really wet paste at first to get this to dissolve, but just continue to work it until it dries out.



You want to roll this into a ball of clay.



The next step is to press this into molds. I use everything! Here is a package of little buttons. I thought the trees were just too cute. Simply dip whatever you want to use as a mold into some baby oil (yes, olive oil, badger balm...it all works the same!)



Press the clay into the molds and leave there.



You can use just about anything to make your own molds I used a tiny brass mold of the eiffel tower here. Guess I'll be adding a tutorial on making molds in a few days as well!



The clay in the mold needs to go on a heat source to dry. I like to use my melting pot. I just cut a piece of teflon to put into the melting pot. Lots of people use candle warmers...I think just about any heat source like that would work. Set the heat to about 250F - 275F and put the lid on and let it warm for at least 10 minutes.

If you don't have a heat source, just let it air dry overnight.



You can now take the dried clay out of the mold and have lovely elements to work with in making more fine silver jewelry!


This is just a fantastic way to reconstitute the leftover pieces of ACS paper type that you have and turn it into clay that you can use to make more elements. The ultimate "green craft"!