Last Call!

Holiday Elf hard at work!

It's been a crazy two days here in The Studio. Monday is officially the end of the holiday season for the jewelry business and the beginning of my holidays. I spent all day today finishing off the last of my holiday orders just in time for delivery at the Clermont Market tomorrow. 

This is a reminder that tomorrow (Sunday) will be my last Market day

until January!

After 2 pm tomorrow you will have to contact me directly or go the

 Das Shoppe!

A sincere "Thank you" to everyone that supported

me again this year!

It still watch in awe when customers come into my both and move to a piece that catches their attention. I am grateful, to my very core, for all of you that have trusted me to express myself and grow in my art. In the past year I have begun to hang a sign over my booth that says:

"Enter as Strangers, Leave as Friends"

I can tell you that sign tells more truth than I could have ever imagined! Over the past 4 years I have met more people that come in and have shared a bit of themselves as have taken a bit of my art home with them. I am grateful for each and every one.  

Monday will begin my frantic race to catch up to everyone else out there in the "normal" world. I have done very little in the way of preparing for the holidays, heck, we just got the tree decorated this evening...with a little help from His Majesty.



May all of you celebrate the holidays with a full heart and enjoy good health in the coming year!

'Tis the Season...

Last weekend was the Lake Eola Fall Fiesta and the weather turned on us.

Not that I'm complaining, it was in the mid 40's in the morning and got up into the high 60's during the hottest part of the day, it was quite spectacular!

Jeff was able to join me for setup and all of Saturday, it was nice to have him around for a change!

One of my favorite aspects of the Lake Eola show is the view. This is the show that I always take photos of my booth for submission to other shows, I love not having another booth behind me! I have a tendency to keep my back wall up during this show and love to look at the lake...when there are no customers in the booth.

This weekend I'm at the Lake Ridge Winery and there are a bunch of reasons I love this show, most importantly it is only 3 miles from the house, even closer than the Farmers Market.

I love the views and the music is always great. Mostly it's the other vendors I like at this show.

This year I have Sandi Funk of Makin' Funk Stained Glass on one side of me:

Julie and Mike on on the other side.

(Mike is missing but I'll get him tomorrow!)

 They are brave souls, they not only run Festive Seasonings but they own Mario's Italian Restaurant in Lakeland as well! (More on them tomorrow!)

In the meantime have a great evening and stay tuned for more items coming out of The Studio!

Naturally

There is a preserve not far from where I spend my days at my FTG, it is my refuge.

I can get there within minutes and I find myself spending my lunch time wandering through it's many tree covered paths. When I look up at the sky all I see is pale blue, for this time of year it is cloudless and under my feet is thick green moss, like walking on a plush carpet.

I am usually not alone Gopher Turtles are on the path with me, they munch along the trail side. They don't pull their head in as I walk by but seem to watch, some grunt and say hello. Owls watch me as well and when I get to the boardwalk that brings me over the flood marsh I am usually greeted by a Great Blue Heron. I've been wandering this area for about a year, not wanting to bring my camera but see it all for myself, I think now is a good time to let you all come along.

The seasonal change is not dramatic here but it does take place. The squirrels run frantically collecting their acorns and the leaves, few that there are, do change.

Sandhill Cranes are tending to their young getting them ready to fly and hunt. They soar overhead announcing to everyone that they are still here, they are loud!

Almost every artist interview I have read states that the artist gets some inspiration from nature and when I walk through this preserve I cannot doubt it. Recently I have taken to the process of Piercing Silver. Each time I look for a subject I go right back to animals (I am working on plants next!) and again I realize that right there in my work is my desire to capture some glimpse of their beauty.

Let the Cat Out

 Sandhill Crane Part II

Recently I began working with resin and again I find myself in the same place, picking items that are close to my heart and straight from the beaches I sink my feet into:

Weekend Away

I try to use my time away from the race to think about my own path and this escape has become important to me, no I-Pod, no phone. I have come to some decisions about my pent-up anxiety about festivals that I am not participating in and my day to day work (AKA: what I call my: Full Time Gig). I have decided to continue the Clermont Farmers Market and I often think about those that visit me on a weekly basis. I know when someone says "you have'nt been here", that there are folks that look for me and  I appreciate that, thank you all! The visitors that stop by just to see whats new and say hello mean the world to me.

My work that is displayed on these pages and the thoughts that I lay out are for myself as much as those of you that take the time to read them. It is the time that I can separate myself from the day to day, the times that I wander, that I look around and realize how lucky I really am. I do often try to remember that I am new at this venture and have many years ahead of me to experiment and continue to see all of this with new eye's.

I thank all of you that choose to wander with me and have allowed me to share a little piece of my journey.

Until next time...

What Animal Would You Be?

I remember the first time someone asked me this question...and I really enjoy asking this of others, especially adults.

We not used to the "What do you want to be when you grow up" question ( yet I do know what I wish to be!)

I have lot's of reasons but if I could be an animal,

a Pelican is what I would choose!

I wanted to get these little guys on the web as quickly as possible.

There are more to come, so keep an eye out!

What animal would you be?

A New Love

I've fallen in love with "piercing", not the type you might think of in the conventional sense.

In the fabrication of jewelry there is a technique called piercing where-in you pierce a hole in the silver sheet, feed the jewelers saw blade through the hole and begin hand sawing the design from the center rather than from one edge. If one is careful enough both the positive and negative of the pattern can be used.

Here is a perfect example:

This is the positive of my Seahorse Necklace

My Seahorse Pendant is the negative of the same sheet of sterling silver.

Earlier I showed (off, ahem...) my Sandhill Crane pendant which was completed in my class in September. I knew from the moment I saw her (her name is Betty) that she was mine but the delightful pair above are headed right to the Silver Lining Shop, as are the following pieces:

A Bear Named Grin Necklace

Goddess Necklace

House on the Hill Necklace

All but my House on the Hill  are part of my new collection and I can promise there will be many more of them to come. In the coming days I will also take some photos of how this process is done but for now take a jump over to the shop and you will see many more photos of them all!

As my good friend Cristina would say "Ta-ta for now!"

TNwJ and Other Stuff

In an attempt to catch up my usual Tuesday Nights with Jim will also include some photos from last Saturday's Maitland Art Festival. While reviewing the photos I realize I have very little from the festival and artists themselves but lots of area photos.
I think this has to do with most of the conversation that was going on around the festival...everyone was talking about the weather. Things have finally turned the corner here in Central Florida which means it's finally comfortable enough to not only attend a festival but it's actually enjoyable enough to sell at one as well! The hours of the event were a bit crazy for the vendors on Saturday, from 10am-10pm but it made for a wonderful way to see the festival during the best hours around the lake.

 This is by far the coolest band shell I have ever seen!

Jeff was kind enough to come along and enjoyed the art, park and music as much as I did.

A friend and co-worker Walt Barrows had a booth and we stopped by to say hello. As usual I took no photos but I highly recommend you take a look at his amazing watercolor work!

On to Tuesday...this particular night I brought no projects with me, I was completely focused on helping Jim. All three ladies in the class were / are very close to completing their first projects so things can get crazy, lots of finishing and always a bit of rushing.

One completed pendant, Very nice for a first piece!

  

A large ring well on it's way to being done, polishing and setting is all that's left!

And one pendant with a surprise, can't wait to see this done!

Jim explaining the importance of a final polish or...Quantum Physics...you never know with him!

Two weeks ago I started another set of fabrication classes at Crealde with Stefan Alexandres, he is a wonderful  repousse, filigree and all around  jeweler. I hope to have some photos of those classes soon!

Until then!

TNwJ

Another session of "Tuesday Nights with Jim" has begun.

Last night was week three of the last session of the year and everyone of the students are moving right along!

At this point in the program we've progressed through the basics of soldering. Everyone is now comfortable with the torch in their hand, maybe not on their own project but with it in hand none the less!

Jim doing another soldering demo, he's captivated everyone.

Last week I worked through 3 bezels for some more of Jeff's glass, I used them as a demo for soldering a bezel to a back-plate.

Jeff's glass was a success at the Farmers Market on Sunday so I'll be working my way through bezel setting some of his pieces in the coming weeks.

Since my last visit to William Holland I have taken to piercing sterling...I love it. I cleaned up my Sandhill Crane and added a hidden bail on the back:

Since there is a Sandhill Crane family that makes our community their home I'm keeping this one.

Besides, it is my first project of this type!

I also just completed a bear pendant that will be strung with some rough turquoise and silver, it will soon be added to the Silver Lining shop:

I think there will be many more of these projects in my future!

Orders and Projects

My first Sunday back at the Farmers Market and I could not be happier.

Okay, maybe if it wasn't 92 degrees but heck, it didn't rain!

All in all it was a great welcome back!

One of my first customers was someone that had never been to my booth before, Cathy had taken interest in my Spinner Rings when she started reminiscing about a ring she had long lost.

She described it as a 3 band ring that was intertwined and she would roll the bands over each other. She spoke longingly of how she missed that ring and when I mentioned that I could make her another one she was thrilled.

It's been a while since I've made a "Russian Wedding Band" or "Rolling Band Ring" so I got home and cooked up a couple, it was just like riding a bicycle. Here is my first test:

Just as I remembered!

...and here's your ring Cathy:

 Thanks for helping me remember this project!

Special Delivery, next Sunday.

When I got home I began another project, my first spoon...without the guiding hand of an instructor.

When we were making these up at William Holland I was so excited about getting started I forgot to take notes. Later in the day I began writing what I could remember but while looking at the notes later in the evening I realized I had not done a very good job. I've been thinking about starting one just so I can go through the process and write it down...while making the mistakes!

I'm proud, yes, there were some steps I completely forgot but heck...I think I've done pretty well on my own!

It's not polished yet but I still think it's not bad for a first solo flight!

Since we're on the topic of projects during the summer I began working with a product called ICE Resin, here are the results:

Weekend Away.

How Time Flies.

As to be expected there was a bit of a learning curve with this product but I am quite happy with the results. When it comes to this resin I am very excited to have all kinds of projects brewing in my head, just thinking of the colors and shapes makes me dizzy!

Backwards...Summer...over

Just when I turned around and gave it my full attention,

Summer was gone.

It's hard to tell here in the land of sunshine, it's still in the 90's, but the school buses are roaring up and down the hill beside our house.

Last week Jeff and I snuck in another week at William Holland, it was wonderful.

Although all the raspberries were gone the wandering grapevines had found the apple tree, ceremoniously latched on to every limb and shared it's sweet globes with all that passed by, yum.

Jim was in his usual form, needless to say we all laughed from morning well into the evening hours.

He looks so innocent as all we aim our hammers at him.

Everyone in this class came with plenty of experience. We had much to contribute and loved sharing our projects and opinions, we all had a great time.

As to be expected Jim challenged all of us:

We learned to make Silver Spoons, which I think was my favorite project!

We made our own stamps from tool steel then used them to create textures on rings.

Then we moved on to pierced pieces.

 I choose a Sand Hill Crane since they wander our community constantly but Jim chose a different subject:

I will not ask.

While everyone was working on Spinner Rings I chose to move to a pair of textured earrings, I really need to thank Jim for letting me get a bit off track...(Thanks Jim!)

To complete our trip we stopped at Melody and Lew's home in Atlanta for 2 nights.

Laurel (aka: Mr. Puffs) and McKenzie. 

Plenty of wine, food and friendship was the perfect way to end this summer!

(I usually do not photograph my food but this was meal was way to good not too!)

Beet Salad and Shrimp and Grits, oh my amazing!

Tomorrow I will share what I have been playing with on my summer vacation along with a Shop update!