Following dreams...

Break out the overalls and do a happy dance with me, because some blue-haired little old lady is gonna be doin' some painting this summer!  And by the way, I don't mean painting the ceiling of my shed again,  though that was kind of fun.  (My husband doesn't like to trust me with a paintbrush on our house.  I think he's afraid it will end up like my car).  But let me explain about this summer...

Do you ever see opportunities and say "I wish I could do that some day"? We all get so busy with our commitments, and work, and family, and crazy projects, and taking care of our homes,  our cars, our health, and so on, and it's easy for it all to pass by.  Well, since I retired, I realize that "some day" has arrived, and if I don't take the opportunities while I am able, it may be too late. I think the first thing I did shortly after my retirement was tell my college roommate that even though we live on opposite sides of the country and never see each other, we needed to get together somewhere crazy for a milestone birthday.  Neither of us had any real desire to go to Las Vegas, so that's where we went.  It took a little work to convince her, but we are both glad we did. 

But I'm not generally talking about vacations.  I am talking about MYSELF.  Things I want to do for ME.  To me, this is not just laying on a beach, sitting on the dock with a good book, or paddling in my kayak, though I love and do all those things.  I'm talking about genuine learning experiences.  Taking classes; meeting people you've never met, learning a new skill, or re-discovering an old passion. Assessing what I want to do with the life that I have.  For me, being creative is a large part of who I am, so it needs to play a major role in choosing what these things will be.   

I began retirement with a bunch of classes at the Adirondack Folk School.  It is just 1/2 hour away, and it always looked interesting, but gosh, those classes aren't cheap...  So I said "what am I saving for?  DO IT!"  So... in the almost 4-years since I retired, I have woven a beautiful rug out of sock tops (fun!), I learned to use PMC (precious metal clay, which I absolutely LOVE), made lampwork beads (which was a great experience, but in the name of safety, this little klutz will not be using a torch any time soon in my own home), made a bead embroidered purse (quite the endeavor; I'm very proud of it and doubt I'll ever do anything like it again), and made a purse from a gourd (which is very cool but not real practical), and more. 

 I traveled to Santa Fe for the Crizmac/School Arts International Folk Art Extravaganza in July 2014, which I had been eyeballing each  year in School Arts magazine. I didn't know a single person who'd been on one of these travel/professional development opportunities, so it was a gamble, and it was wonderful; worth every dime.

This July, I'm taking another such gamble, and I will leave home/husband/cat for an entire week and go to the beautiful campus of Bennington College in Vermont, where I will be taking an Art New England summer workshop class where I hope to rediscover my love of oil paints (haven't used them in decades, due to time and space and life considerations), painting landscapes in the out-of-doors, weather permitting.  With all the thinking/talking I've been doing about using authentic source materials for your art, and painting from observation (see this recent post), I'm putting my money where my mouth is.  (So now I have three months to shop for all the materials I'll need; the list is extensive and I'm eager to start shopping.)  

I left college with two artistic passions: darkroom photography and oil painting.  I taught darkroom photography for 8 years, until a job cut and I no longer had a free accessible darkroom.  I painted until I got married, more than 28 years ago, and moved into a house that had wall-to-wall carpeting pretty much throughout.  Since that time, I've discovered a lot more, including batik, and acrylic paint, and papier-mache, of course!  (I think that, with a different educational background, I might have become a sculptor, like my grandfather Harry Levine.  But fates didn't lead me that way, though there's still time....)  I still love photography, but the darkroom is a thing of my past, like scuba diving.  But still, those oil paints  were never discarded, and the luminosity of their colors was something I never felt I achieved with acrylics, and I became just an occasional painter.  I'm looking to remedy that, this summer.  Wish me well!

What opportunities have you looked at longingly? Can you find a way to make room for those opportunities in your life?

By the way - if you want to learn more about my grandfather, or about any of those previous endeavors mentioned in this post, from the precious metal clay to the International Folk Art Market and everything else, they've all been posted about before on this here blog.  Just type what you want to know about in the search bar on the right side of my blog, or search for the topic of interest in the "cloud" of labels at the bottom of the blog.  Either way will take you to all sorts of stuff from previous posts over the last few years!  Happy hunting!!!

Sock rug and artsy necklace

 I spent yesterday afternoon at the Adirondack Folk School, where I took a class called 'Weave a Sock Rug'.  Just three hours later, I walked out with this rug that I had made! 

 The instructors made it easy for us - the looms are pre-warped for class use.  We picked the loom we preferred.  The loom I selected was strung with a blue/black combo. 

 Down by my side in the photo above you can see bags with ropes made from the ribbed tops of colorful cotton socks.  The instructor purchases the pre-cut socks from a sock company, and then loops them together into ropes.   The regular weaving instructor is leaving to winter in Florida, so the woman on the right was there apprenticing with her, and will be taking over the weaving classes.  Both were terrific.

Below is what I saw on my loom as I was weaving. 

Another woman, using exactly the same color sock ropes as me, wove on a loom warped with white.  Our results looks so different from each other!

One woman, weaving on a loom strung with green and pale yellow, selected a limited color palette to go with her home decorated with terracotta and a southwestern decor.  This is her rug below.

Here, of course, is my (almost) finished rug.  I say 'almost' because I still have some more knot tying and trimming that I want to do to my fringe.

 Here's what the rug woven with the white warp looks like.

 And here's mine on my studio floor at home.  It really amazes me how the warp changes it.  Her white warp brought out the cool blues and greens, and my blue/black warp brought out the warm reds and jewel tones.  I'm quite happy with it!

 Here's a closer-up look a the nubby irregular weave. 
I like the randomness and irregularity. 

 By the way, I talked to the instructor about easy ways to do this without a big expensive loom, and she suggested hammering nails into an old picture frame and using them to warp the loom.  And of course you can make rag rugs out of just about anything, or cut across old t-shirts to form giant rings that you can link together into ropes as was done with the sock parts. I've always loved weaving with kids, and I think they would enjoy making something bigger using rags rather than yarn.  The possibilies are pretty open-ended, I think!

 

On the way home, with hubby out of town, I made a pit stop for some shoe shopping before a planned trip to the gym.  When I left the store at closing time, shoe bags in tow, I found a flat tire on my car.  EEK.  I knew no garage would be open, and made a panicked call for advice to hubs who was at his gate at a Washington DC airport, coming home.  He told me to just lock up the car and we'd pick it up the next day.  I thought I'd have to call a taxi, which would have been pricey since I wasn't exactly close to home, but when I ran into the shoe store as they were locking their doors (I wanted to make sure that my car wouldn't be towed), the woman I spoke to looked familiar.  Turns out that she was the mom of a girl who one of my son's friends in high school!  Small world!  She nicely offered to drive me home with my rug and my shoes.  Thank you!!!!

When I finally got home, I decided to finish a necklace that I had strung a month or so ago, and which had been sitting on the coffee table since then (much to my husband's annoyance, I'm sure; he's much neater than I am), waiting for me to put a clasp on it.  The clasp is now on, the necklace is complete, and a coordinating pair of earrings is in the works!!

Gourd purse!

I have SO many things to blog about - a trip to NYC including my butterfly experience, museums, and more, but today I want to tell you about my new gourd purse that I made!

I spent the day at the awesome Adirondack Folk School, where I previously took classes in precious metal clay (PMC), (and a second time in PMC),  bead embroidered free-form jewelry, and lampwork beads.

But today was all about gourds.  We started with canteen gourds, like these pictured below, and soaked and scrubbed them to remove mold etc.  I had a specific plan in mind for my purse, but when I saw the beautiful natural patterns on my scrubbed gourd, I changed my mind and my plan completely.

Once our gourds were scrubbed, we drew a saddle-shaped line dividing top and bottom and sawed them apart. The insides looked pretty funky!

We removed the seeds (you can plant them; I saved mine for next summer but unfortunately realize that I left them at the school where they were undoubtedly 'cleaned up' and thrown away).  Then we cleaned the excess stuff out of the insides. 

We were given lots of alternatives for decorating, including using shoe polish, acrylic paints, or alcohol paints.  I chose the alcohol paints because the patterns on the gourd would show through.  We were also given the option of using a wood burning tool.  Since I'd never used one before, I decided to give it a try.  Here's my woodburned lines and my beginnings with the alcohol inks.  The colors did not look exactly as I expected, so I made some mid-course alterations.  In the end I was pretty satisfied with my result. 

On the top of the gourd, I kind of blended all my colors together.  The teacher was skeptical but I assured her I would do OK and in the end she loved it.  The back is actually quite a bit lighter than the front (it's not pictured right here) because of the coloration variations of the natural gourd. When we finished painting our gourds, we sprayed them with a clear finish.  The gloss really brought out the beautiful colors and natural patterns on the gourds.

Here's what the other gals in the class were doing.  The one with the stars was colored with shoe polish, and the star outlines were wood-burned.  She blackened them in with a Sharpie!  (The paints wouldn't work over the shoe polish.)  The studs in the middle of the stars are actually brass fasteners!!  The fastener is a loop of elastic that hooks over the stem of the gourd.  Cool, no?

In the photos below, all the coloring was done with alcohol ink except the red top and black diamonds.  They were painted with acrylic craft paints.  Both the purses below use a button and elastic closure.

Here's the back of my finished purse.  We put on hinges using brass fasteners. 

And the front.  I used a blackened brass clasp on mine. 

The sides look pretty cool too.  I may change out the strap at some point.  I'd love to use something woven perhaps? 

By the way, we sewed a little felt pouch that fits perfectly inside, and also cut a piece to fit in the top.  They were attached inside with hot glue.  I didn't photograph the inside.   I may  at some point, when I have the time, remove the felt inside and use something a little 'nicer'.  When I have time....

Here I am below, showing off the finished product to my husband, who didn't even really take a good look at it.   Oh well.  He's too used to my projects, I guess!

 

I Love Precious Metal Clay!

I first wrote about PMC (precious metal clay) in July, (here's the post link)  when I took a class at the Adirondack Folk School.  At that time, as I said in that post, I had no idea what PMC was all about, so I went in with no preconceived plan.  This time was different.  I had some ideas I wanted to try, and so I went in with a plan.  Which is good, since PMC is real silver, and thus very expensive.

I wanted to experiment with weaving ideas. Sorry this image of the completed earrings posted sideways. 

 

Here's a close-up (below).  I first rolled out and textured my clay, and then cut it in strips, working quickly as the clay dries fast. I used some water on a paintbrush to slip in between the connections, and then gently pressed them together.  They do not look like exactly what I envisioned, but I still think they are really cool.  I don't know anyone else with woven silver earrings!  I dangled them on a piece of chain because, with my long hair, I kind of liked them having a little 'swing'. 

 Then, still in weaving mode, I wanted to try out my other idea.  The plan was to create a frame with drilled holes all the way around, so I could actually weave inside it, either with threads, or fine wire.  I made these curved top rectangles (maybe an inch and a half long), and in addition to the hole for the ear-wire, I put two holes in the top and bottom (for the warp), and four down each side (for the weft), measuring very carefully.   At least that's what I thought I did.  After they were fired, and I brought them home, I discovered there was, on each earring, one hole on the side that had not drilled through entirely.  This of course undid my original plan for an authentic weaving, with warp and weft.  Instead, I used fine wire and seed beads and weaved in and out in a random pattern, twisting here and there.  Here's the result - the pair, and a close-up of one earring.  By the way, the funky texture was achieved with a texture plate.

 

 

 Then it was time to make a ring.  You may recall that I was NOT happy with the ring I made last time, so this time I wanted to redeem myself.  Here's a few views of the result:

 

 Sorry - another sideways post - but I wanted to show you the close up of the texture.  This texture, believe it or not, came from a very subtle texture on a tiny strip of wallpaper!  I think it looks like dragon scales. 

 I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  A lot of people in the class inserted stones, but they were cubic zirconium and I didn't want to put cheapy stones in a real silver ring. 

Then I wanted to make some petal earrings.  They are not yet assembled, but I'll show them to you anyhow.  Though unplanned, they ended up looking like a calla lily.  I didn't even realize, when I picked the stripey texture for the inside, how much that would look like the calla llily. 

 

  I want to dangle something down the middle (a pearl? on wire? on beaded thread?) but I have changed my mind a ton of times and need some advice.  They do not have black patina, as does everything else but the waffle weave earrings, and so they are extremely reflective.  A real calla lily has a yellow center, but I don't think that will look good with the silver.  but I just don't know what to do, as whatever I put inside will be strongly reflected by the shiny inside of the petal.  (Sorry the photos aren't focused great - I forgot to include them when I shot the other pics.) On the palm of my hand, you can get the idea of the size.

 They have a lovely texture on the outside, too.  I'll be able to do a wire wrap at the top, or an anchor bead, and then drop something through the inside.  I could decide to forget about calla lily accuracy and do 3 or 4 little pearl drops at different levels.  Opinions, please?  No crystals though - I tried them and didn't like them.

After the  lily earrings, I still had some clay left over, but we were running out of time, so I quickly rolled out some leftover clay and pressed a rubber stamp into it, and then used a circle cutter to make these quick earrings:

 The red beads did not photograph accurately.  They are actually a very dark red, and not at all the cherry red in these photos.  I added the beads when I assembled the earrings at home.  Again, I wanted the earrings to dangle.  The circles are probably about an inch in diameter.

And then - oh no, still another little hunk of clay!  And the woman seated across from me was done, and had a teeny piece left too, and gave it to me.  So, I swear, I made these little earrings below in about 2 minutes.  I rolled the clay, used some star punches for 6 stars, and then rolled again, and used a teardrop punch for 2 teardrops, and with the tiny bit of clay still left, I was able to roll and punch out two more tiny stars. I assembled them quickly with simply dabs of water from a wet paintbrush.  In the nick of time, I dried them with a heat gun, and they were ready for the final firing of the day.  As it turns out, I absolutely love these earrings for an everyday pair, the kind you slip on for a trip to the gym or the farmer's market.  They are maybe an inch or so long.

Then... the crazy irony of all that rushing about - I was cleaning up my workspace and discovered that I still had some totally unused PMC carefully tucked in it's little package.  So I will make something at home (the tools are simple) and bring it to the teacher who says she can fire it for me.  Yay! Not sure what I'll make - perhaps I don't need any more earrings right now?  I'm thinking I may make one bigger piece for either a statement brooch or a necklace, going back to the idea of incorporating woven fiber into a window. Or maybe some tube beads.  Or both...

As you can see, I am smitten with PMC, so down the road you may see me doing some more.  For those of you from NY state, if you attend the NYSATA conference in November, I'll probably have a different pair of PMC earrings swinging from my ears every time you see me (remember, I made another 4 pairs back in July, so that's a LOT of earrings).  Anyhow, if you don't recognize me from my silver hair, just look for the jewelry!