13moons, Poetry, Art and Herbs in the Garden

Fonts Are Cool

2012-01-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

I love fonts. I have just been on a shopping binge for fonts. I am so excited by the ones I got!

My new fonts

I got these at FontRiver. There are thousands of fonts there...and thousands I haven't even seen Yet. I am really glad these people offer FREE fonts and amazed by the people who design all the wonderful fonts and then offer them for free. Yesterday after lusting after some great fonts for a while, with some help from Edward I learned how to unzip and install the fonts to my font folder. ("Font folder" I had no idea, and I can honestly say I had never been in my Control Panel before.)

I have no idea how I would ever use the magical unicorn font, but it was too fun to pass up. I love the Jane Austen one that is based on her handwriting.

I used the Adine Kirnberg font on this Shakespeare themed pillow cover I made.

Shakespeare Romeo loves Juliet Pillow

And the very pretty Chopin font for this one, that isn't sewn yet.

Imagine Peace Pillow

My brain is pretty worked up imagining all the things I can do with these fonts. I am offering personalized pillow covers using a choice from five of these fonts in my etsy home decor shop.

Christmas Digital Art

2011-12-19T12:47:00.000-08:00

Just these, and then I'll quit. Really. Well, I do have another one sort of designed in my head, but I also have a million other things do to get ready for Christmas.

Vintage Deer with Holly Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns

Fellow followers of the Graphics Fairy blog will probably recognize some of these vintage images that I have combined and manipulated for the deer art I made this morning.

Vintage Deer Seasons Greetings Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns

I also put together this vintage typewriter "CREATE" card and mousepad since my last post. I really have a thing for old manual typewriters.

Vintage Typewriter Card by 13MoonshineDesigns
Shop for cards at zazzle

Vintage Typewriter CREATE Mousepad by 13MoonshineDesigns
Learn ways to make money as an artist on Zazzle.

The most popular holiday image by far has been this "Santa over Paris" Eiffel Tower picture—on cards, ceramic ornaments and as a print.

Vintage Santa over Paris Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns
create cards online at zazzle

Digital Art and More Image Magic

2011-12-06T06:22:00.001-08:00

I have continued working with GIMP, my image manipulation program, the last few weeks.

Paris Butterflies Digital Collage by Anita Barnard

This little Paris Butterfly collage was my most ambitious to date, if only because it had more layers than I had used before in a piece and some fidgety placement and sizing and levels of differing transparency that I had to figure out. I am still playing with how to get to the right place for what are probably some pretty basic commands, and making this digital collage was definitely a learning experience for me. And satisfying in that I am happy with how it turned out.

Starry Christmas Night

I had an idea of Santa's sleigh flying through Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night sky. After I found the vintage image of Santa and his sleigh that I wanted, I spent about 200 years clearing out all the background from in between the sleigh runners and all the little reindeer antlers...with a tiny erase brush and the image at 400% most of the time. (Okay, maybe not quite that long, but my hand was stiff and cramping a bit before I was done. There's probably an easier way of removing a background from an image that isn't all white or just one color, and I'd love some guidance if anyone can tell me what that method is). I am a big van Gogh fan, and I liked how this looks.

Vintage Santa over Paris Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns

Having done all the work clening up the Santa image, I then found some great vintage postcards of Paris and Rome over at The Graphics Fairy blog, and had fun positioning Santa to fly past the Eiffel Tower and over the Coliseum.

Vintage Santa in Rome Italy Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns

Vintage Santa over Big Ben London Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns

Many of my new images - and variations, as well as images of my hand cut physical collages and art have been put on some things like cards, mugs and shirts over on Zazzle. Here are some examples.

Vintage Santa over Paris Christmas Ornament by 13MoonshineDesigns

Van Gogh Cypress Artist Christmas Card by 13MoonshineDesigns

Chicago Ferris Wheel Love by 13MoonshineDesigns

Paris Butterflies Art Collage Mouse Pad by 13MoonshineDesigns

Thanksgiving, Food and the Garden

2011-11-23T15:00:00.001-08:00

I have made the traditional cranberry relish..cranberry sauce...I never know exactly what to call it...with fresh cranberries, orange, orange zest, clove and a wee bit of cinnamon...and the house smells great. Just like the holidays have arrived! Which I suppose they have. How did that happen already?

I have also pre-cooked and mixed up the squash casserole with fresh yellow squash and fresh oregano from my garden. We are still enjoying going out to the garden for fresh herbs and some vegetables. Earlier this week we had roasted red peppers on homemade pizzas from the bell peppers that are now starting to turn red...and we have lots of them in various shades of green to red, still on the plants. We have several jalapenos ready to pick, lots of very green tomatoes that survived the cold nights a while back, and we picked two small eggplants several days ago. Wow! Eggplant and jalapenos in late November. My okra is huge, and still has blooms and little baby okra, but the growth of the okra has slowed down a lot in the cool weather, and it takes a long time (especially considering the usual growth rate of okra) for them to get big enough to pick. Even my basil is still surviving, which makes me very happy. I think that is what I miss the most through the winter and early spring...not being able to go outside and get fresh basil in just the amount I need.

Another dish I am making for Thanksgiving tomorrow is buttermilk pie. I have been a big fan and critic of buttermilk pie since we stopped at a small home cooking type restaurant in East Texas after berry and peach picking one summer about 6 years ago. Since then I have sampled and critiqued (right texture? creamy enough? too much nutmeg? no nutmeg? too dry?) many slices of pie from restaurants and cafes all over. But, I have never made a buttermilk pie myself. I know, it's funny, because I bake a lot...maybe I was a little intimidated. (Would I not live up to my own standards?) The recipe I am using we looked up on the internet a few years ago, is titled the "Best Ever" buttermilk pie. I recall that it was part of an article about buttermilk pie, and how a southern girl had to convince her friends where she was then living that the idea of buttermilk pie was not weird or gross but was in fact VERY good. Sounds great; however, this buttermilk pie recipe has no nutmeg...not the slight perfect amount, not any. So, of course I will be adapting that recipe and adding a hint of nutmeg with fresh whole nutmeg and the essential nutmeg grinder that my son Damon gave me.

House of Hope and Striving Collage

2011-11-21T08:49:00.001-08:00

House of Hope and Striving, Collage by Anita Barnard

Here is another recent collage with a different interepretation of a house. The piece explores the theme of Vincent Van Gogh's yellow house in Arles, France and the great hopes he had of creating an artists' community there. The collage is 8x10 on 11x14 Bristol board paper. It is comprised of found and created papers, text, images, ink and acrylic paint. Two examples of Vincent's handwriting from his correspondences appear in the piece, including the larger word "Tristement" in the roof. Sadness.

I worked on the piece on and off for over a week, then I just let it sit for another week, sometimes taking it out and looking at it, or arranging the last couple of elements on it. Finally I quit asking Edward and my youngest daughter whether I should add the last bits or not and just glued them down. I don't know why some pieces of art feel more certain, and others are dithered over for a long time, but I am happy with the decision I made. (Which is good, because you can always add something later, but it's a lot more problematic to rip something out.)

It was an interesting piece to work on, and sometimes a somewhat melancholy process, as I spent a lot of time thinking about Van Gogh's work and his life while working, as well as about the life and ideas of artists in general.

An archival print or a poster of House of Hope and Striving are available on Zazzle.

The images of wings came from The Graphics Fairy, a great site for vintage images.

Two New Collages - Houses and Birds

2011-11-14T09:34:00.001-08:00

Collage with Mixed Media 8x8 inches

I've been having a lot of ideas for some little collages lately. Today I just finished up the images of two from last week. I keep thinking about house and home and all that means and that images of houses can symbolize and bring up emotionally for us. Like some of my other recent collages these two have the house image...and also some birds that crept in, which is not unusual in my collage work lately.

Collage 8x8 inches

The two pieces are very different in tone and color, one being more serene and pastoral, closer to a traditional landscape, and the other with more deep color and contrast, and as Edward said, more masculine "plus it has all those numbers." Now I'm not very into numbers, being more of a language and art person, but as a former quilter and sometime woodworker, these images of vintage tape measures and rulers just appealed to me.

Mixed Media Collage on Wood

2011-11-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

Small Stories 10 by Anita Barnard

I'm posting some more of my Small Stories series of little collages.

Small Stories 11

These are about 51/4 x 5 1/4 inches x 3/4 inch thick so they can hang on the wall or sit on a shelf.

Small Stories 12

Small Stories 14 (Sorry, this picture is unedited.)

The old English garden urn image is from Karen.

Some of the Small Stories collage series

Linked here.

The Garden in November

2011-11-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Autumn

I just wanted to talk about my garden today, as we get close to the end of the season here in north Texas. Or more specifically, my potager or kitchen garden.

The okra plants are six feet high, a couple a little taller, and have been producing like crazy lately, since the scorching temps and drought eased a bit. Ignore them for a few days and all of a sudden I have huge okra, too big and tough to eat.

Late last week as a cold front was blowing in, I ran out to harvest okra, just before the rain hit. My plants were covered in buds, blooms and tiny baby okra.

I'm pleased to say the temperature only dropped to about 40 and they fared well.

I'm still hoping for all my green bell peppers to turn red before I have to pick them.

Today I have to pick yellow (so called "summer" ;-) squash and more okra. And since it will get down to 32 tonight, bring in the basil that's in pots and cover my peppers. Not sure what to do about all the still small green tomatoes. The heirloom plants are almost too big and sprawling to cover, but as we got almost no tomatoes during the harsh summer, I really hate to lose them.

Tonight may mark the end of some of the garden veggies, but even so, I think Fall gardening in Texas is the best.

Halloween Face Paints DIY

2011-10-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon, as R was about to go out the door for the middle school Halloween dance, we decided to do some face make-up or face painting to complete her outfit.

One side of the quicky "extreme" face paint..and my extreme daughter :-)

I just happened to have some paint mixed up in a little container for washes on collage papers that was perfect for the job. This was a mixture of regular artsits' acrylic, or acrylic craft paint would work as well, mixed with a few drops of acrylic glazing medium and a few drops of water. It's about 50-60% paint and went on very smoothly. I'm sure just mixing with water (somewhat less than 50%, I think) would be fine, but a really great way to mix your own face paints is acrylic paint plus about a 1/4 to a 1/3 BABY SHAMPOO. I used to always use this a million moons ago when I painted faces at the big sidewalk sales for the toy store chain I worked for when I was just out of high school. It goes on very smoothly, that's very important with face painting, and why the glazing medium was good, and washes off the little ones' faces after like a dream. This is a great DIY face paint formula. Good for spontaneous face painting urges, or as an alternative to really expensive sets of professional face paints or the thick face "paint" crayons or wax sticks that don't give good fine lines.

BTW, I am now experimenting with kids' glitter glue in the squeezable plastic tubes as a face paint. First off, I'd say, spot testing it on the inside of your wrist is only good if you aren't going to be working and using your hands for a while. Plus, when it is dry, if it's on a moving, bending part of the body, it will crack. It makes a fairly fine line and ..I tried the gold from a 10 tube pack from Dollar Tree...is very shiny and sparkly. The downside: it takes a LOT longer to dry, so little children probably wouldn't be able to keep from rubbing it during the drying time. There is no itching, redness, pinkness or irritation from the glue on my wrist at all. I did get a brand that was marked non-toxic and suitable for kids over 3. Verdict: I'll probably be using this on my face before we go to help out at the kids' Halloween party at church Saturday afternoon, in blue and silver, to match my dollar store wings. Also, don't use it around the eyes for smaller children.

Small Stories, Collage on Wood

2011-10-27T11:05:00.000-07:00


Small Stories 5, Mixed Media Collage

Today I'm posting the rest of the Small Stories series of fun little mixed media collages on wood that I did in the spring. (I have a bunch more to get the imaging right on that I did over the last couple of months. I seem to work in spurts as far as different projects go...a few weeks or months of intense collage or glass fusing or mosaics or....)

Small Stories 6 Mixed Media Collage

These are 5 1/2 inch square on poplar board that I cut, sanded down and sealed with a couple of coats before I started painting and pasting.

Small Stories 7, Mixed Media Collage

Linked to collections here and here.

Whimsical Little Mixed Media Collage

2011-10-24T06:10:00.000-07:00


Fun, whimsical, quirky, charming...? Small Stories Series

Today I'm going back to the spring with some of the small mixed media collages on wood that I was making in April and May and only just got around to photographing. Two found a new home during the spring Arts Goggle, before I got a chance to take good pictures, but one is half visible here on the display wall over Edward's shoulder.

Small Stories 1, mixed media on wood

Small Stories 3, mixed media on wood

Small Stories 2, mixed media on wood

Thanks to Karen for images and inspiration.

More Digital Image Experimenting: Wine is Proof that Bacchus Loves us...

2011-10-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I've played around with in GIMP, my imaging program, is making some layers and coloring in and shading an outline, then adding text.

I've had this bit of text in my head for a few years and knew that I wanted to do something with it - combine it with an image and make a T-shirt, make a sign...something. The words are a play on the Benjamin Franklin quotation you often see on shirts etc about beer. My version: Wine is proof that Bacchus loves us and wants us to be happy.

The beginning for the graphic is a vintage black and white outline of grapevines and a wine barrel. Perfect.

I have to admit that I didn't create my text in the GIMP because I wanted the font sizes to be different for different words, and creating a number of separate layers and patching them together correctly for the text portion just seemed like too much trouble...or too daunting.

The back side of the mug, created on Zazzle, says: I'd rather be drinking wine, and I left it customizable so it could say drinking Chardonnay, Merlot, etc. I also put it on a T-shirt.

Wine is proof that Bacchus loves us T Shirts from Zazzle.com

Shakespeare and Me, My First Digital Collage!

2011-10-14T05:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I created my first digital collage. It was fun, challenging and above all (at least at times) frustrating. And I am eager to discover that perfect image that will click with a new idea and get back at it today.

I am still very much in learning mode with my imaging program, and also in a love-hate relationship with it. I have used GIMP for quite a while now, and use it fairly frequently to do minor editing and mostly things like straightening up, cropping and adjusting file sizes on pictures of my art and jewelry. Making a collage takes a lot more skill, knowledge, and in my case, trial and error. Some of those functions just don't really explain what they do, and more importantly I usually had to hunt and guess to find the hidden button or function to do what I wanted. The undo function was well used. "Undo" good.

The theme of my collage was William Shakespeare and The Globe theater. I was immediately drawn to one particular image of Shakespeare, which rather resembles my own Edward. Besides Will and a 17th century rendition of the Globe, it includes what is believed to be Shakespeare's handwriting, a bit of an old map of Stratford on Avon and his signature.

The past couple of days I have also opened a shop on Zazzle and been experimenting with putting some of my images on products there, so when I completed the collage, I tried it out on a black T-shirt.

Casting Pendants from Glass Frit and Powder

2011-10-11T08:17:00.000-07:00


Every Star, Every Planet, cast fused glass pendant I decided to do step-by-step photos of the process of making a small frit and glass casting in my new pendant mold. In the spring I did mold casting for the first time of small teardrop pendants. The new trillion shaped mold is larger and deeper, giving me more ability to layer and have more depth and interest in the pieces.

Glass powder, frit and cut pieces of dichroic glass being layered in the mold. The blue color is the kiln wash that must be brushed or sprayed on the mold and allowed to dry before adding glass.


First mold covered in fine, clear frit, second mold being composed with black powder and glass pieces, including some coarse clear dichroic frit. You can just see the edges of the fiber paper I layered on top of the base layer of powder in the second pendant to make a channel. I covered the paper with a bit more powdered glass, then a solid piece of dichroic glass. A solid piece of clear will go on top before the clear frit.

Clear frit mounded up on both pieces. You get a lot of shrinkage as the glass melts, and it's easier to do some final addition of frit after you have carried the mold to the kiln. I clear up any stray bits with a small, soft artist paint brush.

Here is the second pendant with the channel for a cord. These both turned out to have a lot of tiny, tiny bubbles, which I love the look of in these dark pieces, because they remind me of looking up at the night sky out in the country or a view of a distant galaxy. I went up to 1550 degrees on these firings and kept them between 1450 and 1550, looking frequently, to soak for around 15-20 minutes. (I don't have firing schedule/temperature controls on my small jewelry kiln.)

Two more pieces with approximately the same process, except that I used all frit and no base of powder for the aqua one. I think for my next firing I will go up just a tad higher, then soak it a little longer and see what effect it has on the bubbles.

Pendants "In My Galaxy" and "Every Star, Every Planet" are now available in my Etsy shop.

This post appears on HopeStudios blog with lots of other cool stuff, including a recipe for a chickpea pot pie that looks really tasty! Also linked here and here.

Archeologia and Collage

2011-10-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

Roman Layers (maybe) 8x10

Here's another collage I created earlier this week. Roman Layers is just the working title...I had to name the image file something...but it does convey a sense of my thoughts while I was creating the piece.

When I was in Rome with my friend Michelle a few years ago, we visited a church just a few blocks from the coliseum, the Basilica di San Clemente,

Fresco of San Clemente in the lower church


Mithraeum, designed to look like a cave

a 12th century basilica that is built on top of a 4th century church, still underneath, with many existing frescoes. Then we descended further to a 3rd century Mithraic temple.

It amazed and still amazes me how all these layers of history exist. How the present day church is at street level, and the many centuries of all that preceding life has moved down, down...

I was definitely thinking about that trip and those reflections about the layers of history when I was designing and making this collage.

As well as images and bits of painting, the piece also includes text in Italian from two sources and Latin text. Archeologia, Italian for archeology, is a possible title for the collage, as well as the Latin,
Scientia Antiquitatis. Preferences and suggestions are welcomed.

This post, and lots of other stuff to look at, is linked to this blog .

Update: "Roman Layers" is now up on my shop.

Bicycles and Peace, the Collage

2011-09-28T09:47:00.000-07:00


Bicycles and Peace, No. 9

This is the collage I made this weekend. It is not the ninth in a series, that's just part of its name.

Today I am going to do something I never do: explain the artwork, or at least tell about my idea and some of the elements in the collage. Edward and Damon tease me at art shows when people ask me what was my inspiration for or the meaning of a piece. (And I wince.) Edward's advice and our running joke is, no matter which painting or collage, I should reply that it is about man's inhumanity to man.

My thoughts about this collage started when I found the bit of hand written manuscript of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, his ninth revision. That is one of the two No. 9 references. My second inspiration came from recalling the story that Tolstoy learned to ride a bike at age 67, which frankly doesn't seem all that old anymore, and thoughts about how that anecdote is used for encouragement etc.

You can see the print of the manuscript as the background of the vintage bicycles image. Other elements include the peace symbols, the dove and the olive branch, and an image of a certain musician who is often associated with peace. Plus something about riding a bicycle seems peaceful to me, as well as earth friendly and all that. On the dark blue paper in the top left is a ghost image of Leo.

The collage on the screen appears just a tad lighter or less saturated than in real life.

Vintage bicycle images are from The Graphics Fairy blog.

This piece is now available in my etsy shop, plus I have had a couple of prints done...just ask.

Chicago Mosaics

2011-09-23T10:09:00.000-07:00


Chagall mosaic

Last week we took a 2 day just for fun trip to Chicago. Seeing this magnificent mosaic was in the top three of my to-do list.

R in front of "Four Seasons"

The mosaic covers four sides of a large rectangle.


R and Edward admiring the work


We also found some lovely mosaics in the lobby of our hotel. Congress Avenue Hotel, built in 1893.


Watermarks, one of four community produced mosaic benches by Navy Pier.

The mosaic artist of Mosaic Geek blog lists several other mosaic art works from when she was in Chicago for the Society of American Mosaic Artist convention. I wish I had been able to take this mosaic walking tour, but just walking around the city without a list was very good for public art spotting.

Pretty Little Things for Arts Goggle

2011-09-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

The Fort Worth Fall Arts Goggle is coming up in a couple of weeks (Oct 8), and I will be in a new spot this time, at 311 Bryan, just off of S. Main. This an an outdoor tent (awning) space, so for a change I will be keeping my fingers crossed for no rain.

Also, since I will just have my tent display space instead of a large room with lots of wall space, I will be showing mostly jewelry. I still hope I will be able to hang a few of the little mixed media collage pieces on an exterior wall, or find some other way to display them.

I spent a couple of days this weekend making necklaces and these little jeweled bookmarks. Last winter R and I sat down and made 8 of these as gifts for her teachers.

A selection of the jeweled bookmarks

Eiffel tower bookmark in action

Linked here and here.

Post Heat Wave Harvest

2011-09-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Oh no! I let some of my okra get too big! But it's pretty understandable considering that we just got our first 2 okra of the summer last week. Our poor plants manged to survive the 70 days of triple digit temperatures this summer, but not to produce fruit once the heat from Hades settled in. I'm just not used to checking for vegetables in the garden, only checking for dry soil.

There are two overgrown yellow squash lurking in there. We started harvesting squash about a week and a half ago.

Even the peppers had a hard time in the heat. I only had one smallish red bell pepper and a very few jalapenos, then one of our two jalapeno plants wilted and died. Now, the bell has blooms and little green peppers all over it.
The only things that kept on going through the summer were the chard, most of the herbs, and weirdly...

...the arugula.
Which we've really been enjoying in various salads, tossed on hot-from-the-oven pizza, and as an important part of our onionless tabbouleh.

Everything looks happier now, and we even got a good rain Friday evening. Now maybe we will actually get some tomatoes!

Mixed Media Collage on Wood...Time for Another Arts Goggle

2011-09-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

My table covered in art supplies
and new and in progress small works on wood panels

With my daughter back in school and while waiting to hear back from the Arts Goggle folks, I have brought out the art stuff and started painting, cutting and pasting again.

In the process I discovered a great blog, The Graphics Fairy, with thousands of royalty free, and free free, vintage images. Karen posts a new image or images every day, like these cute French chairs which she is offering in several different colors.

One of them is sitting in the far left in my photo above, with the cushion hand-colored, just waiting for the right inspiration to become one of the fun little collage pieces.

Fall Arts Goggle will be Saturday, October 8th from 4-10pm in Fort Worth's near south neighborhood.

Get Creative! Get Bling!

2011-07-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago some friends and I were brainstorming and researching possibilities for Girls' Night Out activities. Some ideas were country and western dance lessons at Billy Bob's (which we tried, with mixed results) and pottery classes (which we haven't yet). Then I had the thought: Aha! Jewelry Making Classes/Parties! I could do that!

So, after a lot of web surfing on the subject, note taking and thought thinking, I came up with this:

Treat yourself and your friends to a

Home Jewelry Making Party

For:

Girls Night Out
Bridal Shower or Bachelorette Party
Birthday Party for Children or Teens
Corporate or Woman’s Group
Couples Party

Anywhere in the Fort Worth, Texas area.
Your party is also a class and will include:

instruction from an experienced jewelry designer in your home or office
a large assortment of beautiful beads to choose from
all materials and tools for your project
hands on assistance when needed (especially for the littler jewelry makers)
a fun activity for your guests (as well as a great ice breaker activity in a work or social group environment)
a lovely fabric gift bag to carry home your own original handmade piece of jewelry.

Classes available

Select the jewelry technique you would like to learn and the project you want to make:
Necklace Party Choose from a large selection of glass, metal and shell beads to design and make your necklace. You will learn basic stringing and crimping to finish your necklace. 20. per person
This class/party is perfect for a teen or child’s birthday party, Mother-Daughter party or summer activity with friends.
Deluxe Necklace Party with the addition of semi-precious stones, gemstone beads, fresh water pearls and glass focal beads for you to choose from. 24. pp
Bracelet Party or Deluxe Bracelet Party The same instruction and choices of beautiful elements as the necklace parties. You will finish your bracelet with a decorative toggle clasp. 18. and 20. pp
The ideal amount of beading for the youngest children. (But great for grown ups too!) If you are not having a “Girls Only” party, I have a selection of wooden beads that might appeal to the boys, or they can opt to make a beaded bookmark.
The Ultimate Bracelet Party Choosing from our compete selection of beads, create a double strand bracelet that includes bead dangles on each end. As well as the stringing technique, we will also teach a simple wire wrapping technique to create the dangles. 24. pp
Wine Glass Charms Shindig Not really a class, as there is not much of a technique to master, just a fun activity with your friends. Great for a couples party or girls night out! Choosing from glass beads and a lot of fun charms, each person will make 4 wine glass markers. 18. pp
All Earrings Event Get your girlfriends together to learn the basic wire wrapping technique for making simple dangle earrings. Only Sterling Silver earwires (hooks) are used. For adults or teens. Each person will go home with two pairs of handmade earrings. 20. pp
Make the perfect earrings to match your new necklace or bracelet. Add an earring lesson to any necklace or bracelet party. 12. pp

Then I sat down with Edward, and he created a new page for my website: http://13moonsgrove.com/jewelryparty/ He even sat up a Google calendar on the site for scheduling and keeping track of appointments.

My oldest son Damon is working on a brochure. (I am really lucky to have all these intelligent, talented people to help me!)

And I got to shop for lots of extra beads and supplies. :-)

I've linked here.

Hot Texas Garden

2011-06-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Sam Marzano tomato seeds from Seeds From Italy

102. Yes, that's the predicted temperature for this afternoon. It's been a hot, dry, windy June, and it's not even summer yet. We have been watering a lot, and even so the eggplant and peppers look wilted in the middle of the afternoon. Today I planted seeds for San Marzano Redorta, an Italian plum tomato that is great for sauce as well as for fresh eating. It is a big, wild, sprawling plant that should do great in the hot weather and give us a jungle of tomatoes all over the garden into late fall.

One of our few grape clusters, but a really big one

This is a grapevine growing in our side yard. I'm pretty sure the variety is Flame. I don't know how vineyards go out and harvest all of one variety of grapes in the field at one time. We picked our first cluster of grapes over a week ago, a couple more have ripened just now.

And speaking of vineyards, this was one of our stops last Saturday during our Dr Pepper 120th birthday trip.

Looking from the deck of the Bluff Dale Winery
across the vineyard, near Granbury

Wood and Glass - Getting Ready for Arts Goggle Show

2011-05-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Wood panels ready to be primed

I have been busy for the last week or two getting ready to show my art and jewelry at Arts Goggle, a fun one day event in Fort Worth's near southside neighborhood that is like Gallery Night and a street fair and art festival combined. This is such a lovely area, centered around Magnolia, where the old buildings are being renovated and great new restaurants and other businesses have moved in. The twice a year art festival includes local artists and musicians almost exclusively and has a very nice neighborhood feel.

I cut and sanded the squares of wood in the top picture last week, and several of them became canvases for small mixed media works.

Also last week, I was very happy to (finally!) get the replacement top (the main part with all the elements) for my kiln. I have been on a cutting, stacking and cooking glass spree ever since. I'm going to have to tear myself away from the kiln and get all my pricing, tagging and packing done!

Fused glass pendants, mostly with dichroic glass - the small teardrops on the right were my first experiments with fusing in a mold. It's been a bit trial and error and most of the ones I like needed a 2nd firing with some glass and glass frit added.

Arts Goggle is Saturday May 14 4-10 pm. I will be at 209 South Main in the back room (it has a separate back entrance) of the Robert Kelly Architect building.

Finding Cool Art at Main Street

2011-04-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival. Actually, I went twice. Blocks and blocks of downtown Fort Worth are shut down for the weekend for "(t)he Southwest's largest, four-day visual arts and entertainment festival, four days of fine art, food, fun and festivities! Rated as the Number 1 Arts Festival in Texas and the 3rd largest Arts Festival in the country as rated by the Harris List and the Art Fair SourceBook."

An amazing variety of works were represented, but of course, a few artists stood out.

2011 Commemorative Poster
by artist Richard Curtner

I was really taken by the serene beauty of Molly Barnes' blown glass vessels. In fact there were a couple I really wanted to take home with me, one in particular that I recalled with longing and regret on Sunday evening.

Ms. Barnes chatted with us for a while, explaining her glass blowing process, in particular the way she creates the ribbons of translucent color with streamers of molten glass.

Chuck Kaiser's mixed media works are both intricate and intriguing and definitely deserving of a closer look. He works with wax in a batik like process, as well as with paints, ink and pieces of text, often on surfaces like newspaper.

This artist was also kind enough to take the time to discuss and explain his work.

As we went past the lovely silver and gemstone jewelry display of Ashka Dymel , I asked Edward if he saw anything that looked familiar. For Valentine's this year, he had given me a pair of labradorite and garnet earrings by this designer, purchased at Uncommon Angles in Montgomery Plaza in Fort Worth.

(I recognized her work immediately, but I'm afraid Edward had to be reminded ... He does have excellent taste though.)

At the end of the day on Sunday, we
discovered this Arlington, Texas artist in the Emerging Artist area. Anne Cubbage carves books. I had never seen anything like it, and I wish you could get a better sense of the depth and detail from the pictures here.

The old books that she uses, as well as the illustrations and the bits of text that are highlighted all connect and have special meaning, sometimes decipherable by the viewer and sometimes just to the artist.

This is obviously just a taste of the art on display this year, but through the link at the top to the Main Street Arts page, you can see a few works by each of the participating artists.

Next year's festival is April 19-22. I'm going to put it on my calendar right now.