I am wishing you all the best Christmas ever!  

She lives in Arizona and so I hadn't met her in person until I read that she would be at this show and so I got there when the doors opened and made a bee line for her booth.  My eyes scanned for the piece that would pop out and call me.  Here is what I found:

and the flip side:

I love every detail!

So since we had emailed each other before and even talked on the phone, I felt like I knew her a bit and I hung around her booth for a while looking at each item as she was putting them out.  Each piece was more intricate than the last.  Many of the pieces were sold and her customers had allowed her to keep them at her table until the show was over.  I was happy about that.  What I wasn't prepared for was my feelings of wishing I could do what she does.  I don't know that I could ever have that kind of patience.  I am still in awe.  

I went away after about 45 minutes with my heart in a fancy bag and went to look at all the wares for sale at other booths.  After lunch with my friends Janet Bocciardi and Holly Taylor we all went back to Christi's booth.  She had put out this silver link necklace and I thought I had seen it somewhere before, maybe it was in Belle Armoire Jewelry... I snatched it up!

Christi likes her necklaces short with the pendants almost at her throat and as I watched her I saw how good the one she was wearing looked on her.  I myself like my necklaces much longer and as I tried this one on I started to think about if I would want to wear it the way she did or if I would add a bit of an extender to suit my style. 

Really, there was no way I was going to put it down though and I bought it.  Yeah, I know, it was a total impulse... BUT LOOK what I did:

I had purchased some really beautiful pearls, a strand of pale and slightly grey-ish pink with a strong luster and another strand of a light green-ish blue.  And I fused a couple of links and added a heart shaped clasp and bit of sterling wire and now I have a masterpiece made up of two of her gorgeous works of art and my humble addition of pearls.  It's great, even if I do say so myself!  And I showed her and Christi approves.

You may get lucky and get to see her work up close someday.  I hope she comes back here next year, but if not, you can find her at Bead and Button in Milwaukee.  They LOVE her there!

I've even begun working on things for 2010.  And I have a great idea for a chain that I am going to make as soon as this holiday season is done and we are in the new year.

One night I stayed up pretty late as I am used to doing and I was making some animals.  My husband loves these and he always tells me "You should make more animals".  

Here is a teaser of my Leaping Hare just out of the kiln:

Tumbled and oxidized (click for a larger view):

and from different angles:

and I made a Happy Dog (the tail and front leg with the head are riveted on and can be posed):

  

   
I took a ton of photos to be sure I had good ones.  I'm learning more about that every day.  While I was outside taking these it started sprinkling.  By the time I had 2 photos it was pouring so I had to bring my operation inside.  So then I went all over the house looking for a spot where I could still get the light and ended up on the front porch which is a little bit covered.  After about 10 minutes it was all over.  I wanted to scream!  The next day was the deadline for sending them in and I was CRAZY!  So I went to bed at midnight and you know that is early for me.  I got up around 7 am and caught the light at my back door.  It was raining but for some lucky (I am) reason there was the right kind of light for me to finish this.  I even had wooden skewers and paper towels taped above my background like a canopy so that things wouldn't get wet and so it would cut the glare.  Low tech but effective!

I also got a few pics of this ring that I really like and fits my finger perfectly of all the rings I made for the show.

Here I am at the show I did with my guild:

I kept myself busy.  

and the whole table:

I had a great time!   

And afterwards I met my husband in Japantown and we had curry at "On the Bridge" and then we went to see the Black Crowes at the Fillmore.  I SLEPT GREAT THAT NIGHT!

Now I am just hanging out with my family, getting Christmas stocking stuffers for my kids, eating dinners that my husband is making using great chanterelle and porcini mushrooms he found out in the wild.  And the best thing of all is that since I had the flu and then was working so much, oh joy, he has been taking the kids to school every morning at 7:30 am.  Truthfully, I didn't like that job any more.  I was always on a rampage to get those kids out of here on time and for some reason they don't give him a hard time like they gave me.  I don't really understand it but I am not going to analyze it, I am just going to be glad.  I am so much happier now.  I asked him what I did to deserve this and he said "nothing", but he did say he noticed how much happier I am and that I don't look stressed in the mornings like I used to and that he is all for that.  Hmmm, very nice.

Four of my new postcards:

 Winged Heart Bowl with CZ's

Here are some of the best of the last photos I got to take before the sun went down.  Tomorrow is the day of the first show I will be participating in where I don't know most of my customers.  Six of my guild members will be there with me and many of my friends have said they will be coming by.  I know it will be fine.  I'm excited and nervous.  Will I have enough, too much?

Labradorite Ring

and I gave it a patina

I got one of those Sony 7 inch digital picture frames because Lorena Angulo from my EMC Team said she has one and I thought it would be fun to have on my table.   My son helped me load about 400 photos of my work onto it.  It's so nice and kind of a Christmas present for myself because it is fancy.

Teeny Peony Garland

I don't know if I should leave it like this or give it a patina.

Well here goes, just a few pictures.  

Rainbow Moonstone Ring

Garnet Ring

And I Love You Bowl

Little Ball Bead Necklaces

Front 

Back 

and in the bowl  (Ha, ha!)

Oh goodness, then I think I will be able to relax for a while.   WHEW! 

This is a clasp I made that I really like.  The end curled over by accident and I just really like it.  

Grace brought me some Japanese Anemone that is still in my yard.  These were the last.

Three rings!

ring in a bowl

charms in a bowl

cutout bracelet and earrings

The bracelet by itself

Earrings in a bowl

Peony pendant with handmade chain

Isn't it beautiful in a bowl?

 
 and my hinged cuff I made for my Etsy MetalClay "Hinges" Challenge.

I've been working on submissions for two books and I always get nervous.  I have to mail one of them tomorrow and the other one a week from now.  That's why these photos have the gradient background.  Since it was up I was practicing taking professional "looking" pictures of my work.  Wish me luck!

Yes ME!  

So if you are nearby or suddenly thinking of taking a vacation in San Francisco, 

COME!  

If you already live here, don't you dare miss it!

Click here for directions and a map.

I will be using some of the LOOT I got at the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza a couple of weeks ago.  

My jewelry will be colorful, carefully made and fun to wear.

silver bowls:

pendants

Brooches

Bracelets

  
and of course much, much more.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I am thankful for my wonderful and encouraging art community.  This adventure wouldn't be as much fun with out YOU!          

She collects anime figures.

and she draws, really well.

Below, a drawing of her with her friend Amanda.

I got her some watercolor paints and she's been learning and experimenting.

For Halloween she was a punk.

She likes painting.

close-up

This fall she tried out for one of the high school plays and got a part in "Midsummer Night's Dream".  She worked hard and did a wonderful job.  I sat in the front row and took pictures with my digital camera and no flash for two performances.  Those high school kids were so funny!

I made cupcakes for two of the performances and I went all out.

Why did I show you all these cupcakes?  Because they were so pretty!  I got some amazing icing coloring called "Ateco Spectrum Food Colors".  I only used about 3 drops in each bowl.  

They are so vibrant!  I used Martha Stewart's Royal Icing recipe that you can find here.

I applied 2 or 3 colors and used a toothpick to swirl them together and they look like marbling.  I was so happy with how they turned out.  Nothing's too good for you know who.

Outside and around the corner of my dorm.

When we checked in there were so many people there that I knew, it took some will to go take our suitcases to our dorm rooms.  But then, we just turned around and came back because it was already dinner time.

view from my dorm window

It was a much smaller group than I am used to so it was more personal and I enjoyed that.  We ate dinner, traded things we had made and then went over to the theater for the opening night ceremonies.  That was fun too and I met old friends and new ones. I really like meeting the new people.  They are all so enthusiastic and fun.  After all of this we walked back to the dorm and downstairs in the common area everyone was hanging out, journaling, trading, making jokes, singing, laughing, eating and staying up late.   We did do that every night and I loved it!

Check out this amazing thing everyone got in their goody bag.

Three 1/3rd size sheets of special edition rubber stamps.  One each designed by Teesha Moore, Tracy Moore and Tiphoni Moore.  They are gorgeous!  No I won't share.

After going to my dorm room I stayed up until 2am just rearranging things and getting ready for the next day of class and activities.  

This was my view from the window first thing in the morning.

Inspiring to say the least.

I didn't sign up for breakfast.  Too early for me to eat at 7am.  I just waited until lunchtime at noon.  

On my first day of class with Ingrid Dijkers, "Over the Edge", we cut down big cardboard binders and made interesting pages for journaling along this theme.  Here are some of the pages I've started, cutting them into interesting edges.  The first page is begun and we each got everyone's autograph.  She was a really good teacher with so many ideas, lots of collage pages for us to use and a number of pages of notes she handed out that I will be using for working on this tome.  Her books were amazing to look at.  I am not a very fast worker so here are my humble beginnings.

That night after dinner there was an event called the "Journal Jam" and almost everyone got together in the commons to work on our journals and also in our friends' journals.  Teesha had these larger than life size vinyl murals up that looked like her collaged girl series and each of the four "girls" had a round hole cut where her face was.  Look at me!

and me with Maria.

Yeah we were laughing, non-stop.

It was a fun party and ended too soon.  But that's okay because after that we all just went back to our dorms and houses and hung out in the common area until late, eating chocolate and some drank wine and we laughed and learned about each other.

the schoolhouse

The next day I had a class with Orly Avineri called "Attachment Theory" and that was really interesting.  She had us do a few exercises that I thought were very original and gave us new ways to look at Journaling and ways to express ourselves.  Here are just a few of my bits so you can't really get much of an idea about this class but I think it was a great class and I highly recommend it.  She is a wonderful teacher!

below, a treasured note from my son

I'm just starting out here.  I learned so much but I am slow to decide what to write.

HA!

I printed that photo out on my pogo.  Those have really taken off. I talked to at least 8 people who had one and more who were off to go get one.  These little printers are definitely a hit with the journaling and mixed media crowd.  I was an early adopter.  And yes I am truly silly but I don't care.  It was great to get to be silly with people who were not worried about it.  You have to love that.

Walking back to the dorm after class.  It is fall, FALL, FALL!

Really?  So I stopped to take pictures.

That night after dinner was the Artist's Sale and I got a couple of things that will remind me of Journalfest and the fun I had.

Here is a very nice journal I bought from Doris Arndt.  She does very nice work and she's careful and the pages fit perfectly.  They are black inside.

And then there is Daphne.  I got her from Ty and Marcia Schultz. A couple who make curiously odd things from molds and other interesting parts.  That's Daphne hanging in the dorm room while I am in class.

This is her close-up.

She's tough.  She's a loner.

On the last day of class I had "Spiraled Re-Creation) with Traci Bunkers.  I have always wanted to take a class of hers and so finally here I was.  She was a thorough teacher and she explained many things about journaling I had always wanted to know.  I love her rubber stamp line and I think I own most of it.  Here are some photos of class that Roberta, a classmate took and posted to her blog.

We made spiraled journals with lots of different kinds of pages and design elements.  I made two of them.  

The covers of the small one are the corrugated pizza box.  I still have to paint it and add more details.  The possibilities here are exciting to me.

Inside:

I used some of my son's homework pages as collage fodder.

And the cover of my other one is the corrugated part on the outside.

That night a few of us went out for a fun dinner in Port Townsend and an opening night show over at "Artisans on Taylor".  When we got back the last "Journal Jam Party" was well under way with a band, treats and lots of friendships blooming in our shared journaling adventure.  I think Vivian and I went home last around 12:30.  Hey, I was waiting for HER!

I didn't want to get up the next morning.  No way, but I did. Dawn Sokol was waiting for me and we rode to Seattle together and went sightseeing until our planes were leaving later that night.  Surprise!  Maria was there and our new friend Onna and since I got to board first I saved them seats and we sandwiched Onna between us and talked all the way back to the bay area.

Sunrise on the last day in Port Townsend from my dorm window.

Daphne and I,  we are all right.  She likes it here and the dogs haven't found her and chewed her up.

sleeping on her tube mailer

her quirky shoe situation

Her freaky attitude.

Ah the memories.

But wait, that's only the half of it... then someone else makes really important plans that take 3 days of activity to bring to a close... and then...

the worst... thing... happens... the flu!  

First you go down and then luckily, if you ARE lucky, you have a partner for back up.  But that's only going to get you so far until they get it and hopefully you are well on the way of recovery because you know someone else is going to get the flu too, you just don't know who.

For me, it was the partner, then my son but my daughter got off free... so far.  We have stayed away from her as much as we could. We still gave her rides though and filled the refrigerator with easy to make food so we wouldn't have to touch it.  

I didn't like it.  I was so tired, sad too and I hate being sick.  It is the closest I ever get to feeling depressed and I just tell myself I will get better and my mood will lift but at the time it is hard to swallow. When I did get better and yet I was still living in the "sick bay", I did what I usually do and got back onto the computer looking for something to buy to cheer me up.  It's the American way! So I buy myself a gift and then I pretend I can't keep up and start doing the most fun things first and pretty soon I am back on track, happy again and ready to tackle the rest of the chores.

When my husband was still dragging he kept asking me every 20 minutes what time it was and then being surprised at how long the days are when you are sick.  But it didn't bother me very much because I was back doing the things that needed to get done and I knew that he would be coming along soon.

I still go in and out of having energy and fading out but my son is the happiest sick person I know because HE is really being helped by the medicine and has hours where he can happily wile away time playing his gameboy.  Tomorrow is Monday and I just broke it to him that he is well enough again and that I would be sending him back to school.   He's okay with it I guess.  We did have a nice time when we all started feeing better and I think that's what we'll remember after it's all done.  I think I am going to take Grace off for a flu shot on Monday afternoon though just to make sure.

Oh yeah, here's what I bought:

It was made by a member of my Etsy MetalClay Team, Liz Hall and it is a stunner!  You should keep an eye on her and her shop and get something before she gets too famous.  That was my thinking exactly!

Anyway, I'm feeling better and I know you are curious about  MY VERSION of the Journalfest story and I am really sorry it has taken me so long to re-enter the real world.  I'm just going to go behind the scenes and edit some of the many photos I took and write something descriptive and I'll be back a little later with the whole thing.

My ebay win!  I got this awesomely cute necklace that I have had my eye on ever since Ruth and Kelly told us that the pieces from the book "A Charming Exchange" would be put up for auction.  It was made by Sara Lechner (at her blog you will get a pop-up, just click on cancel and it will let you in), Martha Brown and Ruth Rae.  I love that little lady pendant!  Kelly Snelling said this about it:

"Sara is a fiber artist whose work purely blows my mind. She works with textiles to create sculptural pieces that are deeply layered, embroidered, and embellished that you will not begin to imagine how she accomplished it all. For this piece she made one of her famous characters into a small fabric pendant. Ruth took the little woman and made a necklace for her from love knots, pearl circles, and a soft fabric charm from Martha. It is light, thoughtful, and so pretty." - Kelly

So now there are three days left on the latest auctions over at ebay and it's highly possible they have left the best for last.  Trust me.  I know!

Hadar Jacobson's newest book is out!  It's called "Mixed Metal Jewelry From Metal Clay" and I am waiting patiently for mine to get here.  

All I can say is I would buy any book she writes with no reservation.  She packs a lot of information in each one and each builds on the last!

It's that time again when calendars start coming out for the new year.  You say you're not ready for the new year.  Well, neither am I but I still got myself 2 calendars.  One for the kitchen and one for my studio.

First up is the one put out by my friend, metalclay artist Lynn Cobb.  It's full of photos from the ultra talented members of my San Francisco Bay Area Metal Clay Guild.

On the front is a picture of a stunning necklace made by Lois Inman Engle.  She is an amazingly creative thinker and mixes metal clay and mixed media elements in her designs.  She's been in the PMC Annuals published by the big national PMC Guild.  I want this necklace!  I have at least four photos in this calendar.

Here is the back with some of the photos just to give you a very sneaky peek but they are small so it's just a tease.  

It's $18 at Lynn's website here.

Then there are Marjorie's Oxman's Calendars.  She made four of them!  

She's got a 2010 Metal Clay Jewelry Calendar, a 2010 Polymer Clay Calendar, a 2010 Wire Art Jewelry Calendar and a 2010 Glass Bead Calendar and they are all beautiful!  I and my Etsy MetalClay Team members are featured in the Metal Clay one.

I know there are lots of you out there that probably work in these other media so go check them all out at Lulu.  The link to Marjorie's calendars is here.

Lora's visit!

Lora Hart came to San Francisco from Venice, California.  

That's me on the left, Lora Hart, Jennifer Smith-Righter, Sue Urquhart and Ruth Baillie.  See their links to get a glimpse of each artist's style.  We are all so different!

It was a rare Lora sighting (hopefully she liked us up close and will come back for more) that got us all to come together in San Francisco for a day of lunch at the fancy "Rose Pistola" restaurant in North Beach, visiting Velvet DaVinci and also the DeYoung Museum.

I'll tell you that because I work on my own most of the time, I do crave the interaction of fellow artists and that's why I go so many places and meet so many artists and take classes too.  I have always wished for a get together with my peers to talk about art, jewelry making, business, family, laugh and be together happily sharing what's important to us.  THIS WAS IT!  It was great!  We had a wonderful time and everyone is just the best.  I missed them already by the next day.  I miss them now... But of course I wouldn't get a thing done if they were still here now, would I?

I finally got some great things posted to my etsy shop with more to come in a couple of weeks so you can check that out.  I have already had a few sales and it has made me feel excited and ready to make more things that I have ideas for swirling around in my head.

Class on October 17th is done and I had some eager and interesting students.  We had a day FULL of questions, information, ideas and PMC forming.  One of my students, Lisa Ostrin of Under her Charm made a birdhouse and some charms that she loves and is now probably as excited about PMC as I am.  Is that possible?

She already makes jewelry and is really good at it.  I'm glad I could help her learn something new.

No, I don't have any more photos from the class.  Dang it!  I was talking and forgot about the camera.  Lunch was good... Wait I remembered something else.

She asked me why a person should invest in a tumbler.  So I got all the rings I made when I first got into PMC and they were a bit worn looking (between 5 and 10 years old) and I put them in my tumbler that is filled with stainless steel shot, a few drops of liquid soap and warm water and tumbled them for a couple of hours and this is what I got:

They are so shiny and new looking and the details are still black and sharp.  Here is a photo of some newly tumbled things that haven't been oxidized:

FYI, the little pendant and the heart on the right have been oxidized and are there for comparison.  All the pieces were tumbled together.  It's really up to you or your customers' preference which way you finish your pieces.  If you don't have a tumbler, now you can make an informed choice.  I myself, I like to tumble.

Journalfest

I am sitting here with my list of things to do before I head out of here tomorrow morning for the first EVER "Journalfest" in Port Townsend, Washington.  I am taking my journals (4 of them with free space) my supplies, and umbrella, layers of clothing, rainhat and rainboots, (I love the rain!) the biggest bag of artist stamps I have ever made (for trades) and my happy shining face!

Have a week you are interesting in living and see you when I get back.
 

of the items up for auction right now on ebay for "A Charming Exchange"!  The bids are not very high with 2 days left on the current batch of 14 beautiful items up right NOW.  Yes, right now.  

NOW!  

I'M NOT TELLING which one I am bidding on.  Not going to jinx it for myself...  I wasn't born yesterday you know.  Mwahahahaha!

I am so LUCKY!

Yeah, I am trying to throw you off the scent of the one I am going to win!  Nyah!

 

I'm having a class here at my house on Saturday, October 17th and have a couple of open spots left and thought maybe someone out there would want to come over and play.

THE GOREY DETAILS:

It's the Second Annual Silver Clay Class at Catherine's House

The hours will be 10 am to 6 pm and we'll take some time to cover basic clay
handling techniques first and then jump into making some interesting forms. I
have ideas for bead caps, birdhouses, bezels and will explain the tear away
technique, carving molds from polymer and using textures and rubber stamps to
make your own designs. I will also speak about what people are wanting to learn
if we have more time. If you are interested, just email me and give me a short
list of what you are looking to learn as well.

This 8 hour long class is $120 for the day and includes a kit of items I use
most when I work, use of my other tools and rubber stamps, about 3 ultralite
kiln firings, use of chemicals and lunch!

Email me.  The link is up there under my photo.

Shimmering Stars bracelet:

Spiral Excess bracelet:

and because it's all about e x c e s s .......

Now wouldn't you like to know how to make that?!

Maybe you say?

Many of the beautiful and whimsical necklaces and bracelets from this book will be up for auction on ebay to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  The auctions will go up on Sunday October 4th.  Please go over to the blog "A Charming Exchange"  and to author Kelly Snelling's blog to get the latest news as well as previews of the jewelry that will be up for auction.  It's sure to be a wonderful and heartfelt gesture if you decide to bid and win one of these beauties for yourself.  All the money will go to the charity.  Bravo ladies!

All the rings I made in 3 hours...

stacked rings, stamped and with a patina - the ring on the bottom is made with argentium silver wire which also fuses beautifully

my cute little "princess solitaire"  and the way the bead is attached

Close up of the top - looks like a shoe print, but did you notice the striped texture is echoed in the part of the ring where the loop is attached?  I just made this one up while I was waiting for the bead reamer.

Why the bead reamer you say?  Because we were making bracelets and bangles in the afternoon and we needed big holes in our beads so we could slide them onto the large gauge wire.  This is where my silver handmade beads come in.

One of them is adjustable:

The other is just plain fun!

See how I am using one of my treasured larimar beads?  I got a whole strand a couple of years ago that cost about as much as a car payment.  I have been using them sparingly because (I am a hoarder at heart) I love them!  Here is a close up of the join.

I had such a good time on this day with Kriss.  She has the BEST ideas.  Do you think she knows that I am one of her biggest fans?  Yes, because I told her!  Oh yeah, you can find her online classes at BEADUCATION.

Remember the deco leaf earrings?  Here is a photo of the original pair (pacific opal, jonquil aurora borealis and moonlight).

and a second pair in other colors (black diamond, heliotrope and jet) 

You can compare them.  One for day and one for night.

I got my little statue from Georgia Mann who came and taught at Artfest in 2007.  I always hang a couple of pairs of earrings on her.  I haven't seen or heard anything about what Georgia may be doing now.  I do love her little sculpture though. 

 Ta Da!

We each contributed an extra charm and that bracelet will be auctioned off for charity soon .  What a wonderful and talented group of women I have the pleasure to be involved with.   That's the bracelet I am going to attach them to.  I just haven't had a spare moment to do it.  I've been pretty busy this week.  

I got a new car.  (woooopeeee!)

I made a tile for a collaborative mosaic.

I packaged and shipped jewelry out of here.

I got a new order right away and started making one of my fancy peony necklaces and that is going to be fun to make!

I did an amazing demo for my Metal Clay Guild on "Chain Making with Silver Clay and with Wire" and we video taped that.  We're editing it and going to make it available for people to buy in a few weeks, so stay tuned for that.

People have been writing to me asking when I am going to put new things in my etsy shop and well, if you have been following my blog a little you may understand that I haven't really had much time to load things in there.  I am going to do my very best in the next few weeks to load it up and make things available that I have been holding on to and try to focus on that until I am done.

AND I have been planning and putting together a new class, set for Saturday, October 17th.  I have students coming to learn new things and techniques I have spent time learning and getting used to this year.  I'm calling it:

  the Second Annual Silver Clay Class at Catherine's House 

and it is sure to be a blast!

 Email me if you want to know more.