Nikkel Art

Printmaking and Handmade Stamps

2010-05-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

In the high schools, I most often had students make their print plates from soft-oleum (like linoleum, only softer and easier to cut). It is similar to the material of which some pencil erasers are made (If you only want to make something small, you can use erasers). It cuts easily with both expensive and cheap gouges. The prints made with soft-oleum are similar to woodcuts

Casual Collograph Printmaking

2010-05-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Like some sick soup, there is a mix of flowers, fish and cats in the small kiln. In the corner, thin metal is periodically pounded, textured, and sculpted a few inches each day, working its way toward a final form. The potter's wheel is on it's side, again, waiting for diagnosis and a treatment. Such is the state of the studio this week, and yet there is little to show. It's time

Aluminum Can Art

2010-04-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've been spending my free time, in the last week, preparing materials for a sculpture I am planning. As I sat, cutting up aluminum cans into art materials, long spirals fell from my aviator shears into the box below. I hadn't noticed the briar patch of metal forming until a screw, from the shears, worked itself free and fell into the box. It sat atop of the metal discards until I

Alice In Wonderland Charm Update

2010-04-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Last week, I picked up the charms from the Alice In Wonderland swap hosted by Michelle at FaerieDustDreams. You can see the results on her blog here. There are links to the participating artists' blogs there as well. If you want to be reminded of the mushrooms I made, you can view them here.

Wallterfall Art

2010-04-15T00:08:00.000-07:00

When I first moved to a house with cathedral ceilings, I found I had nothing but small framed photos to hang on the huge white walls. I needed some art on the walls quickly. Yes, need. What I decided I wanted was a large wall sculpture. I would have loved to make a huge ceramic piece, but that would take time and I wasn't sure the walls could hold the weight. The cheapest, quickest and

Making Moments Count

2010-04-12T00:50:00.000-07:00

There is never enough time. Work, sick little ones, errands, cooking...life. I am too busy to make much art these days. So, I have to take in the beauty and creative "me time" when I can get it. In the last few days, I broke out my inner cheerleader at the sight of this pom pom-looking flower, paused to be intoxicated by the aroma of lemon blossoms, and made a quick 3D, contour, self

Mo' Mo' Betta Boxes

2010-04-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

First is an extension, or more aptly a partial deletion, of the box in the previously post. The boxes above, from the template below, have completely eliminated the walls of the boxes I showed previously. I love these for simplicity, if you have a relatively flat wide item or a special card/invitation this is perfect.. You simply choose the size of your square base and add semi-circles,

Mo Betta Boxes

2010-04-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

I am partial to presents wrapped in the Sunday funnies, grocery bags or old clothes. I have fond childhood memories of my family using very creative materials when we didn't have appropriate wrapping paper. There was one particularly hilarious birthday present my brother gave me, wrapped with the cardboard tubes from T.P. and lined paper ripped from his old history notebook. Today,

Happy Easter

2010-04-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Illusions, Fools

2010-03-31T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, April Fools Day. I'm not clever enough to pull pranks without offending people, so I've opted to fool the eyes instead. Optical illusions can be very artistically inspiring. Once you understand why we see what we see, why not figure out how that can work for you? Here are a few links that have many brain-twisting illusions. http://www.skytopia.com/project/illusion/illusion.html http:

Small zipper bags from large

2010-03-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

For a time, I was focused on documenting and collecting my inspirations. Currently, I am focused on organization and packaging. It must be the serious need for a good spring cleaning around here. I don't like plastic. I reuse containers and upcycle bags and packaging whenever possible to prevent more from ending up in landfills or oceans, but not because I like working with plastic.

Mod Podged Nikkels

2010-03-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Inspiration doesn't make it very far without organization. I am always running out of space and struggling to keep my supplies organized. Here is an inexpensive solution I've made. 1. Cover boxes with scrapbooking scraps, old magazine pages, newspaper, comic strips or junk mail. The picture I've included is of old Harry and David boxes, but shoe boxes or any boxes with lids will work. 2.

Art Supply Time Machine

2010-03-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

When teaching in public school, one is challenged to create art projects with little or no budget. If lucky (or smart), this habit spreads into one's own art. I always have my eye out for cheap or free tools and supplies. One of my favorite shopping spots has been the hardware store. They have a lot of products (glues, paints, metals, mesh, wood) that sell at art supply stores for

Wonderland Mushrooms Abound

2010-03-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

After a break, full of sickness and work, here are my results for the latest charm swap, Alice in Wonderland, hosted by Michelle of FaerieDustDreams. I started by sculpting several versions of the 'giant' mushrooms sketches posted previously. Once bisque fired (Cone04), I made molds of my favorite originals by pressing the fired pieces into scrap clay and firing those impressions (

Sprung

2010-03-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

While the official first day of Spring is still a few days away, I'm calling it officially sprung. As I write this, I wish I could post the intoxicating mixed scent of white roses and sweet jasmine wafting through my open windows. Last weekend, I spend most of my time in a small beach town in No Cal which inspired my quick contour sketch above. There where signs of the impending season all

More Clay(mation) Flowers

2010-03-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a funky introduction to spring. I only wish there were better lighting. (This is not my video) Little blobs of clay morphing into different shapes and expanding from the original idea; A sped up version of what happens in the studio.

Goodbye, Cold Friend

2010-03-08T18:59:00.000-08:00

I am psyching myself up for spring. Truth be told, winter is my favorite season. I am trying to accept that nearly an entire winter has passed without me experiencing the snow. Acceptance is the last stage of grief, right? I really do like spring. The rolling hills around here become neon green and exhale an aroma of sweet grass, weeds and wildflowers until the first hot days of summer.

Fire and Rain

2010-03-06T23:02:00.000-08:00

That is still one of my favorite songs, by the way. The weather is at it again, pouring rain from mid-afternoon to well into the night. Did I mention I love rain? Well, I do. I am not, however, a huge fan of the So Cal builders who cannot make a waterproof house. After all, "It never rains in Southern California" is only a generalization, not a fact. Well, I'm at it again, too. Firing

Hanging by my thumbnails

2010-03-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Thumbnail sketches, that is. While the kiln is firing (again) tonight, I've been doing a little sketching for my upcoming Alice In Wonderland charm swap. These are due in about two weeks, and I still have no idea what I'm making. While I was hoping to create my charms in clay and glass, my new experiments have reverted to their infancy. Will I have to go to resin collage, recycled plastic or

Continuing the Tests

2010-03-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

For the last week I have been re-learning and become more efficient with a technique I used to use making a form or tile in clay and then making a window in it with recycled glass. Things have gone more slowly than I expected. I am relearning that which I once knew....and then there is the weather. We weren't expecting rain until the weekend, so I put my kiln on the patio to fire last night.

What am I thinking?

2010-02-28T17:35:00.000-08:00

Don't answer that. With all that I have to accomplish in the next month, for some crazy reason, I agreed to participate in another charm swap. I do love the trippy-ness of Alice and Wonderland, and have a strange (ha) obsession with Tim Burton that made it hard to resist. Also, Michelle can be very persuasive. The last I checked, she still had a few spots left. Although, I have no image or

Puddles and Mud. Glass and Clay.

2010-02-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

Rain. During a break in the rain I caught the sweet jasmine on my patio coming alive and begging for more. I also found these guys, looking a little overwhelmed, but they will now be multiplying in the weeks ahead. I love the rain. I love the way it affects sound... hitting the roof... running down the gutter...getting kicked up under moving tires. I love that there is no point in doing

Food as Art

2010-02-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

I seem to be obsessed with identifying what inspires me. If you have ever had writer's block or artist's block, you understand. There are times you have ideas rushing through you faster than you can jot them down. Other times, you hear only the faint sound of a flatline somewhere high in the dusty cobwebs of your attic brain. If you have ever stood in front of a class of unmotivated teenagers,

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

I do not usually make cute things or cliché shapes, but it is Valentine's Day...and even I have a heart. These pendants were made with ten layers of soda can aluminum and aluminum wire rivets in a similar way to my previous post. Here's to love and life!

Ms Smith and the Inspired Charm

2010-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Creativity happens more slowly in a vacuum. There was a time when I avoided looking at other people's art, for fear that I would copy or stop having original ideas. Some good things come with age and experience. I have since learned, and proven to myself many times, that I am more creative, productive and pushed further when exposed to as many ideas as possible. Inspiration. Recently, I have