GIRL READING - Inspired By Reading Book Club. April 2015

This month the Inspired By Reading Book club read Girl Reading- A Novel by Katie Ward. I wondered why it's considered a novel. At first glance, Ms. Ward's book appears to be a collection of short stories set in various time periods. However, there is a common thread throughout the book - the obvious - a "girl" or woman reading in each vignette. And the artist; painter, photographer who has "caught them in the act". Not so obvious are the references in each chapter to an artistic element from the precious chapter.

I woke up one morning thinking I wanted to represent the painters in the story. I thought about how to depict the painter's pallet in a jewelry design.
So, here we have what is to be a pendant. I'll add a ring or bail of some kind and probably hang it from a copper chain.   

I'm pretty excited with how it came out. I used a spoon shaped pancake die to cut the basic oval shape. I got creative with Eurotool's hole punch and my dremel grinder to form the handle. Finally, Indents made with a metal punch and dapping block were filled with enamel.

Visit Andrew Thornton's blog to see who else played with us this month.
(You'll have to scroll through one of my other posts for links. I wrote this whole post on my phone while traveling by train between NYC & New Haven Connecticut and I don't know how to use all of the functions.)

New Earring Monday.... ( through week 16)

Yeah - I lost track of what week it was, so I checked Sarajo's post for dates.
I'll try to get back to bi-weekly posts ~ but ~ no promises.
And, since I should be preparing for my very first North Carolina Art & Craft fair, I'll try to make this brief.

First up are my offerings for April's birthstone.
I acquired (purchased) a bunch of Herkimer diamonds in Tucson. For those who don't know, Herkimer diamonds aren't really diamonds. They are faceted quartz that come out of the ground just like you see them here. They are mined in Herkimer, NY.
 (Yay! NY!)

New earring cards for Ollie's Cafe & Gift Shop
Inspired by Sarajo Wentling

created for a 6 year old's April birthday!

I love these sterling silver discs I created with my disc cutter!












Since May is just around the corner, I had to dig out some emeralds.

Aren't these sweet!










A few weeks ago, I demonstrated flame painting copper at Ollie's during Art After Five.  Here are a few of the pieces I created...

I love the way these came out.  I tried a different technique.
I put the torch really close to the metal and pulled it away quickly.

demonstration mode

heavy equipment!

The shapes were cut on my Harbor Freight hydraulic press using pancake dies from Potter USA.









Finally, I've also had a lot of fun with my disc cutter and wooden dapping blocks.
Someday, I'll figure out how to photograph shiny sterling silver.

I might oxidize the next batch. But I do love these shiny!

Looks like I just might have enough inventory foe "Spring Daze" arts and crafts fair in Cary, NC this Saturday 4/25.

Stop by if  you're in the neighborhood!

Don't forget to click here to visit Sarajo's blog to find all the other earring artists!

Home By Toni Morrison ~ an Inspired By Reading Book Club post

Sometimes I wonder why Andrew lets me stay in “the club”. 

I don’t think I’ve met a deadline yet.

The Club is the Inspired By Reading Book Club, the brain child of Andrew Thornton, owner of Allegory Gallery in Ligonier, PA.  Each month we read a book, create and blog. This month our book was Home, by Toni Morrison.

It’s the story of a young black man reclaiming his life after returning from the Korean War.

The San Francisco Chronicle said the book “Brims with affection and optimism.” Perhaps I missed much of the symbolism, but I found it to be somewhat dark and depressing. Because of that, I had a difficult time deciding on a project.

At the very beginning of the story, Frank Money and his younger sister sneaked into a crawl space to watch two horses in an overgrown field.  One was rust colored and the other deep black.

My design idea was very literal – I had planned to use a Green Girl horse pendant with black onyx and carnelian.  The horse looked too rustic and out of place with my faceted onyx so I ended up with two necklaces.

I removed the horse, added a black onyx nugget as a focal piece and highlighted with sterling silver bead caps and daisies, and shiny copper nuggets.

Then - I hung the horse with a hammered silver ring from a silver chain. (I mass produce the rings so I always have a few in stock.) I wire wrapped more of those shiny copper nuggets to the chain for texture and interest.

Please go to Andrew's Blog to learn more about the book and check out the other talented members of the group.