AEDM Day 18

Yesterday was spent teaching at The LH Bead Galley. But in the evening I joined Paulette Perlman and Celeste Hansel in their weekly bookmaking event at the Unreal ARTists Gallery, which Paulette owns and operates in downtown Panama City.

I began working on a book inspired by a project in “re-bound.” At St. John’s Catholic Church’s rummage sale a few weeks ago, I was able to stuff a plastic bag with clothes for $2. When I have an opportunity like that I always look for 100% wool sweater, silk and bright rayon tops, skirts and dresses. Included in my bag this time was a beige wool knitted vest. Last weekend I stuck it in the washer and dryer and felted it. It came out thick and very well felted and I thought it would make the perfect book cover for this project The paisley fabric was found earlier this year at the semi-annual Seaside Garage Sale. The signatures for the book I had in my stash of book making supplies and cut them down  to fit inside the felted cover. Next I am going to embroider and bead the felt . Last night I got as far as buttonhole stitching around most of the edges of the cover.

 It was a real relaxing night and I enjoyed talking and sharing with Paulette and Celeste.

Day 14 & 15 AEDM

Sunday I finished the bracelet that will be a sample for a class I am teaching in December at The LH Bead Gallery. I was not sure if all the different colors, textures and shapes would work, but they did and I like it

Yesterday my focus shifted to researching about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.

 Saturday the speaker for the Bay County Genealogical Society program was going to speak on this subject.  But she just got out of the hospital and now cannot give her talk. I just hope she is going to be okay.

As I am the Program Chair I called around to get a last minute substitute to no avail. Then I started to do some research and thought I could pull a short program together.  The history is fascinating and there is some great public domain art that I can use in my Power Point Presentation.

And then I read about a great challenge that  KJ, of Silver Parrot is hosting on her blog this week. Check it out. I haven’t figured out which “buggie” color combination I want to do.

MK

AEDM Day 14

Yesterday was another beautiful day and I again took my studio outside and worked on texturizing, etching and oxidizing metal and also worked with resin.

  I had textured and oxidized one of these circles on Friday and then thought it would look good as an earring, so did another one and here are the earrings I made:

I had stamped this metal a month or so ago. Yesterday I textured the edges and also oxidized it in Liver of Sulphur. Then I started making a bracelet:

None of my clasps looked good with it so I have ordered some 18 gauge wire to make my own clasp.

My first experience with resin was comical. I printed, colored, cut out and sealed the words “Secret” and “Dream.”

 I set the cabochons on a level spot in the sun as I was using Magic-Glos which is U-V activated. Bubbles formed and I was not prepared. I ran and got the heat gun and plugged it in. The cord was not long enough, so I ran and got an extension cord.

But I was too late. So I dug out the partially set resin and tried again this time with more success.

One of the last thing I did was experiment with etching. I stamped a piece of red brass sheeting with permanent ink and let it dry then soaked the sheeting in the etching fluid for a couple of hours.

When done I rinsed it in water, then rubbed baking soda on it and then put Liver of Suphur on it. The I rinsed it again, then polished it. 

Next time I want to use a stamp that has images closer together. But this has possibilities.

MK

 

AEDM Day Friday the 13th

Today has been a fun day for me. I had no appointments, no classes, nor civic duty responsibilities. It was a day to play and experiment. So I took my studio outside and worked on a bracelet for a friend undergoing chemotherapy. The design was not original, but the techniques were new to me. I have been gathering tools and supplies to do texturing on metal and also adding patinas. 

I began my hammering some copper washers.

Here they all are. This part was fun. A good way to take out some frustrations.

They I got the Liver of Sulphur all ready. It is nasty smelling stuff, but it oxidizes the copper in an instant.

Here are the washers after I dipped them and polished them. I do not have a tumbler so first I used extra fine steel wool, then a polishing cloth and them a little baking soda pasted applied with a toothbrush.

Definitely have added a tumbler to my wish list. Here is the finished bracelet:

The bracelet was designed by Cindy Wimmer and was featured on the cover of Easy Wire Magazine:

I just thought it was the perfect bracelet for my friend. I changed the saying to strength, because I know that is what she needs now. And I added my own clasp and an extra component, but I really liked the design. I very rarely make a project straight from a magazine or book. I use them as inspiration, much like a recipe in cooking. So now I cannot wait to try these techniques on some original designs. 

Day 10 AEDM

I am a few days behind in posting as I have been busy. Tuesday my book club went on an adventure.

View Full Album

We took a field trip to Wewahitchka to meet with author Michael Lister.  The woods around “Wewa” is the setting for Michael’s latest book, Double Exposure.  He sat with us at a picnic table in Gaskin Park and discussed his book.

 Surrounding us are the impenetrable woods and one of the rivers described in his book. His book is a good read and everyone in the book club loved it and has shared their copy of the book with friend and family.

Afterwards we all went to lunch at the Bayou Restaurant where New Orleans food is served and it was excellent.

On the trip I took a lot of photos. I especially am partial to the ones I took at Dead Lakes as seen in the album above.

 

Hurricane Ida

Hurricane Ida is coming ashore to the west of us today, thus making this a dreary wet day. The changes in the barometer always make me feel edgy and today is no exception.

I worked on a Christmas ornament cover for a beading class today. But I could not get an ornament out of my shed where my Christmas decorations are stored because my shed is so full of fixtures that I have taken out of stores during the off season that I have to take things out to get to my ornaments. And with this inclement weather I did not want to pull things out into the yard and let them get all wet. So then I ran up to the Dollar General Store to see if they had anything that would work, but they did not. I had already checked at Wal-Mart when I was there this am. I also looked at Winn-Dixie and a dollar store. So I will get something tomorrow at Hobby Lobby when I am there tomorrow.

Since I could not finish the ornament cover I decided I would start quilting “When Worlds Collide.” But after quilting around 3 stamped circles I decided I did not like the color of thread I was using and navy would be better.  So I have begun ripping out the stitching around and inside the 3 circles. After one sitting I have only got the outside of one circle done. I had to wear my magnifying head piece to see the threads.

So I think maybe it is time to find a movie to watch until this feeling of unrest goes away.

The Sky Yesterday

On a more upbeat note the Roland Hockett exhibit at the Visual Art Center is definitely worth seeing. For now it is the only place to see his newest pieces. His web site is 6 years out of date and thus does not have his new pieces on it. His painting mix copper, acrylic and carving and are intricate and exciting to see. We were privileged yesterday in that the artist gave the Panama City Artist group a private tour of his work at the museum and he shared the inspiration and thought behind each piece.

AEDM Day 8

I made this journal earlier this year and today I finally began to mark up the pages, well at least one page.  The cover is made with cloth paper and include fabric beads that I made and the center piece is from a bead swap. The interior pages are 300 # Arches watercolor paper. I have always wanted to put something special in it

 

 This is as far as I got today. I created a lot of texture on the page with paper and paint and added one photo.  I have decided to made it autobiographical. This page will be titled “A Different Time, A Different Place.” This photo was taken in the 1980s at Christmas. It was the last Christmas my family was together before my father died. I took mega amounts of pictures. As I add more layers the photo may disappear. I work intuitively so many times the final project does not look like anything I imagined.

Next on my agenda is I am attending a special presentation by Roland Hockett at the Visual Art Center for the Panama City Artists.  I am looking forward to seeing his exhibition called “Copper Magic: Pieces from the Chicago Collection.”

MK