2015 Design Team

I am so excited to announce I am on the 2015 ICE resin design team.  I love creating with ICE resin and I have great love for this company. I have been working with this product since 2006, when I purchased my first 1 oz syringe.  I love the diversity of this unique product.  A beginner can use it to make beautiful bezels just as easy as a professional artist can use it  to create works of art.  

I am hopeful as I look forward to 2015 and my position on the team.  As a team member, we are require to create projects throughout the year.   I like this kind of creating.  I like being given a task and coming up with a creative way to meet it.  I am so busy with my job and family, I tend to neglect my creative life.  When I treat it like a job, I am able to push myself.  I hope I can make the design team and the Ice resin staff proud.....and I hope I can meet all my deadlines!!!

Happy creating to all of you in the coming year.

Focusing My obsessions

I am a bit schizophrenic when it comes to jewelry design.  I love learning new techniques and playing with new materials.  Unfortunately, once I have accomplished a new project, I am eager to move on to the next challenge.  I feel that this has been a hendrance because I never explore and push the boundaries of my materials.  I am currently obsessed with ....wild life, art nouveau. French inspired jewelry, enamel, patina, silver wire, embossing, etching, and, and, and.   I NEED to focus!  I'm going to take some time in the studio to just explore techniques, without having project in mind.  I enjoy the sculpture aspect of casting and the ability to add color and mixed media to the pieces.  I think Ill go in this direction.  Maybe

Winter BAJ

I know it has been some time since I posted.  My computer is messed up and I can no longer get pictures from my camera to my computer.   So... until I get a new computer, Im stuck asking my hubby for help to load pix on his computer, then e mail them to me so I can post.  But the jewelry Gods have smiled on me today and I found out I will be on the Cover of BAJ!  I dont need to transfer pix for this one!

Lexi gave me a heads up that the December teaser for BAJ is on stampingtons web site.  I am speechless.  I am SOOOOOO excited.  I am humbled to be in a magazine of this caliber with all the AMAZING artist.  The cover is more than I could have dreamed.  Cant wait until December 1st!!!

recycled dolls

I know I haven't poster lately, but I have been creating!  I took Michael Deming's Disturbed Dollies class last year but Ive just had time to work of using these techniques.  Ive spent the last year collecting thrift store dolls, golden paints and clay.  Here is the result of my first projects.

I have a few more pieces Im still working on.  Ill post more soon.  Happy creating!!!

New Work from Old finds

I have had a small stash of pottery shards since childhood.  My family moved from Hunington Beach California to the desert of New Mexico in 74.  This was a quite a culture shock! I went from roller skating with the neighborhood kids to being the only kid for miles on a dirt road.  As skating on dirt is virtually impossible, I had to take up new hobbies!   My playmates were the cows in an adjacent field and my new pass time was "treasure hunting"  We lived along the San Juan River about 1/4 mile from Salmon Ruins.   The ruins were just being excavated at this time and the riverbank was littered with amazing finds.  I would come home everyday with a backpack full of rocks, arrow heads, pottery shards and other amazing items.
My mother, not appreciating my finds, would periodically dump my "collection"  I would be upset for a day or two and then resume my treasure hunting. After several large losses, I began to stash my finds outside of the house where they would not be found.

I have kept these pieces for 35+ years.  I come across them during moves or spring cleaning, wondering what to do with them. I knew I wanted to incorporate them into jewelry, but was never sure how to do this.  Ive never really been a big fan of prong setting, but while I was in Tucson this February, I sat in on SLK'S "capturing uncommon object's" class. SLKs class demo were amazing.  I realized it was not the prong I had an aversion to, but what is commonly trapped within in them that I'm not a fan of!  Susans pieces had interesting items caged within the prongs.  It hit me that this would be the perfect way to display my treasures.  Prongs allow for the majority of the piece to be visible.  I tried bezel setting them years ago and I just did not like the results.  Too much of the piece was obscured.

 So here is my first piece.  

 I used bronze sheet, textured with the rolling mill.  I wanted the texture to mimic some of the designs on the pottery. 

 I used sterling accents for interest.  I love how the prongs allow you to see the side view

I used large raw garnet and Turquoise for the necklace. 

 I think the stones complement the rustic look of the piece

I have next weekend off, so I plan to lock myself in my studio and work on more designs.  Let me know what you think of this one!

I may take a walk along the river for inspiration, and maybe ill get lucky and find another treasure!

New Desing team to be anounced

I'm so sad that my time on the Ice Resin Design team has come to an end. It has been a crazy year trying to meet deadlines, make enormous amounts of charms for the Emmys and working with a Wonderful group of ladies.  I have had so much fun sharing this year with these great girls.  Next years Design team is to be announced tomorrow.  I cant wait!

Here is my last post for Ice Resin.  Keep your eyes on the new team.  I'm sure they will have some great projects for us.



Ice Resin

go check out BAJ

My bezel set enamel bracelet is in the winter edition of Belle Armore Jewelry!  I am so excited and honored.  This is my very favorite jewelry magazine and I have been blessed to have my jewelry featured twice!  This is a great issue with lots of beautiful projects.  In fact, I'm going to work on KristenRrobinsons beautiful Iced Enamel heart bracelet!

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving!!

Rue Romantique Christmas blog hop

Welcome to the last day of the Rue Blog Hop.  I hope you have seen all the great ornaments on Friday, Nov. 8 by Kristen Robinson, Jen Crossley,Cindy Cima Edwards and Cindi Bisson.  

Saturday, Nov. 9 was packed full of great bits by Carol la Valley,Lexi Grenzer, Pamela Huntington, Susan Walls and

Jen Cushman.  

Today you can find work by  Thespa

McLaughlin, Lesley Venable, Jo Mama and  Susan Weckesser

For those of you who have been watching my work, you know I'm on this animal kick.  I love to cast animals and incorporate them into my work.  So when I heard we were doing an ornament, I knew it would have to have some sort of animal.  I love finding a sleeping owl nestled in a tree in the middle of the day, so I wanted to bring that feeling into my ornament.

I started by casting an owl with Ice resin.  

I Used golden fluid acrylic to color the surface.  These add color but allow light to come through

I used the interference blue to add some shimmer to the surface.  I then sprayed the piece with a polyurethane clear coat.

Next I drilled a very small hole in the center to the bezel

 just large enough for a head pin to fit snug.  I folded the head pin over so it would lay flat and taped it down.  This helps ensure no resin will seep through

The Rue Romantique bezels are great for adding patina because all the fine detail allows for contrast.  I wanted a rustic sort of look, so I painted the entire bezel with white nail polish and allowed it to dry

 Once it was completely dry, I rubbed off the highlights with sand paper.

 Once I had enough of the polish off, I used the Golden paints to add highlights.  You could also use an Ink pad, oil pastels or anything else that adds color!

I mixed a small amount of Ice Resin and poured a few drops into the bezel.  I covered the Resin with some pink glitter because...well who doesn't love glitter?

While that was drying, I made a tassel with some ribbon, leather, chain and a  stick I had covered in resin awhile back.

TIP: when your not feeling particularly creative but you want to be in the studio, I spend my time creating components.  I will make resin paper, sticks and other bits.  Sometimes I just cut and enamel interesting shapes.  That way, when the mood strikes, you have baubles and bits to use and you don't have to wait around for things to dry!!

I took a pre-made flower ribbon and created a wire wrap on each end.

Once my bezel was dry, I drilled a hole on either side and attached the flower ribbon.

I made a loop on the end of my head pin and attached my tassel, and Viola, a sleepy owl to rest in your tree all season long!!Ill probably wear him around my neck after Christmas!!

Happy Blog hopping

Heartfelt Home on Ice Resin Blog

You can check out my Heartfelt home at the  Ice Resin Blog.  It has all the information you need on how to make this sweet little house

Rue Blog Hop

Christmas ornament Rue Romantique Blog Hop

T’was many days before Christmas and I was planning my list

of sweet gifts to make and ornaments of bliss.

I’d need resin — clear ICE, and bezel from Rue

 for that Romantique look, so Victorian and true!

I’d need rhinestones and charms and oh so pretty papers

photos of loved ones up and down through the ages.

My kitchen table is full of my tools:

jewelry pliers, paint brushes and magical glue.

Wait! I need glitter and scissors and such

I’ll invite a friend over! A working coffee clutch!

Lovely things will appear as as we laugh and create

our Rue Romantique Christmas is going to be great!

Today visit Kristen Robinson,Jen Crossley,Cindy cima Edwards and Cindi Bisson for some great Christmas inspiration.

Tomorrow, You can look forward to these ornaments:(Saturday, Nov. 9)

Carol La Valley, lexi Grenzer, Pamela Huntington,  Susan Wallsand   Jen Cushman

Bringing gifts home is a hassel!!

So my dear Olive requested a Teddy Bear from Germany.  Germany is known for there Steffi bears and we thought this would be a good gift.  About 3 day into vacation we spoke with olive and she said "GiGi make sure it is the softest bear in all of Germany"....Pretty tall order when all the German bears feel like they are made of Muslin!! so we gave up on the Germany bear.

But in Paris we came upon a high end baby store with lots of VERY soft dolls.  after rubbing each stuffed animal, we decided the rabbit was by far the Softest (and most expensive!)

You can tell it a Parisian rabbit by the Counterpoised position!!!  We could have come home an bought a really soft doll at TJ Max and she would have never been the wiser, but she loves it and now she has something for show and tell.  Then she can take my MasterCard bill and use that as next weeks show and tell!

OK Last post about Olive for a while.  I know I think she the smartest, cutest, most well behaved, highly artistic child on the planet, but I get that not everyone else shares my views!!  I promise next post will be jewelry!!

Blessings to you all

Home from Germany and France

I returned home from 2 week in Germany and France (+1 day stuck in Canada!)  I went right back to work, so I have not had much free time.  I Should have tomorrow off so I plan to cast some new finds from Paris Flea Markets.  I did not buy much this year.  I wanted to get lots of stuff for found object jewelry, but that didn't work out!  I was with my husband so I tried to hurry thru the market.  I had planed to go to the Marché aux Puces St-Ouen de Clignancourt, the largest Puces in Paris with 7 markets!  After reading up on it I realized it would take all weekend to get through, so I chose to go the the smaller one.  I found a few interesting things (old metal stamps. old advertisement key chains and some hand tatted lace) 
We rented an amazing flat in Paris and had a wonderful time.  Brian and I will celebrate 20 years together in March and this was the first time we traveled out of the States together.  We still really enjoy spending time together and we have the same interests. So this was a great time for us.  Ill post pictures over the next few weeks.

Brian and I picked out a beautiful lock many years ago at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show.  We found a vendor from India selling old locks from the late 1700 to early 1800's. We dug for about an hour looking for the perfect locks with a working key.  We found 2 locks that we planed on using in a piece of altered art.  But once I heard about the locks of love bridge, I knew where they would end up! 

For those of you who haven’t heard of this, here's the story: A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love.  

 Our Lock

Some say the only way to break the seal of love brought on by this love lock act is to find the key and unlock the padlock. Of course, that is nearly impossible, since the keys lie at the bottom of the river.

 We took a picture in hopes we can find it again next year

 Pont de l'Archevêché Bridge

Connies Crystals Blog Hop

I am from the southwest so I love using pieces that are indigenous to this area.  I often use leather, bone, antler turquoise and other rustic items.  But these things can look a bit tough or to "wild west" for me.  I always like to add a bit of bling to my work so Connies Crystals are perfect.

In this piece, I started with an Elk antler and added some fine raw gemstones like carnelian and garnet.  

 I used some ribbon and some yarn made from a local alpaca farm

 The Crystals add just enough bling to make it girly, but still lets everyone know your may have a six shooter in your garter!!!

Don't forget to check out what  Lexi and Pamela have done with connies crystals

Keep on Hopping!!

Germany

The sun finaly can out in Germany today

100 Handmade bracelets is out!!!

Go to 100 handmade bracelets to see all the Emmy bracelets and See how they were made, its a 

really cool book with all the stars bracelets and instructions!!!I had fun making all the charms for the give away,