Claires pipe

Claire also found a pipe at a Paris Flea Market. She was kind enough to let me cast it. I cast the entire piece, but had to cut the mold to get the pipe out. This left me with 2 parts of the mold. I cast both pieces with the intent of making them whole again. But once I took out the front piece, I liked it so much, I choose not to use the back.

Last year I purchased a pack of bronze bezels in Tucson. The well is very shallow, so they do not work well for an Image. But they do hold enough resin to secure a 3D piece. This Bezel made me think of an old Victorian frame

This piece reminds me of an old Victorian photo. The women would sit very still, stone faced, for there portrait. I used a paper reminiscent of Victorian wall paper for the background. I used some bronze chain, silk ribbon and gemstones to complete the piece. Thank you Claire sharing your beautiful treasure!

I purchased this pipe at a flea market in France. I was told it was carved from Ivory, but after a bit of research, I believe it is a mershon pipe. Either way, I thought it was cool and wanted to make a piece of jewelry out of it. As I have said before, One of the things I love about Ice Resin, is it allows you reproduce special pieces. I paid a lot for this piece and want to use it is several different ways.

I used acrylic paint to alter the cast piece. I painted a thin coat of resin over the piece to give it a shine and brighten the color. I used some chain, ribbon and gemstones to finish it off.

remembering France

I made some tokens for each of the girls that went on the France trip. I did not have room in my luggage to take them with me, so I planed to send them as soon as I returned home. well here we are a month and 1/2 later and Ive finally got them packaged and ready to go. I have been dragging my a*# because, after I returned, they just did not seem special enough to commemorate our experience. I have been thinking on what I could make that would be a special token of our time together. But.... I got nothing! We had such a special time together, I could not come up with anything that was as meaningful as out trip. So, the girls age getting the original tokens and my wish that they could have been as amazing as our time in France was.

A bit of France

I have not posted much about the France trip/workshop. Not because I dont want to share, but because Im still processing it. It was a life changer! I had the MOST amazing time and met the most wonderful women. You never know how a large group of women are going to mix. This group could not have been any better if I hand selected them myself. Each woman brought something magic to the table. I made friends with women I am blessed to know. As much as I love and live to make beautiful jewelry...This trip turned in to so much more than a simple workshop. I loved the class and making cool stuff, but the real gem of the trip was the girls (and wonderful husbands) who would have thought 3 husbands on a girls trip would make it so special! I have lots of pix I will post over the next few weeks but I want to take some time to really think on how to even describe the adventure. Here are a few to start off with. We got lost......I mean took a detour from Toulouse to Derfort. We all got a bit hungry so we stopped for some pizza. We ordered cheese and olive pizza.

A bit different that in the States. Maybe Olives are rare in France!!!

This had to be my favorite part of the trip. Beautiful meals made by Nesa and shared with friends

Susan and I found a cool clown to pose with across from Moulin Rouge.

And some awesome class time

I havent even mentioned

With the trip to France, getting back to work and being sick...I totally forgot to mention the BIGGEST news. My Mr Carrot doll was published in Art doll quarterly!!! It was so exciting to see him in print. They did a call for story book charters. I made several attempts to make a Christopher Robin doll with no success. I was reading Shell silverstein book to Olive and found his pen sketches so intriguing. I choose a funny poem about carrots and ran with it.

I made a simple rag doll in the shape of a carrot with the poem on his chest. I think he turned out pretty cute!

Not great pictures. I painted him and added detail but was so excited to get him packed up. I forgot to tack a picture. So to see the final doll, I guess you will need to check out ARQ

Stuido Tour

This past weekend 15 artists celebrated our 10th Studio tour. It was great fun, but the sales were slow. I did well with sterling and bronze bangles and earrings, but my new work...well ...lets just say I received lots of comments. I guess not a lot of folks are looking for a large cast moose ring!!! In my small conservative town, we have lots of hunters. Every convenience store has 10+ gun, hunting or fishing magazines proudly displayed up front. I love the look of taxidermy, but not the thought of hunting the animals. I have been working on casting animals and mounting them to simulate a taxidermy mount. I like this work so I will continue with it. My goal has switched from simply making jewelry to sell to making art. Most of the comments were positive about the "art" but it was always followed with....but its not really practical. I did make a few sterling jackalope and roadrunner rings that were more palatable for the masses!!!!

I finally figured out that I had to BUY more space to up load more pictures! (Im a bit slow wit technology) France was AMAZING. The sights, the food, the shopping...but most of all the friends. The girls (and husbands) were fantastic. I has such a fantastic time at SLK's workshop. It was my first time overseas but it will not be my last! Ill post more later along with some new work