Awesome Friends

Photo Courtesy Nina Bagley

     I almost missed this. I haven't been on the computer much lately, lots going on in the outside world. I sent the pewter frozen Charlotte with wings to Nina Bagley quite a while ago. I knew she's had it on her work desk, I've seen photos on her blog. I didn't know she had made it into a necklace, until I happened across her blog this week and saw this photo. 
     Of course I love what she's done with it. I'm just happy it inspired her to put it to use. 
     When I look at the first work I was doing with pewter, and compare to what I'm doing now, two things come to mind. 
     1.  I have learned a lot, and progress in how I can use the metal and how it is finished to create components.
     2.  I was a lot braver and more outreaching with the pewter when I first started learning how to create with it.
     Maybe it's that way with any new material or medium we start with, trying new things, experimenting. Then finding a way to use it, going forward with that method. Becoming comfortable with that way of using it.
     Thank you, Nina, for the new life you've put into one of my early attempts with casting metal! And for all your encouragement in continuing with it - you are the best!
     Now, I need to get myself out of my comfort zone, and try more experiments myself!

Fresh Produce and Seamless Handwork

     Yesterday, I took the day off from the studio, and went to the farmer's market again. I got more cantaloupe and some fresh green beans. My french and kentucky wonder beans are just starting to bloom, I put them in 3 weeks late, because I was too sick to garden. But they're trying to make up for lost time!
     I worked in the garden some, too, feeding and watering. It was such a pretty day, but hot!
     I'm participating in the next Bead Soup Party - I almost missed signing up because I thought I had already done it. But the invitation from Facebook and signing up were separate ... I'll be thinking about what I'm going to send to my Bead Soup Party partner. 

     Do you crochet? I do, when I have time to sit still that long. I got a deal on some books from Interweave, in their "Hurt Books" sale. One of them is Kristin Omdahl's "Seamless Crochet" - I can't wait to figure out how she took the crochet process apart to make it possible to join motifs together, without lots of sewing in ends!And it comes with a DVD, which should be very helpful. I've been crocheting a long time, but this new technique looks intricate and interesting. I can usually look at crochet and figure out how it's put together - but not these!

And the results are so luxurious and lacy - aren't they wonderful? I think it's the kind of thing I'll have to sit down with at the table and "fiddle" with until I understand what's going on.
     Any of you already have this book, and mastered this technique?

     My garden is doing very well this year. I've been picking cucumbers and peppers, and I'm waiting for that first red, ripe tomato. I learned from last year to put up the bird block - I lost nine tomatoes from nibbling birds! The bird block doesn't bother the bees, I watched them going in and out to the cucumbers that share the square foot bed with the tomatoes. They are most active in the early mornings.
     I made this oversized floral heart, with pink dogwood and blue forget-me-nots, from an image on an old valentine. 
     It reminds me of my flowerbeds - or at least, the ones I'd like to have!

Petunia Pendant

     Yesterday at the studio, I got around to painting some floral inserts I made a week or so ago. I only had one bezel cast and finished, so I used it for this red petunia hand painted centerpiece. I have more to finish, with blue and purple flowers. Maybe this week I'll slip over and finish some more. They remind me of summertime!

Happy Father's Day, All

     I hope you are all enjoying family and friends, eating good meals and having good weather where you are.

     These two little beveled glass faux gemstones show how I'm trying to make a pewter setting for the fused glass, to give the bling some zing! I'm still experimenting with combining the pewter with the glass - these are the first efforts. What do you think?
     Have a great day!

Purple Heart Day

      Today, my daughter and the grandson went to the Farmer's Market downtown, to find some organic vegetables. I bought a gorgeous cantaloupe, which I had to cut in half and have a bite of at lunch today. And some local honey, from this area of Louisiana. I'm hoping it will help with my newly acquired allergies. The Farmer's Market was in the parking lot of the Museum of Modern Art, but the museum wasn't open yet. Oh, well, maybe next trip. After we got home and unloaded all the goodies we bought, I went to the studio and got busy finishing some pieces that have been in the works for a while.

     The purple heart in this photo is spoken for. A sweet little girl saw one of my hearts, a coral colored one that I wear, and asked me to make her a necklace for her birthday. She told me that her favorite color isn't pink any more - it's purple. So I will be making up a necklace for her to wear, and I hope she likes it!

Pewter in Pewter

      This pendant is a pairing of two different items, to create one final item with a certain "look." The center piece is cast in pewter and given a coppery-bronze patina. The original was a salvaged button from the Galveston hurricane, that I molded so I could reproduce it in pewter. To me it has a southwestern look, like the four corners of a spanish style cross from New Mexico. You might see something different there.

     I took the central part, and matched it up with my replica optical lens bezel, to make a focal pendant out of it. The central piece has a slightly domed effect, it's not just flat. I like the look of the two of them together. I think it would be pretty combined with copper beads and wire.
     I've had family things and work things going on, but this weekend I have time for creativity things!

Opera Fan Keepsake

     This is another experimental piece. I made the oriental fan and hand painted it. But I couldn't decide what to do with it. I put some sheet music behind it, added a tiny, hand painted vintage looking button in the corner, and put it between thin pieces of glass. The cornucopia bowl of fruit at the bottom is hand cast in pewter. 

     It looks like a metal shadow box, with several loops at the bottom where shiny crystals could be hung. 
     Or, if I can figure out the setting for the orange-red fused glass faux gem, it would look great with the japanese fan's color!
     The other shadowboxes I made earlier didn't have glass on the top, they were open. This one is glassed in on both front and back. 
     I like combining the resin, pewter, glass and solder to make something that looks really ancient.

More Bling

      Wow, has it really been a week since I posted here? I've been busy, but usually I can snatch a few minutes to do a post here and there. I'll have to do better, put my blog on my appointment book.
     The last time I went to the studio, I located a few more of the fused glass cabochons to finish. They needed shaping, beveling and a fire polish fusing in the kiln.

     With them propped at this angle, you can see the beveling better on them. I have a lapidary style grinder, with a beveling attachment on it. It has a guide I can use, to make sure I get a true 45 degree angle, or whatever angle I want - but it's kind of hard to put it onto the grinder, so most of the time I don't fuss with that.
     I'm still figuring out how I want to "set" these, possibly in pewter somehow. It's an experiment. I wish I had two of the little orange-red ones - I'd make earrings!

June Sale at Etsy Shop

      I've been spending family time this weekend, but today I'm headed to the studio for some creativity time. This is a new piece, in resin and handcast pewter, I finally got it listed in the Etsy shop.
     To keep things interesting in the LLYYNN Etsy shop, I've got a sale coupon for 10% any purchase for the entire month of June! Use the coupon code JUNESAVE to take advantage of the savings at the time you purchase.
     And to spice it up a bit, some more pieces have been put on sale - so if you've had your eye on something you liked, check it out! It might be on sale in June! Add the 10% coupon code, and save a bunch!

Reliquary New Work Mixed Media

      Want to see what I've been up to? I've been wanting to make some reliquary "shrine" type boxes. On Memorial Day, I put aside part of the day to finally start playing around with what I might come up with. These boxes are a combination of my pewter, the resin, some filigree and soldering, to make what I hope looks like something very, very ancient!

      A long time ago, I made some replicas of tintype cabinet cases, and I really liked the look. But I hadn't made any more. I had poured the resin boxes and they were waiting for me. This time, I combined the pewter and the resin, with some of my hand painting techniques. I wanted the boxes to look really old and worn, maybe even a little rusty or tarnished.

      Here's the back of the one with the floral emblem on the front. I mixed my paints to come up with this rusty metal look. But it's really brass filigree, soldered onto the box, to give a lacy finish to the back.

     And this is the back of the crown box, the loops on the top remind me of a bow-tie. There's a small filigree piece on this one, too. I wasn't sure how painting over the solder and the filigree would look, but I think it's okay.

     So - what do you think? Something new, to start off the month of June!