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!

Bling Soldered Setting

     This is another one of the beveled and fire polished faux gemstones from Monday's session at the studio. I made a wire setting and soldered it to the glass, with lots of loops so it can be hung various ways or have dangle attached. 
     I love being able to create my own faux gemstones. This one has a white glass backing, so the dichroic glass has a pink tinge to it, not luminous the way it is with black behind it.

     It's really hard to capture it in photographs, but when you tilt the dichroic a different direction and capture a reflective light hitting another part of the stone, it changes color. Here, it turns from the pink to a light blue-green color. So neat! I love dichroic glass!
     I wanted the wire wrapped setting to have an organic look, sort of like vines wrapping the glass. It's kind of hard to get it set just right, when the glass is hot, the soldering iron is hot, and all you want to do it grab it with your fingers and hold it, but you can't!
     Thank goodness for pliers and soldering aids! And my heat-resistant fingers.

Kiln BLING

      A while back, I took the kiln for a test run, to make sure it was working all right after the relocation to Louisiana. Moves are tough on kilns! I made these fused glass gems, and then didn't get around to shaping, beveling and fire polishing them.

      They have a black glass backing, to make the dichroic glass really shine when fused. Yesterday, I spent the morning at the studio, just playing around with different things I'd been wanting to do. One of those was to get the glass grinder set up and working again after unpacking it. I have a beveling blade on it, so I can put those nice 45 degree angles on the glass. But I hadn't used it since setting up the studio. The first time I tried yesterday, the water feed wasn't working. To keep the glass cool, a flow of water has to be going over it while you grind. Otherwise, the glass overheats from the friction, and it can crack. Not fun!

      I took the water feed line completely apart, flushed it, and got all the different parts working again. When I reassembled it, it was finally working like it should. I shaped and beveled these little faux gems, to make them more consistently rectangular, and to give the fronts a pretty little bevel, like a real gemstone.

     Once they were all shaped and beveled, I cleaned them carefully with 90% alcohol, to get rid of all the glass dust and "shavings" from the grinding. Then I put them in the kiln for a fire polish firing, to remove the grinder scratches, and give them a clear, nice finish on the top.
     I think they turned out well, after all of that. And now I know my equipment is still working okay. Now, I just need to make settings for them, so they can be used in jewelry!

Memorial Day

     Yesterday I created this piece that combines one of the new bezels with a casting from an antique button loaned to me by Deryn Mentock. I was looking at pictures of antique jewelry, and I saw a medallion that held a religious reliquary. I wanted to reproduce that look. I put a velvet background behind the pewter insert, to look like the locket I saw in the photograph. 
     I want to remember all the special people today, those currently serving, and those who have served in the past, and say thank you. This extended family has members who are in the service, and one who has joined and will be starting service soon. 
     Happy Memorial Day to you, your families and friends.

La Belle Epoch Paris

     I found some old postcards, with images of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, and I just had to use them to make reproduction travel souvenir vocals. The sepia tones, the old-fashioned writing - I just love the ideas they bring to mind. I put all three of these in the Etsy shop - even though I was sorely tempted to make up necklaces with them for myself!
     Today I'm headed back over to the studio to finish up some orders. I have some ideas buzzing in my head, to create with cut glass and soldered reliquaries, and I have finally assembled all the components I needed to get started - so if I have time after the orders are completed, I plan to play with those ideas, bringing them to life.
     I hope you have a lovely, quiet Sunday afternoon, with family, food and fun!

     For some reason, this week I'm really attracted to this robin's egg blue color. I keep reaching for the blue tones when I take a paint brush in hand. I like that the words "Soul Shines Forth" are visible across the front of the heart.
      Today, I am taking care of the grandson. He's still working on walking, it's not going to be long before he starts. Which means that I have to be ever vigilant while he crawls around the house super quickly!
      Once I get some of the photos off the camera from the trip, I'll put some here. I think my daughter got some great pictures, too.
     Happy Saturday! I'm back to chasing down a baby boy!

     I'm back from my travels, I had a great time visiting. It was a long time in the car for the kids. But they were real troopers! I took a few days off this week from the day job to get caught up at the studio. It's such a luxury to spend all day at the studio, getting covered in dust, paint and glue!

     I found a small medallion in the shape of a crown, and took a mold from it so I could make some earring charms. The original didn't have any holes in it, but I put a hole top and bottom. So I can hang a pretty pearl, and put in earwires.

      I also made this replica cameo, with an image that originally graced the front of an antique metal button. I put it into the reproduced optical lens bezel, to give it a very vintage look. I think it looks like a french court lady-in-waiting or something romantic like that.
     I'm headed back over to the studio to finish some more bezels. No, I didn't forget the giveaway - I promise to pay attention to that soon!

     I'm hitting the road this week! On Thursday my daughter and two grandkids are headed up to Texas to see the great-grands. Three generations in a car, driving 6 hours. 
     Since I'll be out of pocket until next week, if you order something after Wednesday, I won't be able to ship until after the weekend. I also have some new pieces to photograph and put into Etsy. Maybe right after I pack!
     This medal is another of my faux-enamel experiments. I wanted the light to shine through the red coloring, making it bounce off the pewter underneath and gleam!

Mother's Day Giveaway!

      Happy Mother's Day! I wish all of you a great time with family, enjoying yourselves.
     To celebrate, I'm doing a giveaway today. I've got some glass cabochons, and I've been wanting to make them into something fun.

      The golden toned one, with the fleur-de-lys cross, is soldered with a jump ring at the top. The single flour-de-lys on a black background is mounted on some pressed-metal filigree I had in my components box.
     They are both very rustic-looking and ancient-feeling!

     Tell me which one you like by posting a comment here, and why you like that style better, and you will be entered into a chance to win one of them. Do you like the golden-toned fleur-de-lys cross? Or do you prefer the filigree single flour-de-lys?
    And thanks for the feedback! I need it, it helps a lot, knowing what you prefer.

Bluebird of Happiness

     You know, it just goes to show you. When I created this little bird pendant in polymer clay, I thought it was really fun and happy-looking. And when I painted it, using bright colors, I really thought it would fly away to someone's home very quickly.
     But I've been surprised. It's still with me, waiting for someone to turn it into a necklace or bracelet. So, I decided to put it on sale. And until Monday, the free shipping coupon is still available in the Etsy shop. The MOMSHIPFREE code will save you shipping when you use it.
     Sometimes, when I create something new or different, I believe I know when it will be gone quickly. I thought this little bird would be one of those things. Maybe it just hasn't found its way home yet.
     But I believe I will make more, and paint them different colors, like robins or cardinals, or even blackbirds, and see if they fly away to new homes.