relax

We have been working hard, so now its time to take a short break before getting ready for Art Fest! I have the classes hammered out, but I want to make lots of delightful things for vendor night and some special prizes for my students. Anyway, I've spent the last couple of days relaxing with the kids, taking walks and drawing pictures. It has been lovely, but I need to get back to work making new things.

New for Tucson!

Bronze and shibuichi fairy pendant.
Bronze and rose cut sapphire owl face pendants.
My new little articulated turtle! Finally molded and cast!
Greg's sweet faced baby bat with articulated wings (I didn't put in his garnet cabochon eyes in the picture above). These pieces and more will be available at The Best Bead Show and also at The To Bead True Blue Show, followed by The Tucson Show.

It has been nice to finally relax a little after the storm that is the preparation of these big shows. Its a little subdued around here, now that the shows are in full swing, but I've stayed busy since there's always something to finish up. Maybe I can take the night off and read a book.

hand pendant

Here's another wax in the process of being molded! This pendant is two pieces, the hand fits into the lace cuff, allowing the pendant to be cast in two different metals (imagine! a silver hand with a bronze cuff, or a shibuichi hand with a silver cuff....). I made this with Victorian elements in mind, thinking it would look nice with a cast key or little bird held from the fingertips. This piece has sat on my work bench for a long while and was actually cast once (it just didn't look right, so I did it over). I would pick it up, carve a little on it, then set it down again. I have lots of pieces like that, in various stages of completion, waiting for their turn to be finished and polished. I think this piece will be one that gets a little extra detailing before its cast, like adding a tiny, sparkling ring, or maybe the cuff will get pierced, allowing light to pass through its bell-like shape - small details to make each one unique. That said, I'll probably end up making a handful then moving onto something else! Sometimes I have such a limited attention span. Anyway, this piece will also debut at The Best Bead Show and the To Bead True Blue Show happening a few days from now in Tucson, AZ. Stop by and see the new things!

bronze bee clasp!

This is a new clasp design carved by my good friend Jessica Wiesel, to debut at The Bead True Blue Show in Tucson, AZ. This piece will be offered in bronze at the show and on my etsy shop for a bit, then in fine pewter when that stock runs out.

Jess is an extremely talented artist in many mediums, from painting and drawing to miniature sculpting to couture sewing. She recently relocated from Columbus, OH to my neck of the woods here in Asheville, NC. We have been having a wonderful time creating new pieces and planning adventures (London, next year....). I am so happy to have my long time buddy so close! We met nearly 19 years ago in art school and became fast friends in a modern dance class, both of us rather awkward and embarrassed. We shared a love of dolls and detailed work, both things very unpopular then, considered too crafty for the fine art world. We persisted, making doll sculptures and noodly egg tempera paintings, focusing on our technical skills by making pretty things. Those days seem like yesterday, as we are both constantly searching for new techniques to learn. We have quite a pile of things to cast! Stay tuned for the next pieces!

facebook

Lately, I haven't been blogging as much since Facebook is so easy to upload to. If you want to get updates and whatnot on goings on at GGS, like our page Green Girl Studios. I just started it the other day, but I thought it would be a cool place for folks to share photos of things made with our stuff.

Anyway, I took a long needed break today by heading up forty miles to Hot Springs, NC for a mineral soak and massage (above is the view from the front porch of the spa). My friends Jessica Wiesel and Jess Gaston accompanied me on our little adventure through the mountains. The spa is a little rustic, with private outdoor hot tubs filled with soothingly warm mineral water overlooking the French Broad River. I love it there and would go all the time if I had tons of cash. We're already planning a mud wrap when Tucson is over!

Jess Imports

The last few weeks have blurred by as we approach Tucson 2012. The studio is always occupied, the sounds of metal grinding and torches burning heard at any hour. This year is special. I've decided to make exclusive masters for my friend Jessica Gaston of Jess Imports fame. She's known for carrying a wide variety of unusual clasps and rings featuring interesting designs ranging from vintage to modern.

I've known Jess ever since my first shows, way back when I was an art student testing the waters of the bead world. That was some 15 years ago, when the bead industry was still a mystery....there were only two bead magazines and a handful of shows. We used to travel around to different cities selling our wares at shows during the day and having fun in the evenings. A lot has changed since those early days, we've grown up and buckled down as responsible adults (well, sort of.....I still feel like 24). Some things never change, though, and we are giggling and silly whenever we get together.

The waxes above are the latest batch of clasps (the squirrel will be set in a box clasp or hook and eye) and will debut at The New Gem Mall Tent #Two Jan.28-Feb. 10. They will be offered in shibuichi and bronze, possibly pewter.

approaching winter

My sister Sheila and Max enjoying the festive lights around our house (we were the first in our neighborhood this year!).

Winter eases over Asheville slowly, taking its time to settle blanket-like on the mountains....which is fine, since once its cold I retreat indoors, rarely leaving my nest. In a lot of ways this 'hibernation' or retreat, happens on several levels. I stay inside my house, inside my head, waiting for spring, warmth and green. The bare trees and frosted mountain tops are lovely, but I find it very hard to be cheerful. I am too affected by the world around me, the negativity and chaos, but also the sadness that always comes when I think of Christmas. For our family, we hope that one day my brother will come home from wherever he's been these past twenty years. Its a fog that creeps in and keeps me cold.

This winter will be different. I'm taking a stand. We put up lights on our house to cheer us when we pull up the curb. When I hear about something that makes me think humans are horrid creatures, I think about all the things we've made that make us brilliant: The Book of Kells, watercolor pencils, solar power, Japanese soaking tubs and ball jointed dolls (among so many other things). I guess that's like stringing happy lights in my brain. This world of ours is a wondrous place, full of beauty and magic. That is what this season will represent to me from now on.

compartments

Here's the finished paper doll! Now to find a good printer.....any ideas? Sourcing printers is probably my least favorite part of making things. Maybe I'm too particular, but I find it really difficult to get good color, thick paper and a nice finish from one shop. Its either great paper and weak color, or way too contrasty. Of course when I say 'is it possible to make the print look like the original?' I get a blank stare, as if I asked for it to be printed on homemade marshmallows. Anyway, the search continues to find the perfect printer that doesn't cost a fortune.

The other day I found myself on a website featuring fantasy art and I wondered vaguely if my stuff would fall into that category. Generally, I find categories annoying, since I have trouble thinking of myself in one. 'Fantasy Art' seems to exude a strong air of fluffiness, not that I don't completely appreciate that aspect of it, but it doesn't seem like a good fit. I don't like 'female artist', as that implies a lot of huge flowers and a fixation on being oppressed. That feels a little too much like focusing on the negative, so I'll leave that to more angsty folks. I can't really claim the whole 'asian artist' thing either, since I'm a halfy - or 'hapa' as my brother Andrew likes to call us. Maybe there's a 'folklorist' category, since I'm hugely influenced by folktales and mythology and how stories become part of the fabric of everyday life.

I've never liked titles, compartments or categories, this isolation of an individual, this separation. I go through stages of not signing my paintings, since its not important that I made it to the person looking at it. That doesn't mean I think we should all work anonymously, but it is interesting to think of how much importance is placed behind the art and not on the art itself. On the surface, this doesn't seem to be the case with craft artists, but the more I sit here thinking about it, the more I realize that all aspects of art are broken in to parts, divided and ranked.

Most of the artists I know are many faceted: fiber artists that make jewelry, painters that sculpt and make knitted handbags, etc. We've talked about how hard it is to pick a direction and push that particular thing forward: make a website, establish a brand, then promote. I suppose I'm all over the place and should separate everything, a different website and blog for my dolls, for the crafts I'm into and for the beads and jewelry. I've been advised to do this many times, but I balk at the idea. Again with the categories! So much time and energy spent on partitioning off aspects of one company. I think i'd rather make something fun, like a felted vest or some slippers and not worry if I'm considered a jewelry artist or a mermaid painter.

drawing board

Yesterday I read my brother's post on 'The Art of Thinking' (his reaction to an interesting article on Sparrow Salvage) and it got me thinking about my expectations of a days work and what I consider wasted time: fooling with materials, testing paints, organizing beads, picking up the house (how many times in a day?) and the worst time thief of all - staring at my laptop, searching for inspiration in beautiful images, reading tutorials and perfume descriptions (of all things!). Why I love to read how a particular fragrance smells is odd - I guess they paint a fantastic reality, imagining opening a bottle and smelling a cedar forest, all sharp, dark and green. While I love doing this, it doesn't help me carve beads, or work on my shop, or tend the kids. So I feel guilty and try and make up the time by furiously carving away on something. More often than not, these projects born of guilt look shoddy and done by a lunatic, so of course I don't cast it! This bit of failure leads to its own set of insecurities all artists have about their work.

The last few weeks have seemed incredibly unproductive. I keep staring around me, sort of shocked at all I need to do, but can't find the time or energy to finish anything. There's a huge pile of wax that needs carved, but I took out my watercolors and made a little booklet called 'possibilities' to sketch ideas for a little book. My esty store needs updating, so instead I began designing paper doll creatures that look like the forest floor has come alive- little beings built from mushrooms, lichen, bulbs, roots, sticks and flowers. Azalea will enjoy putting the bits together, since I'm designing them so the parts can be interchanged to form new creatures. Again, this lovely little project doesn't include carving, so I consider it frivolous.

After reading Andrew's post, I understood the idea, that its necessary to let yourself idle, to not make anything.... in order to create something wonderful. Of course this is an over simplification of the idea, but I see the importance of slowing down and allowing ones mind to process the stimulation, to let the creativity percolate uninterrupted. The stubborn part of my mind argues that this is a ruse and that I need to stop fiddling around and just get to the drawing board or nothing will get made. The inner argument continues, one side validated and delighted to have an excuse to stare at dolls and read hundreds of perfume descriptions, the other side appalled and furious, insisting I get off my hind end and finish something! Ah well, I think I'll have a glass of wine, the workaholic self will settle down and let my hands make what they want to.... I don't think this discussion is over quite yet.

pretty new things

Fresh from the workbench! I carved these awhile back, but it's so busy around here with shows and new projects, that there hasn't been time to cast them. The mermaid in front is designed to either work as a pendant, with a dangle drop from her tail, or as a link. I'll try both, I think. The silver queen is a pendant with a hole through her crown. Her tail is looped around to accommodate a little tassel of crystals or pearls, like a spray of ocean water.

I made this necklace last night as a sample for the new lacy pendant we made this summer. I designed the piece with Victorian collars and delicate cuffs in mind, something I could add lots of sparklies to. I'm going to try this design with a single pendant and loads of dangles and also as a pair of earrings. We'll see how those work out.

Azalea was patient enough to sit still to model the necklace.....although I cropped head, since she had chocolate smeared around her mouth (still working on Halloween candy) and that wasn't really the look I was going for. Anyway, this pendant and many others will be available for purchase at the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (or BABE, as everyone calls it) this weekend November 12-13, Sat. 10 - 6, Sun. 10 - 5. There's also a $2 off coupon on their website.

I'm making a small collection of bezels, glass capsules and will have the mermaids pictured above for sale, so come early to get the best selection.