Home Again

Home from my travels in Europe with many photos of the wonderful faces that decorate and protect the buildings and bridges there. I so love the whimsy of them. Some are quite scary and are designed that way to protect the inhabitants from evil spirits (and people I suppose). Here are a few of my favorites. Wouldn't it be fun to incorporate some of these guys into a piece of jewelry? Hmmm
Good news came as I was away! My "Newt Box" was accepted for inclusion in the PMC Annual!! I an honored and thrilled. The book will include the work of 61 Metal Clay artists from around the world. If you are a member of the PMC Guild you will receive a copy in October and if not it can be purchased.

Now I am off to do another newt project as I still have more ideas to make another box even more special. I am thinking of making the next one in silver with the newt in gold. Stay tuned.

Riparian Box ( aka: Newt Box)

Finally!! The box is done!

This was my favorite project ever!

After making the newt and the box frame out of polymer clay, I then made molds for the metal clay. The box base, unmolded and carve. I had to cut off the bottom which was really the top so that I could put a bottom on the bottom. Confused? So was I!

After the base was a box, then it was time to fit the lid.After fitting the lid, I put the leaf and newt together.

And then....I fired the pieces.

Check out the little sparkle in the bottom of the box. Those are stones that represent sparkling water.

And the rest is polish and patina!!

Home again!

Just returned from teaching a weekend workshop at Gualala Arts in beautiful Gualala. We had a lot of fun and my students mastered some new skills. Saturday was an intro class with some new students who had never touched PMC before and others who wanted to do a refresher and work on new techniques. Sunday was stone setting and ring making. I just love it up there and the people are so welcoming and supportive.

On another note, I just completed my newt project! I am thrilled with my "Riparian Box" and can't wait to make another in a similar theme. Here is a photo of the lid in still in "greenware". I made the newt out of bronze clay and the box is copper clay.

Studio Path

The path to my studio is fraught with distractions (or maybe inspiration). The evening light and the winding path that my boys and I laid down one summer look so inviting.
On my way into the studio I must first walk through the kitchen and then the laundry room. This alone can distract me until noon some days. Once I have sorted as many socks and washed as many dishes as I can tolerate, I walk out into my private little wonderland.
There is the Ginkgo tree that was a wedding gift 28 years ago. It is just budding out. The leaves right now are miniscule. I used a few to make a lovely little bead recently. I pass all the little white Santa Barbara Daisies and the African Daisy that my son gave me for my birthday the year I decided to have a white flower garden...so pretty.
Along the way is the Orange Tree, the Lime Tree and a wonderful Red Pear Tree. The bird baths (one a birthday present for me and the other a birthday present for my mother years ago) are loved by our birds and if you look under them usually I can find Red Bellied Newts.
The west side of the yard is lined with Redwood Trees that we planted with our first born when he was just a toddler. I cannot believe how big they are now!

I love where I live and I have lived here so long that most of the plants in my yard have a story. When we built the house on this site there were no trees at all, just a meadow and a view.
Spring around here always amazes me. Truly it is hard to go inside to work.

Newts!

Newts

I love newts and salamanders. As a child, my brother and I would spend hours looking for salamanders in our neighborhood. We would lift the cement gas meter covers and collect as many as we could. I now know the scar I bear on my finger was from an Arboreal Salamander. I am a new docent at the local wildlife sanctuary and I am in newt heaven! Right now the creek is riddled with hundreds of Red Bellied Newts that we used to call "water puppies". I have been sculpting this little guy to make into newt earrings. The docents love to wear wildlife jewelry but cannot find newt earrings. Voila! I hope to make them happy! I have spent the last few days in my studio studying how a newt looks. We even went to the creek today to take a closer look. I am pretty happy with this guy. He is made from polymer clay that I am going to make a mold with and then make him in copper and silver. I can't wait!