New Work by Maura Fox...

This lovely creation is by a fellow Etsian Maura Fox. Unfortunately, Maura's shop is not open yet...but I certainly hope she will consider sharing her creations there. This piece has one of my raku faces as the focal bead/cabochon surrounded by glass seed and bugle beads, crystals and brass wire work. Isn't she gorgeous!!  A perfect nature's child rendered in glass, clay and metal.

Thanks so much Maura for sharing this with me...and letting me post this delightful piece as well:)

A Touch of Passion...New Treasury Post

New treasury with some wonderful talent! Click on title above to visit the shops. If you like what you see...hope you will share with your Internet friends on Twitter or Facebook...or your favorite sharing site.

Thanks so much for looking:)

The Reveal...I'll Show You Mine...If You'll Show Me Yours...

These are the treasures that Jill from Gypsy Brocante sent to me. I adore every single item! Even the wonderful pink velvet bags they came in and ribbon they were tied with. I thought long and hard about how to best use these bits from the past and decided I wanted to do more than one creation. There were too many items that deserved to be a focal. Hope you will look at all these photos enlarged to see the detail of Jill's soup mix.

I mixed Jill's china pendant, key and beads with some items from my own collection to create a necklace rosary. I had a larger scale crucifix and an odd rhinestone ear ring that fit perfectly in the color scheme.This piece reminds me of my grandmother, whose favorite flower was a pink rose. Her china had lovely pink roses on them:) I intend to add to this piece later on by removing  the key and adding a locket with her photograph. I have a small photo that is hand-colored and has this color palette. It will be perfect!!

This piece can be a headband or a choker. It is twelve inches long and has ample silk ribbon to use as tie back. I used the vintage rose pin, pink and white beads on this piece with vintage lace and crochet and pink silk sari ribbon. Ribbons are from  Lashell at Designtalentedone.etsy.com

Another religious themed piece. I used one of my raku icons with Jill's rhinestone closure, and rhinestone and glass  beads. I attached the focal grouping to an 18 inch necklace of several kinds of pearls,silver beads, and my raku beads that I  wire wrapped in segments and put together. With Jill's beautiful clasp, I can take the focal group off and attach to a simpler silk ribbon or chain and wear closer to neck. Will be gorgeous peaking through a cotton open collar blouse with a vintage jean jacket.

And last ..but still with beads left over...is this cuff. The focal is another of my raku icons. Jill's rosary pieces, crucifix, paper rose earrings are attached to vintage lace, silk and there are vintage glass buttons and even a silver dragonfly from my collection in the mix.

I am anxiously waiting to see what Jill has mixed together with my bead soup ingredients.

I have shown you mine...now go take a look at all the amazing work by over three hundred artists who have patiently and lovingly worked with their partners soup mix. If you click on the title above you will go to Lori's posting for the Bead Soup Blog Party and find links to all the artists participating. 

And most important.... there are not enough words of thanks and praise for Lori Anderson and her tireless work to bring this all together. I am humbled by her passion and energy:)

Experimentation With Resin...Can Be a Sticky Business

I have been wanting to try imbedding items in resin for ever so long.  I recently created some deep well bezels in raku, some unusual in shape. In this experiment I have three standard cabochon shapes to fill and a little boys head.  I gathered up a few of my mini-raku pieces and odd supplies and started down the road on a new learning curve:)

I inserted a head pin in the hole I made while the clay was wet...pulled it tight and anchored from the outside with a plasticine clay. Thought I had the hole completely closed off...but the resin will flow through the smallest of openings. A small amount did flow to the outside of the bezel.  What I  did not expect was the plasticine clay  bonding with the resin so well:)

This piece turned out pretty well. I coated the interior well with a black pigment acrylic paint. A white moon shape/face is covered by  a small golden capiz shell I found at the beach this summer. I wasn't  sure how the resin would react with the shell...but was very pleased. The Ice Resin made the shell translucent, so you can see a faint moon face below.  The bat was a paper thin raku piece...another experiment...too fragile to use alone, it works well in this piece protected by the resin. I coated the over lapping wings with the resin front and back...and was happy with the strength it offered.

I threaded small garnets on the head pin to represent drops of blood.

This piece is one of my raku boy's heads that I made hollow to use as a bezel. Another found sea shell, vintage paper clipping of the word Creation, two watch gears and two miniature raku wings with raku frozen Charlotte are included in this piece. That's a lot of things to get into a one inch head:) I painted the interior gold. Everything was arranged before I poured the resin except the paper. I used a plastic dropper to fill the voids carefully without shifting the pieces. The dropper worked well for this purpose. The paper was layered on the wet resin surface and all left to dry. Next day I domed the resin to cover the paper and rest of Charlotte.

This off the wall oddity has two watch gears, two Milagros and a common house fly encased in the resin. This photo shows the first fill of resin. Next day I domed the resin to completely cover the fly. The background is raku glaze...I had fired this piece on both sides. Same problem with resin seeping out from head pin hole. The fly looks like a broken nose...until you look close and see it is a fly instead:)

 

And this piece has one of my mini raku Charlottes, mini wings and two watch gears. One to prop up the wings and one used as a halo for the angel. This bezel was raku fired on both sides as well. I love the depth to this piece. I did get some air bubbles...all to one side.  This photo shows the piece with first resin fill.

I have not figured out how to photograph the pieces with the resin to show their depth. There is a warmth and charm to them and a nice weight to the finished pieces. I want to touch the smooth surface  and bring close to see what is captured.

What I learned from my first resin adventure ...

don't put holes in bezels unless I can find a better way to seal the hole with headpin

level by eye is not level by resin standards

keep a long sewing needle or such handy to burst bubbles or arrange the tiny items

keep a good pair of fine point tweezers handy...fingers are not nimble enough to arrange

wax paper is a must to keep overflow contained and not leave traces on bezel

This is an amazing tool for creating. I also painted some resin on a crumbling old book page to see what it would do. Love that look as well. The resin makes so many things it touches partially transparent.

I look forward to my next adventure... I think I will layer many layers of resin and items to get a real depth of field to the piece. Got to do some collecting though, and remember that what I put in the resin...stays in the resin:) 

Remembering....

Words are only a pale shadow to what the heart feels...the depth of pain, of sorrow, of horror and continued fear. Remembering does not ease these feelings...but it gives me hope. I remember that for a short time the world community was as one. I wish that the catalyst had not been  tragedy. I wish with all my mind and body that respect for another's faith...what ever  that faith is that draws us each closer to wholeness...could be honored by all. That faith would bind us together rather than send us in separate directions. That our combined faiths would take humanity into a Golden Age of love and respect for all living things. That our hearts would be on fire...and our souls burn bright from those flames...that everyone who saw those flames would ignite  as well. That that glow from our combined love and respect would make the sun pale in comparison.  I am remembering...