What I Have Been Working On

A few times a year I go on supply buying trips. I always manage to purchase something a bit quirky. Sometimes these things get used in work immediately and sometimes they sit, waiting for the perfect moment to inspire me. It was over a year ago that I purchased a few strands of bright colored skulls. I had NO idea what I was going to do with them. So they sat. Just a few weeks ago I went on a buying trip and picked up more skulls. These were tiny and as I love things in miniature, naturally I had to have them too.

When I got home, I pulled the ones out that I had bought the year prior and I laid them all on my desk and then went about my business. My thought was if I stared at them long enough, eventually I would figure out what to do with them. And then one day I did.

Though out college, little lithe bodies had found their way into my art work. I used them in a few paintings but by the time graduation rolled around I had sketch books full of them. I could just never seem to leave dance behind entirely.

My idea was always to use them in jewelry and somehow I only made that happen once. I decided to change that! I have been adding my old sketches to these funky skulls and have been having a blast in the studio ever since. I name each one because they really have their own personalities...well that and I am a freak.




https://www.etsy.com/listing/104158893/the-trapeze-artist-sterling-silver

https://www.etsy.com/listing/104158893/the-trapeze-artist-sterling-silver

https://www.etsy.com/listing/104312245/tiny-turquoise-skull-necklace-jewelry

All of these pieces are now available in my shop. At this rate, there will be plenty more, and soon!

Goings on....

Well, It's been a busy little bit here in my house. But aside from the ill timed home demolition, recent discovery of Pinterest and the ongoing self improvment missions, I have been crazy busy working away in the studio, filling orders and working on commissions. I have had some really fun ones, these are just a few, but I thought you might like to see them!

"I Like Dirty Men" Necklace.

"I Like Dirty Women" Keychain.

                                                                              

Making 18k gold grain

Attaching grain to ring

 

Finished product, Recycled Sterling Silver Ring with 18k Gold Grain

Commision fun!

I got a commission a week or so ago for a sterling silver feather pendant. I was very excited because I love working with my saw. It seems the more detail needed to be cut the better for me. I did however find myself at that scary midway point where I was afraid to proceed. I loved the basic cut out but more detail was wanted so I hesitantly began after many drawings. I have to say, I am pretty happy with the results!


 About a month ago I received a lovely email from a woman who bought one of my tree pendants from a shop in Evansville Indiana. She told me about how it reminded her of a tree at her family's home and it made my day. She even sent me a picture of her wearing the necklace. What a huge complement!


This feather reminded me very much of those tree pendants so between this commission and that fantastic email I decided to create a tree for the first time in years.

It ended up being a frustrating day in the studio between paper work and broken saw blades but all in all I am excited about  the final product!

The holidays are on there way so expect more fun pieces like these to make their way to my up coming shows.



November 5th  my Annual Fall Party will be held in Mt. Washington MD from 2-4pm. Light bites and great company. Please email sara@heavenstobessie.com for the details.

December 3-4 I will be at the home of fellow artists Sarah Abel-DeLuca and Steven DeLuca taking part in the Carol County Artist Tour. Their home is open from 10am-5pm. My work will be there the whole time but I personally will be there from 1pm-5pm. There will be plenty to see! Details can be found at http://ccartists.com/Artists/AbelDelucaStudio.html

December 3-4 I will also be at Greetings and Readings in Hunt Valley participating in their First Floor Arts program. I will be there from 9am to 12pm but my work will be there in the capable hands of an assistant from 12pm until 6pm.

Playing With Fire Part II

Last time I wrote I spoke a little about the time I was spending in the metals studio on the campus of The University of Evansville. I mentioned very little as to what I was doing in there, other than the fun and enlightening conversations between me and my former professor. My hours spent in that studio over the last couple weeks were all about discovery....and perhaps a bit of re-discovery.

While in school I had all the equipment needed to solder, proper ventilation, tanks, pickle and all the forms and and hammers I could imagine. I sadly, took all of this for granted. Since graduating in 2005, I have been working in cold connections, which means simply, finding ways to connect metal with out soldering. I have been happy to work this way, in fact I felt that it perhaps made me a bit more creative when it came to designing with out immediately reverting to soldering. I felt, and still feel, that working in cold connections was like problem solving.

It has been in the last year or so that I have been seeking growth and change in my work. I have sketch books filled with designs I have had rolling around my head for years now with no way of bringing these to light with out the use of fire. So why, you may ask, did I not just purchase the equipment necessary to work this way. The answer is really not very interesting. I have felt uncomfortable having tanks in my house, I have no ventilation and it had been so long since I have worked this way, would I even remember how to do it.

Turns out, playing with fire is like riding a bike. I am not sure you really forget. As soon as I heard the "pop" of the torch as I lit it, I felt right at home all over again. Back in college, I was working on very "clean" pieces with bezel set stones and quite frankly, that work was not for me. It is still not. I am just not a precise enough person to work that way. This time, I was determined to work in a whole new way. I came to the studio with a large jar of sterling scrap. This jar contained every scrap of sterling I have created since 2003. I went into the studio with one goal in mind.....up-cycle these scraps.

I carved various shapes into charcoal blocks and laid my scrap in the fresh grooves and carefully, heated that metal until it was molten but not liquid and worked it around with my pick until I was pleased with the shape and texture of it. I couldn't stop. I couldn't get enough. I am not yet sure where I am going with this technique but I am in love. I would leave the studio feeling sunburned, my hands red and dry from the heat, but I was instantly hooked.

It reminded me a lot of when I started taking ceramics. I began taking the required course my Junior year of college, after I began taking painting and after I began taking metals/jewelry courses. The biggest problems I had in both classes was my fear of messing up, my fear of the blank canvas, my fear of marring that sheet of metal, my fear of not being good enough. Ceramics changed all that for me for the better. The very process of using scrap clay to make new clay to throw a bowl only to have it flop and send it right back to the scrap clay bin, I found very freeing. In going through these steps day after day in the ceramics studio I learned the very important lesson of letting go. Every time I would throw a bowl and it would flop, instead of getting upset, I would just smile and remind myself 'it is just dirt'. This philosophy stayed with me in my painting studio where I began painting on old canvases. Painting on surfaces that were already messy, alleviated my fear of making a mess. I stopped cleaning my brushes while painting, I allowed my colors to get muddy sometimes, and I became a better painter for it.

Somehow, even though I realized this discovery, it never made its way into the metals studio with me, until these past weeks. Up-cycling these silver scraps was my way of making new clay into a new bowl. It was fascinating and addicting.

It just goes to show that as artists, discovery is the ongoing theme of our lives. Whether its self discovery, the discovery of a new process or a new material, this evolution is ever present. It is a good thing I love change!