New Work

I don't tend to post many pieces of the new work here that are going on Etsy. With the Etsy Mini on the blog I figure you can see it so I don't do much announcing. Maybe I should and I'll try and be a little better about it. The three sets I just added to my shopped are Mixed Media components edging toward the season of love - "Valentine's Day." I hope you will like them. There will be more coming and I hope to have lots of posts before the end of the month. This piece is strung temp orarily on waxed linen and comtains all handmade beads. Several beads are ceramic and the majority are lampwork. I really enjoy this blend. What is your favorite blend of handmde beads and why?

“Decked Out” English

I love a good Peace sign, can’t help myself. I’d claim it was caused by the water if I could get away with it but I’m a “Boomer” and that’s just the way it is. When I was looking up “Bazinga”(see an earlier post) I ran across “Gotcha” as a definition of the word and a whole Sheldon Cooper fan club. “Cool Baby!” And; at that point, things got a tad crazy.

One find was the UofM study and class to teach foreign students how to cope with English. They’re right! Think about a foreign student who might have been taught English and then they run into a “Valley Girl”. “Uh, like the situation was totally tubular, really – I mean like, it was just like gnarly to the max.” Talk about a linguistic curve ball.

That little Internet jaunt took me to words which I would like to stamp on some clay or metal pieces but then – would anyone understand? Can I say “Keep on truckin’ you “jive turkey” because you’re too “trippy” to be “making out” with no “funky flower child”. If I could it might be a “bitchin blast”, but then some “far out” “Daddy-O’ conservative “fink” might not be so “copasetic” about it. I’d have to “mellow out” before he “laid it on me” and it got all “heavy”. “Like wow” that’s so “far out”.

Well, I better “bug-out” now. It’s been “a gas”.

New lampwork is out of the kiln and I'll post some pic's tomorrow.

Orange - It's Your Time

If you like to stay a few steps ahead, take note: the Pantone Color Institute has just revealed the top ten colors you should—read: will—be wearing come spring. They are: Tangerine Tango, a juicy orange hue; Solar Power, a warm yellow hue; Sodalite Blue, a maritime blue hue; Cabaret, an intense rosy-red hue; Starfish, a warm neutral hue; Margarita, a piquant yellow-green hue; Sweet Lilac, a pinkish lilac hue; Driftwood, a beige-grey blend; Bellflower, an ornamental purple; and Cockatoo, a spirited blue-green. So, now you know which colors to look for, tell me: which color is your favorite?

Pantone's color of the year….and it’s Tangarine Orange. Oh Yes, it’s about time my favorite color made it to the top of the list. So for this Spring you can throw on that touch of sweet orange and go for it. This is the entire palette and there are some charming color combinations to be had here. If you don’t think so check out Pantone’s great designers and see what they’ve whipped up with them.

Designer's have already got that Spring Line into full production...

Silly Sunday

You’re going to have to read this to realize these topics go together in a strange Sharon sort of way. Why at this rate I could be a guest writer for a newspaper (where is questionable)..

Tonight’s big news on our local TV report concerned the anger over trees that were blocking a road. Is this a four lane highway? – NAH. More like snow-covered back road – otherwise how could you get those trees cut down without anyone seeing you? Anyway, this post might help you understand my occasional mind melting issues. Below is the news report – I have highlighted the names of the roads and the apparent fact that we don’t seem to know how to count stumps that are missing their tops. I have a question – and we have time up here in the winter for pondering them. Well…, investigators – was it 16, 17, maybe someone stood a few logs up and it was only nine? You can estimate a crowd of people, or the number of gun shots at a robbery but when the evidence is just sitting still there in the daylight the word “ABOUT” in your report just isn’t going to cut it. The policeman was probably educated up here too and we are damn proud to have him. Probably fifth generation or something and all around nice fellah.

You just can’t make this stuff up! And when they sandwich this “Important Breaking News” in between the political race in New Hampshire and the fact Charles Barkley is hosting Saturday Night Live – show blow up maps with arrows and then close up shots of the trees and say out loud the location of the said macabre attack and don’t start laughing…. Well, you have to learn to play along ‘cause in’ they’re serious. Even my DH who grew up here and has friends named “Toad – Jimmy John, and Bucky” burst out laughing. Here is the Internet version – use your imagination for the reporter:

Trees Intentionally Cut Down in Otsego Co., block road
By John McGowan, Anchor

The Otsego County Sheriff's Office is looking for whoever cut down about 17 trees on Tin Shanty Road, near Sawdust Pile in Charlton Township.

The trees were all 12 to 15 inches in diameter, and they made the road impassable.

The Otsego County Road Commission had to remove the trees.

Keep in mind if you have any information of perpetrators of this crime call the Otsego County Sheriff – (but don’t tell him how I was cracking on his patrols or the news anchor…..)

Super Creative Studio Area

The ceramic studio at Right Turn ArtWerks is an austere department. It’s a humble area and nearly as portable as a plein air easel and paints.

Since I’ve shown you other areas I work in….torch, cast, fabricate, and so on I thought I’d show you where I create the clay “magic”. I have both a wet area and a dry area. Pretty nifty, huh?

I could take an obligatory hundred photos of my set-up –some great close-ups. Do a little Photoshop work and make it look magnificent – grand – maybe even downright arty and ostentatious. At least I’d like to think I could. LOL

Instead, I think I’ll just give you the skinny. Here you go:

Two folding TV tables full of goodies. Storage when I’m not a student in the “Ceramic’s Department “in ArtWerks is a super huge clear Tupperware type container that fits into the closet – 25# of clay and all.

I love working with the clay (actually almost anything creative) – I wash my hands a whole lot but I’ve taken care of THAT problem with a new recipe for hand cream (more later). I guess what I wanted show is you don’t need a ton of room to be creative with something. This is pretty bare bones but it works for me.

Gotcha

Bazinga! I love that saying….as popularized by Dr. Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. I wasn’t a fan of it before this – it must have coincided with something else I was watching on TV. Then, the reruns began on TBS and I’ve been watching it while I work on some clay pieces. There is also this insane desire to knock on doors three times while saying someone’s name…………I’ve lived in an apartment complex like that. Have you? I’ve been accused of being geeky, but not intellectual, just odd-duckish, so this sitcom just cracks me up. Trust me I’m not a sitcom person but bazinga is my kind of word!

I like the word so much I decided to make a few stamped ceramic pieces. These aren't painted yet and fresh from the kiln. I'm wondering how much fun a necklace covered in generational sayings might be. Remember "POW" from the Batman series...........LOL

First Great Inspiration Giveaway

Look at the beaded piece on the cover of this book - it's the great work of Robin Atkin's. It was her book One Bead at a Time (now out of print) that first piqued my interest in bead embroidery.

500 Beaded Objects is one of the books I received in the Lark Book giveaway. It's a great book but I already have a copy. I use it all the time for inspiration - it's just supercharged!

I'm going to giveaway this book out to some lucky person so they'll have all that extra inspiration too. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment on this post - make sure I have your email address and I'll choose a random winner on January 14, 2012 via a random number generator.

Best of Luck!

I'm peeing my pants.....

Not only has Sylvie Lansdowne long been one of my very favorite teachers she has also got a sense of wit and imagination beyond compare. You have got to go and check these photos out and no doubt you will be wanting to download one for yourself...

Beaded Laughter

Wishing You Health and Happiness