Pretty Is....

'Pretty Is...' by fosterbk

Wood Vase COTTAGE P... OldNewAgain $20.00	Micro Eco Journal S... NaturesCubbyho... $50.00	MINI Alphabet (naut... lovemaestore $18.00
Earrings Coffee Bro... GlassRiverJewe... $14.00	Needlecase, Jumbo, ... midnightcoiler $20.00	Signed and Numbered... bythewayside $25.00
Recycled Newspaper ... hippiekingdom $22.00	Hooty the Owl 6x6 a... redtilestudio $50.00	Orange Poppy - felt... Baymut $20.00
Sea urchin jewelry ... jennyhoople $32.00	Woodland Hedgehog P... ALDDesigns $18.00	ACEO-SUMMERS BEAUTY... nikid2 $6.00
Chubby birdie - Arc... joojoo $15.00	Linen pincushion -... namolio $11.00	Alice's Adventu... JezebelCharms $41.99

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

I'm so thrilled to have had my hedgehog sculpture included in this remarkable treasury by Fosterbk!  I really love the understated elegance, soft neutral colors and brilliant pops of orange.  Brenda has a knack for creating artful combinations of soulful items and stunning color.  Please check out her Etsy shop to see her beautiful photography! Thanks again Brenda! :)

Finished Jewelry, Dove update

I finally got some of my jewelry projects finished, photographed, and listed on Etsy.  I've been working on this since about 8 am, but I'm finally done.  My favorite new pieces are :

 

I'm excited about the raven because it's all free hand.  I just used a bamboo skewer to press the image into the soft clay.  It's a technique that I'm going to work on some more.  If anyone remembers, ravens and crows were some of my favorite subjects with lampworking.  I absolutely love them.  

The dove didn't exactly go as planned, but I still love him. I sculpted him using my male dove, Zeus as a model.  I wanted to raku fire him, so all bets were off when it came to color. The only disappointment with the color was the coral rings around his eyes became a silver too...and I really like the color contrast on the real doves.

The poppy earrings have been laying around for awhile, waiting for me to put them together. I must say what I like best about this listing is the picture I took.  I love the colors in the picture.  It's given me further inspiration for some more beads to make using my aqua raku glaze and my red.  

So far I don't think Zeus and Hera have laid any eggs but I'm keeping their cage in a more secluded part of the house.  They have been working diligently on their nest..it seems their favorite material is strips of index cards. 

First YouTube Tutorial

I know it's not the best, but it's not the worst either...lol. At least no one has to listen to me talking.

My Zinnia Tutorial

  I made some of these zinnias and was getting ready to list them, then I saw someone on Etsy's front page who had made something similar and I felt weird adding mine right after-- especially since hers were not only stunning but beautifully photographed.  I try not to look at stuff that is very much like mine when I'm on Etsy.  For one thing, even if it didn't influence me whatsoever, I feel concerned someone will think it did.  Also, if I have an idea I love, I'll feel disheartened if I find someone doing something similar.  Ignorance is bliss..lol...so I try not to look too much.  In my personal way of thinking, even if someone set out to do something EXACTLY like something of mine, it would always look a bit different because of the individual artistry of the other person. YET, here I am sweating it...lol.  Once I made a glass bead depicting a father penguin and a baby, yes I was inspired by some pictures of penguins, but not by someone's artwork...and this person actually made a big ole thing about it on a message board.  It was actually enough to sort of kill my creative spirit for a time.  I know it is part of what took my heart out of lampworking.  So this time around, I don't know if I will go much to ceramic message boards, I'd like to meet other artists, but at the same time there is always going to be someone pointing fingers and accusing people they don't even know. 

Anyway, I don't put out tutorials for my own gratification, I put it on to help other people starting out.  So if you use the tutorial to make something and then turn around and sell it, I'm honored.

My Book Wish List and some of my Favorites

These are two books at the very top of my list.  I haven't really done much with metal aside from wire wrapping and I'm always intrigued with beautifully hammered silver jewelry. I adore the earrings on the cover.  Now that I'm getting into ceramic bead making the second book seems like a no-brainer.  I've looked at some of the projects in the book and they involve many techniques I'm anxious to try, especially RAKU!



Now for my faves....I taught myself lampworking from Cindy Jenkins' books. They are very informative and enough to get ANYONE started with this beautiful art form. 





Another favorite book of mine is this informative book by Sherri Haab.  It is full of beautiful (and classy) metal clay projects.  I really love the bracelet made from a tree branch and her artichoke beads.

This Chain Mail Jewelry book is full of beautiful projects and many of the projects are so versatile because they would work well for a man or a woman.  I find the Japanese 4-1 Chain mail bracelet to be absolutely stunning.

Woven Wire Jewelry has projects that look really hard but many are deceptively easy.  Actually my most favorite project in the book "the woven bracelet" is one of the easier ones.  It looks very Celtic and has a lot of ways to customize it.

I'm always on the look out for well written craft books with clear explanations and lots of colorful pictures.  These are all books that I'm very happy to have in my home library.