New work and more experimentation

Remember those silver plated trays I found at a resale shop? I finally got around to cutting them up and making jewelry out of them. I am calling them my "city" necklace series and I can customize them for any city you'd like. I made a couple of Royal Oak ones, Clawson, and Detroit.

Now to go backwards on the process! They didn't start out brass, after all the trays are silver plated. I took my dremel and the trays outside and started cutting. The funny thing about the picture above is that I took this less than a week ago and I am wearing my down jacket and was freezing outside. I am writing this sitting in a tank top outside in the warm sunshine right now.

This is the tray that I thought would work out the best because it is thicker but actually the other one came out better.

And this one is a bit thinner.

The one on the left is from the thinner tray and has brass in the center. The one on the right is silver all the way through...or so it appears.

I stamped them first then made attempted to solder bales out of sterling silver wire.

First you give the solder some heat until it turns into a ball. Then you place it in the joint so it can melt right in there well.

I made a "New York" one with the thicker tray. The end result was that the thinner tray soldered and the thicker one did not. My theory is that the thinner tray had better quality silver plate? I have no idea.

I put oxidized both of them and found that the thinner tray oxidized better too. However it also took the finish off and left the brass. It probably did the same thing to the other one but since it is some sort of silver colored metal all the way through you can't really tell.

After sanding it and polishing it, it ended up brass. But it still looks great and it's nice and shiny!

New Photos

Last weekend I finally took some new photos. I stopped by an abandoned cinema near the city I grew up in. I used to go here as a child and it's so weird all boarded up and falling apart. Yet I find so much beauty in it...probably more so now than back when it was open. The textures of all the different boards as well as the different tones are incredible.

I love the way the composition balances all the colors and shapes. I did quite a bit to this digitally. The sky was completely overcast and white so I added the blue. I also changed the color of the wall to a more peach tone.

The urban landscape.

Marquee lights.

Bullet holes.

I call these "Innocence Lost" because my daughter thought at first that this was a silly drawing on a building and then she found out that this was target practice. She just couldn't grasp that someone would want to shoot up a wall like that. And kudos to her for taking off her coat in the freezing cold to take these shots too!



New Jewelry

Alice In Wonderland inspired mushroom necklace. I had a little too much fun with the theme for this one! Here is a close up:

And a wishbone charm necklace.

The Painting Process; An Unexpected Afternoon

This weekend was super busy, yet also super productive. Friday I finally cut up the silver plated trays I bought at Salvation Army and made necklaces out of them (another post on that later), Saturday I worked on them some more plus we had 2 birthday parties and a theater workshop for my daughter, and today-the most productive day of all. I set up "creative time" for both of my kids on the dining room table with paint, markers, sketchbooks, and more-all so that I could work out without any fights between them! I ended up doing 2 workouts and after sat down to see what they made. My daughter had saved the small 4x6 squares that were left when I was cutting mats and she'd done paintings on them. They were so cute. There were all these great acrylic colors already mixed up and just sitting there so I did my own 4x6 painting-pictured above.

I had so much fun with it and was totally inspired so I pulled out an empty canvas and just went with it. I wanted to add texture and I'd been thinking about doing this to a canvas for a long time so I used Collage Pauge with the paint and put a wrinkled layer of sewing pattern tissue on it and painted over parts of it. I studied the finished product to try and decide what to paint on it and I saw this great tree shape coming out of it.

My dark and twisty addition is the red towards the bottom. Makes me wonder what happened below that tree. Is it from a sunset? Is it blood? Why does it say "(blouse)" and "Guide" above it? I can come up with a whole creepy scenario--maybe I've been watching too many dramas on tv.

The finished painting.

I was still feeling inspired so I got out a 16x20 canvas and went with it too. I really love the way the pattern paper turned out and the deep green colors. It was almost hard to paint an image on. I almost kept it abstract.

I painted this but the legs just didn't look right to me. It cuts off right at the knees but it kind of looked like those were the feet and she had super short legs. After much contemplation I decided to extend the skirt.

Here is the finished painting. I have it hanging on my wall and I keep looking at it feeling that maybe it's not finished. I love the color and I love the figure but I am not completely 100% happy with her being right directly in the middle of the canvas. I might change it. Then again I might not.

After all this painting I ended up cleaning the house, doing dishes, a load of laundry, and then I made 5 new necklaces! Yeah, I'm whipped alright.

Friday's Favorites 3/26

Tea Towel Pebbles $17

From thenearfuture

Hundertwasserhaus 8x10 Fine Art Photograph $18

From TheLittleRooster

This was taken in Vienna and she said the floors are all uneven and each room is painted in a different color. Awesome.

Herringbone Button Leggings $45

From ErosDIY

Corset Belt $79

From Duende74

Pomegranate Poinsettia Necklace $78

From MissBeeDesigns

Awesome photo, awesome necklace.

Low Tide Fine Art Photograph 6x4 $10

From YannPendaries

Such a whimsical print that looks more like a painting than a photograph.

Pertty Birdie's Organic Cotton and Bamboo High Waist Skirt $80

from StephanieTeague

Black Silk Organza Pleated French Maiden Dress $395

From reddoll

This dress is so super sexy and awesome. I want it! Her whole shop is full of amazing high fashion pics so check it out.

All by Myself (Shoes In New Zealand) Original Painting on board $140

From Joedero

This guy is so freakin talented I had to feature him twice! The above painting was done using ink as watercolor and he ripped the board off of one of his homemade waterboards. He rocks!

Hell, Hell No Original Painting on canvas $310

from joedero

1950's Authentic Vintage Dress $175

from clevervintage

Custom Necklaces

I am getting ready to start selling my custom made "text necklaces." I have the tweet one in my shop now and will keep adding all week. I can do any word or words that you would like. I already got two custom orders for "who dat." I can do children's names (and I can add swarovski birthstone dangles too), college names, highschools, your name, "Team Edward", pretty much anything you can think up!

They are available as circles or rectangles and they hang nicely from either an 18" sterling silver chain or a 24" gold plated chain.

My awesome friend, Alvita, is taking this necklace to the Mexican museum in Chicago to ask the gift shop if they'd like to start carrying them. Fingers crossed!!!

This one is available for $24 and can be purchased here.