Getting ready for a show is a busy and chaotic time!  Dale Lowe, and I were asked to talk about Wintergreen and the Saskatchewan Craft Council on Global News yesterday.  They were really friendly and it was great of them to spotlight local fine craft.  

I think preparation for shows like Wintergreen becomes all-consuming!  There is chaos involved as we gather our pieces, try to anticipate what people might be looking for and work out our displays, ensure everything is looking its best and priced correctly.  There are a lot of artists that have a set display but I am not one of them.  It seems to change every time!  Oh well.  I love going to shows and talking to people about my work and what I love to do. I really love meeting and talking to the other artists too!    
Come check it out this weekend...I'll be in booth #46.  It really is the best selection of fine craft available in Saskatchewan and it's all in one place!  
Friday from 1 - 9, Saturday from 10 - 6 and Sunday from 10 - 5.  Admission is $5.00, kids under 12 are free and also free if an Affinity Credit Union membership card is shown.  See you there!  :D

I love spring!!  Spring seems to be the time for new things!  Last spring I took a jewellery class about Chasing and Repousse and a lampwork class using silver glass.  
One of my main happy places has to be my studio (and the studio at the Neil Balkwill Centre).  I spend a serious amount of time there.  Outside my classes, I run after my three kids.  This means soccer 4 times a week in the spring as well as the groups my oldest attends twice a week.  Then there is the usual chaos and running around of life in general.  It's not a bad thing at all but it does take away from my creative/work time.  

I am a night owl.  I think I come by it honestly…my dad was a musician and most of his gigs were at night, my mom was into dance and theatre (also mostly at night).  My brother is a sports writer and works mostly nights….you see why this may have had an influence.  I have tried to become a morning person.  No, really.  I was not successful.   I spent 15 years in the Canadian Armed Forces.  Let me tell you, if they couldn't make me a day person nobody can!  
Being a night owl, I work best at night. Plus, it's the only time I can work as I usually can't get to it until everyone's in bed.  I have to walk a line between working at night and getting up at a reasonable hour to look after my family.  I am not always successful doing but I do keep trying!! :)

Classes keep me inspired, creative and social.  I love taking classes.  I have wonderful teachers and I have met wonderful people in these classes and honestly, the people are what keep me going back so often.  

The Chasing and Repousse class was totally new for me.  It is a fascinating process.  
Chasing is the art of creating a design on metal, from the front of the piece. Repousse is done by pushing metal up from the back of the piece.  Each technique can be done separately but they are often done in conjunction with each other.  
We began the class practicing with copper.  

It is a time-consuming process but it's well worth the effort.  I found it very relaxing and meditative.  You have to remind yourself to stop and take a break!  

Last summer, I was fortunate enough to take classes from the glass artist Sharon Peters at Bedrock Supply in Edmonton.  I took her 2-day Silly Bead class as well as the 1-day Dragons class.  That was so much fun.  Sharon's classes are never boring…she tells jokes during her demos!  I learned so much in these classes….I was really excited to get to a torch and apply what I learned.  

I really love doing sculpural beads and it's amazing to experience the process  that takes me from idea to design to finished bead.  They don't always work how I want but I always learn something from each attempt!  

These (above) are the beads I made in her class.  I have been working hard to improve my technique since then.  Particularly because I love doing fun animal beads for Beads of Courage.  These three (below) were meant for BoC but the bird's tail broke so he resides on my bench.  These led to other things such as moose, more than one octopus and a Sharon-inspired dragon that I am really quite proud of!  

I love learning new things.  I love working with my silver, tools and glass, sometimes working on a whim to see what happens.  I love coming up with a new idea.  Sometims, I will make something with a new technique or design element and run with it for a while.  Sometimes, I will make a whole bunch of similar pieces - such as lampwork fish or hollow beads - because I want to perfect the technique.  Sometimes, I have a design element that I like and I want to play with it and see where I can go with it.   

For instance, corrugated metal….I have a lot of fun with corrugation. Texturing possibilities are endless!  I began with a simple corrugated sheet (shown above), then went to an altered one (shown below).

On to more complex patterns on sheet (still corrugating!) 

and then on to see what I could do corrugating wire!  It's been an interesting process - ever changing.  
I seem to follow this pattern.  

Shortly after this, I started playing with twists in wire, which lead to knots, which lead to coils, then there are the hammers and other textures… and so on!  

I try very hard to find something that is uniquely mine.  This is very difficult as sometimes it seems that there are no truly original ideas out there.  However, variations on a theme keep me evolving and (hopefully!) improving my work.  Sometimes I leave a design (or variation of it) element because it seems that it isn't so unique as I thought.  I see pieces popping up in pictures or dispays that are uncannily identical to what I have just made.  

At first, this really bothered me!  I felt like others were just making lazy design choices.  It didn't occur to me right then, that I may have seen something like what I was doing somewhere before and forgotten about it (making me appear to be the one making lazy design choices - and I don't want that!) ….or that a tchnique is a technique and will look similar regardless of the piece.  Another possibility is that someone else somewhere came up with a similar idea all on their own.  It happens.  I get it now.  

Here is a good  post in The Torch that helped to put things in perspective for me as well as help me to lighten up and see the opportunity that this situation has presented to me.  

I realized that nothing at all will come of me being upset by it (though it can feel a little discouraging at times - especially when I come up with something I think is totally brilliant only to see it show up on Artfire or a similar site… proving that I am not the only one to think of this!) and I now see it as a signal that it's time to move on and come up with or learn something new.  

The positive side of this for me is that my creative abilities have to stay high gear and I can't become complacent.   So, although I really enjoy a certain technique or design element, it becomes necessary to move on and try something different.  
That doesn't mean that I won't ever go back to it, it just means that I will take a break until a new way of utilizing it comes to me.  And, I really do love to learn something new (see previous post)! 
Now, where did I put my sketchbook??  
Until next time….

Well, here it is…2014!  When did that happen??  Am I the only one who thought that 2013 was on Fast Forward?  I guess the old adage is true:  Time flies when you're having fun!

2013 was a great year for learning and for some firsts too.  Lots of new things to learn!  I made my first website (as you can see here!) and began blogging.  I really enjoy writing my blog but sadly, I didn't make enough time for it as I would like over the year. I hope to keep it more up to date in the coming year.   

As far as classes went, I was excited to participate in a sculptural Lampwork class in which I learned to make all sorts of fun little critters out of glass.  I learned to make frogs, teddy bears, dragons and goddesses…this picture is some of the first ones I made.  I loved it!!  The goddess beads were my favourite by far but I would like to try my hand at some other shapes too!  

Astrid at work!

In the summer, I was lucky enough to be in Edmonton and attend a class given by Astrid Riedel.  She is a wonderful glass artist from South Africa.  She taught several classes, but I was only able to get into one of them.  She taught us how to make her version of a hollow glass bead.  I learned a lot from her and it  was a fun day!  It was a doubly fun trip as I was able to spend some time with a good friend and see the theatre production of Warhorse.  That was truly amazing!!

At the torch!!

These are some of the beads that she brought with her! 

Another first for me happened in April when I was successfully juried into the Saskatchewan Craft Council.  It was a real experience getting ready for the jury session, but worth it in the end.  Because of that, I was fortunate to participate in two of the SCC's markets.  Waterfront (in Saskatoon) and Wintergreen in Regina.   

I am excited now to be looking forward to some new classes in the spring.  In jewllery, I will be taking a Chasing and Repousse class.  This is a wonderful technique for working forms and shapes onto a flat sheet of metal.  The designs are raised and formed from the back of the piece to give depth and dimension.  I bought a book new book about it and I can't wait to start.  The second class will be in lampwork and that will focus on the use of silver glass.  I hope to have more blog posts soon!  In the mean time, stay sharp and keep your hammer swinging.  Cheers!  

There are so many things that I love about working with metal, and making jewellery in general but one of the best things is learning something new!  It always amazes me how many possibilities open up when I learn a new technique or method.  
Recently, I participated in a cuttlefish casting workshop.  Cuttlewhat??  Cuttlefish bone! Cuttlefish are in the same class as octopi and squid.  I know, it sounds weird (and it certainly is different!) but once you do it, it's really interesting.  The workshop was taught by the ever enthusiastic  (and super talented artist) Megan Hazel.  She has such a fun and positive way of presenting things that the day went by very quickly.  

The first thing that happens is that I take a pair of cuttlefish bones - you know, the things you buy for pet birds to sharpen their beaks on - and sand them flat.  Once the soft side is sanded to be as flat as possible, I carved the design into it.  The design can be nearly anything that can be drawn!  I learned that it shouldn't be too deep or you get a really, really heavy piece!  In the picture above, I was carving a ring blank.  

Once the carving was done and vents carved in, the pieces are wired together and placed in a bucket of sand.  
Scrap silver (and boy, does that stack up over time!) is then melted in a crucible until it is molten and flowing.  See?
I am playing with fire and sharp things again, I love it!  

When the silver is ready, it's poured into the prepared cuttlefish bone.  Here, it was placed in a bucket of sand to help keep it upright and to prevent anything catching fire should the silver leak out of the mould.
The smell of burnt fishbone is a little strong but it doesn't last long!  

After the silver is poured, it is put to the side to cool.  Then the bone is taken away (discarded) and the pieces are ready for finishing.  Here are my pieces, ready to be made into cool jewellery!  The ring blank didn't go quite as planned...but I managed to turn it into a unique ring that I happen to love!  

Here are 4 of the finished pieces that I made from the castings.  I aplologize that the photo isn't the best.  My camera quit so I'm at the mercy of my phone until I can replace it.  Better pictures will follow when I have a new camera!

 The top right is a ring set with a 6mm orange cubic zirconia, top left is a pendant set with an 8mm white cubic zirconia, bottom right is a heart pendant set with a 4mm purple cubic zirconia and the bottom left is a band ring.   I will figure out what the fifth piece (centre piece in the previous photo) will be and then make it happen.   I look forward to the next opportunity to create pieces like this.  :)

Until next time, 
Laura

My first love is Sterling silver.  It really is.  I can't get enough of the endless ways to transform the metal from one form to another.  Awesome.  

Having said that, my second love involves using a large fixed torch, glass, scissors, marvers, dental tools, knives, spoons, mashers and other assorted tools.  Yep, playing with fire and sharp things...my favourite way to describe making lampwork beads (and jewellery, for that matter).  
People ask me a lot about what inspires me, and what I like best about making jewellery.  Inpiration comes from everywhere...literally but I'll save that for another blog post.  What do I like best?  Well, there are many things that I like about making beads (and jewellery for that matter!) from working with my hands, to taking classes and meeting/working wtih so many talented and wonderful people to hitting things with hammers (see the post about my hammers) to making lampwork beads.  This has become a highly addictive activity as it shares many of the characteristics I love about working with silver.  Transformation and just making stuff.  

I recently took a class in Lampwork Sculpture.  It was really a lot of fun!  It went beyond just making a round bead..it involves creating beads with a little personality.  Critters, goddesses, teddy bears and funky shapes! 

The biggest thing about making these (or any) beads for that matter, is control and patience!  Something that I have been learning for a long time!  I'm still working on that one...sometimes it's hard to wait but the results are worth it.   Some of the pieces are bigger, this requries careful attention to details.  If any part of the bead or piece gets too cool, it can break or shatter!  That is very frustrating - especially if it's something you've been working on for a long time.  
Once I get in the groove though, things just flow...figuratively and literally!  I usually have my headphones on and iPod set to shuffle and away I go.  It is almost a meditative state making a bead...once started you're commited to continue working on it until it's done.  Once it's done, for better or worse, it's done.  There's isn't really any going back so you have to plan things a little - stay one step ahead of yourself.  I like to have my tools laid out beside me so I don't have to look for them.  The last thing I want to happen, is to break my bead because I couldn't find a particular instrument of destruction to poke it with! 

Once it's finished, it goes into the kiln to be annealed and then I wait!  It's kind of fun going to get my beads...I don't always know exactly what they will look like because they don't look the same as they do while they are still hot.  It's a bit like glazing pottery...the glazes painted on before firing look radically different (in most cases) after firing.  I might have to take a pottery class....hmmmm....

Now what?  That piece you've been working on for the last few hours didn't work out...maybe it broke or it didn't look how you envisioned it. Maybe you just don't like it.  There are many, many things that make something not turn out.  What do I do?  I hit it with a hammer...(I have 12 of them, see previous post!)  That's right, hit it.  Hard.  Give it a good smack and see what happens.  You'll feel better.  Seriously.  I know that I do.  Your piece may be a mess, but that's ok because you weren't happy with it anyway.  

Once you've done taking your frustrations out on your wayward piece, have a good look at it.  I have created some very interesting pieces this way...quite by accident.  The pearl pendant pictured above is not one of these accidents.  It is a piece that I sort of made up as I went.  It just worked and I was thrilled with it.  Things were great until I went to recreate it.  That didn't go so well.  I couldn't get that shape again, no matter what I tried.  I ended up messing around with it for quite a long time until I finally got fed up with it and - you guessed it- I hit it with my hammer. My first reaction was "Oh crap...now what?" I was all set to toss it into my scrap bin when I took a good look at it.  I had flattened the piece on one side and there were a couple of silver balls nearby...I started to play around with them and what began as pendant, quickly became a ring (see below).  Instead of a pearl, I used a copper ball as my centre and silver surrounding it.  I just worked with it and came up with a unique piece that I ended up being very pleased with!  

I guess the moral of this story (such as it is) is don't give up.  Ok, a little cliche...but true all the same. The best part about silver (for me) is the fact that it is 100% recyclable!  Even if your piece doesn't become something you can use after you hit it...you can melt it down, you can roll it out, you can hammer it, or whatever you like and reuse it.  Transformation is what inspires me most in jewellery.  There is constant transformation going on here...from raw sheet and wire to a finished piece, and from a stubborn piece to something different and new.  I think it constantly forces me to look at things differently an figure out creative ways to use elements in a piece.  Nothing is guaranteed, and so it's never boring!  :)

Until next time, keep those hammers handy!

Cheers, 

Laura 
  

Before I started making jewellery, a hammer was just something that hid away in the tool box in the basement and didn't come out unless someone needed to hang a picture!  Never did I imagine that I would be the proud owner of 12 of them!  But, here they are, all 12 of them in all their metal-forming and texturing glory. 

Five of my hammers are for texturing.  Their sole purpose is making interesting marks in metal.  My favourites are the Fretz (the two dark brown handled ones) texturing hammers.  I love the different textures they make and I use them in nearly all aspects of my work.

 Two of these hammers are riveting hammers.  They are very narrow (chiselled) on one end and the other end has a smooth, flat round (or square) face.  The chiselled end is good for starting rivets and can make very cool textures in metal.  The flat surface is good for flattening and finishing rivets as well as flattening wire and forming metal.  

Three of these hammers fall into the category of Chasing hammers, though only one of those three is an actual chasing hammer.  The other two are small ball-peen hammers and serve much the same purpose. My chasing hammer is peened on one end and has a smooth, round half-domed face on the other end.  Chasing is when a design "sunk" into the metal, often used with repousse (creating a relief in metal from the back of the piece to get a 3D shape).  I haven't done any repousse (embossing) but I do use these hammers for forming and texturing.  They are different sizes so they cover all kinds of projects.

One hammer is a two pound brass head mallet.  It is used for punching out discs (with my disc-cutter) and stamping metal.  I love this hammer....usually this is used when you need to hit something really hard!  Great if you're having a lousy day and need to work out some frustration.  

My last hammer is another mallet.  It's made from rawhide and I use it more than any other hammer.  It is good for flattening metal, and forming pieces but it doesn't mark the metal or stretch it too much.  It almost never gets put away, it just sort of hangs out next to my bench block.  

There is a little tour of some of my favourite tools.  It is hard to keep myself from buying tools...they are so much fun!  Especially my hammers.  They feel great in my hands and it's very satisfying when something isn't working out the way I expect it to.  All I have to do is hit it with a hammer.  Sometimes, I end up with a mess but sometimes, I get whole new and unexpected piece!  Plus, it's just a great way to relieve stress...in how many jobs can you just hit something with a hammer when it irritates you?  I love this job.  

Until next time....keep swinging!  

Cheers,
Laura

Well, it's been a busy time with 3 shows and some custom orders on the go!  Sparkle! was last weekend and it was a great day.  Thanks to all that came to see us.  

That was the last show for the season so I have been at work on some pieces that I have been experimenting on.  

I love colours and texture so I really enjoy using patinas on my silver. I don't have much luck with copper (I seem to always just make it go black) but I do seem do all right with silver.  Having said that, the patina I use on silver is one persnickety creature!  

Some days, I achieve stunning and intense colours (see above).  Blues, purples, dark pinks and the occasional greenish hue.  It is really cool when that happens.   Other times, even when I do two pieces together, in the same solution, for the same length of time, they turn out completely different...one will have vivid colours and the other will just turn brown or grey and look less vibrant (see below).  I have no idea why this happens.  I am grateful when, if it's earrings, they turn out the same. The patina is easy to remove so at least I can try again if I don't get the desired result! 

This is where the experiments come in.  That's one of the things I love most about working on silver...it's very hard to wreck so I can recycle the metal if what I'm working on doesn't go as planned.  I have several pieces that began as one thing (such as a pendant) and ended up as something completely different (a ring).  It is fun to just play sometimes and see what emerges.  

The Christmas season is here and I am going to have some fun decorating and playing with my family!  I love the Christmas season....we've got a few things that we do together every year, and this year is no exception.  We went to the Holiday Open House at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.  My mom used to take us when we were kids and they still do it.  My kids had a great time making cards, and petting real reindeer!!  They wrote a letter to Santa and were very excited that he wrote back.  We decorated the tree and we play a game that involves hiding a little elf doll (we started doing this before the Elf On The Shelf became so popular!)  in the tree.  Then, they look for him and the one that finds it first gets to open the first Christmas Cracker of the year!  My son found it this year and they all had fun.   We have spent a little more time cuddiling under our blankets watching Christmas specials on tv too...it's a cold one this year! 

That's it for now. Until next time,  stay warm!

Cheers,
Laura