Kira Scott Art

a new project

2011-07-09T15:49:00.001-07:00

I've created a new blog specifically for a new project I'm working on with my jewelry and my cat. You can follow me here.

Some New Work!

2011-04-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

New earrings

2011-03-11T13:59:00.001-08:00

things about the Book of Kells I didn't know

2011-02-25T06:11:00.000-08:00

My husband is an Art Historian. This often comes in handy, like when he's teaching viking art and talks about the Book of Kells in class, an illuminated manuscript. He went on to describe how he was telling his students about how a lot of the illustration in the book used the same techniques as metalworking at the time. I was like, nu-uh. And he was like, sure, the elements of design that were used in illuminated manuscripts weren't based on any principals of illustration, but rather the inlay and cloisonne work that was done in the much more common practice of metalworking at the time. I never really thought about it in that context before. Totally cool.

But, as you can see below, there's so many similarities between this image:

And these images:

another sketch

2011-02-23T18:43:00.000-08:00

sketches and thoughts

2011-02-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

Holidaze!

2010-12-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! I know it's been forever. How's your mum. I know, those biscuits are just delightful, aren't they?

Anyway, enough of the small talk. I've come here to share that I updated my Etsy shop with some lovely jewelry I have left for the holidays! If you're in need of something for a lady: your sister, wife, mom, girlfriend... I've got some presents available for you! Get em while they last, I've only got a few left.

Here's the link to my Shop.

Happy Holidays!

Tree roots set

2010-08-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

This is a new experiment, matching necklace and earrings, Sgraffito (the technique where you scratch away the pattern in the dusty enamel layer so you can see the color beneath).

Some earrings to match necklaces

2010-08-06T12:29:00.001-07:00

Here's some earrings I made to match the water necklace... and some earrings of tree roots that will soon have a necklace to match them!

Water Necklace

2010-08-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

New variation on an old theme here. I've been trying to make my ideas... better! This one, I admit, is slightly inspired by the last airbender. But people have been telling me it resembles water for awhile now, so I think I'll just go with that. Working on some earrings to match, and some new tree designs.

Design Board

2010-08-01T15:22:00.001-07:00

Hung this up in my studio today. For maximum creative input/output. Jewelrymaking, prepare to commence. Planning on doing some making this week. New work on the horizon!

Business Cards!

2010-07-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

I've got new ones! These arrived in the mail this week from Moo cards. Pictures on the front, text on the back. I think they look pretty stylin, and the best part is, you can order them in prints of 50. So next time, I think I'll make the text bigger.

Off to watch more Avatar, The Last Airbender! Travis and I are obsessed, but we're almost done the series (on Netflix). I hate when a good show comes to a close. If you haven't seen it, give it a try. I'm constantly surprised its a kids show.

Dublin Art Fair 2010!

2010-07-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Preparing for the Dublin Art Fair this week! Come out and visit me, and have some beer and music with your arts! July 16th + 17th.

Custom Tree set!

2010-07-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

These were some custom pieces that I made for Lisa. It's a matching necklace earring set version of my tree necklace, with jade beads dangling at the bottom of each. I think they turned out just fabulous.

Been listening to the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks for a week now. It was good inspiration to create these pieces! If you haven't heard the soundtrack, I really recommend it. It's great to create to.

Like me!

2010-07-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

I've been on a campaign recently to get people on my Facebook page. If you're on there, and you like reading updates and looking at cool links I find, like my Anima Metals page!

Cat Sketch Project

2010-06-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

some cats, for your eyeballs

Done done done!

2010-06-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

I finished my winged snake! Here she is! This is the piece that's going to be in the Birds of C.A.W. show this weekend. I think it turned out pretty well, although it's nearly impossible to photograph. Here's the flyer for the show:

Yellow Springs Street Fair!

2010-06-10T12:36:00.001-07:00

I'll be there this Saturday June 12th selling my jewelry, enjoying the music (and beer afterhours of course!) and taking in the awesomeness of Yellow Springs. Join me!

A brief break for birthdays and then... more enamelling!

2010-06-08T17:52:00.001-07:00

So it was my husband Travis's birthday this weekend. We celebrated heartily, ate bbq, played some Queen rockband, and I made this delicious chocolate ganache raspberry cake. What? Cake making is an art. Really.

And in the past couple of days I've been working on the snake piece! This is a picture of it with the first few layers of dark gray colored enamel and black details on the wings painted on top with watercolor enamels. Apologies for the bad picture... I need better light in my studio.

snakes... in... progress....

2010-06-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

Finished cutting out the wings! Excitement!

wip snake with wings

2010-06-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

These are images of a work in progress for an upcoming gallery show. Its eventually going to be a winged snake. Today I sawed till my little hands couldn't saw no more. I'm cutting the copper out to be enameled and so far I've completed the snake but I'm still working on the wings. The sketches next to the copper are close approximations of what the finished pieces will look like, black on dark gray, to give it a shadowy, ghostly look. My intention is that the imagery has a connection to Athena, but I think I'm gonna be more subtle with the title, something like: Shadows of Her.

Got some work done

2010-05-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

A bracelet for my mom

new Tree pendant

new Root pendant

roots in progress

I'm diggin this video

2010-05-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

by The Dead Weather. They have this really alluring southern gothic rock n roll charm. The lyrics are inspiring, reminding me to do do do...

Facebook Giveaway!

2010-05-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a giveaway! Win these blue and white gradient earrings by 1. joining my Anima Metals facebook page 2. writing something awesome in the comments of the giveaway post. Help make my facebook page more visible by telling your friends to enter too! I'll do a random drawing of everyone who enters next Tuesday, June 1st, and ship the earrings for free.

WIP and New Pieces!

2010-05-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

I completed some pieces today, and started some more! Pictures of work in progress and completed pieces. The idea behind the gradients is to make some simple pieces that can be a little more low end. The green ones are gonna be trees and roots, and the light pink ones are gonna be gold suns for my mom.

Bird sketch

2010-05-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Seraph wings, sketch idea for an upcoming show with a bird theme.

Progress shots

2010-05-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

I was productive in the studio today. Image dump! More to follow.

Sketches

2010-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Earrings, chains and other strange things. Will be making things soon... had far too good a time last night celebrating cinco de mayo, so today I potted some plants and cleaned while recovering from this wicked hangover. Sometimes, you just need a break.
Waiting for some silver to arrive too! Going to experiment etching it.

The Good, the Bad, and the Pretty

2010-04-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm still having structural issues with creating the carnivorous project, so that's currently on hold.

But I heard today back from the committee that I got into the Dublin Art Fair! It's July 17th and 18th. Yay!

Also, wanted to share some inspiration that I've been looking at recently. First are Erika A. Uzmann's enamel and silicone slugs. They're brooches! Second are Tosca's crazy alien looking biology specimens. Beautiful work. I can't wait to get my ass in my studio.

Some more sketches

2010-04-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Some more thoughts on the carnivorous project. Not sure if I'm going to make the deadline, but I'm still brainstorming anyway. This could be cool just for me to make.

Things are looking up

2010-04-18T12:34:00.001-07:00

The CCAD art sale was pretty lucrative for me yesterday! It seemed like everyone had a good day of sales, and good moods were in abundance. Lets hope this is a trend for craft shows this year, and everybody decides the recession is over and goes out to buy more art! Made me hopeful to sign up for a few more shows than I was going to this year. I think I'm going to try and do:

Agora at Junctionview
Yellowsprings Street Fair
Winterfair

And of course, the CCAD winter sale. In the meantime... of to work on more carnivorous plants!

Carnivorous

2010-04-12T19:12:00.001-07:00

Some sketches for a project I'm working on involving carnivorous plants. I've been trying for days to think of some clever family appropriate metaphor, but whatever that idea is its been eluding me. All I've got is Victorian style portraits of the plants, which I think is kinda a silly juxtaposition while also being pretty, and referencing Darwin's sketches.

I'm not in love with it, but I think its kinda cool. We'll see. Need to think about it a bit more.

more symbolic sketches

2010-03-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Inspiration

2010-03-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Beautiful work by Sharon Church. I love her imagery, and her ability to really transform natural objects into objects that look mysterious and talismanic.

Bruce Metcalf talking about the generational divide

2010-03-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Filmed at SNAG by Anthony Tammaro... wish I could be there! He's got some great things to say, I'm glad he shared it with us.

snakes eyes and daggers

2010-03-11T18:16:00.001-08:00

Tattoos

2010-03-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

What. I can sketch tattoo ideas if I want to.

Thinking about demon love

2010-03-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

This seems terribly relevant

2010-03-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

Relevant to some of the things I'm thinking of anyway. Lots of images of women and monsters in pop culture. For example:

Lady Gaga and a Lovecraftian horror.

Cosmetics and women

2010-02-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

Source here.

Pierre Gravel and others even believe that the practice of highlighting the eye with eyeliner and eye make-up (a practice common throughout the world) originated as a protective ritual against the ancient, omnipotent force known as the Evil Eye:

"It may be significant that women, who are traditionally among those who have to be 'protected' against the Evil Eye, are the ones who generally wear cosmetics. It may also be that there was originally an affiliation between the two meanings of the Greek word 'cosmos'...which means both 'Universe' and 'ornament.'"

Pandora

2010-02-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

Quoted from a paper written by Rebecca Resinski

Pandora--the first human woman and created to cause trouble for mortal men forever--is the most artificial creature in the Hesiodic cosmos. Instead of naturally emerging from the genealogies Hesiod traces, Pandora is fashioned like a clay pot and then decorated before she is endowed with language and life. Hesiod's accounts of Pandora's creation in the Theogony (570-589) and Works and Days (60-105) are not similar in all details, but they do both emphasize the adornment of this first woman. In both works, Pandora is molded by Hephaestus and then belted by Athena. In the Theogony, Athena alone continues the extensive adorning with silver clothing, a clever veil, garlands of flowers, and a gold diadem crafted by Hephaestus. In this version of Pandora's creation, 13 out of 20 lines are devoted to her decoration. In Works and Days, the Graces, Persuasion, and the Hours help Athena to deck Pandora with golden necklaces and fresh flowers. In this narrative, Pandora's decoration is placed before her endowment with speech and personality; her adornment precedes the animation of her body and, indeed, is so bound up in the creation of her body that it is part of it. Vernant's phrasing is apt when he says that Pandora's cosmetic decorations are "integrated into her anatomy"--they are not supplemental to her body, for the first female's body is always already adorned.

If the primary focus of Pandora's fashioning is on her adornment, Hesiod's next concern is with her deceitfulness, which complements her cosmetic elaboration. Pandora's adorned body is activated with Hermes' gifts of "lies and wheedling words and a thievish nature" (WD 78) which he places inside her. A beautiful exterior with a nasty interior, Pandora is sent to Epimetheus as a tricky evil intended by Zeus to balance out the good humans received from fire. And how does Hesiod describe the evil caused by the deceitful, adorned female body and the race of women descended from it? First, of course, Pandora opens the pithos, thereby unleashing ills on the mortal world. But Pandora and women present continuing cares and dangers to mortal men, as well: for the tricky bodies and natures which women inherit from Pandora make their child-bearing a suspect activity. Perhaps women will use their crafty minds and cosmeticized surfaces to beguile their husbands out of rightful paternity. Such seems to be the worry informing Hesiod's reproductive ideal, when among just people "wives give birth to children like their fathers." (WD 235) Ideally, the external charms and internal disposition of a woman's body are deactivated and she becomes transparently the medium in and through which her husband produces offspring resembling himself.

Musings on narratives

2010-02-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

I started to talk about narratives a bit. I didn't really get into the meat of the discussion, which I had with my husband Travis after I made the post, and thought about to a greater extent for the rest of the evening. Allow me to divulge.

I was touching on some things that I've been musing about for some time now. For me, personally, its really hard to pin down my style as an artist. I know what I like, but knowing how to apply that to what I'm thinking and what I'm making is often a really difficult task for me. I think this has all been culminating over some time now. Looking at jewelry blogs every day, contemporary work in new books that I buy, DIY stuff that's happening in my community... I've been developing these thoughts about it. I'm not a huge fan of contemporary jewelry, never have been. That's a large blanket statement, really, cause there's tons of different styles that fit the category "contemporary", and some of them I do legitimately like. I mean, technically, what I'm making is contemporary, and I'm not really sure what categories jewelry being made now fit in to. And not to knock those artists, I think that what people make today is valid, important, and contextual in relation to the modern history of jewelry making. But there's a few trends I'm a little tired of seeing.

Botanical themes. Jewelry that is natural objects cast in metal, or jewelry that is supposed to mimic nature. I think these are really pretty, of course (I'm guilty of it, I love tree branches and motifs). But I feel like I see these everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
Ultra-modernist abstract shapes of gems and metal piled on top of each other in asymmetrical compositions. Sometimes these involve red string. Again, I think some of these are pretty awesome, but its trending pretty hard right now, and I'm not a huge fan of modern art in general let alone jewelry or body art that is mimicking it.
Recycled, green, or alternative materials. Yes, this is a hot topic in our culture in general currently, and has been for a few years. I think the idea behind this type of artwork is really beautiful, and sometimes so are the pieces being made. But I feel like its been seriously overdone, and while I like to be surprised by materials, I feel to a certain extent like the materials don't directly relate to the work being made, and that those materials are just being used to be used.

Why all the hate on contemporary jewelry standards, you're asking? Well, its not really hate, its just not my aesthetic. There! I've come to terms with that. I think a lot of my thinking in the past few years is "how can I fit my work into this contemporary aesthetic so I can sell it to galleries who will consider it to be art?" when I should have been thinking "what is it that I'm trying to say, what is my aesthetic?" Developing a style is one of the things I struggled with in art school, and something I struggle with to this day. I don't have a definitive style. I latch on to other styles, and while my work has some style, its not completely my own. I think this is part of what's taking me so long to make this next body of work. I'm having a major design crisis. I like my old pendants, but I feel like they aren't saying entirely what I want to say.

SO, all this to say I had a bit of a revelation last night. All the things I've been thinking about kinda came to a head when I started looking at the Symbolists again, especially Beardsley. Let me try and lay this out.

These are the images and ideas I've been bouncing around:

Modern and Ancient ideas of Femininity
Mythology
Magic and Talismans
Ancient styles and Victorian styles
Duality
Narrative - illustrative elements based on archetypal or ancient stories and images
Stark design elements - silhouettes, black oxidized metal, antique colors and large shapes

And then I realized... I CAN DO ALL OF THESE AT ONCE. So what I'm going to try and do is combine all these ideas and aesthetics. I want to create a new series, that has a black linework style, with a narrative that concerns the archetypal images of women in myth, their relations with desire, memory, and temptation, and reverse these images (role-reversal, put women in a place that's unexpected). The example I gave last night was Eve tempting the devil with an apple. This, in a way, is a magical act, revealing the truth behind the modern illusion of the image of the woman.

These are still pretty preliminary thoughts. But I'm excited about it. More to come.

Narratives

2010-02-24T17:42:00.000-08:00

So, I love stories. Who doesn't, right? I'm beginning to think that I'm going to have to figure out what story I want to tell before I can begin to just assign it symbols. I mean, I know there's some symbols I like, and some that already have stories, but I want to manipulate them more to work for me, not just retell, y'know, what's already been told.
To a certain extent I think it is about communicating these old ideas that I'm obsessed with, arcane knowledges and mystical connections and archetypal strengths and mythological proportions. So it is about telling old stories. But its also about telling my story, and telling the wearers story, and how all three of those things will connect. And of course, making it pretty.
Grasping for imagery here. How does it relate? How do these things tie together?

Doing some research

2010-02-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

Beardsley

Durer

Tiepolo

Looking up some narrative and allegorical work. I've always been intrigued by this type of work, as well as the symbolists. It's something I've been dwelling on recently, so I'm gonna look into it a bit more. I'm torn right now between painting styles and etched styles. I think this linework would look rockin on a pendant. I know, sketching would help, right? Heh.

quick sketch

2010-02-16T16:14:00.000-08:00

Meant to do more of these today. Turns out snow days are like days off after all! Had a relaxing bout of looking at books and pondering what techniques to use, and trying to figure out how I'll be able to do some camaieu enameling.

reference/inspiration

2010-02-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

I've collected some images today of what I'm thinking of for this series of duality pieces. For some reason, this idea's got a hold on me. My plan is to put up a cork board in my studio, so I can actually look at these pieces while I'm working. Here's a few of them, plus my sketches for the day.

So then...

2010-02-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

... i had this idea about duality. You can see my notes on the sketch. These are far more viable projects right now, i could easily make two enameled pieces, i'm picturing a tan/white background with sepia or gray drawings on top. then set them, attach some chains. the latch would be in the front. i think this might be a good starting series before i jump into more sculptural work.
one day soon i'll get in the studio. when colds have come to an end and free time is more readily available. going to see tonight: Wolfman!

snaaaaaaaaaake its a

2010-02-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

Some more snake sketches. Working out some design thoughts. Really just trying to work this idea out. Watching: Torchwood. Wishing I was watching: Caprica. Put it on Netflix!

Back to the drawing board

2010-01-28T17:42:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna skip the excuses and go right to the good stuff. It's a new year! And I've got some new ideas and some time to work them out. I'm brainstorming a new line of jewelry, based on the talismanic clothing of ancient goddesses. I need to do some more research*, but I'm working out some sketches to see what I come up with. Here's some Athena ideas. She wears a cloak of snakes that protects her from harm, gifted to her from her father, if I remember correctly.

*if anyone reading knows a good book or two associated with talismans or the clothing of ancient goddesses, I'd love recommendations!

omgwtf its a new post

2009-11-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

So, yea, its been since September. I've been slacking. But work takes priority this time of year. I've been to Baltimore, Boston, Houston, Austin, Detroit, Philadelphia, Albany and Brooklyn all in the short time span of the past two months. It's been pretty fun, but as always, pretty exhausting as well.

But enough about all that. I've been doing some jewelry lately! Last week I soldered some bails onto some ancient coins, which of course I neglected to take pictures of. But they turned out nicely, its been awhile since I've soldered anything (not having a torch of my own) and it was comforting to know things like that are akin to riding bikes.

In my travels, I've seen some amazing artwork. Mostly from High School students. Granted they've got more time, but they've been puttin me to shame. I've had some ideas festering in the back of my brain lately, mostly about gender, myth, and sexuality. Still working them out, but I did do some sketches today of some silhouettes I like. And I'll be working on some more etched pieces for the CCAD art sale next weekend. Come out and see me if you're in the Columbus Ohio area!

Also, Here is the information for the CCAD art sale. Ciao!

The Temple of Hephaestus

2009-09-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

I've been the anti-productive. Mostly cause... I'm trying to get things done before I start traveling the country once more for my lovely admissions job at CCAD. Fall is visit high schools and do portfolio day season.

And so I dedicate this post to Hephaestus. May he forgive me for not working harder with my evening time, and inspire me to start. And for the love of baby jesus get me into the jewelry lab this semester to use the dapping block and roll press.

Picture background experiments

2009-08-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a few things tangential to actual jewelry creation the past week, thus the lack of posts. For example, I've been belaboring the monumental task of recreating my business cards. But Kira, you must be thinking, what's so difficult about uploading a few pictures too moo.com and putting your info on the back and voila! Magnifico! Amore! Encore! (and other random foreign language descriptors)

Well... there's branding to consider. There's showing off how I want my jewelry to look, while communicating that it still looks like said jewelry to the person who wants to buy it, as well as conveying whatever I want "Anima Metals" to mean visually. Which I still think needs streamlining. Eeeeeeeee. And the fact that I suck at photography.

After a long debate today, my husband and I decided that it needed some kind of rock to sit on, to communicate the idea of the ancient, relic, and spiritual flavors I'm going for. So here's some experimental pictures of that idea.

Originally, I had thought to abstract the pieces by cropping them to the extreme, thusly:

But, Travis once again expressed his disdain for that swirly background behind them. His reasoning is totally sound too, it being high contrast and distracting from my jewelry. He also had the good insight to mention you couldn't tell what the hell you were looking at when it was that abstracted. Sigh. So then, the rock idea. As follows:

Another artist inspiration post

2009-08-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Richard Salley's work calls out to the junk collector and steam punk in me. His work is really intricate, and involves so many different materials and techniques. I love looking at his new creations.

Image Dump

2009-08-18T18:40:00.001-07:00

Some new pictures I took this weekend. Some old pieces with some better captures I think. And the new ones, and nicer images of the earrings. Enjoi!

Oh hai

2009-08-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

So, I had meant to put up some more pictures last night, but then I got distracted by errands and getting new cell phones (Saumsung Eternity through AT&T, we'll see how that turns out). Also we're canceling our cable. I know. Crazy, right? Turns out, there's just not much I wanna watch on TV anymore. At least, nothing I can't watch on Hulu or somewhere else online.

In lieu of sharing some of my jewelry, I'll share some of my recent inspirations.

Modern myth illustrations by Joao Ruas. Beautiful light, characters, and monsters.

This enamel work is so amazing, and reminds me of some of the work I was doing back in college with nerve endings mimicking natural roots and trees. Tricia Harding's jewelry is like if Queen Victoria listened to Tool.

Spacey cupcakes

2009-08-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

So... I may or may not have decided to make spacey blue vanilla cupcakes this evening. They're not only beautiful, but also delicious. Spongey blue awesomeness. Sometimes... you need to step away from the jewelry and make dessert.

Kinda productive night!

2009-08-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

1. Eat buffalo burgers for dinner with husband
2. Watch Lars and the Real Girl, get kinda teary
3. Heat up the kiln and put in my Battlestar Galactica Soundtrack
4. Finally finish two of these guys with an antique patina!

A more perfect website sketch

2009-08-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

I like this layout a lot! I put in some placeholder images to give an idea of what the first page will eventually look like. Still working out the kinks, but I think its getting better. Critique?

Website sketches I'm working on

2009-08-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

They're a work in progress, just mapping out some very basic layout colors and patterns. I kinda like em. I feel like they're getting somewhere...

Show over

2009-08-09T17:35:00.001-07:00

So, Yellow Springs was yesterday, and it was kinda a bummer. Between the ten-million degrees + humidity that we had all day, the hour drive, the incredible amount of jewelry competition, browsers, and economic woes people were claiming... well, suffice to say it was a low sales day. I've had the worst luck this summer with shows! Next on my list? Galleries and retail, I hope. (crossin fingers). Anyone else having bad luck at craft shows this summer?

Anyway, here's my brief photo documentary. In between entertaining the browsers, I took some booth photos and the show in both directions from me. I've got to watch True Blood in about 20 minutes, so no jewelry tonight!

Showtime!

2009-08-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Yellow Springs Art on the Lawn tomorrow, so if you're in the area, come visit me and the other talented craftspeople there! I didn't want to leave you without a picture... so here's a story.

I recently won a time machine from these weird and lovely people at The Unusual Times blog. Time machine you say, really? Well, I have the pictures to prove it! No sooner had I unwrapped the thing and posed in front of my camera to share its splendiferous glory with the interwebs than it started transporting me to faraway lands of the past! I'm still getting the hang of the device, as you can see I haven't visited and strange dystopian futuristic cities... yet...

Pro-Gress

2009-08-06T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here's tonight's progress. These are coming along pretty well, but still have a few layers to go. Especially dude all the way to the right... that border that looks maroonish is soon to be green. But, all in all, not a bad evenin's work.

Listening to: A Perfect Circle, Faun

Champleve Progress

2009-08-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't post last night because I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was every bit of teen angst and magic-ey goodness that I needed to fuel my creativity for the rest of the week.

As another side note, I'm currently reading Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Awesome comic, it's a great retelling of a classic that only Moore can do, and rife with inspiration about human nature and natural things, and what exactly those are. So far, anyway, I'm only on book 3.

Anyway! Here's my progress on enameling the copper pieces I etched a few days ago. More info on Champleve, from Darty's enameling book: "The term Champleve comes from the two French words "champ," a field, and "leve," raised. In this technique raised fields, or areas of metal, are incorporated into the finished design and the enamel is inlayed into recessed compartments." She also details that the Celts were doing it as far back as 1BC, and the Romans, in their vast conquests, adapted it from them and were using it on armor, swords and shields in 5AD. If I had helmet in ancient Rome, it would totally have Champleve on it. Of a ram, or something hardcore.

Champleve progress

2009-08-03T18:40:00.000-07:00

These are shots from my enameling tonight on the first of the etched pieces, using a technique named Champleve. It's ancient, but the French coined its most common name. I'm not done with this piece yet, but you can see how far I've gotten this evening!

Copper Acid Etching Tutorial

2009-08-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

So, I spent a lot of time today documenting my copper etching process, so I figured I might as well turn it into a tutorial. Let me emphasize that I'm not including all the safety procedure, so please read more in-depth about this if you haven't used these materials before. Without further ado, though, this is what I've been slaving over all day!

Step 1: Acquire materials

glass pan
ferric chloride etchant solution
scotch packing tape
cut out copper pieces
sharpie paint pens
scratch tool
patterns you'll be etching
safety gloves and goggles
well ventilated area

Step 2: Clean metals

This step is the most annoying part of the process. I usually use gloves, Fantastic, scotch brite pads, and running water to achieve ultimate metal cleanliness. You really need the metal to be super-clean for etching and enameling to take, so I scrub those babies till they sparkle.

Below is an example of a dirty and clean piece of copper. Dirty on the left, clean on the right. Water will always bubble up on dirty copper, but it'll slick right off clean copper. The picture below that one is all the pieces of copper clean and ready to go!

Step 3: Apply Resist

Taking the advice from my favorite enameling book out there "The Art of Enameling" by Linda Darty, I got myself some Sharpie Paint Pens that act as a FABULOUS resist for acid etching copper. I draw out my pattern in pencil on the copper first, then trace that in Sharpie paint pen, then go back over with a scratch tool to clean up the often too-thick lines.

It is difficult to see it in this picture, but I included it anyway to emphasize... don't forget the edges! I draw a coat or two of the sharpie pen along the borders once I've got the patterns drawn on the surface. Then, I attach the tape to the back of the pieces, cut off the excess tape so that just a circle remains on the back to protect it from etching the back.

Step 4: Etch!

There's lots of safety involved that I'm not going to go into too much detail about... please look that info up before you do any of this, and not hold me responsible for any ferric nitrate you ingest or something like that. These materials ARE hazardous and DO require safety procedure to be followed. This tutorial is just to show my process!

What I do is pour the ferric nitrate into the glass container, wearing gloves and eyeglasses, and in my well ventilated area. Then, I attach a long strip of tape to the back of the copper pieces, and attach them to the sides of the glass container so they can be suspended, floating with their etchable surface touching the ferric nitrate. This allows air to escape from the chemical reaction the etching causes, and allows the metal to etch easier.

Step 5: Wait Forever

Etching can take anywhere between 30mins to a few hours to overnight, depending on the strength of the ferric chloride you're using. Mine took about 3 hours today, and I checked on it every half hour to make sure it wasn't eating too deeply. I did this with a metal tool to gauge approximately how deep it had eaten into the metal, and how much further I needed it to go to be able to put a good deal of enamel in that etched space.

Step 6: Remove and clean metal

Taking the copper out is really simple, I just take the tape off the glass container, remove each piece, and then clean them in a bath of ammonia and water to neutralize the ferric chloride. With gloves and goggles! At this point, I scratch off the Sharpie pen as well, cleaning the metal and prepping it for enameling.

Step 7: Admire hard work

This is how they turned out! I think these ancient inspired patterns worked really nicely.

Ancient Inspirations

2009-07-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

So... Greece was pretty much amazing. I could go on about it forever. Athens and Delphi were overflowing with beautiful inspirations, and have given me some great ideas to work with.

The first, which I present to you this evening, is to make a series of etched pieces with ancient pattern abstractions, fill in the etching with enamel and let the silver outlines remain. Here are some of my brief sketches, mostly for ideas. I'm gonna try and get some of these babies done for my Yellow Springs Art on the Lawn show in 2 weeks... maybe try some in copper with a black patination as well... I got that from Rio Grande a few weeks ago, and I've been wanting to try it out.

And some images from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. If they could do it in 5BC... man I've got some livin up to do, check these beauties out.

And the obligatory me and my husband vacation shot. That is the Temple of Apollo in Delphi tall and beautiful behind us.

Soon to be in Delphi

2009-07-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

Delphi Greece! That is correct. The long awaited trip has almost arrived. We leave this Wednesday, and my life is consumed with planning for places to see while we're there for a short week. What does one see in the birthplace of not only western civilization, but the very gods themselves? Revelations, perhaps. I'll take a million pictures.

Well, I've at least made some progress on my list, as far as art things go. I've applied for two more shows (crossing fingers) and have a bunch of new work I'd like to produce, involving more dimensionality. I also found an awesome site for business cards that I'm totally gonna hit up. As soon as I get more pictures. Y'know, when I get back from Greece. After I find my muse over there, and stuff her in my suitcase to provide many years of inspiration until she escapes her prison and unleashes her vengeful wrath upon me. Yea. Just like that.

June/July

1. Make website look professional
2. Create new business cards
3. Create new logo/branding for Anima Metals
4. Work on new designs for jewelry
5. Work on jewelry designs for portfolio pieces based around a concept
6. Start putting together a postcard for galleries and boutiques
7. ~~Keep up on craft show deadlines~~
8. Create work I can enter into competitions
9. Purchase 500 enamels book
10. ~~Small Business taxes done and mailed~~

I've got a bit to go by the end of July. eeeeeee.

Oldie but goodie

2009-07-07T18:02:00.001-07:00

This used to be one of my favorite pendants. It still is, I guess.

Hmmm...

2009-07-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

I realize I had not posted my finished necklaces. Allow me to share, so I seem more productive. Summer has been eating my brain, and relaxation is high on the priority list. Just call me a sunzombie. But, slowly and surely, I'm working on things. Sending out some more craft show applications and doing business taxes and the like. Y'know, the behind the scenes boring stuff. Plan on working on that branding thing again this week as well.

So, yea, I kinda took an unofficial week off...

2009-06-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

But I had a blast. Between meeting Steve Prescott at the Origins Gaming Convention here in Columbus (yea, I'm kinda a geeky sci-fi gamer girl, one of my many complicated... deep... facets who am I kidding I just like geeky stuff sometimes!) and hanging out at Comfest round firedancers and drum-circles, I pretty much had my week set out for me to do no work and freakin relax. It was lovely.

So, in this post, I give you BOTH the geeky me, some other lovely dressed up types at the Convention, and some jewelry sketches and earrings. That's to make up for last week, fellow blog readers, and I hope you accept my humble apologies.

My husband, Caesar Travis

I mostly make excuses to wear that bustle

Ninjagirl Awesome!

The evening drum circle

The aforementioned firedancer

Adventures in Craft Fair Land

2009-06-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I took at Hathaway Brown this past weekend. While I didn't make as much as I hoped (it was a little slow, and the weather wasn't fabulous) it was still a good show, and I think it was just a mixture of bad luck that made it not so great this time around. But... I did have lots of time to take these beautiful pictures, socialize with the locals, eat sausages and grass fed all natural ice cream, and meet some fabulous artists!

But, without further ado, here's my photos.

Hathaway Brown, here I come!

2009-06-17T06:21:00.000-07:00

So, I do have some more images that I'd like to post, but it will have to be when I get back from...

I'm pretty much prepping tonight after work, then working tomorrow, and driving up to Cleveland after that to attend the show! Whew! Time flies! SO, any who want to come and attend this fabulous show (150 artists juried out of a selection of 600 from all over the country) and visit me, I'll be there Friday and Saturday pretty much all day. YAY!!

Something else I'd like to share... I've been reading lots of small business type blogs, and gaining more motivation and information every day from these girls (since they are pretty much unanimously women writing them). On Modish Biz Tips they have this monthly to-do list of goals that they all put out there publicly on their blog so it kinda keeps them on target, and also acts as kind of a support group by being able to see other people's goals. I'm going to join in! Although its in the middle of the month, and these are lofty goals for just one month... a girl's gotta start somewhere.

June/July

1. Make website look professional
2. Create new business cards
3. Create new logo/branding for Anima Metals
4. Work on new designs for jewelry
5. Work on jewelry designs for portfolio pieces based around a concept
6. Start putting together a postcard for galleries and boutiques
7. Keep up on craft show deadlines
8. Create work I can enter into competitions
9. Purchase 500 enamels book
10. Small Business taxes done and mailed

Voila! I will see all of you after the weekend... wish me luck!

Frames, kitties, and jewelry oh my!

2009-06-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

Faithfully following my golden brick road of checklists today (I'm not sure that makes sense... but I have to stick with the post title somehow), I actually got a bunch of stuff done for my craft show next weekend! Chief among these were the frames I put together as parts of my new display in my booth. My cats were super helpful, as you can see below. Just so chipper and inspiring... not only with the composition of my photos, but as stand in models for some shoots I want to take in the future. They're so brilliant *sniff* I'm just so proud of them!

First, the frames:

Faustus helping me take pictures:

And finally Mika, too tired to argue. This is vengeance for when he jumps on my head in the morning to poke me with his wet nose:

Holy Shiny new Earring Cards Batman!

2009-06-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

These are just a few of the images of my brand new earring cards! For those of you who don't know, earring cards are things that you hang earrings on. And they showcase my earrings kinda nicely... I don't have any images of these guys on the web yet. They're like cute little newborn internet stars! With any luck, my plan will work. That plan being that I'll sell all of these at the Hathaway Brown Craft Show, and get to remake some brand spankin new pretty fellas. In the meantime, enjoy this cascading array of shiny enamel babies.

ZAP!
KA-POW!!!

BAMBOOZLE!!! (i'm not sure how you bamboozle someone, but i'm puttin it there anyway, you try and stop me!)

The Tale of How

2009-06-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

An amazing animation by some guys called The Blackheart Gang. Found this on one of my favorite blogs, Ectoplasmosis! It was circulating the web last week I think, but I still think its fabulous enough to share again.

The Tale of How from Shy the Sun on Vimeo.

That's not a beading board... THIS is a beading board

2009-06-09T19:01:00.001-07:00

Yea, I'm still workin on it. YAY!

Blue spiral with green pebbles

2009-06-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

Voila! C'est magnifique! And from a little bit ago, but I know you forgive me. I'm working dammit, no time for pictures. Soon... soon....

Hathaway Brown Craft Fair

2009-06-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

Most of my days are being spent preparing for this! Check out the link if you're interested, or if you live near Cleveland and want something awesome to do two weeks from now. There's a coupon for admission on the site, as well as a list of participating artists, including my fabulous self.

I have been working on more than these...

2009-06-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

... but I've been more focused on the makin' and less on the photos. I'll remedy that, one day, dear friends.

I made these frames for my booth display yesterday. They were a great buy at an antique store up in Clintonville. The plan is to dangle them on either side of my tent, inside the new walls I've purchased, so it'll look like I've got jewelry instead of paintings on the walls. I'm excited to see it in action! And slightly anxious to see that it works. But how could hanging an antique picture frame from a velcroed tent wall with lots of earrings on it go wrong?

After putting these babies together I went to see David Sedaris speak at the Book Loft. Well, more like listened, we were all packed in and back where my friend C and I were we couldn't really see him. But it was still hillarious. One of my favorite stories involved a woman who taught the special ed classes at high school, and Sedaris asked her "Aren't they mostly just assholes, like, isn't that why they're in special ed?" "Exactly," she agreed, then went on to describe how on the last day of school one of the kids had written that she was a "Cockmaster" on the board, and she was just happy he spelled it right.

Hehehe.

A million studio pictures

2009-06-02T18:49:00.001-07:00

So, I took a bunch of pictures tonight for no particular reason. I was workin on various things, and got some pictures of those in progress, in addition to the magical wonderful place I call my studio.

In order of post: 1. All the pieces I'm working on right now 2. My new root branch series 3. Various test pieces I keep by the kiln to try out color combinations 4.The kiln, bakin at 1339F 5. Some pieces that have just had purple enamel dusted on them

Goin back in time with my playlist tonight: Rasputina (thanks for the ether) and VNV Nation (i'm not sure which album, actually)

Sketches

2009-06-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I lied about posting in progress work. I'm feelin kinda crappy tonight, so I decided to chill, watch some Bones and do some sketches instead of get into hardcore jewelrymakin. So, here's the result. Brainstorming some new designs.
Also, the lightning outside today is freakin awesome! Really large and beautiful. Go outside and look!

A drawn tree with peridot

2009-05-31T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is the finished pendant with peridot beads at the bottom. I finished the rooty things today and worked on some earrings, but I'll snap some pictures of them tomorrow. Mostly, I spent today outside with my cats reading some comic books (Y The Last Man, a fabulous series so far!) and catching a bit too much sun. But, it was lovely.

Listening to: Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Silversun Pickups

Two days of works in progress

2009-05-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here's some images of a pair of necklaces and earrings I'm currently working on. I put them next to their sketches for reference... I think they're coming along nicely.

The top one pictured here with the blue root squigglies is a rare picture of one of my pieces unfired. The blue squigglies are still in powder enamel form on top of the fired green enamel. The bottom piece is completely enameled, in contrast.

Cutting these bastards out took awhile today. But they're going to be really cute! Now i just have to cut out three more just like them to make the matching pair or earrings. You can see by the sketch what these guys are going to look like.

The weekend has been nice, but tomorrow is another work day! So much to do before my next craft show. To work with me!

Logo Experiments

2009-05-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Yep. It's getting somewhere. That's what I've got. Yay Memorial Day Weekend!

Productivity

2009-05-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Kind of. Well, I had planned to work on my logo more tonight, but ended up drinking some wine in good company watching Labyrinth. All things considered, no great loss.
But here is an image of my root pendant based on the sketches I was working on. There's a little swarovski crystal dangling from the bottom... midnight blue colored.

Another necklace!

2009-05-19T17:53:00.001-07:00

This one was a winner this weekend.

I'm also working on my logo, cause I think the old one needs changing (its a little cheesy) and I want to consistently brand all my stuff. Not being very good at either Photoshop or logo making, this is proving to be a challenge. Last night I was thinking, why not abstract what I already have? But the more I look at it, the more I think it just needs a new look that talks more about my jewelry and less about obscure symbols (its actually seraph wings, a heart, and the alchemical symbol for metal, but who knows that besides me?) Anyway, here's my old logo:

and this is some random sketches i did for new ideas. i'm meh with it.

More updates on pendants

2009-05-18T16:30:00.001-07:00

Some more new stuff, for the viewing. This is the finished piece that came out of that one a few posts ago. Also, a lovely picture of me at Agora! I'm kinda makin a face, but I was trying to explain how to use my camera...

Until I post more art this evening...

2009-05-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

...i give you an awesome video that was posted on Coilhouse today, one of my most favoritist blogs evar. This video is actually made by a crew called 1stAveMachine based in Manhattan, as the Coilhouse article will tell you.

More work in progress

2009-05-15T05:19:00.001-07:00

A collection of things I'm working on right now...

2009-05-13T17:59:00.001-07:00

The black one in the middle is upside down. oops! these will have beads dangling from the bottom, and chains on top. In progress shot, with this horrible yellow lighting I have in my studio. Ergle.

Rooty things

2009-05-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Remember that sketch I made about a week ago? This is it in the flesh. I really like the way this turned out, I want to make more in different color schemes.

spirals

2009-05-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

Made some new spirals in some summery colors for Agora this weekend. Working on a few other things too, but they're not finished yet.

Check out this awesome

2009-05-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

My pendant, transmuted into a beautiful blue scorpion by expain. Watch out, she's more dangerous than she looks! Sting!

Studio time = new pendant

2009-05-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Made this tonight. This is a drawing using an underglaze pencil... so that actually fuses to the glass enamel to create what you see. I really like the results! The picture is a little blurry due to low-light, so you can't see all the details. This was kinda a practice piece... I'd like to create a series of these but I think the design and colors needs a bit more work. Seems like it's missing something.

Some earrings

2009-04-30T17:47:00.001-07:00

Roots and Branches

2009-04-29T19:03:00.001-07:00

I like these! I'm gonna sketch em some more. Just simple patterns, technique, involving roots, trees, and vein images.

Craft Booth!

2009-04-27T17:11:00.001-07:00

A day at the craft fair. Some images of my booth from Craftstravaganza yesterday, and one of Plum Pudding's booth.

Doesn't she look so excited!

Sketches at the craft fair

2009-04-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Some ideas I've been having lately. Ancient drippy Doorways and roots:

Two new pendants

2009-04-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Some brand new pieces I made tonight. Variations on older themes. I must say I'm getting better at taking pictures of my work (except that last one, kept turning up blurry). These were in low-light without a tripod. There's a few more things I'm working on, but I don't want to overload in one post. More tomorrow!

Doorway Sketches

2009-04-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Some ideas I'm working out on my doorway series. Sketches of different types of doorways, on pendants, with a pair of earrings to match.