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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Scrap Metal Rustic Bead Cap/Spacers

Scrap silver, I don't know about you but I have a whole tub of the stuff! I know that you can send it back to be recycled but it always seems like a lot of fuss for not a lot of return, so I challenged my self to try and use some of it.

Piles of Scrap
The first thing I did was sort through it to see what I was dealing with, I left all of the sheet metal, large silver blobs (from when I get over enthusiastic with the soldering torch) and failed soldered pieces in the tub and then piled up tiny pieces (less then 5mm), coils (from my chainmail days), eye pins, cut jump rings, lengths and wrapped wire. 
I'm not going to lie this was mind numbingly boring and I did not get half way through before I decided that I had plenty, now on to the fun part!

Coils
I started with the coils and cut any that were longer then 8mm in half, they were then placed onto the charcoal block and heated slowly until the outer surface fused together forming one piece. I did play around with the heat and found that if you turn the torch up really hot and pull away just before the whole thing melts into a blob (timing can be difficult) you can get them to look less coiled and a lot more rustic/ancient looking!
Once melted I put them into the pickling pot and moved onto forming bead caps.

Forming Bead Caps
The eye pins, cut jump rings, lengths and wrapped wire pieces were all arranged on the charcoal block into small piles making sure that there was a hole in the middle and then again slowly heated until they fused together making sure that all sharp edges were either tucked in or melted.

Soldering Balls
I then melted the tiny pieces of silver to form balls and soldered them onto the larger soon to be bead caps (you could possibly fuse them together but I really liked the shape and did not want to risk melting the whole lot into yet another blob) and then into the pickle pot with the others.

Finishing Up
Once removed from the pickle pot everything was rinsed/neutralised and cleaned up with a brass brush the spacers were hammered slightly on the anvil to make the ends more even and the larger bead caps were domed in a doming block and then all was thrown into the tumbler for half an hour while I sorted through beads to put with them!

Spacers and Bead Caps

Over all I rather like how they turned out, and the first thing I made with them....

Ancient Pendent
A simple pendent made of Roman glass discs topped with an ancient dig bead, now to patina or not to patina that is the question!!!


Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Headpin Challenge Reveal

Headpins by Jen Cameron
Today is the big reveal! Each person who accepted this challenge was to make headpins and/or design something using headpins. This was a popular challenge as we had lots of people sign up. The names below are clickable links, so please click them, see what each person created, and don't forget to leave a comment!

Guests:


Alison Herrington
Renetha Stanziano
Karin Grosset Grange
Gloria Allen
Deb Fortin
Cate van Alphen
Mona Arnott
Shai Williams
Sarajo Wentling
Kathy Lindemer
Solange Collin
Brooke Bock
Melissa Meman
Patricia Handschuh
Tammy Adams
Melissa Trudinger

AJE Team Members:


Caroline Dewison
Lesley Watt
Cathy Mendola
Jenny Davies-Reazor
Susan Kennedy
Laney Mead
Diana Ptaszynski
Lindsay Starr
Niky Sayers


Monday, August 29, 2016

In Prague::Art

I was lucky enough to travel to Prague this summer; my daughter was doing study abroad and the airfare came down enough and my parents gave us enough Holiday Inn points to make our rooms free, so we joined her at the end of her school session!  It was an amazingly beautiful and quick trip!  Today I'm going to share some art with you because it's so inspirational!  I think I'll have to break my trip into to posts, though, because there's so much!


The city of Prague is broken down into neighborhoods, and our hotel was in the Vysehrad section of the city.  Vysehrad is a historical fort city built in the 10th century on the Vltava River.  It's the home of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, and a cemetary that's the Czech version of  Pere LaChaise in Paris!




Many famous Czech artists are buried here, including DvorakNeruda, and Mucha. Franz Kafka, however, is buried in the New Jewish Cemetary, and we did not see his final resting place. 

Many of the roads in Prague are made of cobblestone, and the sidewalks are works of art themselves.



And of course, Kafka is everywhere! 

This apartment building on a street corner is apparently the birthplace of Franz Kafka, and the CafĂ© Kafka is on the bottom floor.

This statue is in the Josefov section of Prague, sculpted by Jaroslav Rona. 

This awesome piece of rotating art is by David Cerny - a kinetic sculpture by city hall in the Nove Mesto section of town.


An awesomely novel fact my daughter told me about - before the buildings had street numbers, the way to find what you were looking for was to look for little sculptures above the doorways!

We were also happy to explore enough to find the "Lennon Wall" located in Mala Strana - in brief, this wall was originally painted by Czech students unhappy with the communist regime.  The wall has undergone many changes during its' existence, and is still an active tourist attraction today! Please read the wiki link I provided, as it is quite interesting!


Well, I think that's enough for my first post on Prague.  In my next post, I'll take you to some amazingly beautiful buildings and show you more art!  Thanks for stopping by!

Susan Kennedy




Friday, August 26, 2016

Mental Organization - Appeal of the Traveler's Style Notebook!

I'm still getting my bead mojo back after a long and stressful summer of upheaval at work, surgery, and other things.  Part of my struggle has been coming home from work, sitting down for "a few minutes"...and finding myself unable to convince my brain that there are other things that need doing.  I've realized some of this is due to the pure quantity of projects, chores, and obligations lodged in my brain - there's just too much in there, and while I remember it all it seems to get so jumbled that it doesn't stream back out in a logical "to-do" list.  It's been most frustrating to know I have so much fun stuff that I need and want to do...but be unable to organize it in my brain enough to actually become motivated and productive.
Why is it that I have nothing to write down on a planner page, yet I have too much to remember to do?
 In my "few minutes" of sitting after work, I've spent a bit of time on Youtube watching the ball-joint doll vlog channels (yes, the doll obsession is still pervasive), I stumbled across this video (try the 2 minute mark) that sparked something in my brain.  One of my favorite doll people talked about and showed off her home made Midori Traveler's style notebook...I thought to myself, "Didn't I read a blog post about those when I got into adult coloring last year?".  Turns out I was right - this guide to the system by JetPens reminded me of why I still had this info in some corner of my brain.  After revisiting that post and a bunch more Youtube videos (particular this one and this one), I decided that this approach to mental organization ticked some boxes that a more structured planner or full blank journal just doesn't...and jumped into the deep end of Traveler's style notebook creation.
A sign of mental disorganization?
I mentioned something to my fellow AJE'ers about my new fixation and Jen sent this post my way. It perfect explains the purpose of a planner or notebook as an accessory to your brain - you are essentially "externalizing your memory" - taking the pressure off of yourself to remember everything and what order it needs to be done in.  I'm not quite sure why this realization has come so late to me - my parents are long time FranklinCovey users, and tried to get me using their planners back in highschool.  I've tried other planners and less structured journal-type books through the years, but nothing has seemed to stick for me.  We all know it's hard to maintain a new habit, but I feel like part of my issue is the overall structure of things I've tried in the past.
Notebook inserts, necessities, and a home-made Midori Traveler's Notebook style cover...sometimes it pays off to have leather lying around...

I'm a list maker for certain - scraps of paper, sticky notes, backs of opened bill envelopes are all fair game.   It doesn't matter if the list is keeping track of groceries, things to pack, gifts I need to make, or dolls that need clothes...a list is my go to method of mental organization.  For appointments or other items that need doing on a certain day, I tend to take a few minutes to set up Google calendar reminders to send me an email in advance.  As far as keeping track of creative projects, I supplement my lists with thumbnail sketches of what I want to remember.  The problem is when I actually want to work on the list or project...how to locate the original thoughts in the jumble of loose paper scraps and partially used sketch books.  Regular planners have always seemed confining - monthly squares too small, weekly/monthly space too large, and where do I make a list or sketch that is not date specific?.  Blank books of paper present a different issue - too much freedom.  I feel like listing in a blank book is not a good use of the paper, so tend to treat them only as a place to sketch or write a full page blog post outline. 
More tools for insert making, decorating, and organization.

So here's the appeal of a Traveler's style notebook - I can buy single inserts that are blank or lined, grid or dots.  There are a myriad of structured inserts too - from typical planners to lines in columns for listing or bullet journaling.  With this, I can keep track of all my long term lists in one place, but also have a destination for temporary lists.  For example - I tend to stop at the grocery store/Target/Costco on the way home from work several days a week.  On those days, I make my list on a sticky note as I think of things during the work day.  Now I will be able to stick this list into my list insert (washi anyone?), and don't have to worry about grabbing it at the end of the day (or loosing it in my car).  Along with the home for lists, I can have segregated blank inserts for beads/dolls/sewing/blogging and other creative endeavors.  I'm not going to get into decorating right now, but I will also not hide the fact I'm really excited to have a place to exhibit all of the small art and paper ephemera that I have accumulated.
Collage fodder, washi tape and gel pens for decorating...I *might* need more washi already...

All of this is very new to me.  I hope to start implementing my ideas over the next couple of days and weeks and post my progress for you next time. Do you have a method for keeping track of your daily and creative tasks?  How do you "externalize your memory"?  (Seriously, that is my new favorite phrase.)

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Bead Fest: A Feast For The Eyes

Bead Fest was held over the weekend.  It's one of the highlights of my year and I've been attending since 2004.  I've even been a vendor at it 3 times (and might again in the future).  This year I went for fun; to see friends and do some (lots) of shopping.

Welcome to Bead Fest
You need to be careful at Bead Fest.  It's easy to go waaaaaaaaaay over budget in a short period of time (ask me how I know).  I told myself to lay off so many art beads this year...hahahahahahahaha!  Ok, yeah that didn't happen.

Gardanne Enamel Components
Explain to me how I'm supposed to do that with such fabulousness like Gardanne Beads enameled pieces?

Thornburg Bead Studio
Nikki/Thornburg Bead Studio brought some of her gorgeous lampwork urchins with her.  I ended up buying a bunch of lampwork headpins from her though to assist me with our AJE headpin challenge.

Penn Avenue Pottery
Tracey/Penn Avenue Pottery had oodles of fun ceramic beads to choose from.  I found myself trapped (totally against my will) at her booth for awhile, with my hands stuck (yes, I couldn't pull them out) in those trays.

Staci Louise Originals 
After my escape from Tracey's booth, I ended up at Staci's booth (that's a lie, I'd been there probably 500 times already by Saturday morning...my apologizes to Staci).  Her booth looked like a magic unicorn had visited with all the beautiful rainbow colors.  I added more beads to my gigantic Staci-collection.

Staci's bags
In addition to her beads, Staci also brought some of her hand-dyed and stamped bags with her.  I own a luna moth bag and it was perfect for shopping the show.

In fact, several bead-makers brought other art with them in addition to their beads...

Diane Hawkey
Diane Hawkey had some of her whimsical pot head planters and house sculptures for sale in her booth.

Beaded Chic Fused Glass
Donna/Beaded Chic has been playing with fused glass lately and brought some new pieces along with her table full of lampwork!


Marsha Neal
Marsha Neal had beads, tiny pottery and her needle-felted creations at her booth.  

Jenny Davies-Reazor
AJE's own Jenny Davies-Reazor had some of her gorgeous tiles and needle-felted/bead-embroidery pieces for sale at her table.

Firefly Design Studio
Michelle/Firefly Design Studio had her beach-inspired dishes with her!

And of course there was gorgeous jewelry at the show...

Marcia Balonis and Pam Garbig
Marcia Balonis and Pam Garbig had a table full of beautiful samples and kits for sale.  I brought home one kit and will be writing about it on here in the near future. 

There were also great tools for sale!

Lucet
New AJE member, Cooky Schock had a booth and I came home with a lucet and some cord from her. You might recall the recent blog post that Cooky wrote for us about the lucet.  This great little tool helped make my 5+ hour car ride home go much quicker!

Xuron
Treated myself to a new Xuron plier.  Soooooo comfortable!

Funky Chain, ParaWire, Gemstones
This was just the tip of the iceberg of what was available at Bead Fest!  You're probably wondering what I brought home with me, right?  Let's take a peek...

Pottery Purchases
A bunny pot head planter from Diane Hawkey, a ring holder from Marsha Neal and a dish from Michelle/Firefly Design.

Tools and Kits
The lucet, cord for the lucet, some dyed Stiff Stuff (Bead My Love), spiffy new XBow Series Xuron pliers and a fab kit from Marcia Balonis.

Art Bead Haul
And this is the art bead haul.  So many beads, pendants, headpins and cabochons!  

Bead Fest 2016 was fabulous as always and while I hate to see it end, my wallet requires a year to recover.  See you in 2017, Bead Fest!

Happy Beading!