Echo and Wild - a Creative Collaboration

Let Merriment Abound! 

This year the Maryland Renaissance Festival (hereafter known as Ren Fest) celebrates its 40th year of merriment, mayhem, magic and history. Its no surprise I am a Ren faire kind of girl; I have been attending the MD faire almost annually for over 30 years. Yes, since I was a teen. Its a unique blend of history and comedy, of accuracy and fantasy, of theater and art, of seriousness and frivolity.

The Maryland Renaissance Festival! 

I have long been a fan of the artists that live and work at the Md Ren fest. In fact many a birthday gift I have received in the last 30 years were selections from the faire. But over the last 12 years as I have entered the local arts faire circuit, I have met and become good friends with many of these same artists. Yes, the faerie festival circuit is a world that overlaps with Ren Fest. The love of myth and magic, fantasy and folklore are uniting themes. 

My friend Jeanne Gibbons is the artist and one woman entrepreneur behind Echo and Wild jewelry. For years a fan and a collector, now a friend - this year Jeanne and I finally made a collaboration happen. Years in discussion mode - now a reality. So last week I went to faire, before opening, to drop off the fruits of out labors. I can show you a sneak peak behind the scenes... 

Echo and Wild - setting up to start the Faire season.  1. Echo and Wild booth in a state of show prep. 2. Jeanne's sons toys piled in the backstage courtyard. 3. The hidden world of vendors behind the fences. 4. the grounds - empty and quiet! 

Not familiar with the Ren Fest scene? 30 of 50 states have them! Its a day of interactive theater, with shopping, feasting, and drama! Jousting! Human chess! Sword Swallowing! Here is a promo clip from MD: The Maryland Renaissance Festival, a tradition for the entire family, begins its 40th season ...
The 27 acre Village of Revel Grove comes to life each autumn with more than 200 professional performers on ten stages, authentic combat armored jousting on magnificent steeds and streets filled with village characters. Join His Most Royal Highness King Henry VIII in the forests and glades with over 140 artisans exhibiting crafts in their own renaissance shops, five taverns featuring cool libations, 42 food and beverage emporiums providing a vast array of succulent and sweet treats to sate even the most hearty of appetites.

This is the view from Jeanne's booth. The neighbors, a drop coin press, were repainting the floor and doing booth maintenance.

Quiet in the Shire. The grass is green, and nary a patron in sight. 

So - I know you want to see the JEWELRY. Jeanne creates mythic, magical and meaningful symbolic pieces in sterling. She sculpts and casts all her work in her garage casting studio. I set to work to pair her pieces with gems. Nothing too elaborate, but meant to compliment, to accent. 

A sampling of our collaborative efforts. 

Four seasons faeries. A few of my favorites!

If you are local and go to the Ren Fest - stop by Echo and Wild! They are located on the Queen's Path as you enter the Shire.

Jeanne (on left) and a colleague. 

So next? All the pieces I sent to the Faire? I have duplicates for me - my work - my fall shows! I am so excited to continue to design with these pieces that speak my (our) language! The hardest part? Not keeping them all! 

My inventory for future creations! 

I am beyond excited to have collaborated with Jeanne whose work I have admired for so many years. I am also thrilled to have a presence at the Ren fest in some form. Perhaps a guest spot for me there in future years? We shall see... 

Until then... 

get thee to the Faire! 

The Jackalope: Creative collaboration.

Creative Collaboration
Or an idea shared: different artists, different mediums

The plan was hatched after a festival, to create and collaborate all new work for an upcoming show. The players? Jane Star Weils - fantasy and mythic painter and Jenny Davies-Reazor - fantasy and mythic sculptor/jeweler. Two friends, two artists, two redheads. What could go wrong?

I suggested a jackalope. While most commonly associated with folklore of the Wild West, there are horned hares that appear in illuminated manuscripts as far back as Ancient Persia and Medieval Europe. (Further reading on the jackalope here)

Jane sent me this - and it is awesome:

original drawing by Jane Star Weils 

So I headed to the studio and started to sculpt... Originally I planned to do 2 one-of-a-kind tiles... but the Facebook response was so popular that I cast the tile. I can now press jackalope tiles to my heart's content.

Sculpting from my reference photo

SO many glaze possibilities!

Jane and I decided to do this collaboration because we were sharing a space and vending together at the uniquely magical New York Faerie Festival in Ouaquagua, NY. We had special approval from the organizers as sharing usually is discouraged. Our themes of mythic inspiration, gods and goddesses, totem animals and symbolic icons are shared from paint to clay, from colored pencil to polymer. Here we are set up overlooking a babbling brook - I kid you not! 

Our home away from home - Jane on the left and yours truly on the right. 

Our side "yard" and natural installation/altar

 While we did not sell out of jackalope items - it was great fun! I adore Jane's work and was thrilled to have permission to do this - use her images, etc. I think she also enjoyed seeing her creation come to life in beads, and 3d.  I have to state here that I used her image with her express permission - and thats the only way I could have done this. Sure, there are other jackalope images I could have referenced... but that wasn't the point here. It was a motivating, inspiring challenge, shared marketing and the like. (Other artists friends had their jackalopes represented as well - in leather masks... sorry no pictures though...)

Jackalope in situ

The photocopied images transferred to the polymer with a greenish cast that I thought was perfect. I did 2 pieces but tried to kept the colors a bit more neutral to appeal to a wider audience.

Image transfer on polymer with beaded bezel

I would love to hear what you think! What is your favorite mythical animal? Have you ever collaborated with another artist? 

For me - home from FaerieLand- its back to the glaze cave... 

Until next time! 

Color me enchanted! A book review...

I sat down to write this post on 2 books in my art/inspiration/history library that I adore. And found a new book by  the author, Victoria Finlay. I only wonder if I can wait until the holidays to purchase it. You know its on my list right away! OK - back to the regularly scheduled post... 

When I need a go to gift for a friend I turn to the work of author Victoria Finlay. Almost everyone I know would find either of her first 2 books interesting. Gems, history, drama, folktales, color, pigments, each, science, paint, art.... see what I mean? I wanted to introduce these to you, for your list or as gifts... since it IS that time of year. 

First: Color: a natural history of the palette. 

This book is a treat. Divided into the colors of the rainbow it delves into origins, materials, organic sources, scientific methods, history, travel, culture... The author shares her travel tales, her detailed and thorough research, both historical and cultural. Its a behind the scenes look into things that are so familiar and remain a complete mystery!

Color by V. Finlay. Available here

From the back cover: 

• Cleopatra used saffron - a source of the color yellow - for seduction... 
• Extracted from an Afghan mine, the blue "ultramarine" used by Michelangelo was so expensive he couldn't afford to buy it himself.
• Since ancient times, carmine red - still found in lipsticks and Cherry Coke - has come from the blood of insects. 

Snippets from "Color..."

"If you open up a box of paints, there are numerous such stories hidden inside it. There are stories of sacredness and profanity, of nostalgia and invention, of secrecy and myth, of luxury and texture, of profit and loss, of fading and poison, or cruelty and greed, and of the determination of some people to let nothing stop them in the pursuit of beauty." ( page24)

Second: Jewels- A secret History

Jewels by V. Finlay available here

Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amber, jet... 

Im sure you have heard of the infamous and tragic Hope diamond, of Mikimoto and the first cultured pearls. But what of Whitby, the town jet built? The emerald city of Sikait? The amber washing championships on Jantar, Poland? I didn't think so! These and more tales await you in the pages of "Jewels"! I am the first to admit that I am a "gemstone junkie" and that I most frequently use stones in my beadwork. But this is a multicultural exploration into places, gems, folklore...  that appeals to me on so many levels!

Snippets from "Jewels"

And most recently: The BRILLIANT history of Color in Art

Finalys' newest! Im so excited! On Amazon... 

Looking inside this one on Amazon, I may have actually sealed out loud in excitement. COLOR and ART HISTORY. I am in heaven. Cave paintings! Tyrian purple and Egyptian blue, gilded Medieval painting, sepia photography... 

from the back cover: 

• Cleopatra made purple the royal color of the Western world. Her favorite was made with rotten shellfish soaked in urine. 
• Cobalt blue was the key evidence in a infamous trial  involving Nazi collaboration and a forged Vermeer. 
• Van Gogh used chrome yellow beautifully in his paintings - but he probably shouldn't have eaten it. 

( I searched for this last night at Barnes & Noble. To look, maybe to bring it home... Sadly their one copy wasn't not the shelf. So for now - it remains on my Wish list.) 

I know that was a very biased, enthusiastic review. But if all I achieve is to have you look up these books and consider them... they speak for themselves. Great gifts - for yourself, or your art/jewelry/history/folklore friends! 

Freeform Friday - Swellegant patinas!

 Do you ever buy a thing that you think is going to be perfect and then put it safely away in your studio? For a year? Uh yeah... It wasn't that I forgot I had this complete set of Swellegant paints and patinas - I wanted to have a chance to play and experiment and test them out. To devote to exploring the hundreds, no, thousands of combinations and inter reactions. Right. Like that's ever going to happen. This week there weren't any pressing deadlines, and I needed to PLAY a little. So here we go!

Swellegant paints are a system comprised of a metal paint, a patina, and colorful dye-oxides. I heard of it via Christi Friesen, who has shared amazing tutorials and resources about Swellegant on her website.  And she sells it there too. But I am NOT receiving any rewards or bribes for this shameless plug.

Here I am watching paint dry. Well, watching the magic of patina happen! These pieces are polymer and had been languishing in a tray awaiting some attention and TLC. 

There are five metals paints available: brass, copper, bronze, iron, and silver. ( They are working out the kinks with the silver formula, sometimes it explodes. Just a little. Mine was gelatinous and stinky after a year... The customer service at Christi's site is out-of-this-world though!) 

There are three patinas: darkening, Verdigris and Tiffany Green/rust. There are like a million dye oxide colors. ( OK thirteen, for real.) 

Here is the story so far: One coat of metal paint, let dry. Second coat applied, and patina applied while metal paint is still wet. I spritzed mine onto the pieces.
 From L to r: Brass, Bronze, Copper - all with Tiffany green patina.

Now the fun can begin: I went back in to some pieces with metal paint to highlight the high points, accentuate the relief of the sculptural pieces. 

Tiffany green patina on iron paint creates rust. 

The brass group: dye oxides added. I used blues and greens to vary the patina colors on three pieces. On the figure/cameo piece I used white, red, brown to accentuate the figure and the trees. 

The bronze group: Lots of blues! The deep cobalt agains the bronze was so fabulous to me.. . Trying white to lighten and add interest to the owl. 

The copper group: some blue/purples added to darken the deeper areas, some lighter green and yellows added for variety. It was truly playful. I didn't feel the pressure to finish pieces for a deadline and these PC pieces had been waiting to be painted for a good while - not too precious, not too much time invested in their creation that would make me hesitate to mess them up! 

The left moon and feather are copper/tiffany/dyes. 

The right owl and feather are iron/tiffany/dyes. I am digging the rusty crusty nature of that owl, and the colors with the rust! Yes. 

So thats where I am today! I have to wait a total of 72 hours before sealing the pieces. The Swellegant system comes with a water based sealer. I have only used one patina! The tip of the creative iceberg...  After sealing them - hmmm. Tab settings! Beaded bezels! Make more! 

I am overall thrilled with this product and my results. There are infinite possibilities. My only regret - I waited so long to dive in! If you are interested in more information check Christi's site. And heather at Humblebeads wrote a stellar post, sharing her patina combinations! I for sure am going to add this to my repertoire. OH! Swellegant finishes on my Mythic Nature pieces! Whoa! 

Stay tuned here and on my blog for more "Swell" pieces. And its NOT too early to start making things for Beadfest in August! What would you like to see? Cabs? pendants? charms? beads? I would love to hear what you think! 

Thanks for stopping by - off to the studio now... 

Jenny

www.jdaviesreazor.com