My Work is in a New Book!

I just found out that my article on the etched disc bracelet is in a new book:

10 Cold Connected Jewelry Projects: The Best of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Volume 2

10 cold connection projects in the Best of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Volume 2

(http://www.interweavestore.com/Beading-Jewelry/Projects/10-Cold-Connected-Jewelry-Projects-Best-of-Lapidary-Journal-Jewelry-Artist-Volume-2.html)

The picture of my bracelet is front and center!  WooHOOO!

Other artists featured in this issue of this eBook include:

Tom and Kay Benham
Robert Dancik
Helen Driggs
Judith Freyer Thompson
Eric Silva

The projects include such topics as a copper and faux bone bracelet, papier mache and resin pendant, and a resin and bronze wire cuff.

What a great surprise.  This is the second time I’ve had my work featured on the front cover of a book.  The first one is still in book stores today ( Polymer Clay Exploring New Techniques and New Materials by Georgia Sargeant).  I have to say I always get a funny/crazy feeling when I see my work on the cover of that book in a book store.   My polymer butterfly book is on the cover of that book.  That same polymer book is now in the University of Washington’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection in the Suzallo Library along with some other books I’ve made.

There's my butterfly book!

I guess it’s this sort of stuff that makes being an artist fulfilling (aside from the substantial fun of actually just making the work!).  My work is shared with many and that’s never bad.

Sequins Are Like Classy Glitter Bling

Hologram, special shaped sequins

Okay, I admit it: I love shiny, sparkly stuff.  I love looking at light refracting and have all of my life from the first rainbow that I ever saw to light bouncing out of my Mother’s wedding ring.   Who knew that it would become a full on obsession in later life?

Printed sequins!

My LP, (life partner or Long Playing album, I’m not sure which since both seem to apply), knows that when we come across anything hologrammy (new word!), in a store that he’ll find himself walking alone suddenly and I’m stuck back at the hologram, swaying and watching the colors change.  He’ll say: ‘Oh OH! She’s stuck’ and retrieve me…

In my, ahem, adult life this has manifested in my ridiculously extensive, (some would say), SEQUIN collection.  YUP.  I have a sequin collection.  I have thousands of sequins and can always find an excuse to believe I need to have more.   I put them on all sorts of things, too.  I sew them onto paper, canvas, fabric, felted stuff, beads, you name it.  Sequins are like classy glitter.

Paillette, aurora finish, large sequins.

My favorite supplier is Cartwright’s.  It’s amazing what they have there (www.ccartwright.com).  They have hologram sequins, opaque, iridescent, and satin/matte sequins.  They have PRINTED sequins – think leopard, zebra, striped, and so on.  They have sequins in *different sizes*!

YES,  I have sequins in different sizes.  I have 2mm, 3mm, 4 mm and 6 mm sized sequins.  I know it sounds kooky but what if I NEED them at 3 in the morning and I find I don’t have what I need, like the night that I’m writing this post?

Sequins make me happy.  I find that they make other people happy, too:  Sequin Worship, is it wrong?

Animal print sequins.

Iridescent sequins.

Gray iridescent sequins.

Print Gocco Research

The coveted Print Gocco PG-11.

A little while ago, I asked what happened to Print Gocco?  I’ve since done a bit of research on the subject to find out.  There are lots of resources and article links posted here:

http://www.blue22.net/blog/wp/2009/07/15/print_gocco_comparison_chart/

I suppose that with the advent of new technology artists are turning to other tools so Gocco sales dropped.  I have to say that there isn’t anything that takes the place of the Gocco’s ability to produce up to 70-80 prints in one inking.  The other plus is that it takes pulling the squeegee out of the equation and instead makes creating a print simple as closing a box, tapping the two sides together and that’s it.

The Print Gocco was my first introduction to both screen printing and printmaking.  It is an impressive device, well designed and extremely functional for the artist to use at home.  I wonder why there hasn’t been some buyer for the Gocco product line.  It would be a rare situation where the product already has a market to jump off from.

In the meantime, check out osme of the lovely things that are being printed with Gocco printers:

http://www.deconstructedartichokepress.com/

I love her artist book titled: ‘Contemplation on the Obsessive Nature of Time’.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6375768

This is a printmaker’s etsy site.  Very graphic work with a Scandinavian stylization, beautiful colors and lots of Gocco prints.

The lessons I’ve learned from printmaking processes is to slow down, step things out – in other words, break the project down into steps and build the work step by step.  I love the process of making art.   Give me a way to delve into the process step by incredible step and I will.  I find myself prolonging finishing things because like a good book, I hate for that story to end.

The Studio Tour

WOW! What a great event the Edmonds Art Studio Tour is.  I enjoyed talking with people and telling them about my studio mate’s work, hearing their comments and answering their questions.  It was a great opportunity to see what catch’s the eye and see what people appreciate.

Sue Robertson, (www.suerobertson.net), graciously allowed me to be part of her studio.  I always enjoy being around Sue and I always learn something from her – something good that I personally need to know.  She says what she thinks, asks good questions and her observations are important to pay attention to.  I hear what she says and I have a lot of respect for her work.  There are many pieces of hers that I love, one of which I’ve never gotten out of my mind so I should have bought it.  I go to her website to see it periodically.  It’s called ‘Subtlety’ and I really love it.   I got to hang it in an exhibition at the Edmonds Conference Center when I curated the ‘Women in the Mix’ exhibit.  The picture of it on her website doesn’t do it justice.  It has a lot of light/interference bounce to it – stuff that I love – that can’t quite be captured nicely.

Did I make a lot of money in the tour?  Nope.  I pretty much broke even but you know, for a first time, this isn’t bad.   What I did get is a new gallery wanting my work.  That is worth more then a net gain to me at this point.  Having someone else selling my work is a dream coming true.  This is the direction I wanted to go so that I could justify more studio time and here it is. So now I will have two galleries that will be selling my stuff!  ZOWEE!  All in the same week.

I heard from someone today that told me they wished they had bought some of my work at the tour when they were there.  This tells me that my work is in their mind and they really liked it, much like I feel about that painting of Sue’s.  What a great compliment that is.   I would say that the studio tour was very successful for me!  I’m looking forward to next year.

THANKS Sue!  I don’t think I would have done it if you hadn’t put the thought into my head.

It was great to see some of my oldest friends come by, too.  What a treat!  They even hung out with me for a bit and that was really great.  Julie and I did a craft show together, years ago, so it was like old times.  I always like to hear what she’s up to. Julie is the #1 woman pinball player in the U.S. and #2 in the world!   How cool is that?
Getting to see Jory and Kerith is always a treasure to me and hearing how they and Julie are all into bowling and pinball cracked me up.   Bill and Gillian came by, too.  I appreciate each of them taking time out of their weekend to come see what I’m doing.  That was worth the price of admission!

The Edmonds Art Studio Tour Sept. 19 & 20

Can you tell I’m getting ready for a show?  I’ve sent out my announcements, left brochures everywhere I can think of and now I have to get to actually making some new things to flesh out what I have to offer…and the show is in 3 days.

I have never been in a studio tour and I haven’t sold my own work in years except off my website.  It’s a little nervewracking to know that I am going to be present to explain the work, see if it’s enjoyed…or not.   I have two major worries: I won’t have enough stuff to be worthy of being there and if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be awful to end up with nothing left on the second day?  I KNOW that will never happen and it’s not arrogance talking here.  It’s worry.  Of course if my work is awful, I will finish the weekend with all of it, won’t I?   So that begs the question: do I make some ugly stuff just so that I won’t worry?

I hope that made you laugh.  It’s a goofy thought but this is the sort of thinking that happens leading up to such an event which is probably why I stopped doing shows – that and the set up just to tear down thing.  I just make stuff and show it in my classes as samples.  I suppose trying to sell it is better then having it disappear in a class or from an exhibit which is how my work seems to leave me these days.  We’ll see.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I’m sure it will be wonderful and satisfying but right now, that seems like just a dream.

In the meantime, I apologize for the lack of posts.  I’m in the studio making stuff!

How to Get Ready for a Show

In a perfect world, we would make and make and make and have lots of stuff for that eventual show of our work, right?  HAH.  Never happens.

In my case, I teach like crazy so studio time is pretty minimal.  Oh yeah – and in a perfect world, I would run to my studio every chance I got and make and make and make, right?  In reality, I find myself to be tired or hungry or having just enough time to sleep or maybe wash some dishes that really need attention.  Sound familiar?

OKAAAAAY.  So where do we go from here?  I know.  It looks like we’re all in this same boat.   Of course you can’t avoid needing all those creations to show so here are some ideas:

– If you make jewelry, figure out some production methods for streamlining what you do:  make multiples of a shape and then individualize them if you’re a one of a kind artist.   A friend of mine, a famous jewelry artist, showed up at a show some years ago without much inventory.  She stood behind her table with two trays lined in black velvet that held beads she had made – about 20 of them – and that was all she had for the two day show.  I hold that picture in my mind because it makes me aware that the biggest thing is that you’re there with your work, bottom line.  Whatever you have is good enough!

– If you paint, try cleaning your brush (when you are ready to change colors) on another canvas.  It might turn into something useful and at the very least, save you from ‘white canvas fright’.

– Most importantly for everyone: take a deep breath, take a walk, get lots of sleep, eat well and do whatever it takes to relax.  These things will help you get there and you’ve just removed a whole bunch of excuses, yes?

Lastly: good luck!  Know that every artist understands what you’re going through.  Breathe through it.  It is what it is and what you have is what you have.

Art is Not Made in a Vacuum

Painting by Edgar Degas

Jonathan Talbot said this a few times and I agree.  Art is not made in a vacuum.  If you think about the ‘old days’ in Europe or the U.S. there were ’schools’ of art which comprised of artists that hung out together, worked together and exhibited together.  I think those artists found success as a group especially where exhibiting was concerned.  Consider that Toulouse Latrec lived at 19 rue la Fontaine and Edgar Degas has his studio next door at some point despite Degas being 30 yrs. senior to Latrec.  Each of them depicted dancers on stage (Degas painted ballerinas and Latrec, the dancers of the Moulin Rouge) and each of them used theatrical lighting on their subjects to good effect.

I don’t believe that these are mere similarities.  They are more like influences.  Every artist is influenced by the art which she or he admires, has studied, seena nd appreciated.  Maybe it is translated in the colors used in a given work or in using a composition or subject.  As Jonathan says: “it has all been done before”.  I heard this statement over and over in art school but I have always wanted to clarify it with:  yeah, but it has not been done by me!

I do believe that even if one appropriates a subject, composition or palette that it will still have that individual’s voice.  Our personal style speaks through whatever we do so uniquely that it can’t be stopped.  It has to do with how we hold that brush or pen, how we move our hand, the pressure that we apply onto the substrate and how we each see and translate what we see.  There are good mimics, yes, but when one is not mimicking, the individualism speaks so loudly that there isn’t any way to hear anything else.

By Toulouse Latrec

Automated Music Boxes (Mandeville)

I have been percolating a ‘marionette necklace’ that is slowly gathering speed.  The idea came to me when I was teaching in Santa Fe last March after seeing the Gustave Baumann exhibit at the Santa Fe Museum.  It was the ‘Waiting for Baumann’ display that an artist had done portraying the printmaker/marionette designer’s work table/studio and the finished marionettes hanging on the wall waiting for him to come back.  He had been dead for 32 years at this point.

The marionettes had digitally projected faces on them.  One was Charlie Chaplin and every so often his foot would tap impatiently and he would tilt his head.  The cowboy in the middle was very anxiously looking at his companions on the wall and saying “Where is he?  Is there someone out there? Do you think he’s coming back?” and the lady next to him would yawwwwwn every so often.  I really was struck by this installation.   Something clicked in my head when I saw this piece and I couldn’t stop looking at it.  I was trying to take it all in because there was something there for me.  Like I said, it’s still percolating.

Anyway, on Antiques Roadshow (PBS) the showed what they called a mandeville or automated music box: three clowns playing musical instruments, sort of squat and twist while playing.  It was amazing.  Of course, I saw this after finding Clair du Reve in the Paris Mapguide.  Who knows where this fascination is going but I’m sure it will be somewhere articulated…

On that note, I started searching the net for automated music boxes.  Here are some places I found:

http://www.musichouseshop.com/store/animated.html

http://www.amazon.com/PHANTOM-OPERA-MOVING-MONKEY-MUSIC/dp/B0017GXX1O

The MapGuide Series

Planning a trip? Just want to dream?  Get a MapGuide by Michael Middleditch.  These guides are an amazing resource for touring by bus or other public transpo, include public transpo routes, historical points of interest, history info, entertainment and more.

We just bought the Paris Mapguide for our upcoming visit there.  It is the companion to another great guide that a very nice woman, Marilyn, bought for me called ‘Finding Fashion and Fabric Abroad, Florence, London, and Paris’ by Jennefer Penfold of Travel by Design, Lynnwood, WA.  Apparently Jennefer Penfold conducts tours in Europe for quilters.  This particular guide includes info about museums, fabric shops, art supplies, libraries, paper stores (postcards, stamps, etc.) and more.  Each section refers you to a map in the corresponding Mapguide (published by Penguin).  I learned from this book that after dark the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 10 minutes every hour on the hour.  How cool is that?

This makes it easy to arrange your own customized tour and know which map will be needed for each day.  The sights are categorized by location so you can arrange to see multiple places close together in a day yet all the info is also indexed by category, too.  So you can always look under ‘Restaurants’ for a specific place for example.   These mapguides would be great for collage, too!  The maps would make perfect backgrounds…

So far I have found some pretty interesting places that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise:  Musee de la Poupee (Poupee is doll!), Sennelier (makers of fabulous pastels, etc.),  Tresors du Tibet which has Tibetan and Nepali stuff and it’s situated on St. Louis en l’ile or the little island of St. Louis in the Seine, not far from our hotel.

Clair du Reve,  (www.clairdereve.com) – GO to this website, Ann! They make automated dolls, marionettes, and more.  Click on their pix to see more of what they do.  It’s really cool.  There is an articulated bird in one of the pix that has me thinking…

Print Gocco Resources Today

There are a few resources still out there for Gocco print machines.  I see a whole slew of Gocco models on Ebay this week including the B5 (the most standard model), the PG-10 (an older model), the PG-10 replacement known as the PG-11 and the PG-Arts (the largest machine available).

The prices are still as high as they ever were.  Now that these aren’t being made anymore there are fewer available so I don’t see that the prices will come down.  People obviously still want these devices.  The method of delivering ink can’t be beat and there isn’t another machine out there that works the way the Gocco does so the demand for Goccos has maintained throughout the years.

There is a new machine out there called the Yudu.  It has some trick advantages but it is still a situation where you are squeegeeing the ink across the screen like traditional screen printing.  The Yudu gives you the option of melting the emulsion off the screen so it can be re-imaged and re-used which cuts quite a it of cost.  The Yudu is a very large format, too, so you can print t-shirts, larger paper, etc.   I see that the Yudu is available through Amazon for around $189 vs. $229 in Joann’s.

Okay that aside, you can still get supplies for the Gocco at:

www.welshproducts.com – this is a family owned business and the people are great to do business with.  One time I called and ended up talking to the Senior Welsh that started the company.  He was answering the phone that day!  We had a very pleasant conversation and he taught me about thermal fax machines.  The one I bought originally caught the screen on fire and I had a lot of questions…

You can still get Riso Thermal Screen from Welsh Products.  I flash these through a thermal fac and then tape it into an old Gocco screen frame with the film intact and print on the Gocco with it.  The Gocco is still usefu!

A video on how to work a Gocco machine:

www.goccopress.com

A video on a Gocco project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJzkhfWwrXM

More info on another artist’s experience with Gocco:
http://www.getcrafty.com/blogs.php?user=dilettantecrafter&entry=5305

It’s just another great tool for mixed media artists that will print on paper and fabric.  I will continue to use my Gocco printers despite the turn of events.