Soul Humming

Bronze Clay Class & Julie's On-line Class

On Sunday Ruth and I zipped down to The Shepherdess for an impromptu attendance of a ring class using Bronze Clay. We have both worked with PMC or silver metal clay but not the new bronze. We met the task with mixed results.

the bronze clay looks like terra cotta before it is fired

as you can see above, i made only one ring. it has the Snelling family crest on it, which is a dragon. i've made rings with silver clay before. it is a bit of a process, i'll tell you. getting the seam on the band perfectly closed takes a while. as the clay dries, it tends to crack. each crack must be repaired, sanded, smoothed, filled, and smoothed some more. i'm not big on taking a while and i have a lot of rings so i made the one ring and moved on. i love earrings and necklaces best so i made pendants and charms for earrings or necklaces. these were quick and easy so i made quite a few.

we left all our work there for our sweet teacher to fire and return to us. hopefully, i will get them later this week. i'll be sure to post them when they arrive.

there were a couple of differences in the bronze clay from the silver clay. first of all, the texture is a bit more plastic upon removal from the package. silver clay tends to feel more wet and soft than the bronze clay. ruth had a bum package that was incredibly dry. she suffered with rehydrating it for a good part of the class. it was a new package but something was up with it. i got lucky and had a nice bit of clay so it came along a little easier for me. of course, don't think bum clay stopped ruth. she made a couple of awesome bracelets and rings. i can't wait to see them finished.

the other odd thing about bronze clay is that in order to keep it soft and pliable it needs to remain cold. even the heat from your hands stiffens the clay. we had a container of ice in the refrigerator and would periodically put our packages of clay back in to soften up. i would find myself walking to the hot plate to see if a piece was dry all the while nonchalantly kneading a small piece of clay in my hand. by the time i got back to the table it was dried out and stiff.

i really liked the finished look of the pieces our teacher had produced. they have an ancient aesthetic to them that appeals to me (imagine an old roman coin). and they come out of the kiln ready to go without a lot of polishing.

speaking of the kiln, that is something else that is different from silver clay. to fire the bronze clay you have to put your pieces in a closed stainless steel container surrounded by carbon. they need to be starved of oxygen in order to sinter without oxidation. i was very happy to leave my pieces behind for an expert to fire.

while the class was relaxing and just what i needed, one of the best parts of the day was getting to meed old friends and new friends for dinner.

becci, julie, and kecia had spent the weekend making mermaids with suzi blu

we all just happened to finish our classes at the same time and were able to get together for an excellent sister-girl gathering at a revolving sushi place that kecia had found.

photo courtesy of julie (and our cool waitress)

it was so much fun to unwind and share much laughter with these girls. i only wish we had had more time together. kecia and becci have already gone on their way but hopefully julie and i will get together soon for an art play date.

speaking of julie, she's got an awesome on-line class coming up.

check it out here. enrollment begins TODAY!

International Charm Day

My friend, Amber Dawn, has declared today as International Charm Day. So I'm joining along with her and celebrating jewelry creations such as those Ruth and I made along with our friends in A Charming Exchange.

a few of the charms submitted for A Charming Exchange

One of the very first charms I ever made was for a charm swap Ruth hosted at MMCA.

I added an image of my grandmother's eyes and the word remember to the back of a Japanese beetle wing along with a tiny bell. My grandmother had recently passed away and I wanted to pay homage to her in this way.

Ruth went on to create a blog called Just Simply Charming with step-by-step instructions for each of the 25 charms in the exchange. And since today is International Charm Day you might want some inspiration so head on over.

Happy Arting!

words

all i have today are words.
my heart is full of them.
some are jagged, sharp, and frightening.
others rush in with a sweet balm to soothe.
life is so short.
and people are not always dependable.
even when the people is me.
today i am working through it all.
paint is my answer.
pouring out my words
or pouring out my nightmares
paint will be the balm.

flying solo

sometimes you have to fly it alone

Tips for Earth Day

I try to live a green life every day. I have cloth grocery bags and I turn off the lights whenever I leave the room. But on this official Earth Day, I want to do even more. Here are a few tips for you, in case you are looking for some ways to give back to Mother Earth today and every day.

1. Turn off the lights and electronics when you leave the room. If you look around the house you may discover, as I did, that the toaster, phone charger, coffee maker and other appliances all have a small light or clock that are sucking up electricity when not in use. Unplug them until you need them.

2. www.volunteermatch.org  This is one of my favorite sites. If you are looking for a green way (or any way) to volunteer in your community, you can probably find it here. In my community there is a program where volunteers can go to a field, glean the leftover produce, and have it donated to the local food bank. I'm signed up for this one with my kids.

3. Keep reusable bags in your car or near your door so they are easy to grab when you go to the market. And you can even combine purchases from different stores into one bag… just be sure to save your receipts.

4. Recycle your newspapers.

5. Walk or ride a bike instead of driving at least once a week.

6. Have a vegetarian lunch three days a week or more.

7. Check out a book from the library instead of buying a new copy.

8. Get a water filter at home so you can avoid buying bottled water. And if you have all those plastic water bottles at home, reuse them then recycle.

9. When your next bulb goes out, replace it with a compact fluorescent light bulb. They last 10 times as long, and over their lifetime, use 1/4 the energy of an incandescent bulb. That will save $30-$40 on your electric bill. When replacing major appliances purchase energy efficient ones - look for the government's EnergyStar label.

10. Use organic cleaning products like vinegar, borax, and baking soda.

11. Trade Day - If you are destashing your closet, art supplies, or garage set up a trade day with friends. Have everyone bring the items they no longer need which are still in good condition to trade with one another. Whatever is left can be donated to charity.

12. Visit www.greendimes.com to get off all those junk mailing lists. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

13. Involve your children in your Earth Day celebrations and green ways. Walk them to school and bring a bag to pick up litter along the way. Help them to plant herbs and vegetables in a backyard garden or in pots. They might be interested to eat more vegees if they grown them at home. By educating our children we are building a better tomorrow.

14. Organize a book round up to donate books to your local library.

15.  Rinse your laundry in cold water. Hang your wash out to dry.

16. Take shorter showers. If not every day, then at least a few days a week. Taking a four-minute shower instead of an eight-minute shower could save almost 10 gallons of water.

17. YouRenew.com lets you sell or recycle your electronics. You can get cash for the electronics with value or ship it to the company for free and they'll recycle it for you.

18. Use cloth napkins at home.

19. Recycle motor oil, antifreeze and car batteries.

20. Plant a tree!

These are just a few super simple tips that you can do today to make difference. There are so many ways to live a more green lifestyle that will not only help the environment but also save you money and create a more healthy lifestyle for yourself and others.

Happy Earth Day!

Chai and Natural Wonders

i'm working on this 8" x 8" painting of a tonkinese cat named chai. it is for an upcoming auction to benefit bernie berlin's animal rescue, A Place to Bark.

in other news, we've been on spring break here.

 

we took a quick trip to the grand canyon which was utterly spectacular.

but our youngest son got sick so we came home early. we thought it was food poisoning but then our eldest son also got sick with me right behind him. thankfully, everyone is feeling much better now, just in time to return to school. i think i may need a vacation from vacation.

PAWS for Charity Art Book - It's Here!!

I am very thrilled and honored to tell you about a wonderful book I participated in which features amazing artwork and photographs of much beloved cats and dogs. And, all funds from the sale of this book will be donated to Avon's Breast Cancer Crusade.

   

The Avon Foundation supports breast cancer programs worldwide...in 50 countries including the USA, Canada, and the UK.

I am really, really excited about the PAWS for Charity Art Book Project. The work in it is absolutely gorgeous, vibrant, lively and inspiring. The work covers a wide variety of styles and media. It is the brain child of the incredible Sara Harley, a fabulous animal lover from Nova Scotia who sadly lost her mom to breast cancer.

Please check out the book HERE and order a copy for yourself, your animal loving friends, your art loving friends, and anyone who would appreciate helping us beat breast cancer once and for all.

Easter Blessings

Now if we died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with Him.
For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,

He cannot die again;

death no longer has mastery over Him.
The death He died, He died to sin once for all;
but the life He lives, He lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin
but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

-Romans 6:8-11

I'm the winning jerkwad, Coraline!

Remember when the movie Coraline came out how I got a little obsessed with it? I read the book, saw the movie, played in her online house. I even gave myself some button eyes...

Well, all that playing paid off. Here's what happened...

While visiting the movie's website, I found a place in Coraline's room that showed these super cool Coraline custom Nike high-tops. You could only get them by winning them here.

I showed my oldest son and he was very excited to try to win.

So we saw the movie and he reminded me to stay through the credits. We watched and we watched and we weren't sure what was the code. We saw a combination of letters and numbers and thought that must be it. We also saw this cryptic message, "For those in the know: Jerkwad." We were all puzzled by that one but happily moved on with the alpha-numeric code.

Once home we visited the site and put in our code. But it wasn't accepted. No matter if it were in Caps or lower case it would not work. Finally, I remembered the jerkwad message and we tried that. Bingo! Jerkwad was the secret code!

And guess what...We won a pair of the Coraline custom Nike dunks high tops! My son was over the moon. They just arrived today while he was at a Star Wars Birthday costume party.

Not too surprisingly, they ended up in this guy's cupcake the second they came out of the box.

And here are the shoes!

Here's the Coraline buttons.

So much cool hand stitching. The soles glow in the dark. They also come with dark brown laces. And inside, the ankle is lined with pale blue satin with white stars. So cool.

My Commander Cody did not want to take a photo.
He was very hot and tired after the party and wanted to get that costume off.

I entered the contest with my son's shoe size so he could win these. But I have to admit that I am so envious. I think these dunks are just awesome! Thanks, Coraline!!

best thing

you are the best thing that ever happened to me.