Soul Humming

The 12 Days of Christmas 2010

 

My gift for Day Eight.

Hello, People! Here I am all ready to begin our annual handmade holiday ornament exchange. It is something I look forward to with great anticipation every year. I become giddy like my seven year old on Christmas Eve. Yes, I do!

These gifts are kitty-approved.

If you don't know what this hubbub is all about, let me fill you in. There's a group of 12 artists (some years we are 13) and we all make 12 handmade and beautiful Christmas ornaments, one for each girl. We wrap them up in a festive way and mail them all out to the players. Then, on December 1st, the first Day of Christmas, we all open one gift, our gift marked number one. Then we put our ornament on our tree, post to our blogs, email to our group, and generally ooh and ahh, clap our hands and look forward to 12 fun days of gifts. It's awesome!

And here are the gifts for this year...

Aren't they gorgeous?

Notice the sweet little tree under which they are gathered. I was bemoaning the fact that I may not be able to put up my tree this year because of my wild dogs. The youngest chews up Everything. While the older one is still getting used to living in a house. She thinks a table is something to fly across in order to get closer to you more quickly. And, the one thing I collect is Christmas ornaments. I would be very sad to have my ornies chewed or broken. So I'm not sure how I'm going to solve this dilemma.

Faelan with one of my gifts last year

I was telling my sweet friend, Lizzie, about the tree troubles and tonight she showed up with a beautiful little tree for me. It's got lights and Is a Real Tree! My heart was so warmed and full. Her kindness really made me feel loved. Thank you, Lizzie, so very much! And it is perfect for hanging all the ornaments from this year's exchange!

Here's a list of the artists participating this year:

Day One - Crystal Neubauer

Day Two - Deryn Mentock

Day Three - Sally Turlington

Day Four - Danita Art

Day Five - Melissa David

Day Six - Jackie Allison

Day Seven - Ruth Rae

Day Eight - Kelly Snelling

Day Nine - Lou McCulloch

Day Ten - Joanna Pierotti

Day Eleven - Maija Lepore

Day Twelve -Pilar Pollack

If you click on each person's name you will be directed to their site. A couple of the girl's don't have sites and one of our dear friends, Lorraine George, had to sit out this year. You will be so very missed, Lorraine!!

My enameled grumpy bunny from last year's exchange.

Please come again tomorrow and I will be posting Crystal's ornament. It is sure to be fantastic. Here's a pic of the gorgeous waxed and metal ornament she made for us last year...

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

-Calvin Coolidge

 

One World One Heart - 2010

 

"In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it." - Marianne Williamson

 

Today is the beginning of One World One Heart. If you aren't familiar with Lisa Swifka's wonderful, world-wide blogging community event, click on the link or logo above to read more about it. As I write this, there are already more than 500 participants with many more to come!

As for me, OWOH is about a community of people the world over who are sharing from their hearts via their blogs. Many tell their own stories, some share their hobbies, their expertise, passions, and amusements. And during this event everyone has a chance to visit new blogs, make new friends, find inspiration, be entertained, and possibly win a treasure or two.

My treasure that I am offering to one lucky winner is a necklace that I made today. It features a 2.5" hand-made enameled pendant which can be worn on either side.

One side is dark...

and one side is light.

From the pendant hangs a large, faceted stone of natural fluorite and two teardrops of turquoise.The necklace has a chunky chain, more turquoise and a simple hand-forged steel clasp.

In order to win this necklace, please leave a comment on this post by 9:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, February 15th, 2010.

And now for the fine print:  Please do not leave more than one comment nor any advertisements. Comments with spam will be removed. Be sure that your comment will connect me to your blog or email so that I may contact you should you win. If I am unable to contact you, it will be necessary to draw another winner. The winner is chosen by random number generator and will be posted on February 16th barring any unforeseen problems such as oversleeping, sudden road trips, alien abduction or a long stint in the poky.

I hope you will visit my other blog posts. You will see that in addition to making jewelry I have co-authored a book about making jewelry called A Charming Exchange. You can also check out the book blog for additional information about the book, the artists, and projects. And I love photography, painting, dancing, drawing then coloring digitally, my family and pets, Etsy and playing all the time.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the other 500+ blogs. You might get lucky and win something amazing.

“Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own.” - Goethe

Day Ten is My Day

I don't know where to begin to tell you about my ornaments this year for the 12 Days of Christmas Exchange. here they are all wrapped up...

 

my gift wrap is super simple. and that's because i detest wrapping presents. i just hate it. it's right up there with folding laundry. that sounds terrible, i know.

don't get me wrong, i love a beautifully wrapped gift. but i hate wrapping a gift, especially a gift i have made myself. once i've made the gift i want to be done with it already.

i remember being a little girl sitting in the floor of my grandparent's house wrapping Christmas presents. i was terrible at it. i mean just awful. i'm sure i was raising a ruckus as i tried to do it properly (i still do). my grandfather sat in the floor with me and showed me how to properly fold the ends. at the time i remember finding it interesting and a bit flattering that my grandfather, who was probably wearing coveralls at the time, got down in the floor with me to show me how to Wrap a Gift.

that's the only nice thing i can say about wrapping gifts. it reminds me of my grandfather. outside of that, i still don't have the patience for it. :0)

but i do like doodling on the boxes to be mailed...

 

i started out with this sort of creepy snowgirl. but she took too long. so i edited her to a more cheery snowgirl...

 

she's throwing love on the girls in the exchange.

But what about the actual ornaments. Where to begin? I'll start with enamel.

I was taking a six-week enameling class when it came time to hurry up and get down to making something. So it seemed fitting to make something with enamel.

Now maybe someone else wouldn't dive into making something with a medium about which they are just learning. But that doesn't really ever occur to me. I like to play. I like to experiment. I like to push things up against the edge of being uncomfortable in order to move forward. Sometimes the results are risky but it is a good way to learn, for me. I don't recommend this for everyone but it is what I like.

Originally, I had many different ideas. I really wanted to make hands etched in brass with an enameled heart riveted in the palm of the hand.

 

I traced my son's hand for this one.

But holy cow! Cutting out little hands with a jeweler's saw and filing little hands and etching little hands is a heck of a lot of work! And I would still have to cut out, file, and enamel the front and back of all the hearts. We are a group of 13 girls in this exchange. That was just too much for me to do in a studio outside my house (I don't have my own kiln so I had to work where I was taking the class).

Then I was going to make tall thin enameled houses with a heart cut into the center of each one. I actually got all the houses cut and filed and began polishing them to receive the enamel. I enameled one and didn't like it very much. And every week we were learning new techniques and I would take off in a different direction leaving the house idea in the dust.

Then all the cutting and filing of the metal completely trashed my wrist. I couldn't do anything. And that week was when I really needed to be turning out the ornaments. The deadline was approaching. I started to panic a little bit.

It was during this time that the ornaments finally started coming around to what they ended up being. If you follow my blog you may have noticed that I've had a thing with rabbits this year. They started appearing with the mixed media piece I did titled, Be Who You Are (which now lives with my fabulous friend, Tamara).

 

I don't know where they came from at first (well i KNEW but i didn't Know), but they kept coming...

In different forms...

 

and different stories but with a purpose.

they were a metaphor.

a stand-in for someone/something else.

and so, all of a sudden, my ornaments turned into enameled rabbits...

 

and once they started coming, there was no turning back.

 

and they were a melancholy group, these rabbits.

 

all white with red eyes or blue eyes.

 except one turned blue when i used regular white enamel instead of titanium white. nice. i kept him for myself.

 

 

they made me laugh out loud. they made me swear like a sailor a few times (don't get me started about how a couple of their faces melted off in the kiln).

they were cut from sheet copper, and drilled, and sawed with a jeweler's saw, and filed, and polished, and annealed, and pickled, and enameled fronts and backs, each in the kiln two and three times, then wired and given a special bit of yarn (special to the bunny and to me and especially special to my kitten, margo polo who helped a LOT with the yarn) with a bell. they needed a bell because bunnies get lost and they need a bell so they can be found because they hate it when they look up and discover they have lost their way. no one likes that.

backside of bunnies

and when i looked at a table full of their quirky grumpy faces, i burst out laughing. where did they come from? would they be loved by other people without my odd aesthetic? i won't get into the psychoanalysis of "what the rabbits mean". seriously, who needs to know all that, right? i need for things to be a symbol for something else. i need for things to make sense but still be hidden. that's how i am and how i work. it is important to me.

But, they can also just be rabbits. at Christmas. who look like they look but maybe feel something else. on the inside. like Merry. or Happy. or full of Joy. or slightly itchy all over. make up your own story. that's what it is all about. 

Happy Christmas Little Rabbits!

crushed glass

"you use a glass mirror to see your face;

you use works of art to see your soul."

- george bernard shaw

i've been enjoying the work in the enameling class i'm taking. my friend liz is taking it too, which makes it even more entertaining. two weeks down, four to go. i find it easier to prep work at home and then am ready to cover it in crushed glass for the kiln during the class time. i'm going to try hit the fine art's studio this week to have lots of pieces polished up and ready for the enamel on class day.

 

cobalt blue heart pendant

 

opposite side is china pink with embedded dichroic glass 

i tend to work with a fervor when i am learning something new. i am eager. i am driven. i love shaping metal, everything about it. cutting, sawing, filing, hammering against the anvil or the sandbag. manipulating and working the metal until it quickly becomes hot. melting it and softening it under the torch. the snap and pop as the torch catches the spark. i am so high strung that i need something like this to relax. concentrating my energy with purpose is exhilarating but also meditative. it allows everything else to fall away and the wild energy inside me to disperse. nothing like a good bit of riveting to unwind. :0)

 

faceted cherry quartz, pearls and silver for the necklace

did you know that there are enameling crayons?! they look a lot like my treasured caran d'ache. you can draw over an enameled base then fire way. AND there is also a type of enamel that you mix with water and use like watercolor paints. these two discoveries sent my mind reeling with the possibilities.

you can wear whichever side you please.

as summer leaves i find it is important to have something new to absorb myself into. i don't like the cold, gray weather. i much prefer hot sunny days. but if i can hammer metal against an anvil, sift colorful crushed glass, and fire up the torch and kiln, i am satisfied inside.

what about you? how goes it into fall for you? are you trying something new or sinking into the comforts of the season?