Charging up for Bead and Button....

Hi everyone,

   I just realized how lone it was been since I last wrote....weeks are just flying by. Kind of wish I could make time run a little more slowly or backwards even! I went to a bead show this weekend to see my good friend Darlene Mansue.....she is one of my booth-mates. We have shared booths in Tucson and at Bead and Button. It is going to be strange this year, going to Bead and Button without either Darlene or Marsha...my first booth-mate....she is at home being a momma! Two kids and counting!  And I am going for classes...I think I am doing 9 or 10 classes....if I am not bald by the end of the week, it will be a miracle! I know I could slow down and take a lesser amount of classes but I figured, once I am spending the money for the hotel, air fare and all those extra little bits, I might as well take as many classes as I could. This week I have to start gathering up my tools and supplies. I am starting to get excited about all the possibilities for the future! Who will I see there from the metal clay world?  Let me know and maybe we can get together...I am having dinner with Gordon one night and am looking forward to catching up. I will be having some of my beads for sale at Nikki Thornburg's booth, so if you just have to have something of mine....I hope everyone who is going has a great time!  Have fun in your studios....Kelly

The photos are some close-ups of a iris in my neighbor's yard...I love the colors and the last photo is my good friend, Darlene....some of you may recognize her from some of the shows we do together....enjoy! Kelly 

   

Back Again.....

Hi everyone,

   Well, I am finally back in the land of the living....things have been crazy busy!  Went to Va to "play" with the girls at the prison...we were supposed to play with glass clay but it didn't come in so we played with polymer....and then the next day we went to the National Harbour to celebrate Carol's birthday....it was a fun day with the girls.....then I came home to find out I was late doing my Master Muse project! So, I got a week extension, whew! You can see the finished necklace on Tonya's site. It was a fun project but it was time consuming.....all that time for the resin layers to cure!

   Then I needed to work on the bracelets for the Metal Clay Artist Magazine...which had its own problems....working with new mediums on a deadline is not the smartest thing I have ever done! And I did it two times in a row....should I try for three?  No! 

   Then I had the three day class at Carol's....we had a good time! We started out making tearaways and everyones came out great, first time out! Yeah! It was nice that the tearaways all worked smoothly and the girls all made more later on....we then moved on to decals, mokume gane and resin plates. We played with glitter and colored pencils and acrylic paint. We also did copper and bronze clay sheets with our new tearaway texture plates to include in our frames. On day two, we started on the PMC+ frames.....there was a wide range of designs and some changed while we were building them. I was hoping to get in some more polymer done in the afternoon but everyones frames were complicated.....way to go girls!...pushing the envelope! I was really proud of the way they went for what they wanted to do...complicated or not! I was trying to keep up with them on my demo piece by they blew by me!  The third day we assembled all the polymer, glass and copper sheets into the fired frames. Once that part was done, we added the resins. Whew! What a busy three days! On the fourth day I had to do a make-up class for two students who missed part of the weekend and then I had to fix the bracelets for the Metal Clay article....the next day I drove home....got stuck behind traffic for miles, waiting for the state of Maryland to sweep the streets....crazy! You would think they could do that at night.....

    So, I finally finished up the article for Metal Clay Artist Magazine....antiqued the bracelets in a fun way....you will have to get the magazine to see what was done! Hope you like them!

    Now I have to get ready for Bead and Button....my friend, Nikki Thornburg, has offered me a space for my beads for sale. So, if you are looking for me and my beads, that's where you will find the beads. I will be in class. This year I am a student! I am taking a glass casting class, some enamel classes, a painting enamels on glass with Vicki Hallmark and a couple of crystal beaded element classes with Leslee Frumin. Should be a fun and tiring week. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of my friends that I haven't seen in a while. 

    When I get back from Bead and Button, I will be getting ready for the PMC Conference....I am doing a talk about surface techniques with Barbara Becker Simon. Should be fun to watch!  Hope to see you there!  Until then, have fun in your studios! Kelly

The photos are as follows....a cool plant in Carol and George's backyard with a "pearl" of a raindrop.....the second photo is the resin project for the Master Muse....and last, but not least, the demo piece I made in class..."Time's up"....my son Morgan thought that name would work well. Hope you like them....K

Getting ready for class!

Hi everyone,

    I have been having fun making things this last week and a half!  I went to Carol Hamilton's studio and we were hoping to play with glass clay but it hadn't come in yet, so....that is for another day! But we did try out fused glass with pre-fired metal clay to see what would happen! I am thinking they will look better once I take a big hammer to them!  The clear glass fractured all the way around the fine silver piece (I think the silver was too thick and held too much heat) and the copper turned a dark cherry red and was kind of pretty but the bronze was downright ugly! With a capital U!! Like I said, A Big Hammer!  

    Tomorrow I have to work on my Master Muse piece for Whole Lotta Whimsy....I thought it was due next week but it is due tomorrow....doing resins!  and I might include some antique glass glitter a friend gave me. 

    And after that, I need to work on the article for Metal Clay Magazine....doing some fun bracelets!  maybe I will put some resins in those, too! 

   Then I am going to make some cool polymer slabs for my class down in Va. I am looking forward to three days of fun and laughing with the girls at the prison!  And, yes, chocolate and skittles will be on the tables for pick-me-ups!  There are a couple of spots left in the class, so let Carol or me know if you are interested. 

     I will try to take some photos of some of the things I will be making...need to re-charge the battery for the camera. Anyway, have to go draw some designs for Tonya's piece....send me some photos of what you are doing....would love to see....have fun, Kelly 

These photos are some of the kinds of frames and fillers we will be doing in class.....the first is polymer, fused glass with resin and glass glitter and hot rocks. The second photo is a piece I am thinking about demonstrating for class with tearaways and molded pieces of polymer. The third photo is a design using silver metal clay and bronze clay and polymer clay decals with glitter and image transfers.  These are just a few of the techniques we will be doing.....hope to see you....