Studio Progress and I

First
Me.

Here's what's lying under my forge- chasing tool blanks and some hammered stars.

Here's what's lying on my workbench, resurrected from grad school samplestash, amidst the glorious clutter

They're little bitty painted steel birdcage pendants, from a long-since destroyed sculptural vignette.

This is a collage-in-progress sitting among the same clutter, waiting for the other bits that will make it complete. I don't know what to do with it!

I think I showed this before, or at least showed it in progress. It's a copper lily, done now. It may become part of a larger wallpiece, so it will also wait on the workbench, with the other stuff.

This is that tall-ish oak leaf panel that you've already seen. It's about 3 ft tall.

Here are two more smaller ones, freshly welded, not yet burnished or colored. I think the largest one here is 12 to 14 inches tall.

Is that it? Is that all I've got to show you? I need more studio time....

Spring Color Inspiration

My husband called me outside to look at the trees in the morning sunlight. Look at how green the moss is this year. It's a startling shade in the bright light, while everything else is still a muted brown. That's the kind of color that I want to develop in my work this year.

Easter Bunny Jewelry!

The Bunny pins are here.

The Silver bunny is listed hereThe Bunny pins are here.

The Silver bunny is listed here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5622969
The Bronze bunny is listed here The Bunny pins are here.

The Silver bunny is listed here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5622969
The Bronze bunny is listed here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5644524
I still have a few Bunnies left that could be made into pendants for the same prices. Let me know if you are interested.still have a few Bunnies left that could be made into pendants for the same prices. Let me know if you are interested.

Leafy Patinas and Color

I've been playing with color on the oak leaf wallpiece. First I used some chemical patinas and got a bright light green, with some blue tints and some light yellow rust tones. I liked it. Then I sprayed on lacquer. The greens dulled. The blues and yellows disappeared. I went back in with Prismacolor pencils to replace some of the lost highlights. It worked fairly well. Colored waxes and Prismacolors (also basically a colored wax) work well on any metal with a little surface "tooth." You can blend them with paint thinner, but I didn't do it for this project.

When I get a few more wallpieces done, I'll put up a special nail in the wall so I can photograph them all properly. For now, it's back to the studio and spring angst.

Acorns, Hooks and a Great Weekend

I had a very pleasant weekend at the Green Home Show at Main Street Station in Viroqua. I met builders and artisans that I've been wanting to meet for a long time.  I sold work and talked to many many people, from potential customers to just wonderful interested people.  

I wanted to post a quick note about the acorns.  They are solid steel.  The body of the acorn measures about 1-1/8 inches high and 7/8 inches max diameter.  The little hooks add on some length and vary by each acorn.  I have 3 left.  They cost $10 apiece plus $1.50 shipping within North America.  If you have any questions or would like to purchase one, use the "contact the artist" link under my banner (above) to email me and we'll set it up.

Hooks (with one leaf) cost $30 apiece or $25 apiece for 2 or more hooks.  Again, email me if you want measurements or would like to set up a purchase.  I am also willing to make hooks in a specific size range.  I'm doing one for a client that will hang from the ceiling rather than the wall.  Another client wants long towel-type bars rather than hooks.  I've made an extra long shawl hook for a client in the past.  Price varies by size and primarily by number of leaves. 

I'm working on a patina blog next, regarding that leafy in-progress wallpiece, up in a few days.

Wrought Iron Acorns, Grapevine Hooks and Candleholders

A few quick photos of pieces that I've made for this weekend's show.

 
Only these 5 acorns left...

Hooks of course!

2 Grapevine Candleholders.  The last 2 pictures are different views of the same piece.

It's a target hat!

  

It's another wool hat, fulled in the washer, with a load of jeans.

Green Home Show and Work in Progress

As this will not be a productive studio day, I decided to show you what will be shaping up in the workshop over the next few weeks.

This week I'm preparing for the Green Home Show at Main Street Station in Viroqua, Wisconsin.  It should be a nice social way to ease into Spring and the fresh building season.  

Did you know?  (from http://actionrecyclingcenter.com/recycling_facts_0.html)

Steel is the most used and recycled metal -Around 60% of all steel is recycled. Popular Steel items include automobiles, food cans, and appliances. All these items new will contain a minimum of 25% recycled steel. An almost full proof way to determine if an item is steel or not is by using a magnet, the magnet will stick to steel. Steel recycling has little if any money value to recycle but a tremendous value to our depleting earth and energy conservation.

and from Wikipedia  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling

Iron and steel are the world's most recycled materials, and among the easiest materials to recycle, as they can be separated magnetically from the waste stream. Recycling is via a steelworks: scrap is either remelted in an Electric Arc Furnace (90-100% scrap), or used as part of the charge in a Basic Oxygen Furnace (around 25% scrap).^[11] Any grade of steel can be recycled to top quality new metal, with no 'downgrading' from prime to lower quality materials as steel is recycled repeatedly. 42% of crude steel produced is recycled material.^[12]

Even when I buy new steel, I'm using recycled materials.  So steel is quite the green building material.

For this show, I'll be focusing on my smaller items, a lot of leaves, hooks, and the bracelets.  I'll have my portfolio  ready and plan to talk about custom work with design professionals and potential clients.  

Now, in the studio...

little bunnies and birds for pins and tie tacs- in time for Easter

A wall hanging waiting for patina

 
Some relief images.  The lily is done.  The eagle is in its early stages.

A mix of parts...

New Hooks and a Candleholder

Four hooks. I don't know which ones are going up for sale yet. Look for them soon in my shop.

A single candleholder for the table- quite elegant