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Owls in Progress

Here are a few more wallpieces I'm finishing up for the show.
Owls in progress, both in steel. I'm following an instinct to keep them more lyrical, more of a fairytale quality to them.

I'm working on a third, but trying to get these 2 done first.

Boo!

The season's festivities begin.

They are lit with battery operated led tealights, no live flame. I like that. Fires belong in forges.

More Nature Inspired Art in Progress

Here are a few things I'm working on in the studio

steel bamboo, lots of it

more grape leaf wallpieces for my upcoming exhibit in November
Need vineyard decor?

A finished piece of Oak Leaf Art

for sale here

Studio, Inspiration, and Food

A recently finished wallpiece - a bald eagle image in bronze

Queen Anne's Lace in October

Cool weather food

Here's the photo of the finished stew, that Smarticus requested. It was good!  Husband is tired of seeing the little curly things (quinoa).  The pickiest child took seconds and ate it all.  That's all that matters, so I'll put the quinoa in next time too.  And yes, that's soft white grocery store bread next to my crockpot soup.  Recipe- Put a bunch of stuff in there, including mushrooms and onions.  Add plenty of salt and some curry powder. If you forgot to soak the beans, then start it at 9am, set the crock pot on high and let it go all day. 

Steel is always recycled

From http://www.recycle-steel.org/buyrecycled.html Go to their website for even more information.

When you buy steel, you buy recycled.

Steel is a unique material because it always contains recycled steel. Each year, millions of tons of pre- and post-consumer steel products, including used steel cans, appliances, automobiles and construction materials, are recycled by steel mills into every ton of new steel produced. In fact, with the exception of the earliest steelmaking methods, recycling has always been an integral part of the steelmaking process.

What's more, all new steel products made from recycled steel can be recycled again at the end of their useful lives. Used steel cans are recycled into part of a guard rail, which may one day be recycled into an appliance. And an infrastructure of ferrous scrap processors exists to prepare all types of steel products for recycling. Processors prepare and ship steel scrap to steel mills and foundries for remelting into new steel.

Home cookin' and Home crafting

Autumn's cooking ritual - homemade pie dough

Homemade wrapping paper, thanks to the kids

Whatever shall we do with this?  It's a pressed paper vase from a discarded floral arrangement.  It is perfect for a kid craft, but so far, we haven't been inspired.  Maybe I need to find a library book on making paper flowers.

Studio Update- english ivy or grape leaf pieces

I am going to do a post and run. I don't have a lot of time to think through a thoughtful entry. Here's a mosaic photo of all 8 of the english ivy (or grape leaf) series. Nance1 asked me what motivated me to use the grape leaf form.
Honestly, I think you can't be a blacksmith without eventually making grape leaves and grapevine. It's such a classic motif and the form is gorgeous. There's also a lot of room for individual expression.

1.
Ivy leaf panel 1, 2. english ivy 3, 3. english ivy 4, 4. english ivy 2, 5. english ivy 5, 6. english ivy 6, 7. English Ivy 7, 8. English Ivy 8 Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
You can click on the photo titles to see the full image.

I think the ones with the negative spaces are influenced by the recent flash flooding, the way it tore up the landscape around the area.

What's next? I'm working on a bas-relief eagle now. Then I'll be doing another Greenman and probably an owl too.
I've got to work on a commission involving steel bamboo.
I've got to ship out 2 packages of my forged leaves- both packages to very special people, which makes me smile. I hope to ship out a 3rd package to another special person in a few days.
I need to draw up some new leaf shapes and order them cut in steel.
I need to order more pitch, for another workshop.

I think that's enough for the next few days.

Blockparty Press - Indulge Yourself!

I was so pleased to have won a gift certificate from Blockpartypress, through a contest on her blog.  So rarely do I buy anything for myself. I prioritize my kids gifts and necessities, things like winter coats and boots, over my own indulgences. Well this time, with a gift certificate in hand and no necessities in sight, I just had to indulge. A pure work of art- just for me!
A pear aceo

I'm thrilled. I love it. It's already in a frame and hung in a special place, where I will see it every day, whenever I go in my bedroom. And as a plus, my child looked at it and said "That's really beautiful."

I also chose some sweet bumblebee hairpins
  so pretty and so well made.

Thank you so much T!

Family fun - textured and colored wood panel

1. texturing, 2. hammering again, 3. midway through house, 4. adding some gold, 5. blurred hammer, 6. the finished pieces

Currently Reading Carving for Kids: An Introduction to Woodcarving By Robin Edward Trudel

We adapted an idea from this book.  For the 4 to 7 year age range, the author recommends a wood stamping project.  Using textured stamping tools, similar to my chasing tools, the children can stamp outlines and textures right into the wood. 
The book recommends soft pine board.  My husband picked up some aspen board from the craft section of the hardware store.  Rather than stamping tools, I gave my kids a lightweight sharp rivet hammer to texture the wood panels. (Of course my kids can hammer.) Then they used my Prismacolor pencils to draw over the marks.  They enjoyed going back and forth, layering texture and color.  My daughter worked on both sides of her wood.  The entire process was very sensory, using both large arm movements and smaller hand movements.  They were able to see and feel the impact of their mark making.

Next time I might even let them use my chasing tools.

Click on the links below the photo mosaic to see each full picture and a brief explanation.

The photo mosaic was created with fd's flickrtools