The cameo is partially together. The very top part of the frame is not yet soldered down, but everything else is…
The only things left to do are to solder the top portion of the frame, trim down the screw on the tooth, ball up 8 20 gauge silver wires and solder those into place, solder on pin back sections…then finish by adding pearls, pin stem, patina…
I also think I might go look at a beauty supply store (those places really scare me) for some hair glue. I want to make one long strand of hair to wrap around the balled up wires (covering the tooth).
I’ve also started thinking about that tatting portion of this project. I found this site tonight, which has some humor to it: Jen’s Tat-ra Sutra
I had a really nice birthday weekend (I’m still looking forward to cupcakes today when I get to school). On Friday I had lunch with Siggy and Robin, where we all ended up giving each other presents. Then I went and saw MacBeth.
I’ve also been planning visits to several programs, just to get a feel for their MFA programs. So far it goes like this:
Bowling Green State University October 4th
Virginia Commonwealth University October 8th
IU October 12-14 (for workshop and possible chat with the department head there)
University of Wisconsin-Madison October 23rd
Nothing like cramming it all in to one month! I’m not sure if and when I’ll make it out to Oregon or down to Georgia, so I might just have to see if I could talk with them on the phone or via email.
A new clamp on vise!
And, my first doll cake! With ponies, hearts, rainbows, sunshine…oh, and tanks, explosions, bullets and hunters.
It has been a busy day.
It has been a grouchy week, for various reasons. One reason was that I was spending way too much time on Etsy and not selling anything (and just spending way too much time on Etsy). I have listed a few new items this week and figured out basically how Etsy works, but I have yet to match the success of my opening moments. Today I did manage to snag a treasury. You see, when the total number of treasuries fall below 222 you can try to get one….it is all very peculiar. Yes, I think peculiar is the word. Or odd.
There are quite a few respectable jewelers and artists on Etsy though, and I’ve been enjoying finding some of their work this week.
I have also been trying to start working on a new project; part of a new series to follow up my lockets. The piece I am working on right now is the first, the prototype so to speak, and is the piece I am hoping I can show in the upcoming Lineage and Lecagy show care of SNAG.
Here you have your basic sketch:
These pieces are “cameos” that will be worn on a lace/cloth collar around the neck. Each cameo will contain a human tooth (or multiple teeth) instead of a carved shell/stone depicting a woman in profile view. My first one is turning out a bit larger than I imagined, but I have decided that I like the size because it makes the whole thing much more restrictive…or as my buddy Laura said after noticing that it covers the entire larynx, that it could be interpreted as a ’silencer for women.’
It is coming along slowly (the other reason for the grumpiness this week), but I am hoping for some work time tomorrow and Saturday morning to get a few more pieces situated. This is where I am at with it now (with a lovely battery for scale):
This is the central part, where the tooth will go, with the top part of the frame on it. It has been pierced so you can see through to a second portion of the frame (yet to be made). Both will have little silver balls soldered on…more on that at some point.
While I was in the studio working on this, the chair of our department brought Sonya Clark through for a tour. She is currently showing at Purdue Galleries, and did a workshop tonight in conjunction with her Beaded Prayers Project. Sonya has great work and is really interesting to talk with, not to mention she is the chair of the crafts department at VCU.
I attending her workshop this evening, and made my very own beaded prayer. Well, I made two of them, one of which is now part of the exhibition.
And my beaded prayers:
THEN, something so stupid it was funny happened. For the past couple of years I have been selling jewelry at Silver in the City, who used to have stores in both Indy and Lafayette. Well, long story short, the Lafayette one closed and that owner was less than friendly and honest with me about both the store closing and which pieces of mine she wanted to continue to sell. In any event, I made what was requested, I had gotten a couple of check from Indy, but nothing much to speak of. Today in the mail came a heavy padded envelope with 15 (!!!) of my unsold pieces inside:
There was also a lovely note thanking me for selling my jewelry with them, but that they were returning the remaining inventory so I could sell it somewhere else since they “hadn’t sold anything in awhile.” WELL, it would probably help if you put it out for sale! I could go on and on about my conversation with the person who runs this store about handmade items vs. mass produced items, how she didn’t want to sell something handmade to a customer when there is something similar and mass produced that is cheaper. I mean, how could a customer understand that. Oh, I don’t know, you could explain it to them! Ew. Honestly, I’m surprised that they could figure out how to send the items back to me.
The moral of the story is that they are completely unprofessional in their relationships with artists. Not only did they string me along, they periodically changed commission (higher when my items were selling), requested I make pieces to sell and then not take them (because they could sell something similar that was mass produced), they held onto pieces that are over a year old never once contacting me about it!
I really suspect that my jewelry wasn’t displayed…what I mean is I smell a rat.
Happy accident: I ran across the work of Lin Cheung.
Lin’s work deals with historical jewelry, yet has a modern design.
Hidden Value 2006
I love this strand of “locked lockets”. She says of her work, ” …visualise the sentimental value of a piece of jewellery and the personal meanings placed onto it by the wearer that a viewer has to access to.” These lockets are set like stones and cannot open. “Whether a locket is full or empty, the perception of preciousness is in the concept of the locket itself: believing that it should contain something of value.”
The sentimental value, personal layering of meaning, and preciousness remind me of something else: Photography.
There are days that I don’t like this town, and then there are days. Try as I might to like it, and sometimes I do, I’m looking forward to leaving more and more. I know that in order to appreciate this place, I’m going to have to get away from it for awhile. I’ve done this before.
As of last Saturday, I’ve fixed up my bike (a pink Schwinn I got in Jr. High) and have started riding it around town. I enjoy this for several reasons, mainly the exercise and the gas saving aspects. It is interesting, to be gliding down a street with these great old houses, going in and out of clouds of cigarette smoke and animal pee, having people rev their engines at you, and then those pesky “In God We Trust” people yelling “get the f*ck off the road” at me. Ahhh, this is the life. I’m riding with traffic, I’m signaling my turns, I’m getting over to the side of the road when I can. I would love to ride more, but right now I’m afraid for my life. I digress….
At least if I get fed up with that, I can ride over to West Lafayette so the frat boys in their huge trucks can play chicken with me as they point and laugh and say something rude about my crotch.
