Barbara Smith + Blog

I haven’t done the crochet for the collar yet, but that is next on the list.
I’m VERY open to some opinions….:-)

I’ve just returned from Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts this weekend after a fantastic workshop last week with Gretchen Goss.

Gatlinburg

A quick and dirty synopsis of my week there:
Captured in Glass workshop: awesome
Gretchen Goss: amazing
Facilities @ Arrowmont: pretty darn nice
People: nice, funny, talented
Quality of work produced: most excellent
Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Dollywood: very weird
Number of Thomas Kincade stores in Gatlinburg: 5
My experience on a scale of 1 to 10: a 10, definitely.

I had a great time last week. I met some great people and spent the week in a very engaging, friendly, and open environment. I learned a ton about enameling not only from Gretchen, but from my fellow workshop participants. Everyone I was sharing the studio with was helpful and giving of their time, advice, and in some cases even their supplies. Most of us generally started our day around 7 am and then worked in the enameling studio until 12 or 1 am each day. Even though I was only there a short time, I feel like I accomplished a lot. I made many, many enameling samples and really got a grasp on the photographic process we were using. I am extremely grateful to have gotten a week to concentrate on my work and really get a sense of my tools and techniques I use when enameling. It is this kind of intense study that I find so beneficial, but don’t often have time to do at home.

A little about the process:
Basically, we were using the gum bichromate printing method on an enameled surface to create images in the glass. This could be as simple as printing one image on a piece of enameling steel (often looking like an old tin type) or working on copper and creating layers of both enamel and images in the glass. The application of the light sensitive emulsion was a bit tricky and definitely requires proper ventilation! The exposures could take place under a photo bulb or outside…printed from actual negatives, transparencies, or even making photograms.

A few of Gretchen’s samples.

I really think that this process has a lot of potential. Personally, I would like to continue to work with it in some way….I could really see it fitting into my work both conceptually and aesthetically.

A few of my samples from early in the workshop.

I’m going to try to get into the library at school and scan in my tiles from the workshop to post. I really liked where my work was going at the end of the week…lots of layering and stoning, and printing of multiple images. Being immersed in your work in a setting such as Arrowmont is really a dream come true…

Now, about Gatlinburg. I had no idea what the Pigeon Forge/Dollywood/Gatlinburg area was like before last week. I can tell you that driving into town last Sunday, I was a bit taken aback at what I saw. I don’t know who the city planners are in this area, but I think they need a healthy spanking. Gatlinburg in particular has a beautiful landscape, yet in places it feels like a huge dollar store. (I hear Niagara Falls is the same way). Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go up into the mountains, but, they are gorgeous. Traffic on the main drag in Gatlinburg is pretty heavy…so I was a bit reluctant to try to drive, not that I really had time. As I mentioned earlier, there are apparently 5 Thomas Kinkade stores in Gatlinburg….I had heard that there was one directly across from Arrowmont and had every intention of going there….but it burned down recently! Thats right…I guess there was so much light inside the store that it spontaneously combusted. (but really, this is just one reason we were so fascinated…)

Anyway, two thumbs up for Arrowmont. I would most definitely go back there for another workshop! I hope that I run into my fellow workshoppers in the future as well….somewhere. And on a side note, I am apparently incredibly allergic to something at Arrowmont…constant sneezing turned into a horribly sinus infection, which made the 8 hour drive home pretty hairy. Even with that, I had an incredible time. I would recommend that everyone goes to experience the unique atmosphere!!

It seems like the summer is getting really short really fast.

I’ve made some progress on my cameo project, part deux.

I still need to put the 2nd frame on, which is made from 14k gold filled wire. I also acquired smaller acupuncture needles to use in this piece, and I think the scale is much better.

This is the back of the piece with the pin stem components mostly finished. The little hair ball is stitched to a thin scalloped silver piece and will be prong set in between the catch for the pin. The gold frame still needs to be wrapped with the fine gold filled wire, but first I must sand…

And now, I’m off to Arrowmont this weekend for a workshop next week!

A few weeks ago, I started working on a new cameo piece. So far, the going is SLOW. I’m currently waiting on a few materials and angsting about the back of the piece and the design of the pin stem.

The wire piece to the left is a wrapping test and will eventually be made out of gold filled wire to match the acupuncture needles. Right now, I’m thinking about having 5 needles in the tooth and may cut them down just a bit as I think they are a tad long. We’ll see. I’d like to bring the wrapping to the back of the piece by coiling the gold wire on the top ends of the pin stems. Perhaps some hair there too, but I’ll know more after I’m done angsting over it!

I’m excited about a few things that are happening with this piece, at least in the way the materials are being applied. I’ve also never done such a dimensional piece…I’m a little nervous about how it is going to read, but, I’m hoping for a strong visual impact.

I haven’t picked out the crochet pattern for the collar yet, but I’m hoping to tackle that next week…and possibly get the cameo piece put together this week. My goal is to submit it to Metal Inclinations. The deadline is June 30th, and I’ll be at Arrowmont for a week this month…the clock is ticking.

Update: I think I found a crochet edging patter that will be perfect: Dewdrop Edging.