Accepted!

I am very excited; I got an email, from the publisher that I submitted the magazine article to, saying that they want to publish my article. I have been published before, but that was for my woodcarving and they where short articles that they wrote. This is a full fledged article for advanced techniques; wax carving and finishing of cast rings. My original proposal was for casting also, but they did not accept that part and instead will run an article on sending work out to be cast.

Grand Finally

OK, so it has been a while since I have posted. Here is a partial why...I volunteered to head up a collaborative sculpture project for the Downtown Highland Park Coalition (kind of like a chamber of commerce for the downtown merchants in Highland Park, IL), to promote their 4th of July fireworks show. My thought was that I would put in a few hours coordinating and another couple of hours spinning a base for it, out of copper.

Well...about 80 hours later we finished. That is, about 80 hours of my time. I figure there is at least a couple of hundred man hours in it. We had six of my students, five of their kids and two other instructors working on it. It was a lot of work but all-in-all, I think it was a positive experience.

Here is a not so great picture of the finished sculpture which is now on display downtown Highland Park, IL (in front of the old Border's store).

Keum-boo

These are some keum-boo earrings that I demonstrated during class. The trillion shape is one of my favorites as is the squiggle. I colored the sterling with liver of sulfur.

Spiculums

Here are a couple of copper spiculums that I demostrated during class. The enamelled one I did a long time ago when I was first learing to enamel. I like it really well. My plan was to make enough for a neckless of graduated sizes. One of my many unfinished projects.

Tube Setting

These are some simple tube set rings that I have been playing with. I am trying to develop an easy project that students could do in a one day class. While I like these, the project is not quite easy enough. The tube is a bit wider than the ring shank and I have to carefully fit each tube to the shape of the "Crazy 8" wire. The result is pretty cool looking but not easy enough for beginning students. I have some more ideas to try and will post pictures of them when they are done.

More enamelling

These are some examples of enamels that I have done, experimenting with techniques.

Top Left: Cloisonne

Top Center: Water color

Top Right: Scraffito

Bottom Left: Fold formed copper, with liquid enamel which I rubbed back to show the fold forming then covered with transparent enamel.

Bottom Center: Scraffito

Bottom Right: Domed, roll printed copper, with P3 under glaze. Transparent enamel over the top, fired to clear.

Enamelling

This was a piece of copper that I prepared for an enamelling class. After cutting out the basic leaf shape, I fold formed the center of the leaf. I then opened it back up and raised it a bit to give it some dimension. Finally, I formed the tiny spiculum for the stem. I love doing spiculums, more on that later.

During class, I used multiple firings of various transparent enamel colors to give it depth. I over fired it slightly to give a weathered look.

Close Up

Here is a close up of the cuff, showing how the detail is maintained after raising.

Synclastick Raising

This was a demonstration I did on synclastic raising. I first roll printed the copper with one of my plates.

Roll Printing Plates

These are some roll printing plates that I made. They are made from 2"x6", 16 gage brass. Some of them, I doodled on the brass with a black paint marker, this acted as a resist for the etchant. Others, I drew on paper first then copied them onto P-N-P photo transfer medium. I like the direct drawing method best. The P-N-P is a bit of a hassle.

Bring A Friend Day

These are some roll printed bangles that I demonstrated at the "Bring A Friend Day" that I had last fall. I offered my students free studio time if they brought a friend to watch a demonstration (they even got to make roll printed bangles.) It was a lot of fun although most of my students either ended up helping their friends or making a bangle themselves, or both, instead of taking advantage of the free studio time.

Back to work

I haven't posted in a while. After taking a week and a half to travel out west (Oregon and Washington) to visit my family, it was time to get the yard in shape for spring. Then I decided I should get back to building the pizza oven that I started late last fall. I started a new blog for the oven as it is a separate venture from my art. Here is the link if you want to check it out: http://www.pixiesearthoven.blogspot.com/

Anyway, now it is time to get back to the studio and get some work done. I have done a little bit here and there over the past month and a half, but mostly just preparing demonstrations for my class. So, not much to post.

Speaking of class, I have been talking to a school, in Bellingham, Washington, about teaching there when I am in the area. The name of the school is Pouncing Rain. I stopped by when I was in Washington and it looks pretty nice. It is a well equipped metal working school with an attached store that carries tools and supplies. Here is the link to their web site: http://www.pouncingrain.com/home.html, check it out.

I also reviewed the correspondence on my article proposal for the magazine. I had thought they where suppose to make a decision by the middle of last month but it is not until the middle of this month. So...a bit more waiting.

Ring-a-ding-ding

I love the Gieko ring tone; ring-a-ding-ding. This week I worked on an article that I am writing about lost wax casting. I carved two ring blanks and took lots of pictures along the way. I also pitched the article to a magazine. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will accept it. I am suppose to find out by the middle of April.

Bunny Box

This is a woodturning that I did a while back. If I remember right, the bottom is black walnut that I dyed black and used a needle scaler to texture the surface. The lid is box elder. The bunny is cast bronze that I made using the lost wax technique.

New to me

Just setup my first blog. I am going to see how it goes. I think my intent is to document artwork and artistic processes. I will see how this works out.