Buy Local Art & Gift Show

This weekend Tracy & I will be at the Buy Local Art & Gift Show at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.  It is the first year either of us have done this show, and we are both very excited.  I do love local shows, and I love to buy from local artisits.

You're probably going to see a lit of this gif.  It just makes me giggle.

Not So Shiny

My goodies from yesterday have been patina'd and finished up, all ready for my show next weekend in Lake Odessa. Putting a patina on copper brings out so many wonderful colors.

All Shiny

Here are some of this week's goodies, all tumbled and ready for some patina.

The piece on the right is another one created with my funky discs. The piece on the left I created with some lovely boro beads from amie3. She has some yummy beads.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the post-patina pics.

Recent Work

To make up for my absence, I thought I would post some pics of my recent work.






I designed this necklace with some boro beads I won from the spectacular Lori Anderson. I am having so much fun with copper and patina. The colors are never quite what I expect but are always what I need (cue the Rolling Stones).





Lately, I have become addicted to making funky, not-quite-round, discs. I primarily use soft glass, but I am in currently in love with Gaffer Chalcedony, Gaffer Blue Chalcedony, and the traditional raku. The chalcedonies and raku have always been vexing for lampworkers. They can produce a wonderful range of colors all within one bead. They also can produce blah colors. I love them all, good and bad.



This is a finished piece I sold at a show in Kalamazoo a couple of weekends ago. I think it shows the variety of chalcedony (these discs are blue and regulary chalcedony).

Goodies from Lori

Back in September I won a spectacular bag of goodies from Lori Anderson. At first, I was overwhelmed by the all the beads; I've been running my fingers through the bag over the past month and just enjoying them. I've finally put all of them into containers, and tonight I started to group things together.

Tonight I made a necklace with some yummy boro beads and copper. I will try and take a picture, but it is dark before I get home from work so I may have to wait til the weekend. Here are the beads I used:

Byzantine Chain

Yesterday I took the Byzantine Chain Class with Meg Tang at Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. I had so much fun. The chain is much easier to make than it looks, and Meg is a wonderul teacher. This is the second class I have taken from her. I'm placing an order for more jump rings this evening, so be on the lookout for more chains from me.