Northwest road trip

Sorry for not posting for a couple weeks, but I've been on the road. We needed to check on things at our house in WA and decided to drive. It was almost boarder to boarder and although that meant a long time in the car, we got to see our son, old friends, and outstanding scenery along the way. The west coast is stunningly beautiful and I felt so fortunate to see some gorgeous vistas and terrain as we drove along. Landscapes have found there way into my clay work and you can see by these photos that there is much food for thought.

Light House

Lake Quinault, Olympic National Forest

Rainy weather provided some interesting photos

Ruby Beach

The rain did not deter us from going back to this magical place. Found the huge banana slugs in the forest on the way down to the beach too.

Crater Lake

See the cute little tour guide we had at this lookout? He is at the top edge of the sign.

Copper Cuff #2

Making these cuffs is fun and challenging. Lining up the mini bolts with all the holes is critical, otherwise adjusting them with a pliers distorts the threads. The brass layer is some screen my friend Patti gave me. Thanks Patti, I love that stuff. The top piece of metal is sewn on with thin wire. Having a drill press would help with this type of project since there is a lot of drilling, but where would we put it. Maybe one in the living room could double as a lamp or something.

Brown & Aqua Cuff

Don't know why these color combinations keep inspiring my jewelry. I sure make a lot with brown and aqua. Must be the beautiful ocean and sky colors found here and maybe dirt. Or should I say the terra firma? Or earth and air? Who knows how much our surroundings influence us? More than we can say. Anyway, here is the latest.

Faux Stone

As part of the faux stone venture I've been working on, turquoise had to be included. A lapidary guy, that really knows a lot about rocks, saw the faux stones and said he would know the difference right away. So, now I'll just call them aqua faux stones. They are still lighter then the real thing and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to imitate rock. What do you think?

Faux Jade

I've been working on creating several faux stones with polymer clay. So far, the jade has been the most satisfactory. I made the beads for this necklace a couple weeks ago and before I had them assembled, a new friend came to the studio, saw the stones, and asked me to make them into a necklace for her. This is the result. Actually it hangs better but I was in a rush to get it ready and took this photo in a hurry. Hope you are enjoying it Coleen.

Copper Cuff with Silver Nugget

This is my first attempt at making a copper cuff.  Three different solder joints on top of each other and luckily they all held. The surface was textured then treated with liver of sulfur. The inside of the blank was lined with polymer clay since it fits snug to the wrist and green wrists just aren't my thing. Hope the polymer holds tight as the cuff needs to flex a bit each time it is worn. Next time, I will rough up the inside to give the polymer more tooth for adhesion.

Artists & Creativity

Have you ever wondered how artists do what they do? What is their inspiration? I've always been fascinated by the creative process and enjoy reading about how other artists have set about bringing ideas to fruition and how they get moving when the ideas aren't flowing. Rice Freeman-Zachery has written a book where she interviews 15 artists about their inspiration, creative process and how they jump start their work if they are temporarily stalled out. Easy reading and validation that other adults have to stop and pick up leaves, trash and "treasure" when they are supposed to be doing other things. Check it out.