Working with wire

It has been a while since I had anything to say on this blog considering that I have been glued to the computer working on translations. So, finally, on Saturday I was able to take a wire wrapping class from Charlotte Caughman at Tryon Crafts, a great craft center where I live.

I feel that learning more about working with metals will be very helpful both for my "Offerings" and for the small copper enamel/fabric pieces. It will make it easier to make much better decorative elements to add to them. A surprising fact (to me), is that the more I handle the metal, the more I am enjoying it. It is so very different from the feel of fabrics, yet I think both work so wonderfully together. In my quest for textures, having the skills to add metal elements is such an added bonus! A new addiction????....(that requires new toys!)

Here is what I made in class:

Zardozi embroidery

With quite a bit of difficulty and expense, I finally got a book about zardozi embroidery, the kind of work I saw in Dubai and that blew me away. It is not easy reading but I think it will be very informative. Now, we shall see how that will come out in my own work.... the first problem will be to find where to buy the different gold threads and wires...and the money to buy them! keeps life interesting.

Finished!

I am finally done with my new "Offering" titled "Keeper of Seeds"! All I have to do is finish the closure on the necklace (parts on order so I have to wait) but other than that, it is all done! Here are some snapshots (I will have it photographed on Tuesday).

Seeds here can be taken literally (there are real seeds in the glass globe inside) or figuratively. The quote, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, says "Flowers and fruits are only the beginning, in the seed lies the life and the future." The rose design is actually traced on the macro photo of a real seed pod. Right now, I am fairly pleased with the whole thing but I do have to get away from it for a while to be able to really enjoy it! (If you click on some of the images you can see a larger version)

A source of inspiration

It has been a few days since I had anything to write or time to write it! As many other people, I was looking at video of Susan Boyle's latest performance at the Britains got Talent show on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLLIIb_jA9Y&NR=1). Besides being really moved by her singing, I can't help thinking what an inspiration she is for every artist. She had a goal, and even though she was very obviously ridiculed, she did not let it stop her and proved that she could indeed reach it. She also proved that there is no age limit to do what one has set their heart in doing. I am just so full of admiration for her courage and her determination. If we all only had a fraction of that!

Crazy quilt workshop

Twenty ladies from the Asheville Quilting guild in NC and I had a busy day yesterday working on crazy quilting. I always think it is so exciting to see my students have fun with a new technique and get so very enthusiastic about it (hard to break for lunch!). It is also fun to watch how personalities come through in the different projects. I just hope that I emphasize enough that everyone should be doing what it is that makes them feel good and not listen to well-meaning peer pressures. It think it was one of the hardest lessons I learnt.

Here are some examples of pieced blocs at the end of the morning, so colorful and happy. Unfortunately, I cannot include images of everyone's work . (I hope I am keeping images and names straight. I apologize in advance if I make mistakes!)



Blocks by Maria Knox and Nancy Nealon

Look at those gorgeous colors!













Nancy Mathewson

And just the beginning of the embroidery:







Embroidery by Nancy Mathewson and
Peggy Tobin

Putting the pieces together

For the past two or three days, I have been putting the different parts of my new "Offering" together. By now I know that these things have so many parts and require so much precision that there will be problems (I used to think that it had to go perfectly together first time around. Needles to say, I was always disappointed!) There is no way around the fitting problems and realizing that lets me keep all my energy (that I would have spent moaning) to find solutions. Another thing too is that if a solution does not come right away, I don't force it. I do something else, work on another part and eventually I will have a "ha ha moment". I think learning to be patient when I work and accepting my limitations is the hardest thing to do!

So this morning, I was putting the doors in the front panels...and one door was too big. Well, it is relatively easy to trim it a little: very carefully un-glue part of it, slide a strip of an old cutting board between the fabric and the cardboard and trim slowly and carefully with an exacto knife.

(By the way, if you have an old cutting board, cut it into small pieces of different sizes and shapes. They may come in handy!)

That done, I saw that the opening for the next door was not cut right and I had some gaps. That is a lot harder to fix! But I must say, I did not freak out, just thought about it for a while and managed to remedy the problem. Pat, pat , pat on my back!

One more thing, I take lots of short breaks (check emails, eat a snack, take the dog out...). I cannot concentrate so intensely for a long uninterrupted period and I find that rather than breaking my concentration, the short breaks keep me very focused.

Why I am writing all this? Just to share my experiences in the studio and what I learnt from them. May be some of it will help you too!

"Turner to Cezanne" exhibit

My friend artist Pat Kilburg and I went to Columbia, SC, yesterday to see the Turner to Cezanne exhibit at the Museum of Art. The exhibit is there until June 7, 2009 and then will travel to 3 other cities (I don't know which, but I am sure the Museum would know - 803.799.2810.) The works are from the Davies collection, two sisters that collected 19th and 20th century paintings. They appreciated a style that was not yet truly accepted in the art world at the time and the National Museum of Wales is loaning part of their collection for us to enjoy. The exhibit also includes works by Corot, van Gogh, Manet, Monet...to name just a few. Both Pat and I really loved two paintings by Corot in particular, which give out a wonderful feeling of light and peace. If you have a chance to see the exhibit, do it! For more information about about tickets, opening hours, etc., visit: http://www.columbiamuseum.org/visit/FAQs.php