Glitter is Forever!

There are two materials that I love the use at Christmas time -- felt and glitter. Felt is one of the first materials that I remember using as a child. My mom and I would make felt christmas ornaments and tiny little dolls. You could glue or sew right onto the felt and it wouldn't fray. It has to be the most child-friendly art supply out there. I was allowed to cut and glue to my heart's content.

Glitter was another story. Glitter made everything sparkly and really, really, Christmas-y. Glitter made crusty, crunchy little piles of shiny goodness on top of an ordinary drop of Elmer's white glue. Glitter looked the way your tummy felt on Christmas Eve.

But glitter made a mess. Mom would say: "Be very careful!" "Don't use too much!" "You're getting it everywhere!" And she was right. Glitter would sift down into the cracks of our parquet floors, waiting to be discovered months later bathed in a summer sunbeam. Glitter was magical, but glitter was forever.

I still love to get out glitter at christmastime, and I was thrilled to find this wreath project at http://www.mosaictipsandtricks.blogspot.com/. Enchanted Rose Studio has a great tutorial that shows exactly how to make the wreath. My daughter and I made it together, and we had a great time doing it.

I only changed two thing from the Enchanted Rose directions. I used a slightly smaller paper circle, and I put a drop of hot glue right in the place where I pinched the circle together. I also went back in with tiny straight pins, and pinned the circles to the wreath after they were glued. I knew this was going to be mailed to Ohio, and I wasn't sure how the hot glue would hold up to the cold temperatures. (You can double-click the second photo to get a better view.)

We mailed the wreath last week. And guess what? We are still finding tiny bits of sparkly glitter all over the place. Glitter is still magical for me, but glitter is forever!

Fire and Ice Resin

I decided that for the months of November and December, I would only put my work in galleries, and not do any craft shows or home shows. For the first time in ten years, I've had my weekends free during the holiday season. And you know what? I'm as busy as ever. I feel like these two little fire truck guys - not sure if I'm coming or going.  It's amazing how many other activities have filled in our calendar. I'm having lots of fun, but I'm really craving a long winter's nap!

I made some more jewelry using Susan Lenart Kazmer's Ice Resin and I was very pleased with the results. Jen Cushman was kind enough to drop by the blog, and told me that the ice resin is self-healing. I was able to fix the little bubble in the ring I showed in the last post and smooth over the little scuffies on the necklace. (I'm still keeping the necklace, though!) The piece shown above is at the Emporium at LibertyTown.

 For this piece, I put a vintage costume jewelry flower inside an antique tart tin. Then I added a sterling chain and put lots of beads and crystals on it. This piece is at FCCA in the Members Gallery.

After I made the necklace, I found this quote and decided it fit the necklace perfectly.
"The day will come when, after harnessing space,
the winds, the tides and gravitation,
we shall harness the energies of love.
And on that day, for the second time
in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire."

- Pierre Teillhard de Chardin

I used the quote as an inspiration to make as assemblage piece that the necklace hangs on when it's not being worn. I really like this concept, and I'm planning to do a whole series of these. The resin allows me the freedom to create a mini-artwork inside the framework of the necklace. And the assemblage piece allows me a larger canvas to expand on the idea.

  I took this picture outside of FCCA before I delivered my piece. It's not the greatest picture, but I  liked the way the sun cast a shadow of the gears.