Squidonaut

Here is what I did with the water bottle, toy doll's eye and teeth. His beaky nose is a dinosaur skull.

Here is a view from the back. He has a "spine" going down the back of his head, running through his shell and protruding, tail-like, underneath the shell.

And here is he with some color added.  I need to go in and do more with the colors. He's a little bit monochromatic at the moment, and probably a little too bright as well.

He definitely needs some kind of environment to stand in. At the moment, he's in a little brass soap holder. I think my family is starting to like him more. The kids have named him Squidonaut. To me, he looks like a diver merged with a squid, and left under the sea for a long time.

Stay tuned for more adventures with Squidonaut.

At the Junction

It is hot-hot-hot here in the 'burg, and I feel like I'm doing everything in slow motion lately. I had a ton of work to do on Sunday, but I just couldn't get motivated. So, I decided to join my family on a trip to Squash a Penny Junction in Ashland Virginia.

Squash a Penny is an old general store, chock full of antiques and they're all for sale. Suzanne, the owner has the most amazing collectioin of items that I've ever seen in one place, and she shares my appreciation for the offbeat, the rusty and the downright creepy. She also knows what I like, and helps me navigate the maze of items that she has for sale.

The little tin and doll head (above) looked to me like they belonged together, so I had to buy them both. I'm thinking she will be one of my first resin jewelry projects.

Here are the rest of my Squash a Penny treasures. The brass tag in the middle says Jet Tillie Lace. I wonder what the story behind that is? I am anxious to do some jewelry with those optical lenses, too.

This is my latest project. Everyone in my family hates it so far. I haven't decided if that's a good thing, or a bad thing. The glass eyes came from a previous trip to Squash a penny. The false teeth were purchased from Maria's store at Art and Soul in Hampton. They look and feel amazingly real.

The octopus toy was something that we found when we were cleaning my daughter's room. It probably came in a kid's meal or something. I have lashed it to a spaceman water bottle that I found while I was junking. I put the eyes and the teeth on it last night, and it's looking very sinister. I'll show it to you again when I'm done. Unless one of my family members suceeds in ecouraging me to throw it into the trash!

Wedding Wishes

This is a piece that I created as a wedding gift for our friends Raven and David.

I had originally envisioned a freestanding piece with a bird as the centerpiece. I love Julie Haymaker Thompson's Steampunk Lily piece and was hoping to do something along those lines. Unfortunately, my original bird just didn't have the "it" factor that Julie's pieces have. Her bird was whimsical - mine was cartoony. Her  bird was artsy and mine looked like it came straight from a dime store -- not what I was going for, and certainly not something I wanted to give as a gift.

So I scrapped the original piece altogether and started over.

I layered paint and graphite on a 6 x 12" birch board. Then I added pieces of a vintage map. The groom hails from Devon, England, and I was lucky enough to find an old map of Devon at one of my favorite junking locations. Then, I added a decorative metal piece, reminiscent of the flourishes on their wedding invitation.

I still wanted a bird of some sort, so I painted a little wooden bird that I had, and gave her hardware features (a la JHT.). The rick-rack flowers were salvaged from a pair of vintage earrings that I had on hand. Their black color was too stark, so I toned them down with a metallic silver paint.

I added a metal house shape on top, and a part from a perpetual calendar --My wish that they will spend all the days of their lives in a happy home.

As you can see in this photo, the calendar piece was originally too dominant. There was too much brass showing, and it looked heavy on top of the bird. I went back in and lightenend the center with the metallic paint and graphite, and watercolor pencils. It helped it to recede into the background a little bit. I also repositioned it so it wasn't sitting right on top of her head.

It was interesting to see how quickly the piece came together once I was able to let go of my original vision, stay true to my own style, and focus on the recipients of the gift.  

Mockingbird

This is my entry for LibertyTown's "Bird's the Word". The idea is to incorporate art and words having to do with birds. I chose the traditional lullaby, "Hush Little Baby".

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,

Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird

And it that mockingbird won't sing,

Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring

And if that diamond ring turns brass,

Daddy's gonna buy you a looking glass

And if that looking glass gets broke

Daddy's gonna buy you a billy goat

And if that billy goat won't pull,

Daddy's gonna buy you a cart and bull

And if that cart and bull turn over,

Daddy's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won't bark,

Daddy's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,

You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town.

Awesome Blaaazh!

I was getting in touch with my inner pirate girl while working on an assemblage piece.
My daughter said, "Mom, it really sounds like you're bragging when you say that."
"Assemblage? It's the proper term -- it's a french word."
She did the preteen eye roll and replied, "Mom, awesome is not french!"

She thought I was referring to my work as Awsome Blazh. As in the most awesome blazh, ever, dude!

Anyway... at the end of May, I had a great time taking an awsome blazh class with Michael deMeng at Angela's Happy Stamper in Reston, Virginia. We had a full house of students working on Cave of Pages creations. Everyone left with a fantastic piece, or a very good start on one.

Can you see the burnt edge effect on the piece on the far right? That was achieved using washes. My piece was still looking kind of bare at the end of the class, but I came home and went to town with the washes.

I also used lots of mica, after learning the "Mysterious Frozen Caveman Trick". It is also featured in deMeng's newest book, Dusty Diablos, Folklore, Iconography, Assemblage, Olé.

The words say, Bloody Bess and her girls longed to return to the open sea.

And no piece of mine would be complete without some broken jewelry and a heapin' helpin' of epoxy clay.

I still have lots of leftover pirate-y things. I think I feel another pirate blazh comin on, mateys!

Leslie Brier, Custom Collage work

This is a detail of a custom collage piece that I did for the adorable Miss Taylor.

Taylor's mom and I met at the Hurkamp Park art show, where I was showing my collage titled "Spring". The girl in the picture reminded her of her daughter. We decided that I would recreate the piece with a few minor changes. I made the hair longer and parted on the side, and changed the word "spring" to the name "Taylor".

It was refreshing to recreate a piece. It felt good to be confident every step of the way because I had already made my design decisions when I created the original artwork. It also gave me an opportunity to make little adjustments that probably wouldn't be noticeable to anyone but me. How often in life do you get a do-over?

Doesn't this remind you of the flowers in the collage? This pin is a gift from my friend Elizabeth Woodford. She creates these fabulous flowers from discarded cashmere sweaters. They are so soft to the touch, and so glamorous! I've been finding all sorts of ways to wear mine. It's my new favorite accessory.

If you'd like one, (or ten) she has them for sale at the LibertyTown Emporium here in Fredericksburg. They will definitely be on my shopping list for the holidays!

Thomas Mann, Art and Soul, and the FOS

I decided that this year at Art and Soul, I would get back to my jewelry-making roots, and learn some new techniques. The first class that I took was an evening class with Thomas Mann, "Learn to Saw". I had limited experience using a jeweler's saw, and had found it very frustrating. The course description guaranteed we'd be sawing like pros by the end of the evening, and we weren't disappointed. I left feeling very proud of myself, and eager for the next day's class, Thomas Mann's Found Object Sandwich Brooch - The FOS.

I came to class prepared with an image, and some found objects, and I was ready to go. Until it was actually time to make something, and then my plan sort of fell apart.

I just had one of those days where nothing came easily to me. I lost a little piece of filigree that I'd brought with me that was a key part of my design. I left at lunchtime to set up my table for vendor night,raced back to the classroom, and got back to work, but I had missed some key information while I was gone. Luckily, I had some of the sweetest classmates in the world, who were kind enough to help me out. I left the class frustrated, with an unfinished piece.

Many of my classmates wore their gorgeous creations to vendor night. A lot of beautiful work came out of that class and it was wonderful to see the variety of FOS pins that were created.

I left my unfinished FOS in my studio, and experienced a feeling of dread every time I walked past it. Last week, I found a new piece of filigree at a local bead store, and some bead caps that looked like flowers when they were opened up. Last night I sat down and completed my piece.

I thought it would take me about 30 minutes, and it ended up taking about three hours. But I did it. I'm glad that I overcame my intimidation and finished the piece. And I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll probably even use micro fasteners again in the future. But every time I look at this pin, I'll remember it as the dreaded FOS!