Don't Let the Day End

Here's a photo of what I spent the day doing. There are two more that I've already delivered to the other studio where Beverly, one of the artists, will fire them.

Today was one of those days when I just didn't want to stop working. I worked from 9:00 this morning until asbout 7:00 this evening. And really, I had to force myself to quit. Jon went by and mentioned to me that I was sitting in the only spot of sun shining in the whole patio. Everything else was in shadow. No wonder I like working late. And late afternoon is wonderful light for detail work or so I've found.

Last week, or maybe the one before, I made myself so business card. Unfortunately, there's a large cockroach living in my card holder that is eating the ink off my cards. I remember talking to an exterminator at one time who told me that they will eat ink and glue in the rug. So even if you're very clean and don't leave food around, you may still have them. Of course, we're in these old public buildings near the Zoo. So now I need to devise a way to protect my cards. I can wrap them up every night and unwrap them in the morning. Somehow, I didn't envision those kinds of chores when I decided to have an art studio.

Jon says the plants in front of the studio have bugs in them, so I need to solve that problem as well. He says he may change the plants and put something different there, but I like the ones I have. I hope he doesn't. I have to do some research to convince him that they're okay where they are. Again, not necessarily a job for an artist. Well, at least I have the internet, thanks to Philip.

Yesterday, after work, I went to find a few more beads. However, I was so busy with my clay carving that I didn't even do anything with the beads. I need to work on the clay cutouts before they dry out. And then it will be time to start making copper shapes for enameling again. An artist's work is never done. Thank goodness. Otherwise, it might get boring.

New Beginnings

This is Zoie. She's the daughter of one of the artists here at Spanish Village. She was born at the begining of March. Her father is a wonderful clay sculptor whose public art projects are all around San Diego and other places as well. When we ask him if she's going to be an artist, he says, "no, a rock star."

I took this photo about 15 minutes ago with my cellphone, uploaded it to the cellphone provider's site and downloaded it to my hard drive of my studio computer through the wireless network that Philip has set up here at the Village. Who would have imagined such a thing when I was working for the military and using that old text based internet connection. That was in the 1980's. It does seem like a long ago now especially by computer standards.

Today the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit opens to the public. There's talk about parking problems, but I think we won't really know until time goes on, and we see what's happening. All of us who participated in the opening gala have received invitations to go and see the exhibit on Monday night. I have tickets for next Friday, July 6, so I'll have a chance to see it twice. Then the exhibit changes again in September or October I think. I'm not sure. But I'm very anxious to see it and maybe get some book on artwork that dates to the period. Right now, I'm trying to do as much research as I can, but I haven't found a whole lot of information.

I like preparing for a special event, because it frequently causes me to stretch artistically. Lots of other artists have said the same thing. If you have a show coming up, you get busy and made pieces that relate or you frame work that's been sitting around. I've been trying for a more ethnic look. It's been fun for me. I don't know what kind of response I'll received.

I always look forward to the weekends, because that's when I concentrate all my effort on artwork. During the week, I take time to read my email and respond to it. As the Recording Secretary of Spanish Village, I have various duties which include forwarding announcements to the general membership. But now I think I'm finished for the week, and it's time for art. One thing I did do this morning was order some enameling supplies.

Dead Sea Scrolls Opening

Here's a shot I took from my vantage point of the demonstration booths at the Dead Sea Scrolls gala that took place this evening. It was a fun event, people coming around to ask us questions about our work and watching us work. And we of course told them that we could be seen working in our studios across the street in Spanish Village.

There were two camels beautiful dressed in red paisley shawls and they posed with the guests for photos. They seemed very docile and use to being around people. They arrived at the party in a trailer, so they didn't just walk over from the Zoo, if they even came from the Zoo. I think they probably came from Rent-A-Camel. They didn't seem like wild animals. Well, that is, camels aren't really wild, except the ones that were left in Australia after the automobile replaced them. But I think the ones at the Zoo are probably ones that are more unusual, not just the garden variety camel.

I spent time earlier today preparing the clay pendants in preparation for carving them this evening. Usually I do them the day before, but I was very busy yesterday. So this morning I created them and spread them out in the sun on my outside table. That worked just fine. As soon as they no long felt damp to the touch, I wrapped them in a plastic bag and stored them in a box. I hope I'll still be able to work on them Friday and that they won't be too dry. I made about 25 of them and I only worked on three this evening.

I tried a different kind of clay, something called B Mix which is part porcelain and part something else. I like working with it. I had a little trouble in the beginning and broke three pieces, but then I was okay with it. It's very smooth clay, very easy to carve. I could spend hours on one pieces. I mentioned that to one of the other artists, and she said, "go ahead. If you like doing it, just keep going. Spend as much time as you like." So I guess I will. It's so much fun making the lines all smooth and creating different levels of casrving.

Well, I'm ready for my day off tomorrow with out of town family members who are visiting. They want to see my studio, so I'm spending a little time straightening things up, but not enough. On the other hand, I'm getting tired and it's time to go home to get my beauty rest.

So Much To Do

Here are some of the pendants I've made out of clay then fired. I made that large fish in the center into a necklace and I've been wearing it for several days. People have complimented it. I tried a different style of closure on the cord I used for the pendant, so I need to wear if to make sure it holds up. So far it seems fine.

I do try to pay attention to people's comments about my jewelry. Of course it's nice to have the compliments, but some pieces get more compliments than others. I never got any compliments on my first enamel pendant, but fortunately I didn't let that stop me in this case. I did get feedback from one of the artists saying that she thought I should come up with some more interesting shapes, and her advice turned out to be excellent. I now spend a great deal of time on the shapes of my enamel pendants and on my ceramic ones as well.

One of the other clay artists gave me a piece of clay today, some that is very buttery and has very little grit in it. I think it will be good for carving. He said I could carve fine, delicate lines. That would be good, at least to try it. I've tried several different ones and so far the one I like best is called Bruce's White. I don't know if that's a standard type or if it's a name our local store has given it. But this new one is part porcelain, so it should be nice. I hope so because that's what I'm going to use for my demonstration on Wednesday night.

I spent the day attempting to clean up my studio, and actually it looks pretty good, I thnk. Recently I've been getting some new divided boxes to put things in. That way, I can use a lot more of my shelf space. I had gotten some little chests of drawers, but they weren't very efficient. The boxes are better because I can sort through them, looking in each one, and then I can take the ones I want and carry them outside when I'm working out there. It's handy. Then all the boxes can be stacked up on the shelf at the end of the day, if I have the energy.

Tomorrow and Thursday are my days off. My plan is to write in my blog on the days I work, but not on the days I'm off. That way, I'll continue to write, but it won't be so much work to take care of. Sometimes it takes me an hour to write an entry, sometimes less.

Weekend Ends

Here is a photo of lots of necklaces. I've made almost all of them in the last several weeks, in preparation for the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum. I've enjoyed making them, because they're a departure for me from my usual style. For one thing, they are all strung necklaces as opposed to the ones I make using gold-filled or silver wire.

The advantage is that I can use beads that have larger holes in them. They slide down over the bent wire, but when they're all strung together on a "string" it doesn't matter how large the hole is. That is, it doesn't matter unless the holes are so large that they cover smaller beads that are strung next to them. But actually that can be a special effect itself. I mended a necklace that was made that way. It was nice the way the beads moved back and forth on the small ones underneath, runninginto larger beads spaced intermittently along the strand.

Aside from stringing beads, I've been working on the ceramic pendants, painting them and then washing them to see if the paint comes off. And the bad news is that it does. Philip suggested that I cover them with a matte finish spray. I think that's what I may have to do. I don't want someone to wear one of my necklaces in the rain and have the color come off on their clothes. That wouldn't be good for business. Of course, in San Diego we have so little rain. But still, I don't want to take a chance.

It's been a lovely sunny weekend. There weren't a whole lot of visitors in the Village, but everyone who walked by seemed interested in my jewelry. I guess complements are better than nothing, although of course they don't pay the bills. Oh, well. I'm glad people like my work.

Work Is Never Done

Here's a photo I took this morning that shows some of the ceramic pendants I've been making. I may not have time to convert them all into necklaces by next week, but it occurs to me that I can still display them. I'm going to be demonstrating how they are made, so it would make sense to have a lot of them.

I spent the day today making five more necklaces like the ones shown in yesterday's entry. I was going to stay and work for another several hours, but I'm out of ideas for now. It's nice though to be "forced" to sit here with strands of beads and come up with various combinations to make necklaces. There are several that I never would have come up with if I had been restricted to certain strands and a sort of ancient, ethnic look. I have created some that are sort of tribal looking and some that are much more polished looking, and some that are fairly contemporary with a suggestion of the Mediterraean.

Some time ago, Jon agreed to construct a vertical tank for my etching plates. It will make the process much easier for me. He finished awhile back and has been testing it by adding water to it, to make sure it doesn't leak. When I was etching copper bracelets, I discovered that as long as the piece is in the ferric chloride in a vertical or slightly more than vertical position, the copper being etched away will drop down into the tank.

In the past, I've been forced to place the copper piece face down in the solution and put little balls of masking tape at various points to keep it from sitting directly on the bottom. That worked well as long as the etched lines had enough open places between them to attach the masking tape. But if I wanted to etch something with an overall pattern, there was no place to put the tape. One person told me she glues styrofoam to the back of the plate and that causes it to float on the surface of the etching solution. I've been saving my foam, but that seem rather complicated as well. I'd have to find some good glue.

After the opening of the museum next week, I'll go back to enameling and etching. One thing I've been doing is putting clear enamel over pieces of etched copper. It drops down into the lines. Also, if I don't sprinkle the enamel on too thickly, some of the copper begins to oxidize, creating patches of gree coloring which I like. So many things to try.

Working Towards Various Goals

Here's a photo of some of the necklaces I've been working on for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Natural History Museum. There are two parties next week, on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The artists here at Spanish Village who can demonstrate art or crafts that date back to the period of the writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been invited to the Museum for the two opening nights. I'm going to take some clay pendants that I will have made the day before and carve them each night. I have also been doing enameling, but that's not a craft I can demonstrate over there.

Anyway, I went to get some stones from Jon to use for carving. Currently I use an agate burnisher which I love, but it's a modern tool, or at least the one I use was made recently. Jon has been taking classes at the Mineral and Gem Society next door, learnng how to make cabachons and now facetting. I thought he might have some large, partially shaped rocks that I could use, ones that look as though they could have been made 2000 years ago or so. And we came up with some from his pile of rocks. I'll get out some clay tomorrow and try to make something, to see if one or some of the stones will work.

I'm starting to get some things done that I've wanted to do for awhile now. I made more business cards, printed flyers to go with my enamel pendants, started my website, worked on additional text for my website, took some photos of my jewelry, and thought about writing a mission statement and designing a logo. I want to make sure I have plenty of brochures/flyers and business cards for the event next week. And I guess I need to keep cards in my studio and outside on my worktable too. People do take them. I don't know if that helps, but maybe a little bit. I suppose it gives me a serious/professional look.

Things Change, But the Seasons Rotate

I've been very busy recently making jewelry for my new collection. Also, the San Diego Natural History Museum is going to be opening an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls the end of next week, and I'm making some ceramic pendants to celebrate the event.

A great deal has happened in my life, in my business, in Spanish Village. I'll have to update everything gradually. The plants have changed with the seasons, the birds that built a nest in the glassblower's awning have raised their babies and flown away. Or if they haven't, they're just about ready to.

I've taken up ceramics and enameling to make pendants. People seem to like the enamel pendants. And today I got the first page of my website up and running, thanks to the help of Philip, the very good and very kind photographer in the glassblowing studio across the way from me. Now I'm ready to become a real business. Watch out CocaCola.