Jen August 6th, 2008
I’m late! I’m late! But finished … FINALLY. There were so many pieces to this assemblage that at times I felt like a production worker. But I’m pretty pleased with the finished product, hanging problems notwithstanding. I used a LOT of the techniques learned from Steph’s book Semiprecious Salvage- etching, wrapping, wire attachments, plaster casting, resin casting, metal boxes.
Each element from l to r: Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, Wood - is housed in a small dollar store box. There is a metal box attached to the inside of each with a central …heh… element. Again, l to r: plaster cast of frog from MadRat Studio rubber, fish from Hannah Grey encased in resin, copper mesh flames with red crystal dangle for "fire", rusted nails and aged metal for "metal", and assorted wood beads set in caulking for "wood". Each element also has 5 small dangles and one larger dangle - bones/skull for earth, shells/starfish for water, burnt matches/red drop bead for fire, metal triangles/domes for metal, and sticks and wood ball for wood. There is a metal rod that goes through each box as the hanger.
I’ll be back later in the week with another challenge. Stay Tuned!
Jen July 14th, 2008
It’s been crazy busy what with the Tour de France on, training and marshalling races that it’s taken me close to 2 weeks to get back into the studio to take photos of these final projects from last month’s book work-through.
Here’s the bird bezel filled with resin and antiqued with a wash of mars black and quinacridone gold. I think this was my favourite piece of all.
This bezel ring has a small computer chip inside then filled with resin and again, antiqued with mars black and quinacridone gold. It’s a bit clunky but I still like it.
I am now working on my series of 5 elements - after the confusion, I’ve chosen Earth Wind Fire Water Wood and Metal - as my five. They will be worked on simultaneously as they will work as one unit when finished so it might be awhile before I get around to posting any photos.
On another, completely different note, word out to my son, Cliff for his tremendous performance over the weekend coming in 1st in his age group and 27th overall (beating all the Female Pros to boot!) in the inaugural 70.3 Amica Rhode Island Ironman. He’s now headed for the World Championships in Florida this November. You make me so very proud, me boy!
Jen June 12th, 2008
So I did another etched piece today for Project 4 in Semiprecious Salvage. The original project calls for a doll’s hand as the dangly from the bottom of the etched metal and dutifully I grabbed one from my stash - actually NOT bisque but some composite plastic stuff from ’40s/’50s dollies. It had shattered …erm… disintegrated more like and I really loved the jagged edges. I sloshed on some quin gold/black (ACTUALLY it wasn’t black but dirty pthalo’y turquoise’y black water from my dirty brushes container!) drying with a heat gun to adhere to the hand. LOVE how this turned out! Though I chose not to use it for this project.
Apologies for such a lousy photo. I can’t seem to take my picture out of a paper bag these days! The wee heart charm has "xox" engraved into it and wrapped with rusty wire.
I ended up using a little ballerina from my Hannah Grey stash. I cut off the base and painted her within an inch of her life, drilled a hole in the top of her head (causing her head to fall off I might add. Doh!) glued in a loop of silver wire.
I tried using duct tape as a resist and absolutely adore how it turned out. Truth be told, I’m still pretty smitten with the whole etching process. You can see the unetched sections on the top - uneven because of two widths of duct tape - and left hand side which sorta looks like a reflection in this photo but is actually the metal. I did the text etching but don’t have ready access to a copier and simply used some sheets of print grabbed from the recycle bin. Again, it looks nubbier, not very text like but there are a number of spots that in reality show up well. Because I didn’t create my own text, this is backwards and NOT white text on black background. Hey! Improvisation is key in these sort of book work-throughs.
I added a star stamp over top and really love the juxtaposition of the two. The beads were things I had kicking around and cut them shorter to create more of a dangly than necklace. I’m pretty pleased with the results.
Oh! Jewelry people! Question! Why oh why am I having such a hard time creating wraps with the silver wire I have? Not the right gauge? Not the right type of silver wire? I’m okay with the rusty wire I have which IS harder. But this silver stuff? Oy vei! It keeps snapping as I wrap. Help!
Jen May 28th, 2008
Mermaid of Substance - Assemblage for Hannah Grey Design Team
So while I"ve been working on my triptych for the monthly challenge, I played around with some more products from Hannah Grey and came up with this little beauty. I didn’t have any set end vision, but simply pulled things out of the box as well as my own stash until she was finished. I hunted for quite awhile for what was going to dangle off the bottom. I tried weasel bones (from HG) and bird’s feet, glass orbs (read beads) even some doll’s legs but saw this piece of coral in my "sea" box and realized it looked exactly like a mermaid’s tail. Perfect match! I love when synchronicity happens. My favourite element?The wispy copper wire waves.
Jen May 19th, 2008
Archaeological Angel - Assemblage
I’ve been busy putting the finishing touches on a bunch of works … finally … and am pleased to have something to show you. Crazy isn’t it? How fidgety I get when days turn into weeks and I have nothing to share here. Somehow if I don’t have pretty pictures to upload I feel like I’m not doing anything. Truth of the matter is my work often goes in fits and starts like this. Huge amounts of prep time, lots of irons in copious pots all the while nothing … nothing … nothing … and finally, Voila! a bunch of new stuff. Today. Is THAT day!
Clear Heart - Assemblage
Home Series - Assemblage
This last group are four in a series using teeth from an old field mower as the top of houses. From left to right, top to bottom: Home Sweet Home, Welcome Home, Home = Love, Open Heart Open Home. They measure roughly 6"hx4"w and use all manner of detritus and doodads as embellisment. My favourite, I think is "Welcome Home" mainly because the door opens and it took me forever to fashion the hinges! Hope you enjoy these!
