2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 19

I missed weeks 17 and 18 due to a personal tragedy. My grandmother passed away midweek the week of April 23rd. I'm still grappling with the loss of an amazing, kind, and creative woman that was an immense driving force in who I am today. It was unexpected and I only hope she knows how much I love her and how important she is to me.

It's definitely made me reevaluate how I interact with people I care about- I've been such a hermit over the last couple of years and I realize I have to reach out and stop hiding, even if it is my studio I take to when I feel like I need to check out from the world at large.

It's also made me aware that I should tell people what's going on with me so they don't think I am just avoiding them. We have to remove the stigma from mental illness- that's the only way we can heal as a society and as individuals.
I have been dealing with depression and anxiety for most of my adult life- in the last two/three years, it's gone up a few notches. I used to love big groups, concerts, festivals- now they send me into a panic attack. Small groups and one-on-ones have their own issues, and sometimes I just have to say it's ok to hide. Nanny would NOT have wanted me to live my life like this. I don't want to live my life like this. So, if you feel like I've avoided you or acted oddly around you, please don't think it's your fault.

Making things has been my life-line to staying involved with people. Teaching allows me to be kind of someone else. I become Teacher Brandy, and somehow I can deal better with all the scummy-brain stuff that keeps me awake all night, and I have confidence that slips away from me normally. 

I've been fortunate enough to have a wonderful group of friends (and family) that come to my classes and ask me to make special custom pieces for them. You guys have helped me more than you know.

This week's ring is not quite finished, but it is a custom piece for a wonderful lady that has been an amazing supporter of my work and I absolutely *love* making pieces for her- I know she falls in love with the stones just like I do. :) Labradorite supplied by her- silver by me. :) The back will have a cut out of a star after we do the sizing.

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 16

This week's ring is a fine silver creeping raspberry leaf atop a 4mm wide plain rectangle band. the band is super comfortable and complements the excellent texture of the leaf, which has a light patina with greens, golds, and bronze tones to it.

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 15

This statement ring is made with a cabochon from a (former) local Memphis artist (he's still around- just moved to the other side of TN). paired with a lovely sterling gallery wire and a simple wide band that keeps it securely in place, it's a solid ring, great for special occasions or everyday wear.

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 14

this Treasure Mountain turquoise is paired with sterling silver and gold fill. I like the mixed metals with the variety of colors in the stone.

(and yes, i did tap those prongs down a little more after this picture. I was just so excited with how it turned out!)

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 13

Featuring treasure mountain turquoise and a lovely little cast succulent, this is week 13 in my 52 week maker challenge. (shown on a lovely piece of wood that became an even more lovely pendant!)

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 12

I spent the evening of the spring equinox making- seemed fitting. This is the most recent ring in my 52 pieces challenge series. 

I call her The Oracle. A lovely cultured opal is set in a crown bezel. Fine silver planchettes flank the setting. The band is stamped with Yes, no, and goodbye, along with some fun stars. All Sterling and fine silver. Will be available in the etsy store soon!

2018 ~ 52 rings challenge - Week 6

Red River Turquoise in sterling silver

This week's ring was truly a challenge! for the life of me, I couldn't saw a straight line, they all slanted to the right- which I guess is ok since they were all slanting at the same angle, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

This lovely Red River turquoise has soft blue-greens (matches my studio) and a kind of hazy, dreamy pattern. I like the way the 24 gauge wall with slight texturing on the edge contrasts with the smoothness of the cab too. I think I'll leave this one bright silver, although it would look nice with a dark patina as well.

I'll be teaching a less frustrating version of this in my class in March- Bezel Explorations.

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 5

I meant to post yesterday, but I had a bad day. Those happen and it's important for me to let myself have them and then deal with it than to try to put it off and turn one bad day into several.

I had a great class on Saturday though- people made some really awesome stuff. My class sample somehow turned into a pendant once I got back to the studio after class, but i think it's pretty swell anyways. :) The turquoise is Treasure Mountain, the CZ is a green garnet and i think the succulent is a cast Hen-and-Chick (?)

But since this is the 52 ring challenge (and I'm up to 9 in 5 weeks) let me present this week's ring. 

It features a petrified limb from the Mississippi Petrified Forest (i didn't know this was a thing until i bought this) that i purchased in New Orleans. The edge is raw and shows where the bark was. I've set it in a hybrid bezel/prong setting (which i will be teaching in my March class at BMB designs). the band has a subtle wood grain texture. I'm super thrilled with it. :) 

2018 ~ 52 ring challenge - week 4

Snow days last week forced a more relaxed schedule. I did not make it into the studio as much as I would have liked as my street, specifically, the span of my street right in front of my house, was a sheet of ice for many days. I did get this lovely ring made though. It's also a sample for my class coming up this Saturday the 27th, at the Memphis Botanic Gardens.

This lovely has an agatized fossil coral teardrop, three white CZs, and a fancy pattern wire band.

And here's a lovely photo of the snow and ice that kept me housebound for 5 days in a row! *stir crazy*

Creative Life 2016- week 43

October has been a wonderful month in many ways. I've had several weekends now where I've been able to demonstrate metalsmithing and share my knowledge with the public. This weekend, I'll be teaching a class on chain maille at the garden (which I had the experience of promoting on Live at 9 this past Monday! - Click here for the video)

I've become kind of resolved to the fact that I am a living creature with biology that doesn't always match up to what I (think I) want- for a long time, I truly believed that 'humans' were evolved past things like circadian rhythms and seasonal cycles- oh how wrong I was! I am such a slave to my body's sleep and active cycles, and mine are off from what the world expects. Attempts to adhere to this arbitrary and incompatible schedule reflect in my health and mental status on the regular.
I tried the whole waking up with the sun thing, and it was glorious... I was so much more alert, even on less sleep, than when I wake with an alarm. My true lament comes from the realization that no matter what I try, my most creative hours are between 8pm and 2am. I was trying to figure out where my mojo went in the evenings after work when i would go to the studio and try to make. I stayed late one night, and discovered I was leaving the party before the mojo kicked in! I tested it a few more times and confirmed, I can create new pieces with wild abandon, crank out my pseudo-production work and get my Units per Hour to an actual range where I can make a profit selling my art when I work between 8pm and 2 am! However, the schedule for the rest of my life is very incongruent to this block of creative time.

See how productive i can be during the right time of the night?!? And i really need a few more nights like this to be ready for Crafts & Drafts on the 12th of November. (It's a great show- lots of great work and a wonderful, festive environment. I highly recommend attending it)

Creative Life- Week 31

So.. yeah. I may have missed so studio time in the past few weeks. I was traveling for work again and I actually had to close the shop on two Wednesdays because of it. I got back on track last week and I made some new pieces. :)
I'm also getting ready for some great classes coming up at both the MBG and BMB designs and my calendar is so full starting this weekend through December, I'm not sure what to do with myself!

We went to Frankstown, MS and hunted for sharks teeth last weekend and that was SO MUCH FUN! it was great to wade through the water, hunt for teeth and fossil shells and watch the minnows in the slow moving creek. I have the hunting bug now and am looking forward to opportunities to look for more rocks and fossils in unusual places.

Since I have shows coming up- starting with the Crosstown Clectic show August 26th and 27th, I have been busy making. Here are some of the new pieces I've been adding to my stock.

Creative Life 2016- week 15 part 2

Spring is in the air and i've had monkey brain most nights, leaving me groggy in the morning and grumpy in the early afternoon.

However, since the night time is my-time, i have been getting some work made and i have a slew of sketches that i can't wait to get started on. I'm trying to make work in cohesive 'collections' now, for a few reasons-- 1- it makes my work easier to display as things go together and make sense instead of being a visual testament for my artistic ADD and 2- it makes it easier for me to enter into competitions, scholarship opportunities, etc because my work makes sens to a juror, judge, etc.

I'm still focused on my fold formed pieces, but i've branched out into enameled fold formed pieces over the past year and now i'm adding enameled beads to my fold formed focals. this lets me pull my enamel only work seamlessly into my current offerings also.

I'm really wanting to get back to my enamel 'sketch' work- where i actually draw on the enamel with a graphite pencil and fire it all together to create a permanent 'doodle' on jewelry. i have a giant focal i did almost 2 years ago that i love, along with my smaller pendant pieces, and i think there's some great possibilities for me there- both in the finished work and in the artistic process.

The other 'line' i'm working on is a narrative set of pendants inspired by words from http://other-wordly.tumblr.com/. The first in the series is Werifesteria (to wander longingly through the forest in search of mystery) and has a dendrite stone as its focal.

Here's what i finished last night- it's the only one i have right now in silver. While i love copper and i love working in copper, i love silver too, and sometimes something a little fancier is needed. :) the chain is random lengths of this lovely twisted figure 8 link connected by hand wrapped links with tiny labradorite. The focal is dauphine and harvest blue enameled pieces with organic wrapped sterling bits and a big chalcedony tear drop (i've had these in my stash for *years*- they were one of my first big splurges- i paid more for the strand than i was normally spending on a whole order of other beads. I've slowly been adding them to special pieces and this was a match made in heaven!)

Don't forget to come by and see me at the East Buntyn art walk this Saturday from 1pm-6pm! The commemorative glass this year is a pretty red and once you buy the glass at headquarters, you can get pours from all the artists around the neighborhood as you browse and buy one-of-a-kind art!

Creative Life 2016 - Week 14 part 2

I went to the 1st Whet Thursday of 2016 yesterday down at the Metal Museum, and the weather was just amazing.  The sunset gave us a great show too, with the clouds turning this luscious shade of purple right before the sun slipped below the horizon. With the giant oaks and the deep history, combined with my obvious passion about metal, the Metal Museum grounds are one of my 'grounding places'. While there, i browsed the Inches from the Earth exhibit and got some encouragement to keep on with the direction i'm going, and i fell in love with a David Huang small vessel. 

In that vein, i have some new work for the Art Walk on the 16th!  :) If i sell enough, i'm going to go and get that vessel. I just have to decide where to put it. The bottom picture has a couple of designs i'm revisiting- the bar necklace is a chunkier version of one i've been making. The two fold formed pieces are variations on a theme and are a bit smaller than some of my previous (non circle) pieces. the bracelet is a vintage copper blank enameled in the torch and swirled with a rake while hot. i'm super pleased with the colors and the swirls and am looking forward to making more of these. I just have to suck it up and get over the idea that i *will* use up the focal pieces i have and that's ok. :) I also made several pairs of the torch enameled beaded earrings and did those up in silver and copper. 

 

Creative Life 2016- Week 7 - Continued!!

Look at me.. making twice in one week! {sarcasm} if i had the energy, i'd be in the studio every night again, making a dozen pieces a week. The weather is absolutely beautiful today though- i rode the scooter back to work after lunch (and was tempted to not go back to work) and am looking forward to riding around this evening, before the chill sets in after dark.

Last night i got a few pieces made :) To be fair, they were mostly doing the final assembly, clean up or whatnot of pieces that have been sitting around for a while- the large copper piece has been tossed around my office for almost 2 years. BUT- i'm going to take the victories i can get and i will be content in knowing that these pieces are not 100% complete and ready for pricing and display.
Yes- i tweaked the image strangely, otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see the three earrings at all. one pair is a wire fabbed triske- Sterling, one is mold cast fine silver trilobites and finally, the bottom set is made from water cast pieces that have been soldered together to create a harmonious pair.

The leaf is a fine silver peperomia leaf with liver of sulfur patina (sealed) on a metallic bronze leather cord with sterling clasp. And of course, that big honking statement piece is solid copper- coated to protect the brightness.

Creative Life 2016 - week 7

BOOM! Finished piece. finally. (other than the competition piece and class samples). Indian Kammererite, Australian mint chrysoprase, sterling silver. hand made matching, removable chain. Satin finished. 2/2016.

That's the positive- what's below is the whiny, emotional, artsy-fartsy stuff that goes through my head all the time. If you want to skip it, that's fine. Scroll back up and look at the pretty. :)

2016 has been a rough year, creatively speaking. I am realizing that I need to take some things off my plate in order to be more effective at the things i need to keep. I got distracted by the 'business of art making', the networking, the groups, the functions, and forgot that at the end of the day, i need energy for the actual art making. It always gets hard during the winter months, when the energy is scarce to begin with. I'm sure by late spring, i'll be back to my old self, getting involved with this guild, or working with that group for a show. and i'll be delighted by my connectedness, my sense of belonging to a bigger community, and my ability to make progress in the 'art world'. Right now, i just want to curl up under the blanket with the kitties and sleep.

There have been a lot of external circumstances that have made me feel less than my normal self over the last few months. I have looked back over my writing, my sketching, my finished work (what little there is) to see how my state of mind has been going. the lack of content speaks volumes. even my blog posts have been of lower quality and certainly less frequency. I really hope Blogger gets their app fixed soon so i can blog from my phone. I spend most of my workday on the PC, and honestly, getting on it when i get home is one of the last things i want to do. (also why i have a pile of invoices to enter into QuickBooks.... hmm... )

I think i just need to hibernate from like December to April. come out for food and showers and then retreat back to the blankets. if i live tweet it and cast it, does it become performance art? { sarcasm }

Creative Life - Week 5 & 6

It's been a busy year. At least on the "Main Stream Job" front. i have been trying to be the artist also, but time has been scarce. I am proud to say i completed my piece for the Halstead Kinetic Challenge and went to the opening of the Collaborations show at MJCC that i am a part of (along with a slew of talented Tennessee artists)

I haven't been able to keep up with my blog because nothing wants to post from the mobile app anymore- something broke on the last update, which is just silly since i have a google phone and this is a google app...I had week 5 written and ready to go last week, but anyways- it's about the spirit of the blog more than the letter of the posts.

i have been treading water (in life) mostly- work is busy, creativity scant, weather weird. I keep pushing on because i know the life i want is within reach. I sourced some neat old silverware from the early 1900's for my next project- i'm going to make molds of parts of them and use them in other pieces- there's too much of a historian in me to cut them up and use them. i picked up two lovely floral pieces from an antique store in Galveston- they'll have a fun story at least. :) And i'll have some great samples to show off at my Mold Making for Metal Clay class that is happening March 12th at the Memphis Botanic Gardens. :)

Creative Life 2016 - Week 4

I've been trying to find small ways to channel my creative energy in this strange, cold and dreary winter. Most of my orchids left me this year after a nasty infestation of the dreaded mealybugs, so i've been looking for something interesting to grow that might also be functional, so i got a mushroom grow kit.

I was thinking my green thumb had left me, as it sat for almost a week with nothing happening. I went to Florida for work 2 days last week and when i got back on Friday, this had happened!

It was pretty exciting- they look totally different from what i was expecting- since they're white oyster mushrooms, i wasn't expecting the lovely colors. well- with mushrooms, things get interesting QUICK- because here's what they looked like 2 days after that 1st photo. 

And then this morning....

I think i'm going to feel bad about eating them now. Its been really cool to watch them change color and shape. The texture is so neat on them. :) and we all know i have a small obsession with photographing fungus... so this might turn into me growing all sorts of neat mushrooms just to take pictures of them. lol. I looked on amazon and i can get a kit to grow Morel and Shaggy mane mushrooms- those are some pretty cool textures and highly photogenic mushrooms. :)

Interestingly enough, this little bit of 'creation' in my kitchen has helped me get back a little of my creative mojo. I have been feeling like the artistic well has been mostly dried up and not seeing a way to replenish it. Cold, gray weather and i don't get along and i have just felt so weighed down by everything, but this simple project of growing something- watching it change and mature- it has been inspiring. The kitten sisters are interested in it too, though thankfully they have no desire to chew on the mushrooms or rub against them.. the just look quizzically at them and then at me. :)

UFO day at BMB designs on Saturday the 23rd was awesome. We had a lot of fun, enjoyed some great food and the ladies got a lot of projects finished. it was wonderful to see them come in with bags of bits and go home with several finished pieces. 

I finished up my samples from my Kitchen Table Silversmithing class back on the 16th and snapped a quick shot of them so i could feel accomplished too. :)

Weekly Challenge- Week 52

Monday i was sitting at the studio feeling utterly lost creatively. i needed to do something to break me out of my downward spiral so i decided to melt my scrap silver down. well.. it was a bit more than i thought it was once i got it melting, so i did some water casting. 

the results were pretty inspiring. :) so i made some new jewelry. three pairs of post earrings, two rings and a pendant. A pretty solid foundation for a new collection, if i do say so myself. :) 

Being a maker - 2015 wrap up

"Be truthful, one would say, and the result is bound to be amazingly interesting."
-Virginia Woolf "A Room of One's Own"

I have struggled with what is has meant to me to be an artist/maker and have an artistic voice my entire adult life. I have never felt like the 'artist' label fit me. I didn't think i was making things to make a statement (i later discovered that even when i thought i wasn't saying anything, i was) and i didn't feel like i had the skill level to call myself anything more than a dabbler. It was much easier when i was a child and the 'artist' label didn't have all the societal baggage that it does, although, even when i was little i knew that growing up to be an artist wasn't something i should aspire towards. It was somehow lesser. And i am still working through the mine field of self-worth, cultural worth, and 'productive member of society' definition that comes with all that- this post is about part of that journey.

For many years, i was afraid to make the things in saw in my mind and doodled in my books. They were weird, different, technically difficult or nonsense to wear. Even after being obsessed with haute couture for quite some time, i never thought that *i* could get away with making something like that. I struggled in my art classes at college because i always scaled it back, made it useful/wearable/relatable/normal/safe. I didn't have these grand 'meanings' behind my work. I didn't explore like many of my class mates. I kept things small, rigid and for a while, lacking in any artistic life.

Looking at my photography portfolio, the further i progressed in my studies, the worse my photos got. And looking back, that is because i wasn't being honest in my work. I was taking the photos i thought i should take, or the teacher thought i should take- not the ones i wanted to take. I was learning metal smithing techniques at this time as well, but the supplies and tools were pricey, and i was mostly self taught, so i was also playing it small and safe and trying to make things i thought would sell, instead of things i thought were awesome. I look back on my first jewelry piece that i made 'just because' with a mix of embarrassment and pride. Pride that i finally did something just because and embarrassment because it took so long and it was so bad. lol.

This year, thanks to the years of support from a very patient and encouraging partner combined with the influence of a very wonderful and dear artist friend, i have started pretty much exclusively making what i *want* to make- marketability be damned. :) And i was surprised at the overwhelming positive response from people purchasing my jewelry. There was a truth to my work- no artsy fartsy philosophical stuff (that i could never get into when i was in school, which also made me feel like a fraudulent artist), just me, the metal and the tools making something that captures a moment- whether that's how i felt about the song on the iPod, the weather or just me enjoying a new hammer.

I've also started selling my 'experiment' pieces, and they've been flying off to new homes. Previously, they would have been tucked away in a drawer or in a box, forgotten as i refined a technique, looked for better tools to do said technique, or set it aside as a failure for not 'being perfect'. I think people respond well to the lack of perfection. I'm not a goldsmith making shiny, traditional rings with a mirror finish and diamonds. I'm an art jeweler- making fun, funky and statement pieces from copper, silver, gemstones, pebbles, driftwood, rusted bits and vintage stuff. my perfection is found in the imperfection and individuality.

Now- that doesn't give me license to be sloppy, but it also means that i should not be spending 2 hours hand polishing a $20 pair of copper earrings to absolute perfection. Because then, they're not perfect anymore- they look manufactured and overworked and that's a huge turn-off.

I am looking forward to 2016 as the year i really come into my own. I have a cohesive line of jewelry and art now- when it's all spread out at a show, it flows. My displays, my work, me.. we are all in harmony. I'm also looking forward to getting back into photography. I pulled out my old portfolio and actually sold two pieces this month to someone who really wanted them. I'm going to be setting up the dark room and adding traditional B&W photos to my offerings- i haven't decided if i'm going to create a separate Etsy shop or just add them in for now. I'd like to work on incorporating some of the photos into reliquary style jewelry and into my larger wall pieces- i'm working on some ideas- look for in-progress blog posts next year. :)

Weekly challenge - weeks 44 and 45

I have been doing a fair bit of traveling for work these past two weeks- i was in the Carolinas the last week of October, back for halloween (taught a class that day). Then it was off to Houston/Galveston the first part of this week, and i wrapped the week up with Lebanon, TN this past Friday. As such, i have gotten SO LITTLE DONE in the studio.. :(

I have a show this Saturday at Crosstown arts- Crafts and Drafts from 10am-4pm. It's the first year for this show but i'm pretty sure it's going to be great. There will be lots of great local art and fabulous food trucks.

I did get a few things done this week - here's one of the new steampunk love necklaces.

This is what i made tonight!

 This is what i bought at an awesome Bead shop in Charlotte i found while killing time for my flight.

And here are the pieces made in the Air chasing class on Halloween at BMB designs. the big piece at the top was my demo and the small pieces below are all the student work. they did a pretty awesome job!