This Weekend: Yemenite Filigree

This weekend I am heading down to Tucson for a Yemenite Filigree Workshop by Yehuda Tassa. I am super excited!
I promise a full report upon my return (or sometime within the next month:). The end of the semester is wrapping up quickly and I am behind on just about everything, which means less time for blogging:)

"Follow Your Own Course"

If you are in Tucson this weekend, you should definetly attend the:

Kristen & Dustin Yoder Memorial Family Orienteering Day

This Saturday, April 18, 2009, from 7:00am - 11:00am at Agua Caliente Elementary School, 11420 E Limberlost.

Kristen and Dustin Yoder were two great young people that I grew up with, from kindergarten all the way through high school. They passed away very tragically in 2006, and their family is holding an event that is described in detail below. At the event there will be a raffle, and I have donated this piece of jewelry...

Please attend this wonderful event if you can, it is for a very good cause. Also, enter the raffle to help raise money! "The proceeds from this event will go to the Yoder Memorial Tanque Verde District scholarship fund. Dustin and Kristen Yoder were exemplary students in our school district and shared a passion for outdoor adventure. They grew up hiking and backpacking in the Southwest and spent much of their free time rock and ice climbing. Both attended Emily Gray Junior High, Sabino High School, and Northern Arizona University where they enthusiastically shared their experiences and outdoor adventures with people of all ages, leading wilderness trips, teaching outdoor skills, and educating about the environment. The brother and sister were skilled mountain climbers who traveled all over the world to do what they loved best. On June 27, 2006 Dustin and Kristen were killed in a tragic mountain climbing accident in Peru. The Yoder children's family and friends have established this foundation in their memory to provide financial assitance to children and young adults for outdoor leadership education focusing on developing life skills and leadership ability through outdoor activites.

WHAT IS ORIENTEERING?It is a type of competition at which participants use a map and compass to navigate their way on a set course from point to point as quickly as possible. In other words, it's like a timed "treasure hunt", lots of fun, and all are welcome. Please visit their website: http://www.yoderfoundation.org/

Philly: Here I come! SNAG!

Looks like I will be attending SNAG this year! It will be my first time at the conference and I am so excited! I applied for a travel grant through school and was awarded $818.00. With that travel grant and the money I earned from the sale in my etsy shop I have enough to go! YAY! Thanks for all your help.

Let me know if you are going to SNAG, I am so excited to meet everyone!

Heirlooms of the Future: SOFA NY

Just in case you are planning on attending SOFA NY this week, I will have some work exhibiting with Mobilia Gallery for their show, "Heirlooms of the Future."

Please be sure to stop by their booth (#411) and say hello for me!

All Done. Finally.

It was fun to make a piece of jewelry again....I've been working on wall pieces for so long now. I like how this piece turned out, but it doesn't work exactly like I thought it would in my mind. Next time I make something like this I will put it together a bit differently. Live and learn...and then move on!

sterling silver, 14K gold, pearls, embroidery, garnets

Guess What is Almost Done....!!!

Sooooooooooooooo close I can feel it:) Its a good feeling after working on something sooooooo long!!!

As soon as I finish I am cleaning the bench!!!

SALE for SNAG

www.asymmetry.etsy.com

This year I really want to go to the SNAG conference in Philadelphia. I looked at all the costs and figured it would cost me about $1200 to go. I don't have $1200 (or anything close to that!) I applied for a scholarship through school with hopes of getting partial funding, but I still need to come up with several hundred dollars on my own (if I even get the scholarship!).

This is where YOU come in.

I have just marked down EVERYTHING in my shop...some items as much as $75.00 off. I am having a BIG SALE in my etsy shop to try and earn money to go to SNAG! So, if you are in need of some new bling, want to buy gifts for friends, or just want to live vicariously through me and go to the SNAG conference, head on over to my etsy shop and help a girl out! I plan on adding new items all this month that will also be marked at a discounted rate. So, keep checking for new jewels! Woo Hoo!!

Lots of Firsts

Right now I am working on a necklace that is supposed to be going to SOFA NY. Seeing as SOFA is next week, I better get it DONE asap! I have been working my tail end off trying to get this thing done and it is just taking forever! This is probably the most substantial piece of jewelry I have ever made. I've already spent over $300 on materials, and many many hours working on it. I've had lots of problems in the process...some with design and some technical.

The original design (above) started looking way too much like a concho belt...so I had to change that in a hurry! The gallery that is taking it wanted it to look like these necklaces that I made a few months ago, but with the pendants as links all the way around. So, when it is done there will be a pearl in the center of each link and embroidery all the way around each of the scalloped ovals. I really hope it turns out how I picture it in my mind...

Also with this necklace I am having lots of firsts...

-First time ever using the micro torch.
-First time ever bezel setting stones this small (5x7mm).

-First time ever soldering anything this small!

-First time ever using links this big all the way around.

There are more firsts, but you get the idea.

Anyway, I'll post a picture of it when it is done, but for now, wish me luck so I can finish it fast!!

First Ever Vector!

Right now I am taking a 6 week class called, "Graphic Design for Art Marketing", taught by recent ASU Printmaking MFA grad, Melissa Mcgurgan. I took it to learn the basics of Illustrator, and WOW, I am so glad I did!!! I'm sure I will have more fun things to show you soon, but for now....this is my FIRST EVER vector drawing for a stencil. Im so excited (I know, its really basic but I have never done it before)!!! No more graph paper, eraser marks, slightly off drawings etc. Now my stencils can be perfect!! This stencil is a template for links in a necklace I am working on for SOFA NY. More on that coming soon (VERY VERY soon as I need to mail the work like...yesterday!):)

Embroidered Concrete

Just saw this on the CRAFT Blog. Amazing. I totally want some of these for my house!!!

A new project from Fashioning Technology called, "Girli Concrete is an R&D project for the Tactility Factory (a colloboration between Belford and Morrow) that fuses textiles with cement to create beautiful "soft" building surfaces. Traditional textile assembly techniques such as weaving and embroidery are used to create decorative textures on concrete panels."

So gorgeous!!!

Shadow Puppets

I've been playing a little more with the lazer engraver at school. Finished pieces coming soon...for now, these are just some little samples I've been playing around with. Wood blocks, 6"x6" painted in pink and engraved with old shadow puppet illustrations.

Block Works by Ellie Richards

My friend Ellie has her work in the Urban Outfitters Gallery on Mill Avenue in Tempe. Stop by and check it out!

Also, check out her blog and her etsy shop.

New Student Work

This semester I have a great new batch of metals 1 beginning students. Check out their first projects on my flickr.

Dynamical Balance: MFA Thesis Exhibition by Victoria Altepeter

My very good friend, Victoria Altepeter,will be opening her thesis show on Monday.

The show will run from March 23 - March 27.
The Opening Reception is Monday, March 23 from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. In the Harry Wood Art Gallery in The Katherine K Herberger School of Art, Art Building.

Click here for a Map.

If you are local you should definetly come, Victorias metalwork is AMAZING and it is going to be an awesome show!!!

And the Winner is...

The winners of the Nathan Cummings Travel Fellowship are...

1st Place to Natalia Jaeger who will travel to Spain to study cocao,

And 2nd Place to Zaz Zetterberg who will travel to India to study painting miniatures.

Congratulations to them! I can't wait to hear about their travels in the fall!