Recent Etsy Buys/Trades

I LOVE this Faux Moss Ring by AdornJewelry! I also love ALL of the wall pillow tiles by Stepanka! This little one looks adoreable in my bathroom! I also really want this one!
I had to get this Vampire Robot Pouch from one of my very favorite Etsy Sellers, AnatomyofaSkirt! I can use it to carry my stuff when I go see Twilight on NOVEMBER 21st! :)

(P.S. More about this later.)
I love EVERYTHING that this talented metalsmith, Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal makes! She is also a fellow member of EtsyMetal.When I saw this adoreable plush toy hammer by RipleyBean, I had to get it for my Metals Professor's newborn baby boy!
And, I just recently traded Time2Cre8 for TONS of lovely paper goods!

Go check them all out, they are ALL awesome Etsy Sellers!

Beauty in Destruction

Its funny...just yesterday in my printmaking class we had a great discussion about Beauty. Defining it, questioning it, trying to understand it. It was brought up that often beauty can be found in the midst of destruction. The storm I found so beautiful last night, turned out to actually be really devastating. When I was riding my bike to school today I got a glimpse of the power that storm unleashed on Tempe. I heard a count that over 200 mature trees on campus were ripped from the ground. Debris was everywhere, broken branches scattered, mud and standing water filled the sidewalks. Apparently there were 100 mph winds and tons of rain dropped in just a few hours time. One report said there were 1,500 lightning strikes in just one hour. ASU just recently finished building a new 8.4 million dollar indoor football practice bubble/dome. In the storm it collapsed and ended up blowing into Tempe Town Lake. Thousands of people are still without power. Cars were crushed, houses destroyed, windows blown out...so much destruction. This really is the worst storm I have ever experienced in the valley.

Electric

One thing that I really love about Arizona is the summertime lightning displays (and the storms that come along with). Beautiful. Truly.

Last night we had an awesome storm. Luckily the lightning came several minutes before the rain, so I got to try taking pictures of lightning (something I've always wanted to do) without getting soaked!

In the Newspaper

I made it into Arizona State University's daily newspaper today! The article in the State Press is called, "Shoppers at Tempe Marketplace Stopping for ASU Art". It was written about the Night Gallery. Read the article here.

Navigazione Gallery

Through a really weird and coincidental sequence of events (and maybe a bit of the stars aligning in just the right way) I met a really nice lady on Etsy who wanted to trade with me, and just happens to live in Wisconsin. She just happened to be going to Lake Geneva for the weekend, and that just happens to be where the gallery that carries my work is, so I asked her to take some pictures for me. I am not sure if I will ever get the chance to go and I've always wanted to see it. She was super nice and agreed to take some pictures of the gallery for me! And, to top it all off, when she asked the permission of the gallery owner to take pictures, they got to talking, and now the gallery is going to carry her work as well! Sometimes things work out eerily well, dont you think? Anyway, here are some images of the gallery.

Thanks time2cre8!

1950something...

I've been scanning in old family photos to possibly use in my platter pieces. These are of my dad and his brothers in the late 1950's and early 1960's. My favorite is the one in the car. I will probably start a piece with this photo this week.

The First Day of School

School started today. I realized at about 10 pm last night that I had not yet reserved a projector for my lecture or made copies of my syllabus and handouts for my beginning metals class. What was I thinking?! The first day is CRAZY. Everyone needs copies made, everyone needs a projector! So, I worried myself into a frenzy and kept myself occupied by re-writing my syllabus and first project handout about 8 billion times. I finally went to bed at 2:30 am. I woke up this morning at 6:00 am so I could get to school early enough to get all the things done that I should have done last week. Everything was fine and I was all ready for class at about 8:30. My class started at 10:40. As usual I stressed and caused myself a migraine for NO reason. I swear sometimes I am just too high strung!

On a good note though, this morning when I got to the studio in my crazed worried frenzy, there was a six pack of Dr. Pepper waiting for me in front of the studio doors with a little note wishing me a good semester. Aww. A friend brought me some Original Recipe Dr Pepper! I can't wait to taste it! That put a big smile on my face. I'm a big fan...of Dr. Pepper, I love it! It really made my day!

So, the first day went ok. It even ended in a nice little drizzle which cooled things off a lot. I think we are running about 108 degrees all week. That is hot!

On the schedule tomorrow:

Intaglio

History of the Decorative Arts in Interiors

Black River

My crazy nephew, Ted Standage, just wrote a book (crazy becuse he likes to camp and fish where there are lots of bears)! Its called, The Lower Black River: An Outdoor Guide. You can buy it here. Check out his website http://www.blackriveraz.com/ .

If you like to camp, fish, hike and other such outdoorsy things (and live near or in AZ) you should definetly take a look, its a beautiful place!

Congrats Ted! I'm proud of you! But I still think you are crazy.

Holy Smokes!

My embroidered necklace in warm tones has been on the front page of etsy twice in two days. Holy smokes!

Thank you Etsy!

Slipping Away

I finished this piece today. Its a two part wall piece made of altered silver platters and embroidery. I really need to learn how to take photos of wall pieces. My pictures are terrible but I don't know how to do it! Help anyone? Its really annoying because the platters have a mirror like polish, and everything reflects in them!

Anyway, I am happy with how the piece turned out. Its very technically simple, but I think it really has a lot to say to the viewer. What do you see in it?

All good things come in threes...

Three more sewn necklaces in the shop.

Get them while you can, the one I listed yesterday sold in just a few hours (of course...maybe that was just good luck...)!

Looming

School starts back up on Monday. As I was riding my bike to the studio today, I realized just how soon that is.

On my plate this semester:

Teaching Metalworking 1

Classes I am taking:

Metalworking, Intaglio, and History of the Decorative Arts in Interiors (which I am REALLY excited about!)

I also have my 15 hour review in October, which means I am reviewed by a committee of art faculty and depending on if I pass, I will then begin working towards my thesis show.

Its going to be a busy semester!

A Visit from the Ghost of Jewelry Past

I used to make these necklaces for jewelry sales when I was in undergrad. They were designed after I made this piece for my BFA show. I ran into a girl today that had bought one from me a couple of years back and it made me want to make more. I made this one today and listed it in my shop. I have 3 more in the works and will probably list them tomorrow! They are sterling silver and embroidery thread.

Arrowmont in Trouble

Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is in danger of loosing its land. If you care about the arts and crafts community and education, please read this post! Even if you have never been to Arrowmont, you should understand the importance of preserving an institution that promotes education in the art and craft field.

The Pi Beta Phi fraternity is currently in negotiations with developers to sell the property that Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts resides on. This will have an incredible impact on the school. The property and many of the buildings are not owned by Arrowmont but rather leased to them by the fraternity.There is talk of the developers wanting to use the property to build new condos and an indoor water park.

Please check the following link to see the fraternity's statement.

http://www.pibetaphi.org/pibetaphi/

Arrowmont posted an official statement on their website today as well. http://www.arrowmont.org/arrowmontnews.html

If you want to help save Arrowmont, you can sign a petition that states the following...

"The Pi Beta Phi Fraternity, specifically the seven person Grand Council, has started negotiations to sell and develop the property they have owned and used for education since 1912 and has been home to the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts since 1968. According to Emily Tarr, Grand president of the fraternity, "this development is another opportunity to benefit the community." Mrs Tarr is completely wrong. The development of the Arrowmont property will do nothing to benefit Gatlinburg. Building more tourist traps of excess consumption and greed is of no advantage to the community. Please sign this petition to send a message to Mrs. Tarr and the other members of the Pi Phi Grand Council that you do not support this development and you want to save Arrowmont!"

SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

Thrifty Finds

My absolute favorite thing to do when we go to the cabin in Pine is hit some of the antique and thrift shops. I always find something good! This time there was TONS of good stuff, most of it I couldn't afford, but here is what made it home with me. Don't you just love that adorable apron? Also got these chunky seed bead necklaces for nearly nothing. They are awesome!

I am a sucker for handmade doilies.I found a platter that matches one I have already collected, so now I have 2. Maybe I will make a diptych! It came with a spoon...not sure what I will use that for, but I am sure I can think of something!And my favorite purchase this weekend? An old brownie camera. They were practically giving it away. I don't know how to use it or if this one will even work, but it was worth a try, I have always wanted to take pictures with one. It looks pretty dirty on the inside, but I am hoping thats all thats wrong with it.

So, now I have some new things to play with. Hopefully I will have some new work to show you soon.

Last Weekend Trip

This weekend I took what may be my last weekend trip for a few months. School starts next week, which pretty much guarantees the end of all recreational activities. Anyway, we had a family reunion up at the family cabin in Pine, Arizona. It was really fun to spend the weekend with almost the whole family, especially all of our neices and nephews (we have 22)! All the wild blackberries were ripe, so my nieces and I picked loads of them and made fresh dutch oven blackberry cobbler. It was AMAZING! We also made apple and peach cobbler, but the blackberry was the most delicious and the first to get all gobbled up. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it all cooked, but by the time it was done it was way too dark outside!

We did lots of fun things, but one of the all time favorite cabin past times is painting rocks for the rock garden.

This was my artistic endeavor for the weekend, and my addition to the garden. Do you think I can include that in my portfolio?:) In case you can't tell, its a sumo wrestler. They make me laugh.

Oh, and we did a little antique shopping and I found some great things which I will post soon!