I finished one more piece for the show at Mobilia Gallery (read more here). They asked for 2-5 pieces and 2 is all I was able to get done. I am a little sad about that, but sometimes you just can't do everything. Here are some shots of the piece and the pair. I have to send them off tomorrow (the opening is on Saturday)! It's always hard to part with things...especially when they were so much work and are so new! I like to give myself time to warm up to the idea of my work leaving me...its just so much a part of myself. You invest so much time, work, and emotion into something, you can't help but get attached. Anyway, I hope they find good homes:)If you are in the Boston/Cambridge area you should drop by the opening on Saturday (or anytime) and let me know how the show looks! If I didn't have my 15 hour review coming up so soon I would totally be there!
About three weeks ago I was invited to participate in the upcoming Contemporary Visions in Metal exhibition at 
The art nouveau show "includes about 120 works by the leading designers and fabricators of late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century Art Nouveau jewelry. Although many of these artists acquired their skills in traditional, high-style jewelry houses, they found inspiration in the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, the philosophy of John Ruskin (1819–1900), the paintings and poetry of the symbolists, and the arts of Japan. For motifs, they looked to the flora (orchids, lilies) and fauna (dragonflies, butterflies) of the natural world and the sensuality of the female form. This new aesthetic was, in large measure, a reaction against nineteenth century historicism, industrialization, and the “tyranny of the diamond,” and these Art Nouveau artists chose to interpret nature rather than imitate it.
My friend Jason 
Here are the details:
Yesterday I alloyed and milled out my own metal for the first time. One of the luxuries of living in Phoenix is having a handful of local jewelry suppliers. If I ever need a shape or gauge of wire or sheet I 
Carbon coating the ingot mold, so the metal comes out more easily.
Melting the metal!!
Ouch, 
I made two small ingots for wire and a larger one for sheet.
Now that I have it made, I need to decide what to do with it. When I make something with it, I'll be sure to let you know.
This house reminds me of something that happened when my husband and I were dating. Seeing as we just recently had our 5 year anniversary, it seems fitting to tell the story. I'll give the condensed version. 
I think my favorite part about this piece is how the etched contour lines are reminicent of tree rings. It makes me feel like the passage of time is evident in the piece, which is important to me because it is about where I grew up, the place I spent my childhood, and all the memories associated with that time and place.
I am still working on my photography skills for these larger pieces. I am so used to taking pictures of much smaller work, so these wall pieces that I have been doing lately are giving me a good challenge. Unfortunately the colors of the heat patina aren't really done justice in the photos. I will have to work on that...
I wanted to make a map like this of my own home, or at least where I grew up, in Tucson, AZ. I found this topographical map of the area I grew up (I put a little "x" next to where my parents house is). This land is very familiar to me and is a place that I love.
I decided to make a copper wall piece inspired by this landscape that is so special to me. 
I started out by 
I then glued the map to my metal and drilled holes along all the contour lines so I could embroider them.
Then I removed the map, covered the metal with a resist, drew in the rest of the contour lines and acid etched the lines into the metal. This etching part was kind of scary because I had like 4 gallons of acid in this bath, precariously balancing on two magnetic agitators. Probably wasn't the smartest thing ever and would have been a disaster to clean. Luckily all went well.
