Life in Metal

And we're off!

2010-06-21T11:33:00.006-07:00

Well, I have been hard at work on starting that line of jewelry. Rings and pendants mostly, but maybe some earrings too. We shall see...

So, here is some stuff happening:

I've been trying to work on several things at once so I don't find myself wasting any time waiting for things to pickle or whatnot. It's been working out quite well. I've found myself to be quite the little multi-tasker :)

It took me a while to decide what the bails should look like. I would lay down to go to bed and not be able to sleep because I kept thinking of how to twist the wires or how everything would be held together. I couldn't sleep until I thought of some kind of solution. I think it turned out well though. This was the second one I finished:

It took much less time than the first one. It's a garnet set into an antique button. Many thanks are due here to Aunt Laura and Dave for letting me rummage through their jars of nifty old buttons.

So, the first pendant I made has been in process for months. I started on it sort of aimlessly hoping that I'd figure out what exactly I was doing somewhere along the way, and this is what I ended up with:

Another antique button with an olive colored star sapphire. I really like the way it turned out, especially the bail. Here is a view of the back:

I added a little piece of mokume just to keep it interesting.

And here's another picture of the two of them:

So, I really like the way they turned out. I ran into new challenges, and learned quite a bit in the process. Anyway, I guess these two are like the mom and dad of the collection to come. I'll keep working at it and post more when the babies are born :)

2010-05-26T21:23:00.003-07:00

Well, I have finally begun a line of jewelry that I plan to open an Etsy page with. I will update you on the progress and post a link when it is up and running. Lately, I have just been working at the Coyote Den Team shop and trying to get a decent job in the mean-time. Money is tight these days, but I think investing in the materials to make my jewelry will be well worth it.

In other metal related news, James is fixing up his bike, and by fixing I mean spending a crap-load of money on parts to make it really really fast. So, unfortunately, I won't be able to ride it anymore. Figures... He gets me hooked on riding on a motorcycle and then snatches it away. It looks as if I will have to get my own. You know, whenever I have a few extra thousand dollars lying around :) I do have what bike I would like picked out and that is....

Ideally one exactly like this. I want a 2003 R6 and I want it to be white. Nice and simple. Anyway, here's hoping I get a fabulous job soon and can buy it ASAP! I will post pictures of the jewelry soon.

2009-11-13T01:10:00.005-07:00

Wellp. No new metalwork to speak of from me. Been super busy getting ready for my cousin's wedding at our house. Now that it's over, I should have more time to create! I definitely have a lot of ideas. I now keep a pad and paper by the bed since I dream about making new and interesting pieces. I can wake up and sketch them! It's pretty neat, and a little weird, but I'll take ideas any way they'll find me.

In other news, I am now the Vice President of the ADC. Yay! We shall see how many terms I have gotten myself into ;)

Well, I'll get back soon so I can post something more interesting. Meanwhile, look at these pictures. The first was taken on September 30th, the second on October 20th. Isn't it crazy? I've only gotten two yolks in one egg three times in my life and two of those three were within a few weeks of each other. Good luck I guess!

Okay

2009-09-27T19:46:00.005-07:00

So, I haven't posted anything in a long looonngg time. So, news. I made a new piece. A sculpture called "Core." Pictured here:

I also had two pieces accepted into the ADC Craftsmanship show, pictured here:

And as of yesterday, I'm now the Vice President of the Arizona Designer Craftsmen! Woohoo! Shall be a little bit of work, but it's worth staying involved. I am also trying to decide which pieces to submit to the new Lark book 500 Silver designs. So.

I'm also in the beginning stages of creating a line of jewelry to open up an etsy store with. So, wish me luck!!

Neglected

2008-07-09T19:52:00.006-07:00

It is true, I have seriously neglected my blogger. I have been working A LOT. And not really making a lot of things. I have made a few things though. Like...

This Ring

When my lovely friend Lyndsey had her braces removed...

I made her a ring with them!

I also made a pendant as a demo for the Jewelry 1 class I teach.

Obviously I haven't quite taken the best images yet.

But I did get a new camera that's super fun!

Oh, and check out this car I saw the other day.

Super sweet.

So, I will post more things soon, I promise. You can see how my brain is sort of jumping around right now, but at least I got something up right?!

The new group

2008-04-06T09:07:00.004-07:00

So I met up with Becky over spring break and took some more pictures of my work. You probably saw the belt buckles, but I thought I'd post whatever I haven't so far, so here goes...

So I'm starting out with a couple of things you've already seen, but they are new images. I wanted to get a really good picture of the new clasp on this guy.

Here's a full view of "Nature: Contained, Refined"

And here's the closeup.

This piece is called "Cityscapes, Landscapes"

I found it hard to get an image I really liked, but Becky was right when she told me the images looked great, it was probably just that I hate the piece.

So these are the brooches off of the stand.

And this is a ring I made a long time ago, but just hadn't taken an image of. I wear it all the time. It's my favorite wearable piece :)

Right Now

2008-04-02T09:52:00.004-07:00

I'm excitedly awaiting the answer of whether I got this job or not. It's opening, setting up and running an art studio for people with disabilities. I had my second interview on Monday where they told me it was between me and one other candidate. Interestingly enough, this other candidate is a female fine arts student who attends ASU and will graduate this semester. I probably know this person. Yikes. I hope they like me better. Sorry fellow Fine Art Sun Devil, I hope you do not get this job. I mean you probably don't have the teaching experience that I do now right? You haven't even graduated yet! But maybe you do... Well... I'll let you know people. They said they would call today, so we'll see what happens.

Update: 8:36 AM April 3rd
I broke down at about 4:00 yesterday and called them to politely ask if they had made their decision. He said no, but they would be meeting this morning and should let me know today by noon. Keep your fingers crossed.

Update: OnApril 3rd at 12:30PM I was offered the job! Yaaaayyyyy!!! Of course I took it. I'm employed people!

Yuma Symposium 29

2008-03-17T15:04:00.009-07:00

So, yes. I am finally posting about Yuma a month after the fact! Yuma was great, as usual. Fun people, fun times, and here are some of the pictures. If you don't know about the Yuma symposium, it happens every February. It's a three day event with a pin swap, lots of artist lectures, slide shows and demonstrations. There's also a student show, a pin auction, a show for presenters, a relay race called the saw, file solder sprints and a nice dinner the last night. Plus, there's lots of alcohol and junk food. This is really just a small percentage of the pictures I took. I tried to pick the ones that show the whole experience without making anyone look silly, myself included. (Remember how I said there was alcohol involved?) Anyway, without further delay...

This was on the drive over. Don't worry, I'm holding the wheel with my other hand :)

The famous Yuma pin swap. Yep, I got a few!

Victoria, Lynette and Ellie at the pin swap.

Flavia at the pin swap putting ketchup on each individual fry.

Ok, I just love this picture of Ellie, Lynette and Vic. They didn't even plan it!

Lynette, Vic, Jim, Jonathan and Ellie in the hotel room.

The campfire.

Aw, Lynette and Ellie are cute!

I wish I knew what was so funny. Vic looked cute in this picture, so I couldn't resist.

The next morning (too early) we went to see David Clemons give a talk and demo. Very interesting guy with very intriguing work.

At Diane Falkenhagen's demo. Her work is really beautiful. Look at her website: http://www.dianefalkenhagen.com/

I liked the fountain...

It was mesmerizing.

These are the lights in the theatre where I went to see Robin McClosky and Margorie Schick (http://www.pittstate.edu/art/marjo.html)

So, this is Lute's Casino, the restaurant we tend to gather at. It's also where the pin swap takes place. I recommend that you order the especial or the Cesar salad. Both good.

Ah, so here we are at the saw, file, solder sprints. Jonathan is sawing.

Lynette is filing and probably also yelling back at the people who are probably shouting things at her. It's a noisy affair, lots of cheering, lots of well... anti-cheering.

And Vic is soldering. Those torches suck, by the way.

Jacie did the sawing for our team. What a trooper!

Flavia, who got a new nick name (Flavo-flave) did the filing.

And I did the soldering.

This little guy became the unofficial Yuma Symposium dog. I guess he was wandering the streets of Yuma was adopted by some of the symposium attendees.

Walking back to the hotel just before dinner.

The sun sets on the final day of the symposium.

So I headed home that night. It turns out I drove through Gila Bend that night at the exact time a murderer was on the loose. He carjacked some poor man around that time too. Glad I didn't stop to pee! So you can probably see that Yuma was a blast. I really can't wait until next year, but I think maybe we'd all like a little more space in the hotel room next year. Maybe we'll get two. Two fits seven better than one does :)

Workspace

2008-03-14T21:29:00.005-07:00

Each person's workspace is a very personal and important part of making artwork, whatever the medium. I know that at ASU, each of us had "our" desk that we always worked at and we rarely (if ever) and very reluctantly worked anywhere else. Personally, I would not work anywhere else. I've known people to kick lower level students out of "their" desk, but I could never do it. I'd make a pathetic effort at working somewhere else, decide that I had other homework to do and then leave. There's just something about one's workspace that is so personal and truly vital to actually producing artwork. You get to know your torch, your workbench, your flex shaft, your drawers, the perfect chair to go with it all...

That being said, I still have to get used to my space here at home. I got a beautiful new workbench with all of the drawers and compartments I could ever want. It's got lots of space, and I finally have most of the tools that I need, including a new flex shaft that, I must admit, still feels quite funny to me. I still need a good torch set up and a good stool/chair. The one I'm using is just too high and it hurts my back. But anyway, we make do don't we?

I thought I'd share a couple pictures of my workspace and workbench:

So, all of those drawers are full. Not full to the brim or anything, but there's stuff in every one of 'em and all of it is lined up and evenly spaced, like the OCD freak I can sometimes be.

But really, I think you can tell a lot about a person by his/her bench and workspace. This whole thing was really sparked by a picture that Tedd had on his blog of part of his workspace. When I thought about it I realized how difficult it would be for me to work in a space like his and likewise that he probably wouldn't want to work in a space like mine.

I know you might look at my pictures and say, "Yeah right Lauren. I'm so sure that your bench really looks like that. All neat and clean, sure..." But seriously, it does. I'm obsessive about it. When I'm actually sitting there working, of course it gets a little cluttered, but I clean it up continuously. Otherwise, I can't find things that are right in front of my face. And when I'm done, yes, this is exactly how my bench looks. I put everything back in its proper place, my current projects go in the cart on the right, I wipe everything down, I oil my steel tools, I clean the pickle pot, I change the quench water, I unplug everything, etc. You get the idea. Obsessive.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my workspace with you and my thoughts on how important that space is. I really find it fascinating. It's like Paho's photos of people's medicine cabinets and junk drawers. By the way, my medicine cabinet is exactly the same as the workbench. Every bottle, tube and container goes in one specific spot, faces one specific direction and has a perfect little zone of free space around it. Weird, I know, but that's me I guess.

So what about you? How do you like your workspace? What does it say about you? Do you find some sort of relationship between how you use/organize your space and what your work looks like or represents?

Let me know, because I really am interested.

So, that's all for tonight then.

Have a good one!

Also, I got a couple of jobs (yay)! And still need another (yikes)!

So come visit me at the Coyotes team shop or come take a class with me at the Tempe Center! Woohoo!

Belt Buckles

2008-03-07T13:54:00.005-07:00

The more I make, the more I want to make!
Here are two of my most recent pieces, my first and second belt buckles:

This buckle was made for Tedd McDonah's patterned metals class. It is about 2" x 3" and contains forge welded steel. The back plate is nickel and the wire between the steel is sterling.

This buckle was made for the Andy Cooperman workshop. I used some sheet bronze that he provided and some Mokume Gane material that I had made in Tedd's class. I actually really like the way this one turned out!

The Andy Cooperman workshop was really fun. He taught us a lot of handy tricks and he's quite an entertaining guy, too. I'm glad I went!

If you are interested in seeing more forge welded steel and damascus, I like this site:

http://www.crandart.co.uk/index.htm

If you want to see more examples of Mokume Gane, I like this site:

http://www.shiningwave.com/index.html

They have some pretty cool patterns on that site. Of course you could just Google the terms and come up with these sites and a few others.

Well, until next time, Enjoy!

Post Edited on 3/14/08 (better pictures (Thanks Becky!))

A story about a jar.

2008-03-06T17:39:00.008-07:00

Last week, my dad told me that we might take a fishing trip, my first in years. I decided to go through my very old collection of fishing whatnot to see what I still had laying around. I had a three and a half foot fishing pole and a snoopy tackle box. Here's the tackle box:

I opened the tackle box...

This is what I found at the bottom of the tackle box...

So, there were these eggs in there. I figure they had to be about...

Oh, about 12 years old. Give or take...

The last time I saw these eggs, they were fluorescent red.

Not so anymore...

Notice the quote on the side of the lid.

"Soft but satisfying"

I thought to myself what a nice little jar it was and how useful it would be to hold small metal objects. But, you may think, is it worth it?

Of course :)

So. I readied myself for the opening of the jar...

Wait...

Ok, now I'm ready.

Ew.

It turns out that they had solidified into an egg brick sort of thing, and didn't end up smelling that bad. At least from a distance.

I had to do some prying, but...

They came out!

Egg brick!

Now, time to attend to that jar!

It kills the Flu! And hopefully whatever was growing in there for the past dozen years.

Now, Clorox is wonderful, but I think it smells worse that 12 year old rotten, solidified, salmon egg brick. So, we'll let it hang out and do it's thing in the sink for a while.

Et Voila!

A nice pretty, clean, handy, little jar for me to use. I'll collect pennies in there for next year's Yuma pin swap. (The penny pins were a hit!)

So, we didn't end up going fishing :(

We didn't have the money to buy new fishing stuff because of the three flat tires we got on two of the cars this week. Yeah, I know, right?

On another note, Yuma was a blast. I still have to go through all the pictures, edit, then post them. Stay tuned, they'll be up soon enough.

Also, I'll be posting a couple of pictures of belt buckles I made. Those will probably be up before the Yuma ones.

So. Hope you all enjoyed my jar story :)

Look what I got!

2008-02-14T08:37:00.004-07:00

New Tools!!!

My what beautiful daps!

Wow! What fantastic disc cutters!

And I've already started to break them in. I'm making some Yuma pins that involve doming out pennies. Pennies 1984 and earlier are made of copper and after that point in time they were made mostly of Zinc. I learned this fact from the ever wise Becky McDonah. Or maybe she said 1982. I don't remember, I just know that I found out very quickly while annealing my carefully sorted pennies that some of them were not copper.

I'll go ahead and show you what that particular situation looks like:

Here's a website that gives you very specific information on penny composition:

http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/tsullivl/commoncents/PennyComposition.htm

Note: You should be prepared for this situation and wear a respirator. While nothing will probably happen to you becuase you aren't casting brass, I say better to err on the safe side and avoid possibly breathing zinc oxide fumes which can cause neurological damage.

I found a site that claims it's perfectly safe to melt zinc here:

http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/ZincSafety.html

However, we can never be entirely sure that he hasn't already sustained brain damage. Even the chemistry dude told him he was stupid.

Oh well, I say be well informed and make your own educated decisions, but I wear a mask.

Do you have blue eyes?

2008-01-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

I do! Kind of...

I found this article on MSN:

Here's what made those brown eyes blue
Scientists find that blue-eyed individuals have a single, common ancestor
By Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience
updated 12:01 p.m. MT, Thurs., Jan. 31, 2008

People with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor, according to new research
A team of scientists has tracked down a genetic mutation that leads to blue eyes. The mutation occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, so before then, there were no blue eyes.
"Originally, we all had brown eyes," said Hans Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Copenhagen.
The mutation affected the so-called OCA2 gene, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives color to our hair, eyes and skin.
"A genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a 'switch,' which literally 'turned off' the ability to produce brown eyes," Eiberg said.
The genetic switch is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 and rather than completely turning off the gene, the switch limits its action, which reduces the production of melanin in the iris. In effect, the turned-down switch diluted brown eyes to blue.
If the OCA2 gene had been completely shut down, our hair, eyes and skin would be melanin-less, a condition known as albinism.
"It's exactly what I sort of expected to see from what we know about selection around this area," said John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, referring to the study results regarding the OCA2 gene. Hawks was not involved in the current study.
Baby bluesEiberg and his team examined DNA from mitochondria, the cells' energy-making structures, of blue-eyed individuals in countries including Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. This genetic material comes from females, so it can trace maternal lineages.
They specifically looked at sequences of DNA on the OCA2 gene and the genetic mutation associated with turning down melanin production.
Over the course of several generations, segments of ancestral DNA get shuffled so that individuals have varying sequences. Some of these segments, however, that haven't been reshuffled are called haplotypes. If a group of individuals shares long haplotypes, that means the sequence arose relatively recently in our human ancestors. The DNA sequence didn't have enough time to get mixed up.
"What they were able to show is that the people who have blue eyes in Denmark, as far as Jordan, these people all have this same haplotype, they all have exactly the same gene changes that are all linked to this one mutation that makes eyes blue," Hawks said in a telephone interview.
Melanin switch The mutation is what regulates the OCA2 switch for melanin production. And depending on the amount of melanin in the iris, a person can end up with eye color ranging from brown to green. Brown-eyed individuals have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production. But they found that blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes.
"Out of 800 persons we have only found one person which didn't fit — but his eye color was blue with a single brown spot," Eiberg told LiveScience, referring to the finding that blue-eyed individuals all had the same sequence of DNA linked with melanin production.
"From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor," Eiberg said. "They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA." Eiberg and his colleagues detailed their study in the Jan. 3 online edition of the journal Human Genetics.
That genetic switch somehow spread throughout Europe and now other parts of the world.
"The question really is, 'Why did we go from having nobody on Earth with blue eyes 10,000 years ago to having 20 or 40 percent of Europeans having blue eyes now?" Hawks said. "This gene does something good for people. It makes them have more kids."

I dug up this picture...

2008-01-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Proof that from an early age, I was destined for a career in metalsmithing...

Portfolio

2008-01-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

These images are organized in roughly the same order that I made them. The most recent are at the top. The work spans over about two years, and is by no means a complete collection. I still need to finsih photographing my work, so when I do, I'll post more images. I'm only really beginning to develop a distinct style as seen mostly in the top two images. You'll be able to see more of that, and my artist statement about this style when I get the other pictures up.

So, for now... Enjoy

Nature: Contained, Refined Sterling, Copper, Nickel; Fabricated, Cast, Mokume Gane

Victims of Pesticide, A Menagerie

Brass, Bronze, Insects; Cast, Fabricated

The Bleeding Eye PincushionSterling, Copper, 24k Gold, Velvet, Pins; Keum Boo, Fabricated

Globe Trekkers

Globe Trekkers detail Sterling, Brass; Reticulation, hollowform, handmade chain

Note: The clasp has changed, as can be seen in this picture:

Wearing AddictionWearing Addiction Detail
Sterling, Copper, Brass, Xanax; Fabricated, hollowform

Note: The pill has been changed and an element added to the end of the chain, as can be seen in this photo:Etching on the back reads: "Xanax (Alprazolam) 1mg Take with a full glass of water at the onset of anxiety"

The Mask of the Red DeathCopper, Brass, Stained Glass, Wine stained paper

Night Terrors, CuffSterling, Copper; Fabricated, Chasing, Repoussé

Maya Pyramid RingSterling, Blue Sapphire, Green Tourmaline; Cast

Brooches: Monster SeriesSterling; Fabricated, Chasing, Repoussé

Woven Ring with ButtonsSterling; Fabricated, Cast

Cigarette Butt Necklace
DetailSterling; Cast, Forged

First Post

2008-01-26T23:08:00.000-07:00

It's late and I'm tired, but I want to get this thing up and running, so here are a few pictures!

This is me with a necklace I made at my Senior Exhibition.

This is me getting ready to graduate!

This is a pumpkin I carved with ball bearing eyes.

And this was Thanksgiving dinner... Oh no! I forgot the roll!