Trying to “catch up” a bit: the 2014 Western PA Metal Clay charm exchange

Now, the delay in posting this is not entirely my fault. OK, some of the delay is, just not all of it.

Most (but not all) years, members of the Western PA Metal Clay guild hold a holiday-season charm exchange. For some reason, it rarely gets agreed to very far in advance (which, of course, is why some years it just doesn’t happen…). In 2014, well into the fall, it was decided to not do it in December but, instead, skip that gathering (fair enough, it is a very busy time of year for everyone) and do the exchange in November. Aack!

One of the things with the last minute planning is that we do let people exchange IOUs. That is, if you want to participate, but can’t get charms made in time, you can exchange an IOU that you’ll deliver your charms by our next meeting. Me, I find November easily as frantic a time as December and, though I made several attempts to block out a chunk of time for charm-making, each block kept getting eaten up by something else for which there was no escape. But I do enjoy the exchanges, so I jumped at the chance to use the IOU option. We typically exchange three (3) charms according to some rule or other. In the past, for example, we’ve put all the charms in a stocking and drawn pieces at random. This time, we changed the plan and did direct back-and-forth exchanges.

The first photo shows the charms I received in the exchange. The bee in a circle, highlighted with gold colored guilder’s paste, was from Holly Dobkin. The puzzle piece, highlighted with Vintaj patina color, was from Debbie Rusonis. And the abstract circle, highlighted with a liver of sulphur (LOS) patina, was from Georgie Nix. I love the artistry of all three, in general, and was very happy to receive their 2014 ideas.

Now, I could have posted that much right away. But I decided I wanted to wait until I could post the pieces I offered in exchange. I started them in mid-December (after my last show of the season), but we didn’t have a meeting set for that month, so I let the final step slip into early January. Except, we cancelled the January meeting due to weather issues … and I didn’t want to post my pics until the recipients had their pieces in hand. Finally, we met (despite winter weather this time) in February. Yesterday afternoon. So, at last, here’s what I offered in return. They were made from Hadar’s Quick-fire bronze. (The photos were taken before I added oval bronze jump rings.)

Even though we typically exchange three charms, while I’m making mine I always add at least one and sometimes several more. This time, I tried to make five: three for the exchange, one for me to keep, and one extra for some time when having a little treat to offer would be useful. Except, somehow, I managed to crack one of the pieces while I was joining its two dried segments (I was so annoyed with myself: I even managed to crack both parts at once!) and it just did not seem worth the trouble to try to repair it. Instead, I reconstituted that clay and used it for something else later on.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I love to make reversible pieces, and I do that even for little charms. For these, one side simply displays a deeply-textured pattern. I ended up being very happy I’d waited until December to even start these, because that permitted me to use the charms as my very first attempt at a variation on the Chip Inlay Project for the Holidays posted by Hadar Jacobson on December 3rd! The final photos shows what I did on the “other” side of each charm: I made little cups that I could fill with something called “Painted Desert Sand” that I’d gotten a while back for a completely different reason. As my first attempt at this process, I’m definitely keeping the fourth charm, both as a reminder to myself and as a sample to use in discussions with other artists or students.

I hope my guild-mates will let me know how these seem to hold up. I believe they’ll be fine, and I’ll be happy to replace any that appear to have any problems, but I’d sure rather learn about that from a sympathetic fellow artist than a possibly irritated customer. I’ve since used the technique on a few other pieces I’m testing out myself. Basic images of those, if not more detailed reports, will appear here eventually. (For now, I will say only that there are both similarities and differences among various fillers and holding agents…) I’ll say more once I’m confident in what I’m talking about with these, not just displaying untested guesses.

For now, though, I just want to be sure folks know that making these sure is fun!

Where Oh Where Has Carol Been…?!!

Long-time readers of this blog will know that, if nothing else, I always post a New Years / Blog Anniversary message. The fact that I’ve not posted since before Christmas, without even I clue I was going off-line for a while should be a big clue that something or other had gone awry.

Well, while close friends know the details, I’m just not one to post all sorts of personal stuff everywhere online, but I will say this much: it wasn’t just one thing…. There was this, and that, and then this other thing, and then on top of all that…. No crisis, as such, just no time left for dabbling online. I’ve no clue if or when I’ll manage to catch up with posts, but I did have to take a moment now to share some news about one great recent treat: two of my pieces were accepted for the Isn’t It Romantic show sponsored by the Cranberry Artists Network (from Cranberry Township, which is north of Pittsburgh, PA).

I didn’t manage to make anything completely new for the event, but entrants were allowed to submit two pieces, and I had on hand two that fit the theme perfectly, so in those went!

There’s Love’s Garden in Pinks, a necklace with a fine silver (.999) focal bead and clasp, strung with some really luscious cloisonne, Swarovski crystal, and glass beads. The fine silver pieces are reversible. The bead has little pink CZs on each side. Its Love side (shown) has a heart-shaped texture, and the Garden side has an acanthus-design. Though I made it back in 2011, I’ve only risked putting it up for sale in one quick event because I kept debating with myself whether to sell it or keep this one for myself. But I’m finally ready to let it go, should someone else now want it, for themself or to give as a gift.

And there’s Friends & Lovers, a bracelet in bronze with glass beads, copper wire, and bronze jump rings. The bronze hearts all have a roses-and-swirls pattern, but I curved them so I could nestle little sweetheart-pink, blood-bond red, & romantic-rose colored beads in their hollows. The toggle clasp was made to match, with an arrow for the bar. I submitted this photo for an online challenge in February 2014, but I never really liked how the clasp worked, so I finally got around to remaking the bar at the end of last year (and just realized I don’t have a photo of that … sigh!). But the arrow-head and “feathers” are the same as shown here; the very subtle difference is that, instead of using a loop in the shaft to hold it together, the latest version has a straight shaft with a U-shaped wire embedded into it. Now that I’m satisfied with its design, I can put it out for consideration by others. As far as its title goes, I’ll share the little inside-joke about it: the snuggly-hearts were meant as signs of Love all along, but it’s one of the first pieces I made out of Hadar’s Friendly Bronze metal clay powder after she made it available. I just couldn’t resist the urge to tie the two together in the title.

The Isn’t It Romantic show opens tomorrow, February 4. I’ve seen a number of the other entries, and there’s a lot of really great work in this show. There’s an opening reception from 6 to 8 pm (with, I’m told, lots of wonderful sweet treats planned) and, weather permitting, I plan to attend that. If you’re in the area and would like to join me, it’ll be in the Cranberry Township Municipal Center, on Rochester Road just west of Route 19.