This Weekend: Open House and More in Regent Square

Spring is trying to spring and, once again, this Saturday is the annual community-wide Yard Sale organized by the Regent Square Civic Association.

Because there will be all sorts of folks wandering around the neighborhood that day, it’s also the first day of the Wilkins School Community Center’s Spring fundraiser, the Plant, Herb and Used Book Sale, from 8 am to 3 pm. There are tons of books available for $1 each (including lots of children’s- and cook-books) but, if you want any of their plants, it’s usually wise to arrive early.

And, because there will be all sorts of folks wandering around WSCC, at the same time as the Plant & Used Book Sale I’ll hold an Open House in my studio too. If you haven’t been there before, come upstairs and find me in Room #25!

The yard sales start early; the Herb, Plant, and Used Book Sale is advertized in different places at starting at either 8 or 9 am; but I have had a verrry long week, and I’m not promising to get over to Regent Square before 9 am. And, since everything will be in full swing by then, I can’t be sure just when or where I’ll be able to park, so I can’t even promise to have the doors open exactly at 9. I’ve been telling folks that on Saturday my show will start around 9 am, and run until 3 pm.

I’ll have my usual Art Jewelry selections and a small number of Aloe Vera plants for sale too. I see those as consistent with my art because a bit of goo from their leaves is great to put on burns … as in those (hopefully little) mistakes with torch or kiln!

Then, on Sunday from 12 – 3 pm, WSCC will continue their Book Sale: a whole bag for just $5! I have to miss most of that (the very long week continues…), but I should get there a little after 2 pm and plan to stay at least until 5 pm, maybe even until 7 pm. If you can’t get to Regent Square on Saturday, you’d be welcome to stop by on Sunday instead. I led a workshop on Wednesday (another really great evening at The Artsmiths of Pittsburgh!) and will spend time on Saturday making sample pieces for a June workshop there, so my plan is to run the kiln this Sunday. Firing and cooling of students’ pieces and my samples will take until around 5 pm and, if I think I can hold on until 7, I will also tumble-polish them then. (I really hope I can finish both those tasks on Sunday!) I have to be there while all of that happens, but I can do other things, so that’s when I’ll pack up my display materials, and put the majority of my pieces back into their storage bins. But it’d be great to have company, even folks just stopping by to say “Hi!” while I do that. And if you want to shop, you’d be welcome to dig around in my storage bins while they’re all there on Sunday. (Not as nice as when they’re on displays, but they stay clean and safe if I stash most of them and just rotate a few on display while I work…)

And here’s a final note about the aloes especially for my blog-readers: I keep a few because I like having them. They make babies. I drive to stores, buy nice terra cotta pots and potting soil marketed for succulents, and try to recover the costs of my own activities by selling the potted offshoots. But I’m not trying to make money on the plants themselves: I can’t bear to just throw them into the compost bin (and I refuse to put them into trash!); the extras don’t get quite enough light and nowhere near enough winter warmth off to the side im my studio; and I just want them to go to good homes! For years I grew them just fine in whatever plastic pot and soil I had on hand. Soooo, if you want to bring a medium-size pot with some soil in it, I’ll be happy to let you repot one of my aloes into your container for free! (And that’s the case year-round, not just this weekend, as long as I have aloe-offshoots in my studio…)

May 12, 18, and 21: More Workshops at Artsmiths!

Happy Mothers Day weekend, everyone!

As I said in my last post in April, I sure had a great time teaching at The Artsmiths of Pittsburgh last month, and I’m thrilled to have been invited back to offer more courses there this May! Here are the three that are on the calendar for this month. Clicking on each course title should take you to a page where you can read a bit more about the projects and, if you want, actually register for the various sessions.

• Earring Extravaganza: An Introduction to Fine Silver Metal Clay! on Thursday, May 12, from 6 to 9 pm
  

  This will be the simplest, most fun, yet easy-going introduction to metal clay that’s possible! In three hours, each participant will create lovely, unique, art jewelry: fine silver (.999) earrings!

  There will be lots of options for texture, shape, and small embellishments, so everyone will come out with their own unique pieces. And, we’ll texture both sides, so each pair will be reversible!

  There will definitely be enough time and materials for each participant to make (at least!) two pairs of earrings … but, remember, since they’ll be reversible, it’ll almost be like getting four pairs from just this one class!

• Reversible Hollow Silver Art Jewelry Pendant, on Wednesday, May 18, from 1 to 5:30 pm
  

  The very first piece I ever made using metal clay was one of these “lentil shape” beads, and it can be the first one you make too, if you want.

  Then again, even if you’ve been working with the stuff for a while, this project involves a few special techniques that are also applicable for a range of more “advanced” projects … which makes this a special (and easy) project on which to learn and begin practicing them.

  I find that lentil-beads always seem to be such fun to make: join us, if you can, and see for yourself!

• Reversible Woven-Silver Art Jewelry Pendant (or Earrings), on Saturday, May 21, from 1 to 5:30 pm
  

  There’s a long story here, not worth going into but, although I’d hoped to offer this class last month, several situations conspired to prevent that. So we simply rescheduled this one for May! I hope that those who had signed up for April will be able to come to this one; plus, there were a few seats still open in that session so there should still be room for some new-comers!

  There are lots of things I love about this woven-silver project. The one I’ll mention here is that this is a great session for people who like to make and / or wear silver pieces that are big! At times, the sheer cost of the materials can seem somewhat intimidating but, because these designs have so much open space, they require far less material. Relative to many other designs or approaches, you can stay small, and keep your material costs down, or go big, and not have those costs skyrocket. Your choice!

As I said last month, there’s no significance to the specifics of dates and times. That is, if you want to take a workshop and those date/time combos don’t work for you right now, please let me (or Artsmiths) know! All of us are trying out different combinations to figure out what will work for folks who are interested in the classes. As long as we know there’s interest, we can work out other day/time combos for future months, either repeating these topics or adding new projects to the offerings. And I’m willing to offer any of them as small (private or semi-private lessons) or group sessions (if enough people express interest) in my Regent Square studio as well as at The Artsmiths of Pittsburgh.

Personally, I think that all of these are lots of fun to make!