I knew it would work!

There is absolutely nothing special about the enamel work on this piece but it is a proof-of-concept for an idea I’ve had for ages:

• save a bit of left-over (negative space!) bronze metal clay from a piece cut with one of my Silhouette machines;
• fire that onto a piece of copper to sinter it; then
• enamel onto the copper around the bronze!

I figured it should work, and I’m happy to finally confirm for myself that it does.

So the big question now is: when can I find time to make another batch of bronze pieces so I’ll have more “scraps” to play with!

And I ask myself, what was I waiting for?!!  I’ve wanted to do this with bronze and copper since I first started using bronze clays! When did Hadar release her first “Quick Fire” bronze?  2010?  If that’s right, since then!  But I waited what seems forever before taking even the next step (though, to be fair, I was playing around with a lot of other ideas in the meantime).

I remember how it felt the obvious thing to do when cutting clays with one of my Silhouette cutters (in this case, my Portrait).  Though I’d had that thought for a while, I remember firing that particular “drop” of cut-out clay onto a copper oval during my initial trials of “one fire brilliant bronze.” (That was the last of Hadar’s “one fire” clays that I tried, and I struggled with it a bit through several rounds of testing … but it is now a favorite when I want to work in bronze!)  I came across the “blank” last week as I was firing a few steel pieces with enamel: it was the last piece I fired before cleaning everything up so I could use that work-table for an Open House this weekend.

Looking back for when I’d made this piece to test with, I realized that it had been sitting in a corner of my studio waiting for me to stop and enamel it for over 3 years!  At the time, I did make three more such “blanks” to play with, but now I know I’ll spend even more time designing pieces for additional possibilities from both their positive and negative space components…

O, yes, that’s why I waited! On top of that, even the test-piece shown here has a simple “separation enamel” flower on its other side!  Simple in case this side should have failed for some reason, but there because …. that’s just what I try to do!

And now I ask myself: why couldn’t I have just been satisfied with making pieces that are reversible?f  But I know the answer: while there’s a big part of me that really likes, and strives for relatively “simple” designs, there is another part that just has to add some little “twist” while I’m at it…

Are you drawn more to minimalist or complex designs? (Not just mine: anyone’s!?)  Leave a comment!

Doorways!

Several years ago, I made a small series of “doorway” pendants.  I have no clue why I don’t seem to have stopped to photograph and write about them:  I must have been busy with something else at the same time and devoted my social media time to that instead.

Digging back through photos now, the only one I can find is a rather blurry snapshot of the last one from that series.  But the funny thing is how that piece, Ancient Doorway, is the basis for this post!

Ancient Doorway had been bought by one of my regular customers.  She comes by at least once a year, usually with her mother and/or occasionally with a sister, often with children and/or spouses in tow too, and they entertain me for a while as they explore my offerings, provide interesting critiques, and debate which to buy for themselves or each other.  They are very enthusiastic, and thus a lot fun to have as  customers.  And I remember the time she bought that piece because, as she walked in the door her eyes landed on that one first and sparkled!  She headed straight to it, picked it up, turned it over, checked the price, set it back down, looked at several other pendants, came back to it and made a few comments, looked around some more, returned to it again and held it up in front of a mirror, looked at some earrings, and finally declared something to the effect that it was definitely her favorite of all the new pieces I had that day.

The funny thing about that is this: I knew from the moment she first headed for it that it was the last piece left from that older series, adapted from a project in one of Hadar Jacobson’s great books (and being the last one is probably why I got at least a quick shot of it). And she had to have been shopping at least two previous times when it was there.  So I stood there trying to remember if she’d expressed interest in it earlier, and didn’t think she had.  But she was definitely intrigued that day.  I was happy to have the sale, but I was also very happy that it made her happy even if that had taken a while.

Except when she came in earlier this summer, she was sad.  I could have a few of the details wrong here, but I remember her saying that she usually doesn’t take jewelry with her when she goes on vacation with her family, but she liked that one so much she wanted to have it with her when they took the kids to DisneyWorld.  She clearly remembered seeing it on the bathroom counter the last morning when she went to take a shower, but realized on the trip home that she wasn’t wearing it, and didn’t remember putting it back on as they rushed to get everyone out the door that morning.  As soon as possible, they called the hotel to ask if it had been found, and were told no.  She was disappointed in herself for having lost it: could I make another one?

Of course I said, “Of course.  Yes!”  I did add that I’d never be able to recreate it exactly, but was it OK if I  made something similar.  Sure.  I said that I was in the middle of some other projects, so it wouldn’t be right away.  Was that OK, or did she want it asap?  She said that as long as she knew it’d be coming, that was fine.  I said that what I’d do would be to make several, give her first choice, and then just put the rest up for sale to others.  She liked that idea.

Through the Arches || Into the Vault

So I started out by making two more, shown above.  With the old series I remember trying to make them two different ways, and I couldn’t remember which way I’d ended up preferring  So, for those first two, I made one each way:

• starting from the back and working towards the front, and
• starting at the front and working backwards.

The techniques to make it work are a bit different and, in some ways, I now think that “easiness” may be a toss-up.  It is far easier to control the design with the approach I used with the former (Through the Arches), but far easier to get great, smooth side-edges using the techniques I applied to the latter (Into the Vault).  So I guess I’ll just have to make a couple more!

Just as I finished those two, I looked at my calendar and realized that I needed several entries for two upcoming art shows, so each of the new doorways went to one of those!

• Through the Arches (left) will be on display (and available for purchase) at the North Hills Art Center in Ross Twp, PA, from September 8 through October 5, (along with a second piece, a quilt-design piece with a cubic zirconia).
• Into the Vault (right) will be on display (and available for purchase) at the Arts on the Riverwalk art competition, sponsored by the Hoyt Art Center at the Confluence Cafe in New Castle, PA, from September 8 through November 1 (along with a second piece, a shamrock design that incorporates dichroic glass).
  
  And I’m delighted to report that I just learned this great news:Into the Vault
  has earned a Merit Award … and was the only 3-D piece to win an award!

You may notice that both of those shows open on September 8. In order to get to both of them (and accept the award in New Castle), I’m moving my usually-Second and usually-Saturday Studio Session & Open House one week later, to September 15. I hope I’ll see some familiar faces at the shows this weekend, and in my studio next weekend … though of course I also look forward to meeting new folks too!