Custom order

I have been rather busy lately with a logo design for a website - not work I usually do, and with a custom order of the bee hearts I made. The bee hearts all have wording on them, and a different name on each one, so each had to be made individually - no mass production here! The bead on the ribbon has my 'makers mark' on it. This is the mark I put on all my work, it's a 'J' and a 'D' for my name.

They are made of poly-clay,which I am still really enjoying working with, and painted with acrylics, which seem to stick just fine, which is nice after the difficulties I had with the resin. You may be seeing more of the poly-clay, it's so fun to work with, and so 'do-able' on the dining room table when baby naps, or I have a moment.

Happy Valentines!

I have finally resolved the problems with the resin casts, and got them all painted and finished, so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures. I also made some tiny pumpkins, which I will call 'Fairy fruit'. The name is inspired by Cassia, of http://cassiathomas.blogspot.com/ who commented on my Pixie pumpkins, and is the perfect names for these, as they are way smaller than the Pixies, at a whopping 3" or so!

Happy Valentines!

Natures Cathedral

I can't remember if I've mentioned The Grove before or not? Behind Holy City is a lot of mountain acreage. Not far from the studio is an amazing natural redwood cathedral, that has been turned into a quiet place of meditation and thought over the years. Some people come to celebrate the solstice, others to pray or meditate, and some just come to see.

The trees form a ring, inside of which is a large deep floor. At one end is a kind of Altar. I'm not sure how the Altar started, but little trinkets and charms appear and disappear, flowers are laid, and photos of deceased loved ones are carefully placed.

The photos don't quite do it justice, but I thought you might like to see.

On a roll

What? Four blog posts this week already? It's almost like the old days! It won't last.

True, but who cares. I suppose it has been a rather creative time. I am officially 'without' commission work at the moment, so these are the times I need to play, experiment and try and make things that might sell! Mostly it has all been 'hearty' endeavors, but on a Valentines pink /red theme, I decided to make a couple Pixie Pumpkins/gourds too, as I know some people like the pink ones.

Not a great picture, but taken (once again) with my Iphone, and it's a case of 'bad picture - or no picture', as I am often to busy to think about taking my camera to the studio to document work.

At least this way I have a record of all the things I do!

Technical difficulties.

Well, I blog about the successful art - I should blog about the troubles too, right?

I would have liked to have the resin hearts I've been working on all finished by now, and posted with pretty pictures etc. But be honest, I've been having a major learning curve! I've had many problems with failed painting, and failed primers, and have still not figured it all out. Today I went to purchase yet another primer and sealer - and really hope this is the one that will work, but can't paint on it for twenty four hours, so will have to wait and see.

I think one of my major frustrations with this learning curve is that I really don't have time for it. Once upon a time (before baby) I could mess about until I got it right, and it didn't really matter. But now - with such limited working opportunity - I need things to go right straight away, or problem solving can leak into weeks of lost time. I am trying to be patient about it all, given that I have been learning a completely new skill, but it's really hard! Especially when at each stage there is an associated cost involved, which all means it's not making money yet.

Watch this space though. In spite of my frustrations, I find with each step I can still find a little hope that 'this time' it might work, and that drives me forward each day.

Todays picture has nothing to do with work, and everything to do with continuing along a chosen path. Baby, Heidi and my dear Cookie, taking a springtime walk at a local tree farm.

More glass hearts

Here are some of the hot glass hearts I got to make. They contain pink and red frit, stringers, dichroic glass and a few well placed bubbles for fun!

I often have special orders for these, and they sell quickly, so if anyone wants one - let me know!