Are you Ready? 18 Days until Art-a-Day January 2016!!!

I'm beyond excited to launch into Art-a-Day 2016! 

Will you join us?

This is day 3 in my new studio space since selling our home and significantly downsizing 6 months ago. I am so excited to start making again. 

I'll be returning this year to a long time idea of making 29 totally unique heart brooches/pins and building a display for them, something like a February Heart-a-Day advent calendar (including leap year) of one-of-a-kind wearable hearts.  

Part of my goal is to stretch creatively both in design and materials. Last year during Art-a-Day January I completed five pin/brooches.  Below is the first: steel construction strapping and sterling silver.  Wonderfully Steampunk in look and feel. 

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Valentine Cards

Cards are coming along.
Each is unique, contains at least one copper heart and it's own story. ie, "Totally Bound to You," You, Me and the River" etc.
The 'card' is made from vintage photo album pages and the envelopes from old player piano scrolls.
18 or so prepped thus far.

Prepping for Valentine's

Raw - Bottle Caps

Heart Brooch #5.  Twenty three more to go.
I wanted to go more Raw this time so looked through my stash of found treasures and scraps. Bottle caps are one of my favorite finds on walks - but they have to be 'ripe' with enough patina and destruction to give them interest. I cut a heart from brass to hold them.
I'm not happy about the composition and might darken the brass to quiet things down-  but I continue to learn - and continue to improve and be pleased with my soldering skills.  Not sure why I still fuss and fret so much - except there is always a chance the whole thing can be ruined in a nano-second. There are 12 separate welds. Each time the heavier brass base must be brought to red hot without melting the finer components or previous welds. There is a general easing of breath and shoulders when the final bit is soldered and all is well.
You might need to zoom to see the front left bottle cap.., "MMM...My Favorite"

 (Brass, sterling, found objects)

Front                                                                                       Back

Components                                                                                      In process         

Steampunk Heart

Here's the completion of yesterdays work. 


My goal was to make a heart from steel, at least 90% recycled and with only cold connections (no soldering). 
I found some copper plated steel strapping and let the rest informed me as I went.

  

t came out about 99% recycled and maybe 90% cold connection
I soldered the pin back assembly perfectly - on the wrong side..., twice.  So I went with it and switch the orientation of the front.

I wanted silver for the back but didn't have a piece of scrap that large so I used an old sterling spoon and ran it through the rolling mill.

In process

Got a late start in the studio. Totally a random, redirect and let go process today. Here's a teaser picture.
Will finish it tomorrow.

Valentines Steampunk style

Finished and delivered my cards for DS Watkins First Thursday Art Walk.  These images give somewhat of an idea how they came out.
I was going for a steampunk-ish look. There are 4 different sets, 3 of which are all mounted on ca 1900 photo album pages, the envelopes (not pictured) are made from an 1896 player piano scroll. All pretty much period appropriate for the steampunk "era".   The other set are the simple white ones with a heart mounted in the window. 
This was a fun diversion.  Travel this weekend and back to bookarts next week.

 
Hard to tell, but the center flap lifts
to reveal a tea-stained glassine envelope
with an "I love you" note in front of two
printmaking paper cards for inscribing
your message.
I tediously pried the old black picture corner
things and used them to mount the envelope. 
Fussy but you just don't see them like that
anymore and seemed appropriate.





These were my favorites.  Fun AND easy. Same photo album paper, folded into a long tall shadowbox card.  Each labeled accordingly, (Burning For You, Totally Into You, Totally Wrapped-Up In You, Totally Bound To You)
For these I used the piano scroll paper for the message box as well.

These were totally simple.  Cut out copper hearts from patina'd sheet copper.
Attached with a glue dot to store bought cards.

There are three of another kind (not pictured) more in keeping with the ones up top, but are wearable heart pendants.

daylight studio, steampunk hearts

This is for Jim, studio daylight view.  Didn't want you fretting that I worked in a dismal cave.  :) 

I have an old turn-of-the-(other) century photo album of empty pages that I'm experimenting with for the Valentine cards.  Still roughing out the design but think they'll work out suitably funky and period appropriate too!  The zigsaw cut outs work fairly well as functional closures - cool!.

Steampunk hearts

Wow, doesn't take long to get behind on the posts here - such abundance!
I enjoyed a diversion from current projects though hesitate to post this picture. What they might become in my head is so much cooler than this looks (or fear they won't come out like I imagine?) .  C'est la vie.  I haven't worked with copper and brass for a long time.  Love, love the colors copper can express.

"EDM #11: Draw Your Sunglasses, or Glasses"

EDM Challenge #11 is to "draw your sunglasses, or glasses."  Since I figure that would be just a little bit uninteresting, I went online to find something else and found "steampunk goggles."  Don't ask how I discovered the term "steampunk" but somehow in my searching it popped up.

The one is very tame compared to many others which are adorned with watch-gears and springs, and jewelry and all sorts of interesting things.  Few of them are actually functional, I don't think anyway, and all are designed in the name of art.  So there you go, my "steampunks."

Someone locally must be making these because I've seen them displayed at "You & I Framing & Gallery."

Sony Battery Case insides

On Jan 20th I mentioned turning the camera battery compartment into an evening bag.  Here's the beginnings.  I'm thinking this should have taken maybe an hour.  It took well over 3.  Did anyone else have a day like that?  The first of many "those days" things was a pleasant sweet smell in my studio which turned out to be my "pickle" left on, water cooked off and the citric acid glassified in the pot.  Baking soda, elbow grease, brass brush and kitchen knife finally got it cleaned and back in service. 
The battery housing will be encased in copper.  Hope to pull off something of an Art Deco look.  Question - do I use the Sony shoulder strap or something fancier?
So far we have the innards pretty near done.