A Twisted Sisters Kind Of Day

This is Sarah in the pink, Kathy in the blue waving hello to you.

Saturday Kathy invited us over to her very cute little house by a river for a Twisted Sister day.

Love those days! So much fun. I really don't tend to make much, but I love the fellowship :)

And the food. LOL.

Sarah demonstrated to the sisters how to make these spiffy pillow cases. They turned out beautifully, and I don't have a picture. Kathy demonstrated a great wine bottle filled with Christmas lights. I didn't get pictures of those either. I failed as the historian of the day. I was rather busy using my mouth to either yak or eat.

I didn't make one of either, but I did enjoy watching them make theirs. I am rather allergic to sewing machines, so I was busy making a clasp so Sarah could sew it in my Sari Ribbon Necklace . . . . My hands cramp up and I break out in a sweat when I think of threading a machine, arg!

Notice in this picture of Kathy and Sarah the bright and sunny day. The lack of snow outside the window.

Now look at this:

This is Wednesday at my house. 4 days later. Look at all the ice in the tree! I thought it looked awesome and was thinking it would make a great back drop for some jewelry pictures.

Ha! It would have too, if it weren't so freaking cold. LOL.

This is a necklace I made using some techniques I learned from Deryn Mentock in her Build Zone class. Deryn demonstrated to us how to twist wire together and then make jump rings. One of her finishing ideas was to wrap wire over the break in the ring. LOVE the look of this! Deryn is a great teacher. I have only had the opportunity to take instruction from her via the internet, and would love some day to attend a class in person!

Here is a view of a couple of my necklaces as I try to learn how to get some interesting shots outside. I've lots to learn about camera settings. These particular shots have been taken with my Sony ColorPix. I have a new camera coming as a reward from work. (Many years service = new camera. Nice! Seeing as I have been debating over what camera to invest in these last few months!)

Mixed Metal Mania

LOVE this book! It has so much great information in it. It is very well written with clear and precise directions.

FUN stuff for sure!

Working with metal is such a great way to relieve some stress. I have always enjoyed twisting it. I remember way back into the seventies I had tinkered a bit with making jewelry out of wire.

This being able to pound the crap out of pieces of metal and then take a torch to it and watch it turn a bright red . . . oh how much I enjoy it . . . therapeutically . . . really as I beat on that metal I just imagine it being the frustration I feel in my heart!

Bang bang bang!

Who knows. Maybe if I keep heading with this passion I'll be shoeing the neighbors horses. LOL.

Great DVD for the Metalsmith Beginer

Metalsmith Essentials: Basic Fabrication with Helen Driggs

I watched this last night with Hazel. What a great beginner

DVD!

Covers everything I needed to learn:

• Gauges and thickness of wire and sheet metal
• Different ways to find the center
• Using different tools to get measurements with
• How to load up a saw blade
• How to use that saw blade
• Texturing metal
• and more!

If your like me and haven't the time nor resources to travel to classrooms, this is a great DVD to put in your library. Heck, even if you've had a class, this is great resource to have in your library for reference.

I also gleaned a new quote from Helen Driggs:

"What's life without a few bruises?"

Oh my, there will be a blog post coming with that!

Love ya, Love your art,

La Paix,

Judy

Learning, always learning

Or perhaps I should just bite the bullet and get something like this :) I have been looking and researching. Seems I've been bitten by the photography bug now. LOL. But it would be a needed distraction and a good investment if I can get some quality photos of artwork and jewelry.

Not to mention, just plan fun!

Starting and Stopping

Twisted Sisters Gallery

I don't know. I put effort and money into this website, but now I am kind of at a standstill with it. The person who was helping me with this site is no longer able to, and I've lost contact with them it appears, and I'm not sure of the shelf life of the site now. YIKES! I was trying to help a friend help a friend kind of thing. Lesson learned. Nice to help a friend, but harder to help a friend of a friend, because your never sure when the friend of a friend and the friend will part ways! If any of that makes sense! LOL.

I am finding it a little cumbersome to manipulate the web page. Or rather I have the lack of desire to learn right now how to continue with the web page. Should I really be re-creating this wheel?

I'd rather focus on learning new art technique and perfecting the old!

So I'm at a road crossing of sorts. Continue with the website always unsure of how long it will be up? Start a new blog format that may have a few different bells and whistles for me? Stay with this blog and etsy?

My gut is kind of saying the latter.

I do know for certain, either way I go, I will need to learn a few photo techniques, so I am gearing up for that. I've been googling my way around light boxes and black velvet. I think my camera will be okay as I learn a bit more, but I am seriously thinking of upgrading my current and giving this one to Hazel, who has been pestering me for a digital camera for some time. OH SEE, it would be a win-win to get a new one!

I'm eyeing this Cannon nothing real fancy, but I have read all I really need at this point would be Macro function and white balance :)


http://www.twistedsistersgallery.com/

I'd love to hear what camera and set up your using!

And bend my ear on whether you'd continue with a site or not.

Love ya, Love your art

Judy

Forgiveness quote

"Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different." — Oprah Winfrey

My Love Of Etsy

My love of Etsy. An obsession actually. I find myself drawn here daily. Not only daily, but often throughout the day. It has been the best place for me, the girl who lives in the middle of a corn field in rural, and I mean rural, Michigan, to purchase supplies to feed my mixed-media art frenzy. I am obsessed with many things, some I speak of freely and openly, others are just a twinkle in my eye and a slight smile on my face, but each obsession is intertwined with in my mind, soul, and heart, and eventually flows out of my fingers into a little "La Paix d'Art" which I hope to share with you!

But on with my Etsy obsession.

I am going to start with a store front from Texas that has so many gems, and not only that, so many BeAuTiFuL gems, my hands itch to hold and feel them. I stand at this virtual window with my nose pressed against the glass, and a look of hunger and longing in my eye! Oh how I wish. But I am a reasonable shopper. I want to keep my art affordable! But sssooooo pretty!

Norah62

But of course, I am just as much in love with this place. And WOW. If I could buy one of each here, I would. I may well be on the way to actually doing that too. Great quality, awesome selections, reasonable prices, and again, fast and reliable shipping! Start here if your interested in beads and want to start daubing in creating with them!

GemmeTresor

Tools. OH MY GOSH. I never ever ever ever in my life dreamed I would have a love of tools. I have this wish in my head that my work bench is not complete without them all. But again, I try to be SOMEwhat practical about this. Quality. Quality over quantity really should be my goal. Sometimes I fall a wee bit short of that, but I do strive for it. This shop, well, this is the BEST supply shop out there for tools. Items are of high quality and they are carefully packaged and shipped! Speaking of which, the shipping rates are always within reason here! I have never been disappointed with the quality and service from this shop!

Romazone

The twisty stuff. Wire. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have some great 20 gauge wire. I most often work with annealed steel wire, but I do love using brass and copper also. This has been a great resource for me. Beautifully oxidized copper or brass. A great selection of gauges. Also found here are some beautiful beads to work with. But here, I mainly come to wire shop! Love this stuff. Again, shipping is reasonable, carefully packaged, and FAST. I have never been disappointed with a purchase from here!

Solivio

and another favorite wire place!

Pantina Queen

Then of course, there is more to creating than just supplies. Hey, a girl has to eat. A little sugar buzz helps to calm the savage soul. Or is that music? I never could keep that straight! But look at all the yummies! Kind of makes that little stash of chocolate granola bars pale in comparison. I think I may actually drool when I look at the caramel here.

YYYuuuummmiiiieeeee

I have many more favorites, and I will try to remember to slip them into future posts. But for now, thank you for taking the time to view a little into my world!

La Paix

Judy

Of Towers and Turrets

I am so thrilled! Starting Friday, I will be having my first official mixed-media art class! An Art Class!!! I haven't taken such a thing since my freshman year in high school!!!!!! And in honor of this I am using and abusing the explanation point to no end :)

The Class, Of Towers and Turrets, http://allnorahsart.ning.com/, is presented on-line via All Norah'S Art and is a joint venture by Sharon Tomlinson http://allnorahsart.blogspot.com/ and Deryn Mentock http://somethingsublime.typepad.com/ . Both are very creative and talented artists.

Oh my heart! What an opportunity for me, who lives in the middle of the mitten in the middle of a corn field! My traveling to take a class, as much as I would love to, not really much of a reality at this time!

The banner had me hooked immediately! Then my excitment grew even more as I read on. The dates? WOW! For some reason, some time ago, I had planned to take time off, on those very dates. Don't remember why now, but hey, fate has planned I have a little "stay-retreat" right at home! Who am I to argue with fate? I pushed that paypal button immediately when I came to it.

I've been gleaning what I can from Deryn's blog for some time. I consider her my mentor in the wire arts, her work amazes and inspires me. Her sharing of tips and techniques on her blog are generous and have been an indispensable resource for me.

I wasn't as familiar with Sharon's work, but the moment my eye caught her beautiful faces on the banner for this class, I was hooked! Their color and style appeal to my eye and made my fingers itch to grab a brush and begin backgrounds for a collage. I have since been a regular visitor to her blog.

So forgive me my explanation points! They are very needed. Along with this very big grin as I think of the opportunity to pick up brush and spread paint. To cut images and spread gel medium. To learn to cut metal and shape it and solder with a torch.

I am ready for the journey. Won't you join me?!

Love ya, Love your art,

Judy