SOLO SHOW!

my first real solo show - MECHANICAL PLAYTHINGS - opens Nov 28th at Design Works, located in Galveston, TX at 2119A Postoffice Street

The opening reception will be held from 6-9Pm this coming Saturday (Nov 28)

As this is the holiday season, I assume people will be with family for Thanksgiving, but if you are near Galveston and would love to look and touch/play with some mechanical art-toys, please come by!

it's been fun...

I've been so busy lately, trying to finish everything up for my solo show that opens Nov 25 at Design Works in Galveston, TX, that I haven't posted anything about the great workshops that the Metals program has hosted this term...
First, there was Renee Zettle-Sterling...wow! She was/is amazing and energetic...we had two days of fun playing with mold-making, and casting alternative materials into them. And lest we forget the flocking!
Next, I did a one day workshop showing how to emboss thin metal using the hydraulic press and making dies out of brass and mild steel wire. The students ended up with plenty of samples that they could use future pieces. I've kinda fallen in love with the quick, direct nature of the one-day workshop.
And last but not least, this past weekend, Phil Reede who is one of the designers for James Avery (Kerrville, TX) returned to the SSAC Metals Dept. to teach the first of a series of workshops about mechanisms/findings for jewelry. All students worked on finishing the sample technique project, a bracelet with an elaborate closure. It was great! The students got to hone sawing, filing, riveting, making a simple knuckle hinge, forming, soldering...everything I want them to practice with more. Phil is a great instructor, too.

Thanks go both of you!


Renee teaching

mold samples

two happy but tired instructors

embossing dies and samples

student mechansim project

Phil's demo sample

Phil

SOFA Chicago

Well, here they are...partly the reason I haven't posted anything recently...my limited editions of Polite Clapper and Throbbing Heart for Sienna Gallery for SOFA Chicago. Images are nice n'all but I hope Sienna likes them.

teaching samples and harvest of limbs...

productive day...I wish I would've had more time for my work, but I did get to harvest new limbs for the limited edition of polite clapper brooch...oh, and that's my Arthur Hash pin next to the limbs...but I did get all my technique samples for the week done...hooray! reticulation samples, resin-inlay samples, ring to be inlayed with resin, wire inlay sample, and sprued wax forms...whew! and I am soooooooo ready for the facilities crew to fix the ac to the metals studio...blah!

a few new cut-outs...

In addition to my newest wearable playthings now being exhibited at the Society for Contemporary Craft, I also have started working again with the cut-out series...below are the three newest that can be found in the Store at SCC. Again, and for those of you who may be new to the series, the images of food are collected from actual food packaging. A new step in the process is that after I cut out their silhouette, I give each image two light coats of a polyurethane. Also, as can be seen in the backside view of the waffle pin, I have started embossing a rounded off version of the silhouette. Another additional change in the process is using aluminum sheet as the backing...besides helping these pieces remain very light in weight, I think there is a good relationship here as the percentage in which aluminum is recycled in the world is quite high and I like that aspect of these wearable objects.

lime

orange

waffle

backside of waffle

back from PA

I'm back from visiting PA and I had a blast!

First, it was great to spend time with Sue Amendolara, Cappy Counard and their students...what wonderful people. It's a funny feeling making a transition in life, getting the opportunities to work and visit with people that not only do I show as examples of makers and their works to my students, but I was shown their work as a student as well. Truly a pleasure...not to mention the much cooler air at night vs. San Antonio right now. An additional bonus was also getting to visit Cappy's husband (Greg Gehner) and his workshop - Transit Forge. It was an odd moment when we walked into his office area and I realized that I had fallen in love with his kinetic steel sculptures from the Metalsmith Exhibition in Print, 2000 issue...small world!

And the above video is of one of the advanced student's mechanical object from my very very quick workshop about simple mechanical motion...I've fallen in love with that black matt board, too!

Secondly, it was a pleasure to meet Kate Lydon and other staff members of the Society for Contemporary Craft...they obviously work really hard and have such devotion to furthering and educating about contemporary craft makers. And listening to Gail M. Brown talk is always enlighting and inspiring about contemporary and emerging craft artists...I feel very honored to be considered amongst her grouping of promising young makers. Thank you for all the kind words that evening, Gail.

And now...back to teaching this coming week and starting more of my own works.

no-no brooch

here's a short video of the fifth mechanical brooch of the wearable playthings...I haven't gotten through editing the photos, but enjoy the video!

video uploaded...

I've uploaded video to my website of all four brooches...check it out here!

new works for LEAP...

impatient shoes, brooch

helping hand, brooch

come here, brooch

beating heart, brooch


Here they are...four new pieces currently on display at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh. I am finishing a fifth piece as we speak and will have it photographed and a brief video before I leave on Tuesday. So, next week, I leave Tuesday for Pennsylvania to present and lead a quick workshop at Edinboro University with Sue Amendolara's and Cappy Counard's advanced students on Wed and then Thursday I head over to Pittsburgh & to the SCC to give a presentation as this year's LEAP award recipient. This may be exciting to some (hearing me talk) but I'm excited that the juror, Gail M. Brown, will also be giving a brief talk about her attitude towards contemporary craft and how that relates to her selection of me as the award recipient. She is such a nice woman and so very intelligent...it's always a pleasure to be in her company.

Anyhoo, above are images of the new works and I'll add all the videos and images of the fifth new piece before I leave on Tuesday. Enjoy!

where has the time gone?

wow...August has flown by so far and shows no intentions to slow down through the end...

I think this is mostly due to the fact that I am finishing new works for the LEAP award exhibition at the Society of Contemporary Craft...I will be giving a public presentation on September 10 @ 6PM... And while I am visiting the wonderful state of Pennsylvania, I am also going to visit with Sue Amendolara, Cappy Counard and their advanced students, too, at Edinboro University on September 9...I'll be give a short version of my presentation and then I'll lead them through a fast-paced exploration of simple mechanical movement using nothing but easily manipulated and available materials (matt board, basswood, brass wire, glue). We'll be exploring levers, cranks, cams and linkages.

So, just to tease a bit, below is a model I made from matt-board of one of the new wearable playthings designs...the little hand is carved from basswood.

model of helping hand - wearable plaything

Carrie's ring

While I don't pretend to be the world's greatest brother, I did make this ring for my sister as a late birthday gift (that's why I'm not the world's greatest brother...month an a half late with the gift). It's comprised of reticulated silver and sterling silver for the rest of the construction...this would be a good technique sample project for students...hmmm...

real quick...

on my way out of the studio...but just thought I'd post a link to Chad Dawkins's blog, " Publicity Stunted," because he mentioned myself and others that participated in a rather new event in San Antonio, The Colloquium.

It was a good time presenting and great to meet some more artists in San Antonio.

images from the day...

face-plates for limited edition of Throbbing Heart brooch

someone wanted to know what my studio looks like...it's the fun side of my school office

far left is the newest addition to my patinated cubes...this was an immersion recipe with copper sulfate, ammonia, and water

oh boy...

I just felt that needle-felting was too good of something to pass up for inclusion into my work. This new brooch isn't mechanical but I think the felted wool works great with my visual style. Anyhoo, just thought I'd post this before going home to pack for a little July4th getaway to Rockport and then Corpus Christi...mmmm...relaxation...

and then there were three...

continuing to add to the samples of patination recipes I'm teaching in my Color on Metal course this summer. The newest addition (the middle cube) is just the good 'ol cupric nitrate and water misted onto a warmed copper surface and then waxed...yum!

Masako's Felt Jewelry workshop...

This past weekend Masako Onodera visited to teach a Felt Jewelry workshop (needle and wet-felting) and present her lecture Tactile Bodies. As usual it was great to work with Masako and the students had a blast...you were all great and I thank you. Below are some shots of samples the students produced using both methods of felting...and yes, the last image is of my samples...I resisted the felting craze during grad school, saying that I would never felt and here I am, felting...never say never! In fact, I think I will be utilizing needle-felting to make some components for some new interactive devices in the near future.


masako demonstrating needle-felting

Masako's samples from workshop

Fruits of my labor...

So, I applied two patina recipes shown in the previous post to the welded copper forms I had demonstrated their construction of in another recent post...and the result...yummy!

I think this is how I am going to document demonstrated techniques for my class, by applying the recipes to these copper welded cube forms.

Patination samples...

Just few samples from teaching torch patinas today....what delicious colors! The plate on the left is a combination of the other two. The middle is the good ol cupric nitrate recipe and on the right is the ohaguro recipe from the Japanese Patinas book.

small edition and mediated kisses...

getting started with the first small edition of "Throbbing Heart"


the newest device...made to be used with two people...the working title is "Mediated Kissing Device"...I need to photograph it being used and the kissing surfaces are not actually finished yet, but I just got antsy to get some quick video and pics of it on here.

Welding copper with oxy-propane torch

This is view of my pattern cut out with a jeweler's saw. I used 18 gauge copper for this piece...20 gauge would also be a good thickness, especially if your pattern is a bit larger. Thinner than 22 gauge and the metal becomes a bit more difficult to fuse the seams.

Note the notches filed away in the corners to allow a better fit when folding the sides.


This is a simple and unique method to create specific bending without using traditional scoring-n-bending techniques.

I used my ring clamp as my 'bending brake.' The dimesions of your pattern will determine whether you can use a traditional bending brake, a bench-top vise, etc.

After the sides were bent down, I used my nylon mallet to tap the edges of my sides together tightly...although this technique of joining is a little more loose than soldering, the process is much easier if you take the time to get get all the edges to be welded to touch.

Ah!...all edges touching one-another. At this point, I could also bend my tab/hanging mechanism into place. It can also be pushed down after welding the sides together.


All the sides welded together. I used 18 gauge so that there is plenty of material for the welding process. My goal is to merely fuse the two edges of the sides with one-another, but in some cases, the copper will melt away from the seam and copper wire is used to fill the gap. I find that using wire a little thicker than the material I'm welding works great (i.e. if my form is of 18 gauge, I used 16 gauge copper wire as a welding rod). Also, I find that it's helpful to tack the corners together first and work towards the front of the piece (in the image, that would be working from the bottom up).

Of course it hasn't been finished yet but what a wonderful little object for the wall! Just imagine 50 of them in a row with different surface finishes and coloration.....mmmmmm!