More studio shots

OK...more studio shots! This is my 'wall of potential'. There are 3 sections, each 6' x 3' x18" metal shelving. (You know, the kind you buy at Walmart in a box and put together with those little slide-on connector thingies). Nearly everything I could ever want, to do any project, is in here... somewhere. Fabric, yarn, trims, gem-stone-bead-metal cases, books (how-to, why-to, someday I'm going to, because I liked the socks on the cover...), resin, acid, polymer clay, wool, spindles, glass, copper...you get the picture!

Here's the close-up of the 'fabric/sewing section' that I promised my friend Jerry. She is a fellow seamstress and artist, and I think she thinks I'm kidding about being on fabric overload! (and this isn't all of it!) I love to sew, and don't make nearly enough time to do it these days. I do the fun old crafty things like making clothes and quilting, but I really love costuming - Victorian, Renaissance, bellydance... I love rich, vibrant silks and satins, heavy brocades, gossamer sheers, lace...I really love lace! (Which leads me to another topic...tatting...but that's a post for another day!)

Some of my glass for stained glass projects, and copper tubing I use in my jewelry work. I like to hammer the tubing to make metal backgrounds for a lot of my jewelry pieces. It gives me the texture and depth I like. Air-conditioner tubing...it's a lot more versatile than you might think! I have glass that is textured, painted, iridescent, opaque, transparent, thick, thin...you name it. That gold one is going to make some really cool faerie wings!

My work apron...I think this says it all...haha

Getting back to work in the studio

I found some floor!!! My studio is a fairly small room. In it's past incarnation, it was my den. After a year-plus of real life kept me, for the most part, from working in it, it had devolved into a store-room. I wish I had thought to take a 'before' picture, but when I started cleaning it, I had no idea I was going to blog about it! In my defense, it was semi-organized, and the piles were relatively neat. Stuff for storage here...stuff for Goodwill there...unfinished projects in the wall unit...and dust everywhere! Well, I have decided it is time to take the studio and my artistic life back. It has been a long year, and I have missed my art. This blog fell by the wayside too, and has been long ignored. I am hoping that both my art, and my blog will come to life again, and that I will be able to use each to inspire the other, both to inspire myself, and share with friends along the way.

Having found the floor, it's time to find the flat surfaces. This is my soldering station on the right, and my grinding and glass cutting table on the left. (Ignore the mess under the table...I am!) The window looks out onto the street in front of my house, and keeps me from feeling too closed in while I work. Mostly I just need to organize and dust here...make up a new crockpot of acid, a new bowl of neutralizer, and check the grinder bit. I have designs for soldered glass jewelry to get cut and laid out, a couple of silver and brass pieces to put together, and a peacock stained glass window to design and build. My hands will never catch up with the ideas in my head!

This one needs to be sorted. It's my work/assembly table, but right now it's covered with photo albums, scrapbooks, kidling's school papers, half finished projects, and dust. But you can see the potential! My favorite things? My Ott floor lamp, and my Michael's cabinet filled with ribbons, glass paints, scrapbook paints and stains, dyes, glitter, and everything else small and vital. There is also a bottle of seawater from the Atlantic ocean that we brought home last year from the best vacation ever. Still not sure what I will do with that, but I am thinking about some water-filled glass charms for friends and family who know just what that trip meant to me.

Two more of my favorite things...my glass kiln (the blue one) and my polymer clay oven. I love to fuse glass. There are some varieties of glass that, when they cook, they completely change color. One is as clear as window glass, but cooks to raspberry, and another one is lime green, and cooks to orange. Very cool! Another fun thing is bubble powder...I sprinkle it on top of one piece of glass, cover it with another piece of glass, and when I cook it, it makes crazy bubbles inside the piece. There's glow-in-the-dark glass, iridescent glass, you name it! My latest thing with the polymer is horns. Fantasy horns. Glittery horns, twisted horns, feathery horns... And faeries. Little sculptures of faeries...bad faeries, street faeries...not your typical faeries. I hope to be at Faerie Worlds next year...a huge event in Oregon, as a vendor. Time to make all this pay!

Last but not least, one of my long abandoned projects. It is hard to see in this picture, but this is the Faerie King's Crown. Hand-wrapped copper wire, glass, and pearls. I am about 1/2 way around the first round. When it is done it will have about 2000 beads and pearls on it! I will probably wrap the base wire with ribbon or leather, and now I can't wait to get back to work on it.

Beneath the Gypsy Moon

I kept hearing bits of this one in my head, and it sort of just had to be written. It kept bugging me until I put it on paper, and gave it as a gift to a friend.

Beneath the Gypsy Moon

Beyond the walls of castle keep
While all the mundane world sleeps
She dances in the forest deep
Beneath the Gypsy Moon

Away from lamp and candle light
Eyes gypsy black and gypsy bright
She dances in the silver night
Beneath the Gypsy Moon

Finger bells and satin swirl
Tambourine, raven curl
Naked feet that flash and whirl
Beneath the Gypsy Moon

Round the sacred Solstice fire
Energy gathers, spirals higher
Blending Passion, Need, Desire
Beneath the Gypsy Moon

On threshold now of Time and Space
She sends her wish for Peace and Grace
For Mother Earth, for Human race
Beneath the Gypsy Moon

I Am

This is the poem I wrote for myself. One night, a few years ago, I got the strongest urge to write, and this just poured out of my pen. Now, I usually have to work my writing to death, but this one came out just like this. It was pretty cool. (My chosen family name is Storm)

I AM

I am not

made for tailored clothes and

starched restraints.

I am made for flowing skirts and

leather boots and

silk so soft it feels like air against my skin.

I am made for riotous, kaleidoscopic colors that

swirl and flash around me.

I am made of Fire and Water, Earth and Sky.

I am made of gold and silver, and

sparkling gemstones fall from my mouth

when I speak.

I am made to dance, not plod; to sing,

not speak moderately.

I am made to nurture and to fill with light and

to be filled with light in return.

I am Created; Creator.

I am storm.

I am.