Magpie Mouse Studios.: YAY! My ring turned out rad! This was from the...

Magpie Mouse Studios.:


YAY! My ring turned out rad! This was from the...: YAY! My ring turned out rad! This was from the lost wax casting class at Danica Designs! What a wonderful place. If you are interested ...

YAY! My ring turned out rad!  This was from the lost wax casting class at Danica Designs!  What a wonderful place. If you are interested in Jewelry classes of any kind, I can vouch for most, they are great. The facilities are modern and up to date (with the exception of the adventure room, but you have to experience that for yourself) and the instructors are fun and awesome!
Just enrolled in the Jewelry Metal Smith program at  NSCC.   No financial aid was available so I'm hoping Etsy will work it's magic. I'm full time so actual work will be limited, which means I should probably make more lovely things and post them.

Back to School...back to school....

So apparently NSCC has a jewelry/metalsmithing certification program! Of course that's awesome but once again...information that could of been brought to my attention YESTERDAY! (whoa, 2 Adam Sander references already). And by yesterday I mean 5 years ago, when I decided this is what I'm all about.  Why do I bring it up? Good question.  I put it out there because in my head, if I tell people about it I am more likely to do it.  Good news, all the art, design and art history classes I have taken at SCCC will most likely be transfered so I can just breeze through with the studio classes. 

Magpie Mouse Studios.: It took me like 3 hours to finish the shading on y...

Magpie Mouse Studios.: It took me like 3 hours to finish the shading on y...: This is better than what I did. The thing about being good at something is that in most cases a certain amount of practice is needed. No...

It took me like 3 hours to finish the shading on your upper lip.

This is better than what I did.

The thing about being good at something is that in most cases a certain amount of  practice is needed. Not in all circumstances, my husband is a shining example. He truly is blessed with the gift of art.  Myself, not so much.  I'm not bagging on myself in any way here but I know my limitations.  I love that I am a  wildly creative, crafting machine.  I hand sewed my Halloween costume a few years a ago and had absolutely no idea how to sew.  I'm sure Tim Gunn would of had a few technical issues with my seamstress skills but that's okay.  I love that I get an idea in my head and do it.  I do eat, drink, live, breath art.   I am a cliche and have absolutely no problem with that.
I guess the thing about art is generally at a young age you like it or you don't.  All kids do it. Some do it more than others and some do it better.  Some are told , "You should be an artist." after displaying their innate ability to color within the lines. It's kind of  a weird thing to have that said to you at such a young age.  Nobody says to kids playing with trucks in the dirt, "Hey your really good at moving dirt with those trucks, that's what you should do for a living.  I guess it's always been there in the back of my head, 'yeah, I'll probably be an artist one day.' Whatever that meant.  I actually wanted to study Marine Biology.  Some of the best high school memories I have are watching the old  Jaqcues Cousteau movies. This might explain my love for the movie  'The life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'   But Jaqcues was my first day dream for my life. Scratchy french subtitles and someone so happy to be doing what he loved.  I don't know why I didn't pursue it in college.  I guess I knew I was romanticizing it and perhaps knew that I would not be on a vessel at sea for months at a time but instead, in a lab comparing levels of saline from one test tube to another. No, thanks.
I  studied a lot of different things in college but loved art history the most.  Its through art history I learned about religion, war, government and politics.  Not in history or government classes. What a bore  that had no place in my life.  I think with all people trying to learn new things, if it's proposed to you in a way that you care about you are more apt to understand it.
Now, to the problem at hand, drawing.  I can't even begin to remember how to do that.  It feels to me that drawing always had a certain progression in the art world.  A chronology if you will.  As a kid, crayons. Then maybe some finger paints if you weren't a little jerk and ruin the walls with said crayons.  Then as a young adult the exciting word of graphite, colored pencils, charcoal.  Maybe later, chalk and oil pastels.  Then you start to paint, usually water color first, tempera, acrylic and finally the coup de grac,e oil paint.  Later, Spray paint, stone carving, pottery, glass,  fabric arts, encaustic, etching,  printmaking, metal-smithing,  black-smithing, anything and everything.  The anything and everything was my approach.  I settled on a few things that really make me happy and am confident in the fact that I will always be in school.  Always learning new things.
I tried to draw again yesterday morning.  What A colossal fail that was.  It's a fine line between forcing creativity and practicing to get better.  It felt super forced and contrived.  There I was with my makeshift sill-life. Blah.  and that's what happened. Blah. After taking a day to process what happened, I'm okay with it.  I'm at a point in my life where I don't want to do a rendering of a yellow flower in a vase. Who does? I would rather bend metal with pliers. I would rather felt wool. I would rather feel clay between my fingers.  I would rather sew.

The New Book.

However I do realize drawing needs to be revisited. I just need to make it applicable to my current life.   Then last night in class an opportunity presented itself.  Without even looking for it, a fellow jeweler showed me a book that happened to be for sale at the studio we were working at.  Fate. A book of Jewelry Illustration. I think this just may work.  I can already tell it will suck for the most part as it is all technical and mathy and nerdy.  Isn't it human response to stay in our comfort zone?  This is not my comfort zone but I do realize it is important.  Damn it. Wish me luck.

Magpie Mouse Studios.: Upcycle! Leaf necklace.

Magpie Mouse Studios.: Upcycle! Leaf necklace.: Last night I found myself with 5 whole hours to myself! Woo! Crazy Friday night, I know. I took apart an old necklace and wondered if I c...

Upcycle! Leaf necklace.

Last night I found myself with 5 whole hours to myself! Woo! Crazy Friday night, I know. I took apart an old necklace and wondered if I could turn it into something new and exciting. It had potential, just needed some tweeking . The necklace was comprised of lightweight metal leaves and an ugly chain they hung from. They were painted 3 uninteresting shades of dull red, dull green and dull blue. The paint was slowly flaking off and the 'leaves' were a generic,stock shape. First and foremost, I free them from their jump ring shackles off the tacky spray painted chain they were affixed to. I used a file and brought out some of the underlying metal. I left some of the original paint on because I thought it would make interesting lo-lights and add some depth and dimension to the leaves. Then with round nose pliers I slowly twist, turn, pull, and fold the leaves into more organic interesting shapes. Then I decided to repaint them with some alcohol inks of the same color scheme. As it stands, I now have a pile of really cool looking leaves. Jewelry soon to come...