GUINEA PIGS, PART 3 (yes, part 3)...

(start reading GUINEA PIGS from 2 posts up... I posted these in reverse so they read from the top down, like the book that they are!)

I mentioned in the first Guinea Pigs post (of 3, LOL) that the weekend w/ the girls (Robin & Carol) was a weekend of learning from eachother.

Day 2, Saturday, brought more creating! On the agenda... electroforming prep & metal etching!

We prepped our work (glass acorns!) for electroforming... masking, etching, epoxying in a copper loop & painting w/ conductive paint, which needs to dry for a day.

Robin teaches copper etching classes at a few local stores & at her home. Her basement is jam packed full of work stations & awesome equipment. Her rubber stamp stash is enormous... her husband, Rob, built her a wall full of shallow ledges to display her stamps so you can easily view & select what you want to work with. We spent the rest of the day stamping away, preparing copper sheets, bracelet blanks & washers to be etched. Oh man, I loved this! At first I figured I was there to learn how it's done... absolutely no need to be the perfectionist that I am... but as I got more into it, the more I wanted to continue. Also, I didn't have all of the supplies needed to continue on at home (yet!) & Robin said that we had nothing else planned for the day, so I continued on. Carol stamped for a little while (she's quick!) & then headed home to take care of her dog. (Carol, hiding from camera or concentrating on stamping... can't decide which.)
Robin sat there & just watched me work. She'd wander off & then come back to watch some more, LOL. I would stamp & stamp & scrub it off & stamp again. I tried this & tried that... I'd stamp a section & then scrub away a portion of it & stamp something different in that space. Layering & layering... it was just amazing to me. I asked Robin why she wasn't stamping & she said that she just wanted to watch me work....to watch my creative brain in action & that she was learning some stuff from me that she would be able to take back to her classes. She watched what stamps I went for & said that it would help her pinpoint what she should take to her classes (she certainly couldn't take her entire stash!!). I thought that was really cool. I was learning so much from her & she was learning from me in the process. (my finished etchings, pre patina)

I brought these copper oak leaves w/ me... I'm trying to come up w/ some sort of element to hang my acorns from... whether for a pendant (or clasp!) or even for ornaments... I just loved how these turned out. Shared a few w/ the girls so they could do some, too... who doesn't love oak leaves??

That's what's really cool about working w/ other artists....even if you're teaching someone something that you know inside & out, their artist's brain will come at it @ a completely different angle that works for them... that makes sense to them, once they've gotten the gist of the process. When they were watching me work w/ the EMS @ the studio the day before, they would notice things & ask questions that I hadn't even thought about & the whole process of it all was so helpful to me as I form the base foundation of teaching.

Robin showed me the ins & outs of metal etching... the safety & disposal issues of working w/ acid, etc. I learned so much... she's a fantastic teacher. We stayed up until 1am while our pieces etched... hanging out, eating a fantastic meal that Robin made while I was still down stamping away, LOL, watched the final Monk episode & just spent time getting to know eachother better. We missed having Carol there in the evenings, I said she should've come for the slumber party, but she has a dog @ home that needs care, so she couldn't. :o( She says I have to come stay w/ her next time!

Day 3, Sunday, I showed them how to put together an extended electroforming setup like what I use at home so you can electroform more than a few pieces at a time.
Robin sells electroforming kits & supplies, so we had everything on hand. How handy is that??? :o) We talked about how it works & more importantly WHY! Robin said it was completely different than anything she had ever learned. I'm not an electroforming pro, not even close, but I know what works for me & why & was able to share that info w/ them.

We put our pieces in to begin electroforming & then we spent the afternoon dunking etched copper in liver of sulfur & also doing some torch patinaing, bringing our copper pieces to life!

We also put together copper display branches/trees like I blogged about last summer. Barb gave us a variety of copper wire in various gauges (thank you!) & we struggled our way through putting some together. I've only ever made two of them & they were different from eachother, so I didn't have defined steps in how I did it, so it was kind of a fly by the seat of our pants type of thing. LOL. Carol took her tree into a completely different direction than my original & it was great!!

Robin makes her copper branch...

Before our evening was over, the girls helped me rivet a few of my disc beads to a copper cuff and a leather cuff. This was one of the big reasons I wanted to learn how to do the metal etching... I need to add some bracelets to my jewelry & envisioned combining my disc beads w/ copper or sterling and leather. They're fantastic. Too bad I don't wear cuffs. :o)

On my final day there the girls took me to my go-to glass supplier, ABR Imagery, who is located about an hour south of them. Great to see the facility & meet more of the guys who take care such good care of me.

What a fantastic long weekend!! I had so much fun. It was awesome spending time w/ Robin & Carol, getting to know them & learning from eachother. I can't wait to do it again! :o) Robin is the ultimate hostess, I really enjoyed my time in her home. She spoiled me rotten, that's for sure. Thank you for taking such good care of me, Robin....

& thank you both for being willing to be my guinea pigs. :o)

Till next time....

SHOW DISPLAY PICTURES....

My first show displays were black & white, they were pretty cool, so I thought, but I didn't know anything. :o) In the fall of 2008, I did a few shows w/ Jennifer Ionta...her table is all coppers, golds & warm wood tones... my pieces looked incredible on it!! I asked her if she'd mind if I borrowed some of her elements & she didn't. If you look @ our tables side by side, you'd think we coordinated nicely, but they actually look nothing similar. The biggest difference is that she can set up & then pack her table up in less than 30 minutes.... my table, on the other hand, LOL, takes a minimum of 2 hours on both ends. I get so much crap from my lampworking friends (& others) for how long it takes me, but it doesn't matter to me...I like the look & it's really paid off. You won't believe the crowds it draws!

I took some pictures of my bead show table this past weekend. I really love this display. Photographed it looks really REALLY busy...like really obnoxiously busy, I don't think it's as busy in person & I can't tell you how many comments I get on it at each show I do. It's gradually morphed into this over the past year.

If you've seen my booth in person, tell me what you think of it....

Lots of pictures....

(click images to enlarge)

I look @ this picture & remember the trim that I bought to be sewn around the edge of the top fabric cover... it really needs it...

It's really hard to tell what's my table & what's behind me... kind of busy.

I definitely haven't nailed the best way to display my utensils, barware, pens & kaleidoscopes yet...

Notice my friend Brad Bernstein reflected in my mirror! LOL. (check out his website, he does beautiful work!)

One of the newest additions is this copper wire display that holds/displays earrings, chains & ribbons. Handmade, of course. It worked really well & looked so much better than the manufactured 3-tier display I was using before.

The little cream square dishes are from Pier 1... I have a gazillion of them & they're perfect for filling in spaces (can't have any blank spaces, you know?!) They make a really cool grid of squares & you can arrange them in tons of different ways.

Yes, my bead "trays" are wood photo collages (from Kohls)...I just wrapped the glass in fabric.

My new printer's drawer display worked out perfectly!!! I really loved it sitting upright the way it was (not my original intention)... I'm going to try to find some slim "picture lights" for it so it is well lit all the way across.

Here are a few birdhouses...

NEW SHOW DISPLAY....

Really quick post today... I'm getting packed up for the show, but took a quick picture of my new printer's drawer display... thought I'd show you, too.... I just put a few pieces up on it, so it's just a tease, you'll have to come to the show to see it full.... it'll be wonderful. :o)
(click images to enlarge)
Yes... I defaced it w/ small silver upholstery nail heads & lined each section in cork. Yes it's an antique & yes, I feel a little guilty, but it looks good, don't you think?? :o)

Don't forget.... print out coupon in blog post below for 20% off any one item & come see me!

BACK HOME...

Bead Fest Philadelphia was a success!! It was exhausting, but so much fun! I really enjoy meeting & chatting w/ shoppers & artists... of course I love selling my work & hearing all of the wonderful comments about it... very good for my ego. ;o)

Jennifer had a fantastic class... I really enjoyed helping out!

I got the chance to meet some fellow artists that I know online... I love doing that, it makes the online experience that much more personal!!

I took a few quick shots of some of the pieces I had out on my table since I didn't have a chance to photograph them beforehand...

~ Just a tiny heart to show off. :o)
This is probably the largest heart I've made (the glass is 2 1/2" long...3 1/2" to top of ring) & it's FABULOUS on!! :o) Definitely makes a statement!
I made it off of the end of my mandrel, first time I've done that, & I love it. I was asked to make a smaller version for someone @ the show... I'll definitely be making more of these... & I'm sure they'll all be smaller than this one... maybe!
Here's a side view for you...

I love this one...

Here's a little try of donuts for you...

these little puppies were super popular... I could've made another dozen or two & they'd be gone.

I love this lentil....

...ignore the white mark on the bottom of it... that was my color coded pricing. I couldn't write out all of the prices on the beads because of my burn, so I decided to do colored dots. I won't be doing that again, people don't like to decipher things, even w/ a list right in front of them.

Here's a donut bead that I made after I burned my thumb... I wasn't in love w/ part of the vine, so I electroformed it...

Isn't it fabulous??? :o)

I'm having fun creating... it's fun to see how things have evolved over the past few years...