Wednesday, May 29, 2013

May Full MOON # 9

I finally received my fused pieces from Glassique in Lady City. Yeah! For the Flower Moon I wanted to use the shape of a leaf to engulf the fused glass. Choosing the background color I had a couple of options.  Really loved the red, but the sticky silver-glitter paper was the right amount of pop! Used black diamond crystal beads and attached them on the ends as I finished each section. Cut the silver box for easy setting in the D space and encased my almost 5 inches of wrapped blue leaf wire into the 2 1/2 inch space.

Little Alters project to Marilyn; I'd like to call the "Starry Night That Holds the Sunset".

Best regards,

Kimberly







MAY FULL MOON #8


Lou
 Enclosed you will find a tiny faery wand complete with copper hooks to hold her in place when you are not spreading magic into the world.

Her name is Moon Child and she is created from apple wood on one tip is rutilated quartz followed by a porcelain quarter moon button from my stash. 
She has a punk quirky soul and loves to play. 
There is a copper spiral at the bottom of the wand set with a crystal sequin. 

She has 5 layers of paint washes to blend and add a wee bit of faery dust to the entire wand.

 I created a background of silver glitter paper then add 3 green jewel beetle wings yes they are real beetle wings and such a delightful color and hyacinth colored crystal sequins(Or Bright red/orange).
 I then washed 2 coats of acrylic paint over it all to make it look more like the night sky. 
There are 2 copper hooks to hang her on when you are not using her to spread
 Lou magic around you, 








ENJOY,
Cheers, Peg


May Flower Seed Full MOON #7

I'll tell you the story behind it:

The crows had a get-together with the gnomes, fairies, elemental s and sprites and asked them to erect a May Pole so they could welcome Spring.  Everyone got involved and low and behold a May Pole was erected.  The crows were ecstatic and the sun was shining bright. The earth was green with new growth everywhere. Each crow picked up a red ribbon in its mouth and began flying in a circle so all the ribbons would encircle the pole.

 A great feast was prepared by the elemental's and a joyous and peaceful time was had by all!


 



I'll be sending the celebration of spring to you tomorrow! Love Lou 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

MAY PINK FLOWER MILK MOON #6


Hi Kathy & AlterMooners.  :) This is Gwen.

This month I created a hand using techniques I learned in a class taught by  Deb Wood on A for Artistic, "Sculpting Feminine Hands and arms".  
Gwen Gyldenege sculpts a hand holding a Tea Cup 
Gwen Gyldenege sculpts a hand holding a Tea Cup

I added a sleeve, hand sewn from left over material I used to make my clown pants and floral skirt so that this alter would carry a little bit of me - bright and tropical color choices to remind us of the more cheerful side of life.  To read more about how I created the tea cup holding arm, please click on over to my blog: http://calmundertension.com/blog.html

Gwen Gyldenege sculpts a hand holding a Tea Cup

MAY PINK FLOWER MILK MOON #5

Hi Peg, Here’s my May installment.

Once again, my own collected and unfinished treasures provided the inspiration for this month’s Little Altars spot.  Since I was making the spot “for myself” meaning my exchange this month was with me, myself, and I, this was an interesting and sort of indulgent endeavor.  Some sort of serendipitous spell came over me as I wondered around my little places of projects and treasures, and I pretty quickly came up with something that I thought I’d really like.  Nice when there are very few false starts, and that’s what happened this time. 


I’m an elephant fan, so the opportunity to use an elephant bead that I’d probably never put on a piece of jewelry was a plus.  And the flat beaded disk has been teasing me to do something with it ever since I made it.  Of course it was supposed to be part of a larger project, but now it’s in a perfectly happy place, pretending to be a water place for the elephant.  Both now live on top of my currently favorite play materials: watercolor paper, watercolors and gouache.


FINAL FINISH April Seed Moon

Well I did my first "social living" deal through Amazon; it was for a fusing glass class in Lake City from a company called Glassique. Got lucky to have a table all by myself with only stain-glass students attending as well. I was hoping to get some better insight on how to use my kiln for fusing, but it was done off site.  Any hoo, got some nice pieces after two weeks.

I wanted to make a copper box to house the glass fused piece(s) I had made at the fusing class. Adding shutters, I was inspired to make Lou Hearnesberger initials as the focal point.  This brought me to the pretty lace to cover the inside with, giving the surprise when you opened. it.  Since I hadn't received my pieces from class yet and with time a ticking I made an executive decision.  I chose a piece I made at Peg's house many years ago.  We had a challenge to take PMC paper and incorporate into a glass fused piece that we made at Peg's studio.  Mine was taking the PMC paper and slicing it into strips then weaving it and finally taking a heart cutter to get the weaved heart shape. This would be the perfect piece to complete my Little Alters Seed Moon project.

Then, what a nice surprise to receive seed packets; the next list for Little Alters and a special note from Peg in the mail. Our April Seed Moon was upon us.  I started the seeds in small pockets of soil and in a matter of days the little darlings poked their heads up.  The radishes and Sunflowers are doing quite well!  Looking forward to the kale seeds I just started the other day.

Best regards,
Kimberly Kostal




MAY PINK FLOWER MILK MOON #4

Hi Peg, Here’s my May installment.

Once again, my own collected and unfinished treasures provided the inspiration for this month’s Little Altars spot.  Since I was making the spot “for myself” meaning my exchange this month was with me, myself, and I, this was an interesting and sort of indulgent endeavor.  Some sort of serendipitous spell came over me as I wondered around my little places of projects and treasures, and I pretty quickly came up with something that I thought I’d really like.  Nice when there are very few false starts, and that’s what happened this time. 

I’m an elephant fan, so the opportunity to use an elephant bead that I’d probably never put on a piece of jewelry was a plus.  And the flat beaded disk has been teasing me to do something with it ever since I made it.  Of course it was supposed to be part of a larger project, but now it’s in a perfectly happy place, pretending to be a water place for the elephant.  Both now live on top of my currently favorite play materials: watercolor paper, watercolors and gouache.

It is with great excitement that I present this month’s Little Altar installation.  Having read that Beth, the receiver of my little creation, is a Landscape Designer and Gardener with a love for nature I began contemplating what new skill I could acquire while making her something she would appreciate.  Then it came to me in a flash!  This past year I participated in a collaborative jewelry exhibition as part of the International Glass Bead show.  127 Artists from around the world submitted their designs to a juried set of judges.  The judges selected 40 glass artists work.  Then 40 metalsmiths were invited to create 3 pieces with the beads they received.  One for the Glass Bead artist, one for the Gallery to sell, and one to keep.  I was partnered with an amazing artist whose name is Leslie Kaplan.  Why, you might ask is this important???  Well, Leslie is a professional Landscape Designer!!!!!  Her second or equal love is glass and she creates amazing pieces she sells through her company Rush Creek Glass.  On her website you can see that she creates amazing glass works and stunning gardens!  Check it out here:  http://rushcreekglass.com.    I also happened to have one of her Limited Edition, glass flower cabochons that still needed to be set!!!!  Hence, an opportunity was born and Beth is the new owner of a truly one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.  It seems to me that this month’s altar is a match made in heaven and I sure hope Beth likes jewelry! 

Because the flower is so beautiful all on its own I created a very simple setting for it that showcases it, not the setting.  I used a floral motif to roll print the 24G sterling silver and soldered the first section together.  Because the flower is glass it had to be set in place via a cold connection and the only thing safe enough was epoxy.  It is slightly larger than the space so I created a little back drop with beautiful purple ribbon to be glued down and provided a hook that can be glued to the roof of the space to hang the pendant from when not being worn.  I would cut the screws off the hook and glue to the front of the frame but you can choose to do what you would like.

The pictures do not do the colors of the glass justice as the opalescence of some don’t reflect well in photos.  Chain shown only for pictures and is not included.

So, while I didn’t learn a new skill, I sure hope I made the right decision!

Warm Regards and many blessings to all,



LynnV

MAY FLOWER MILK PINK MOON#3

My blurb:

The old saying April showers bring May flowers kept running through my head while creating this month's altar installation for Lynn V. I tried something different using faux flowers along with polymer clay. Hyacinths, one of my favorites, they never last long enough. As summer is on the horizon with hopes of sunshine and warmth bringing with it more flowers, veggies baby birds and critters....oh it's a wonderful time of year!!  Cheers, Cyn



MAY PINK FLOWER MILK MOON #2


Here is my picture for Kimberly's piece.  I enjoy making wearable art, and I seem to be on a pin thing!  You know, useful art; something that does not just sit on a shelf collecting dust, but can be used.  Many times they speak to me while I am making them, and this one did.  It is called Moon Dancer.  Made with a glass schard, wire and some of my beads.  I take the glass schard and paint it with permanent paint, inks and such.  Hope she make you smile Kimberly!

Blessings, Marilynn





Hi Peg,


Attached files above are from the Little Alters project I received from Marilyn Dondero-Rich.

Received my package from Marilyn DR and it was so cutely decorated with an Owl stamp &  flowers from shinny pens!  The festively decorated package added to the excitement.  Once opened I held a cute little box with the precious piece inside.  And then, oh my, what a beautiful Goddess of the Moon painted on frosted blue glass with delicate little beads hanging from it.  It's a pin nestled on decorated backing that has the artist's signature on it.  Way cool, I just love it as my newest addition to my Little Alters Box.



MAY PINK FLOWER MILK MOON #1






MAY ALTAR PROJECT!!
Tonight is the full moon!  I don’t know how many of you saw it last night but it looked very full then too! 

While the May full moon is known as the Flower Moon I decided to deviate from that type of theme for this month.
I should call it the “ I’m happy to have survived the last month” full moon.  I was eating, thinking and living jewelry making- you notice I didn’t add sleeping in there because I got very little of it!  But I am happy to report that I did very well at my two weeks of Camano Island studio tour and survived!

Now I have changed gear and am getting prepared for the groups of people that we are taking off to France!  Between the two groups I have 45 people…so that too is a lot of prep!

With France on my mind I wanted to do a little something with a French theme.  I did have some fun French flower pictures and prints but they all turned out too big for this month’s space.  So old nostalgia prints and a few resin charms was what I set out to work on.

I have to admit that I am not overly pleased with this month’s  exploration.  I had wanted to do some things with resin for my studio tour and luckily I didn‘t get to it or spend a lot of time on it.  I transferred my “resin” exploration over to the Altar Project and certainly have learned what products I won’t be working with again.  I was looking for something different from the two part resin that I had used with Peg’s class several years ago so off I went to the craft stores.  I bought a couple of things and the gal there raved about the Mod Podge resin product.  I don’t know if it is me, my expectations, or the product!  Things buckled, took much longer to dry than I wanted and I tried to make a piece without a mold ( I did the Eiffel Tour) using tin foil under it and it all cracked when I tried to remove it from the tin foil backing.  So I will try some things again and let you know if it is ever worth buying!!

So my inspiration to share is to try another product first next time!  I wanted something fabulous for Cyn as she does great work – so in the future – maybe and hopefully I will have it worked out!!!

Kathy

MAY FLOWER MILK MOON


Greetings
 Just for fun  I sent everyone in the project seeds, small container garden sizes of french radishes, Parisian carrots which are round dragon Kale and sunflowers. They are to honor the seed moon and Kimberly sent me pictures of her crop, sprouts are always  hopeful signs a life and new beginnings.
 Now we are just phasing out of the May full moon and a whole new crop of Little altar projects are  waiting to surprise you.
 So without further ado..... Here comes the MAY  Moon additions

Finishing April's Seed Moon

Hi Peg - Whew - here are the pics for April  ~ and the May Full Moon is fast approaching! No excuses - just procrastination! Thanks for taking the finished  pics for the blog. I will add a few more. Had to throw in a picture of my grandson the little "monster" at the Piza Party we did for our Nieces Pizza Party in Renton  and a picture of the bread we bake in the Pizza Oven the day after the party!






Thursday, May 16, 2013

Seed Moon #9


This moon cycle was a difficult period for many. Spring  and Winter battling it out in the weather scene. Then POW Summer shows up and the temps soared and my garden went into hyperdrive. You really needed to keep almost an hourly watch to see the delicate blossoms emerge. If you didn't  the 89 degree weather caused them to unfurl bloom then shrivel up and drop. At one point it looked like it was snowing in full sunshine. The dogwood flowers and the cottonwood fell gently from the sky. Achoooooooo

Any way here are photos from Lynn Hranac for my printer's box   A sweet needle felted piece of sun flowers and spring. 
All created while caring for several of the many people in Lynn's life who required extra attention the last 2 moon cycles. 
Enjoy


Peek a boo! Ready or not it's time to garden!!!




Wednesday, May 01, 2013

SEED MOON # 8



April is a crazy busy month for a Gardner  and triple that for a Gardner with an injured recently retired husband.
 Need I say more? any who here is what Beth send off to Kathy as her inspiration this month a wee tiny book that just fits in it's allotted spot.
Thanks Kathy for taking the time from your crazy busy schedule getting ready for your 2 weekend event as jewelry maker with many new delights for us at The Camano Arts Associations Annual Studio Tours.
 (Got to get a plug in when ever possible )

ENJOY