Kreative Blogger

Cindy Shepherd gave me this Kreativ Blogger award and part of the game is to name 7 things about your self.

1. The dark brown M&Ms are my favorite and I will eat all the others first just to save up for their tastiness.

2. I love urban fantasy and have been known to stay up all night to finish a book even if I end up with a migraine the next day.

3. I keep a small Christmas tree up in my studio year round. It has a china doll head topper that my husband finds incredibly creepy.

4. I'm an incredibly huge nerd (see #2) and the cantina music from Star Wars is set to my ring tone. Plus, it's like nails on a chalk board when people mix up Star Trek and Star Wars - not even close to the same thing people!

5. I'm a huge fan of TV and find it perfectly reasonable to save up 5 episodes of the Amazing Race and spend a Sunday afternoon watching them all.

6. I really like to cook and can make incredible cinnamon rolls that rival Cinnabon. I can bring in witnesses if necessary. :)

7. I've started working out fairly seriously and find bicep curls kind of relaxing. I'm starting to become concerned this could become a habit and I will turn into a gym rat.

Wow, nothing since March 8th?!

I've inadvertently taken a blog break. It's been super hectic around here with work, workouts and life in general. I'm finally getting around to doing some light spring cleaning so I can spend an entire day in the studio tomorrow guilt free. Can't wait for large chai tea, mindless tv show playing on the 'puter then lots of fun with pretty beads, wire and maybe some other sparkly bits. :)

In the meantime, here are some images of a commissioned piece I did. I was incredibly nervous since my co-worker at the office was giving it to her art teacher (yikes!) but it went over big. Ann kept mentioning she was thrilled to have something from a local artist. I'm always conflicted by the artist comment but was incredibly flattered and felt a little validation that the hours at the soldering iron might be well spent.

Anyway, the requirements were to be hopeful, she likes Buddhas and spiritual things. The Buddha and fish are new picked up at a local store but the coin is antique boarding on super old. Green, and the green movement, feel incredibly hopeful and bring a since of re-birth and renewal. I dug around for inspirational text to line the borders and outlined them in charcoal. I'm also really loving the patinaed solder for instant aging.

Ornate Shrine

This is another shrine I finished last weekend and finally got the glass soldered to the piece. I like the juxtaposition of the words with the whimsical feel and shininess of the solder and the frame. This one actually took me a long time and it's been sitting on my desk for months as I kept adding and adding until it's complete. I think this one is going to work with me where I have a little gallery shelf.

Lucky Cat Shrine

I made this shrine a while back but never got around to adding the glass and then soldering it. I finally got it done this weekend along with a couple of other pieces (subjects of future blogs!) and took it with me to show my friend Suzanne to get her opinion on the patina color for the solder. Turns out, she loved the patina on another piece and wanted it added to this one. She also wants this one to put in her new apartment! Suzanne has amazing taste so I was incredibly thrilled and honored she wanted one of the shrines in her new place.