Laurie Mika Workshop

Mar19

I had the honor and pleasure of taking a workshop last weekend with the Mosaicon Goddess, Laurie Mika. I’m so glad that it was a 2-day workshop because it was chock full of learning and creating. Using polymer clay, paints, powders, beads and various ephemera, we each created a mosaicon on a piece of wood. There were 12 of us in the class and everyone created a piece both wonderful and unique.

Laurie has a great informal right brain way of teaching which I warmed up to immediately. She’s patient and sharing and was a great help to me as I tried to manifest what was in my head into a mosaic piece of art. It was a fabulous group of ladies who were encouraging and quick to share stories and art materials.

The first day we concentrated on making our center piece and various sizes of tiles that reflected our chosen theme. The second day we created painted tiles and then put it all together.

I love how each piece draws you in with its story.

The powders and paints lend a very rich look to the polymer clay.

I didn’t get a chance to finish my mosaicon in class. My idea was to create a temple called “The Way of Tea”. As I laid the tiles out, it just didn’t look finished to me. Then Laurie came up with the great idea to give my temple “wings”, turning it into a pagoda. Here’s the almost finished piece.

I still have some small areas to fill in with beads (oh joy!) and skinny tiles. If you don’t already have it, I highly recommend Laurie’s book, Mixed Media Mosaics.

I’m already happily planning my next piece!

Polymer Goddess

Mar12

Ever since I discovered the clips from my light tent kit, I’ve been having fun taking photographs of my necklaces hanging from the clips. It’s a great way to show the front part of the necklace, especially if it has a pendant or dangles. A photo of this type of necklace laying down just doesn’t do it justice. I am experimenting with different ways to display my jewelry and the necklace is telling me, in a way, how it looks best.

As I was naming the file for this photo, I realized that this necklace didn’t have a name. Usually, when I’m creating a piece of jewelry, a story or name will start to be “born” based on what inspired me to create. This necklace was inspired by color and gold leaf, as in “wouldn’t it be way cool to make a rich Skinner blend with gold leaf over it and then cut it into dagger shapes for dangles?” And thus, this necklace fit for a “Polymer Goddess” was born.

My February Beaded Journal Page

Mar7

My February page is finished. In honoring of relationships and love, my page symbolizes what happens when 2 people love and nourish each other. Their hearts touch and a beautiful silver river flows from one heart to the other and back again in a continuous flow of love, sharing and nurturing.

Shooting the page in the sun reveals brighter color and texture.

Originally, my plan was to bead the background but I love the pattern of this fabric too much to bead over it. It’s like a fireworks celebration and so colorful. In my Synergy class, “Unconventional Polymer”, Karen Woods suggested looking for inspiration for your polymer art in fabric and textiles. Wouldn’t this fabric pattern make fabulous canes?

ACC Show and Synergy Wrapup

Mar6

There were over 700 artist vendors participating in the ACC Show at the Baltimore Convention Center a couple of weeks ago. Since we were a little pressed for time because we were meeting friends for dinner, we walked the show in an hour and fifteen minutes. There were so many beautiful art pieces that caught my eye but I could only stop and savor a few.

Carol Owen creates “Spirit Houses” from all sorts of ephemera and mixed media. “My Spirit Houses are shrines to family memories. They make sacred those shards of the past that have made us what we are.” I found myself so drawn to these little shrines, wanting to open the doors and peer inside. In our dreams, the house can be a symbol for ourselves and each room a different aspect of who we are. So, I think I loved her work so much because it reminded me of my dreams. I love this quote from her website:

“Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house, a world, and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then that a world exists for you.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Karen Smith creates jewelry combining fiber, stones and metal. I found myself very drawn to her work because it reminded me of ancient tribal pieces. It spoke to something very deep within as I gazed upon the rich weavings encasing gorgeous stones. I was so disappointed to see that she doesn’t have a website or a blog because I wanted to read more about her work. I am so intrigued by the idea of incorporating fiber into jewelry pieces.

Kimberly Willcox makes the most amazing sculptures, as described on her business postcard “A Contemporary Spin on Primitive Form”. She shares with us: “My goal is to create a unique art form that shares a seamless integration between the world and the human spirit.”

I think that she accomplishes her goal quite wonderfully. Her sculptures seems to incorporate all sorts of materials including but not limited to wood and metal. I wonder what she uses to sculpt her faces.

To see the work of more ACC artists, you can read my friend, Amy’s, account here.

So, that concludes my account of all of my experiences at the 2008 Synergy Conference.

A huge thank you to all of the fabulous artists who worked so hard to make this event come true!

My Freeform Beaded Amulet Bag

Mar5

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a freeform peyote bracelet I created and referenced an amulet bag I had created years ago that inspired the bracelet. Here is the amulet bag. I did some experimenting with hanging the bag within my light tent. My kit came with some hanging clips so I hung the bag from the clips so I could take a photo with the fringe hanging naturally and freely. The sea glass I encased on the front of the bag was found on a beachcombing expedition when I visited Maui a couple of years ago. I added that on after the bag was finished. The ceramic fish and seahorse beads were purchased during a trip to Nantucket.

The strap is done in a spiral stitch. It took many hours to finish the bag over the course of 4 years, working on and off during a challenging time in my life. So, the freeform peyote technique and its meditative qualities will always represent healing to me. Maybe that is why I’m drawn to it so much.