I made some stuff!

I just took an enameling class on Saturday from the amazing Sherri Haab, and it inspired me to post some of the stuff I've been working on lately. The little elephant above was from the class, and it was so much fun! First I carved the little elephant into some rubber stamp material (I think it's called Mastercarve) and then pressed it into a bit of metal clay (if you haven't used it, metal clay is sooo much fun...once fired it is 99.9% pure silver). After we fired the clay and polished it up we did the enameling. The enamel is actually powdered glass, which you have to rinse a few times (while wearing a mask!) and then "paint" it into the spaces on the metal. Then you fire it for just a couple of minutes, and ta-da, you have something awesome. I have quite a bit of silver clay left so I can't wait to make some charms!

Speaking of charms, I took another one of Sherri's classes a month or so ago. This one was just metal clay and now I am obsessed. I'm dying to get my own little beehive kiln so I can do it at home.



Here is a little bird cage and bird I made from a rubber stamp I carved. I need to put it together into a little necklace somehow, just haven't decided what to do yet...



I love it when my name is on things, since it's so unusual, so how excited am I to have little charms that actually say "Senta"! Although my brother did get me a necklace one year with my name painted on a piece of rice, which was pretty awesome (except they misspelled it...) The tiny heart and the hand were from stamps I carved.



This one was made from a little leaf in my yard. Just covered the leaf with a little silver clay, put it in the kiln, and the leaf burned away, leaving its little imprint. We antiqued it after with liver of sulfur.


This one was made from a rubber stamp my friend let me borrow. Cute!





I've also been TRYING to learn how to solder, which is pretty addictive and fun too. This is the closest I've come to a success.



This one came out pretty good, as long as you don't look at the back of it! It's an illustration I cut out from an old book and put behind a glass "bubble".



It's only fair to show some of the ones I really messed up, cuz that would have helped me to see when I was pulling my hair out...I didn't realize the problem was I let the tip of my soldering iron get too oxidized, so it stopped working. It was sooo frustrating! Not only were the metal edges all blobby but the glass kept cracking because it would get too hot (but because of the tip, none of the solder would melt). Anyway things are much better now that I figured that out. So people, if you want to try soldering, make sure the tip of your iron doesn't turn black. Cuz that's bad.

Illustration Friday - Worn

"As a symbolic gesture showing the world her determination to throw off society's restrictive conventions, Irma discarded the confining raiment she'd worn for far too long. She'd never felt so free."

Hello my blog friends, if there are any of you left, since I've been gone sooo long! I've missed you! Hey here is a very quick sketch for this week's word...I crack myself up...

Illustration Friday - Hierarchy

Oh I am so sorry it has been so long! I have been busy, we just got back from a trip to N. Carolina, Virginia and DC, which was so much fun, and plus I've not been in the mood to blog for a little bit. But I have been wanting to do something Edward Gorey-esque (one of my favorite illustrators) so i decided now was the time. This week's word is hierarchy, and my inspiration for this was Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Self-actualization is represented by the lady, Esteem by the tiara, Love/Belonging by the heart she's holding, Safety by the bird with the key on her shoulder (kinda hard to see, oops) and physiological by the grapes she's holding. I think it might be easier to see if you click on the pic.

Crafty Stuff

So I thought I would post a couple of little paper clay things I made recently...The little chick with wheels was actually my friend Lori's idea; she is such a creative genius! The pattern paper legs on the dangly octopus are made with some scrapbook papers I designed recently. What do you think?

Illustration Friday - Subtract

Sorry, it's a been awhile since I've had time to do Illustration Friday...my computer crashed and it has been a mess! Plus I got a Facebook finally, which has been very distracting. Anyway here is my idea for this week's word. Have a great week everyone!

Illustration Friday - Breezy

I took a little hiatus last week and ALMOST did this week, but here I am not tired and I felt in the mood to work on something that was NOT really work...so here is an illustration for this week's word: breezy. I was inspired for this one by some other things I've been working on, hopefully I'll get to post a pic of them soon!

Illustration Friday - Celebrate

OK so this week's illustration is all about perspective...the little bird has something to celebrate, since the cat is in the cage, but I guess it's not such a celebration for the kitty. Anyway I think I found a new addiction, I carved this little stamp-y things and that's how I did this week's illustration. I guess I'm going to have to get myself some stamp pads though because these didn't turn out the greatest, since I had to improvise my own from acrylic paint and a sponge. The cage, the cat body, the cat face, the bird body, the wing, and the bird eye are each separate teeny little stamps. It's lots of fun, I can't wait to make another set.

So since Kassi so kindly asked how the personal training sessions are going, I thought I'd give you a quick update! They are going great, I am definitely getting stronger. A couple weeks ago she had me doing alternating leg lunges, and I couldn't hardly even do it, I kept falling over. But this week I did a couple sets of them just fine! I'm loving it. I think I really like the pilates we are doing. Also I now look forward to my daily dog walks, which is a HUGE surprise, since I have always looked at it like a chore to be endured (so have not ever made it a daily habit, until now). But now it calms my mind and, cheesy as it sounds, helps my stress fade away. It's also really good for the dogs, especially Remy, since he is so high strung. He's finally getting to be a really good walker, and only really freaks out if there's another dog off its leash or one behind a fence takes him by surprise. But he's getting better!

Well I hope everyone had a fabulous Valentine's Day! And if you ended up with hurt feelings today for any reason, here is a little video for you that should help cheer you up.

An Amazing Artist...

...gave me this award! It is from Faruffa, I just adore her work. She is seriously one of my favorite artists. Every time I look at her blog I literally gasp out loud because her work is so charming and beautiful! I want to make myself tiny and crawl into one of her pictures. I am supposed to make a list of 7 little things I love:
1. Rain
2. B and my dogs
3. Indian food
4. The smell of Irish Spring soap
5. Vampire or witch books
6. Singing in the car with the volume super loud
7. Making things

So now I'll tag Vanessa, Tomas, & Tash

Illustration Friday - Time

This week's word is time, and I can definitely relate to this little guy...sometimes I feel like the later I am for something, the slower I go, and not on purpose! Time is always getting away from me...