Sunday, January 30, 2011

More New Things!

So I jumped and posted a few new things to Etsy, and a whole bunch of things to ArtFire, so Artfire now matches Etsy, and will hopefully no longer be the bastard step-child.  I am now offering enameled ivy buttons (more shapes to come), and cloak clasps will be added as soon as I sort out a few minor engineering issues.  I've got an ivy one mostly worked out, but am working on a spectacular clasp in which the 2 halves form to make one butterfly (probably worked in cloisonne).  I need to put more effort into carving for casting, as I think it might be a nice production/reproduction step for these things.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I am a bad, bad, blogger

Apologies for skipping last week.  I spent the weekend doing business research and having major personal revelations and was so exhausted I forgot to write.  The practical upshot of it all, though is that it is my goal to have work to fill at least one panel at the Norwescon Art Show (4/21-4/24).  I'm concentrating on the enamel/illustration part of my art, since I can make that on-topic (Sci-Fi/Fantasy, if you're wondering).  I intend to do more elemental panels to go with the "Creature of Air" mirror.  I don't know if I'm going to make mirrors of them, or just leave them flat wall pieces, but I do know that I'm going to photograph them and do prints.  So that's really the only big announcement I have.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The other side.

For those of you who were not previously aware:  I am not all sweetness and light.  I often have odd turns of mind, and frequently take commissions and pursue projects that have edges - or in this case, points.  The next addition to my production offerings will be claws.
Copper and brass, finished, from left to right, as shiny, brushed, and hammered, with a second hammered texture in copper.

nickel claws, shiny, brushed, and hammered

It should be noted that the nickel ones were a one-off request and won't be going into regular production due to concerns with allergies and toxicity.

Anyway, these are going to be my first real experiment in serious production work.  I've designed blanks that I'm going to send out to be commercially punched, so I only have to worry about forming and finishing in-house (and I'd really like to have personal control over those no matter what).  It will be an interesting experiment.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Year

Happy New Year, everyone!

Sadly I don't have a lot of new to report, as I spent this week battling The Head-Cold That Ate Cleveland, rather than actually working.  I got a little bit of clean-up done at the studio before I was felled, and my test-batch of commercial enameling blanks arrived.  Hopefully I'll get to finish with the clean-up, and do some test-pieces with the blanks tomorrow, so I can have some momentum back when school starts on Tuesday.  I'm considering, for school this quarter, doing a series of pieces based on antlers/horns.  We shall see.