Tag Archives: shards

Friday Freebie – Silver Shards for a subscriber –

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mirrors1The kiln and I have been busy for the last few day. I’ve done two firings since Tuesday with new designs. Here are the first few pieces of earthenware with silver Gilder’s Paste which I order on Etsy. I love this combination or terra cotta and silver. Check out the little shard mirror! The Gilder’s Paste is a metallic wax that you can rub on with your finger to highlight texture, and it becomes a permanent patina-like finish on the unglazed clay.

Today’s Friday Freebie is one of the little B Beautiful shard dishes like the two in front. You can use them for tea bags, rings, whatever – or just look at them as a small one-of-a-kind work of art. I put a honeycomb texture on the clay that looks very cool, if I do say so myself. If you are a SHARDS Blog subscriber before midnight tonight and your name is drawn by my number randomizer app , I’ll send you one of the little B Beautiful dishes – free tea bag included 🙂 Subscribe by adding your email on the top right on the page – thanks! And thanks to all of you loyal already-subscribers – you guys are awesome.

Also, as a PS, since I’m talking about ME, I was asked to submit my digital portfolio for consideration as San Antonio Art League’s Artist of the Year for 2014. Now, chances of my being chosen are about as likely as flying pigs, but it was nice to be nominated. I didn’t have a digital portfolio so I put one together with some work from the last couple two years. The nomination made me smile because my work was rejected by the juror in the last Art League show, but you gotta roll with rejection, keep calm, and carry on!

 

Sunday’s getting closer . . .

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So the big Fiesta Show and Sale is day after tomorrow – I’m sorta ready, but this morning I really wanted to work on something new for the show. I started with some square black frames that I had ordered just because they were on sale. Then I printed some digital photos of gravestone angels (but of course!) and started working on two small collages that remind me of the Guardian series. I call the new series El Ala y la Oración (the Wing and the Prayer) because they feature bird feathers and monument faces. They are turning out so well – it’s great to feel them come together. Here are the first two – with any luck I’ll finish four more by Sunday. These are behind glass so there is a bit of reflection in the photo, but it adds to the overall effect, perhaps. The hardest part was figuring out how to create the shadow box. I did it with thin strips of black foamcore mounted against the inside edges of the frames – come by the Studio on Sunday and I’ll show you the trick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shards and Strands

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Last night I got an email from artist Dawn Zichko, whose blog, Mental Mohair is full of inspiring ideas for thought and new work. Dawn had ordered some Shard Faces from my Etsy shop in early February. I always ask buyers if they’ll send me pictures of how they use the little faces, but these fiber hangings that she and her daughter did just blew me away. Look at this amazing combination of strands of knitted yarn, ribbon, twigs – beautiful work. There’s another photo here. Thanks for letting me share these, Dawn. I love your work and your blog.

Clay to jewels

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I promised to show you the results of the Sunday workshop. After everyone made their clay adornments, we put decorative finishes on them at my Studio, then went next door to Ann Pearce’s to *really* transform them.Her jewelry shop is packed with gorgeous crystals and cord and chains and findings and carved beads and stones  – it’s amazing. The hard part is always deciding what to choose. Here is a short video of the work in progress. Ann has an expert eye about color and texture combinations, and her input insured that each piece was unique and stunning.

Faces in new places

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I’m wrapping up the weekend with some photos from other artists who have used my shard faces in their work. Two of these are Spirit Dolls (we’ll be making our own in the workshop on March 3rd). One is from Otter in Canada and the other is from Angela, who lives in Maine. The other photo I just got today from Chris, who took the shard face workshop on Sunday (there’s another one on Feb. 17th) and finished her necklaces today. Nice work! It’s inspiring to see how others use these little faces.

First workshop at new Studio –

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The first workshop was so much fun. I don’t know if it was the new space or the combination of personalities, but we had a blast. And this is just the first half! Yesterday we made the clay faces, and then Wednesday we’ll meet at Ann Pearce’s next door to do the beading and jewelry creations. I’ll take photos of those so you can see how the final pieces turned out.  If you’re interested, there’s a repeat of this two-part workshop on February 17th. Thanks to Chris, Jill, LeAnn and Susan – I had a fantastic time with you guys.

Nueva Street Gallery

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I went down to La Villita yesterday to visit with Susan Carlin, one of the owners of Nueva Street Gallery. It always does my heart good to walk into that beautiful light-filled space. It’s the gallery where I showed my work back in the 80’s an 90’s when Richard Conn owned it – it was lovely then, but it seems to  have a whole new persona since Susan and Uger made it their own. Susan has given me the whole table in the middle of the gallery for my work display. Yay! There are some Shard Faces there, some little Earthshard dishes, and some of my small collage-on-canvas work.

When I got to the gallery, Susan had just received a new piece by Reggie Troilo that I loved! I think it’s called “the Gathering” – but it is fantastic. Brian St. John also shows there – he’s the San Antonio Art League’s Artist of the Year. Here’s the gallery – I’ve always been a huge fan of the place, and not just because my work is there. It’s a wonderful space to stop by, hang out – and a perfect starting place for exploring historic La Villita during the holiday season. I just love San Antonio!

Nueva Street Galllery

Create a Candle, Win a Shard

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Special workshop this Sunday at La Vida Gallery in lovely Southown from 3-5! I’ll be showing you how to make these unique votive candle cards, which are gifts in themselves. When you open one, it becomes a glowing screen for a votive candle, but it folds up to fit in an envelope. These cards were featured in an article I wrote for the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. You’ll take home several of these cards and can personalize them in any way you want. To save a spot (limit ten, there are five spaces left), click on this PayPal link – tuition is $39 and proceeds go to the San Antonio Food Bank. All materials are provided.

But wait – there’s more (as usual). Workshop participants and SHARDS blog subscribers will be entered in a drawing to win this Scent Shard with Ylang-Ylang/Bitter Orange essential oil and a brochure and gift bag. My dear friend and former studio partner Carol Mylar is visiting me from Colorado and she will do the drawing Sunday night. If you can’t come play with us on Sunday, subscribe to the Shard blog.

Scent Shard prize for winning workshop participant/blog subscriber

And finally, 30 Shades of Twilight opens at La Vida tonight at 7:00 but I’m too nervous to talk about that, so bye for now.:)

The Trinity Alumni Artisan Show

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This is always an enjoyable event – it’s not a particularly good “buying” group, but seeing former grads at the lovely Holt Center gardens is fun. Here’s a short video of the show. It lasted just two hours and was held in conjunction with the Alumni Picnic. Some of my favorites from other artisans were Tina Barajas’ clay Whistkulls and Cathy Geib’s giant cow done in pastels.