Yaa Hooo New Art Books!!!

Not to worry this is not a book review, cuz honesty I am hardly qualified to review the table of contexts of any art books. But after all these years of living with myself I have a pretty good idea of how best I learn. And I gotta tell you I love both of these new books for totally different reasons.

Cynthia Thornton's book  "Enchanted Adornment" is truly (no matter how trite it sounds) an enchanting art jewelry book. As we all know  Cynthia is Green Girl Studios and creates some of the most bewitching metal clay charms. In her book she has created 20 projects that she very skillfully walks us through. And yes they all either involve polymer or metal clay. And yes I don't work with either, and I doubt I will be working with either for some time still. It's not that I'm not just itching to learn to create with metal clays. However both techniques require very specific materials and equipment that I don't have and have no access to here. Soooooo these will remain on the proverbially back burner. The thing is there are all kinds of substitutes for the pieces that are created from clay. And I have certainly become the "Queen of Improvising" since moving here. Which is a good thing because it really stretches and exercises my "little Grey cells". :)

 

But it's not the technical aspects of the book that has made it my all time most favorite art book. Cynthia has the most infectious imagination, and story telling abilities. She has created a wonderful elfish faerie tale around her projects, which makes the book just plain fun to read!! She has included lots of wonderful ethereal sketches with her descriptions, instructions and stories

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No I don't know why Blogger decided to turn this picture on it's side. But I'm willing to bet they (whoever they is) love sitting around cooking up ways to completely frustrate us and remind us just who exactly is in control!! :(

Cynthia's instructions are very easy to follow and understand and her photos show you the whole piece so you don't have to guess what something looks like by seeing a closeup of 2 inches of a piece.

She finishes her book off with an "inspiration gallery" featuring 14 different mixed-media jewelry artists creation's of elfin delight.

The other book is Jean Campbell's  new release "Steampunk Style Jewelry" Gads I'm really enamored with this book also. Although they are nothing alike this one also reaches out to play with my imagination as well as providing well thought out easy to follow instructions

 

Jean also features 20 different pieces of art jewelry that are heavily influenced by a bit of the Steampunk feeling. Unlike Cynthia who is the creator of all her featured pieces Jean has brought together 20 different artists The photos and instructions are very easy to follow, and assimilating new techniques is easier then you might have thought.

Jean doesn't tell any tales or let us sneak into the land of elves and faeries, but I found her book just as entertaining and imagination stretching. She has included all kinds of interesting facts, trivia, and just plain fun information of the true life of the world of steampunk. In the side bars she explains where it's roots are, what influences the Victorian and Edwardian periods had in it's development.

One thing is for sure when you get done reading all her nifty side bars you are garuenteed to win the steampuck section on the Jeopardy board!! :)

Jean also has a great gallery of designs by some impressive mix-media jewelry heavy weights that already have my imagination shifting into high gear
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So I guess you can see why I am as excited as a little kid to have these books to play with. Unlike the bloglandian artists up north I don't have the chance to go to different conferences,workshops and retreats that the new year and spring brings. I have to depend on well written, (and entertaining) books and the rare video to expand my abilities, learn new techniques and explore different types of art. I truly am a book and technical tutorial junkie (and proud of it) !!!! :)

Time for this little junkie to take her new books and curl up for a second read through. Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are  p;)

It's a Table Cloth No it's a Curtain No it's a.....

Actually my Bloglandian pals it's a, gads I'm not sure what the official name for this garment. A shrug I suppose, or a little cover up, a wrap, maybe a to wear in public "bed jacket" ???? I have been noticing these little jacket/sweater/vest things made of vintage lace in a number of catalogs. Magnolia Pearl, and Anthropologies want a queen's ransom for these little lovelies. There really isn't anything complicated or difficult to making them so I thought I'd give it the good ol college try. I found a great vintage crochet lace curtain at a yard sale awhile ago. Perfect I thought. So perfect I even payed to much money to get it. After I got it home washed it and gave it the picky-eye once over I realized that it was literally disintegrating in my hands. The sun will do that here in less then a year. :(  On to plan "B", the fabric store had some bolts of machine crocheted lace for sale the other day for $1.00/meter. Heck at that price if it didn't work out I could always use it for scrap. So I bought a couple of meters, kinda eyeballed a knitted wrap I have and made a pattern.  Then played around putting it together
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I thought I'd use some black velvet ribbon as a edging because I was leaving all the edges raw ( a little nod to deconstruction). Now you might remember that one of the things on my list for the States was velvet ribbon??? Well I couldn't find any at Hancock's or Joann's so I came back with nada. Okay since it was a bit of the deconstructed, well loved look I was going after I decided I'd try to make some ribbon with the black velvet fabric I had. Heck if it didn't work there's always the needy scrap bag  :)

Around the bottom and the edge of the sleeves I also added some of my favorite tea died vintage lace tatting.

I left the edges raw on both. I ran a bit of very thin velvet ribbon ribbon through the lace and tied two little bows at the top of the sleeves.

A couple of big snaps on the front to close. But snaps are soooo icky especially here cuz they oxidize in a heart beat. Dum da da dum... you know all those rhinestone clip earrings everyone has a few of in their junk drawer??? Well they make perfect faux buttons with an attitude! :)

SO what do you think??? I know it's doesn't have a Magnolia Pearl label on it but it mustn't be to ugly cuz the only time Annelise will let me wear it is when she is stuck at home looking for the last place she left her head ;)

Okay I'm off to hide this little number while Annelise is occupied, if I'm lucky she won't find where

 I stashed   ..er.. she lost her head for a day or two ;)

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are   p;)

Dia Los Reyes...Day of the Maji

Today in the Catholic/Christian celebration of the Epiphany. The day the 3 Magi arrive in Bethlehem. Here in Mexico it is the last day of celebration for the Christmas season. In the olden days this was the day gifts were exchanged. Now most families exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, with a smaller gifts exchanged today. The day is traditionally celebrated with a sweetbread called Rosca and hot chocolate. Here is a great explanation I found on the Mexican Department of Culture website. It's a translated version (google) so it doesn't read very true. Like using the word thread when talking about the pastry :) But you'll get the gist.

The Rosca de Reyes is a crown, which is decorated with nuts and crystallized simulating colored jewels that were embedded in the crowns of the Three Kings which mean Peace, Love and Happiness.

> The hidden child remembers the moment when Joseph and Mary hid the baby Jesus to save him from Herod.The little doll is the little Baby Jesus (frozen Charlies) I used the other day to rust.
> The fact relates to eat the bread of communion with the sacred character of newborn.
> For Christians, the circular shape of the thread symbolizes the eternal love of God, which has no beginning or end.
> The candy or crystallized fruit in the world are distractions that prevent us from finding Jesus.
> The doll hidden inside the thread symbolizes the baby Jesus that kings were not because the star disappeared.
> Various studies say that the origin of the Rosca de Reyes comes from France, where he created a great thread where a bean was hidden inside.
> Today, in France one eats bread is named after galette des Rois or Kings Cake, has a flat shape and puff pastry.
> In Spain is called King cake, made with orange blossom water and decorated with nuts is very similar to the Mexican thread.
> Depending on the size of the thread, is the number of dolls that are entered on the same side and on 6 January afternoon or evening with family.
>It is considered that this practice serves to celebrate the last meeting of the festivities of Christmas and in many countries it is customary to exchange gifts to remember the gifts the three kings gave to BabyJesus.

Traditionally here in Mexico those who are lucky enough to find the baby Jesus in their piece must host a Tamale party on the 2nd of February "Candlemas Day"  which is 40 days after Christmas & the official end of the Christmas season on the christian calendar.

 

Disclaimer: These pictures are not of our Rosca that LW bought at our neighborhood pastry shop. :( Why you may ask ?? Well before we could get the camera out to take a picture for Pattie to post on her blog Tali ( the large yellow lab decided she was going to be sure she was the one to host the tamale party... yep the rosca met an untimely end when it was pulled off the counter onto the floor. Well it's a lot easier to eat off the floor if you can't hold it in your paws. :)

Now for all you out there that love to collect recipes, here is the recipe for Rosca I found on the Mexconnect Web site. posted by Karen Hursh Graber: 

   Recipe for Rosca

For the dough:
8 1/2 cups flour
8 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups butter
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1.6 oz.(2 3/4 cakes) compressed yeast
For the decorative paste:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
Preparation:
Crumble the yeast cakes into 1/2 cup warm water (about 85º F.) Mix with all other dough ingredients and beat the batter well until smooth and elastic. On a large baking sheet, shape the dough into a ring, resembling a large wreath. Cover the ring with a clean cloth or towel and let it sit in a warm place for two hours.
     Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350º F. If you'd like to hide the infant in the cake, tuck a miniature plastic doll inside. After the rosca has risen, and before putting it in the oven, prepare the decorative paste by creaming the butter and sugar together, beating in the egg and gradually mixing in the flour. Use this paste to decorate the sweet bread in the form of rays coming out from the center.
  Bake until the rosca is golden brown. Decorate with candied fruit; in Mexico, candied cactus, called biznaga, is used.

Remember to serve it with lovely Mexican Hot Chocolate!! What?? Now you want that recipe too???? The Readers Digest Version is, to make a very good (real) hot chocolate stir in cinnamon and vanilla be sure to use whole milk and sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar. If you want to long version you can google your fav TV chef and copy theirs.
 
I'm off to pout now cuz I only got one piece of ours today, and Talli keeps licking her lips telling me how good this years cake was!
Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are   p;)

Wooooo Now This Is Cool

Oh My Gosh this is the coolest stuff!!! It's called Sophisticated Finishes--Rust Antiquing Set!!! Have you guy's used it????? Way back months ago I posted a nasty plastic bird bath  I had painted white then crackled and painted in rust. Here is the post, I think it turned out pretty darn good for being only smoke and mirrors. Right about the same time Tristan of Enchanted Revelry  posted that he bought some medium at Michael's that made anything rust. Now that sounded way cool to me if not quite believable. So on my wish list for the trip to the Northlands I put "magic rust juice"  This is the stuff I found at Michael's in Asheville no maybe it was Charleston. As LW will quickly attest, I must have made 20 trips to Michael's while we were up there!! :)

When we got home I had to ground myself from playing with any of my new art stuff until after the holidays. Otherwise I don't know about you but I would have never gotten all the Christmas plans done :) The other day I couldn't wait any longer I had to dig something new out to play with. I had 3 new pot metal religious metals. and 2 little plastic Baby Jesus frozen Charlottes..Charlies). They are actually the little dolls baked into the Epiphany Day cakes. More on that come the 6th. So those are the pieces I thought I would use to play with the magic rust juice. Okay don't tongue lash me toooo hard please but I forgot to take the before pictures :( But we all know what the cheapo pot metal charms look like and the BJs were just a white plastic. I think they turned out WAY NEETO BANITO!!!! I mean look at the metals they look like they have been in the ground for a good 699.7 years don't you think?? :)

 

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The light in the pictures isn't quite true, because there is really a lot more rust color to them. My only complaint and it might just be I need to give them more time to cure, but  it doesn't want to stay good and stuck on the metal. I am going to reserve judgement for a couple of more days cuz it has only been 30 hours since I finished with them. Some things need a good 48-72 hours to completely cure. I also didn't sand or prep the metals as the instructions didn't say it was needed, but that might be what needs to be done to assure the rusts adheres to the metal. 

I am really pleased with the way the two Baby Jesus frozen Charlies came out!! They really look like they are rusted metal dolls until you pick them up and realize how light they are. 

 

Don't they look like they just came out of some ancient Byzantine archaeological excavation ???

Okay so this took about two days to get the layers of iron paint and then the rust antique solution built up on them. Then a couple of days to dry and cure. Heck that's even faster then the sea salt air here can rust stuff. It's a good thing I only bought one kit and the bottles are small cuz with my ever so slight rusty stuff addiction LW might have found himself living in a nicely rusted house :)

Oh I can't wait to play with my new torch!! :) Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are  p;)

Mette -N- Joe Go Surfing

If you get bored looking at other parents "Baby Pictures" you might want to pass my post on by. Cuz dang if these aren't some of the coolest baby pictures of my oldest "baby"  You might remember Mette and Joe got married hours before the last tropical storm of the season hit South Carolina. So instead of doing the day after the wedding pictures the day after the wedding they did them the week after, when they returned from their honeymoon. :) I thought I just  share a few because they are sooooo amazing. Tracy Turpen is the Photographer and she truly is the most incredibly gifted artist!!!!.

These two kids are truly hard core water babies!!!! Remember this is November the air temp is in the low 70s and the water temp is the mid 70s. And this is the child that was born wearing a full set of polar fleece. She owns more polar fleece then some stores do :)

Both kids graduated from college with normal (what ever that is) college degrees. Both kids love the non traditional water sports so they are carving out careers that allow them to combine their addiction with bring home the bacon.  What they explained to their woefully out of touch mother is that Stand Up Paddle Surfing is a fast growing off shoot of board surfing and kayak paddling. What ever,  I think it looks like loads of fun and a darn site less painful then the old fashion surfing!! :)

Some times the water is smooth as glass

And some times there are some nice swells to ride to shore on.

Joe makes it look easy enough don't you think?? :)

Oh and trust me I'd be back peddling a lot harder then that if there was a chance I would meet that frigid water up close and personal!!!

Looks like a scene out of "Water World"

Trust me she is a most amazing woman but she really can't walk on water :)

Follow your dreams and live only in today......

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are  p;)

The After Christmas Posting Blues

Ahhhhh the lazy post Christmas days, so nice to just slow down put you feet up with a cup of tea maybe read a bit. :) So then what does one post about??? Like a lot of my Northlander blogging friends I don't have beautiful (although only in pictures) white Christmas pictures to share. Believe me if I did LW and the firkids would be mutinying!! And I'd be right behind them. I'm not stupid enough to post our sand, surf, palm tree pictures yet. I mean for you snow babies the honeymoon isn't quite over yet. You still LOVE the beautiful, pristine, sparkly, fluffy stuff, and can't imagine living in a non four season location. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh you just wait....... a couple of weeks from now when the evil stuff has turned to dirty, crusty, icy, frigid muck, the stuff that tries Man's and Woman's patients, my tropical beach pictures will be looking pretty darn good! :)

So back to the posting dilemma. What pictures to post? Since there has been no divine vision on that front perhaps a few pictures of some of the the beads I managed to score from our one and only little bead store. Yep the one that closed then reopened to sell off inventory so they can close for good...SOOOOB....   

I found a couple of nice size pieces of imperfect citron. The square one is a nice yellow with the other piece is a very slight lemon yellow. I also found some irregular imperfect cut bright green peridots

I found these baby blue glass pearls, that once Martha sees them they for sure will need to be used in a necklace with her name on it!! :)

Now if these big bright red glass beads don't scream fun I don't know what does!!

How about some nice imperfect mossy colored jade???

These are some of my favorites. They are dark red brown garnets which of course are two of my favorite colors. But the reason I love them, well actually the reason I'm quite enamored with all these stones is because it's very evident they are far from perfect. Fissures, imperfections, inclusions, little chips they have all those wonderful character marks. And to me that makes them far more interesting. I think perfection is rather boring don't you???

This last stone is a piece of  Mexican Amber The amber in Mexico and Northern Guatemala is not the amber of the Balkans For one thing it's younger by a few million years and the trapped plant and animal life is different. The resin is different also as it comes from a different extinct tree, in fact there are currently trees in the state of Chiapas that have the same chromosome makeup as the extinct ones. The Chiapas Amber miners ancestors where from both the  Mayan and Aztec civilizations. There is and has been great exploitation of these miners. Therefore I will only buy amber from one young man who  brings rather small imperfect pieces that his family brings out of their family mines, but the amber buyers refuse to even look at. You know the "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" pieces. Those amazingly  imperfect pieces full of  beautiful character marks. :)  Sorry no identifiable bugs maybe a few black ant dots. I leave the buggy pieces for him to sell to the tourist.

I think it's time for me with my character marks and barnacles to put on a pair of comfy jammies and fix a cup of tea. As for you my Bloglandian friends I wish you a very audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are  p;)

A Christmas Candle

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing,



It makes no noise at all, But softly gives itself away




While quite unselfish it grows small

Eva K Logue

My wish for all of Bloglandia is a wonderful holiday season filled with love,happiness and amazing memories!!

Have a most audacious today or tomorrow depending on where in the world you are. p;)