Pink Crow Stirrings

Summer-Lovin'

And there it is...that long, uncomfortable silence. It's the weather I tell you, I have no choice but to blame it on the weather. 

Summer is finally here, and it seems that no matter where my intentions are my brain has been hardwired to acknowledge that annual childhood tradition: chilling out during summer vacation. I'm here to admit to you that I've been on break. 

I know, believe me, I know...I'm not a kid anymore, and I have to get moving, but oh, the weather, this GORGEOUS sunshiny, flowers-blooming, bird-singing weather. It's different here in Chicago than anywhere I've ever lived before, the summer comes here for like 20 days each year and I kid you not Chicagoans treat it like religion...and I've been sucked in. I vow to you that this summer I will take a photo of THE PALM TREES THAT ARE PLANTED AT OAK STREET BEACH EACH YEAR. Yes, every year...a sun-loving species that doesn't even get enough sun here to survive the whole summer. Sacrifice. Religion I tell you, religion. 

Anyway, I'm also here to let you know I'm getting my rear in gear. I'm planning on several good, super-productive weeks here at the Studio coming up immediately...and I promise to keep you updated. But for the weekend Martin and I are driving downstate to see his parents and about a hundred-million-gazillion ears of corn. 

Signing off for now... 

-c 

P.S. - I'm blogging from the road (literally), so I'm looking at a 2" screen and tapping alpha-numeric buttons that don't even exist...do me a favor and cut me a little slack on the spelling and such just for this post...OK? Thanks! 

I love animals, but...

this is a bit overboard.

I recently ordered a few items from drugstore.com and in the shipping box I found a "featured products" flyer with several items listed that I assume they are having a bit of trouble moving. This is one of them, a $489.99 dog treadmill:

Yes, that's right, a treadmill for your dog...so you can park your lazy ass on the couch all day and watch your daytime TV without even being bothered to take Fido out for a bit of exercise. Wouldn't you just feel so virtuous sitting there in front of the boob tube seeing Spot jogging away out of the corner of your eye? "What a good pet owner I am" you would say to yourself, so satisfied as you open one more bag of Dill Pickle Flavored Lays. 

According to the (one) review this treadmill is a 5-star item...Dina in Colorado says it's a "great treadmill!" and goes on to say that her Papillon loves it! Dina bought a $500 treadmill...for her dog. I'm not sure how much of my trust I'm putting in Dina to help me make a $500 decision. Dina, there are these great things called leashes...I'm just sayin'.

So great, you've got the treadmill, the remote, the chips...can life get any better? Oh, wait though, what if Fido had to "go"? You would have to get yourself up anyway and at the very least open the door to your backyard so he could do his thing, right? Well, not necessarily. Upon final descent during my most recent flight I grabbed the SkyMall catalog where I spied this ingenious invention:

For just $149.95 you can allow your dog to urinate right in the comfort of your own home, so those inconvenient trips outside are all but eliminated! I'm sure this product was conceived with the best of intentions...bad weather, high-rise living, etc., but you KNOW there have GOT to be those people out there who are like, "Score! No more annoying dog walks for me...Fido's got a new pee patch in the living room!". Awesome!

-c

The 'Felix' Necklace

I posted a preview of Elise's "Felix Necklace" on the Pink Crow facebook page, but I've been holding off on posting more info and pics of this piece to my blog because I wanted Elise to have it in her hands (and around her neck) before I spilled about it in such a public arena. I got a message from her this morning...she got it, so here we go:

Elise and I have been laboring over the design of this piece since last summer...yes, for that long! This piece was discussed and detailed down to the last rivet, and I have to give Elise a ton of credit...she has an amazing eye for detail. 

It all started even before little Felix (Elise's son) was born, but after his birth the design took a new turn. She knew this would be such a wonderful way to mark his coming into the world...in essence we birthed a piece to commemorate his birth.

We started off just discussing elements that Elise wanted incorporated into the design. She loved The Circus - Act One, and the elements she found most intriguing were the rolling stars and the gold foil. I thought it might be fun to incorporate just a half-frame of the foil, so the stars could roll behind the curtain and appear and disappear as dictated by Elise's movement.

So I started emailing Elise mockups of the piece, then later once we solidly decided on some elements I began stacking the elements and emailing her shots of what we had at each point of progress:

Elise wanted Felix's name and date of birth on the back of the piece and we discussed in detail how this would be done. We chose an "F" from one of the Vintage French Stock Certificates to begin Felix's name, this would be inside an F-shaped window. I completed his name by sawing the "elix" through the backplate. I also collaged Felix's birthdate into a cutout window with stock certificate elements. 

Soon I had all of the elements ready and it was just down to the assembly. I love how this piece turned out and may incorporate the half-curtain concept in future pieces.

Thanks to Elise (and little Felix) for allowing me the opportunity to create The Felix Necklace. I was honored to be able to work with you on a piece that would mark such an amazing day in both of your lives!

-c

New at the Studio

I try to run things pretty lean here at the Studio. I do what I can to be really smart about how I order and use my raw materials and I only order tools if I really need them. Sure, there are those days that I find myself drooling while flipping through my 'Tools & Equipment' catalog...I have weaknesses like anyone else, but anytime I'm getting an order together I have to justify each and every item to the harshest of all CFOs...myself.

Last month just for the heck of it I requested a quote on a custom Pink Crow Studio stamp. I've been thinking about this stamp for what seems like forever, but have always talked myself out of even checking into it anticipating the cost simply wouldn't be justifiable. When my supplier called with my quote I was actually pretty surprised...the cost of the stamp was about 1/3 of what I expected it would be. Fresh off a small flurry of sales I treated myself to a long-awaited luxury: a custom Crow stamp.

It arrived last Tuesday and upon opening the package up I was itching to put it to some metal, but it was pretty late, and I didn't imagine my neighbor would appreciate hearing me hammering away next door...but one or two strikes wouldn't be too rude, right? I couldn't resist.

I love it, I love it, I love it! And from now on each and every piece that comes out of Pink Crow Studio will have this sweet little Crow stamped into the back of it.

Now..back to the Studio to make more pieces to stamp!

-c

In the Works...

Just a quick update post.

I've been developing sketches for yet another series of Vintage Stock Certificate pieces. Here are a few quick previews of the layers I'm planning for one of them:

Overview of the shapes and layers:

The first layer (shown in heavy black above with the certificate template, and below as a contour) is a hand sawn silver frame.

 

The second layer is the resin-encased Stock Certificate (see the first image for a more detailed look at what the Certificate actually looks like):

 

The circle in the lower portion of the photo above will be a cutout. Inside of the cutout will be a silver hand sawn detail shown below:

 

Then the final layer of the Certificate will show through the six perimeter windows, and one central window of this third layer of silver.

Clear as mud? I know, these things are really hard to explain, but I promise it will be really gorgeous...another "I can't wait" piece!

-c

Studio Update

Yes, I know, I know...I've been off the radar for a week now (wow, has it really been a week?!?).

I'll chalk it up to too many irons in the fire, but I'm here with an update to let you know what I've been up to. First off, a shot of Today's Desk:

Along with the testimony that, YES, a desk DOES have to get this messy to make seven layers and a few stars:

I've been working on the design for this Felix Pendant since last summer...actually since even before Felix was around. The actual design has gone through too many changes to even begin to list, but I'm so excited to be in the final stages of assembly so I can finally see this piece as a cohesive whole...I'm really loving it. I'm hoping that Felix's mom isn't reading this because the background portion is supposed to be a bit of a surprise...if you know her don't tell, OK?

Back soon with some sketches...

-c