Pink Crow Stirrings

Summer Studio Two, Day Two

I've had two, 8-hour days in the studio, so now it's time for an update and a long-overdue "Today's Desk".

Here's where it all started yesterday morning,
with the template attached to a stack of riveted sterling.

Next all of the areas for piercing were drilled.

And by the end of yesterday this is where I was.

More sawing and a ton of filing today and the front plate for the piece is just about done.

 

And here is that long overdue "today's desk" photo. 
Still some unpacking going on to the left, 
but very much a productive desk on the right.

 

And finally:
I had to take advantage of some Florida sunshine pouring in my window this evening.

Thanks for checking in. Be back soon with more updates.

-c

 

A New Year - A Fresh Start

Happy 2010 everyone!

First of all I want to send out a huge "thank you" to you for your loyalty, support and encouragement. 

Thanks also go out to all of the visible and invisible forces that have helped things fall into place for me by providing for me the inspiration along with the luxury of time and also allowing me to carve out a bit of extra space to have a studio in my home so that I can do what I want to do whenever I want to do it (well, almost whenever). Oh my goodness run-on...I suppose I could spend a bit of time making that sentence better, but, you know, I'm just going to leave it all sketchy because that's how it came out!

I'm starting this year off by properly respecting that space. I'm cleaning my studio top to bottom and clearing the clutter, which I tend to hold on to, but then becomes a distraction or winds up getting in the way.

I started off at my work table:

 

...and a little better...

 

...and better still...

 

OK, so not *perfect* by Martin or Iris' standards...but a pretty damn good start for me.

I hope you all had a wonderful winter recharge and are starting this year feeling motivated and refreshed. I'm making progress on the pieces that I recently posted about and am really excited about what they are becoming. I will be back soon with updates (and maybe a "clean studio" tour).

-c

Studio Update: More Stock Certificates

I'm checking in for a quick update. I have some images of what I'm working on right now, and also have a long overdue "today's desk", which looks much like all of the other "today's desk" photos.

Here are a couple of new certificate fragments that have been encased in resin, sawn out and are now ready for some metal:

 

 

And a couple of fragments in the process of "enresining":

 

Today's desk (with a mess left over from the last several studio days):

 

And last but not least, I would like to introduce you to the newest addition to the studio,
my new D90, a long-awaited gift that Santa and the Crow got me for being such a good girl:

 

 Thanks for checking in...be back soon (that's both promise and request).

-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

¡Adios español!, & Today's Desk

Tomorrow morning I go to my final Spanish class of the winter session, and I've decided to give Spanish a well deserved break from me for a few months...it has been very patient with my linguistical fumblings and we've just been taking one another for granted lately.

Truth be told ever since I've gained that extra day in the studio each week I've become very selfish with my studio time. Just that one extra day has allowed me to produce so much more, and so much more quickly that now I find myself scoping out every corner of my schedule for a few more hours here and there that I can apply to my work. I have to say that I'm feeling a bit like a junkie looking for coin in seat cushions and pay phone coin returns...enough for one more hit, just one more hit!!!

And now for a bit of visual honesty:

A few weeks ago after a long studio day I looked up at the state of my work surface and saw for a split second my desk the way it looks to 'outsiders'. It was an instant of enlightenment, and for the first time I saw what others see...for that brief second this actually looked messy to me:

I shot the above picture sitting in my seat, then to be sure I captured the feeling and the moment I stood up and shot another picture of the scene from above:

Words to live by.

A card I have framed that hangs above my work area:

True that! 

Welcome to my world.

-c

Today's Desk: Back Home & Packaging

I'm back from my long weekend in Florida and I have to say that there's nothing like a little sunshine to recharge the ol' batteries. What's even better is that I came back to temps in the 60s today, and forecasts of 70s tomorrow!

Once I settled in I spent the rest of the day packaging up a few pieces that sold last week, so if you're expecting a package from me it will be on its way out tomorrow. I had a record 4 orders in just over 24 hours last Wed-Thur (which also just happened to be the 24 hour period that I was packing, flying to, and arriving in Florida). Busy times...hectic but I love 'em!

I'll be back to "assembly" on the latest stock certificate pieces starting tomorrow evening. I'll give you an update here as soon as I make some marked progress.

-c

Studio Update: iSaw

I've spent the past 2 days in the studio sawing. Here's my progress report on the series that incorporates the corner ornaments of antique French stock certificates:

Laying out the stock pieces...measuring the silver.

An action shot...sawing as it happens...I know, exciting! 

(You can also see a discarded template carelessly 

tossed to the floor in the background...messy girl).

A midday break to assess the progress.

A couple detail shots.

A good portion of my two days work.

And today's desk.

-c

One Step at a Time (times twenty), and Today's Desk

Traditionally my approach to production has been one piece at a time...slow and steady. Working like this over a period of time I eventually had enough pieces to set up an Etsy shop, and then something crazy happened...I got busy selling (who would have thought?), but the selling was happening faster than the making. While I feel fortunate beyond words that I have been able to sell my work, it has left me with a near empty shop.

So, it's time to get going again...time to fill that shop up with some more goodies...and this time I'm approaching production a bit differently. Rather than one piece at a time, I'm going have quite a few pieces in production at the same time (20 right now), which I think is a smarter way to work. Each will still be a one-of-a-kind piece, no two will be alike and each will still receive the attention it would have had I never changed my way of working, it's just that this way, when I've got metal to saw, or resin to pour, or rivets to set and I've got all of the supplies and tools out I can get that task done for several pieces rather than just one. 

Here are a few process photos for the newest installments of the "18 Parts Lite" series:

From the initial sketch, to the working drawing, to the "rough" sawing template:

The sawing templates cut out and ready to be attached to the metal:

Front and back plates cut out:

And "today's desk" (actually yesterday's) after 3 solid days in the studio:

I have to say that seeing so many pieces "happening" all at the same time feels really good...I am feeling so productive! I can't imagine how excited I'll be when it's down to the final few steps on them and I'm FINISHING so many pieces at once!

Will have another update soon.

-c

Sketches & Today's Desk

So, here are a few pages of sketches I've been working on since I last posted. Many of them were done at cruising altitude. For some reason I'm always very productive on flights...I think it may be because I can't distract myself with, say, thoughts of putting the kettle on for another cup of tea, or checking my email for the 20th time in an hour to see if a friend or sibling has sent an important message.

Four of six upcoming pieces in the "Stock Certificate" series:

 

Ooh, sorry about the blurriness here...

A smaller version of my "Parts Lite" series:

A second installment of my "18 Parts Lite" series:

And a piece I can't WAIT to do:

And finally, another posting for "Today's Desk".

This is the "before". 

Sometimes my desk becomes a catch-all for 

any random art/studio-related items. 

Makes it a bit tough to get in there and be productive.

So, I neatened it up a bit, which should have been an in between shot, because immediately after it was the least bit straightened I was inspired to start pulling things out again. So, here's the "after".

And now it's time for me to sign off.

I will post the progress on these sketches soon.

-c

Where it all began...

I started this blog to give you somewhat of a peek into the goings on in my studio and I'm afraid I've been a bit negligent in that area. Thing is, being a very visual person I'm always more attracted to blogs with good photos, and although in my life at large I try to pull the camera out whenever the spirit moves me, in my studio when I'm up to my elbows in metal shavings and resin the thought of pulling out the camera is not always such an intuitive thing.

 

During a phone call about a month ago a very special friend of mine gave me a gentle nudge to start posting more about what goes on in the studio. It was just the reminder I needed to bring me back to the reason I started this blog...to let you know what's up in the studio!

To begin to answer that I will attempt to catch you up on what I've been up to lately. 

First off, I finished this piece, which turned out to be more of a challenge than I ever would have expected, but worth every second for two reasons: 1) I really love how it turned out, and 2) It went to Suzanne in North Carolina, who is one of those truly amazing people who, one day if I'm lucky I hope I will meet in "real life".

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OK, and do you remember this series?

I've finally begun production on what will be a new addition to the series. First step was to hand-score sheets of glass into gridlines...a pretty time and labor-intensive task. I wish I had gotten a photo of the sheet of glass "gridded" up...it looks like this but on a much larger scale:

 

Each little rectangle you see is about 1/8" x 1/2". 

In the photo above you're seeing a gridded section of glass that is about 1" x 6". 

After a whole lot of snapping I end up with a jar of tiny glass bars:

 

These are the beginnings of the "Parts Lite" series. These are the elements that make it all work.

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The next exciting piece of news is that I am starting another "stock certificate" series. I was crazy excited to find these vintage and antique stock certificates because they all had such amazing details in them...they sure don't print things like they used to:

      

I love the intricate details in all of them, but my very favorite right now is this one:

My number one rule with antique/vintage documents is to scan them before I start to cut them, that way once I use up all of the originals I still have a visual record of them. This also leaves me with the option of using the images in designs, even if the paper isn't the original vintage stock. 

I'm usually pretty good about following this "number one rule", but with this one I was too excited to get started on it...I couldn't resist doing SOMETHING with the beautiful ornament on the corner of the document right away...and besides, the document has 3 more corner ornaments, so I still have a few pristine corners to scan.

Here it is cut apart and formed into a couple of dimensional elements:

And suspended in resin (the little center star has gold leaf added to the back, so when it is curled open you get just a glimpse of gold inside):

 

I'm very excited about this piece and once again find myself prematurely envious of a future wearer!

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And finally...today's desk:

Thanks for always bearing with me! I'll be back with more progress.

Best-

-c