PHOENYX ARTS

Pig Update: Wings and Finished!

2012-01-03T23:06:00.000-08:00

I spent much of Monday working on getting the wings finished. I think they took me longer to complete than the entire pinstriping process.

I changed the way I was going to do the wings to a more robust design, inspired by a tutorial I found on Jewelry Lessons for a Heraldic Dragon by Morganause. Her work is amazing! It was tricky to attach the wings, but they are pretty solidly on there.

Right Wing

Left Wing

From the back

So I had to take my pig back to ArtCentric today so he can spend some time in the window of the shop with all the other painted piggies. He got to spend part of the day at work with me today before I brought him over. I miss him already!

Pig Update: Pinstriping Finished!

2012-01-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

I may go back and do a little touch up tomorrow if I feel it needs it, but the pinstriping is finished on the pig.

Some black outlining around the eye, pupil and highlight really gave it better shape.

Striping from the top.

Striping from the back.

Wing construction tomorrow, and we are done!

Pig Update: More Striping

2012-01-01T15:49:00.000-08:00

Staying in the blue family on the stripes, at least for now. This is the same blue on the eyelid, and works rather well.

Pig Update: New Years Art Dork

2012-01-01T01:49:00.000-08:00

I don't relish the idea of going out on New Years anymore. Mainly because I'd rather be able to enjoy the alcoholic beverage of choice in the comfort of my own home, and not have to worry about the drunken idiots on the road. That and I don't want to be one of those drunken idiots on the road.

So I stayed home, had sushi for dinner, imbibed in a good amount of Old No. 7, and painted on my pig.

First I roughed in the facial details. Green eyes, then mixed maroon with black to give the lips & tongue a dark red base.

Then I got pretty ambitious with the first layer of striping. Needed to outline the leafing I applied earlier tonight, then just went a little crazy. What is cool is in regular light the striping doesn't stand out too much. It's going to be fun to add the next color. Probably peacock blue. I think I'll stick with blues.

Another view of the first layer of striping. I really like the leafing SO MUCH BETTER than the glazing.

Added pure maroon to lips and tongue to give it more detail. Probably go another step later.

One of my friends had to go and dredge up the memory of her neon Buddha statue, so I decided to go ahead and put the detail in the iris just to help make that insane memory go away.

Still a bit to do, but it is getting there! I have the wings designed, but need to construct them (when not enjoying Old No. 7). Wire work is a little trickier for me than painting sometimes.

I'm kinda sad this pig will be going away on Tuesday. I may end up bidding on it in May when Dragon Pig and his 'siblings' go up for auction for the Benicia Education Foundation.

Happy New Year, everybody! May 2012 bring health, abundance and creativity to all of you!

Pig Update: Leafing

2011-12-31T16:15:00.000-08:00

Quickie update. Added variegated red leafing to the spine to help disguise the glaze texture under the paint. I like this MUCH better! Wings are designed, but still need to be made.

Pig Update: Shades of (Benicia) Blue

2011-12-30T00:31:00.000-08:00

I was pretty disappointed with the way my glaze turned out. I only blame the one holding the brush on that (aka "me"). Ah well, lesson learned.

Pig is no longer so innocent and unassuming. He's developed an interesting personality lately. I finished the sculpt this morning, then tonight did a little sanding and applied the paint. I used Magic Sculp for the addition of the eyebrows, lips, tongue, and to hold the wing wires in place. Awesome product!

For those of you that wonder what paint will stick to glazed ceramics, I highly recommend you give Krylon Fusion for Plastics a try. That stuff is AMAZING! You still have to be careful before it cures, and I wouldn't go knocking it about if it can be avoided, but it's held up well on the test skulls I sprayed a couple months ago.

So the pig has his base coat of paint, and he is a lovely shade of Benicia Blue, or at least a reasonably close version. Ever since I did the concept sketch for the pig, I wanted to paint him Benicia Blue.

Eyebrows added to disguise the little eyes close together. I'm painting new eyes in. I was messing around with the magic sculp the other night and decided I wanted to give him a tongue, so the lips had to go with it. A tribute to Mick Jagger and Gene Simmons! Gave him cloven hooves too.

Wing armature. The wings will be constructed out of copper wire.

The other side.

Top/back. You can kind of see the outline from the glaze. To disguise that will either involve clever pinstriping, or some leafing AND clever pinstriping. May go with copper leafing just to tie in with the copper wings.

My deadline? I have to have this back to Artcentric by January 3! Eep!! Ah well, I do most of my projects like this under pressure, so cue the Mission Impossible music!!

Pig Update

2011-12-29T13:06:00.001-08:00

Time is ticking away! I have completed the sculpt on the pig for the Parade of Pigs. Now the painting and wing building can commence.

Yes, the Dragon Pig's mouth is a tribute to Mick AND Gene, why do you ask?

Painting a (Ceramic) Pig for a Cause

2011-11-02T00:45:00.000-07:00

I started painting my pig tonight. Early in October, I wrote about the Parade of Pigs put on by the Benicia Education Foundation and Artcentric. Decided to throw my lot in with the local artisans and students painting up piggy banks for a cause. I know there were many who applied, so I am happy my design one of the 20 selected.

The pig is a ceramic piggy bank that, when finished, will join the rest of them to be distributed to local shops on First Street in downtown Benicia to act as a way to collect donations for the schools in Benicia. That will happen in early January. The pigs will be in their host locations until May, when they return to Artcentric to be auctioned off. Again, the funds go to the cause.

So now I need to find a host store on First Street. One that has a lot more foot traffic than my humble place of work. Or maybe more than one place to split the time?

Tonight I started applying some glaze to the ceramic, but I'm not doing JUST glaze. I have other ideas, involving spray paint, 1-shot (anybody surprised?), leafing, some sculpted wire, and other things. I will be posting progress pics along the way.

Here are some of the beginning shots:

Blank canvas.

Looks so innocent, so unassuming. So ready to become…

DRAGON PIG!!

To the left, a very rough sketch of the idea. Beginning to rough in the face sketch for future reference, and beginning the glazing process.

Continuing the glazing process. Figured to keep durability in mind, I'm glazing the area surrounding the hole on the top. The rest will be in my preferred spray paints and 1-Shot.

UPDATE: 11/30/11
Due to election coverage and my editor being on paternity leave for 3 weeks, I wasn't able to work on the pig until tonight. The final coats of glaze are applied (the design is still the same) and it is awaiting a firing. Once fired, the blue areas will be nice and shiny. The rest of it will then be subjected to my crazy ideas. Stay tuned!!

An Armor Ring in Copper

2011-07-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

I love armor rings. The articulation, the hint of it being a part of weaponry, the “Heavy Metal” aspect to them… so when Julie Mauerer posted this tutorial for an armor ring, I HAD to do it! A great challenge in metalsmithing, soldering, and cold connections (riveting). I am excited for the semester to start back up so I can make a few more of these with different decoration.

Thankfully my fingernails did not have the “pinstriper’s manicure” when I took this photo. The ring fits comfortably, but it is a little too heavy to wear for painting. It throws my hand’s balance off.

I wanted the ring to have a distressed and battered look to it, achieved by scuffing with a series of files (I attacked it!) and antiquing. The burnished look resulted from tumbling with steel shot.

Fun at a Rainy Car Show Weekend

2011-06-09T00:58:00.000-07:00

June 4th & 5th was the Goodguys Summer Get-Together, but I think the “Summer” part was left out. Cold, wet, rainy are usually not words I would describe this event as.

Unfortunate weather aside, a good group of pinstripers from the area showed up for the Brush Bash and a ~~good~~ great time was had by all. Well, I had a great time, and I hope my fellow Bashers did too. Had a little bit of fun with Instagram. If you have an iPhone, you MUST get the Instagram app. It is one of the best for sharing your iPhone images!

On to the pics:

The guys

I don't know how I didn't get any pics of Sam or Trish… there were 3 gals (myself included) slinging paint with the guys. Ah, me, better focus with the camera next time!

Pinstriping Lunatic (Rich Luna)

I did some messing around with small scale on a barrette

Rich Luna and I had to maintain our tradition of Just 1-Shot (of Jack).

Day 2 and a full house in the Brush Bash area (I don't know why Ron always scowls at me when I point the picture at him. Then again, my husband does the same thing)

Decided to start playing with some pictorial work. It would be safe to say that I have a small obsession with skulls.

Did a little wandering around. Leave it to me to buy beads at a Car Show! (But there's SKULLS!!)

After wandering around a bit, came back to the Bash area to do some painting on a bicycle. Would you believe she wanted a...SKULL??? A HeartSkull no less! Her husband had Sam paint one of her famous Bogie Babes on his bicycle. Since it was rather late in the day, we both have some finishing to do on these bikes next time around.

I also met this really cool artist by the name of Glen Sievert. He expresses his creativity by carving wonderful sculptures out of tree trunks with a chainsaw. Yes, you read that right… a CHAINSAW!

I am in love with this dragon.

Dragon stands over 6 ft tall. Gorgeous!

A 1957 Chevy carved with a chainsaw! I love it! Love the knot on the door.

Cute bear cubs, carved from a tree trunk.

Check out Glen’s web site. www.ChainsawArt.net. He will even come to your house and convert a tree stump into your very own sculpture. I don't have any trees I want cut down, but if I did, I'd have to have a dragon! Holding a skull! haha!

Great times, great people. I'm looking forward to the next one in August! West Coast Nationals… it's going to be HUGE!

Been on a Brief Hiatus

2011-04-22T00:24:00.001-07:00

Or is it “long time, no blog”?

I have been caught up in a lot of other things lately, and sadly I have neglected my blog!

To make up for it, let me share one of my “in progress” pieces… another 3 wire woven cuff much like the 3 Wire, Unleashed I created last year. Same base, but I've gone in a wildly different direction with it! One thing I have kept very similar to the last cuff was the treatment on the clasp. That will be the same.

Like the twisty crazy wire? I’ve been obsessed with the sculptural wire jewelry for a few years, and I am determined to learn how to do it! Unfortunately, other than Remy Heath’s wonderful Woven Sculpture Pendant tutorial, and a few other very basic “rainbow weave” tutorials, there is very little in the way of documentation on how to do this. So, I am muddling through on my own just like everybody else that wants to learn this technique! It is a lot of fun, like a deranged jigsaw puzzle.

This piece has been in progress for about a year now. I pick it up, work on it until I get lost, then put it down again for a period of time. I haven’t decided whether I am near a stopping point or not. But it has been a lot of fun to let the mystery unfold!

Year Of Jewelry Challenge: Week 6

2011-02-17T23:02:00.000-08:00

The theme for the Year of Jewelry Challenge, Week 6 was “Amoré”.

This piece was commissioned by a fellow pinstriper/artist from Ireland. He really like the Tree of Life pendants I had been posting, and wanted one for his wife. And he said his wife really liked jade. Since the only jade I had on hand & in order to get this done in time, I chose to go with a frame style to an older tree of life:

Like this, but I changed it to where the bail was a part of the frame, rather than a loose ring.

This is the result:

I also went with the tree style I had learned from my working with Ellen Thurmond of Ethora last year. I really love her style of tree. Changed it up a little, but I still give her credit for the tree design itself.

Year Of Jewelry Challenge: Week 5

2011-02-17T22:53:00.000-08:00

The theme for the Year of Jewelry Challenge, Week 5 was “Down & Dirty”. This tied in perfectly with the chasing & repoussé I had been learning thanks to the guest instructor in my jewelry class. Since the method we were learning involved putting the metal in a bowl of pitch, and the methods used to extract the metal from the pitch and the involved cleanup were all very messy, I figured it couldn’t get much messier than that.

Session 1 consisted of a bit of repoussé:

Session 2 was a bit more repoussé, then flipping it over for some chasing:

Session 3 was the final class, and I had a couple more passes with the chasing before I had to remove it from the pitch and clean it up:

For the final session I brought in my plastic human skull model to give me a better idea of the depth and planes while I was hammering. Made things a bit easier to think out.

I have to say, I LOVE this technique, and can’t wait to have the opportunity to play with it again.

Year Of Jewelry Challenge: Week 4

2011-02-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Week 4 of the Year of Jewelry Challenge was “Wild & Wicked”. As it has been “Wild & Crazy” in my life with the crazy book project I have been working on, this piece was in progress at the Week 4 deadline, and still is. I finally have a bit of breathing room to post it.

I'm on a “dual purpose pendant” kick of late, so this is yet another version. Another thing that I am obsessed with would be skulls.

Copper background, rich low brass skull (which looks a lot more like gold, and a lot less of the green ‘brassiness’ of regular brass) and nickel silver. Still need to etch the details into the skull, and do some texturing on the copper before riveting it all together.

A Few More "Dual Purpose" Pendants

2011-01-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

Around the time I completed my Week 3 “Year of Jewelry Challenge” submission, I had also completed these pieces.

First up is a twisted and swirled piece with garnet accents.

This piece was a lot of fun to twist together, because it challenged me to manipulate thicker wire into looking sinuous. Some hammering on the bail and the bottom of the loop give it a little bit of a textured accent.

There is enough room to hang thicker sunglasses frames from these as well as the more delicate wire framed reading glasses.

No added gemstones on this dual spiral, it is all copper wire.

This piece was constructed very similarly to my Hammered Hearts pieces. Thick wire, twisted & hammered, then woven together for support and embellisment.

Again, ample size on the bottom loop for various sizes of glasses & sunglasses.

Last but not least we have a smaller piece which is accented with some lovely peridot chips:

The gemstones and smaller wire add extra texture to this swirled & hammered design.

Smaller, yes, but you can still have the versatility of different sized glasses frames.

A new, improved "unabashed" 33 pendant!

2011-01-22T22:44:00.000-08:00

To quote one of my least favorite pop tarts... …“oops, I did it again!”

Another “unabashed” #33 Clint Bowyer pendant. Copper, brass and sterling rivets. All cold connection. Made the numbers a little neater, different texture and treatment to the copper. I left it all unantiqued to let it develop a patina on its own. Of course the wearer could keep it looking as fresh as a newly minted penny by giving it a periodic cleansing in ketchup to keep the tarnish off. :)

Slightly different treatment on the copper. The numbers were derived from an actual typeface rather than a rough sketch like my original “unabashed” pendant. Still it conveys the spirit of the piece, and the wearer would get a lot of attention from it.

This is the backside view of the piece showing how the rivets look. They shine up kinda pretty, like a constellation. Its the Clint Bowyer constellation, baby! Oh yeah! Rising star!!

Year Of Jewelry Challenge: Week 3

2011-01-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

This is a Dual Purpose piece. First of all, its a lovely hammered copper pendant, with woven embellishments, and hematite beads.

But wait, there’s more!

It is also an…

EYEGLASS HOLDER PENDANT!!

While this is not an original idea, the design and execution are my own. This stands well on its own as a pendant, but makes a great place to hang your eyeglasses or even sunglasses without having to use the ones that suspend from your ear pieces. While those are great, I personally find them cumbersome.

I like to use one for my sunglasses when I am out at car shows or outdoor events, and I am photographing cars, people, etc. Great place to keep my shades safe since I'm usually wearing a cowboy hat & can’t perch them on my head.

I have a number of these I just completed, and they will be up for sale on my ArtFire page very soon. Phoenyx Arts Artfire Page

Year Of Jewelry Challenge: Week 2

2011-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, a little late on posting the Week 2 entry, but that's only because I didn't get it done until well after the Week 2 deadline. The suggested theme for Week 2 was “lunar eclipse” but I will call this one “oh for Peace sakes, my need to get other deadlines finishes completely eclipsed my ability in meeting the week 2 YOJ dealine on time”. I am working on a baseball related book as a contract job, and its “eclipsing” just about everything else right now.

However, enough whining about that. Here is the peace, er, piece:

I got the idea for the execution of this from Tangocat Gems’ “Filigree Cross” tutorial. Thought it would be fun to do a peace symbol using the same twisting & twining that she illustrated in that tutorial. Copper wire.

GREAT Pinstriping Video!

2011-01-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic example of why I love this art form so much. Kind of hypnotic to watch these guys doing their magic. Enjoy!

Year Of Jewelry Challenge: Week 1

2011-01-09T01:48:00.000-08:00

About a year or so ago I started running across blog postings by various jewelry artists I really respect, and noticed they would post "Year of Jewelry" entries. Last month I was lucky enough to find out from Nancy Wickman of Wickwire Jewelry that there was another one starting up for 2011!

The Year of Jewelry Challenge is to create and post a new piece of jewelry every week. My personal challenge is to stick with this and to learn a lot more about the creation of jewelry and its various techniques.

The theme for Week 1 is “New Beginnings”, and decided what I've been playing with in the lessons from Jodi Bombardier's new book "Weave, Wrap, Coil" would be appropriate. The ring is the first woven wire ring I have ever made (and the jury is still out to whether I enjoyed it or not) and the other piece is part of one of the necklace projects. While I'm pleased with the weaving on this piece (and it was a challenge to weave to a narrower point!) the symmetry is off on the frame. So, this will likely become the dangle on a forged copper bookmark or something.

Couple New-ish pieces

2011-01-09T01:34:00.000-08:00

Another fun use for the Skull design I created some time back… earrings!

This time I cut the skulls out of copper, and riveted them to brass using sterling wire. Details were added to the skulls using the Dremel engraver. I polished the entire thing to a high shine, then decided to dip them into liver of sulfur to give them that antiqued look.

My friend and occasional coworker commissioned me to make this necklace for his mom for Christmas. Since she is a big fan of the Grateful Dead we decided a Peace symbol would be appropriate. After some trial and error, then going off in a direction that I needed to steer my way back out of, this is the result:

Woven peace symbol on a hammered frame. Copper wire, with amethyst, laboradorite, carnelian, sunstone & moonstone. All the stones tie in astrologically with the members of the family. Ended up making the chain too, because pairing this piece with a commercially made chain looked, well, wrong. Wasn't originally part of what I was going to make, but it was a matter of pride, and since both my friend and his mom are both really good people, worth the extra effort.

Multiple shots, because I'm experimenting with different ways of photographing my jewelry to see what showcases it the best for the pieces that will be posted on ArtFire soon.

Makes me glad I've held on to these crystals over the years.

Plain white background is ok, but I'm still at a loss on photographing a piece without any "props". Ah well, its all a learning process.

Pinstriped Motorcycle Helmet

2010-11-11T02:02:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to lay some lines on this flat black motorcycle helmet at Billetproof. Ended up having to take it home to finish due to high humidity & the helmet owner's desire to leave the show before I was finished.

Lettering by Ron Miller. Pinstriping by me.

Jewelry Photo Blitz

2010-08-18T23:54:00.000-07:00

Most of the time I end up putting off photographing the pieces of jewelry I am working on until I have a larger quantity to photograph, then shoot them all in one big blitz. Here is the latest batch of pieces I was working on following a number of tutorials I had purchased to learn new techniques:

First we have a couple pendants made using the techniques in Donna Spadafore’s “Caged Bird’s Song” tutorial.

I really learn a lot about wire weaving from Donna’s tutorials. Here is a piece using her “Woven Wire Cage” tutorial.

And one from the “Odyssey” tute.

Abby Hook’s “Love Pendants” tutorial provided the technique for this Celtic knot pendant. I had attempted the other one in the tutorial, but it ended up residing in my “fail bucket”. It happens.

Had a lot of fun creating this bracelet using Donna Esposito’s “Etruscan Scale Bracelet” tutorial. The blue quartz beads really glow against the copper. Great dye job on those beads!

A large stone bead wrapped playing with the techniques in Danagonia’s “Nugget Bead Framing” tutorial.

Nancy Wickman, aka “Wickwire” share a lovely tutorial for a Woven Pendant on her blog. This is my result.

Last, but by no means least, a pair of earrings I designed and created to complement a bracelet I posted a while back.

The Fall Semester just started up this week, and I am taking the jewelry fabrication class again. I am very excited about what I will be learning in this class. I plan on doing a lot more bezel setting, some enameling, and hoping to start doing more metal shaping too.

In other news, I just started doing some part time production work for another jewelry artist. I am very excited about this because I get to work with a jewelry designer whose work I have been a fan of for a while, and gives me an opportunity to learn more about production work on multiple pieces.

A Little T & A (aka Sometimes I Stripe on Cars)

2010-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

So far in the past couple months I've had the opportunity to pinstripe a couple fantastic cars.

First we have this really cool 1923 Model T:

Painting down low... its a challenge!

So is painting in awkward places.

The finished product. Striping subtle, but enhancing to the hot rod.

Then we move on to an absolutely gorgeous 1929 Model A:

Cue the “We're not WORTHY” moment from “Wayne’s World”, because that is how I felt.

Then I had to open my big mouth about body lines. Marcus says, “Oh, what a great idea! Go for it!” *Gulp!*

Nice long back piece.

All cleaned up and some outdoor shots:

Special thanks to Marcus Edell for the photos, and for challenging me with these beauties!

33 pendant: “Unabashed”

2010-06-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

Valli Hilaire of The Fast and the Fabulous referred to me as an “unabashed Clint Bowyer fan” in her blog entry “To Infineon and Beyond”. Had the opportunity to meet that wonderful woman at Infineon Raceway on June 18.

And its true! I have other drivers I like, but Clint is my favorite.

Only drawback is, there is an absolute lack of really cool #33 jewelry out there. I kept threatening on the forum that I would make my own. I finally made good on that threat:

Copper & brass with sterling rivets. This was the experimental piece, and I have other ideas in mind for the future…whatever number(s) I end up putting on it (them).

Notice all the scratches in the numbers? I kinda lost my temper at this piece at one point, took my file to the brass in a not so loving way. Was having a little issue with the rivets. Almost chucked this piece in frustration. My jewelry instructor basically told me to get over myself and keep at it. I'm glad he did. Future versions won't bear the scars like this one… unless of course somebody orders one that way.

And a slightly less “dramatic” looking shot of this:

Hmmm, too bad its 3 in the morning… I want to go make another one RIGHT NOW!

Some Odds & Ends (Catching Up)

2010-06-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately, so here's a few new projects to catch up with:

Skull charm. Cut out of brass sheet metal, engraved & polished. My husband claimed this one as soon as he saw it:

Thumb ring. Used loose woven emery cloth and a rolling mill for the texture. Comfort fit (rounded inside, much more comfortable than the “flat” bands):

My very first bezel setting. Cross stone cabochon. Soldered all the links on the chain too:

Working with Connie Tescar’s Sleeping Tree tutorial (for my mom). More of these in the works:

A different variation of Connie’s Tree of Life:

Learning a new weaving technique. A pair of earrings using the wonderful tutorial provided by Nancy Wickman:

I’ve also finally gotten a few items photographed that I will be posting on Etsy. Stay tuned for that!

3 Wire Cuff Unleashed

2010-05-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

Jackie of Feeling Stone Gifts created this wonderful tutorial. She gave the basics of the technique, and then basically tells you to ‘have at it’ with the embellishment.

A great way to use a lot of ‘stray’ beads I have had around for a while.

My embellishments ended up manifesting themselves on the ends of the cuff. I added extra wire loops, which provided more foundation for the freeform part. Perfect place for one of these heart beads!

If you can't tell I love red, look again! Ok, purple is my favorite color, but red is a close 2nd! Every bead is some shade of red, even the ones that look black.

Even though it didn't call for one in the tutorial, I added a clasp. Even though I put it on to see how it would be without a clasp, I know it would be just one epic flail (haha! Thanks, Lyz!) away from flying off.

All I can say if you make jewelry, newbie or veteran, this is a fun exercise in creativity.

Thanks for looking!

Husband's Water Bottle

2010-05-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

During one of our excursions, my husband found this water bottle that was similar in color to his '07 Mustang (aka his Mistress).

Took me forever but I finally got it painted up for him. Skull & crossed pistons since he's a mechanic. I had suggested some lighter blue stripes in a few different shades, but he wanted the yellow & fire red. And I just LOVE striping with yellow. (not) Ah well, he's happy with it, that's what matters, right?

The Wrapshody Continues…

2010-05-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

A friend and fellow Clint Bowyer fan liked the coiled bangles so much she asked me to make her one in silver. She has wrists that are a bit larger than mine, so I made a “rough draft” in copper first…

Then made the silver one. Never ceases to amaze me that copper and sterling, while similar in softness, behave so differently. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. (Thanks again, Stacy of Hodgepodgerie for providing such an excellent tutorial on this technique!)

Decided to play with this a bit more and create one with some chunky carnelian beads I found a few years ago. Problem with stone beads is often they do not have straight holes drilled in them. On the entire strand I was lucky to find three that had holes large enough for 12 ga. wire. One still needed a little “persuading” with a bead reamer. Seriously considering an electric one.

I was so thrilled by this one, I had to design and create a matching pair of earrings. Necklace in the works, so stay tuned!

Twisted, Coiled, Wrapped & Linked

2010-03-14T01:41:00.000-08:00

This necklace went through a couple revisions, and several months on the back burner before I finally completed it.

A look back to “A Trio of Coiled and Beaded Earrings” shows some coiled components using seed beads and wire. These were originally created as links for this necklace, but they did not work. At all.

A lot of influence for this piece came from things I learned in the classes given by Lisa Niven Kelly many years ago, and Sharilyn Miller’s book “Bead on a Wire”.

Hammered Hearts Take 2

2010-03-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

After seeing a copper cuff somebody created out of thick gauge wire, it reminded me of some of the methods I played with in blacksmithing. I incorporated those into the design of the original Hammered Hearts. Gives the points at the bottom and separating the globes at the top a little more definition.

Gave the points on the 2nd one a little bit of a curl to see how it would look.

Whether they are better than the original versions or not is up to the individual. I have things I like about both.

Bohemian "Wrap"sody

2010-03-05T02:26:00.000-08:00

Last month I posted this copper coiled wire bangle and I've had a little more fun with it.
I decided that this was a little too plain for my liking, so I added jump rings to the end of the hook/clasp attaching it to the bangle, and a counterweight dangle. The bead on the dangle is one that I made a few years ago when I took a weekend class on lampworking. Tossed it in the tumbler for a bit longer, and this is how it looks now:

Decided to start exploring variations on the theme:

The beads are vintage, no idea of the era. Found them at this funky antique store many years ago. The bead in the center was on a necklace, the yellow beads at the bottom are a vintage strand that was strung on rawhide. I love how rough and organic they look, even the tiny bubbles in the glass. Named it "Bohemian 'Wrap'sody" as a tribute to the Bohemian movement, and that wonderful song by Queen.

More in progress, one in sterling, another in copper with carnelian. Stay tuned!

1st Class Project: Copper Pin

2010-03-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

The first project my jewelry instructor gave the class was to create a pin/name tag using methods of cutting, hammering, texturing a piece of copper sheet.

Those of you that know my pinstriping style won't be surprised to find a wing in this design.

Before I cut it out, I put the copper through the rolling mill with a feather on top of it. After cutting it out, did some more texturing using a chasing hammer, stamps, etc. A lot of fun and a lot of potential for future projects.

A trio of coiled & beaded earrings

2010-03-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

These started out as components for a necklace I was working on, but they did not work out in that piece.

The top pair of earrings has copper earring clasps purchased from my local favorite bead store Just Bead It and the bottom two pair are sporting ear hooks I created.

Working on ways to incorporate seed beads into my work since going back to seed bead weaving is something low on the priority of things to do. Very, very low.

Wrapped Cabochon: Prong Style

2010-02-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

As a child I was lucky enough to take lapidary classes for the space of about a year. Every Friday evening, my dad would drop me off at the rock shop for a few hours and I'd spend that time learning how to cut, shape and polish cabochons. I kept a few of the stones, gave away a few, lost a few.

This is one of the keepers. Many years later, it finally finds a “home” in a copper wire wrap.

I wish I could remember what type of stone it is. I'd like to say a type of jasper, but not sure.

Used the technique outlined in Remy Heath’s Border Wrap Prong Pendant tutorial. If you are looking to learn this method, it is well worth the investment.

Tree of Life in a Heart

2010-02-28T00:14:00.000-08:00

A couple new pieces experimenting with the Tree of Life in a copper heart shaped frame.
First we have one with carnelian chips and goldstone beads with a copper chain.

Next up is one created with garnet chips and beads.

More pieces coming soon, as I just photographed a backlog of pieces. Stay tuned!

Slinging Paint at the Sacramento Autorama

2010-02-20T01:25:00.000-08:00

Spent Friday afternoon & evening at the pinstripers' panel jam located at the Sacramento Autorama. Hosted by TJ Pagano & sponsored by PPG.

Incidentally PPG is also a sponsor of Penske Motorsports, but I digress.

I'm pretty sure there was a car show going on, at least that is what I am given to understand. I know there were some great cars in the building where the panel jam was located. I got so wrapped up in painting, I didn't leave the building. One the bright side, I managed to get a piece finished for the art auction, on the bummer side, I didn't get to drool over the automotive eye candy at all beyond the ones I could see. And, unfortunately, the only pics I managed to snap were of this piece.

This is the art for today:

12" x 24" painted steel panel. I have had that flying eye/skull pic floating around for a while and wanted to do something with it. Still going to refine it and put it in something else eventually.

Flames were done by covering the steel with Sticky Mickey (masking film), drawing the flames on, cutting out the design, then sponge painting the Kustom Kolor pinstriping enamels in a series of fades. Skull & flying eye are both painted with the Kustom Kolor enamels, but I reverted back to my trusty 1-shot for the pinsriping, flame outlines, and the black outline on the skull/flying eye part.

Overall, I really don't care for the Kustom Kolor enamels. They don't flow very well on the brush, they gum up too fast, and the thinners STINK worse than anything used with 1-shot. I had a "kill me now" headache by the time I was done. Thanks to T-Bonez for having Alleve.

But 2 positives about Kustom Kolors: they dry very fast (flames were dry by the time I did the outlining) and some of the colors were pretty cool. I especially love the purple I used on the wings.

I think I'll stick to my 1-Shot.

Hammered Hearts

2010-02-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

A recent design. Hearts formed and hammered out of thick gauge copper wire, then some coiled and woven embellishments added. I made 7 in all in this "series", including the prototype.

Above: The "prototype".

Above: #4 of 7.

Above: #6 of 7. My favorite of the series. "Unfortunately" I ended up squishing the coil on the side, so didn't feel like I could justify selling it. Oh, darn. I had to keep it.

Copper Coiled Bangle

2010-02-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Its amazing what you can do with some copper wire, a few tools, and most especially an antique hand drill. Without that drill, I wouldn't even try something like this. Coiling teeny tiny wire over slightly larger wire by hand just doesn't scream "good time" to me. Still, I have to thank Stacy of hodgepodgerie.com for posting the instructions for this bangle on jewelrylessons.com. I've since made a few more that are waiting for their final antiquing and tumbling before photographing them.

Some "Tree of Life" Pendants from last year

2010-02-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

I became quite fascinated with Connie Tescar's "Tree of Life" pendant tutorial from jewelrylessons.com. Ended up making a number of them.

The first 5. All in copper. Some more in copper:

And a few in silver:

I have a couple more pieces in the works with different frames. Moving on to my own interpretation of this wonderful Tree.

Yes, another "Guardin' Koi"

2010-02-06T02:14:00.000-08:00

I painted and sent another fishie on its way. This one went to Pomona for the charity art auction that Von Hot Rod holds with his Pinstripers' Reunion every year at the Grand National Hot Rod Show.

Why I decided to do the lettering inside the mouth is beyond me. Was a cool idea at the time, but EGADS what a pain in the arse! Lettering is definitely not one of my stronger skills.

Still, I’m pretty happy with the way this guy turned out.

I had originally intended to do the areas now in Sublime green in gold leaf, but the gremlins invaded my paint area and hid my sizing. Needless to say I was less than thrilled about that.

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!

2010-01-01T01:35:00.000-08:00

2009 has come and gone. While some cool things happened in 2009, I’m not sorry to see the end of it.

On to a new year, on to a new decade. May the next 10 years be joyful and prosperous to all.

Bringing Kulture to a Technical School

2009-07-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

I recently accepted a teaching job that will start in September. I will be teaching Intro to Visual Communications at a technical college here in town, Its only one day a week, but its a start. I’m still searching for another job or jobs for the rest of the week.

Last Tuesday, while I was at the school filling out the hiring paperwork, the Dean asked me if I could give a non-computer demonstration of something artistic for the VC students at some Open House thing they were having on Saturday. I think she had something like sketching in mind, but I suggested pinstriping. Didn’t think they’d go for it since I explained the paints were kinda smelly, but they went for it! The only “stipulation” being I had to explain how it tied in to graphic design, or visual communications.

Saturday morning, I hauled in my paint kit, sample panels painted by a few different artists as well as a couple of my own, a few blanks, and some of my books on pinstriping, truck lettering, Kustom Kulture and hot rod history. Gave a talk on a brief history of line art from the art paintings in the caves of Lascaux, to the roman chariots, to what eventually evolved in to modern day pinstriping. Explained how it ties in with graphic design, how spatial awareness, layout and knowledge of color theory is helpful, etc. Brought out the paints and did a little striping. Managed to get a few of them to pick up a brush and give it a try.

Oh yeah, I was able to give a couple examples of “brand identity” too. Almost everybody recognized Rat Fink and Von Dutch’s “flying eye” graphics, even if they didn’t know what the significance was.

Overall it was a fun experience. Met a few of my future students, a few of the school’s “reps” and a couple other teachers. Hopefully the exposure to some Kulture will do them some good.

If you think models are really that perfect...

2008-02-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

Ask a person who spends hours a day retouching high fashion and other type images. We know a model's every dirty little secret. We just cover them up.

2 1/2 Years Later...

2008-02-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

I am the admin for an art forum called Sketch Kult which has a fantastic Pinstripers' forum in it. Back in October of 05 somebody came up wit the idea of doing a panel swap, with a lucha libre theme. I had mine about halfway finished when the 'deadline' hit but had hit a wall with it. Luckily the person I was to send it to, Ray, has an abundance of patience. So, January of 2008 I finally get this finished.

I had a lot of frustration with this piece. The original parts from 05 are the mask in the center, and the border. I Couldn't figure out how to finish it. Even considered painting a different thing to send to Ray. Finally I just went for it.

Ray is going to be the sole owner of something that has old art and new from me. There's not another piece of mine out there like that.

*%#@!! Rain!

2008-02-03T13:08:00.000-08:00

Dammit!! Had my creative mojo going this afternoon, spraying up a few panels to get ready to paint. Unfortunately my only place to spray up panels right now is outside. Got a couple pieces of aluminum ground out and ready to put candy colors on, took one outside to start... soon as I did it starts SPRINKLING!!!!

I know we need rain so I'm not going to say I wish it wouldn't... but could it not have waited for a couple more freaking hours???

AAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!

Oh well, on the bright side I got some clear on a couple other panels, and got a few coats of red on a new skateboard deck. Just need to keep an eye on the next break in the weather.

A bit of recent Stripeage...

2008-01-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

I have some fresh paint that is yet to be photographed, but these are recent:

First is a panel for the GNRS charity auction that was held the weekend of January 25-27. Wish I could have been there, but circumstances didn't allow. Hope it at least made a few bucks for the auction. Herb (Herbie Herbie?) helped with the lettering since mine is abysmal. Hopefully the only time I will ever have to resort to vinyl lettering because I WILL improve my hand lettering this year! I used to to Calligraphy all the time, had to hand render type in art school when I was going through the graphic design department... I SHOULD be able to do this.

All colors in the central part are custom mixed. Some times I just can't leave well enough alone! Of course the wings on the borders ('cause I have to have my WINGS) are straight Reflex Blue. Quite possibly my favorite color of 1-Shot.

Next up is a Fish I painted for my favorite tattoo artist, Natasha of Final Sin. A while back she asked me to paint up a fish for her like the ones I've done in the past, make the base color periwinkle or light purple and take it from there. This damn fish fought me every step of the way! I've never gotten in to so many arguments with a piece of art before.

Yes, I argue with my art some times. Only time that gets touchy is if I'm at the forge. (Oh, how I miss the forge!)

Anyway, here's some shots of Fishie:

More to come soon including shots from the San Francisco panel jam a few weeks ago, and a project I started 2 years ago and finished this week!

'New' 1-Shot!!!

2008-01-30T00:23:00.001-08:00

Ooooo, 'New' 1-Shot! 'New' label on the can... and this stuff COVERS like it should! Hope for 1-Shot not being referred to as 3-Shot? Me likey.

Some people, no common sense (Or I Smell SMOKE!!!)

2008-01-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

I've been taking welding classes at the local community college for the past couple years, usually on Saturday mornings. Semester just began, this was the 2nd week of class.

I'm setting up my area to do some gas welding, and I keep catching a whiff of smoke. Ok, normally you will smell a little smoke here and there in a welding lab, its normal. This was a lot stronger than what I normally smell so I start looking around. When I looked at the closet that houses half of the power sources for the arc welders, I notice smoke... billowing out of the room, and a nice red glow. Sure enough, there's a fire in the power closet. Some idiot's bag on top of something it should not be on, blazing away. I yell Fire! Well, it was more like 'HOLY SHIT THERE'S A FIRE!! Teacher comes out of his area, and other students are milling about the closet doing nothing, and in the way. So I start barking orders at them to get the damn power shut off & get a fire extinguisher. Fire gets put out without having to call the fire department.

Later I find out the cause. Turns out the thing the bag was set on was a coil base power supply that caused the bag to ignite. I talked to the guy responsible long after I had a chance to calm down and not be so pissed at his idiocy. He says he KNEW that he shouldn't have put his bag there. Well no shit, buddy... good thing he didn't burn the welding lab down. Ah well. Hopefully he learned his lesson and will be more mindful of where to put flammable objects in an area where there's a lot of fire.

What gets me, is that this is the beginning of my 3rd year in this program (part time), I've taken numerous metal arts classes, been around extreme fire, molten metal, sparks, forges, etc... and I've NEVER seen something like this happen. Why did this happen? Because the guy wasn't paying attention to the fire safety instructions that our teacher gives ALL the new students at the beginning of the semester.

Car Show & Panel Jam at the Palace of Cows

2008-01-25T23:41:00.000-08:00

The weekend of January 11-13 was the annual San Francisco Hot Rod, Custom & Motorcycle Show. This year was the first of what I hope will be an annual Panel Jam, hosted by East Coast Artie.

I was there Friday and Saturday. Friday I helped Herb Martinez (my mentor and a friend) in his booth. I originally thought that another friend of his was arriving later and I'd head to the panel jam, but it didn't work out that way so I was there for the duration. No problem, I pulled out my paints and did some striping in his booth. It was a lot of fun, really. Herb's a total HAM! He knows how to be quite social, so I call it learning at the Herb Martinez School of Shmoozing.

Here's Herb's booth. And Herb. What a ham!

I can't remember the guy's name, but I believe he is the one running the show. He was also running around with a microphone, interviewing various participants in the show. Naturally he had to interview Herb.

Cool thing about where Herb was set up is right next to him was the legendary Bill Hines. It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet him!

Yours truly, cheesin' with Bill:

If you don't know who Bill Hines is, let's just say this guy has forgotten more about lead work on auto bodies than most people today know!

This is but one example of his work:

Amazing, isn't it?

I wasn't chained to the booth the entire night, so I did a little wandering around. Lots of shiny and not so shiny pretties on 4 wheels in this place!

A '37 Zephyr:

Pardon me while I DROOL!!

A pace truck:

A race truck:

Johnny Benson's Toyota Tundra. Only a couple more weeks until NASCAR's season begins again! WOOOHOOO!!

A dragster truck:

Couple old pickups:

Some muscle cars:

And lots of other beauties.

The next day I was at the panel jam. ALL day. I was there at 8am, left at 10pm. I got to meet a lot of great guys who have been striping for years!

Guys like the legendary Tom Kelly:

Tom sat me down and gave me a demo on why a #1 or #2 Sword Striper is better than the #000 dagger I have been using. Suffice it to say it was a very jaw dropping, eye opening experience. I'm grateful he took the time to give me a demo like he did. Thanks, Tom! So now I'm practicing with an actual sword striper too. Its a completely different animal from the dagger.

Coop and Mitch:

These guys are a kick!

TBonez and Mr. J:

PeeWee:

John "Deadman's Hand" Frankel:

And quite a few great guys that I didn't get pictures of. East Coast Artie being one of them.

But ironically all we kept hearing about over the PA when they mentioned the panel jam was Herb... and he wasn't even at the panel jam! I'm not quite sure how the 'Herbie Herbie' joke started, but it kept going throughout the day.

Somebody made a lettered comment about it on the table:

And then a running tally about how many times Herb's name was mentioned got started. Notice how many times Herbie Herbie's name was mentioned opposed to Coop's, Artie's and even Tom's!:

Herb thought it was pretty funny.

I painted these up before the show and donated them for the auction:

two sides of a 1.75 l. Jack Daniel's bottle.

The other 2 sides:

And painted this while I was there:

Its a magnum sized wine bottle that was from my boss' vineyard. I know the auctioneer's wife was eyeballing it. I wonder if she got it?

There was also a donated Chevy Lumina that all the stripers added some art to. This was my contribution:

Lastly, the Mother's wax guy talked me into painting his laptop:

I hope it survived the trip since he had to split for Arizona the next day and the paint was still wet when they left he Cow Palace.

All together I believe the auction made $25,000 for the Make A Wish Foundation.

What a great time! I was bloody exhausted the following the day, but I can't wait to do it again!

So I'm a Pixel Jockey for a living...

2008-01-25T12:50:00.000-08:00

Basically what that means is I spend a lot of my time color editing and retouching images for the magazines that my place of work produces. Overall I LOVE my job. I get to play in Photoshop most of the time. I love Photoshop. I'm also starting to do a little photography for the company too. This is new ground for me... but I'm enjoying the journey so far.

There's a few things that I don't love, however.

The downside to this job is I end up having to deal with a lot of client provided images. While a good deal of them are just fine, especially after a few tweakings in color and a few hits of the healing brush, there are... disasters.

I don't know if it is because the account reps are clueless on what to tell the clients to give us, or if the clients are just clueless even after instruction, but I have to deal with nightmares like...

-the client just asking us to 'pull an image off the web and use it blown up to 300%'
Ok, first of all... we're dealing with a serious resolution issue here. Web images are generally 72 ppi (pixels per inch) where printed images need to run at about 300ppi to print decently. Blowing up the 72ppi image (usually a greatly compressed jpeg) and then adding in resolution to compensate = BAD IMAGE!

-badly retouched images. Call me cranky, but some people should not be allowed to have Photoshop on their computer. Ever. Blast me all you like on this, tell me I started from the beginning too. I agree and some of my early stuff is scary. But it didn't get sent to a publishing company with the expectation of it going to print. If you have aspirations to being a Photoshop junkie... that's GREAT! But please, for the love of Jon Knoll... LEARN the program!

-badly retouched images by professional photographers. Please, if you are a digital photographer, learn as much as you can about Photoshop, especially if you are sending your work to be used in a publication. I can't tell you how many times I've had to fix really bad edits done by decent photographers. Hey, look at it this way... I'm a Photoshop user learing about photography... I know photographpers can learn to use Photoshop. Or please trust me with your images to make them the best they can look if you aren't comfortable with the software. I can do it, really.

- Images taken from high end, RAW capable cameras, but sent to me as a low end jpeg. I mean, what the hell? If you have a Canon EOS 40d and you are taking pictures for me to put in your magazine...SEND ME THE RAW FILES!!!! I can make your images look so much better if I can take the editing from the very beginning. Otherwise I have to undo all the bad that you did (if I can), which takes more time.

-Pictures taken with dirty lenses. For God's Sake...CLEAN YOUR LENS!!!! Nothing like having to clean up a dirty, smudgy picture because somebody couldn't be bothered to take a bit of lens tissue and give the lens a swipe.

and on, and on...

I need a Photoshop Bat. Or I am going to grab a hard bound copy of the Photoshop Bible and start bludgeoning offenders with it while shouting 'Thou Shalt NOT Use Photoshop'!!!

And so it goes...