Thursday, November 29, 2012

My latest challenge, enjoy.......



 
A member of Artisan Whimsy challenged us to help her design a new studio.
I believe she may benefit from a couple of my studio ideas.  She wanted pictures, so here they are.
 
First, here is a picture of my workspace - it's not big enough but the table was a gift from a supportive friend and I use TV trays to add to my space.
 
 
The TV is a recent addition (soon to be hung on the wall), a little large but it's fun watching Beads, Baubles and Jewels for inspiration.  A smart addition, which doesn't use too much space is shown below:
 

 
It's great because it's verticle. 
 
A little background, this is a relatively small basement room, becase we are hoping to move next year I wanted to keep the room as nice as possible.  I would prefer a work space that's a little more rough and tumble.  With that said, I wanted lots of craft storage that didn't look too industrial.  I'm fortunate enough to have an Ikea near my home so I thought it would be the perfect place to find inexpensive storage.  Look at what I found:
 
 
 
As you can see it takes up most of the wall and hides most of my stuff.  It's basically two seperate book shelf units and I added doors.
 
 


The workstation below used to be in my kitchen but I kept thinking how wonderful it would be as a work bench for glass and metalwork.  It's great for many reasons, but especially for the fact that it has a stainless steel top and wheels.  As you can see my tredmill is tucked away behind it, but the work bench is easily rolled out of the way.
 
 
The doors open up to all sorts of intersting tools.  I also keep my chemicals tucked away in this cabinet (pickeling compounds, etching supplies, patinas, solders, flux, etc.)
 
 
 
I screwed this small shelf to the end of the work station.  As you can see it's the perfect place for my enamels and frit.  One last picture - the two things that I could not live without in my work space, my kiln and my fridge :-).  Lots of pics for a space that's approximatly 12' x 14'.  Hope you enjoyed the tour.
 


 
 
 



 
 
 


Monday, November 12, 2012

UK Inspiration Challenge - Reveal


UK Inspiration Challenge - RevealFlag of the Isle of Wight.svg

The Isle of Wight Flag Committee ran a public competition in association with the County Press newspaper to design a flag for the island. They received over 350 entries. This was the winning flag designed by John Graney and was approved in April of 2009.

I took inspiration from the flag and designed this necklace.  The triangle on the flag denotes the artist's loose interpretation of the shape of the island.  The silver dangle on my necklace is my interpretation of his design.  The waves appear in various places on my necklace.  The waves appear in the lampwork beads and also (although hard to see) they also appear on the silver tube beads on either side of the largest beads.  This was a fun and challenging project. I hope you enjoyed learning this tiny bit of history associated with this beautiful island.

 
 

 
Below are the blogs of those taking part in the UK Inspiration Challenge as at 11th November - please add this list to your blog post if you are taking part, thank you!
The HostsLesley Watt Gossiping Goddess
Rebecca Anderson Songbeads
Pippa Chandler Pip's Jewellery
Teresa Hulley Bo Hulley Beads
Natalie McKenna Grubbi
Dorset
Ginger Bishop Lilmummylikes
Cece Cormier The Beading Yogini
Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures
Cilla Watkins Tell Your Girlfriends
Sherry Baun
Edinburgh
Therese Frank Therese’s Treasures
Kashmira Patel Sadafulee
Caroline Dewison Blueberribeads
Sherry Baun
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Lucy Haslam
Bath
Sherry Baun
Isle of Wight
Duane Clark Bizzy Bead
Sharyl McMillian-Nelson Sharyl's Jewelry
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Jean Wright Just Beadey
D Lynne Bowland Islandgirl’s Insights
Sherry Baun
Liverpool
Shalini Austin Jewellery by Shalini
Doris Stumpf Glaszwerg
Sherry Baun
Lennis C Windbent
Southampton
Sherri Stokey Knot Just Macramé
Sherry Baun
Leigh Thow Jewellrleigh
Kathy Lindemer Bay Moon Design

 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Friends from the UK Jewelry Challenge





Well, my latest obsession with the Social Site Artisan Whimsey has challenged me, once again.

Here is the challenge:  Can you create a piece of jewellery or a jewellery component inspired by where the UK Blog team live?  (They're British you know so they spell it jewellery.)

The list includes:
Dorset
Edinburgh
Bath
Isle of Wight
Liverpool 
Southampton 

They provided us with the history and a brief description of each area and all we have to do is make a piece of jewelry inspired by that location.

If you know me, you probably guessed I chose Liverpool.  I love the Beatles... welllllll.... I did some research and once I saw pictures of the Isle of Wight I changed my mind.  Here is a photo that I came across on the internet:



Stay tuned for my entry!

Dee