Cuban-Coffee

 

 

 

I had a hankering for Cuban coffee so I made my first cup.   In my 30 years of drinking various types of coffee from soy lattes to espresso to just home dripped, I have never enjoyed sweetened coffee. Yet, today this Cuban sweeten coffee is the best.   I have misplaced my demitasse spoons, so yes the spoon looks gigantic in comparison to the espresso cup; nonetheless the coffee is delicious!!.

Anna Feathers

Anna Feathers

I have been working a great deal in data centers lately with no energy to even step into the studio nonetheless, I think about making art incessantly.  This piece graces a wall in my bedroom.  It was made several winters ago of Lambs wool which felted so easily it was completed in less than an hour. The single line meandering throughout the vessel was not stitched but added on top with only wisps of lamb’s wool to cover the bronze embroidery thread. I cannot identify the feathers, as they were a gift from crafter in Ireland and they accent the vessel as naturally as they would a hat. The large piece is an agate pendant with a small 14K  gold finding.  As most of you collect things I enjoy the feel of vintage costume jewelry bakelite  and celloid. The surrounding beads, I collected from vintage necklaces.

Oh yes, I have a nice collection of items screaming to be used.   One can see that I wrapped the agate with brass wire and assembled the beads.  I had an exhibit and gallery had few pedestals so I came up with a way of displaying the items by making wall plaques with a shelf.  This shelf was constructed with Plexiglas formed into an L shape and mounted onto a piece of oiled cherry wood.   

Locks

Lately my day job has eaten up my time and I am too exhausted to get to the studio after work. It seems my excitement with wool is waiting for the cold winter months to set in. I was looking forward to making a beret to hide my unsightly hair while if grows from the spiked dew I wore for the summer months.  It was just too unmanageable so instead of felting a beautiful head covering, I got a fabulous haircut, by Jody Seitz, which is excessively adorable to hide under a hat.  NOW, my motivation to felt a wearable item is in gone.  For nearly two decades ago, I did silk scarves and the proverbial unusual socks for Christmas gifts, but I took a long pause from that work.  I had a nice inventory left but it has finally dwindled, thus people are clamoring for my wears.  Friends and relatives got felted items last year and they met with gratefulness but the regret was seen in their eyes “Where are my silk scarves and socks”?  HA HA.

I am at least trying to get momentum even if it is with posting older work.  The chalice (2009) looking vessel was my first attempt to work with locks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I attended a fiber group who had just returned from a fiber workshop with Elis Vermeulen demonstrating exactly what I attempted on my own.  As you can see in my vessel the success of a demonstration even though, I did not add near enough locks.  I was extremely apprehensive about them felting on top of one another so I placed only a minimal number of locks even though they were side by side in the lay out stage.

 

Today, I am free of my tech work and so I would like to devote myself to the studio. It is only 5 AM here so let us see how the day unfolds. Perhaps today is the day a new vigor will ensue.

Lindee’s Wrap

My dear friend Lindee knitted this lap warmer especially for me while she was vacationing in Colorado.  She drew inspiration from drop dead gorgeous colors in nature:  the shadows in the Rocky Mountains, the crystal clean waters of mountain stream, the meadows green with vegetation and the crimson of the setting sun.  I think she captured the hues with tremendous accuracy. She is a vibrant personality with energy unmatched.

Hat Pin

I have a container packed with precious items, not richly valuable but irreplaceable to my heart. I was looking for a particular broach, which I constructed using reticulated silver, mounted on a piece of ebony. What is reticulation you ask?  Sterling silver has a rather low melting point.  I had a fabulous silversmith professor who educated me in melting silver with the utmost care so that it begins to ripple and form patterns and one day I made an extraordinary reticulation, I should not take all the glory as melting is a bit like backgammon –half luck and half skill.  The hills and valleys of this silver piece would be accentuated nicely with a darkish background. I sliced a piece of ebony to look like a shadow of the reticulated silver.   Ebony is an oily wood so if it is rubbed long enough a sheen forms on the surface that lends the appearance of soft and aged wood after I was satisfied with the wood’s surface, I mounted it with hidden silver prongs.  This piece had no commercially made parts, so it holds nice memories of Professor Ollie Vallaine and his awesome instruction of jewelry making skills.  I wanted to wear this lovely broach on a date.   Sorry I have no pictures of the broach, as I did not find it.

Instead, I rambled across this sterling silver hand crafted hatpin, that I bought 40 years ago as a weapon.  In 1970’s, I walked a lot in the inner city and I had long, massively thick, deep dark brown hair that I often twisted atop my head, relieving my neck from hot humid summer days. This hatpin held my hair in place and should the need ever arise it could easily be accessed and pierce the privates of a perpetrator.  If I must say so, it looked so smashing against my dark hair.  Since winter has arrived, I have been thinking much about hats lately. They are a pain to wear because once on, it is a whole day commitment because the hat smashes my hair into a frightful appearance. Therefore, when I rediscovered this treasured hatpin, I wanted to share its craftsmanship and attention to detail.  I have over stated throughout my blogging, the perils of my aging camera so the details are slightly vague but enough shows that you eye can fill in the gaps.