Glass Journal ...

This was my ahhh hah class at CREATE, Chicago hosted by Interweaves, Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Our artist presenter was Thomas Ashman of Black Sheep Studios. It was amazing what we created with hardware supplies. Plumbers tape, screws, welding rod, little strip of copper and 2 beveled glass squares was our materials.

This was my first time ever having a torch in my hands.. well other than the one I use to light the grill... but that's a whole different thing. We worked steadily all morning cutting and creating the parts for our spine. I kept thinking right this is going to work... Thomas walked us through it passing on a story or two.

We broke for lunch. When we returned we assembled our spine.. That's where my ahhh hah moment happened.. I was like holy sh*&%t.. this really is going to work and I DID IT. Yes, I had my doubts. But at the point I was doing the happy dance!!!!! Next was to add our wire spines to hold our paper signatures. Then the glass covers. I had a couple of wire jewelry moments.. like wrap around the rod... not back on itself. After I got that out of my head I assembled a wonderful piece.

A transparency goes under the glass cover. I have not quite decided what I want there. So for at the moment I have placed this Arms of Bristol transparency I had at home. I have a chain attached and plan to add some beads and charms.

One more Retreat day left to share....

Charms..

Belinda Spiwak over at Crazy Art Girl's Musings hosted a charm swap for those of us attending CREATE. I had so much fun designing my charms. My bird in a nest was assembled by twisting several strands of fine wire. Then I wove the wire into a nest, added some small seed beads for eggs and had this cute little bird bead to sit on her eggs. My flower is created with lucite flower beads that I purchased at this adorable bead shop I found in Downers Grove called Bead Heaven. If I ever get unpacked I will share what everyone created.

Another Create Day

This workshop was presented by Belinda Spiwak. We made ATC's with lots of dimension covered in resin. This was way out of my box. For some reason I have a had a fear of resin and I'll admit it, I'm not a big fan of making ATCs. Love to collect them though. It was a great class for my last day. Belinda was charming, set up a wonderful workspace, shared a treasure trove of goodies with us and made everyone feel relaxed. Everyone created some wonderful pieces. A must do with Belinda if you are interested in resin.

We used Tim Holtz dies from Sizzix and the Vagabond. This was a fun class. It was my first experience with Smooch and Little Windows Resin which I see myself using more of.

Another fabulous retreat day.

Another CREATE day

The inspiration and fun was contagious in Chicago. I could hardly wait for another day to come. Now I am working hard at holding back and showing you my creations one day at a time. I just want to post them up for you to see. In this workshop Uncle Charley has Left the Room Pendant, we cut copper and created a soldered bezel with a cold connection, added brass embellishments and made a wonder cloth necklace to hold our pendant. Our instructor Jean Van Brederode was so full of energy, she shared a wealth of information. The garage door clasp was fantastic. Each one of us left wearing our totally unique pendants.

Create Chicago 2011

I'm back home from a wonderful artful week in Chicago at Create. Cloth Paper Scissors Retreat. I had a blast, learned so many fantastic new things, met some fantastic people and had a chance to work out of my box. I'm going to share this week what I did. The first workshop was Burlap and Paperclay,instruction by Sue Pelletier. Both of these items out of my box and color that I don't normally work in, unless in a RR and it is required... with no more tadoooo here is what I created ....