Pendant Swap

It's been a wonderful past couple of weeks with these lovelies coming to my mailbox every couple of days. EtsyMetal's first Pendant swap is complete! Libby (erosasjewelry) decided she'd like to do a smaller run than the charm swap where the participants have to make 22 charms. A great idea. I made my little Matryoshka pendant, and we sent pendants to each other individually. I can't ever seem to meet the deadline for these swaps, no matter when it is. I think the pressure helps me to get them done. Just look at all the great pendants I get to wear! The hard part is choosing!

MASSC Demo Day 2009

The Metal Arts Society of Southern California held their annual demo day on Saturday. This is an event I've been attending for the past few years and it's always a fun and interesting day. I apologize for the awful quality photos I took with my phone, but I'm sharing anyway. It's great to be around people who have like interests, to network a little, learn a little, and be in a college metal studio with all their big and yummy tools. It was held El Camino College, which is equipped with several rooms full of tools, which makes me want to go back to school just to have access to everything. Thanks to all the volunteers who hosted demos and organized the day! I saw 5 demonstrations throughout the day:

Broom Casting - Fold Forming - Kumihimo (Japanese Braiding) - Acid Etching - Electrical Etching (Etch & Kvetch):

Inspiration - Blog Carnival

The object of art is to give life a shape. [Midsummer Nights Dream]

William Shakespeare
1564-1616, British Poet, Playwright, Actor

Linquistically, the word, inspiration means "breathed upon." For me, that means the merging of the dichotomy of my life, my feelings, and the images in my mind with my chosen medium of metal, which by itself, could be seen as being cold and unyielding. Metal is, however a great carrier of heat, greatly reflective, and malleable.
Form
When working with silver and copper as raw materials, I am concerned with the form it can take. I draw inspiration for form from the things I see; shapes, figures, people, and other works I view as I go through my day or have filed in my memory. The feeling those shapes evoke can bring fluidity and motion to design.
Materials
Beyond the metal, I also use other materials which inspire design and form. What draws me to obtain those materials? Beyond beauty and color, I like things that have a sense of history. That history may be present because the material might be vintage, I may have found an item for which I can imagine a story, or it may be a stone that made itself over years and is now unearthed. Even the mundane, everyday object can take its place in a great story and be recognized for it's beauty.
Words
I am a big reader. The books I read and the stories I hear often leave me with images that can be translated into what I make. Being able to use words and incorporate them into design through stamping, gives me the ability to be inspired by a unique phrase or something I said when I was young that evokes nostalgia or humor. Words give me some measure of freedom in design.

I am a researcher at heart, trying to find a story to tell through form, materials and words. I love to be able to tell the story behind a piece. That story often helps me to reach out to others and make connections.

To read more stories of inspiration, read these blogs, whose authors are posting on the topic for 5/8/09:
http://www.chris-parry.blogspot.com/
http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com
http://deliasstudioinc.blogspot.com