Challenging the right brain to organize

Ahhhhh, it is Tuesday the 25th and I can actually see the table top. It has been a challenge to organize and sort and find a place for every little thing I have accumulated for xxxx years.

But it is getting there. The chest/head cold is finally on it's way to someone else and my energy level has gone up. Thank goodness.

I am actually having a good time doing this. Now when I pick up something from the pile on the tables, there is actually a REAL place for it. Imagine that!!! I have been spending money on shelving, an 8' table, plastic containers and labels and more. But, it is looking good.

Saturday I had a chance to take a glass fusing workshop from Donna Milliron. She is an exceptional national instructor. Hasn't been teaching a lot lately and I lucked out. Got to meet Bill Thomas of Bead Babe.com. Donna's husband, Craig, gave us a lamp working demo and my husband, Phil, tried his hand at it. Wowza! He can really do it! I shouldn't be surprised... he is, after all , a sculptor. So, now I have another addiction.

Heh, heh... this is going to be fun.

The thing I have always loved about polymer clay is color.... color, color and color. What I love about the metal clay is the ease of manipulating the material and the resulting pure silver and gold work. But, now, with my enameling and fusing classes behind me, color with the precious metal will be a total reality. I plan on using the fused glass with my polymer too.

Workshops:
Yours truly is getting ready to teach a brooch workshop. One in Sacramento, at U Bead It, and one in Placerville the weekend of April 5th and 6th. Click here for locations, times and costs. This one is my favorite. Check the photos on my March 9th blog. On April 12th and 13th I will be teaching Intermediate Metal clay, again at U Bead It in Sacramento and in Placerville. Coming up April 19th, there is a polymer clay deco box (See March 9th blog again) in Placerville and on the 20th I will be instructing intermediate polymer clay. Then at the end of the month, 25, 26 & 27 I will be teaching a Level I Certification workshop in Metal Clay through Art Clay Silver.

Charms for Charity

Click on the image for an incredible view!

Good morning!!! The chest/head cold got me up at O-dark:30 this am.... I really need to post this to you all as our metal clay people want to help. Please read the following press release from my friend and very talented artist Holly Gage.



Last summer, the Metal Clay community lost one of its own when Robin Whittemore, a talented jewelry artist and active member in the Metal Clay community, lost her courageous battle with cancer. Robin struggled with breast cancer and after six years of chemotherapy, radiation and medication, she was then told she’d required a bone marrow transplant.
Robin inspired the group with her uplifting spirit and love of life. Sadly, she died during the summer of 2007, leaving a legacy of courage and charity among her friends and colleagues.
Now Metal Clay artists from around the country have decided to honor Robin and their own loved ones who have succumbed to this disease by raising funds to benefit the American Cancer Society and The Marrow Foundation.
Metal Clay is a new way of working with silver, gold and platinum. It is a moldable metal that transforms from a clay-like state into pure sculpted precious metal jewelry with the heat of a torch or kiln.
Dozens of Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and Art Clay artists have created handcrafted charms for bracelets and necklaces, which will be raffled to raise money for cancer treatment and prevention. Members of the Metal Clay community have donated every aspect of this project, from making charms and bracelets to designing and selling raffle tickets and donating Web site space and credit card fees.
This is your chance to own a unique work of art created by the nation's premier Metal Clay artists. Raffle tickets are only $5 each or five for $20 and all proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society and The Marrow Foundation.
These pieces of fine jewelry will be raffled on July 20 during the PMC Conference 2008 at Purdue University, but you do not have to be present to win. Tickets can be purchased at the conference or in advance at www.wholelottawhimsy.com or at www.medacreations.com. Tickets and directions for payment submissions can also be printed out from www.pmcguild.com or www.artclayworld.com.
Each ticket purchased brings with it the chance for a special piece of fine jewelry but it also brings us one step closer to a cure. Visit http://www.pmcguild.com/, http://www.artclayworld.com/, http://www.wholelottawhimsy.com/ or http://www.medacreations.com/ to do your part.

Tickets and info are downloadable at my website too if you want to print and send by snail mail: http://www.lorrenedavisdesigns.com/tickets_&_info.htm

For more information, contact Holly Gage of Gage Designs, metal clay member and project coordinator, at hgage1@ptd.net .

The creative process

Okay, I am feeling a bit better. Yesterday we worked a few hours on the studio and it pooped me out... it is soooo exciting. With a little labor and a few dollars the studio will be much more roomy for my students and I will have a larger work area. It is totally different. Yippy skippy!

When I set up my classes this year, I decided to have them every other month. So, thankfully, with this cold, I am not pushed to teach this month. In April I will be teaching the below polymer clay DecoBox workshop and the metal clay amphora to the right will be in my intermediate metal clay workshops. The classes dates can be found here.

Lately I have been thinking of the creative process and how to get new ideas. In my classes I stress the option of wandering around different businesses: Craft stores, hardware stores, gourmet cooking outlets and such. Just wander around and say to yourself, "Now, what can I do with this? With that?". This opens up the intuitive part of your brain and gets you into the 'zone'. That is the bliss of creativity. That is why we are artists.

Get inspiration from other artists, take workshops and then find out what you can do with the above 'zone' ideas and new techniques. You WILL surprise yourself.

Off to get stuff for the studio.

Here are a few pieces of my work

The left is one of my DecoBoxes. It made of Polymer Clay, stone and a sterling chain.

The right is a brooch of fine silver, 24 karat gold and garnet.

Chest cold and ramblings.....

So, okay...yours truly has broken down and created a blog. I was giving a polymer clay demo at our local co-op gallery, Gold Country Artist's Gallery, and some friends from one of my previous employers told me I had to do this.

So, here it is Sunday March 9th and I am alternately blowing my nose and typing. What a bummer. My sweet husband, Phil, has been helping me re-organize my studio and now I cannot do anything but ramble. The cold is a major problem with my hectic schedule.

A super lady, Mary, from Kalmbach books called and inquired about
re-publishing my book. I told her I had another in process. The working title is Metal Clay - Polymer Clay. She said that combination of materials is very hot right now and proceeded to send me the proposal guidelines. So, keep your fingers crossed that my proposal gets accepted. This self-publishing process was fun, creative, self-empowering.... but a lot of very hard work.

Zounds! If I want to have the book ready for the MCWC (Metal Clay World Conference) in July of '09 I have to get my sample step by steps out to her this week!!!

Uh... chest cold, up-ended studio..... let me see.... YIKES!!!

Think I'll go back to bed.

The above polymer and metal clay purse was made after a Kathleen Dustin workshop.