Objects and Elements

Dreaming of France?

With the New Year officially here, you may be reflecting on your resolutions. If you're like me, you might be thinking about personal goals for the year.

Have you ever thought about taking an art workshop in the rural French countryside? Each September, Susan teaches a week long Relics & Ruins class at Gwen Gibson's lovingly renovated 17th century home, La Cascade.

The trip is so much more than classes. It's a French immersion art retreat that includes excursions to flea markets for authentic found objects, delicious meals prepared by Nese, a gourmet chef who makes the most amazing (and healthful) meals and deserts each day, side trips to quaint rural villages and lots of fun, friendship and laughter sharing family style meals by candlelight each evening.

It's also about experiencing life's little pleasures: breathtaking scenery, ancient buildings that are as beautiful to touch as to view, sipping cafe au laits while sitting at an outdoor cafe. Drinking glasses of wine, eating crusty bites of baguette smeared with flavorful cheeses, the sounds of rushing brooks and local residents exchanging pleasantries in lilting French. The smell of fresh fields and pure sunshine.

You will find rural France to be a place where people love Americans and are kind to tourists: A complete 180 from metropolitan Paris.

If you are looking for an adventure and wish to expand you're artmaking/metalsmithing skills, this is an absolutely one-of-a-kind experience. I took this journey the summer of 2008, and it changed so many things in my life. The personal insights, the honing of my skills under Susan's patient tutulage, the feelings of joy I experienced are things I long to re-live.

It's not often we step outside of ourselves and do something daring just for us. Maybe 2010 is the year for you to take the plunge?

For more information, visit ObjectsAndElements or email Linda Larsen at linda@objectsandelements.com Spaces are limited and filling fast. Reservations are required by the end of the month.

Here's wishing you an artful New Year! -- Jen

Happy Holidays to our creative customers and friends...

Season Of Sparkle

"Amber Collar"

Tis the season!...and, there's nothing I like better than a little sparkle. 

"Let Them Eat Cake"

Whether you're attending an evening party, an intimate candlelight dinner or enjoying the Christmas tree lights by the fire, the glimmer of rhinestones and faceted stones adds to the festive atmosphere.

Objects and Elements is offering a great little packet of sparkly goodies called the grunge sparkle pack.  In it, are lengths of rhinestone "chain", crystal roundels in black and clear, and black crystal round beads...all done in black-toned metal for a stylish shimmer.

I've always had a strong affinity for rhinestones so incorporating them into my jewelry designs is something that comes pretty easily.  I like to contrast the elegant sparkle with more rustic elements of brass, sterling and roughly faceted stones.

It's the perfect way to add a little glimmer to your holiday designs...and beyond.  Happy designing and a Merry Christmas!---Deryn

A stocking stuffer idea

Who doesn't love a beautifully-packaged gift? I wanted to share with you a fun product that allows you to kick up your gift-giving skills a couple of notches.

Peleman Industries has created a line of talking envelopes, ornaments, paper and frames. Called dinotalk™, the products have built-in technology that allows you to record a 10-second personal message. 

Intrigued, I played with the talking envelope in the Naked Collection (blank canvases waiting for you to embellish or alter).

Getting into my objects and elements stash (some resin paper, recycled silk sari and copper circle that I texturized and added some color to), I made a pretty gift card holder to use as a stocking stuffer for my sister. The best part, I made it in less than 15 minutes.

(Disclaimer: A dinotalk sample was sent to us to use and review. We're not selling the product, but agreed to give it a try and see how we could incorporate our elements.)

Inside my talking envelope, I'm putting a $50 gift certificate. There's only a week left before Christmas, but if you hurry now there's still time to give the jewelry lover or mixed media artist in your family a gift card. Your friend or sweetie can be shopping for new supplies before the torn wrapping paper is picked off the floor.

Here's wishing you an artful day! -- Jen

Little Birds...

Have you had a chance to look at our copper bird blanks yet? The soaring sparrow motif is hot right now, and these little pre-cut birds are a great base for adding mixed media techniques.

Design team artists Deryn Mentock and Barbe Saint John were recently inspired to use these little birds in their work.

It's interesting to me to see how these ladies think alike. When they submit their designs for the month, I find they've often chosen the same elements to work with without knowing it. Both artists have their own distinct styles, of course, so the projects never look the same even using the same elements.

Both ladies used the birds as a base to add enamel color to. Neither used a kiln to set the enamel, just fired it using their torches. Torch-fired enamel is a process that adds a rustic pop of color to your metals. Susan has been teaching a great enamels class this year, with plans for it in 2010.

  
In addition to her enameled bird, Deryn added a vintage crystal that she altered using some colored paper, a word and some ICE Resin to seal the mini college. Rustic beads, sterling silver wire and stuff from our grunge sparkle mix complete the design. (When turning in the design, Deryn wrote in her email how much she "loves working with the grunge sparkle" and commented how its one of her favorite objects and elements products).

Barbe torch-fired a gorgeous blue enamel onto the copper bird blank to create a colorful Paris necklace using our letters and numbers, which she added some French book text and sealed in ICE Resin. I'll be showing Barbe's fanciful necklace in the future, so all you have right now is a "sneak peek" of the project.

I hope today's post gave you some soaring inspiration as you head into the holiday season.

Have an artful day everyone! -- Jen

The Wonderful R, aka Richard Salley

Today is indeed a lucky day. Not only did the super talented Richard Salley agree to be our objects and elements Guest Artist, but he took our humble request a step further and did a mini-tutorial for you. His inspiration for this piece: A rusty paint jar lid and our brass bracelet blank.

No wonder Jane (his wife and one of our design team members) has nicknamed him the Wonderful R. After taking a look at Richard's project/tutorial below, be sure to read his objects and elements Guest Artist Q&A.

***

Found Object Hinged Bracelet

By Richard Salley

Step 1: See something beautiful in a rusty paint jar lid.

Step 2.  Cut a circle (or use a metal punch) from our patterned brass sheet and use a jeweler's saw to cut a slit down the center.

Step 3. Dome the circle with a dapping block and insert recycled silk sari fibers through the slot.

Step 4. Secure the fibers with a piece of wire on the underside of the circle.

Step 5. Etch the blank brass cuff

Step 6. Fabricate some hinges on either side of the bracelet and attach using objects and elements brass eyelets. 

Step 7. Use a jeweler's saw to cut a strap from brass sheet to serve as the hinge. Insert brass wire into strap and hinge.

Step 8. Add heishi beads for spacers. Draw a bead at either end with torch to secure strap

 

Step 9. Attach rusted lid to hinge strap using objects and elements mini nuts and screws.

Step 10. Attach brass dome with fibers to rusty paint lid with brass wire.

Step 11. Apply patina to entire piece and then polish to bring out highlights.

 Viola! Finished piece.

***

We hope you enjoyed that tutorial and Richard's gorgeous piece as much as we did. If you'd like to learn more from Richard in a beautiful setting (and get the honor of drinking a pitcher of margaritas with him) check out his upcoming workshop in Mexico. He's teaching at the Hacienda Mosaico in Puerto Vallarta January 24-30th, 2010. A few spots are still available.

You can also see his work at Richard's website and read more on his blog.

 

Lady of the court

One of the things we love about Design Team member Barbe Saint John is that she has a wonderful imagination and ensures that every piece she creates is connected to some kind of story.

A modern-day alchemist, Barbe turns broken, rusty, old, sometimes ugly and tarnished things into new and fabulous art to wear.

For one of her monthly submissions, Barbe discovered an antique button in her stash. Rather than using it as is to create a bracelet, she decided to make a ICE Resin cast replica of the button.

"It turned out Medieval-looking and I immediately thought it looked like something the ladies of Camelot would wear," she says. "I named it the Morgana bracelet."

Digging around in her objects and elements drawer, she came upon our recycled glass discs and thought, "Hey, chain maille!" Handmade sterling jump rings woven with red glass rings form the bracelet chain. The non toxic clear resin cast button fits perfectly into our inexpensive brass resin bezels.

Even Barbe's handmade clasp dovetails with her Medieval theme. Gotta love a simple hook-and-eye closure!

New ICE Resin Website

It's official; Our new website dedicated to all things ICE Resin™ is ready for its premiere debut!

We've been working to build the site over the past few weeks. Our skillful web guru, aka Devin, worked his magic with the code. The brilliant Karen Michel made it look all purdy (pretty). I wrote/edited the articles. Susan and Linda did the step-out tutorials on how to properly mix and pour our non toxic resin. Linda acted as chief, overseeing the project and keeping us all on task. Our wonderful Design Team ladies lent us images of their beautiful jewelry made with ICE resin and other objects and elements bezels and components.

It was a team effort, and all and all, we are thrilled to give birth to this new site that, hopefully, answers every question you've ever had about working with ICE.

And now....here's where YOU come in. We need help getting the word out about our new website. If you have a personal blog or website and you add a link to www.iceresin.com we'll give you a 10% discount on your next resin order at ObjectsandElements.com. Kelli is our amazingly efficient and talented store manager, so be sure to send her a personal "hello" when ordering.

Add the link in your blog roll for blogs or on your homepage for websites, and when you check out at the objects and elements store, enter the word "appreciation" as the coupon code. Make your anchor text (the text that is underlined) say ice resin or non toxic craft resin, rather than the full website URL, because it really helps the search engines find us better. (Technical advice courtesty our web guru Devin.)

If you're a store owner looking to have someone teach a resin project, please click on our link of certified instructors. We're in the process of getting more certification classes together and will be adding more instructors soon.

If you're a jewelry designer who teaches and is interested in our certification classes, please check out the site for more information on how to apply.

Thanks again to everyone who uses our ICE Resin™ and tells the world about how wonderful it is to work with. We believe in it so much that we can't wait for jewelry makers and crafters everywhere to get their hands on it. Our absolute best advertising is word-of-mouth from you. We can't tell you enough how much we appreciate our talented customers.

Have an artful day! -- Jen

Resin, paper, photos...

While I've been focusing on jewelry-making, I still create college, assemblage and memory journals. 

A friend introduced me to scrapbooking a decade ago when my son was born. It made sense to chronicle his life, but it went against my inner artist to buy pre-made embellishments. I began learning and incorporating altered techniques, and discovered college jewelry around that same time.

Five years ago, I met Susan. I'm proof of the saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." I went through a Susan class craze (I call it SLK-U, as in SLK University). We struck an immediate friendship, and before I knew it, I was assisting her classes, mostly helping the crafters in the room, such as myself, navigate a new language of cold-joins and jewelry.  

It was during this time I was searching for a product beyond gel medium to seal and protect my work. Susan introduced me to her signature ICE Resin™.

(Note: There are a number of options to seal your work, but you may have to play around with them to find the perfect match for you. Many of the resin and/or glaze formulas reconstitute in water, require a UV light, or contain chemicals. 

Handcrafted Jewelry 2009, published by the editors of Beadwork Magazine, did a great job explaining the differences with their article, "A Crafter's Guide to Resins.")   

This little memory journal came about when I was recently creating a class sample while staring down a deadline for our new ICE Resin website. This memory journal fit the bill of doing something non-jewelry related while still teaching others how to use photographs and paper with our resin.

The big bezel on the cover is a photograph of my son and baby daughter that's been altered and sealed in a lovely layer of ICE. The small collages are images created by Beth Rimmer, a fabulous digital designer, set into our brass resin bezels, which are terrific for college. The paper is by my fav paper arts company, 7Gypsies.  

If you wish to learn how to use photographs (for any genre of art project) with ICE Resin, please visit our new website for instructions.

-- Jen

Playing with Fire, aka Torch safety

Thanks for all your comments regarding Jane's metal texturizing tutorial! We received some questions on the blog and also via email about what kind of torch to buy, what kind of fireproof set up should one have, etc., so we decided to delve into this topic further.

It seems silly to tell you to be careful when using fire, but we'd be remiss if we didn't. If you are just beginning to learn metalsmithing, you might want to invest in the small butane torch. It's a perfect first step in torch-buying because they're inexpensive and replacement gas is easily available at your local hardware store. Plus, you can always whip up a luscious creme brulee when company comes to dinner!

These little torches are wonderful in learning how to play with fire. Get some inexpensive copper sheet and watch the colors emerge when direct flame is applied to the metal.  It's also pretty on brass, as the color turns from bright to a warm, antique finish in seconds. Adding patina to metal with fire will also teach you how to hold and aim a torch, which will help you get comfortable with the process. 

You will need a protective surface when using a torch. ObjectsandElements.com carries an annealing pan with pumice stone and also a ceramic soldering board for exactly this purpose. Please do NOT experiment with a torch unless you have the proper set up in place.

Here are some other basic safety rules, courtesy our friend Jane Salley to keep in mind:

1. Use a fire proof surface and keep anything flammable/burnable out of the immediate area.  If you are using the torch indoors, have a fire extinguisher on hand.
 
2. Make sure you have everything you need to complete the task within easy reach.
 
3. Have pliers or tongs dedicated to the torch station.  You don't want to be putting a flame to your “good” jewelry pliers.  Leather gloves are great to assist with awkward hot items
 
4. Have a small bucket of water handy for quenching.
 
5. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for lighting the type of torch you are using. 
 
6. Use eye protection – you never know when something is going to pop, spit or splatter.
 
7. Once you light the torch, consider everything at the torch station hot.  This sounds overly cautious, but it is very easy to burn yourself on something you didn't think was still hot.

8. Don't be distracted when you are using the torch.  If distractions are likely, just put off your torching to a time when you can give it your full attention.  You don't want to hurt yourself or ruin your project.

These are just some basic safety guidelines and not a complete collections of all the possible considerations.  If you are going to be working with a torch frequently, invest in some books so that you can be fully informed.

**

Now get into your studios and start playing (safely!) with fire. -- Jen