Saturday, July 11, 2015

Summer Time Art

This summer the local community college offered a Jewelry class.  I took the six week condensed class to learn about working with metal.  Techniques in cutting, filing, drilling, riveting, stone setting, metal painting, polishing and soldering were taught by a gem of a teacher. 

I was also able to make custom embellishments for a current fiber piece.  Combining different elements into fiber is always rewarding; especially when you have total control of the designs desired.

Horse made of brass
Fire Painted Horse attached to fiber










The fiber piece, "Dead Horse Canyon - Mesa Verde",  uses layered background piecing, hand and machine stitching, photo transfer, and Dewitt Inktense water color pencils.  Here is a sneak peak of the almost finished project.
Painted with Skeleton Motifs 
Layered Background










The custom made metal pieces added an other dimension. Below you'll see examples of the pieces constructed in class.  Brass and copper were the predominate metals used to fabricate the images. I totally enjoyed working with metal and plan to do more in the future.

Copper Stairway to Ruins
Brass Circle represents Kiva

Copper Circles, Heat Painted

Brass Horse, Polished then Heat Painted

Brass Circles attached with thread

A Spool of Thread by Any Other Name

Detail
Completing the Spring semester 3-D class I created a Spool of Thread model out of Styrofoam, dry wall composition, and resin. The needles were made from wooden dowels and painted silver.
The piece stands 19 inches tall with an extended circumference of 15 inches.  
Model Cut-Out
 
Completed Spool
















I  also played with using discarded material found around the lab.  Resin is my new love !!!

Lastly, I composed a mixed media piece incorporating four of the molded birds made previously and an old screened box found in the yard.  Just fun.
Bird Cage