The Sunday Search for Inspiration: Mom

1983

She fed and clothed me when I was small, nursed me when I was sick or injured, supported every crazy idea I ever had, even when I'm sure she had to work at biting her tongue. She showed me what love is, encouraged me to question the world around me, and brought creativity into my life whenever possible. She taught me how to treat people and how to treat myself. She's my mother, and I continue to look to her for inspiration, encouragement, and guidance today. Thanks mom for all you've done and continue to do!

2010

What's New: Events and RAW for Japan

Tonight is the I heart Indie (Fashion) event at Origin Design Lab in Eureka, CA. Come by and meet many of the designers that make Origin special. The first 30 people through the door will receive a swag bag packed with handmade items by the designers. 426 3rd street, 6-9 pm (click on the picture for more info).

Tonight is also the opening of the Ring a Day show at Punch Gallery in Seattle, 5-8pm. The show features 365 rings from 65 artists who participated in the Ring A Day challenge last year. I was lucky enough to have 7 rings chosen for the show! If you followed RAD and have a chance to make it to Seattle I am sure you will not be disappointed. A huge congratulations to all of the artists involved and a big thank you to the judges and team who made the show happen.

And finally, several of the artists participating in Ring a Week have created rings to benefit Japan. Visit the RAW challenge group on Flickr for more information. Here are a couple of my favorites!

Lorena Angulo

Adobe Sol

Sunday Search for Inspiration: Fiber, Brancusi, and Fold Forming

When I was a child I had this strange compulsion to touch the clothes in department stores as I walked by. Didn't matter if I liked the style, fabric, or pattern, I just had to touch it. Then, I would have to touch the same fabric or a very similar fabric with the opposite hand. Thankfully, I seem to be beyond this compulsion these days, but when I'm in a fabric or yarn store, I am definitely hands on. This week, Erin House and I covered a wall in fabric for the North Coast Metal Arts Guilds upcoming craft fair. We were going to go with a black canvas, but ended up with a fun pattern that will work well with the brown table cloths and green rug the guild already uses.

The real challenge with design in any medium is creating contrasting and complementary forms, layers and palletes that bring depth and movement to a piece or a room or a craft fair booth.  For jewelry, texture and surface detail can be employed to create the layers and dimension in a piece. For me, texture and surface detail is something I've always struggled with in my work. I think I often viewed the unmarred surface as symbolic for perfection, and there is much to be said for the mirror finish and simplification of form, just look at Brancusi's "Bird in Space".  Brancusi's simplified form evokes not the literal form of a bird, but the perfection that is a bird in flight: sleek, smooth, free.

Brancusi's Bird in Space

Marring a perfectly smooth and shiny piece of metal was often difficult for me and the hesitation could be seen in the texture I laid down. Fold Forming is certainly helping me move past the hesitation, as is the new texturing hammer I recently added to my collection.  Hesitation in fold forming only leads to folds that are not as crisp as one might like and hesitation with a texturing hammer often ends in patterns that are disconnected.  I'm no surface detail master by any means, but my work is beginning to move in a direction that embraces a multitude of textures and layers that better describe the natural forms I enjoy working with and encourage the same tactile experience as that of fabric.

My Little Friend

Shrimp