Winter Thoughts

The Native American’s call it the “Quiet Time”, the time from Jan 1 through March.  It’s when the Earth Mother rests, getting ready for the new growth of the spring and summer.  This special time is a part of my yearly cycle, and I love it.  For me, it’s a time for allowing the ideas to come to fruitation in my mind, and a time to rest, to  just “Be”.  Those of us who live in the mountains are experiencing Deep Winter, and I love the long nights, though they are are getting shorter.  I curl up in my big chair, with the comforter over my legs, and sit with my sketch book and those colored brush/pens I love so much,  and watch the fire. I love the icyness of winter, and particularly love the clean coldness of -0 weather, IF I’m inside or step outside for a moment. If I’m outside for very long,  77 degrees is the perfect temperature.  Somehow that doesn’t compute, so I stay inside, now that I don’t ski anymore.

My earth shattering new revelation during my personal Quiet Time is that my favorite pieces I’ve done in the past are the ones without stones…the idea that the metal is enough.  I love the patinas and strange openings and crevices my work encompasses. I’m so glad I came to this conclusion before my annual pilgrimage to Tucson.  Maybe I’ll spend less money….or maybe I truly am a “stone collector”, like I tell my husband when I refuse to part with my treasures.  I’ll just keep them for myself.   But there are a few I really love and can’t stop buying.  If you read the article in the February issue of Lapidary Journal by Terri Haag, you found out I like using Dino poop, more delicately called coprolites. Some coprolites are spectacular and colorful.  I will be buying all I can find.  In fact, this is one of my latest Dino doo-doo pieces, called “Tastes Like Chicken”.  It’s coprolite and  Oregon sunstone, with little “nibbles” around the outside.  If you are a dino person, you’ll understand the title.  And the dino doo is pretty spectacular, isn’t it?

I really enjoy the history and palentological aspect of  using coprolites, so you will be seeing more of them, and fossils, in my jewelry.

My buddies (or my “entourage”, as Mark Lasater from The Clamshell calls it) will begin arriving next week, and we will eat lots of Mexican food, drink a margarita (OK, maybe 2), stay up all hours to talk and giggle, and then make the 16 hour “ROAD TRIP!” past the ancient volcanos in Northern New Mexico,  into the Sonoran desert, where we will continue to have Mexican food and our one margarita.  I’m staying with good buddy Terri.  We will catch up with friends, see new stuff, and I’ll blog from Electric Park.  I’m hoping we get to hang with our metalhead friends and our favorite stone cutters, and perhaps even get a trip out to see Gary B. Wilsons’s Tucson set up.  Helen and I have a margarita bet on who will make the first purchase, and we are both so stubborn that we may go the whole 10 days without a stone (or a margarita).  Don’t hold your breath, though.

So I will be in touch soon, finishing up the Suggestions for Creativity.   Also, I will be teaching The Artist’s Way at the Highland Ranch Rec Center Starting in March, and also will have a beginning metalsmith workshop at the Rec Center.  I’m very excited about these new classes. The metals classes are still going on at Coyote Creek in Fairplay,  but with Deb Hamm as the winter teacher.  That treacherous Hwy 285 through South Park is just too dangerous in the winter for me to make the weekly trip.  So stop by and say hi if you are in the area.  The gallery is open daily except Wednesdays.  Until next time–

Enjoy your personal Quiet Time–

Lexi

Merry Christmas

Hi Everyone–In this season of miracles, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas Day, and to my Jewish friends, belated Hanukkah greetings to you. My computer has been really messed up and everything has had to come from my Iphone.  Finally, my husband returned from Australia and fixed the computer.  I hate being held hostage by a machine.

My wish for us all in 2010 is good health, peace and prosperity and may all your tool dreams come true.   May 2010 be a year filled with creativity and love and acceptance for our brothers and sisters in the world.

With love and hugs to you all,

Lexi

Tools for A Beginning Jewelry Studio

Here at Christmas, many student’s friends and significant others are calling asking what to buy for their favorite jeweler.  I have put together a list of what I think all beginning studios need.  For the advanced jeweler, I have added some fun stuff,  which are wonderful toys to own.  This list if for a metalsmithing studio, not for someone who beads, does PMC or wirewrapping, though the tools may overlap.  Because my friend John asked, I will list the sources, and for special, hard to find tools, I will list the supplier with the tool. Whatever you do, please buy the best tools you can afford.  They will last longer, and are safer.  I hope this helps.  Remember, this is just my opinion of what I see my students using and need the most.  Prices are approximate.

Stocking stuffer:  How about a year’s subscription to Lapidary Journal,  the country’s oldest magazine dedicated to stones and art jewelry?  http://www.lapidaryjournal.com

Tools:

1 set Habilis Files, Cut #1, set of 5 files–$55.0

1 set of 6 Craftsman needle files,  they come with a lifetime guarantee.  Great Deal!  $25.00.  Available at Sears.

#2 Grobet half round 6 inch hand file–$30.00

1 set of  pliers, 1 chain nose, 1 flat nose and 1 round nose.  Prices vary on quality.  Allcraft carries the very popular German ergonomic set, probably the best pliers on the market, in my humble opinion, and not hard on your hands, either.  Whatever pliers you choose, they must be jewelers pliers and not have teeth.

1  4 inch saw frame, German, the one with the wingnuts–$18.00

Several dozen Pike sawblades, size 2/0, 4/0–$3.95 per dozen

1 burnisher, and 1 bezel prong/pusher–$5.95 each

chasing hammer, 25mm–$38.00  Get a good quality one, cheap ones will be poorly constructed, and have loose/broken  heads–$38.00

1 bracelet mandrel–$40.00+

1 ring mandrel, non-grooved–$34.00+

1 rawhide mallet, 1.5 inch head–$17.00

1 Smith Handi-Heet acetylene torch with #1 head–$220.00  For setting up the torch, print out these instructions: www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/set-up-your-torch.htm

Small Crock pot and 2 lbs of PHDown, which is the same thing, but less expensive than pickle.  Crock pots available from Target or Walmart for $10-15.00.  PHDown available from your local pool supply, 2 lbs, approx $7.95

Copper tongs, for the pickle pot–$5.00

Firebricks–$8.00.  Be sure and get the  kiln firebricks from a ceramic supply shop, not fireplace firebricks.

Flex Shaft–Fordham is the best known, and if anything breaks, they are easily repaired.  But they hardly ever break.  $200.00-350.00+

Make sure they come with a #30 handpiece and a foot pedal.

Allcraft has a great economy flexshaft we have been using (abusing?)  at Coyote Creek Studio Arts Foundation for over a year.  $150.00.

Various buffs, white muslin for rouge , yellow treated muslin for tripoli,  felt, different shapes.  $1.00+ each

1 dozen 3/32 inch mandrels for the buffs

tripoi, rouge/Zam finishing compounds

Fun Toys for More Advanced Jewelers

Anything made by Bill Fretz.  The Fretz hammers are a dream, along with the tiny jewelers stakes.  You can’t go wrong with these.  My favorite is the large silversmithing hammer, because it leaves such beautiful strike marks.  These are wonderful for textures.

Set of 6 3M Radial Bristle Disks.  I call them “spiders” because that’s what they look like,  They are great for firescale removal, detailed polishing, and textures.  Buy 5 extra mandrels so you won’t be switching out spiders all the time.

Lucas Foot Control–the ultimate foot pedal for any flexshaft.  You can go 3 rpm with this thing!  It’s fabulous!

Valtitan Needle Files Set Cut 0

Grobet  4 inch  half round and  4 inch Barrette, cut 4 available and in stock at Allcraft

Grobet 6 inch cut 6 half round finishing file–will become one of your favorites

1 set of Tube Set burnishers in stock at Allcraft

Joyce Chen Kitchen Shears–available at kitchen shops.  Great for Keum-Boo.

PePe Guillotine cutter, 6 inch.  The most used tool in my studio.  Also available in 4 inch.

PePe Dapping and Die Set,  21 daps and a dapping block

PePe Disk Cutter–various sets, different prices, sometimes hard to find

PePe 110 mm rolling mill

Lexi’s Safety Soldering Station–keeps all your soldering operations in one safe, fireproof place–available from lexi.erickson@mac.com

Allcraft solder picks, won’t bend under heat and pressure–available at Allcraft

3M Finishing Film, the best “sandpaper” around–9-40 micron sheets–try your local auto supply store for this, and the jewelry supplier

Don’t forget, we always like a nice 6×6 inch sheet of silver, or if we’ve been very good, gold!  20 gauge, please.

Suppliers:

Almost every tool listed here is available at a local jewelry supply shop.

Allcraft,  135 W. 29th Street, NYC, 10001–1-800-645-7124

Otto Frei Tools and Equipment, 126 2nd Street, Oakland, CA–1-800-772-3456

Indian Jeweler Supply,  601 East Coal Avenue,  Gallup, NM 87301-6005, (505) 722-4451
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Creativity, Art and Spirituality

In the continuing search for how to become more creative, I add several new suggestions.

#7.  You must have a connection with the arts.

It is my firm belief that a civilization is remembered through its arts.  Knowledge of the history of your art form will serve as an inspiration and allow you to carry on conversation about your artform in an intelligent and cultured manner.  You don’t have to spend the afternoon in a museum.  How about an afternoon at your favorite book store?  Recently, my friend, student and sister, Kathleen Krucoff, purchased a book of Mucha’s paintings. ThoughI have loved his work, which he produced during the fin-de-siecle, I never realized how much the colors spoke to me.  When Kathleen shared the book with me, I fell in love with his work and colors all over again.  Later, I pulled out my old 19th century art history text, and spent a snowy afternoon in front of the fireplace looking at the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and reintroduced myself to one of my favorite paintings, Flaming June, by Frederic Lord Leighton.  This Victorian era painting has held my attention for many years, and I have a small   reproduction in my study.  Suddenly I realized just how much I love the color orange.  There is power and majesty, mystery and magic in orange.

Suddenly so much color has come alive in my world.  I am stopping by windows in the mall while Christmas shopping, and looking at color.   I realize that whatever connection you have in the arts, and art comes in many diverse forms,  it will effect your life.  At this time of the year, here in the mountains of Colorado, the cold, crisp mornings  bless us with rosy Alpenglow on the mountains, and deep evenings grace us with magnificent blues.  As I drove home from our gallery in Fairplay,  Coyote Creek Studio Arts, it was about 7 degrees, with imminent snow, and crystal clear.  The world was a deep periwinkle, with yellow tiny twinkling lights of ranch houses in the distance.   Mannheim Steamroller’s “Silent Night” was playing through my  car speakers on my iPod. It was like a scene from a Meg Ryan movie.  But it was also the color of the blue Swarvoski crystals.  So a new beaded bracelet was born, and today I’m cutting out snowflakes,  (Ok, maybe  only one, since they are so complicated) and have made a new bracelet for a gift for my neighbor.   All of this has come from my friend, Katheen, casually showing me her new art book.  Thank you, my friend.

Along with this comes another suggestion, and the time is right for this one.

#8  You must have a spiritual practice or belief.

I am an archaeologist by schooling.  I have studied many cultures, but two in microscopic detail.  One is a neolithic pre-Judaic/Christian nature based culture.  The other is a collective ethnic grouping of stone age/contemporary cultures, again with an Earth based spirituality.  One thing I have learned from both cultures is they are art-based, and in one culture, the word “nung” means both people and pottery.  Their art is so inter-related with their spiritual practices that you virtually cannot tell where one stops and another begins. In that culture, they do a private ceremony before they start their artwork.  At that time, they ask for the Earth Mother’s guidance in their work, and thank her for her gifts and offer that their work is acceptable in Her sight.  I find this extremely comforting and calming.  As Julia Cameron states in her inspiring series, “The Artist’s Way,” some people are uncomfortable with the word “God”.  However, it can stand for Good, Orderly Design.  So at this time of the year, when we speak of many miracles,  stop and thank the Earth Mother for her goodness in supplying the materials with which you work.  Those materials, themselves, are a pretty fantastic miracle. I’m fairly certain that whatever you work with has been mined from the Earth Mother,  and she has kept these treasures safe in her bosom for eons,  offering them to you as a vehicle for you creativity.  Try to do your part, and make Mom proud.  Who knows, she may put a photo of it on her refrigerator door.  The world of nature and art is a banquet, and yet so many people insist on starving.

May the beauty and quietness of the snow delight your senses.

Lexi

Mokume-Gane Pendant

Plate Techtonics, sterling and mokume-gane

Hi everyone–I thought I would insert a photo. Kathleen Krucoff is just teaching me, a very non-computer person, how to do this.  So I thought I would share a photo that Jim Lawson, from West Chester, PA took of my mokume-gane.    Jim is an excellent photographer, who makes your pieces “sing”.  Please check out his site…it is amazing.  I highly recommend him for jury slides and studio shots.  He does all my photography for Lapidary Journal, and is quite reasonable.  Plus, he’s just a really nice guy!

Mokume-gane is a Japanese swordmaking technique, and this is composed of 27 layers of copper and brass for the bail, and 20 layers of copper and sterling for the bottom section.  In the middle is a roller-milled textured  piece of silver.   The chain is a graduated Viking Chain knit, a labor intensive technique I learned from Sally Snow.  I promise, making this 20 inch chain is enough to drive you to drink!  Plus my hands really hurt when I finished it.  So all together, this piece probably took about 24 hours to finish.

So hope you enjoy the piece, and now that I know how to insert photos, my blogs will be a lot more colorful.

Thanks everyone–

Lexi

Creative Inspiration During the Busiest Season of the Year

Hello Everyone–The rush of the Holiday Season is here.  It’s easy to lose yourself  in the excitement and yes, panic, of this time of the year.  It’s hard to feel inspired if you’re frantically running around looking for that illusive Super Mario Brothers video game.  Your mind is on your children, or family and friends that you are shopping for.   Yet, if you just look around, you will find one of the greatest times of the year to be inspired by other’s art.  Shops, stores and restaurants spend a fortune decorating for the holidays. Stop and gaze into that beautifully decorated window in the mall, look at the colors and shapes.  Someone has spent a lot of time to make their store look inviting enough for you want to enter.  Take advantage of these extra gifts to you.  Snap a photo with your cell phone of a decoration that you like. File it under “Ideas for Art”.   Stop at the food court in the mall and give yourself a gift.  Sit and have a quiet, reflective cup of cocoa and a pretty holiday cookie from the bakery.  Immerse yourself in the decorations. Watch the children.  See Christmas through their eyes. Cherish the 10 minutes of calm to look at what surrounds you.  Its will amaze you how many ideas you may glean from  one day of shopping, if you will allow them to appear.   May the beauty of holidays delight your eyes.  Find your star and follow it’s light.

In Peace,

Lexi

 

Having Trouble Writing an Artist Statement?

How many times have I racked my brain trying to think of the appropriate psycho-babble to impress the pseudo  intellectuals who come into a gallery and ponder my uber intuitive metal musings?

OK enough of this.  You know I don’t talk like this, and once I was intimidated that I couldn’t come up with the jibberish which my professors considered to be the true mark of the artist—the artist statement.   My classic “It’s the stuff I make.  I like it.”  never got me an “A.”

Well, fret no more.  Check out         http://www.playdamage.org/market-o-matic/ for help in constructing what will be the most classic artist statement you could ever concoct.   Let’s face it, as a jeweler, I can name 2 or 3 people who are actually pompous enough to talk like this, and even worse, write like this.  And I always felt so stupid.

I hope this makes you smile, I think it’s a real hoot~  Enjoy, and happy creating-

Lexi

Creativity #5

In our continuing search on how to become more creative, I offer  Rule or Suggestion #5.

#5.  You must think for yourself.

This is a very difficult one.  It means sometimes bucking the system.  But, this is one of the most important rules. Independent thought is your authentic self.  We are constantly bombarded by the media about what we should wear, own or drive.  I could care less what they are showing in NYC as the current “in” fashion.  I know what looks good on me, and what I prefer to wear.  I don’t own a “Prada” bag, and somehow my self esteem has survived.  Thinking for yourself opens up such a whole new world for you.  When you go shopping for something new, don’t take a friend along.  Choose what you want, without any influence from others.  No one can be like you, or have your exact experiences, so draw upon your individuality.

The same thing goes for designing your artwork.   Don’t follow a trend, make a new trend.  When you visit a gallery  who you want to carry your work, don’t take something that looks like what they are already carrying.  They already have that….they want something new, different.  Everything will sell if you find the right niche. Look around you, if it’s already out there, make a drastic change for your designs.  Yes, it’s hard to do.  You have to push yourself really hard.  It won’t come in a day or two. It may take a month, or even two.  Look back at your old sketch books for inspiration, look to nature, see things differently.  March, as I tell my students, to a different flautist.   And do you know what’s amazing about this?  When you get out there, if it’s really good, your work will be copied.  But you were the first. And you know what they say about “imitation”.   At first it may be hard to deal with. You created something new, a new way of putting things together, and that becomes your style.  But remember, you did it first, you can do it again. And each time you do it, it will become less difficult.

Following my heart  was a hard lesson for me to learn, but I learned it while living “out of my element” in Pennsylvania for 3 years.  While I love the state and most of the people, my jewelry was dramatically different from most of my friend’s jewelry.  My things, I guess in PC speak, are “bold”.  They are large, demand you notice them, lots of texture, patinas, earthy.  I think some people consider these words to be euphanisms for ugly.  I was told my pieces were “different”, and at the Buyer’s Market of American Craft, (where so much of the work is tiny and very high polished) I had one buyer look at my things and go “EEEUUUUUU!  Who would wear that?”  I was hurt, until I looked at her tiny pearl necklace suspended on a tiny gold chain,  and I understood.  I probably wouldn’t wear that.  But neither would I go “EEEEUUUUUU, look at that pearl!”.  So I learn my first lesson…it won’t appeal to everyone.  And there is a “reagionalism” in jewelry.

Will you have some flops?   Of course.  Everyone does.  Check out the designer name factory outlet stores. They are full of things that didn’t sell well. Even Ralph Lauren makes some mistakes.  But take the chance.  The good thing about working in metal, stones and beads is, if it doesn’t sell, re-melt, re-set or re-string.  You really haven’t lost that much. If you don’t take the chance, you will never know.  Now you understand why I say this is the hardest of all.  You must think for yourself, and allow others who haven’t read this post, to use you as inspiration.  Go for it in a big way.

You’ll be surprised what happens.  I hope this has offered you some insight.

Lexi

 

Creativity #3 and #4

Hi Everyone–In my continuing dialog of Rules (Suggestions) to Creativity I would like to add #3 and #4.  I’m giving these lots of thought, and I hope they are opening some doors for you.

#3.  You must have some reflective time.

This is so hard for people, especially for those with younger families, because of family obligations.  But it’s amazing how easy it is to find some time for yourself if you apply a little imagination.   Don’t try the 1 hour bath, because children have no respect for that private time, as they will barge right into your nice warm bathroom with their requests (or at least, mine did).  I found that my favorite time was after dinner. Amazingly, my entire family found other things that demanded their immediate attention right after dinner. So I would draw out the time I spent cleaning the kitchen. Let’s face it,  its a mindless job that can be done with no thought.  That became my precious, private time.   My kitchen always sparkled, because I cleaned everything and anything that would extend these minutes of  alone time, thus allowing my mind to design or think of new techniques.  So, wherever you find private, reflective time, do so. Claim it as yours alone, for it is important for your creativity.

#4 You must have a connection with nature.

Actually, these two suggestions may work hand in hand.  A date with Mother Nature can be some of the most creative moments you will experience.  If you have followed my friend Kathleen Krucoff’s blog, she had a huge breakthrough on the night we watched the sunset over our Rocky Mountains.  As a teen-ager growing up in the Southwest, I would ride a horse out into the desert, where you could see “for three days”, as my mother used to say.  The wide open spaces of the mythic west impressed upon my mind a design aesthetic which is with me to this day.  The enormous sky, the dry riverbeds, and canyons of this big country created a minimalism in my jewelry which has become  my trademark, my style, which it is instantly recognizable by my friends and clients.  Truthfully, I’ve always fought against it, constantly wanting to add pieces and “doodads” to my designs, but after years of trying, I have realized I cannot fight what was my first introduction into  design…. and I have finally embraced it.

Also, as a jewelry artist, I have sought inspiration from other artists.  I have gone to and participated in some of the huge shows on the East Coast, such as the Buyers’s Market of American Craft (The Rosen Show) in Philadelphia.  With 200+ jewelers participating, you would think I would find inspiration there.  Yet, not wanting to copy any other jeweler, and wanting my own style, I see that those shows are not as inspiring as a walk in the woods…looking at the shimmering aspen leaf as it moves in the wind, or watching a mountain stream trickle over smooth river rocks on its way to the sea. My good friend, Helen Driggs, recently spent an afternoon in a garden, experiencing the magnificent sculptures of Albert Paley, one of our favorite jewelers/sculptors.  She came away with such tremendous insights which will forever remain embedded in her creative mind. So where ever you are, take a walk, spend an hour to look at the dapple of green of trees, the dazzle of a flame, see the splendor of the world in an amber sunrise. To paraphrase one of my favorite songs, The Colors of the Earth, which Jim Dale sings in the Broadway musical “Barnum”,  ’The colors of the earth will leave a shining light to show the way”.  Look at  shadows, or the patterns in the snow, or sand.  You will become much more creative by looking out and up, than by going to a show to see what the other artists have created.  Remember, Mother Nature could have created the Sistine Chapel with one hand tied behind her back, but instead she gave us the Grand Canyon, the Tetons, and the mighty rivers.

Enjoy the beauty of the earth.  The inspiration is there for you to appreciate and embrace.

Lexi

Creativity #2

In continued search for understanding our own creativity, I offer Rule number 2.

#2.  You must be doing something that fulfills a need within yourself.

 

This is a real tough one.  Are you doing something that fulfills a need in you, or fulfills someone else’s need ? It’s a tough question.  I think that’s why I never learned how to sew.

Experts say we are all born creative.  Watch your children when they are small.  They say “Look at me, I can dance like a ballerina!”  or “Look!  I can draw a cat.” , or “I wrote you a poem.”  Why is it when we grow older we lose that eagerness to experiment, to try new and different things?   Are we cautious,  or don’t want to spend (meaning waste) money on something we are not sure will produce the desired results?  Fear of failure?

For me, I always think I should be cleaning the basement, which is a form of procrastination.  Well, that basement cleaning, which in its own way is a form of creativity, now finally fulfills a need within me.  (Which is what made me come up with this rule.)  I’ve been asked to do some videos from my studio, and yes, it’s in the basement, and even though my mental studio is much nicer, for now this one has to do.  Since I would be appalled if  people who bought the video saw my basement as it is now, I’m spending this week end of creativity  happily cleaning my basement and getting rid of stuff I’ve saved for years.  Stuff that no longer fills a need in me.  But now, with a different mind set,  cleaning the basement brings me joy, as much joy as finishing a piece of jewelry and having it smile at me.

So when you start your art, think of what it is YOU need.  Draw or scribble in a sketch book,  or work directly with the materials until you feel happy with something.  You don’t have to come up with a design right this minute.  Relax, enjoy just drawing shapes and lines.   Nothing helps your creativity along more than just to play with the materials.  Stack stones on top of one another to look at color combinations, play with textures, and something will happen.  The piece will take on its own properties, and start to grow.  Have fun, smile at the possibilities, and when you are through,  when all the energies have gone into the piece, the piece will smile back.  You’ve been successful.

Try it, and let me know what happens.  I’m off to clean the basement . (grin)

Lexi