Playing with color

Right now I'm playing with color. These test pieces on the left are using two colors of Adirondack brand alcohol inks, with Ice Resin as a sealant.

I'm really loving the intensity of color that I can get out of these inks. I'm definitely one of the people who gets "drunk on color". At the local art supply store, I savor each hue in the aisle of colored pencils. I need bright green in the winter and on grey days, whether in the form of a salad or a blinding lime-colored shirt. And I'm simply hopeless in a yarn store.

As I wait for more shades of ink to show up on the UPS truck, I'm scheming about the ways I might use color in my jewelry. What if I wasn't confined to using the colors I can find in my gemstones (shiny though they are), but could summon any combination of hue and shade at will?

I'm thinking of tidal pools out west and the water in Riven. Of deep gazing pools and of ponds lined with glittering pebbles. Of all the ways I can bring together the highbrow art of metalwork and the playful, down-to-earth craftsyness of ink and resin.

The pendant that started it all--a custom order, for someone who asked if the background could be blue. 

A new continent

I started out online in Myst fandom. And for me, it wasn't just about the games and books--it was about worldbuilding. Imagining Ages of my own; filling journals with detailed plans and maps and sketches; rendering them in Terragen or Blender. Making islands in my head and on my computer. I haven't actively worked on digital worlds in a long time, maybe because working as a programmer makes me want my hobbies to take me away from the screen. But I still love the idea of making worlds, and try to work it into my metalwork whenever I can.

Yesterday, I tried out my new crucible by melting down scrap and pouring it onto salt to make a textured silver blob; tonight, I sawed that blob in half, so that the interesting half can be soldered onto something. Something maplike, probably. I don't know exactly what it'll be; the sharpie doodles on the copper in the picture are just the visual equivalent of thinking out loud. But the silver reminds me of a continent rising out of the water, and it makes me so very happy to be building islands again.

Oh, and I'm also feeling nicely productive about making more of those shiny gear pendants for International Steampunk City! I'm waiting on a polishing attachment to come in the mail before proceeding, but I'm done with all the soldering for all of these:

Directions

(This is a compass-themed pendant I'm working on. Seems fitting for a post about the directions I want to take my work!)

So, for the longest time, I've been thinking of the things I make in terms of setting. I imagine other worlds--anything from a glimpse of a place that's a little different, a past that never, was, to a fully-mapped-out fictional universe. And I imagine my pieces as artifacts of those worlds--as products of the culture, geography, and mythology of the place. Almost as though they were exhibits in a museum about the worlds I've imagined.

But things are shifting around a bunch in my head. I'm starting to also think about my pieces in terms of character. Still a product of imaginary places, but designed with people in mind--both the real people who end up buying and wearing my jewelry, and imaginary awesome characters living in fictional worlds. People with cloaks and walking sticks; people on quests; people with secrets and maps and destinies.

How will this shift in perspective change the way I work? I'm not sure yet--but my hope is that I'll make pieces that feel more wearable and are easier for people to connect with, to imagine themselves wearing on their own quests. But even if it doesn't change any outward facets of my jewelry, it's changing my process. It's making me more excited about getting things made and in the hands of cool people, and I'm finding more time to go into the basement studio and do stuff. I'm getting inspired by characters I find in books and visual art. So--more finished pieces ahead! And more exciting ideas popping into my head. (Are people interested in seeing more pictures from my sketchbook?)

If you're an artist, how has the way you think about your art changed over time?

Interdisciplinary metalsmithing

Something that I love about metalsmithing is that it's possible to incorporate many other crafts into it. My friend Danielle uses metalwork to showcase her handmade glass beads; I use my sewing skills to make silk necklace cords; and my favorite art blogger, Daily Art Muse, keeps posting really great combinations of metal and other materials (like leather!). My newest idea is to etch copper plates, pull prints from them using my pasta press, and then turn the copper plates into jewelry. I've enjoyed printmaking in the past, both with my pasta press and with linoleum blocks, and I'm really happy to have found a way to tie it into my metalworking.

I've taken the first step this weekend by trying out electrolytic copper etching. It seems to have worked well on my test pieces; now I just need to perfect an image transfer process (or come up with some designs I can make on metal by hand). I've had a lot of fun researching the history of etching on Wikipedia--and I learned a lot about how one can turn an etched plate into ink on a page. Much better to look to old handmade processes than reinvent the wheel!

New pendant, and the process of making it

Last weekend, I designed and made a new pendant:



I also photographed most of the steps involved and the tools I used. I've put them together into a slideshow! I hope you enjoy this insight into my process.

Peering ahead: Not-Resolutions for 2011

I really don't like the practice of making New Year's resolutions.

They're too big, usually made with a lot of self-directed frustration, and mostly expected to fail--but to cause angst and guilt when they fail. Bleh.

So why would I write a post about 2011 now, when people are making New Year's resolutions next and right? Well, I've got so many ideas in my head for gently shifting my life and my art in a better direction, and I'm tired of keeping them in. But these aren't resolutions, I swear.

I've got a redesign in my head for purpleshiny.com--I want to turn the site inside-out. Rather than a portfolio site with a blog inside one section, I want the blog to be the focus, with a portfolio off to the side. I'm hoping to install Wordpress or something similar. It'll be awesome. I'm planning this because I think that I'll want to talk more about what I'm working on. I've got a phone that takes better pictures now, so showing as well as telling is going to be even easier.

In the past few months, I've been working on the whole work/art/life-balance thing. And while I'm not there yet, I can see a better sleep schedule--which means a better work schedule--which means more sanity and time for working with metal--shaping up on the horizon. I can't wait to get there :)

I've found a bunch of convention art shows and vending rooms to bring shiny things to during the first few months of 2011. And if I can get through my hangups about producing shiny things "just" to sell them--if I can be OK making things using skills I'm already comfortable using, in styles I know look good, rather than holding myself to the expectation to make something new at every turn--I think I'll be able to bring really amazing, beautiful artifacts to a lot of people. This is simultaneously scary and exciting, but I'm focusing on the exciting for now!

One of the most exciting things I'm looking forward to working on this upcoming month is making jewelry themed around the collection "Steam-Powered", a lesbian steampunk anthology coming out at the end of January! I have a digital ARC and it's full of awesome stories of copper and quartz and romance :)