Happy Saint Helena Day!

The island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean is considered to be the most remote community in the world. And today is her day!



Although there are islands that are geographically farther from a continent Saint Helena gets this title of most remote because it is 1200 miles from Africa AND has no airport. The only regular access is by Royal Mail Ship about 8 times per year.



Found in 1502 by a Portuguese ship that had blown off course, brought to fame as a possession of the East India Company, it is today a British Overseas Territory.


Two years ago on this day I was scrambling to pack for a 3 month adventure for a family of five to this much forgotten island that has captured our hearts and minds. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about returning.


I could go on and on. If you're interested here is the blog that I kept during our adventure.


All photos were taken by my husband Kyle and are part of the documentary work he did for the island's museum.

http://kylewilliamson.com/
http://my-daily-art.blogspot.com/

If...

...you're in the Allentown area May 1, stop by and see me at From Scratch INDIEdependent Handmade Market. It 10-4pm at the Trexlertown Grange.

The Muse has left the building!

I set aside the entire day today to work on pieces for the show next weekend. This was the last day I had decided to give myself leeway (ok don't quote me on that) to start any new work.


Got up early. Excited to get started and then...nothing. I just felt muddled, uninterested. How incredibly inconvenient!

Oh well. I refused to just sit there in that puddle and instead finished pieces that were already in progress. In the long run this was probably a good idea anyway. Many of these parts have been sitting around for weeks (or in the case of those round, white beads, months) while I considered how they would be used. The last photo shows a bracelet with its umbilical cord still attached. I might re-string it.

From Scratch

I'll be joining a bunch of great artists and craftsman at the upcoming From Scratch Indie Market, May 1, 10am-4pm at the Trexlertown Grange just south of Allentown, PA. Check out their site for details and directions.


I attended the Christmas From Scratch Market as a shopper. Its a great show with a nice range of products including food and live music! When Pam who runs the show invited me to the spring one I jumped at the chance.

Just a little reminder

My young neighbors came to see my demo day at the museum last month. They purchased their own hot pink polymer clay the following day and mimicked my demonstrations for their mom. How cute is that? I made time for them to come to my studio last weekend, to use my tools and get a short "lesson". Turns out I got the lesson.


After going over the the basics I set out a bunch of tools and let them have at it while I worked on some carved rings. After about 20 mins. I started asking what they would like to make. "Beads!" I said. "How about a pile of pink beads to string?" A pendant? A ring? They weren't interested. A little frustrated I asked "then what do you want to DO?" The younger of the two girls said quite matter-of-factly "well...we just want to PLAY of course."

Making the Jump

Claire (stillpointworks and the NEXT BEND) and I have talked about how artists with varying backgrounds translate their training into the language of polymer clay. She and I both found the material when we found ourselves without full studios up and running (her/glass and me/metal).

Admittedly I have sometimes gotten stuck because my initial big ideas still appear in metal. But a recent epiphany reminded me, re-energized me, regarding the power of polymer. Goes as follows.


Metal can be textured using heat, hammering, stamping, piercing and so on. I could do this in thick sheet metal by annealing (heating) and then using a cross peen hammer.


The metal would not be bright blue unless I made some other changes afterward (patina, enamel) and would require some more time and materials and tools. And if I did not like what I had made or I messed up I could not do this...


...and start all over again.

During my demonstration at the museum two weeks ago some really nice folks stood and chatted and asked questions for quite some time. The husband was taken aback at what he thought was the high cost of such a "tiny brick of the stuff" (polymer) and "my, what an expensive craft it must be". I asked him what he thought the same size brick of sterling silver would cost. Raised eyebrows all around - point taken.

This is not to say that I have lost my love of metalwork or that I still don't think of designs where truthfully, only metal would do. But I am learning to enjoy the ease and speed at which I can work through design ideas in polymer and relish the translation process.

The Big Day Plus One

My coughing is almost gone thank God (apparently I had bronchitis). It subsided enough for me to have a great day at The Radius Gallery. My husband helped plan a demo table with several in progress pieces because he predicted, correctly, that I would do more talking/explaining than actual demonstrating. Although my process is wildly less complex, I was inspired by the poster of what goes into making one of her pieces that Louise Fischer Cozzi hangs in her booth at the ACC Show.

I did give a brief demo on how I made my "Fragment" rings to several people (several of whom were children which is fine with me because they are always a little more willing to give an enthusiastic "wow!" when I am finished). The Crimsons Red one is now in the etsy shop.



The gorgeous weather affected typical Sunday attendance at the museum I was told. Actually for this being my first such event the numbers were just right and I had a couple gaps between people visiting my table so I could re-squash clay and rest my throat. I had a nervous stomach on the way there but it was amazing, once people started asking questions I was totally fine. When I saw that someone was generally interested that was all it took for me to relax.


I read and researched all last week to prepare for the "what is polymer clay made of" questions and not one single person asked me that. Kind of funny. Not a waste of time though because I know a lot more about the material than I did just 7 days ago and knowledge is never a waste.

Here is the lovely glass display that is filled with just my work for the entire month! As I look at this photo I am reminded again of all the people (included the curator Morgan and his assistant Jessica) who have come along side me, supported me and given me opportunities to show my work over the past 3 years.