Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Elaborate Door Retrieval- J'adoor

There are certain things one must have especially if they present themselves as free and accessible.
I've had my eye on this door for awhile now.
Didn't take much convincing Mr. Coryosity to go on a field trip to the rust farm nearby.

The trusty four wheeler used for hunting... hunting junk too

It's in our sites

such beauty

where rust intermingles with nature

he set about sawing some incredibly strong steel while I went on a photo shoot.






you may have seen this impressive can pile before in an earlier post.

He's still hacksawing...




This is actually spongy rotten rubbery plasticky stuff, not fine porcelain.
That's why I'm only photographing it and not bringing it home.

patterns

like tie dye

he's still sawing away. 

I think he sweated away at it for almost a half hour.
Sorry I didn't get a good photo of the mosquito landing strip on his back. There must have been 20 or so enjoying a meal as he toiled.
What a guy!
I did help a bit holding the door so the sawing went more easily.


Spring has sprung


a tisket a tasket a rusty head gasket

seems important

Success!

loaded and ready for the ride home

but wait, there's more junk to photograph!



Check out that color.... heat patina

junkyards can be rather phallic

Ok, so I posed this, I'm entitled to some artistic license right?

The pink in the sidewalls doesn't show up so much here.



artfully framed against an old appliance


A theeng! removed from that piece above this.


Speaking of posing...

Old Alaska Road Commission piece... before they changed to DOT

It finds it way to our place... notice the quaint outhouse out yonder.
used for storage these days.
This will greet you when you pull up to our driveway now.


and now to balance out all of that rust and junk, here's what I was messing around with on the soaking rainy Sunday the day before.
Vintage Mexican weaving and vintage Indian embroidery and relic Ukrainian charm with sari trim




Split deer hide, linen fringe, sari  brocade trim and Ukrainian relic charm with vintage Indian embroidery.


Split deer hide and sari trim with vintage lace.




And steampunk lampwonk

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Bloggissimo...'bout time I put up another post

Lucky first sale of the season up here. 
Rough  steel "filigree" and lampwork with relic patina-ed copper bits from the Ukraine.

I've been really putting in the time in the studio since we arrived back north.
Encouraged by some in-person jewelry sales at my first shows of the season, I've been dedicated to making more to beef up my line.
In addition to that I have been encouraged by you all that have been indulging in my 'crusty'
line of beads on Etsy so I've been attending to keeping that part of my shop beefed up as well.

Some of you that have been following me for awhile may have heard me whining plenty about the paleo- dial-up internet service that I was forced to endure out here in the Alaskan boonies.
Never mind that we live too close to a functioning military base that's supposed to ward off  missile attacks. ( I can even hear Taps playing from my house)
It wasn't enough to warrant good internet service. We broke down and signed up for satellite internet and  I am oh so happy about it.
Imagine the inverse of all of my previous whining turning into delighted crowing.
Now with my shop rolling along with the help of you good people I can save money by not making the 100 mile trip to the big town to do a midweek farmers market. We're talking $40 in gas money alone for that trip.
I still however am making the Saturday trip to my favorite Tanana Valley Farmers Market because it's fun and mostly lucrative and we usually have some other sort of townie errand to do anyway mixed in with a little bit of social too.


"Afrolaska"
now listed on Etsy

I've been employing my new model Callista to sport some of my newer designs.
She's still getting used to the camera.
I find that her boobs are a little less than forgiving when allowing for a graceful drape of some of my designs... not like real lovely ladies

also now listed on Etsy.

I had a stash of Thai silver chandelier type earrings that I had abandoned and have now revisited  with oxidization.
Oh yeah, these take me ten times longer to make than my former earring designs but I'm happy with the look. You all know what I mean.
The long dangles are copper torched enamel "matchsticks" that I made last year but never used.
I need to make some more of them. My punchy tool lost its part in the trip from South to North but I have secured some replacement parts from Beaducation that are also in transit from South to North.
Those delicate little pale blue ceramic beads were from a Fanci Forum trade with Robbie.
She made them herself and I quite adore them.
The little dicey ones are vintage African beads.
there's some kyanite in there too.

I thought it was about time that I tried designing with one of my "studnicks"
My friend called it a flaming studnick when I paired it with one of my pointy headpins.
I like that... "Flaming Studnick"
There's a vintage split keyring, mala beads and one of those cool relic bits from the Ukraine.
Those little green bead caps are some that I dapped and torch enameled last summer too. 
What fun it is to find supply stashes of stuff I actually made myself but had never used.

 Boho Whorl
One of my mega crusty whorls in action.
Taking it up a notch in size and complexity.
A touch of dichro in there and some of my new vintage steel cut nails from the 1970's hardware store that decided to open and sell out its remaining stock. I bought all of the packages!

vintage African glass spacers, crusty beads and raw ruby nuggets  & quartz crystals

lampwonk!


I love the antifreeze color of this especially once it's been crustificated
See? Like these here "criffles"


"Summer Smoke"
Some more of Robbie's ceramic beads... the triangle ones.
Smoky quartz briolettes.
Oxidized of course.
The kind of work that makes my hands hurt!

"Sari Silk Trim"
Some vintage metal buttons and Murano antique "gooseberries"
more smoky quartz and citrine

Pay no attention to that background there.
If you were guys I wouldn't have to tell you that.
back to something more simple
A couple of my crusty beads with my torch fired enamel bead caps.
I think they's go well with the Flaming Studnick necklace don't you?
I found these hammered headpins that I had actually made myself  a couple of years ago. What fun to actually use them. 

I have been planning to give you all a studio tour  but we've had such a succession of grey days that I haven't been inspired but It has definitely given me impetus to keep my nose to the grindstone in the studio.  Next on the docket is some fabric play just to mix it up a little.
That and some yardwork. Just planted all my flowers and am prepping the greenhouse
although here you could just call it preparing moose snacks.