The Last Projects of 2010~ Happy New Year!

Trying something new

Where the lampwork meets the "roadsmithed" bottle caps

Opals and rust

Chrysocolla and quartz

A choker of vintage buttons and sari silk ribbons

Lampwork baubles, disks and sari silk ribbons.

It's challenging for me to create a distressed and shabby look that works.

I finally got a whole day to myself to finish some projects that I had started over the last month. In between visitors and parties I found myself craving some time alone in the studio.

While  the Dave-man was off on a hiking in the Grand Canyon I got back to my bottle cap earrings. I had just bought some sari silk ribbon from Mudhound  Studio's Etsy shop and was anxious to put it to use. These are a few of my latest creations to finish out the year.

A very Arty New Year to you all and thanks for your acquaintances  and support this past year. I've enjoyed the journey.

xoxo Kim

Gifts From the Road, Desert, Family and Studio

What fun to buy your own goodies with a little

 Christmas money.

Found this one on my day trip to Pearce, AZ

A gift from the desert

More gifts from the desert.

How I love little bundles of aged wire

A little bling on my walk to the gym.

I think I may have to deconstruct this for embellishments

The same walk,

 It's a wonder I don't run into things with my eyes always focused on the ground!

Das BOOT!

The best find of the day!

A mini photo cropper from back in the day.

I couldn't resist the little table it was on either.

The antique store owner said this was from Eastman Kodak Company

I got to pick out some handmade papers as a present from my husband

I'm going to have some fun with these!

From the late 1800's

Under the direction of my husband, my stepson was able to pick out just the right stuff

from the antique stores of Old Bisbee!

The biggest surprise  from my husband from a vendor at the last show I did in Alaska!

 Some gifts from the studio ( apologies for the dust on my scanner!)

Silver and swirls

My lampwork beads

Twistable baubles for embellishments and components for jewelry design.

My Little Christmas Vacation

I know that these aren't the most Christmas-y of images but we took a couple of day trips in the area that was a nice break and a peaceful pastime away from busy town activities and parties.

 David's son was down visiting from college before he heads north to see his mom and our two other sons are back in Alaska enduring forty below zero F temperatures (minus 40 C) so these little day trips are the closest thing to holiday family time that we'll be enjoying.

The Slaughter Ranch is quite close to the border of Mexico in Arizona. It was established in the late 1880's and now is a museum of sorts.  After a long drive down a dirt road that we shared only with border patrol, we were so surprised to find a literal oasis in the desert with towering cottonwoods and green grass. It felt almost New England-y to me.

We hiked around observing bits of old barbed wire and broken glass and found evidence of artifacts that were flakes of knapped chert from old Indian sites. My husband is an archaeologist with a good eye for these things.

Slaughter Ranch

Beautiful Wings

The Mexican Arizona border fence

( it's much more formidable in the populated areas)

Art in Nature

I can get lost in this!

A mighty cottonwood

 The next day we went on another road trip on Rt. 191 through Double Adobe and Elfrida to Ghost Town Road to Pearce. 

Lots of cool signs to photograph there

A pistachio farm

These must be the same cranes that fly over our place in Alaska

Our area is also the land of gray-haired ponytail sightings.

Our friend Julio looking dapper at almost 70 years old.

We stopped at a couple of little shops in Pearce with a few good junking finds and pottery.

We continued on to the Amerind Museum in Dragoon for a wonderful display of Indian artifacts and artwork.

I was particularly fascinated by the weaving weight bundles that were used in the loom weaving. Since photography wasn't allowed and I didn't have a sketchbook on me I'm going to have to rely on my impressions for inspiration. They were amazing bundles of hand spun cording around dried corn cobs or whatever was handy that would add some weight.

The homemade cording that I saw at the museum showed all sorts of fibers including human hair.  It was a rare find as it had only been preserved in caves.

We were clued in to a wonderful eclectic bookstore off of the beaten path on a ranch in Benson called Singing Wind. We could have spent a few hours there but our tummies were calling for food by then and we had some Christmas ham waiting for us at home.

 All the best of the season's celebrations to you and thank you all for visiting my blog and sharing your impressions and friendships this past year.

XOXO Kim

A Bit of This 'n' That

My Russian birthday cake from A local Delta Junction baker

Dreaming of the move to Arizona last month

Now this is the view out of my kitchen window.

I tell ya these little guys are gluttons!

Say "goldfinch thistle seed" three times fast

Revisiting old collections for inspiration

Beads and Bows

And baubles

I wish they would photograph themselves!

Let's try it out on a rock                          

 Heel from a migrant's shoe found on the trail.

I added a little copper and patina.

More painting of journal covers

Muslin on cereal boxes

I just love patina-ing objects.

I wonder how I'll incorporate this into a piece.

A layout for a piece. Nothing is attached yet.

Do you remember my wabi-sabi shibori with staples from last spring?

I left it out for 7 months while we were in Alaska.

The staples didn't rust as I had hoped but the rocks I used to weight it down added a little something.

 It's funny that it doesn't seem as if I am doing that much artwork when I'm not in full production mode.  What I have been doing is bits and pieces and working on stages of several projects at once. Normally I work on several pieces of the same kind at once such as assembling more than a dozen earrings or a mass of ATC's or sewing postcards all at once. Or several hours at the torch making beads.  I seem to be flitting from project to project so it feels a little less focused until I add up what I've been up to in the past few weeks. In between we've had house guests that graciously let me know that I can carry on with my projects but I find that to be quite difficult and end up jaunting around with them on their tourist agenda and meals out. I'm quite distractible and end up feeling out of sorts and ungrounded if I'm torn away from the studio for too long with socializing. 

 I've got a full tank of oxygen now so I can resume making bigger lampwork beads without the fear of running out in the middle of a torch session.

 I'll share some pics of my newest beads on my next post along with some of the pages of my winter themed collaboration journal.

Happy Holidays to all and enjoy your families and friends.

                                                             xoxo Kim