What’s Up? Steampunk and France!

It’s been a while, boys and girls.  My creative mojo has been on hiatus.  I took a French class.  I stressed out at work.  I visited friends and family in the Boston area.  I ate way too much. I read a lot.

Sometimes I feel like I stepped back from my inner life and my physical life.  I retreated.  Don’t know why.  These things sneak up and hide themselves in your head,  so you don’t realize you’re not doing anything--creating, exercising, thinking.  

But lately I’ve been getting creative again, making some jewelry and working on a Steampunk character.  For those of you who don’t know what Steampunk is, it’s basically a Victorian vision of science fiction--think  H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.  More recently, read the Leviathan series by Scott Westfield or Gail Carrigers’ Alexia Tarabotti books (which mix Steampunk with vampires and werewolves).  Steampunk is anything goes--from corsets to tricked out weaponry, top hats to gears as embellishments.  Characters range from scientists and royalty to adventurers and ladies of the evening.  We already have our reservations for the HRH Steampunk Symposium on the Queen Mary in January, so I’m gathering materials and making my costumes and accessories.

Cats are a big part of my character, Felina Reid’s, life, so they will figure in parts of my costume.  Like my hats--yes, those are cat ears!  

 
And the embellishment also features a cat pin.

Here some great shoes I scored at Goodwill yesterday:

I’ll be making a drawstring bag (and probably my skirt/bustle) out of velveteen fabric I used to use on my tables at craft shows.  The fabulous trim I found on Etsy.

We’re also planning a trip to France next year.  The Mom recently gave me a monetary gift to start a Paris fund.  I wanted to go next year for our 35th anniversary and this money gave that dream a big boost!  The Husband is a military history buff, so naturally wants to see the D-Day beaches in Normandy.  I’m a museum rat and flea market shopper, so that’s what I’m looking forward to in Paris.  You’d think the Louvre would be #1 on my list but it’s actually the Musee D’Orsay, since I love the Impressionists.  We also love to walk, so seeing Paris on foot is going to be exciting.  I remember walking in San Francisco--a walking pace at ground level allows you to see so many tiny, amazing details!  
 

I love the planning of a trip as much as the actual travel, so lately I’m either elbows deep in beads or French tour books.

I’ll keep you up to date on what I’m making and planning!

C’est La Vie! Do What You Love!

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Soldered Collage Pendant Class

In our warm, dry classroom at Brea Bead Works today, we watched the chilly rain come down while we assembled tiny collages and soldered them between two pieces of glass. When I first signed up, I didn’t know why it was such a long class (noon to 5) but now I realize that to build thoughtful collages and have the time to learn the construction of the pendant, you need to take your time.

Here’s my work space:

 

Packages of glass on the upper left, cutting board, glue stick, scissors, papers and a copy of a Paris postcard I cut up.

Front of collages:

Back of collages:

Our fabulous teacher, Jennifer Soltero. She’s holding an awesome shadowbox necklace she created! All the BBW teachers are so talented! Marie, who I found out late in the class time, is from my old stomping grounds of Boston, took this picture of us because Jennifer is kinda shy and didn’t want to pose alone :-)

And here are the finished pendants, front:

When I was trying to come up with themes for my collages, reading and Paris came to mind immediately. For the Read project, I printed out the names of my four favorite books and staggered them from line to line for the background. And as I said, I copied a French postcard, both front and back, for the Paris one.

And back:

Jennifer generously brought papers, glitter glue, paints, stamps and stamp pads for us to use. When I saw the dragonflies, I knew that was my third project!

I love the idea of telling stories in such a small format. The real challenge is getting the hang of burnishing the copper tape correctly and soldering. Just like getting to Carnegie Hall, it takes practice, practice, practice. And a new soldering gun, apparently, since mine just wouldn’t work today… Grrrrr… Oh, well, it’s already on order!

So, next up, another metals class just after Christmas. What classes have you all got lined up?

Do What You Love!

 

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Let’s Hear It for Gift Cards!

Among the lovely Christmas presents from The Husband was a Michael’s gift card. I’ve heard that a great percentage of gift cards are never redeemed. Not a problem in this house!!

At The Day Job, I switched from a wall calendar to a desktop model for 2011 and suddenly realized I had a little piece of naked wall beside me.

Michael’s Card + Naked Wall =

This poster was a great size and, really, anything Paris would have been perfect!

Do What You Love!

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Eight Things Thursday

8 Places I want to go:

1 Paris

2 Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in PA

3 Venice

4 Australia

5 Chicago

6 The Georgia O'Keefe Museum

7 China, to see the Terra Cotta Warriors in their original home

8 Alaska

Eight Things…

I’ve been seeing this on folk’s blogs this morning. You’re supposed to tag people to do it on their blogs but I’m not much of a tagger. Please feel free to do your Eight lists. It’s actually pretty interesting!

Eight Things I’m Looking Forward to:

1. The Orange County Fair (haven’t been in 2 or 3 years)
2. Several books coming out this fall: Dark Road Rising, PN Elrod, Scary Stuff, Sharon Fiffer and Treacherous Teddy, John Lamb, among others
3. Cool weather
4. Paris (someday…)
5. Fitting back into my skinny clothes (see my other blog, www.maresjourney.blogspot.com)
6. Pancakes on my birthday
7. Cold Stone on my birthday (ok, so the skinny clothes will have to wait a day or two more…)
8. Retiring (someday…)

Eight Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Made an anklet
2. Read
3. Yard saled with The Husband in the morning and blogged about it (see previous post)
4. Caught up on Royal Pains
5. Checked out a sale at Stein Mart (didn’t buy anything)
6. Cheated a little on my weight loss plan (Cheez-its called to me)
7. Bought turkey cutlets at Trader Joe’s to christen the new George Foreman grill
8. Played with the cats and their new catnip mice

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Write a book (it’s harder than you would think…)
2. Live to 150
3. Go into outer space
4. Speak other languages
5. Either not sleep or have 8 more hours every day
6. Speak well in public
7. Travel extensively through Europe
8. Transport (as in Beam Me Up Scotty)

Eight Shows I Watch on TV:

1. Royal Pains
2. The Closer
3. Leverage
4. NCIS
5. CSI:NY
6. Numb3rs
7. Criminal Intent
8. Castle

If you decide to do your own Eight Lists, jot a comment here so we can all share!

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Still Dreaming of Paris

Hey!

I started this blog talking about my desire to go to Paris. The dream is still alive. Someday, someday… (Editors note~this appears on Bear Chicks Journey by mistake. It was supposed to go on Mare's Journey... This is what happens when I post at midnight or close to...)

Anyway, here are two great blogs with Paris in the title that I read every day. I think you’ll like them.

Shelagh Duffett is an artist in Nova Scotia. I love her work--very colorful and cheerful! She writes about all kinds of things, with lots of photos and interesting narrative. Sometimes she even writes about French stuff.

Please remember that this is Shelagh’s copywritten artwork--please be respectful and don’t do anything illegal with it.

http://www.aliceinparislovesartandtea.blogspot.com/

This second blog is so cool--everything Paris, right at your keyboard. Carol Gillott posts almost every day and it’s always something to do with Paris. It truly delights me to read her observations and study the pictures of Parisians, patisserie shops and the streets of Paris.

Again, copywritten! Don’t be tempted to do something bad with Carol’s pic!

http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/


C’est la vie!

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*Sigh* Paris Dreams

It’s been a rather uncreative August. I have a few things in progress but here’s one thing I’ve actually managed to finish:

This ATC encompasses my own personal Paris Dreams (see my sister blog, maresjourney.blogspot.com, for more on that…), eating at sidewalk cafes, the iconic Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, the cute little gargoyle. Someday…

I’m sure this must be someone else’s sigh inspiring dream too, so pretty soon it’ll be on Etsy.

Last week I was finally experimenting with some molding paste I've had for months. It’s interesting to work with because it’s a soft consistency, like un-sticky marshmallow fluff, and you can make waves with it, stick things in it to make designs and paint on it, among other fun things. I’m planning to play with it some more, as I create backgrounds for some of my favorite words and inspirational sayings on ATC’s.

The Day Job is going well but we’ve already been warned there’s going to be a ton of OT during September as we’re merging a couple of units together, so creativity will be a challenge. But life, and art, will go on!

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Just a Quick One!

I wanted to show you I wasn't a total slug on my vacation. I did work on some artwork and ATC's this week. They're still Works in Progress but here's one that only needs the Certificate of Authenticity adhered to the back:

It's an ATC titled, The Story of My Life. Reading, writing and creating have always been important elements for me, since I can remember. I'd drive my parents crazy reading billboards when I was learning the alphabet. I can't remember not having a library card. And I've always created things, from dolls clothes to flowers made of plastic and tissue paper and fabric to my ATC's and jewelry. For this one, I started with three Inchies (1" x 1" artwork) that I doodled with colored pencils. Then I punched out some stars and did the words on computer.

Soon to be finished, artwork with themes from Paris, The Little Prince and a black and white challenge for Somerset Magazine.

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