The last couple of days have been somewhat of a whirlwind....so I thought it was a perfect time to show you my spiral rings that I made when I was with Angie and Marly..... My head was definitely spinning on Sunday so spirals seem appropriate!




They are made my hammering different textures into silver wire, then forming the wire, work hardening, adding patina and voila!  An easy, quick ring.


Have you ever tried spiral rings?

I've spent the week in Ontario with my wonderful friends Angie and Marly.  We've had such fun.  So it's easy to figure the basis of my weekly "bird in the hand" - the things I'm grateful/happy about that happened this week.

Photo by striatic

• The friendship of Angie and Marly
• Having the opportunity to meet (and laugh with!) Sue McNenly after being email buddies for quite a while
• Snuggling under a blanket outside listening to live music - (Dala and Zoe Janzen)
• The low humidity in California!
• Finding new foods - like Za'atar
• Having time to experiment with metal clay - (we tried three different bronze clays this week and I'll blog about which we liked best and why next week)

•  Having friends to share ideas, dreams and goals with
•  Lake Houses 
•  Cocktail hour (but then I guess that could go on every week's list!)

Hope you had a great week too with lots of be thankful for.

I arrived in Toronto very late Sunday night and my friends Angie and Marly picked me up Monday morning.  It's so lovely to see them again...

We spent the morning and a wonderful lunch time in Toronto and then headed out to meet another metal clay artist friend - Sue McNenly.


Sue and I often correspond by email, and read each others blogs etc - and find many interesting connections in our lives and often obscure links in what we are currently working on.  So much so, we have frequently come to the conclusion that we are twins, separated at birth!  As we'd never met, and I just happened to be in Ontario, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get together and also a chance to  introduce her to Angie and Marly, who live relatively close by.

We both share a love of whimsy and enjoy a little play on words in our work.  If you haven't seen her work - you must check out her blog and website.  She makes delightful framed vignettes - here are a couple - and like my pieces - the title is integral to the piece:

"She's come undone"

"Water Baby"

Seeing her work close up you really can appreciate the tiny details and scale of what she is doing - like the tiny tags in the back of the dresses and the shoe buttons... Just beautiful work.

We spent a few hours together laughing and chatting and also getting to see her new home and studio......and by the time we got in the car to leave, my face was aching from all the laughing we had been doing!

I'm so glad we got a chance to meet up and had such a great visit. Next time - she'll have to come to Wine Country in California and visit me - which I know will be such a chore for her and her husband .....

"Twisted Sisters"

Photo by Dave_S.

 It's been a busy week this week with our fast trip over to the UK.  My "bird in the hand" (grateful/happy) moments were:

• Being able to spend time with family
• Safe traveling
• My mention and photos in the Sunday New York Times
• The great responses from friends, family and strangers re. the NYTimes article
• Our pet sitter Kelly for looking after Harold while we were away.

I head out again tomorrow to Ontario, Canada to spend the week with Marly (my guest blogger "Mondays with Marly") and Angie.  Sooooooo looking forward to seeing them again.  You'll hear my blogs from there for the next week. Hope you have a great week too.

I admit it. Both Angie and I are addicted to home renovation shows. We love to see how unappealing rooms turn into beautiful, stunning spaces. We have had our share of renovation experiences here on Spring Street, and although they are stressful to go through, the end result always makes it so worthwhile. I bought this little house on Spring Street twenty years ago. I was delighted that it came with a downstairs apartment as it provided extra income to help with the mortgage.  Being close in proximity to two large universities has always made it easy to find tenants, but after a flood caused some damage in the spring of 2008, it was the time to renovate and upgrade the apartment. We also wanted to reduce the size of the apartment so Angie and I could have more studio space downstairs and access to our storage space.

I always love looking at before and after shots, so I thought I would let you see the renovation process we went through that summer.  I’ll focus on the galley kitchen section of the downstairs apartment. It’s always a bit nerve wracking when the workers come in and totally gut what was previously there. No turning back now. Thankfully, we had a contractor that we knew and could trust!


As in the most dramatic renovation T.V. shows, the contractor informed us that the wiring and pipes behind the walls were a nightmare. The small kitchen ceiling was hiding twelve junction boxes. I could see by the look on the contractor’s face that this was not a good thing.

Obviously, a previous owner had been a bit of a “do-it- your-selfer” with very little knowledge or expertise! Also, the plumbing was old and pipes needed replacing. Ah yes, a bit of drama and added dollars to keep things exciting!


Now that the wiring and plumbing were fixed, we could focus on the fun stuff!

Angie and I decided to save some money by designing the new space, purchasing bathroom and kitchen cabinets and accessories, and by doing all the painting ourselves. After the summer was over, I really didn’t want to see another paint brush for a very long time.


How exciting to slowly see the transformation taking place. Here is the final result. I even had fun making a collage (seen on the far wall) from Japanese papers and the left over paint from the kitchen walls. Talk about art that matches the surroundings!


We were so pleased and excited about our new, sweet, little downstairs apartment. And we were able to reclaim some room downstairs for ourselves. All the work has really paid off! We still can hardly believe its the same downstairs each time we go down to our studios. Just wish we didn’t have to rent out the apartment! We could take turns living down there. But it is that time of year to rent it out to another grad student....we are now screening through tenant applications! We’ve had great tenants, so far! Wish us luck on finding a new one!

You can see more of Marly's work at Studio 28 - Waterloo,  Canada.

Oh dear! We’ve been so busy with summer projects and get-aways that I almost forgot that its THIS Monday that my next guest blog is due. Where does the time go? Its been fun having time for new projects like updating the little kitchenette in the front apartment and putting in a perennial garden in the front of the house. And we had a little get away to see Sting perform with the London (England) Symphony Concert Orchestra here in London (Ontario) on Wednesday night. Wow! What an amazing concert!

Not much time for the studio these days, but I’ve managed to create a few new pieces in the last while that I thought I’d share with you. I’ve grown to love working with copper and bronze clay along with fine silver clay. Although bronze and copper can be a bit more difficult to work with sometimes, the result of three metal colors in one piece is really worth it. Both Angie and I have found working with Hadar Jacobson’s bronze and metal powders to be our preferred choice. You can mix just the amount that you need, and the clay when it is first mixed is supple and very easy to work and manipulate. I currently am working with the three metals in a collage form that looks like a little temple. I like the form and hope there is lots of room for playing with texture and shapes within this format. Here are some of my initial pieces using this format.


I purchased some tree stamps at the art clay conference last year and decided to make a few pieces using this tree design.





The next two pieces incorporate some “Lake Huron Series” earrings that I had left in my “odds and ends” box.





I’m looking forward to playing with more copper, bronze, and silver soon. Just a few more projects....like clearing some space in the studio and I’ll be on my way!

By guest blogger Marly

A major heat wave has hit Southern Ontario. Nothing like it since 2007.  I gratefully bow to our little window air conditioner which is managing to keep the house comfortable and cool. A perfect kind of day to write a blog entry since its way too humid to venture outside. In my last blog entry, I wrote about some early artistic adventures...weaving, printmaking, picture framing, and watercolor.

Around 2005, my color palette started to change. The turquoise blues and greens that predominated my earlier work shifted to warmer colors...maroons, reds, browns and earth tones. I realized how much I loved doing collage and started to integrate watercolor and acrylics with photos and Japanese washi papers



I decided to take an early retirement from teaching in 2005 so I could make art and travel a bigger part of my life.  I took a course in fused glass and fell in love with the process. I very quickly started to experiment with collaging different colors of glass together.



It didn’t take long before I fell in love with dichroic glass and the way it reflected colours.
I started to make jewelry pieces using this specialty glass.



In between creative adventures, Angie and I travelled to the southwest in my camper van several times between 2005-2007. It was there that we discovered the silver metal clay community and took some introductory courses that got us hooked on creating metal clay jewelry. It wasn’t long before I started experimenting with previous art mediums and metal clay. Could I put in some of my collage art into a metal clay frame?
I discovered that by laminating miniaturized versions of my collages, I could, indeed, include my art in metal clay jewelry.




I really feel drawn to making artisan jewelry right now. My work in various mediums has always been small, so translating my art to jewelry seems like a good direction to pursue. I also love the personal nature of making wearable art. So many people have told me how they think of me when they put on a piece of jewelry that I’ve made. Its feels good to know that people enjoy wearing my creations.

My art experiences have truly been stepping stones. All of life’s learnings can be built upon and used in many ways. So embrace the desire to learn something new. Trust that pursuing new experiences and having the courage to leave your “comfort zone” will only broaden and enhance the creative spirit within. Here’s to the journey!

Marly and Angie are owners of Studio 28, Waterloo, Ontario

Those of us who live in Southwestern Ontario have our own "West Coast" along the shores of Lake Huron. Back in the 70's, (I was merely a child), Dad and I went looking for cottage land and we were very fortunate to find a rare lake-front property just north of Kincardine. Mom and Dad spent every weekend and the summers for the next few years building the cottage and putting the finishing touches on the inside. Both Mom and Dad had busy and demanding careers in Waterloo and the opportunity to get away and shift focus to cottage projects always lifted their spirits and gave them renewed energy. This is one of my favorite pictures of them as it reflects their happy playfulness when they worked together at the cottage.




They aptly called the cottage "Huron Haven" and it became a relaxed and peaceful gathering place for friends and family. The highlight of every evening was watching the amazing sunsets over the lake.  The beauty and majesty of this natural wonder would draw us to the beach or to the cottage deck and we would end each day gazing at the ever changing reflections of the sun on cloud, sky, and water.  This is a picture taken from the deck of the cottage.


When I started creating with metal clay, I knew I wanted to work on a Lake Huron Series to capture some of the magic of my cottage memories. First, I started with a very simple representation of sky, sun, water, and sand by making a texture plate using sandpaper and wallpaper textures along with a hole punch to create the circle shape for the sun.


I also wanted to capture the beauty of the trees lining the shore, so I twisted some copper wire into a tree shape and made a mold of the tree with the textures from the domed pendant in the background.


I, then, decided to use some gemstones to represent the sun or the moon over the lake. I have various stones in different pieces including garnet, oregon sunstone, and citrine to represent the sun, and opal to represent the moon.





I have truly been touched by the response to my Lake Huron series as so many others have shared their special memories of summer days on the beaches and in the cottage towns along Lake Huron. 

Dad passed away in 2002 and Mom continued their tradition of welcoming friends and family to their beautiful cottage home for seven more seasons. It was with a mixture of sadness and gratitude that we opened the cottage this spring, the first time without Mom or Dad. It is the end of an era. There are so many of us that miss Mom and Dad's kind and generous presence, but I know we feel grateful for their hospitality and the many beautiful memories they helped to create. I know that they will continue to inspire us to take time to enjoy nature, each other, and to end each day looking at the sunset with a peaceful and happy heart! I love you, Mom and Dad!

I want to introduce you to a new guest blogger - my great friend Marly.  

Marly is an artist who works in fused glass, metal clay and lots of other things too.  She and Angie own and run Studio 28 in Waterloo, Canada (near Toronto).


The photo below shows Marly in my studio last year, when she and Angie were visiting.  While we were together, we had an incredible time making some collaboration pieces - three pieces with each of us contributing to each piece.  The process - and results - were amazing. Here's the link to the final blog post about our metal clay collaboration projects so you can see what we came up with.


Anyhow - I won't tell you too much about her, as she'll be doing that!  She will be blogging on alternate Mondays in her new slot "Mondays with Marly". So one week it'll be "Mondays with Marly" and the next it'll be "Monday's Millinery Musings" with Jennifer.  (Now why Jennifer's name doesn't begin with an M I'll never know!! Maybe she should change it!!!)


I'm delighted she agreed to join our little band of bloggers, so we get to hear a little about "inside the artisan Marly".

See you Monday Marly!

Marly and Angie are coming over in about an hour so we can finish off our collaboration pieces.

They are fired but now need polishing and patina and....

So here are the pieces before they went in the kiln.


First in this picture is Marly's collage which I got second and then Angie finished. Marly then add a bail to the top. Second in this picture is Angie's reversible lentil showing the side that Marly finished and then how Angie put the two halves together. (The next photo will show the reverse and what I did to it!). And third piece in this photo is "Anyone" which I started, Angie impailed (!) and Marly made a heart and moon to hang on his wand. They will be assembled after firing.


This picture shows the same pieces again but the other side of Angie's lentil with the little flower that I made.

Hopefully I'll post the final pieces later today.

Here are the next phases of our collaborations. If you want to look back at how this started - scroll down to Wednesday's blog post.

Here's Marly's collage with a couple of additions my me:


Here's my "anyone" which Angie impailed with a wand in his hands (and tummy!) and a squiggle on his hat and then a loop through his head! Yes, she is cruel!


And here is Angie's split lentil (sounds like a soup!) which Marly chose to decorate one half of. Marly often uses three circles in her designs - and it seems highly appropriate as there were three of us doing our collaboration!

Angie and Marly are coming round tomorrow so we can finish our fired pieces - so look out for tomorrow's blog post to see our progress!

Following on from yesterday's "collaboration" post, here are some photos of the stage one of our pieces.

This first piece was started by Marly:

It's a collage piece so she made the base and then added on some different textures and then passed it on to me.

I started a piece making "anyone" so he could be added to:

I then passed him on to Angie for the next stage.

Angie started a lentil bead with leaf texture on it - here it is in two parts that were joined at the end:

She passed it on to Marly.

Tomorrow I'll show the next phase so you can see what the second person in the phase contributed! See you then.