Inside the artisan

Yearning for color

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:12:00 +0000

I'm all ready to start more experimenting with colored anodized aluminum (or colour anodised aluminium). I tried a couple of simple pieces recently, shown here (the round pair I made for our recent merry go round challenge).

There is quite a process involved with coloring anodized aluminum which I'll explain briefly. When aluminum is exposed to the atmosphere, an inert film forms on it's surface as a protective layer again corrosion. This layer is chemically bonded to the metal's surface. When aluminum is anodized by placing in a bath of acid with an electric current, this oxide layer is artificially created - much thicker and more consistent than the one formed naturally. The surface takes on an appearance similar to a honeycomb with microscopic pores. These pores readily absorb inks and dyes, if they have the correct particle size, which allows for decorative coloring. After coloring, the aluminum is sealed which closes the pores and the color becomes trapped in the metal and so is actually part of the metal. It is therefore resistant to rubbing, abrasion, solvents etc...and as aluminum is light weight, it makes it perfect for jewelry.

As you can imagine there is quite a bit of fiddling in the whole process. So far I've just done some simple earrings but I'm hoping later this month I can dedicate some more time to experimenting.

I just love the colors you can get with aluminum - so vibrant and fresh. Yes - very different from my usual style...but who knows where this will lead?

Here are some I made earlier in the year.

I'd welcome your thoughts and comments......

Expressive birds

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:07:00 +0000

So I wonder if you noticed anything different about my bronze bird that I photographed yesterday???

If you look carefully, you may see that, unlike my other birds, this little bronze guy has eye lids and eye brows too! and yes, a little topknot feather. Can you see?

I guess my not including eye lids before was an anatomical error as all birds have eye lids. In fact birds have three eye lids - an upper one, a lower one and a nictitating membrane. Unlike us, however, their moveable lid is the lower one. As that looks a little odd to us - I gave this guy moveable upper lids instead!

And as for the eyebrows? Well - no. Birds don't have eyebrows - but I have artistic license!

So how come my new bird has two new anatomical features? Well, I started a cartooning class last week! I can't draw and don't particularly want to learn to draw "regular" things - but I thought cartooning might be fun.

When I met my tutor, he'd looked at my website and jewelry etc and he decided that I was a "three dimensional cartoonist!" I like that phrase! I started work on drawing cartoons based on Humphrey and Trisha ...... I have a lot to learn but in the process we spoke about expressions and how eye lids and eye brows add to expressions - and voila! My sculpted birds now have lids and brows so I can start working on different expressions!

I have my second lesson today. Looking forward to it. I can see that my sculpting and my cartooning will be switching back and forth with me learning things in one and adding it to the other and vice versa! And my goal is to be able to show you some little cartoons here on my blog. Hope they won't cause too many raised eye brows!

What's our story?

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Here's a chance for you to name and decide the story of these two little birdies. What is their relationship? Have they just met or are they related? What do they call each other? What are they talking about here?

What do you think....any captions for the photos???

I have my own idea but I'd love to hear your version of their story.

Going around in circles

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:44:00 +0000

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?

Mondays with Marly - Birdland Creations and Studio 28 "International Conference"

noreply@blogger.com (STUDiO 28 Waterloo) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:03:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER MARLY

We had our own kind of metal clay conference here in Waterloo. Very small, just Ruth, Angie and I. It was such a treat to spend time together at a relaxed pace, share ideas and dreams, play with clay in the studio, meander up to Lake Huron and the cottage, and enjoy meals (and cocktails) together! Wonderful! We are so lucky to have such a great friend and mentor in Ruth. She always inspires us to keep growing in our life and business pursuits and her company is an absolute joy!

We decided to spend a day testing various kinds of bronze clay in the studio. Ruth brought some Prometheus bronze and some new Fast Fire Bronzclay from Metal Clay Adventures, and I mixed up some of Hadar's bronze and clay powders and off we went.

Angie and Ruth testing various Bronze Clays

Ruth has already published the results of our findings on a previous blog. Long story short, we all loved working with the new Fastfire Bronzclay. It almost felt, dare I say, similar to working with silver metal clay! Here are some beads I made with this clay. Notice the soft bronze colour and the detail of the texture. Also, the shrinkage was a lot less than the other two clays. Both Angie and I are excited to try more of this clay!

Beads Made with FastFire BronzClay

I have worked almost exclusively with Hadar's clays as I enjoy mixing the powders and making only what I need at the time. The one advantage to working with Hadar's clays is that it is easy to combine copper and bronze together. When I tried adding Hadar's copper clay to the other bronze clays, they did not sinter and broke apart. The beads below are made with Hadar's copper and bronze clay. They both sintered well together. I'll have to experiment more to see I can combine copper with the other clays.

Beads Made with Hadar's Copper and Bronze Powders

It was fun to try out and experiment with various bronze clays...next, its time to experiment with Hadar's White Bronze Clay....we'll keep you posted!

And exciting news!!! One of last week's highlights was to find out that Metal Clay Magic had featured Angie's Dream Box pendant after seeing it here on Ruth's blog! What a thrill! Way to go, Angie! It's always exciting to be recognized by others in the metal clay community. Thanks, Wendy!

Sunday's spotlight - staying home for the Bank Holiday

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:00:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER PETE

Here in the UK we have just had the last bank holiday until Boxing Day. When you are working, bank holidays are an extra bonus that are very welcome but when you're retired you are apt to become rather indifferent to them. I must confess that Pam and I are both wrinklies and as a result bank holidays don't do a great deal for either of us.

About 75% of bank holidays (winter ones excepted) we visit the local car boot sale. This is an open air market where people sell the rubbish they don't want, to people who think it might be useful but then, probably, pass it on to a charity shop. This year we even gave the car boot sale a miss.

Instead I climbed out onto the roof of the extension to pick up the moss that had fallen from the main house roof and to clean the top of the conservatory. It surprises me how much you can see from that roof. Reminded me of a song by George Formby -- "When I'm cleaning windows". There; that's given you a clue to my age but don't say you've never heard of George Formby.....here he is, just in case!!

It's best not to go on Lincolnshire roads on a bank holiday. At Cadwell Park, just outside of Lincolnshire town of Louth, there is a motorcycle nirvana called Superbike Cadwell Park. It is on the motor bike circuit for the national championship and this year it attracted a crowd of 40,000 -- yes 40,000 and I checked that three times.Can you imagine what the roads would have been like at turnout time? Probably not 40,000 motorbikes but at least 25,000 would-be champions all speeding along Lincolnshire's narrow roads making their ways home.

The other place we wrinklies are apt to avoid on bank holidays is the Lincolnshire seaside resort of Skegness. Our elder daughter, Mary, was with us a few years ago for an August bank holiday. By the way, if Mary ever invites you to a picnic then take your raincoat with you! To be true to her, though, the picnic she arranged for one of Pam's birthdays was the only hot and sunny day we had in the whole of that August. That visit to Skegness was an extremely fortunate one. We went in the afternoon and managed to find a roadside parking space quite quickly. The bonus here was that we actually found parking space on a bank holiday and it didn't cost us anything. Then whilst walking on the beach Mary found a £5 note. It must have been quite a few years ago because that £5 note bought tea for all of us !!!!!!

Skegness beach by EDD07

By EDD07

Hope you had a good bank holiday. Skegness on Boxing Day is very bracing. If you live nearby why not try it?

Skegness Clock Tower by mush2274

Weekly Bird in the Hand

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:58:00 +0000

This week's bird in the hand i.e. things I'm grateful for:

Photo by ell brown

Being home after a busy summer and having some time to catch up
Meeting a friend unexpectedly and finding time to have a coffee together and hear all what's been happening
Doing more creating with my new toy - a tap and die set!
Starting a new class - more on that later!
Being named as September featured artist for the Yahoo Metal Clay Group
Starting back at singing again at Grace Cathedral
Being able to see so much wildlife just in our garden. This week John saw a Bobcat in the vineyard, a pigmy Owl, we both saw lots of Quails and yesterday we had an otter in the pond. All were around long enough to really watch them. Hope you like my otter photos - it seemed he was as interested in me as I was in him!

Room for two......

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:36:00 +0000

This little birdie is looking wistful.....waiting for his favorite bird to come and sit with him on his branch. There is definitely room for two - especially if you don't mind being close together......

"Room for two" is my latest mixed-media necklace combining silver and rare woods. I've been using my new tap and die set to make my own screws and screw holes which makes connections easy with materials where you can't use heat.

Don't you feel like taking a break and having a seat with this little birdie??

Part 3 - Which bronze clay to use - Prometheus, Hadar's or FastFire Bronzclay?

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:46:00 +0000

Finishing up from Tuesday and Wednesday's posts about comparing the three types of bronze clay - Prometheus Bronze, Hadar's Bronze and FastFire Bronzclay.......

Each of the bronze clays had their own individual firing schedules. We didn't want to do three - actually 4 separate firings (as Hadar's has two firings) so decided to fire Hadar's pieces on their own according to her schedule and then fire the Prometheus and FastFire Bronzclay together.

Hadar's clay was fired according to her instructions which includes phase I for half an hour in carbon and then cool followed by phase II for 3 hours in carbon. All Hadar's pieces fired and sintered fine on this schedule.

For the other two clays, we followed the FastFire Bronzeclay schedule where you fire in carbon for 2 hours with full ramp but we had read that some people found that they needed to increase the temperature from 1525 to 1550 degrees F - so we went for the higher temperature. That is higher than the temperature recommended for Prometheus - but we thought it worth a try. Again - all pieces fired and sintered fine and there was no blistering on the Prometheus despite it firing at a higher temperature.

(As an aside....On my "anyone" piece I tried adding a hat to the FastFire Bronzclay made from Hadar's copper clay, and Marly tried combining Hadar's copper too on some of her beads but the copper didn't sinter on any of the pieces. Obviously combining the two metals and brands needs a little more fiddling with!)

We used our usual techniques for finishing and found quite a few differences between the clays. I found that with Hadar's, getting a smooth finish was not easy. On my bird, it seemed that there were "pits" - that couldn't be sanded out. I'm thinking that may have something to do with unevenness in the mixing and the pits are where there was concentrated binder but not metal??? but Marly really shook the powder well to begin with and mixed thoroughly and carefully......Finishing looked fine with the textured pieces but for that plain finish I guess I would have to refill and refire etc to get the finish I like.

From left to right: Fastfire Bronzclay (FF), Hadar's (H) and (unfinished) Prometheus (P)

Prometheus didn't seem to sand to a smooth finish - I just couldn't get it to have that lovely satiny silky feel that I like in my pieces. I gave up even trying to do my bird in Prometheus I'm afraid.

The Fastfire Bronzclay finished really nicely however. As you can see from the photos, I got that satiny silky finish on the bird and anyone (without his hat!!!) and it also finished really well on the textured and carved pieces.

There were big differences in shrinkage between the clays too as the photos show. The beads I didn't make in uniform length but they were all made with three card thickness. The least shrinkage occurred with FastFire Bronzclay and the most with Prometheus.

FF, H, P. You can see the difference in how the clays take texture

FF, H, P. All beads were rolled 3 cards thick. This photo shows the differences in shrinkage.

So the conclusion of all this is that I actually enjoyed working with the FastFire Bronzclay. It is a totally different clay from the Bronzclay released 2 years ago and they have made some great improvements. It was easily my favorite amongst the three types in all categories - and both Marly and Angie also chose it as their favorite too. For once, I am excited to try bronze on some larger pieces and see how it goes - but first I'll give it a try on something small in my kiln and keep my fingers crossed it works like Angie and Marly's kiln!!!

But I reiterate - using these clays is a very personal experience - both in our individual senses of what feels good and how we use it. We are lucky to have choices in our clays that can used for different applications.

Keep watching and I hope to show you some bronze pieces in the not too distant future!

I'd love to hear your experiences with any or all of these clays. Do leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Featured artist for Yahoo Metal Clay Group

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:54:00 +0000

I'm delighted and thrilled to be the featured artist for September for the Yahoo Metal Clay group. If you work in metal clay and aren't part of this yahoo group - I highly recommend you check it out. You'll find lots of great information there and it's a place to share what you are up to as well.

Thanks so much for selecting me.

Part 2 - Which bronze clay to use? Prometheus, Hadar's or FastFire Bronzclay?

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Following on from yesterday's post about our testing out the three types of bronze clay.....

I began with Hadar's bronze clay and made a round tube textured bead, a square tube plain bead, a little songbird and a wing for carving. The clay took and kept the texture just fine on the round bead. When it came to the square bead, there was some cracking in the clay, but after it dried, it was easy enough to fill in the cracks and sand it down - although when filling you do lose some of the texture. The bird was easy to shape and the wings joined relatively easily. When it came to carving the wing, it was quite difficult to carve - even after I had moistened the surface a little. I also tried carving the square bead but it wasn't easy.

Hadar's Bronze Clay

Next up was Prometheus and I made the same pieces as above. The Prometheus clay did not seem to hold it's shape or texture. The texture on the round bead reduced considerably and the shape of the bird slumped so that the base of the bird was just flat where it sat. It just couldn't hold it's shape. Making the square bead, there was a lot of cracking and these didn't seem to fill very easily. Joining was OK both on the seams and the bird however I found I couldn't make a small bird like I could in the other clays - it just didn't seem easy to manipulate in small scale. Carving, like Hadar's, was difficult and not enjoyable.

I do want to make a comment here about Prometheus. I tried Prometheus when it first came on the market and it was a joy to work with. I liked it. Recently I got two more packets and the clay is totally different in every way from my initial packet. I don't know if they have changed the formula or changes occurred as they ramped up production but these last two packets just don't seem to "work" like the first one. I emailed the manufacturer/supplier after I had tried this new batch a few weeks ago, expressing my disappointment, but they never responded.

Prometheus Bronze clay

Finally - I managed to wrestle the FastFire Bronzclay from Marly to try that. Wow! No wonder she didn't want to let it go. It is a joy to work with. It takes and keeps texture well and the seams on the beads joined very easily. There was no cracking on the square bead and the songbird was just as easy as anything. I embedded some bronze wire into the bird too. The wing was a delight to carve - like running the carver through butter. What a difference to the other two. There was no need to moisten the surface or anything. Just a dream. I was so enjoying this, I decided to try it out on an "anyone" figure too and he worked just fine.

Fastfire Bronzclay

You'll have to wait until tomorrow for me to tell you about firing and finishing the three clays.

Which bronze clay to use? - Prometheus, Hadar's or Fast Fire Bronzclay

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0000

While I was with Angie and Marly last week, instead of doing a collaboration project together we decided to do an investigation instead! Angie and Marly do a lot of work in bronze and copper - using Hadar's powder clays. While I've tried the variety of bronze clays, I've never found one that suits my needs. But, as there is a new FastFire Bronzclay on the market, I took a packet of that to Ontario and some Prometheus bronze and they made up a batch of Hadar's bronze clay and the experiment began!

We wrote out a list of characteristics that we could rate each of the products on, including:

general feel,
ability to take and retain texture,
cracking,
ease of joining,
ease of sanding,
firing,
finishing

and then began our testing!
I'll share my comments and findings over a couple of blog posts - but please note that it is all personal. What I like doesn't mean that everyone will like it - and most importantly, the clays that I like best are going to be those that work for sculptural pieces, as that it what I do. Just because one might not be good for making an "anyone" figure, doesn't mean it won't be excellent for flat textured purposes.

The look and feel of each one was really quite different. I find Hadar's always feels dry initially but after a couple of rolls, that quickly disappears and it has a nice feel to it. The Bronzclay had a different sort of wet sand feel to it. The Prometheus didn't feel good - a bit gritty and dry.

From left to right....FastFire Bronzclay, Hadar's, Prometheus

I decided to try the same pieces with each clay so as to be able to compare them directly. I made a round tube bead, a square tube bead, one of my little songbirds, and a wing to try carving on (and for one of the clays I also tried making an "anyone" figure).

I'll tell you more about the "wet" working stage tomorrow.

Which have you tried and which did you like?

Monday's Millinery Musings - France on Foot Part 3: Getting lost

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:02:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER JENNIFER

There are several ways of responding to getting lost on the trail: 1) Panic, not advised, or 2) Surrender wholeheartedly to being lost. The last option is by far the more interesting. Suddenly one becomes a different person inhabiting a wild new world.

Several years ago we were lost in a forest in Burgundy. We had cut back and forth in the hills for several hours on a very hot day. We ran out of water. At some point we realized that we had been led off trail by a series of mis-marked and missing blazes (trail markers). We found ourselves good and lost. At this point we abandoned the trail markings and went straight back to the compass and the blessed Serie Bleu map, which also has topographic detail. Dave, quite the accomplished boy scout, eventually put us on the right track. But that didn't help with water.

Finally headed in the right direction, we slogged through the underbrush, sweat running down our bodies, and the dull headaches of dehydration our constant companion. The thirst was ferocious. After some time we found ourselves facing a very small, white sign with black lettering that said "Le Source", a spring! The narrow trail eventually widened into a shady opening in the forest and there to our astonishment was Saint Anne!

St Anne, mother of Mary

A grotto of large and small stones had been roughly fashioned and in a niche stood a small statue of Saint Anne. She stood calmly in her stone robes. Other niches held sprays of plastic flowers: yellow sunflowers, pink roses, and a vase of spent blue irises. Clear, cold, spring water poured out from a small pipe under St. Anne's feet and flowed into a reflecting pool that collected water as it ran out of an opening between the stones into another pool. It was a nearly unbelievable sight!

When the lost are found, when thirst is quenched, the single most crystalline feeling is of joy. Pure and simple joy of the heart and mind. All cares fall away. We dropped our backpacks and sat a long while with Saint Anne and took comfort from her. We drank deeply from the spring and bathed our sunburned faces in the cool freshness of this tiny refuge that seemed to materialize just for us. We found our way easily after that to our village hotel and a good meal. This experience gave us much to think about and be thankful for.

I wish you simple joys as you walk along your way. You may feel lost sometimes, but you will find yourself. Not to worry.

Sunday's Spotlight - Doncaster or Bust

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 14:45:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER PETE

Pam and I had one of those days last Wednesday. Instead of taking a week's holiday away - we couldn't find any suitable place in north Norfolk that wasn't already booked - we decided to go out for day trips and spend the nights sleeping at home.

I had first visited Doncaster about 55 years ago. I had to change trains there on my way to college and one day I decided to spend a few hours there rather than go straight onto academia. In those days Doncaster was a large railway town and junction but today much of that railway base has disappeared.

A few years ago, we took Pam's sister, Ann, and her husband, Alan, to Doncaster on one of their visits here from Canada. We carefully chose a market day because this gives the visitor more to see. Even its most ardent supporters would hesitate to classify Doncaster as picturesque, however, the market is outstanding and it was to this that we took Ann and Alan. We had lunch, on that occasion, in a pub close to the market. The meals turned out to be enormous, even though the prices were ridiculously low. Alan was so impressed by this that he took photographs of the meals. Some 18 months later Pam and I returned to Doncaster and sought out this pub but discovered that it had then closed down: more than likely due to the generous meals they were serving so cheaply.

We go back to Doncaster from time to time and always seem to go on market day. Earlier in the week I had checked on the Internet to find out what was the main market day. I was told that it was Wednesday so when Wednesday came we went down to our railway station nice and early to catch the fast train to Doncaster. The weather that day was perfect and we were hoping for another full and interesting time there.

However, things didn't quite turn out as we anticipated. The market was there and all the stores we would expect to see in the open market were present, but many of the stalls in the indoor markets were closed with only about 10% open. Pam looks forward to visiting the card making stalls at the market, but was most disappointed to find these were also closed. It's been about 35 years since Wednesday stopped being a shopping half day in this country with stores closing for the afternoon, but obviously Doncaster has not caught on because not only were many of the market stalls closed but quite a few of the individual shops were closed as well. I even found some charity shops were closed for the day. Oh well, we decided we'd just have to lump it and like it.

But then came lunch..... which we decided to have in one of the national departmental stores. Mistake! Pam's "all day breakfast" looked and tasted as though it had been on the hotplate "all day". My panini, when heated, resembled in both texture and taste an oblong piece of concrete. I must confess, though, in fairness to the unnamed national store that I am not an expert when it comes to the taste of concrete - at least I wasn't before this visit. Even the coffee offered a remarkable resemblance to washing-up water - in both taste and appearance.

We wandered around the many closed shops in town until the time to catch the train back to Lincoln. The train we were after was the equivalent of a fast connection that brought us from Lincoln to Doncaster in 50 minutes. We went to the correct platform and there was a train with "Lincoln Central" written on the front as its destination. Unfortunately, for us, the particular train that we caught was not the fast version express from Doncaster to Lincoln but a slow train went via Sheffield and took the best part of 2 1/2 hours to arrive at our destination. We saw the train we should have caught as we were pulling out of the station and all we could do was wave to it and go on our way to the steel city. The train wasn't even comfortable. Northern Railway carriages resemble the old-fashioned type of double-decker bus seating, which wasn't renown for comfort. So by the time we arrived at Lincoln our "bums were numb".

There wasn't much we could do about the day except to determine that the next time we go to Doncaster it will not be on a Wednesday.

To cheer up the post - I include some photos from the Pinchbeck flower festival that I have worked on. Hope you like them.

Weekly Bird in the Hand

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:40:00 +0000

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.

Merry Go Round - Photo Inspiration Challenge

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:08:00 +0000

It''s time for another ride on the merry-go-round! Jump on and join a group of 9 artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft.

This month's topic is a photo challenge. We all submitted a photo and then we voted on the one we found most inspiring. Our challenge was then to create something inspired by the photo.

Here is the photo that got the most votes:

The colors seemed such an important part of the photo so I decided to not use silver but get back to doing some anodized aluminum or anodised aluminium - depending where you live!

Here are the earrings that I made - inspired by the photo:

I think they capture the "happy" and "fun" style of the photo too.

They are very slightly domed so circles, on circles, on circles..

I hope you'll check out how the happy water balloon photo inspired the other merriers by clicking on the links below. We live in many different places around the world which means different time zones so some may post later than others.

Thanks for looking.

Alison at Tweed Delights - http://idreamoftweed.blogspot.com
Mitsy at ArtMind - http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com
Kim at Vilt a la Kim - http://viltalakim.blogspot.com
Sara at Crafts of Texture - http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com
Fabienne at Easterya Jewellery Creations - http://easterya.blogspot.com
Mariana at Florcita - http://www.florcita.eu/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent - http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Lily at Lily Pang Art and Design - http://lilypangart.blogspot.com

Animal Tracks bracelet and Findlay the Frog get out there!

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:33:00 +0000

I just received the latest Fire Mountain Gems catalog for 2010-2011 and saw two of my older pieces in it!

The first was my "animal tracks" bracelet

And then also Findlay the Frog as "Stuck on You"!

It seems so long ago since I created them, but how nice to flick through a catalog and unexpectedly see your own work.

We are off to Lake Huron today, taking in a matinee play along the way. Sounds like a perfect day....

Visiting Ontario and friends

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:50:00 +0000

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"

Mondays with Marly - California Comes to Ontario!

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:23:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER MARLY FROM STUDIO 28

Angie and I are SO excited that Ruth is coming for a visit to Waterloo! As you read this blog, we will be having fun together in Toronto! We’ll have to post lots of pictures of our adventures together! It is always wonderful to spend time with Ruth. There’s lot of laughter, sharing of ideas, and interesting metal clay collaborations. It is so enriching to have the opportunity to share ideas and studio time with another metal clay enthusiast!

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful friend and business partner, Angie, who I can collaborate with on a daily basis. I’d like to dedicate this blog to her and thank her for her constant support, encouragement, and inspiration. She is a talented and creative artisan and I am lucky to have her presence in my life! Below are some of her beautiful metal clay creations!


Ancient Treasure

Dream Box


Dream Spinner

Love Letter

Mushroom Stones

Tribal Drums

Varanasai Sun

Stay tuned for the further adventures of Ruth, Angie and Marly in Waterloo. Ontario will NEVER be the same!

Sunday's spotlight - Summer Holidays

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:04:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER PETE

As a child, August meant only one thing for me. Holidays! Freedom from the restrictions of the formal state education that was enforced upon all children of my age. Six weeks of doing absolutely what ever you wanted to do. Well, not quite everything.

After just a few days at home, spent in the company of my friends, my mother and I set forth for the vast dark expanses of North Yorkshire. Goodbye any North Yorkshire readers of this blog. It is not going to be as bad as you fear so stick with it if you can and, if you feel like it, defend your county by sending in a comment.

My destination in North Yorkshire was the market town of Stokesley. I must have been a big shock to my parents when my mother discovered she was expecting me. My sister is 10 years older than me and five years younger than my brother and so they, my Mum and Dad suddenly found themselves with another son.

Our Yorkshire trip to Stokesley was so that we could spend four and a half weeks with my brother and his wife. They ran a cafe and catering business in the town. I have an everlasting memory of endless Saturday afternoon weddings in various village halls all around the district and the hours I spent washing up. If I was lucky, there just might be a jelly fruit salad left over from the guests that I could finish off.

It was my brother who introduced me to speedway racing. The Middlesbrough team had their track halfway between Middlesborough and Stockton. I forget which night they had their meetings on but I do remember that Bill, my brother, and I were regular visitors there. When we returned to Southampton I visited the speedway there each week, going with a friend of my sister's. This lady was a real fanatical speedway follower. The only rider whose name I can remember now was a chap called Split Waterman. In those days I used to wonder what kind of parents he must have had who would christen him "Split"!

I used to borrow my brothers father-in-law's bicycle after trips to Middlesborough speedway. There was a long and dusty pathway leading to a farm off Stokesley Lane and I could practice my back wheel skid there to my heart's content. Pity about the tyres, though!

The photos included here are all of Stokesley.

Weekly Bird in the Hand

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:53:00 +0000

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.

Birdland Creations New York Times article

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Eventually I flew home yesterday after 3 hours delay in the flight...... It was a long day......

And today I was happy to receive a copy of the Sunday New York Times Article to see for myself what they had included.

Here are the three photos of me and my birds:

Happily they didn't use the real close-up one they had on the slideshow! I struggle having my photo taken at the best of times, but that close-up was....well, close up!!!!

And here is what the full page in the Business section looked like:

It felt so good to be included and get all that free publicity!

The New York Times this week....who knows what comes next?? :-D

New vine grafts in the vineyard

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:37:00 +0000

If you regularly read this blog, you may recall that we did some "bud over" in our vineyard in spring - where we grafted a white grape variety over a few of our Merlot vines. That was at the end of the May - so I thought I'd share with you some photos of the vines now to see the progress.

There is quite a lot of variation in different vines in as much as how they have taken and grown. You can see from this one, that maybe it is just taking, as there is a little bit of growth on the new bud on the right:

Next there are some with a few inches of growth from one or both of the new buds:

Then there are some vines that have grown as tall as trees!:

On these bigger ones, there are even some bunches of grapes. This first photo shows them still as flowers - you can just see the tiny bits of flowers...and the second photo shows them as new tiny grapes:

The majority of grafts have taken and each week we count to see how many are 4 inches or more in height. At the moment it's 240 out of 325 - with lots more that may well be 4 inches by the time we get home.

It's been interesting to see them all start and I'd never have thought we would get so much variation. All this growth also means we have to do lots of suckering - which is taking off any new buds and shoots that appear BELOW the graft - as they would then come up as Merlot. So it's been quite a bit of work.

We'll see how they fair through the fall and hopefully the numbers of grafts taken will continue to rise.

The Knitter's Assistant

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:17:00 +0000

I was asked to design a pendant for a customer that she could give to a friend of hers who is a keen knitter. She is also a cat owner so wondered if I could combine that into the design too....and so I came up with "The Knitter's Assistant"

.... a little cat holding onto two balls of wools and some knitting needles! she definitely has her paws full!

Monday's Millinery Musings: The Poetry of Hats

ruthebaillie@mac.com (Ruth) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:00:00 +0000

BY GUEST BLOGGER JENNIFER

There are so many wonderful comments that have been made about hats over time. Here are a few matched with hats I have made.

"Milliners never seem to have any difficulty discovering geometrical shapes wholly unknown to mathematicians." - Evan Esar

"I myself have twelve hats, and each one represents a different personality. Why be just yourself?" - Margaret Atwood

(This is my beautiful sister-in-law, Tracy, modeling the hat she wore to the Saratoga racetrack)

"Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her: if you can bounce high, bounce for her too, till she cry, Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!" - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

"The hat is not quite sensational enough. Add a mass of black veiling..." - Christian Dior

"I wear a hat when I go shopping. I get better service." - Mademoiselle Staffer