What I did on my Sunday

I went to the gym, I had some leftover popcorn from last night, I went on Facebook -- Restaurant City, yes I'm addicted, I won't even begin to talk about Pet Society! (How old am I?) I colored my hair (old enough to have to color my hair), fed the dogs, found some safety pins for my son, watched my other son play with the dogs, watched Legally Blonde, read a book, finished the following earcuff and took pictures of it and posted it, and now I'm hungry. The popcorn wasn't very filling. I'm thinking scrambled egg sandwich!!

Hours-n-hours

Well, I finally took some new pictures of things I've been working on...here's one (see above). Took several hours to get to that point. On a roll now, but it's getting late, but I'll just work on onnnee moooreee..... I'm in PhotoShop, I'm cutting, I'm pastin, I'm workin on images, I'm almost done........and then.......PhotoShop decides to 'quit unexpectedly!' Augh! Guess I'll go to bed instead!

Lost Goddesses

The inspiration for this series of pendants and brooches comes from this book I got called Lost Goddesses of Early Greece - A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths by Charlene Spretnak. Goddesses were "associated with order, wisdom, protection, and the life-giving process." In the patriarchal myths that came thousands of years later they were turned into jealous, troublesome, frivolous goddesses.

So I take the myths and use my old family photos to turn them into sort of a modern day icon...

This is from the myth of Pandora, where instead of opening a box of troubles because of her curiosity, she becomes Pandora..."Giver of All Gifts... I bring you wonder, curiosity, memory. I bring you wisdom. I bring you justice with mercy. I bring you caring and communal bonds. I bring you courage, strength, endurance. I bring you loving kindness for all beings. I bring you the seeds of peace." (p. 56-7, Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, Charlene Spretnak, Beacon Press, 1984.)

Is this lame or what?!!

Well my youngest son just graduated from high school last week! However, after the ceremony when he went to get his actual diploma... he got this paper instead saying he hadn't returned a book and wouldn't get his diploma until he brought the book back or paid $73!!!!

Well, he said that he didn't have any books out! So we had to go back to school on Monday and check it out and when they looked him up on the computer they found out that he DIDN'T have any books out!!!!!

Has this ever happened to you or someone you love?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Computer Work or Metal Work?

Thought I had this great 4 day weekend with nothing to do but play with metal making, but for some reason(s) it didn't quite happen like I planned. Fundraisers, graduation parties, auctions and lets not forget ... 'the computer!'  And you know I wasn't just on Facebook playing Word Challenge (ok not the whole time), but I was updating my pictures and website (www.evelynmarkasky.com -- let me know what you think) and it feels like I'm only there for maybe an hour but then I look up at the clock and it's been about 5 hours! Another lost weekend!

My Husband's Store is Having a Sale!! Memorial Day Weekend

Sylvan Music, Santa Cruz, CA

831-427-1917

www.sylvanmusic.com

Golf

My husband keeps asking me to go golfing with him and I keep saying no. I don't golf. I have golfed, but only a couple of times. So for his birthday this month I am taking him to Monterey to play golf with me. He keeps telling me I'd better practice. But I feel that going golfing WITH him will be enough for me. He keeps telling me that I'm going to embarrass myself and I say I don't care. Then I actually realize that he's worried that I'll embarrass him! Oh, well. Nothing I can do about that, except practice I guess. But I probably won't. 

Babylonian Gypsy Copper Enamel Earrings

Night Sky

I've been trying to figure out how to shoot a gradient behind my jewelry. Can you tell if these have been shot direct or photo shopped? 

How do you do this?

After being inspired by a book of ancient Egyptian jewelry, I cut, formed, and torch-fire enameled these beetles. I had them sitting in a cup for about a year, while I tried to decide how to connect them. I'd think about them periodically, but couldn't decide how to put them together, so I just didn't do it. Finally, last week I decided that I'm just going to sit down and do it!!! It took me about a half hour! (If you don't count that year of indecision!)

Retake

After photographing this piece about 400 times (ok maybe only 40 times!) I think I finally got one!

The Story of Evolution

I've been taking new pictures. My friend Sefla is helping me get some photos ready to try to get into a show. I thought I had some good ones, but when she looked, she thought they should all be on black backgrounds. Ok, I'll retake them. I hadn't been shooting any photos on black backgrounds, and I kept getting too much light in them so the black wasn't black anymore. I'd finally get it dark enough to work, but I couldn't see what I was photographing, but they would come out! Go figure! So I've spent about 15 hours the last couple of days retaking and retaking. It's good for my evolution.

Check out Sefla's prints and watercolors at www.seflajoseph.com

The 3 Ninjas

I have 3 boys and when they were little, on the weekends we would go to the video store to get a movie to watch. They could never agree. When one would finally find one he liked the other one would say "I don't want to see that one" and on and on. I think the only movie that they ever whole heartedly agreed on was "The 3 Ninjas" and the various sequels. My kids are now 17, 19, and 26. But when I saw wishwithme's etsy shop featuring these ever so cute little ninjas, it took me back to those fun, crazy times in the video store with my little boys! 

www.wishwithme.etsy.com

What movies do your kids like?

Where's Lucy?

So, I have these 2 cattle dogs, Lucy and Sparky. They are some of the funniest dogs I've seen.We had this round dog bed that I got at Costco. They eventually chewed a hole in it and everyday I'd come home and find stuffing all over the living room. It was sort of a winter wonderland. But the funny part was when Lucy would burrow inside of the bed and then poke her head out of the hole. Or when she was completely inside of the bed and she'd hear someone outside and would run to see  who it was, but was still inside the bed. The whole thing would just go tumbling around the living room. The following is a very blurry picture, but the only one I have of her in the bed. Can you find her? Eventually, I got tired of the winter wonderland and sewed the hole up.

Lucy not blurry.

Taking Pictures Slump

So after feeling totally uncreative about picture taking and unable to take a picture of anything that was even close to like-able and about to give up cause I will never be able to think of anything ever again...I posted a thread on etsy and got lots of good advice and support where I realized that I was holding on so tightly to have to take a good picture that my knuckles were white. So I was able to relax and just play with it and not feel like I had to produce anything. I was given this perfect rainy day, with the perfect kind of light coming in my window. I thought about how to hang my earrings. I got a piece of copper and drilled some holes in it, then balanced it on two empty toilet paper rolls (technical equipment), and fired away. I was much happier with these pictures and I guess maybe I won't give up after all.

Pisces

Well, since Pisces is now on the cusp and on its way out, and since I am a Pisces, and my oldest son is a Pisces and my mother was a Pisces and my sister-in-law is a Pisces and my grandfather was a Pisces, I feel inclined to show some of my favorite Etsy fishies.

 www.deborahcavenaugh.etsy.com

 www.natureartstudio.etsy.com
 www.pinebox.etsy.com        

 www.stripeyblue.etsy.com

 www.vitalik707707.etsy.com

 www.funkyfishdesigns.etsy.com

Narrative Jewelry

I make narrative jewelry from my old family photos. This pendant is made from an old photo of my mother. I remember when I was around 7 or 8 years old she would get all dressed up to go downtown. She would take the bus and when she came back she would usually bring me some kind of treat, like Nik-L-Nips (the juice in a wax bottle) or little candy ice cream cones. I copied the picture on to Shrinky Dinks and colored the faces, then attached then to an enameled piece of copper. On the copper links I stamped a shorter version of this story.

Sophie Chengelis Faras

Today is my mother's birthday and she would have been 87, but she passed away last August 10, 2008, in Youngstown, Ohio. I was fortunate enough to have been there with her, along with my brother and sister, aunts, uncles, cousins...

     While I was growing up my mother probably did every craft imaginable. (I believe that rubbed off on me a bit!) She also did them really well. Perfectly almost. And that was how her life ended also. Everything happened so perfectly. 

     When I got to Youngstown, it was pouring rain, but on the way to the hospital, there was a huge rainbow. My mother was pretty unresponsive and the doctor had given her a couple of days to live. We took her to Hospice House (a fantastic place, I might add). They took such good care of her and treated her so respectfully, she started to revive. Well, being the spunky stubborn old Greek lady that she was, she actually lasted 2 more weeks. We found that she hadn't lost her sense of humor and sarcastic wit. She even yelled at us for having BBQ Wings and not offering her any. That didn't happen again. She had pizza and beer the next night!

     We had great conversations where she said the most perfect things in letting us know how she felt about us and how we felt about her. 

     At the end she was not really conscious. We all just sat around her bed. She was dying, but it didn't seem sad; it was just being very present in that moment, watching her move on, working hard to get there. She was moaning and gurgling with each breath. Then I noticed she wasn't gurgling anymore. And she was breathing really slowly. Then the nurse walked in and said that this was it, (I don't know how she knew to come in at that exact moment) it was happening and she started rubbing my mother's feet. Everyone gathered around her bed. And her breathing just kept getting slower and slower and slower until it just stopped. It was so peaceful. She made it look so easy and gentle. And then it was all over. And then it was sad. It was a very beautiful death. It was all perfect. It didn't really seem perfect while it was happening, but looking back everything happened just the way it should have and I feel so lucky to have been able to have been a part of it all.To have gotten that time to be with her and talk and laugh and joke and be frustrated and sad and happy and be with my family. I can't imagine it any other way.

     After her funeral there was another rainbow.

I Hate Daylight Savings Time

I hate daylight savings time. I hate losing an hour of my day. I hate thinking I'm going to bed at one, but really it's 2. I hate getting up at 9 but it's really 10. I hate not having enough hours in the day to do everything that I want to do and now I have one less hour.

Some of My Favorite Etsy Fiber Arts

I've been enjoying searching through etsy and finding my favorites. Here are a few items in the fiber art category. The first one, New Beginnings, is done by a friend of mine here in Santa Cruz and has just listed her 1st item on etsy. It's not the 1st item she's ever made... she is quite prolific and actually a potter. Go to her shop and find out more about her journey from clay to fiber. I'm hoping we'll see some of her pots on her site too!

New Beginnings - Sacred Shawltar by Meg Brown at www.megbrown23.etsy.com

I love the color and the loose weave of this bag. And the photo makes me feel like I'm on vacation!  

Small Fabric Bag by www.shoplana.etsy.com

And well this little lamb is just too cute to pass up!     www.yaheesplace.etsy.com

www.beautifulplace.etsy.com I grew up in Ohio, and this picture reminds me of the cold winters there, but the beautiful colors in the felted birds nest make the stark winter come to life.

I'll Never Be Bored Again

I think that one of the things I love most about metalsmithing and enameling are the limitless amounts of things that you can experiment with. Things never get dull or boring. The hardest part is luring myself into my studio area. I can think of a hundred things that I should do first... clean the kitchen (or actually any room in my house for that matter!), pay some bills, have something to eat, read the mail... Part of it is the fear of having to think or create something and what will it be? However, once in there if I can just get started on one thing, any one thing, it will lead me to another and another and another. It's like being a mad scientist and I can't stop. And then it's 2:00 in the morning and my eyes are burning. It's very satisfying!

White Snake Skin Earrings. They are copper circles with white enamel stenciled on. 

I like to think that they are good to wear on a rainy day. 

These are a new pair of earrings that I have finished and taken pictures of and put on my computer and listed on etsy and put on this blog............ Actually, I had finished them a couple of weeks ago. It seems like the only thing I have been doing in the last 2 weeks is be on this computer! I think that we have become one, my computer and me!
I hope to work on some new stuff tomorrow...something without a keyboard!

It can only get better

I'd like to start making my own etsy treasury- type of blog where I can create themes from what I like on etsy. It may have to start out a little rough until I get the hang of this, but I think that it might be fun.
I guess my first theme will have to be folded metal. One of my favorites. It always amazes me how you can take a hard cold seemingly unbendable piece of metal and act like it's paper. Pretty much anything you can do with paper, you can actually do with metal. The look works especially well with copper. It already has a warm earthy color, the bending and folding only makes it look more organic. As you will see in the following pieces:

Silver and Brass Rose Ring 

by MetalRiot
www.metalriot.etsy.com


F-Series Copper Ram's Horn Earrings
by AgJewelryDesign
www.agjewelrydesign.etsy.com


Folded Enamel Brooch
by Ggallery
www.ggallery.etsy.com



fold formed copper disc necklace
by nemesisjewelry
www.nemesisjewelry.etsy.com

Well, my first treasury will have to only have 4 pieces in it because it is 2:30am and I'm a little tired!!

My grandparents came from Greece. When they came to this country they owned a restaurant called Hermes. cooking and growing food was important. My grandparents lived with us and we had this huge huge garden in our backyard, with pear, quince, peach, and cherry trees. They grew beans, tomatoes, lettuce, just about everything we needed. This little pea pod is folded, forged, and enameled, as if it were just picked from the garden. 

Don't forget to scroll all the way to the  bottom of this page to see what I have for sale on etsy. www.markasky.etsy.com or check out my website at www.evelynmarkasky.com

More folding

These are the latest in my bending and folding  phase. One of the reasons that I started working in metal was because of it's sculptural lure. But when I was getting started, for some reason,  everything I did was flat. Flat is nice, but metal has the workability to be very 3 dimensional. Learning fold forming has greatly helped move me out of that 2nd dimension and into the 3rd. Can't wait to get to the 4th!

Don't forget to scroll all the way to the  bottom of this page to see what I have for sale on etsy. (www.markasky.etsy.com)

or check out my website at www.evelynmarkasky.com

Bend Fold and Mutilate

One of the things I really like to do is bend, fold, pound, hammer, and alter metal. I've mostly just been playing and experimenting with shapes and images. It's fascinating to see what you can do with a hard, cold piece of metal. These rough shapes remind me of moths and bugs.