Painting with Foam

Yep, took a regular dense foam and colored this one.  The image is a set of stamps that offer a collage related to travel; I chose a few that would look OK in a vertical alignment: map, old script and a bug. 
Using sepia ink on glossy paper gave the map a worn effect then olive and black for the script and bug.  With finger size pieces of Cut and Dry foam I swirled colors from distress ink pads, using it as a brush... but in circular motion.  Very little ink at first, I rather put several layers than have to start all over because it got too dark.  Once I was happy with  the colors, I set a glass slide over it and moved it around until I found the best combination of elements, marked the location with pencil and stamped the dragonfly right above itself on top of the glass.  Turning the glass slide over I applied diamond Stickles.  Meaning, on the INSIDE of the glass.  The thinner I got the coat, the more the wings glisten, just like a real dragonfly!  Once the Stickles dried, I wiped clean the ink from the other side (dragonfly impression), cut the glossy paper to size and assembled the pendant.

Smile for me

My daughter has a picture of Marilyn Monroe taped on the wall above her desk.  The actress is looking straight at the camera with a teasing look and great smile, almost saying -"Oh yeah, I can do anything I put my mind to it"-  just enough to inspire a college student to reach for higher goals (I can only hope...).  I like the attitude Marilyn has in the picture, so when I came across a rubber stamp with a hint of her image I had to buy it and try something new.  In this piece, I dropped Ranger's alcohol ink (currant) on a square glass surface, added Pearl/metallic mixative and let the ink play around the glass.  Then, with a dropper I put 3 drops of Isopropyl alcohol (91%) in the middle of the square.  It seemed to 'travel' outward and created little textured ridges that left just enough completely cleared glass in the middle.  Perfect size for the face! A blast of the heat gun evaporated the alcohol and then using archival ink I stamped the face.  Applying the same inks to the frame completed the great copper effect; a few fibers trapped between the glasses give the impression of the famous wavy platinum head.

Not quite fuchsia

Even seen a flower you just have to try to recreate somehow?  We had some fuchsia baskets hanging on the porch and the look was amazing.  Since I cannot paint, I tried polymer clay, but my hands were no quite up to the task that week.  Every attempt looked incomplete, perhaps it was not the right medium.  So I pulled out the bead stash and played with a few color combinations... the red flowers with the yellow pearls started to call my name.  Added some fire opal crystals and voila! 

On the short headpins each flower was loaded after a rice pearl and was followed by a crystal.  On the spears, a gold spacer was loaded first, then the flower and then the crystal.  This is a very repetitive project, loading 75 headpins and making the top loop took hours; once those were completed, alternating sets of three with larger crystals I made a pearl string without knots.
 

The Klimt Look

One of my favorite painters is Gustav Klimt.  Gold, bronzes, jewel tones all over and suggestive looks on the subjects.  I had the opportunity to see several of his paintings and especially The Kiss live and direct at the Velvedere Museum.  Man, oh man, I do not think I moved, blinked or was able to talk for half an hour.  Once my brain started to work again, I began to think of a way to recreate the look and effect on jewelry, decadent golds and richly saturated colors, a convoluted design, patterns underneath, geometric shapes as an element... I came up with this piece. 

Knotted in silk brown pearls

Oh yeah, I remember having to make the knots soooooo carefully, lose at first and then using a T pin, drop the knot above the pearls.  Tighten slowly and do not slide the pin out at the wrong time.  After a while it became second nature, but there was always the hope that something would come along that would pre-empt the ugly conversation we have with ourselves when we have 17 perfect knots and we drop the next one too far apart.  And it is tight.  And you start fraying the thread when you pick it lose.  No more.  I found this amazing tool from Beadalon, retails for around 30$ and it is precise, easy to use and lightweight.  I am always looking for tools that are easy to handle.  When I cannot close my fingers, around a pin, how am I expected to make a perfect knot?  I made this set in less than 2 hours, using gimp and all.