Brain Happy

All of the pieces for the exhibit are finished. It's a good feeling and I may make one more. One of the bracelets refused to come together so I'd started over and now have an idea that may work. So maybe. If I have time. Next up is sewing the workshop wardrobe and that's definitely what I want to do first before another exhibit piece. Maybe, it'll end up as one of the wardrobe accessories. 

This piece is called At The Heart of the Matter. Above is a reminder of the starting point that I showed in Friday's post. MANY things didn't unfold the way I'd expected and in particular the beads I'd wanted to include in the chain which ended up too strong for the focal element and the hanging method which looked clunky and uncomfortable. There are new parts in my parts department. 

 

The two long beads right by the double hook closure have flowers engraved on them that go with the overall theme. The tiny bee was just the right finish for the focal heart. 

Here are closer details of the front and back. The piece was painted black and then highlighted with mostly bronze, some copper, and a tiny touch of silver gilding. It's finished with an acrylic seal.

The chain includes smaller topaz beads and larger faceted crystals separated with seed beads in three different tones. This style of closure is my favourite. It lays nicely on the neck and is easy to take on and off while being quite secure. 

All of the pieces have my initials worked into the design in some way. Typically, it's on the back. 

Originally, the heart was going to hang from the loop top center and be attached to a bar that went left/right with the chain attached at each end. It just wouldn't hang right so I ended up using epoxy to attach some copper loops at the back hidden with more dotted balls. I used a comb to create the lined texture around the side of the heart. 

When I went to bed on Thursday night, I'd lined up the projects in order of the work to be done and written some notes so I felt on track and focused when I woke up because I definitely wanted to be done by Sunday night... and I was... around 9:30 pm. It was a week of long days, about 12-14 hours each, and I loved every moment of it. When you're in the zone, engaged in the project, and brain happy, time flies. My body noticed though - LOL!

In the past, whenever I've worked on a large and engaging project, there's an after stage that I refer to as creative postpartum. It can be discouraging. Thankfully, this time I have two projects starting today. The first is sewing the workshop wardrobe as I mentioned earlier and the second is a 100 day project making buttons. Each weekday for a 100 weekdays - which takes me until June 20th - I am going to make one or more buttons mostly exploring polymer clay, with some epoxy clay, and whatever else shows up. I'm doing it with a friend who is working on learning about watercolour painting and we're going to support and encourage each other. We've been friends for over forty years and it's really fun to be doing something like this together. Expect to see buttons ! ! ! 

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - a very successful body of work for the exhibit