The CHA Bra

I realized I never did post pics of the bra I made for Charity Wings that was auctioned off at Winter CHA. Here’s a bit of background. Charity Wings did a very successful Crafty Flash Mob at Winter CHA 2012. About 100 folks took over the convention center lobby before the show opened. It was my first and only flash mob and I had soooo much fun.

Elena being Elena, she had to up the ante this year. A very dear friend of ours in the industry was diagnosed with breast cancer and we were devastated. Elena and some folks cooked up an idea to do a mob flash where all the crafty peeps created altered bras and then “flashed” them before  Winter CHA 2013 show opening. No worries, the ladies wore pink T-shirts with their altered bras on top of the shirts. Because this show was a big one for us with our new releases, there was no way I could sneak out this year and participate in the fun. (sad face here).

As you all know by now, I pretty much support Elena in just about anything she does to raise money for the charities Charity Wings supports. I told her I would make an altered ICE Resin paper bra. I wanted to show the world how cool and transparent tissue paper becomes when a layer of ICE is applied to it, and well, I thought the breast area was the best possible canvas to get my point across. I bought a tiny little bra at the Goodwill, washed it up and then proceeded to cut the cups out of it, keeping the underwire, and attaching resin paper. I also made some wire leaves (a technique Susan created and taught me and a bunch of others how to do in her workshops) and added an Iced Enamels bezel and some German Glass glitter  to it. Just for the fun of it, I created an asymmetrical headband to go with the bra. When I finished the whole thing it seemed to me that I somehow channeled a modern-day Moulin Rouge costume inspired by our summer workshop in France.

The one thing I forgot to do was add extra “material” (resin paper) to the cups so the bra will need to be worn by one tiny little flat chested woman. Oops! I wasn’t exactly thinking of functional art now was I? The cool part of that all of the bras were auctioned off at a Westcott sponsored party with all the money going toward breast cancer awareness.  I have no idea how much money my bra raised,  but I do know that it raised a few eyebrows and was the object of a some scandalous jokes. Of course I love that, as art is supposed to inspire, stimulate and elicit emotion!

And to let you in on a little insider joke, when I finished making the bra I held it up for my husband to see. I asked him what else it needed, as in did it need any further crafty embellishments? Being the straight man he definitely is, his response was simply a sly smile, a quick sideways shake of his head and two words; “Just breasts.” I had to laugh. I really love my man!

On another non-bra related note, I’m off to Tucson Friday night for the To Bead True Blue show and more workshops and our booth. I doubt I will have time to update while I’m gone. I’ll try to take lots of pics and post them when I return.

 

 

2013 classes so far

Cold-Enameled Heart Necklace class. Learn all new enameling techniques for adding color to metal and also advanced resin techniques as well.

I’m still working on building my new website. My goal is for it to be up and running by Jan. 10. which is the in-store date for Making Metal Jewelry. The site will have a gallery of my work, my class schedule, an option to purchase signed copies of my books, etc. Since I’ve been getting questions on my Facebook wall about next year’s teaching schedule, I thought I better put it on the blog now.

Susan and myself and many of the ICE Resin team will be at the Craft and Hobby Association trade show in Anaheim Jan. 11-15. Susan and Kristen are teaching sold-out workshops during the show and I’ll be in the background helping them TA since the classes are maxed out at 50 people. This trade show is open only to members of the crafts industry and is one of the big shows we do each year to introduce our new products. We have some amazing new things coming out next year and are thrilled for this show to get here.

Then, a mere two weeks after CHA, we’re heading to the Tucson gem show — To Bead True Blue — where the team is teaching lots of interesting workshops. If you love making jewelry and you’ve never managed to get to Tucson in February, I suggest you put it on your bucket list right now and find a way to make it happen. Anything and everything with gems, minerals, beads and unique objects is found and focused on at these shows. I’ll be teaching five classes in Tucson and registration is going on now.

Feb. 28-March 3, I’m excited to be teaching classes at Linda Young’s event Adorn Me in Houston, Texas. There are still spots left in many of the classes, all featuring metalwork and/or mixed-media jewelry with top instructors. Take a peek at the workshops here. A couple of classes, such as  So You Want to Write a Book, are classes I’m only teaching at this event for 2013.

I’m thrilled to be back for my third year at CREATE, hosted by Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine in Orange County, California. I love this show so much because the event organizers always let me teach both straight mixed-media and also mixed-media jewelry classes. I’m thrilled to be doing a journal, as well as some very cool new classes using our brand-new products and techniques that we’re introducing at CHA and Tucson. Registration for this event just opened yesterday, and my journal was featured on the announcement email. So very cool to see as an instructor! I’m in such amazing company at this event and a few of the instructors are my very dear friends. I get a smile on my face every time I realize I’m going to get to see them very soon.

The last event to tell you about for now is the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee. This is another one of our annual big shows for ICE Resin. I’ve been at the show the past three years with our company, but this is the first time I’ll be teaching there as an instructor. Honestly, this is an event I never thought I would be instructing since it’s home to many of the best of the best master silversmiths and jewelers. It was kind of a pinch me moment when the acceptance email came in. I’ll be teaching resin, of course. (grin)

There are a couple more events I’ve applied to that haven’t been announced. I’ll be adding those to the calendar as soon as I hear (fingers crossed) that I’ve been accepted. Just a little note on this, I’ll be writing a future column on the teaching application process for those of you who wonder how this all comes to pass. I did write a basic one for CreateMixedMedia last year. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, you can click over to my columns on the website.

For any of you whom are thinking of going to an art retreat for the first time, but are maybe wondering if you can afford it or if it’s worth the time and expense, let me tell you they are! When I fell in love with mixed-media all those years ago, it was these retreats and the amazing, giving and wonderful instructors that set me on my path. It was a journey that’s been life altering for me, and I’ve seen the same story told again and again for many others.

Here’s wishing you a truly Artful day as you head into the final stretch of the Holiday season.

CHA Giving Tree Ornament

I’m off to do the CHA CHA CHA. (It’s an old joke, but I never seem to tire of it). This time, I’ve packed up my car with extra stuff for our booth -Susan Lenart Kazmer ICE Resin Booth #1029 — along with my luggage, too many shoes and my sweet friend Carol LaValley, who does the social media for us.  

The booth has been shipped ahead of time and is waiting at the Anaheim Convention Center for me, Carol, Susan, Kristen and a my sweet hubby to assemble it and get it looking “wowza” for the Winter CHA 2012 trade show.

In my car is my handmade ornament for the Giving Tree, which is part of CHA’s theme this year The Power of Community, where a handful of really wonderful charities are participating in all kinds of activities at the show. Each CHA show, Designer members are given the opportunity to make something using products from manufactures they work that will be featured on the show floor. My friend and fellow designer Candice Windham is the coordinator of this program and she does such a fabulous job working with Keri Cunningham of CHA every year on a cool theme/project.

The summer theme of Crafty Couture was so big that I knew it would be hard for Candice and Kerry to top that one. I think stepping back a bit and making this show’s  designing opportunity all about charity, particularly in this economy and how much folks are needing some extra help, is a really lovely thing to do. I’m 100% supportive and all in. If you are at CHA, you can see all the designer’s ornaments at the Community Park.

I chose to make an ornament for Charity Wings, just because they’ve kind of become my pet project this year, which I’m sure you’ve noticed if you’ve been reading my recent blog posts. I love their “Crafting for a Cause” motto and how the volunteers raise money for all kinds of great charitable organizations. Plus, I adore hearts and their logo is a heart with wings and a crown. Not that’s something I can sink my artistic chops into!

My ornament is an acrylic house shape that I hand cut and layered with vintage sheet music paper that I resined up and then added color to with alcohol inks. It has a die cut swirl that I cut from my stash of Grunge Board that I stained with inks. The focal is one of my favorite SLK bezels, which is is the large rectangle hobnail shadowbox, filled with magnetic poetry pieces, vintage rhinestone chain and ICE Resin. The entire background was sealed in a lovely layer of ICE and allowed to dry overnight.

I formed a paperclay heart by hand, painted it and added highlights. I also took copper wire pieces that I forged and handformed into wings and heated with a torch to give it a lovely patina. To complete the piece, I added a whimsical metal crown to the heart and added a copper wire hanger where I drew a bead on either end for the perfect cold-connection. It just needed a tiny bit more so I added a large wirewrapped pearl and crystals and some on our gorgeous silk ribbon. This stuff is luscious!

The ornament will be donated to Charity Wings and auctioned off for charity. I’m not sure yet if that will be done at the convention, or if it will happen post-CHA. I’ll be sure to let you know if it’s the latter though in case you’d like to own it for yourself.

Found Objects and Mold Making

I have a Workshop in the January issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine on making molds of found objects and then casting the molds with both ICE Resin and resin clay. This was such a fun article to write because I was able to spend the better part of a week in October using up more than 2 big containers of my Art Mechanique molding putty on all kinds of bits and pieces I have lying around my studio and almost as much resin and resin clay.

Oh I do love to make molds and cast objects. It really is addicting once you get into it. The little baby above is a frozen Charlotte doll body and face that I made a mold of and then cast in resin clay. I then painted her up to look exactly like the real thing. Her sculptural skirt is 18-gauge bronze wire that I hand formed into a cage and drew a bead on either end for her feet. The rest is a little bit of resin paper, some paint, vintage lace scraps, ribbon and 7Gypsies tissue paper and bookbinding tape from my stash.

The article shows you very clearly how to do this mixed-media art technique step-by-step. My friend, Carol LaValley did the step-out photos (she’s also the person who did it for my book) so they are nice and close on the hands. I’ll be teaching mold making of found objects and resin clay this summer at the CREATE Art Retreat hosted by Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine.

The issue also features photos of the dresses made for Craft Couture at Summer CHA. Mine and Claudine Hellmuth’s dress is in there, along with the other winners.

I’ve had people ask me why I don’t also show the step out photos in my blog as a free tutorial. The reason is because once you agree to write an article for a magazine, they own the copyright to the work for usually the first 90 days after the publication hits the newsstands. Even though it’s my art work and writing, if I put the information on my blog now, I would technically be competing with the publisher. I can show you sneak peeks and also a scan of one page or so, but not show it in its entirety. I only mention this because there are often a lot of questions regarding publishing and, particularly with the availability of free information on the Internet these days, folks are often surprised to learn there are some definite professional rules.

If you are a fan of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine, you’ve probably already seen the workshop. If you only purchase it occasionally, head on over to your local bookseller when you get a chance. I’d be most appreciative!

Here’s wishing you a truly Artful day.

LIVE From CHA Giveaway

Have you heard about the LIVE from CHA webcasting/livestreaming event put on by the fabulous organization Charity Wings? If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to walk around the huge Winter Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show, Elena Lai Etcheverry (the founder of Charity Wings) began this very fun livestreaming a few years ago where they cover the opening 2 days of the event.

Elena began Charity Wings seven years ago to combine her love of crafting with her background in event planning and fundraising to raise money for charity. So far, the Charity Wings volunteers have raised more than $360,000 for great causes. I met Elena last Winter CHA and found out more about her organization. I’m impressed and have been lending a hand whenever I can.

Elena jam-packs CHA Live with tons of interviews from your favorite craft manufacturers and interviews with some of the best and most well-known Designers. In addition to the event, participants get a kit of products shipped to their home that are donations from all the supporting manufacturers. The kit alone is easily worth the $39 price of the pass in brand new product that’s being debuted at CHA. (

Side note: Isn’t the logo above so cute? It was designed by my fellow CHA Designer Member Jennifer Priest who’s a self-proclaimed “addicted scrapbooker”. Love her blog!)

CHA Live takes place January 29 and 30th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. In addition to the kit, manufacturers donate prizes throughout the livestreaming so there are lots of chances of winning product AND handmade art. We’ll be participating with Susan Lenart Kazmer ICE Resin, giving away goodies bags worth more than $100, which includes a handmade jewelry piece, some ICE Resin, bezels and a signed copy of my book, Explore, Create, Resinate. She’ll also be at our booth too, so you’ll get a tour of what our ICE Resin team has been working so hard on for the past couple of months. We’re just one of many.

So, here’s the cool part. Elena is giving me (along with other designer friends of mine) the chance to GIVE AWAY an exclusive All Access Pass to CHA to one lucky winner. If you live in the U.S., I will pay the cost of shipping for the kit, which is around $10.50. If you happen to sign up for the giveaway and live in Canada or International, I’m sorry but you will need to fund the shipping costs. Please email info@charitywings.com to get a price quote.

All you have to do to be entered to win the All Access Pass, is leave a comment here to let me know what kinds of products and ideas you are most excited about seeing at the upcoming Winter CHA trade show. Because kits are being shipping at the end of the week, the contest will close Thursday Jan. 19th at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Good luck everyone!