Sonoran Living and Terri O

Me and the fab Terri O! She is so darn adorable.

As you might know, I was invited to be on ABC Channel 15 Sonoran Living by the incredible and crafty Terri Ouelette. When she emailed me, she asked if I could come on her show and “be fabulous.” (NOTE: Click the tv link above to watch the segment). Sure, no pressure. I had about 36 hours to make some new art samples and design a stepped out craft project. No worries!

Thursday was a late night — up until midnight getting it done — but the end result was so worth it. Last thing I did before bed was brush on a sealer layer of ICE Resin® for my cold enameling and then 6 hours later woke up to my charms being dry and ready for attachment with some jump rings or ribbon.

My two books, some art samples and Karen Lackey’s handmade bust displaying some jewelry. The table got too crowded for my DVD and magazines too. LOL. You can’t throw it all in.

I arrived on the set by 8 a.m. to set up my little 6-ft display table, listened to bits and pieces of the 15-minute staff meeting where Terri and her camera crew were going over the show, did a few minutes of social media on Facebook and Twitter and then lights, camera, action the segment was live. I followed her lead, answered questions and just tried to enjoy the moment as much as possible.

Iced Enamels™ and Spellbinders® Media Mixage™ with Susan Lenart Kazmer™ blanks that I used to make a charm bracelet an also a cold enameled cuff. I adore this cuff. The design is exactly me – mixed media, colorful and quirky! I’ll be teaching this cuff at the new Charity Wings Art Center in San Marcos in a few weeks.

I had fun making jewelry and home decor samples using the Spellbinders® Media Mixage™ with Susan Lenart Kazmer™ line of blanks, available at Joann Fabric and Crafts, along with some cold enameling techniques. I also brought with me another little friend that’s been sitting in my studio since last summer; an adorable burlap mannequin designed and created by my friend Karen Lackey in Phoenix. These babies are awesome for displaying and photographing your jewelry. She sells them in her Etsy shop and also during vendor day at Art Unraveled. The poor girl has been waiting for me to get her over to the Stampington offices in Southern California, where I’ll be next week. However, I thought she needed a little moment in the spotlight before she leaves me.

Here’s a little wearable journal I made using cold enameling, ICE Resin® and ICE Resin® paper. This design is one of Susan’s originals. Earlier in the year, I needed to step in and teach a class for her where the students made this piece and this is my inspired-by-Susan piece. The wire framework is 100% SLK.

I can honestly tell you that I went into print journalism over television news a long time ago because I just don’t think I have quite what it takes to be a television personality. But you know what? I’m starting to get used to seeing and hearing myself on video and it’s not as bad as I thought.  As a matter of fact, it’s downright entertaining.

Here’s a closer look of the set display.

Stampington & Co Freebie

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How fun to open my email and see a project of mine on Stampington & Company’s Postscript newsletter. As I do these kinds of articles, I mark them on my big office calendar, do the work, turn them in and usually forget about them until I happen to open a magazine or an email and there I am. It’s always kind of cool to see the process come together. I really do love working with all the Stampington editors because they know their stuff when it comes to layout and typography. Johanna Love, Stampington’s Director of Photography, has such a gift for taking pictures that I do believe every piece of art sent to her looks better after she’s styled and shot it.

For this Guest Artist piece, I created a little house triptych with lots of surface layers of paint, rubber stamps and color. I had a blast playing with Dina Wakely’s stamps. I know Dina and she’s an awesome artist. Her new stamps are perfectly in line with my own aesthetic; a little  edgy with an urban vibe. I used her circles and random number stamps for this.

Believe it or not, I struggle when it comes to giving my work titles. I have no idea why considering I like to think of myself as a wordsmith. However, as soon as I finished this triptych and looked at the images, the storyline “Ma, Pa and the Cousins visit the Big City” immediately popped into my head. The family is dressed up for a night in the city and the tickets represent an invitation to attend a swanky gallery gala, given to them by a worldly artist they met when he came through their hometown in search of a rural landscape for his paintings.

I had so much fun using these altered vintage photographs that are in Spellbinders® Media Mixage ™ with Susan Lenart Kazmer™ line (Available in the paper crafting section of Joann Fabric and Crafts stores). I’m not sure how many of you know this, but ICE Resin’s Art Director is Karen Michel, an amazing mixed-media artist, author and instructor. As a matter of fact, Susan and Karen became friends 13 years ago when they first started teaching the national mixed-media art retreat events together. Karen is the person who’s responsible for all of our new packaging, our website design, our company blog design, etc. She’s also the artist who created the collage ephemera papers for Susan’s licensed line with Spellbinders® Media Mixage ™ .  Her eye is impeccable! The other reason I like the ephemera packs so much is because it contains so many old papers — all over 100 years old — that we’ve collected on our trips to France’s flea markets. We’re talking the real deal.

All said, I really do like this art piece. It makes me smile. It’s colors are happy and uplifting and there’s just something kind of giddy about it.

Anyway, enough of the “behind the scenes” talk for this piece. Pop on over to Stampington’s website and take a look at my project here. The best part is it’s a freebie!

More Iced Enamels inspiration

Whenever I have creative free time in my studio lately, I find myself turning to my stash of Iced Enamels™ . As I was working on techniques and samples last year as we were creating Iced Enamels, my brain went immediately to working with them in bezels. I just wanted to fill those empty spaces with layers of luscious color and see what happened. It’s now one of my favorite ways to just get lost in experimentation and color!

Here’s a quick look at a necklace I made to display at the Adorn Me mixed-media jewelry retreat in Houston. This piece sold almost instantly to my new friend Carol Mulder Millspaugh, who’s been reading my blog and articles for a while and signed up to take some of my classes. Meeting Carol, a fellow jewelry designer, was a true delight and a highlight of my time in Texas.

The focal of this piece is one of the new beautiful textured fleur de lis bezels designed by Susan Lenart Kazmer for the Media Mixage line by Spellbinders Creative Arts. You can see the entire line here, but it’s available for purchase in the papercrafting section of Joann Fabric and Craft stores across the nation. As you can tell, I love color and enjoy using strong color combinations in my work. The pink and green in this necklace just makes me happy, and I hope it does the same for Carol every time she wears it.

Fleur de Lis necklace with Iced Enamels and ICE Resin

Iced Enamels makes my creativity soar

My Creativity Soars with sheet metal, Iced Enamels, Susan Lenart Kazmer Media Mixage by Spellbinders bird blank and hobnail bezel and ICE Resin.

I wanted to show you a necklace I made for the Spring Belle Armoire Jewelry article where I was featured as the issue’s Designer Showcase. I turned in a lot of work to Cynthia, the editor, for the feature, but this particular piece is one of my favorites. I think it really shows my artistic voice and what I do with metal and resin and fibers and, now, our crazy amazing Iced Enamels.

I began this necklace with a sheet of 24 gauge nickel silver (didn’t bother using sterling because of the expense and because I knew I would be applying color to the metal anyways) and cut it into a crescent shape with my wonderfully sharp French Shears. I filed my edges and texturized my metal with the ball peen part of my hammer, creating hundreds of dimples in the metal. Then I put the textured crescent into my large wooden dapping block and began forming the edges to give it a three-dimensional shape. Making this crescent base is a QR code video in my book Making Metal Jewelry. Check out the link on it over at the F&W CreateMixedMedia website.

Then came even more creative fun! I applied our Enameling Medium to the metal — this medium is especially formulated to adhere the enameling powders to metal — with a paintbrush, putting on just a thin coat. I sprinkled Relique Turquoise on one side of the metal crescent and then covered the other half in our gorgeous German Silver and melted it with a craft heat gun. I added Relique Ivory onto the adorable bird blank, torn some text from an old book for the bird belly window. Then I took one of the sweet little Susan Lenart Kazmer Media Mixage hobnail squares and added the word “frisky”.  I have no idea why I chose that word, but it just struck me at the time so I tore it from the book. A little side note on this: I no longer over think my image/word choices. I go with my very first instincts and run with them. I’ve learned over the years to trust my instincts, as my art always looks better when I do.

I mixed up some ICE Resin from our handy dandy plungers and painted on a thin sealer coat over the Iced Enamels. The addition of ICE Resin, which is a glasslike surface when dry, is what makes our new Cold Enameling program. Without a sealer coat, any color you add to metal jewelry will wear off over time as your pieces are worn. Here’s another little trick: I layered all the components together while the ICE Resin was wet so they would bond together stronger than glue as they dried, causing a cold connection that’s inseparable.

After the pieces dried, I cold connected the bird to the metal crescent with an eyelet rivet for additional strength. Then I wired up the crescent with an organic knot on either side and added fibers to one of our sterling silver tassel bezels. I created a connection for the fiber bundle and made a clasp from sterling silver wire. The other side of the necklace is vintage rosary chain that I bought from a friend at last year’s Art Unraveled that I LOVE. All in all, this necklace took some work and some steps to complete, but, as I said, it really is one of my favorites.

Here’s hoping this provided a little inspiration today. Now, get into your studio and start playing — hopefully with the brand new Spellbinders Media Mixage line designed by Susan Lenart Kazmer and our brand new Iced Enamels! These components are da’bomb!

The Whirlwind of 2012

Ta-daaaaa!!! Here is the cover for my brand new DVD on making molds and casting found objects.

I know I wrote about filming for Cloth, Paper, Scissors back in November at the Interweave headquarters in Loveland, Colo. It’s hard to believe that my DVD, Breaking Out of the Mold is already available now for pre-order and instant download at the Interweave store. Wowza, let me tell you DVDs move at a breakneck pace as compared to books! I also wanted to let you know that I had the sincere pleasure of meeting another mixed-media artist at the filming; Jenny Cochran Lee. Jenny’s work is incredible. I don’t sew hardly a stitch, so to see her textile work is just jaw dropping to me. I also want to thank Jenny because she did a wonderful post on me and my DVD on her blog today.

There are so many amazing things hitting all at the same time that it’s making my head spin! All of these were in the works last year and I was running as fast as I could to keep up with them all. Seriously, I look back at 2012 and shake my head at how in the heck we managed to get it all done. Finishing my new book with North Light, new product development with ICE Resin, a DVD and a new column with Cloth, Paper, Scissors and also the Designer Showcase next month with Belle Armoire Jewelry in addition to my normal Art Chooses You column for Stampington. When I meet someone and they ask me what I do, I’m not sure quite how to respond so I simply say I’m an artist and a writer.

Life was so busy last year that I really want to take a moment to thank my amazing husband and mother-in-law on my blog (even though neither of them read it. LOL). They were there for me every step of the way, cheering me on and making sure my kids were fed, clothed and happy. I also want to thank my off-the-charts-talented and totally brilliant business partner Susan Lenart Kazmer, who has been going even harder and longer than I have to run our company, while still managing to dream up endless amounts of creative ideas, building two lines (Industrial Chic for Michaels and the new Media Mixage with Spellbinders that debuted at CHA), teaching workshops, running the ICE Resin office and home front, publishing articles and writing her new book, “Resin Alchemy” that is due out in June with Interweave. (Not to mention raising two teenagers and teaching a workshop in France this summer). Then there was the other person who was standing by my side this past year. Kristen Robinson spent 2012 teaching, building her brand new signature line Rue Romantique, publishing articles, doing a DVD for Cloth, Paper, Scissors and writing her second book — as yet untitled — for North Light that’s due out this Fall.

One of the most interesting parts of all of this to me is that the three of us had to keep completely quiet on all that was going on. Sure, bits and pieces here and there were shared on blogs and social media, but most of the time I told Susan and Kristen that it looked like we were all taking long naps in 2012.

Silly me, I didn’t get a picture of me and Susan at CHA. Here is one of us shopping at the flea markets in the South of France this summer.

My father used to always say I couldn’t keep a secret if my life depended on it. I can say now that he was 100% wrong. I don’t really care for keeping secrets because I’m just the type of person who likes to share. The best part right now is that I can finally breathe. The cats are out of the bag. The only thing left to do is tell the world about all our new adventures and hope people see and respond to the kind of passion we’ve put into our first real love – Mixed-media ART! As for my next goal in 2013, it really is getting to take that long nap I keep talking about.

Kristen and me at Winter CHA 2013.

To everyone who has hung in there with me on my blog this past year, thank you. This goes the same for the new friendships I’ve made on Facebook and the incredible women (and a few men) whom I have met at workshops across the country. I really hope that if no other message comes out of anything that I do it’s this one: Dreams do come true. Nothing is unattainable. You don’t have to be the most talented person on the block, or the skinniest or the prettiest or the most congenial. All you have to be is yourself. Oh, and it helps to also link arms with some pretty amazing friends along the way who always have your back in any situation. (grin)!

Bon Voyage…

The time has finally come for me to get on an airplane early tomorrow morning for our workshop in France. It is going to be soooo amazing. Not much time to write, as I have to finish packing and a zillion other little details, but I thought I would share the promo video I made last year when we had only 2 spots left in our workshop. We filled those fast and had a wait list as well. We’ll be booking for next year, so take a peek and let me know if you want to join us next Fall. For now though, Au revoir mes amies!

SLK France Workshop

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Breast Cancer Art Fundraiser

Jenn Mason, the editor of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine contacted mixed-media artists six weeks or so ago and asked if we’d be willing to make a piece of art for their Artists Give Back fundraiser for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. (Please be sure to click the link above and read all about this cool event!) Artists were chosen because they’ve been either 2012 contributors to the magazine, or teachers at their CREATE mixed-media retreats. I’ve been honored to have done both this past year.

Being a successful longtime artist, author and designer herself, Jenn knows how busy working artists often are juggling it all. She made it super simple to participate by asking for either a 5×5 or 8×8 canvas. The only other rules were that it had to be fairly flat and uplifting. Easy peasy.

Since I had just received a brand new box of Susan’s Industrial Chic Mixed Media Line to design with, I knew I wanted to incorporate something from it into my canvas. Also, as much I do love the color pink now because of my sweet little girl (I used to despise it), I was trying to keep from being too cliché so I wanted to work in my favorite turquoise with pops of red color  palette. I also wanted the piece to feel relaxed and happy, which is why I included my handwriting in it. Still not a big fan of my handwriting, but I’m trying to be more forgiving of such things. I had some of Ranger’s Grungeboard in my studio from a class I taught years back that I used for texture, a large chipboard lowercase b that I had from a Creative Imaginations project from way back and of course, ICE Resin paper and a resin-filled bottle cap from my stash. The long metal piece in the middle is new Industrial Chic.

Cloth, Paper, Scissors September/October issue is hitting news stands now. The art made for this fundraiser is gorgeous! And the coolest part is that anyone who wants to can own a piece by purchasing it from their Etsy shop, which went live on the 28th. My piece is up for sale. I’m hoping one of you take it. As a matter of fact, if someone who reads my blog buys the piece and let’s me know by email, I will send you a handmade ICE Resin bezel charm as an extra bonus goodie.

Go check it out. Be inspired by great art and help make a difference too.

An incredibly great time CREATE-ing

I know an instructor is not supposed to ever have favorite students, but I can’t help it when it comes to Jessica. She is just such a wonderful, sweet soul. She and her mother took my class last year and came back again this CREATE for my Mermaid Dreams class. I just adore her!

I honestly had the most amazing time at the CREATE retreat put on by Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine in Orange County this past week. My classes were big time fun, my students were incredibly creative women and I sold lots and lot of earrings and books and mixed-media goodie grab bags at the Artist Faire Friday night. I also got to room with one of my bff’s, the talented Kristen Robinson. It was like having a slumber party, and we didn’t get to sleep before 1:30 a.m. any night of the week. Then up at 6 a.m. Whew! Haven’t done much of that since collage and I can tell you I feel like I’m getting old when I work on 4.5 hours of sleep for nights on end.

Mermaid Dreams was all about making your own molds from found objects and then casting them in resin clay. One of the students took this concept and ran with it. She even brought some taxidermy eyes to add to her cast focal beads. Love the little mold of the skeleton key for a mustache!

I also took two classes, which was just heavenly for me. I took Jenn Mason’s Dirty Little Secrets Gelli Printing class as well as Alisa Burke’s Larger Than Life Canvas class. Since both of these were printmaking/painting classes playing with all kinds of surface treatments I was just in Heaven to be playing with my paints again with mixed-media. I also got to spend some time with my sweet friends Pam Carriker and Kari McKnight Holbrook. It was wonderful to see them and chat.

Tami and Elena are both local so they whisked me away from the hotel to get some fresh sunshine. We went to Fullerton to the amazing shop Gilding the Lily and then ate a yummy vegan lunch next door.

Another awesome part was having Friday day off of work, so I got to hang out with my girlfriends Elena Lai Etcheverry from Charity Wings and Tami Bayer, one of the lead Fiskateers. Tami was there giving away Fiskars tooks and spreading the orange scissor love to the students and teachers and Elena was raising money for Soldiers’ Angels. We went to this incredible vintage goodies shop and ate a healthy vegan lunch. We also watched a commercial being filmed on the street right in front of the shop. It just wouldn’t be Southern California without some celebrity or photo shoot or filming going on.

On the quick plane ride home I just kept thinking of the line It’s a Wonderful Life. It is indeed!

My table for the Artist’s Faire. Don’t you love the vintage dress form? I wish I could say she is mine, but she belong to my sweet friend Ruth Rae who let us borrow some of her beautiful props for the faire.

Yesterday, I pulled my dirty clothes from my suitcase and put them in the washer and dryer. I took them out and repacked them for tomorrow’s trip to the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee. Back to back trips can be tiring, but I always look forward to the incredible shopping at the Bead and Button Show because it’s where I get a lot of my supplies for my classes. That and the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. I also get to meet up with Susan. I haven’t seen her in person since CHA and 6 months is a long time. While we talk all the time for our business, it’s just not the same as getting to see each other and work in person.

The Last Word Somerset Studio

I have the Last Word in the May/June issue of Somerset Studios. This is the first time, I’ve been featured in this part of the magazine and it’s quite an honor. Each issue, an artist gets to tell her personal story about a piece of art work they’ve made and the story behind the piece. Usually, the stories are inspirational or reflective in nature, often setting the final tone for the entire issue.

The piece is an assemblage I made for a sample earlier in the year for our ICE Resin booth at Winter CHA. I had just gotten back a bunch of resin castings that I did for a workshop in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine on mold-making. I pulled the piece I cast from a Frozen Charlotte Doll torso and head and began to build a piece around this focal.  As I was in the creative process, it dawned on me the feeling of the piece is the joy my beautiful daughter — our miracle baby — has brought to our family.

However, like a lot of my work, the assemblage is also about a deeper story. It’s about me following my dreams to have a successful creative career and to live my life as an artist. This is the story I tell as part of my Last Word article. It was difficult for me to openly talk about something so intimate, but I feel it’s also another part in my journey. What I do when I write or teach or create is share my story with others. It’s about sharing emotion and common human experiences and finding connections that have deep roots.

If you haven’t had a chance yet to pick up this issue, please consider doing so. There are so many wonderful articles throughout. Seth Apter is the Artist Profile, and his incredible art made the cover so engaging. My dear friend Kristen Robinson is featured with some of her cast Paperclay assemblages and my business partner Susan Lenart Kazmer has an inspirational article on her unique journals. Oh, the eye candy! It’s honestly one of my favorite issues of all time.

Thankful for Editors

One of the things I enjoy the most about being involved in the media and publishing for  many years is that I get to meet so many new people. My brain is trained to always be on the lookout for stories — people stories, feature stories, new trends, etc. Because I naturally do this, I’ve had the privilege of working with many editors of the top arts and crafts magazines over the years.

As I’ve delved deeper into my own mixed-media art career, I’ve found these women to be a constant source of inspiration and support to our art community as a whole. When I talk to them, they always say they’re ”just doing their jobs,” but I always wonder if they realize how large their reach is and how influential they can be to people’s careers.  A few editors, like the incredible ladies at the Stampington publications, are so supportive of my work I honestly don’t have words to express my gratitude.

Beth Livesay, the ahhhhhmahhhhzing editor of Jewelry Affaire, showed her true spirit in spades with the newest Spring 2012 issue (on bookstands now) when she gave a glowing review of my book Explore, Create, Resinate. Not only did I wish to publically thank her for her beautiful words on my blog, I wanted to share with you all what she wrote:

“Jen Cushman is no stranger to the pages of this magazine. Her contributions to the world of jewelry and mixed-media have not gone unnoticed and her love affair with ICE Resin continually inspires. Complete with tips, tricks and explanations of how to work with photographs and findings, this book will make you want to add resin to everything. The chapter on making resin paper is especially cool. Jen’s passion for teaching and jewelry making shine through in this book full of fun and extraordinary creations that are unlike anything out there. ” — Review by Beth Livesay, Spring 2012 issue of Jewelry Affaire.

Thank you Beth. You made my month!

It’s an overwhelming feeling when people compliment my work. It’s also an incredible thing to see so many people being receptive  of Explore, Create, Resinate. While I wrote the book and did most of the photography, it’s important for me that people knowthe book is a collaboration of some of the most talented artistic women I know, including my business partner Susan Lenart Kazmer (who created ICE Resin) and our first “Dream Team” of designers; Kristen Robinson, Deryn Mentock, Barbe Saint John, Jane Salley and Kecia Deveney. While we’ve all gone on to do other things (though still making jewelry and teaching), my heart holds such a special place for each of these ladies for giving so generously of themselves and their talents to make my dream of writing a very special craft book unlike anything else on the market a reality. I feel like Beth’s review is a tribute to all of us.

It’s been over a year since we self-published and ECR seems to still be building in momentum. I know its through the support of our friends and the generosity of the mixed-media art community.