Sunday, February 22, 2009

Chica and Meche



I recently contributed to a Boston Handmade post about pets hanging out in our studios. While looking for a photo, I came across early pictures of my kitties. They were so darned cute! They still are, but are now mature, stately 7 year olds. The mosaic shows them at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 13 weeks and 1 year. They're even bigger now, as you can see in the photo below. Maine Coons are a large breed and don't achieve their full growth until they're about five years old. Chica weighs in at close to 20lbs and my little one, Meche, at about 13lbs.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Studio Re-Do

When I left my corporate job to be a studio artist a couple of years ago, I just threw a studio together. It was functional, but pretty ugly. And just kept getting uglier and uglier as I added plastic drawer things, boxes and general junk.

My Xmas present to myself was new studio furniture. Between Ikea and a propitious trash find, I now have exactly what I need for an awesome studio. It took me a couple of days to put it together (it takes a while to translate those Swedish pictures), but the effort was well worth it!

I left my studio layout the same, because it works well for me. I have four stations: a polymer worktable, a metalwork area, a jewelry assembly and finish area and an office workspace. Oh, the joy of not having to clear my polymer table to set up my metal stuff!



What about that lucky trash find? Well, it's my new metalsmithing table. I found it not more than 20 feet from my front door - it's a wood kitchen island that a neighbor left out with the trash. The funny thing is that I found it the day after I finished setting up my studio. Furniture karma...

I took some close-ups, too - of my polymer tools, color chart and color scales, my comfy chair(a must in every studio!) and a bunch of my new Maya collection earrings ready to be packaged.



Why am I making such a production about an attractive studio? First, because a nice environment makes my work better. And second, because my studio is in plain sight of my living room!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Just another reason why I'm loving 1000Markets!



Matt, the guy behind 1000Markets.com posted the most wonderful photo of potter Rob Drexel and his baby on the site's Community page this week. Not only is Rob's work fabulous, but his shop is a delight. Kudos to 1000Markets for giving artists like Rob a place to showcase their work, life and inspiration in such a heartwarming way!