Charms, Fun & More

Next month, I'm heading out for my first summer art adventure to the ZNE Castle in the Meadow event in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to a fun castle art project, tour of the Dodge Castle home, and wine and cheese tasting, all of the attendees are going to particiate in a "charm" swap. I've never done a charm swap before. I have been experimenting with solidering and want to do more. So here is my project. I have the initials of the participants and have taken scrabble tiles, "double face" taped them together, applied the copper tape and jump ring...and started solidering. Each one is of course unique ....since there is no quality control. But I am pretty pleased with the results....not bad for a beginner. I have tied the charms to a coffee stained tag with a bit of red twill tape.

I use these giant tin snips to hold the charm, I ordered some steel bench blocks this week from Otto Frei I think they will help in the whole process. Sally Jean Alexander uses them in her book "Pretty Little Things", and suggests them for her workshops. ( which I hope to be able to take in August....more on that later.) Here's the little charm with just it's copper tape and jump ring ready for solider.
I've set up a little "portable" solidering spot on the back patio. We need to do a lot of work out there to clean up from the winter ( and last summer and fall and spring) but I'm not comfortable doing the solidering in the house yet. ( My father's daughter, obsessing about "hot" things left plugged in!)


Of course you have to have some music, even on the patio. Today we listened to Voices of the Wetlands. Check out this musical line-up.
Doesn't this look tidy....the only thing in the whole house ( in or out). It all stacks up on the vintage gingham trays to be stored on a shelf in the house, you don't want to leave your solidering equipment out in the elements. Rust is good, but not on your anvil or other tools.
The table, coat rack, and vintage trays are "rummage sale" treasures.

Take time to smell the roses

On See it Say if Saturday......last week, this great art work was featured, created by Joanna Grant. It makes me think about how I need to take time to smell the roses, and I haven't been the past week or so, (I did take some time on April 1 , I'll tell about it later.) I was way tooooo involved in setting up for our church rummage sale. I invested about 40 hours of work into the project over the past two weeks, it was worth the effort, we made about $850 and met some great people and sent our leftovers out into the world through "Free Cycle", sold some to a local thrift store who serves immigrants to our community, sent some books to an area book fair that is supporting one of the "old mansions" in St. Louis, and then this week we'll send some more clothes to an area shelter. Good work, but....it kept me away from my on-line fun for the past week. But I did manage to buy some goodies. Great things, that no doubt, will enhance my artistic endeavors for months to come. Check these out.

These cool buttons were on a fleece vest, that didn't fit, it was left at the end of the day, I took the buttons and sent the vest for recycling.

A future shrine, from a jewlery kit box.
Cute, tiny, vintage santa, made in Japan, has to be from the 50s.
I can feel myself becoming organized as we speak, two double drawer card files, I can see my little clipart pixs and ephemera filed in these.
This has to be a little church from a train set, I remember one of these either at my childhood home or grandmother's house. Hmmmm, it can become a pattern and who knows what else!!

There were a few other cool things I picked up, including some books, and bowls, and other assorted crafting things I couldn't live without.