Rags 2014

For the past several years, I have made it a must to attend the Rags Wearable Art Show in Tacoma.  The goal of the show is to raise funds for the YWCA Woman's abuse shelter. Last year they made their $1,00,000 mark for this very worthy charity.
    I have my favorite artists, so I visit their tables first.  Every year it gets harder to decide which OOAK piece to take home with me.  This year was no exception, as my faves have expanded their lines and have been experimenting with new techniques to tempt me.
   I have made it a point to purchase a pair of enameled earrings from Debbie Jackson every year.  This year she had new color choices that made it hard to decide.  I finally went with these light green beauties.

 I was excited to see some new jewelery designs at her table.  "You've gotten into etching" said I.  "No, I didn't etch, due to the chemicals involved.  I discovered the rolling mill." was her reply.
Believe it or not, she embossed metals for these earrings on a rolling mill using cardboard templates. I would never have thought that cardboard would be sturdy enough to indent metal, but here you go ... proof in these two earring sets:

Another favorite artist is Pamela Bellesen aka The Wide Mouth Frog.  She only does one show a year, and doesn't sell on line. She is featured in numerous galleries around the country, but locally the only way to buy her work is at Rags or her store in Poulsbo, Wa.
   She has expanded her work to include origami papers and embossed metals.

I was very excited to hear that she is offering classes at her studio in Poulsbo, not just in metal work, but other artistic pursuits. Hopefully, I will be able work some classes into my schedule. Poulsbo is a bit of a jaunt from the Emerald City, but it can include a ferry ride and that is always fun in good weather.

I bought from a new (for me) artist this year.  Darcy Thompson upcycles china and ceramics into unique jewelery pieces with the use of colorful grout.  I fell in love with the necklace, and even tho the piece of china it originated from did not include any pieces small enough to make earrings, Darcy was able to find a pair in her stash that matched pretty closely.
 

And last, but certainly not least, I came across Michele Rancy and her Enaminals. She had the most beautiful enameled penguin, but as I had already spent my allotment for the day, I had to pass on it. Fortunately, she also had this copper penguin that was the same design only without the color.  

My totem ... of course he had to go home with me.

WHEEEEEEE !!!!!

Doing Wheelies

Things have been pretty quite at the Penguin Colony....colony - what a poor name for a group of amazing birds.  After all, there are very imaginative names given to groups of birds. Murders of Crows, Parliament of Owls, Unkindness of Ravens, Ostentation of Peacocks, Convocations of Eagles....why even a group of ducks has the interesting identification of being refered to as a Paddling when in the water.  I am thinking that a group of Penguins needs a more festive name, after all they are always well dressed. What about a Tuxedo of Penguins, or a Parade of Penguins ... when the the water they could be a Flight of Penguins.

But I digress... I have not had much time to create lately.  Summer is finally here and spending time outside is taking precedence over clay.  Sunshine is rare here and I want to savor every moment of it I can.

I did get a chance to experiment a little with an idea I had. They did not turn out to match exactly what I had in mind, but I was not too unhappy with them.  Still working out exactly how to turn them into jewelery.

Big dots on right, smaller dots on left. Not sure yet which I like best.

Prototype of an earring type I am working on using my wheelie beads.

My first offical giveaway

I still have not been able to think of a good name for my Penguin mascot.  So I will ask for your help.
It's easy.... just comment and  suggest a name.  I will pick the one I like best and that person will get to pick  one of  the big texture bead pairs that  I featured in my last blog.

I can hear some of you thinking, "what if she doesn't like any of the suggestions?"  In that case, I will pick a name at random and that person will win the beads.

I will select the winner next Friday June17th.  Does this sound like fun???

Please help me. I am soooo tired of being called Pengie-Poo.

The Penguin Polymer

I can't believe that I haven't blogged about this until now (and that I haven't written anything in over a week - out of town for the Memorial Weekend, then working every day since then - I'm tired....)

I am the Polymer Penguin. So named because I waddle  when I walk and I have been collecting Penguins even before they became popular (I credit the  penguins of Madagascar for making it easier to find penguins for my collection). But I have NEVER made a penguin from polymer!!!! Can you imagine that - what is wrong with me?

So when a Penguin was in one of the brown bags at the brown bag exchange last month at Clay Camp, I just had to have it, even if it meant "stealing it" when my name was pulled out of the bag.

Here is my new mascot watching over my work at Clay Camp.  Still looking for a good name.



Holly???....  Noel???.......  Flipper????