Theatrical Faces and Commissions

The finished Theatrical Faces Pendant, delivered Monday!

(Once more photographed on a white background. 

I really have to get the camera's settings straightened out!)

We actually made it to the Market Saturday!  Lovely grilled scallops and lion's mane mushrooms with Pasta Mamma's rosemary pasta for dinner.  Yum!  More plants found their way home with us too.  The Ingles stores were having good sales on veggies and herbs . . .

We spent Saturday and Sunday planting.  Planting and planting.  I had almost finished re-working the sidewalk bed when the rain came.  So I have more purple basil and curly parsley waiting . . .

I'll deliver C.'s re-strung pearls today.  Violet's rings came out very well too!  Lots more photos to follow soon!

Commissions, Theatrical Faces & Night Moves . . .

Okay; maybe I am persnickety.  That's okay though.  Right?  After all, we are self-employed jewelry-artists!

I spent much longer than I had thought I would sprueing this commissioned pendant Tuesday afternoon.  Here's yet more proof of why I think that Pat is The Best Wax Carver in Asheville!

(And, again, this wax was photographed on a sheet of white paper.

But at least this shows the dimensional aspects of this pendant well.)

Our Clients provided Pat with a rough sketch of what they had in mind.  This is her scaled-down design sketch that they approved before she began carving the wax of their pendant.

Yes, I can be persnickety.  When a piece has as much time in it as this one does I'd much rather err on the side of caution.  So, yes, I very carefully over-sprued.  (I'd rather have the casting turn out perfectly and spend extra time de-sprueing and re-texturing parts of the back than I would have a casting fail and Pat have to re-carve the wax!)  I also sprued the waxes of the two rings that Violet D. ordered.

Yesterday we shipped out the faceted forged ring that Sandy ordered.  I got the Parkway Crafts Center order all ready to ship out first thing in the morning.

I poured the first of these two flasks at 7 PM.  After I quenched and put the pieces into the devester Pat and I made a nice summertime-type dinner.

After dinner Pat flopped and began reading a new C.J. Cherryh novel that she's been looking forward to.  Sam and I went outside to enjoy the evening.  I sat on our bench and listened to the frogs next door and Sammy sprawled on his table so he could guard the edge of our yarden.

Last night was one of those times when it is hard to believe that we live where we do ~ just a couple of miles from one of the busiest roads in town.  Our fountain burbled, the frogs sang a discordant off-beat chorus next door.  An occasional car sound off in the distance.  And all was good.

Until it was time to come back inside and put the castings into the new pickle for the night.

Sam refused to come in. We have a family of coyotes somewhere in the scrub woods behind our house, so leaving the Tiger out unsupervised was not an option!  He wouldn't be herded.  He wouldn't come for the promise of food . . .

Sam finally did come running to the sound of a can being tapped with a knife.  Which is how we got the boyz to come in years ago.  Since we didn't have any canned cat food in the house I had to use a can of tuna.  Pat said it was only fair to let Sam and Ink have it since they came when I used it (Inky was sound asleep in the bedroom) . . .

Ink loved it and of course Sam turned his nose up at canned tuna and pouted; until he got a lap to cuddle on!

Sweet Sam blinks.

Quick Yarden Update!

I still need to edit the photos of our newest work. This week is going to be another Fun one with some interesting work ahead of us. We'll be getting some work out to our galleries and we have, lets see, I think it's four special commissions to make! But, before getting to the work, here's what we've been doing for other kinds of Fun . . .

Sunday we went to Painter's Greenhouse for the next stage of their wonderful sale!

We came home with a wonderful mix of annuals, perennials and herbs!

We stopped at our little Ingles so Pat cold pick up some more Begonias.

How could I resist a couple of beautiful young squash plants?

Some of the Basil I potted up.  (Note to self:  Get more Basil ASAP!)

Pat and her Helper take a well earned break at the end of the day.

Inky's a good Guard Mountain Goat! 

Newly potted Dragon Wing Begonia beside Pat.

The new baby banana plant is peaking over the back of our bench.

Baby Squash!

Sugar Snap Pea Blossom; at an odd angle because

I've just started sending the vines back down their trellis.

One of our first Sugar Snap Pea pods!

When she heard we were collecting sedums and succulents for a new rock garden our fiber friend Sandra Rowland gave us two buckets crammed full of this type of sedum!

The others went into the lower rock wall.

The view from the bench Monday morning, after everything was watered in.

An unknown "wild orchid" blooming by our front door.

I bought one or packets of these at one of the big box stores years ago.

Now I have no idea what they are . . .  Except that they look like a miniature White Cattleya Orchid and they come back year after year!

Sneak Peak

A quick sneak peak at two of our newest jewelry explorations before we head off for the Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival !

Christmas Fern

Budding Dianthus

The first fern and lichen pendants were named Reflections.  At this point we're leaning toward Botanical Ridgelines.  Have a Great Weekend!

Good Intentions . . .

Well, despite my Good Intentions it's been a week since I last posted . . .  Of course that just means we've been busy.  Very busy!!!

We're heading to Gatlinburg tomorrow.  Except for packing the car we're ready for the Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival!  Friday night is the "A Night with the Artists" party, catered by the Ripley's Aquarium's Executive Chef ~ need I say more?

Last year's party was pretty amazing.  Great food, and a good time.  (You call that "heavy hors d'oeuvres"???  I'd call it two meals!)  Amazing chocolates too . . .  This year the location has changed.  What was once the banquet room at the Aquarium is now the new penguin exhibit!  Since the last meeting was canceled (because the Festival Committee was so on top of things) I'm going to make sure to finally get some photos of the really neat penguin environment.  (I want a sun room roof with moving water on top of it.  Really.  You'll see what I mean next week!)

Nope, no new photos up yet.  But I will be photograph our newest work in the morning.  This is the new evolution of our Ridgelines series.  Sort of a natural growth . . .

I was taking an afternoon break a couple of weeks ago and was sitting on our bench looking at the world.  My focus shifted and I really started to see what was right in front of me.  When I came in I showed Pat what I'd seen and told her about what I was thinking of trying.  Of course she said, "That's Cool!  Do it!  Make it real!"

We're unveiling the first of our Botanical Reflections at the Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival Saturday.  We're looking forward to seeing what folks think and what Laurel and Craig and Emily and all of our friends at Arrowcraft think!

Photos up soon!

Happy Birthday Aunt Leola & New Work

(Belated) Happy Birthday Aunt Leola !!!

I photographed our Yellow Lady Slipper blooming just for you yesterday.  Pat and I hope that your Birthday was Wonderful and filled with Love and lots of Family!  (Thank you Tina for showing her this page!)

I'm sorry that I didn't get this photo posted until today!  Carl, Pat's son,  gave this beautiful plant to her years ago.  This year we have five stalks with three blooms!

I'm still having trouble with the camera's settings; which is why the backgrounds in the next photos are different tones.  Here are some of the pendants that we delivered to Allanstand, at the Folk Art Center, last week.

Full Moon

Fossilized Bali Coral and Fresh Water Pearls.

Reflections

Picasso Jasper with 14 K Gold accents.

Falling Water #3

Crysocolla, Boulder Opal and Emerald.

Close up details

Ancient Seas

Boulder Opal, Chrysoprase, and Fresh Water Pearls, with 14 K Gold accent.

Doorway Into Time

Labadorite with Fresh Water Pearls.

Night Falls on the Mountain

Australian Maramumba (an Australian Tiger Eye with Heatite and Jasper) with 14 K Gold Accents.

Hope that you enjoyed this glimpse of what we've been working on lately!  Back to work for me.  We have lots to do before the Gatlinburg Fine Arts Fetival next weekend and lots of new ideas to explore!

Just like our Sugar Snap Peas we're reaching for the sun!

Happy May Day !!!

It Worked !!! !!! !!!

Well, we've missed the Herb Fest at the Farmer's Market.  We worked through Friday.  Even though we woke up early today we got a later start today than we had hoped.  Still it was a relaxing morning for us.  After a little time in the yarden we both got busy.

Pat and Ink cuddled in the wildflower garden.

Pat spent her day in the studio, finishing up a couple of tricky time-consuming repairs and she finished a new pendant of ours.  Then, at the end of the day she, in her own words " . . . got lost in design-ideas!"  Which is always a good thing for us!

I invested the flask of new ideas I sprued yesterday.  An hour later it went into the kiln.  I spent the rest of the day shooting waxes for our production work.  (Besides the galleries that need work we'll be at the Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival in less than two weeks.  There's a lot of work to do!)

I slowed my burn out cycle down long enough to make dinner.  As soon as we finished it was time to cast . . .

Then the wait for the flask to cool just enough to be quenched . . .  Only then did we finally know that our new ideas worked and are now real in sterling silver.

This is very exciting and opens up a whole range of new natural growth in our work.  It will be interesting to see where we take these ideas . . .

Until then, Happy May Day to all!!!

Tomorrow will be our day off.  It'd be nice to make it to the Herb Fest, but if the rain holds off we'll be digging plants to transplant in at our Friends John and Nancy's.

Delivered!

We delivered a nice selection of work to Allanstand yesterday.  It really is always fun to have a chance to talk with Julie and all of the staff.

Even now, we both still feel that little tingle of excitement everytime we go to the Folk Art Center.  We're Southern Highland Craft Guild members!  Stay tuned for photos of some of the work!  In the meantime, here are some quick photos of our morning amble around the yarden before getting to work.

Leaf textures in the morning light.

Red Columbine.

Great White Trillium in the shade.

The view from leaf-level.

Lots of Work!

We haven't posted because we've been so busy making jewelry!  Well, we have been eating lunch in the yarden and I've been outside when I can in the evenings.

I'll be posting our new pieces after the weekend.  Hillary's Mother's pendant turned out wonderfully.  We'll be delivering it to her early next week.  We'll also be delivering a major body of work to Allanstand at the Folk Art Center.  Tuesday we'll take at least a few more pieces to Laurel at Arrowcraft in Gatlinburg.  (At the moment Arrowcraft has the best selection of our work.  But at the rate they are selling . . .)

Since Terry had "another dirty snow storm" yesterday,

a couple of our wood hyacinths in bloom with ferns just unfurling behind them!

Spent cherry blossom petals on our moss.

Now, we're off to see David and Denay and Gwen and Thomas!!!

Quick Custom Update

It's been another busy week for us!  Monday Pat delivered this custom piece.

Designed to our client's specifications.  Three different textures, sterling silver and bronze with a bezel set 3.5 mm diamond, then patinated.  It turned out exactly as she had hoped!

Tuesday was another trip to Gatlinburg and Arrowcraft.  The Gatlinburg Fine Arts Festival planning meeting went well.  After the meeting I took a couple of minutes to tour the new penguin exhibit.  Next time I'm taking the camera!  It was pretty amazing.

Then across the street with Craig to join Pat and Laurel at Arrowcraft.  Goodness, we'd just delivered new work and they need more already!  Eek!

We grabbed a quick lunch then stopped at Greenbriars before heading home.

Pat being inspired by the river.

Moss, beautiful inspiring moss.

Of course you have to take your shoes off!

Last weekend, when I was mulching the perennial bed, I accidentally scared the dickens out of this beautiful little guy before I knew he was there.  Wildlife in the yarden is always a good sign!  Eat those nasty bugs pretty little snake!

 

I got lucky, some of my favorites of the Tulipia kaufmannia were in the new mix!

I seem to be straying from posting about work lately.  I certainly have lots more recent photos, but then again, it is Spring!  It's been a pretty good week.  We have lots of work to do.  Some interesting custom commissions are coming up.  I've been spending every evening in the yarden, puttering around potting up new plants and relaxing.

Tonight we'll be at the Folk Art Center for the New Guild Members' Reception.  It's in the Main Gallery upstairs, where the stunning exhibit of The Life and Works of Charles Counts is.  It will be a lot of Fun to meet some of the new members and we're both looking forward to re-visiting the exhibit!

Saturday we'll be at the Guild's 80th Annual Meeting, at the Blue Ridge Assembly.  It promises to be a good meeting!  Then it's off to dinner and the party at Bryson Gym at Warren Wilson College!  Busy and Fun days indeed!

Helpers

Sometimes we really do get a lot of help . . .

Once the wax pot was up to temperature Inky decided I needed to be supervised!

Happy Easter !!!

Happy Easter !!!

Here are some snapshots of our Easter Day for our Friends and Family.  We especially hope my Dear Sister Terry will enjoy them ~ since she needs a glimpse of green so badly!  (Spring really is coming!!!)

About as far back as I can remember Easter also meant plants, rebirth, Spring.

Who ya gonna call when the Easter Bunny needs help ???

(With a Special Thank You to Laurel for Forwarding this from Kri!)

Hey, the Easter Bunny and his Little Tiger Friend came !!!

I must've been kind of good, because the Easter Bunny brought me a New Guinea Impatiens, some baby Cucumbers, and a Dragon Wing Begonia for my container plantings.  (For now they're resting on the Nature's Helper we mulched our little Memorial Bed with ~ most of the plants were ones that Mom or Dad gave us years ago.  The Lily of the Valley and the White Wood Hyacinth are coming up now, but I don't have any photos of them yet.)

Pat's been saying we need even more sedums . . .

She must've been Really Good because the Easter Bunny brought her even more sedums!

 

More sedums here . . .

More sedums there . . .

(I'm beginning to wonder if the Easter Bunny or his little helper is going to help me dig up the hillside that is going to be our new Rock Garden?  And what about collecting and moving and planting all of those

 Really Big Rocks for it?  Huh?  Huh?!?)

Oh thank you Easter Bunny Tiger !

What can I use this lovely container for???

Hey, I have a cool idea!

(It's getting hot out . . .)

Is it level now?

It worked!

I mean, of course it worked ~ I'm a Bauman!

The glass balls were collected by our Family on, or near, Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands in the 60s.

It was getting pretty hot and we both had worked really hard Saturday cleaning up the yarden.  The last of the leaves are finally gone, the beds are fertilized and most of the containers are ready for the new season.  The "lawn" is de-thatched, re-seeded and fretilized.  I've sown a batch of mesculin and radishes, and the Basil Babies are flourishing.  So, of course, we ended up flaking out in the shade for awhile, both of us feeling yesterday in ways that told us just how long this last Winter had been!

So here's a tour of our front yarden from the comfort of our shaded chairs.

Sometime you really just have to take the time to enjoy the day.

Our hillside perrenial bed.  (We still need to trim the liriope on this side of the steps!)

Neat!!!  The Easter Bunny left us five bags of shredded hardwood mulch in the car???

I think it might be a little hot and late to get started today . . .

Our new fountain.  Hal and Bruce's house is in the background beyond our wild flower area.

The bench, with twice as many sedums as we had just a week ago!

Last Christmas Santa Claws gave Pat this wonderful David Grant bird house.  It's a wood-fired salt glazed piece of functional pottery that he thought the kitty boys would enjoy watching from the back of the sofa.

From our front door you can see that the new early crocus have faded and the later ones are in full bloom.

From the sidewalk the pansies really shine.

I changed the hose so we would have even more relaxing lovely burbling sounds from our new foutain.

The trilliums are going crazy in the wildflower area.  We have at least fifty red in bud or blooming this year!

Here are the lower Blood Roots at peak bloom.

One of our white trilliums in bud.

The last of the flowers on our Oconee Bells that I divided from Dad's planting.

A few of our upper Blood Root closing for the night.

(I'll have to upload some pictures of our incredible Trout Lillies later.)

Daffodils in the evening's glow.

Hal and Bruce are our favorite neighbors.  Tonight Bruce brought us a couple of slices of his delicious homemade apple pie!

One of the funny things about blogging is that sometimes just when you think you are finished you aren't.  Here's a photo I found when I was taking another look at Painter's site tonight and checked out their Facebook postings!

Sedums and lettuce and coleus and Fun with plants!

Isn't this a Big Part of what it's all about ?

We hope that you have had as Happy an Easter as we have !!!