emiko-o reware

For all you wanting to get your crafting fix on, join our Accessorize with Toys! Workshop at the CA Academy of Sciences March 18, 6-10pm. Part of the Academy’s weekly NightLife Thursdays (a club-like atmosphere with DJs), this one highlights SCRAP who is sponsoring us to do our Charmed! bracelet project. Shana and I are bringing primo game and toy parts, so come on out and make a super fabulous charm bracelet! Other SCRAP projects will be masks and cards from recyclable materials.

DJs on deck are shOOey, playing house and breaks, and shissla of SpaceCowboys. Sounds like a booty-shaking time to be had.

Take note that this is a 21+up event, and tix are $12 general admin, $10 for museum members. Best to get tix in advance, I hear that these Thurs. night events can sell out. Get tix here.

charm bracelet by Shana Astrachan

Just got my work back from the Minimal Bling exhibition that was at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston last month. I was extremely pleased that they used my Maharajah’s 6th LEGO necklace in the promotional materials, including the gorgeous postcard. While I was at SNAG Philly last May I had the pleasure of reconnecting with the Director, Beth Ann Gerstein, and Exhibitions Director, Fabio Fernandez. SAC had first shown my work way back in 2003 when I was doing the Truth tiara series.

For Minimal Bling I made 2 new mid-range pieces to accompany this neckpiece and the Duchess neckpiece (these latter 2 are now at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft‘s Transmutations show).

Pas de trois is a necklace that riffs off my recent Cygne Noir reinterpretation of Lalique’s Women with Black Swans enamel necklace. The pendant has 3 components, the bottom 2 of which are interchangeable.

Twilight is my latest Limited Edition bracelet, which I was compelled to make way before I got sucked into the black hole obsession of a series that obliterated my month of January (hence the lack of posts since early december; I’m 10 pages away from finishing the last book, thank god!). I must say it does justice to books; what would Stephenie Meyer say?

Most of the non-CA shows that my work is in I don’t get the chance to see, but my pal Shana swung by and shot these pics of the gallery entrance, where lo and behold, my Luke and Darth Vader earrings are HUGE on the banner! No wonder those earrings sold!

Cygne Noir necklace

Well, it only took me 6 weeks to finish the photos for the 2 new necklaces I made for SNAG’s Jewelry In Motion at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this May. Cygne Noir (pictured left) and Blue Steel (see below, left) are the latest editions to the My First Royal Jewels Collection, reinterpreting works by Lalique and Boucheron, respectively.

The photo shoot was well worth the wait, as I discovered that Calumet Photographic rents Canon lenses, specifically the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS. LOVE IT! For $30/day I can finally shoot portraits of my jewelry with the appropriate lens and not have to stand 20 feet away from the model. And to think that I was considering plunking down $1300 for the lens new! One of the many reasons I love living in the Mission.

Jamielyn in Cygne Noir

Thanks to my gorgeously photogenic model, Jamielyn, who graciously let me squeeze her into what seemed like a size -0 david’s bridal dress from Mission Thrift (another plus for the hood!). And also get powdered white for a few hours. Special thanks to Shana Astrachan’s makeup artistry in helping realize my 18th century aristocratic vision! Go team!

Blue Steel necklace

See more of the photos on my flickr.

Accessorize with Toys at Maker Faire

The first day of Maker Faire 2009 San Mateo is done and whhew! are my dogs a’barkin’! This year our Accessorize with Toys workshop is in the Show Barn, our first year out of the Swaporamarama and on our own. If you’re looking for us, we’re in the same area as the awesome Tech Shop, and situated between the Metal Arts Guild and the Metals Arts Association of Silicon Valley.
What seemed like the highest attendance of all Maker Faires, we could barely keep up with the photo taking of participants and their projects. But the photos are up on Flickr, with much more to come after tomorrow. Here are some of our favorites.

This weekend’s MakeArt: Accessorize with Toys workshop @ SF Museum of Craft + Design was a hit was kids and adults alike! The museum’s biggest turnout yet for their MakeArt workshops, not to mention there was a surprise visit from Cabrillo College. Fellow Metal Arts Guild member, Dawn Nakanishi, brought her Metals students from Cabrillo for a field trip to SFMCD. The students got a treat to have a special artist tour (by me), plus they got to play at the MakeArt table with all those irresistable toy parts donated by SCRAP. It was definitely a fun afternoon.
There were 8 kids (7 boys and 1 girl, go figure!) in tow with moms, who worked right alongside their busy bees.

Shana & I, along with Margaret, the Education Coordinator, oversaw the makers, making sure no one hammered or hot glued a finger. The wondrous UGlu saved many a project as well, stealing Elmer’s thunder yet again. The time just flew by as everyone was deeply engrossed in their projects.

See more photos of the workshop on the museum’s flickr set, and see more images from the MakeArt table on my flickr set. More images will be uploaded in the days to come.

Mark your calendars for this Sunday, Nov 9 from 1-3pm when I and fellow Critique Collective members are hosting a Meet the Artists Open House at the San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design. Artist walkthrough/tour begins at 1:30. I’ll be giving a tour of My First Royal Jewels Jewellery Collection LEGO necklaces, and the Collective will be talking about the Jewelry_cycle exhibition.

Jewelry_cycle:Artists Discover Hidden Sparkle in the Discarded is an educational showcase of wearable treasures made from re-purposed and re-cycled materials. With the idea of an exhibition in mind, co-curators Christine Dhein and Christoph Koch asked the Critique Collective to create wearable art from a variety of small, discarded circuit boards. Circuit boards are commonly made from fiberglass, epoxy resin, and a variety of metals, which is likely to be one third of the material. These metals include copper, silver and gold, which add a precious element to what would otherwise be considered e-waste. These artists discovered the hidden potential, and transformed these materials to create brilliant, sparkling jewels.

Participating artists are: Shana Astrachan, David Casella, Christine Dhein, Reed Easely, Aimee Golant, Christoph Koch, Kelly Nedderman, and myself. Shout out to Christine for working extra hard to have the exhibit be super clean and pro looking! Check out Julian on the job!

Come join us and learn some facts about environmental waste and how you can do your part to lesson your carbon footprint while being creative!  Plus sit down and make your own jewelry from recycled toy parts at the MakeArt:Jewelry + Objects self-serve table that I developed.

Shout out to SCRAP and UGlu for being awesome sponsors of my MakeArt table and workshop!

Much has developed in the last week on the upcoming exhibition space at the SF Museum of Craft + Design. I’m developing the MakeArt Gallery: Jewelry and Other Objects activity table for the back room; a simplified version of the Accessorize with Toys workshop that Shana Astrachan and I will be conducting on November 15 in that same space. So for those who can’t make that Nov 15 date, you’ll have the entire run of the exhibition to stop in and create something of your own.

Complimenting that in that space the Critique Collective will be showing a BRAND new Group Project in an exhibition co-curated by Christine Dhein and Christoph Koch called, Re-Purpose, Re-Use, Re-CREATE! We’re all super pumped up and ready to get others on the Green Train. Hopefully I will get a chance to update the crit collective website to include the press release on that. Until then, click here to grab the pdf.

What’s this: A. Abstract depiction of California in an earthquake; B. The inside of an old computer I scavenged at SCRAP; or C. Future Man-thong.
If you chose C, you are Correct! Cher thong ensemble will be showing in the above crit show, and she will have a partner in crime. Here is a sneak peak of the parts I cut up a few hours ago. Think electronic jock strap. So far the title that strikes me is “Population Control 2.0″. Definitely conceptual, but will be wearable/lifesize. Commentary on how constant laptop use on male laps is being linked to impotence, using technology to create genetically superior offspring….

Soon to hit the bookstores is the newly published Art Jewelry Today 2, by Jeffrey B. Snyder. My work is in it, plus many others I know, like Shana Astrachan, Christine Dhein, Harriete Estel Berman. It is the second in a series pioneered by the late Dona Meilach, and is a survey of contemporary art jewelry around the world. Hardbound, published by Schiffer Publishing; if it’s anything like the first book, this one will be well worth shelling out the bucks for hardbound.

Fellow Critique Collective member, Reed Easley, was featured with her bridal bouquet today on Craft magazine’s blog! And right after her wedding to boot, which was this past Saturday. The Collective definitely had a hand in creating crafts for the wedding; Shana Astrachan in particular created these fabulous vintage rafia flowers from a loom she bought from Cathy of California while we were at Maker Faire. Together we created the base by carving it from a large styrofoam sphere and covering it with pleated white cotton, tulle, and a large satin bow. The handle was a screwdriver wrapped in floral tape and inserted into the foam base, a perfect solution for our tool-loving bride! Amazing how innovative one can be at the witching hour on deadline! Perhaps Shana will start a line of bridal bouquets…..

Finally time to relive the beauty of craftin’ at Maker Faire: Day Uno. Can’t believe it was almost a week ago-egads! Happy to announce that the photos from our workshop are up on flickr (since it took me a year to upload last year’s photos…), so if you participated in our lovely event, go check out your mugshot.

Shana and I arrived at 9:30am and the lot was almost full, unbelievable-throngs of anxious makers-to-be were corralled behind the turnstiles, just waiting for the clock to strike 10am. By 2pm apparently there was no more parking, and the traffic on 101 was slooow toast.

Our little “U” shaped cubby home for the next 2 days, right before the eager jewelers descend upon us. Luckily we were early again this year and able to snag 4 tables and extra chairs to accommodate all the materials and provide workstations. The jewelry Sample board is a new addition (constructed from scrap materials conveniently laying around the apartment) to show off 3 years of jewelry workshop pieces. It was an effective lure to our table, as was the Uglu sample kiosk (generously donated by Justin of MACtac). Folks would come by just out of curiosity for the Uglu, their eyes pleading for the free samples and where they can buy it. Sadly, not available on the west coast yet, but hopefully soon.

Boy, was it BUSY all day long-standing room only for some folks (certainly for us; requiring major foot rubs by excellent boyfriend at the end of the night). Being tucked into the back corner of the Swap-O-RamaRama and next to the Bazaar Bizarre brought us a constant but manageable stream of people. We had all sorts of folks hangin out, making jewelry, sculptures, objects, embellishing clothing. Seemed to get a lot of dads with youngin’s, which was super cute (those moms that stayed home sure missed out-maker fair is more than just techie boy stuff)!

My favorite father/daughter team of the day. These two really worked together to create these elaborately decorated wood puzzle pieces; it was very impressive watching them make design decisions-I see a young artist in bloom.

Winner of the most adorable object of the day: this little soft sculpture owl. Most unique use of the jump rings-I want to make one! This gal came with her mom, and these two were the most artistic mother/daughter team.

Check our her mom’s sweet textile brooch. This family has got some art genes for sure!

The Fabulous Frances returns for Year 2 of recycled jewelry making at our table-wearing almost everything she’s made with us. What a rock star! Looks like someone might be getting grommeting pliers for christmas this year…

Next thing we know it is 5pm and everyone’s being herded out the doors-time to quickly semi-pack up and check out the rest of the Maker Faire. And lo and behold, what is this that awaits me outside, but the best way to end the day at the Faire: Matt and Funnel cake!