Inside the Studio with Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to Gloria Allen! You have won a set of four Lady Liberty coin buttons. Please contact Tari with your contact information so she can mail your prize.
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Hello Bead Peeps! What have you been up to lately?

As supported by Miss Tari's last post, the world is continuing to spin far faster than I can often handle! There have been many twists and turns in my path over the past month, some of it all in the same week! Much of what I had scheduled out for myself to complete each week on my endless notes and lists has been tossed aside like so much trash. I am actually wondering how all of this happened in the blink of an eye, and how I can find my way back to my original plan.

It seems that since the last time I posted an Inside the Studio about my upcoming show, Beauty in the Broken Places, you would think that I might have something to show for it, especially since I mentioned in that post that I was going to be making something each month toward that end. Alas, I don't! But that doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. In fact, I think that this month in particular will find me working around the clock on many nights just to keep afloat!

Here's a recap of just some of what has kept me from pursuing the art that I want to pursue....while pursuing creative endeavors of all different sorts.....

Special Pop-a-Dot jewelry (in process) based on my favorite Dr Seuss book, My Many Colored Days.

Every year for my daughter's dance studio, I host a fundraiser for the National Honor Society of Dance Arts during every night of the show week rehearsals and before each show. I sell a line of magnetic jewelry I devised called Pop-a-Dots and always come up with something extra special themed to the show.

This year the show was based on the Dr Seuss book, Oh! The Places You'll Go! So I made some digital prints that fit in a 5x7" frame as well as notecards with some of the iconic Seuss lines. The dancers and their families loved them, as well as those that are celebrating graduations in May. Their messages are perfect for encouraging enthusiastic exploration of the whole wide world!

This was taken a few months ago, but I love the smile on her face!

My mother's 70th birthday was in the middle of show week as well. So I took off half a day to spend it with her.

That same exact weekend, my son and his lovely girlfriend attended Prom. So, of course I had to add one more thing to my plate and decided to make the corsage and boutonniere for them. Gah! I think they turned out quite nicely! Of course, it helps that I happen to have an entire studio filled with sparkly things to make them extra special and unique! I really had fun making them. I have made wedding flowers before, but perhaps I may have missed my calling! ;-)

So much is coming up in this month! My son Calvin is going to graduate from Pacelli High School. This is bittersweet as it is also where my husband and I graduated from (and where we started dating!), as well as my father and his siblings. Proud to have a 3rd generation graduate in the family! Even more proud to announce that he is planning to attend our college alma mater as well... University of Wisconsin-Madison. We bleed Badger red and are thrilled that he will be carrying on the Big 10 tradition. He has been accepted directly into the College of Engineering and I think that my summer will be quite busy getting him (and me!) ready. There are so many big things this month, including the Project Grad party held the night of graduation. I am in charge of the Senior DVD slide show that will be given as a gift to them all. It has taken me all spring to gather the pictures. Now I will be starting on the actual slideshow on Sunday and hope to be done in one week (of very late nights!). Adding to that, there are baseball games a-plenty every other night of the week, and almost every weekend (so far we have lost just one game all season! Woot!). I simply cannot miss a single moment, especially since this boy who started as a catcher at age 9, is now an impressive young man of 18 and coming to the end of his career. The Cardinals were ranked 3rd in the state by the sports writers/coaches and he made the list of catchers to watch. Such a wonderful career! I know that I am the one having the hardest time with the coming loss of this passion. Never thought I would say this 18 years ago...but baseball is my favorite season! And to top it all off,  we are planning a HUGE backyard party complete with a large tent and caterers and a movie night under the stars for the entire class! Next up on my list is to update the backyard and put together the brand new propane fire pit for all to enjoy!

As you are reading this, I will be on my way to the Gallery Q for the changeover this weekend (on Mother's Day? What?!@?!?) for the next show: ArtSpace. The idea for this show is that the gallery will be transformed into "rooms" or vignettes inside the space, for a unique way to display our art. I don't have a lot of jewelry to bring (see below for a peek), but what I do have to contribute is the window displays. I enjoy doing it and like the look of windows to invite you to come in and find out more about what is inside. A little mysterious, if you will. One window will be a picnic scene, complete with a small table and chairs, handmade table linens from one of our artists, a handmade vase with flowers, oil paintings of the rolling countryside and other things that will hopefully evoke a sense of playfulness and summer fun. The other side was a brainstorm that came to me in the middle of the night this past Sunday: a front door inviting you to step inside. I have an artist friend and handyman who is contributing one of these doors (above), complete with an old doorknob, with a brace or bracket support to be freestanding (see my rudimentary sketch). I am bringing in a welcome mat and a planter urn complete with fresh flowers and an arrow sign I made pointing to the gallery for the ArtSpace show (with magnets! So I can reuse it!). And hanging on the faux door will be a wreath that I am finishing up right now, made from a Q monogram, washi tape and a jumble of paint brushes (that I will hopefully be able to grunge up a bit to make look like they were well used). I am excited to make this all take shape and hope I can make it happen quick!

About the only thing that I have really made in the last month are what I call Mageia Drops. These little charms are something that I am experimenting with for use in my upcoming September show (see Beauty in the Broken Places...note to self....must.get.busy!). These involve a painting technique with a special morphing paint that reacts over the course of a few hours to transform into a mystifying beauty. Then it needs to rest and cure for three days. The word "mageia" is Greek for "magic" and seem to suit the outcome of these little gems, which are completely unpredictable. What you see above is the results of my experiments...and each one of those little drops was eventually covered in resin for a glossy, magnified look, tied to a scratch off code card and sent off to be added to the goodie bags for those on the Bead Cruise this week with our lovely Miss Heather Powers! I hope they find them fun! I guess it wasn't all a detour... these drops were an experiment and I learned a lot from making about 100 of them, in how to control the paint, what colors work best together and ways to make sure that no one touches them (especially me!) while they are drying! I am using these Mageia Drops in all sorts of things....they make great earrings, or charms on a bracelet. I have even clustered like-colored ones and added them to some necklaces that will be for sale at the Q on Friday for the changeover.

Whew! That was a LOT for one month, with no signs of it letting up! My head has been spinning because I have had some big plans of making art and jewelry for my show and getting something together for some charities as well as developing some new ideas and paying someone to come and help me organize my studio so I can have fun working in here again...and...and...and...but, we all know...

"Life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans." ~ Allen Saunders

That seems to be very true for me! And I am guessing that it is also likely true for you. So my question to you is this....

When you are sidetracked from what you originally had planned,
do you power through and try to get back on the track you were on...
or do you follow that path wherever it may lead, discovering new paths along the way?

The random winner will receive a set of 4 Mageia Drops and a 5x7" print of your favorite Dr Seuss quote, suitable for framing (and perfect gift for the graduates in your life!).

Inside the Studio with Tari of Creative Impressions In Clay

Inside the Studio: Tari Sasser :: Creative Impressions In Clay

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to Terri you have won a set of Earring Sticks from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio. Please contact Michelle with your pertinent information so she can mail your prize.

You may or may not have noticed I have been on hiatus. I started a new job working at my local Pinot's Palette (premier paint & sip studio) as an instructor. 5 minute commute to work, WOOT! I love this job!!
I needed to concentrate on that along with family. I did keep up with the monthly challenge posts. I needed a break from juggling. Hopefully I can keep the balls in the air now!
Sorry for the late post. It was participating in Grandparents Day at my grandchildrens school, so I have been gone all day.

Here is my apron I painted last year for the opening of our location. Of course my apron no longer looks so neat and pristine. I've had to go back in and parts recognizable. It's covered in paint now.

I made earrings and a pin for all the artists, owner and studio manager. I get comments all the time on these! I love them!!

A necklace for myself. I ran out of time to make more.

I first made the prototype. Glued them to to bottom of the container with Elmer's Glue so they don't float when you pour in the plaster.

 

This is the slow pour of the plaster. Slower means fewer bubbles...at least we hope. 

I was pretty happy with the results.

For the Bead Cruise I made Lady Liberty Coin Buttons  from my Coin Button Collection for the goody bags. 
This is my latest project that I managed to ship Monday.

My question is: 
How many balls are you juggling these days? 
Have you found a balance or had to cut things out to keep a bit of sanity?

Answer the question in the comments below and you could be the lucky winner of a set of 4 Lady Liberty Buttons.

Inside the Studio with Mary Harding

Inside the Studio: Mary Harding

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to Andrea Porter You have won of a $25  gift certificate from Humblebeads. Please email Heather to claim your prize.

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My Inside the Studio post this month is a follow up on the post I did in Februrary titled Inspiration Part I  about being inspired by some sea shells sent to me by a friend.  Today I am revealing the results of using the textures of these shells to create ceramic clay beads.  

                                                various shell textures

I found this set of textures the most useful for making beads. I made silcon molds from some of these shells and used them to create  a variety of beads with.  I also found that some of the textures that pleased me in this set did not make good molds:  either the texture was too great and would result in long protrusions that could easily break off or be harmful or that the texture was too small to be be visible in a small pendant.   Of this set I made 2 molds that turned out really well.  One was of the small clam shell as seen in the picture below:

several small pendants or charms made from a clam shell mold

These clam shell beads came out well because the mold was bold and clear.  It was easy to form these small charms and the addition of an iron oxide stain on the stoneware clay, defined the ribs on the shell and I think make a dramatic presentation.  

                                           2 part silicon mold of the underside of a sand dollar shell

Of all the molds I  made, I found this  mold to be the most versatile and beautiful.  It has an intricate pattern that extends over a wide area so it can be used both selectively and as a whole print.  I chose to use it on several long hollow beads that I made.

                                   

long hollow bead sand dollar texture view 1

                               

                                                long  hollow bead sand dollar texture view 2

I used it again on two other hollow beads:

                                                   sea shells from Florida 

The other shells that I found most successful for making textures were the two clam shells on the far left of this picture.  I did not make a mold from them but rather used them to imprint textures into beads as in the examples below:

                            Long hollow bead imprinted with clam shell and sand dollar textures

                                     Bib pendant with clam shell and other textures

And then I made some toggle clasps with imprints from some of the shells

And finally, I used a sea urchin to imprint the toggle clasp below and glazed both the clasp and the clam charm in a creamy white/red glaze giving the pieces a much less rustic look.

The Ice

And how did all that beautiful ice inspire me? I had a hard time thinking of how to interpret the ice as a texture.   I think it must have been a subconscious effect as I made quite a few drop beads during these last weeks that I dipped into glaze for coloring like the ones below:

Colored icicle bead drops

Not exactly a texture but surely a shape reflection...

Now for our question:  While I was making these beads I realized that there are lots of textures out there that I had never noticed before--like what I found on the sand dollar, or the tiny spirals on the top of snail shells-- you can see one in the third bib pendant.  

 What kinds of textures do you like to use in your work and where do you find them?

Leave a comment in the section below and you will be automatically entered to win a set of sea shell textured charms.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the beads I made with sea shell textures.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Mary

Inside the Studio: Color Inspirations

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to Lyn Gulliver!  You have won of a £15 voucher for either Songbead or The Curious Bead Shop. Please email Rebecca to claim your prize.

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I'm back again. Today I'm sharing about color, one of my favorite parts of my job is working with colors, mixing my own colors in clay and paint, creating color palettes for my beads and using color in my jewelry designs. I can't get enough. In fact my color class that I took in art school was the best money I ever spent!

Here you can see the first step of my creative process is mixing up colors of clay.

The seasons do influence my color choices, along with fashion color trends. I'm feeling the spring blossoms this week.

I love heading to my Pinterest Color Palettes board for a quick dose of color inspiration. And then my Spring 2016 Trend board is filled with colors that are big this year and that I find beautiful. Trends are worth much if you're not loving them! 

And also I have some color influences that make me swoon, those are usually from art history and I am still crushing hard on the Bloosmbury Group art and Vanessa Bell's Charleston House. 

If you'd like a little trend and color forecasting you can check out the Pinterest boards of Stringing Magazine Submission Guidelines. They have boards of upcoming trends that they will feature in their magazine.

Of course nature is THE expert on color. I always have my camera on hand to capture inspirations like this tiger moth that landed on my front door one day.

And some colors are part of my personal palette as an artist and show up again and again. 

What  color combination are you most digging right now?

Leave a comment for a chance to win a $25 Humblebeads.com gift certificate. 

Inside the Studio: Humblebeads

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to Julie Bray! You have won of one of Tesori Trovati's Simple Truth's components. Please email Erin to claim your prize.

Welcome to my studio again. I'm filling in this week and happy to share what's new! I'm busy getting ready for a trunk show in a few weeks and have spring/summer themes on my mind. I have been creating lots of art work with butterflies lately. I think my subconscious is trying to tell me it's time to transform and evolve into something new this year.

(You can find my monarch pendant and beads in my Etsy shop.)

Here are my chrysalis from last year and now they have burst forth as butterflies. Oh my, I think I need to make a necklace to tell that story! 

My pendant came about after creating this pattern in watercolors for a class I recently took. One of the lessons I learned in the class is that when it comes to submitting your art (or going after any big creative goal) you are ready now. There is no litmus test to pass, there are no hoops to jump through. If you are making the work, creating from a place of authenticity and exploring, then you are ready now. 

So I made this print as a message to myself. It hangs above my drawing table, where I am busy pursuing my dream of illustrating books and working more as an artist. I'm not leaving beads behind, it's still my greatest love affair but I need more as an artist. For many years I've head myself back thinking I wasn't ready yet, my work wasn't perfect.

Do you hold yourself back, waiting until things are perfect?

Guess what, things will never be perfect. 

Whatever you've been putting off when it comes to your creative dreams, you are ready now. 

Make mistakes as you go along and take a chance. 

Improve your skills as you go. Get better while you are moving forward. 

You are ready now.

Let's be super brave this week - share with me one creative dream you've been holding back because you haven't felt ready.

Leave a comment and next week we'll draw a random winner for a $20 humblebeads.com gift certificate. 

Inside the Studio with Erin Prais-Hintz

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

Congratulations to Andrea Porter!  You have won of a $20 gift certificate to Humblebeads. Please email Heather Powers to claim your prize.

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Hello Art Bead Peeps!
It seems that I neglected to post my Perfect Pairings from Wednesday...oops. Sorry about that! Some things were happening behind the scenes this week and I am just starting to make my way back to the surface. Anyway... here is who I would have picked... had I been on the ball...

Nan Smith created these cool component with the strong geometric patterns in mind from the challenge art. The colors are strong, the shape is long and lean and I love that they are not quite the same but yet so very much together. 

Please check out Nan's work at her blog: http://wirednan.blogspot.com

Check back here on Leap Day for our February monthly challenge recap. Get those entries in! We are giving away some great prizes this month!

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So what have I been up to lately? If I am honest and looking around my studio, there doesn't seem to be much going on. But then I have to remember that the January-February-March time in my life almost always seems that way. I like to call it my 'fallow' season. A time for planting seeds and making the soil just right for new ideas to poke through. 

© 2009 Sam-Cat, Flickr | CC-BY-ND | via Wylio

In 2010 I had my one and only solo art exhibit at the Gallery Q in Stevens Point. Of course, it wasn't truly solo, as I crafted it to be a collaborative effort between me, seven Q artists and 13 bead artists from around the world. I have often thought of doing something again, but could never find the right time, nor an abundance of open space in my life to make that happen.

But I had an idea for an art exhibit that I had been gnawing on for about two years... in January at our monthly members meeting I realized that the time was finally right. With an open spot on the calendar for September/October 2016, I took a deep breath and put my idea forward. 

Not only were the other artists happy to have me step in to fill that spot, there were several intrigued enough by my prospectus that they have indicated they want to play along with me. So now I have another collaborative art exhibit in the works and all my focus and energies are being funneled into this project.

The last time, (and I started about the same time for an August/September show) it took a lot of planning with artists, occupying the better part of the spring with the real bulk of the work happening in June and July. But with the way my life is these days, I know I cannot wait that long. So I am hoping to start with a calendar of ideas that I need to work on each month so that I am moving in the right direction. 

I am the worst sort of planner. I don't do calendars all that well. And I only get things done at the last minute. I don't want to be that way, yet I always have been. I am trying (somewhat unsuccessfully I might add) to be more proactive. But still, things keep popping up in my way.... like my daughter's dance performances in the April, complete with me making 10 year dancer necklaces (as is the tradition) and three necklaces for the director to wear this year (instead of just one), along with a host of fundraising elements for the show week... my son's high school graduation is looming at the end of May, complete with a Project Grad party where I have taken on the task of preparing the Senior DVD/Video with pictures of each kid from the past 18 years, and planning a party that we will host at our home to send him off to UW-Madison this fall... traveling to Florida to chaperone the dancers as they are guest performers in a show plus a dance intensive, and the following weekend traveling to Madison for a pre-collegiate dance invitational, both in mid-June... and that is just to mention a few things looming between now and then (not to mention work, baseball, my mom, the book club I joined in January, etc, etc, etc)... so I best get that calendar made up and try to stick to it! Okay. I know we are all busy, but I honestly don't know how I will do it. I just know that will. I have to. And now that I have told you, I know you will help hold me accountable, too! ;-)

So I am sure you are wondering what the theme is for the show... the theme is also the title:

Beauty in the Broken Places

It all started with this article I found about the ancient art of kintsugi, or the Japanese art of golden joinery. This article and artful video about embracing damage and seeing the beauty in the brokenness lead me down a rabbit hole of possibility...including this video.

The idea of kintsugi is that these flaws, these cracks are emblazoned with gold. It is the joining of the shards that makes the piece stronger in those broken places. It is about transformation. Cracks show the history, tell the story. The beauty in each of us is evident in the wounds that we all have. Celebrating our broken history, showing off our scars rather than trying to hide them...this is what makes the broken beautiful in a new way.

© 2014 Howard Freeman, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.”

~ Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

From my exploration of kintsugi or kintsukuroi, I stumbled on wabi-sabi. The characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes. Impermanence and imperfection. From there I started thinking of the healing power of art. I don't want the art created for this exhibit to be a literal translation of any of these concepts (I am not going to go out and break bowls only to repair them). I want it to be multi-layered and something that will make people really stop and think. 

“Non-Japanese Makers may not realize it, but we practice this philosophy when we see a broken object’s potential, when we upcycle, when we repurpose, when we reincarnate an object that would otherwise likely be thrown away.” 

~MAKE magazine

Ideally, there will be pieces representing different media: jewelry, mosaic, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, ceramics, assemblage, upcycling, etc. And I have about a half dozen Q artists who will be lending their own artistic voices to my vision.

An additional feature that I want in the show is ekphrastic poetry written about the art and on the theme. ("An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art." Thanks, Wikipedia!) I had an accomplished Wisconsin poet in mind for this. I contacted her and she is intrigued and totally on board. Yea!

My thought is to have an artist "talkback" on the opening reception where we can discuss our art and how we translated the theme, what our process is and how art has the power to heal us and bring us together.

Ideally, I would like to have a few workshops/classes related to the theme and the art hosted by myself and some of the other artists. This is a great way to reach out to more patrons and draw them into our processes. I plan to teach at least one class on making personal mantra jewelry and also one on making small personal shrines. I would love to see what the other artists might come up with. If it works with my poet, I would love to have a workshop on writing ekphrastic poetry based on the art. 

"Art is a wound turned into light." 

~ Georges Braque

There are a lot of themes that overlap and intertwine in this idea... forgiveness, healing, apologizing, brokenness... trauma that is repressed but not erased... how our faults, our flaws make us who we are... aging to perfection... repurposing old things to give them new life.... turning a negative into a transformed and luminous positive... rising from the ashes of despair, doubt, sadness to a new light... embracing our wounds, our cracks to make them the most beautiful part of us... telling the stories of the scars.

I want to explore the merging of these ancient Japanese concepts and interpret them in new ways. I want to broaden the scope of this show to include as many different perspectives as possible; hence, a collaborative show open to any Q artists. I want to focus on the transformative nature of art…how art has a powerful role in healing. I want to include a message component, with ekphrastic and other poetry written on the subjects presented and messages embedded in the art. I want to provide more intimate settings to expand on the artwork (process, technique, etc) and connect to our patrons about the theme as it relates to our own work, while also providing opportunities for helping others to find their own creative interpretations of the theme.

For my own art, I plan to do a mixture of things. Jewelry, obviously. Some that will include upcycled treasures, crusty finishes, visible cracks. I have been re-learning my soldering iron, gathering copper of all sorts, seeking new polymer clay techniques. If I have time, I will add some illustrated word art that features messages of hope. But I am most excited to be taking my Tesori Tesserae mixed media mosaics in a whole new direction. New shape. New textures. In the end I don't know that it will look anything like what I have been doing.

Perhaps this show will transform....me.

Detail from the 10"x10" mixed media polymer clay mosaic "Today I am Wise" for the show "New Beginnings at Gallery Q Artists' Cooperative, January 2016

I have been reading books and devouring images of alternative art surfaces, mixed media techniques, discovering ways to coerce patina to bloom. I am embracing the messages that I want to impart with each piece and allowing their truth to settle in my soul so that I can have it peek through in the final pieces. I am looking at the mess that is my studio with new eyes, seeing the treasure like never before. I have been trolling thrift shops, hardware stores and my own personal stash. I have been amassing a lot of materials, supplies, and tools that on the surface seem like an incredibly chaotic and eclectic lot with no connections whatsoever. Now it is up to me to find the common thread, to make ready for the bursting forth of creative energy that is bound to come.

I wonder what these tiny vintage watch crystals will become...

Did I mention I only have about six months to get it all done? To fill up the gallery space. To plan the workshops. To rally the other artists. To market the show and encourage people to sign up for classes. So if I you don't hear much from me, you will know why. I will be making peace with the broken parts and letting the cracks bring forth the light.

So now the real work begins.

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I have an extra pendant for the March Simple Truth component of the month (Totally behind on February but ahead of March! I can't show it here because it is still February, but trust me, you will love it!). I will send it to one lucky reader for an answer to this question...

How has art healed you?

I look forward to reading your answers!