Art Elements - April Theme Challenge: Horses

This month's Art Elements Theme Challenge is Horses.

Mom and I have not particiapated in any challenges for a couple of years. We both have been stressed at work, mom has had health issues the last few years, and we both just have not been up to adding anything extra to our lives.

Well, January 31st mom retired. She wanted to get a few months of freedom under her belt before we started anything new, so, this is our first challenge and we were both excited about it. I do have to say the only reason I knew about it was that Jennifer Cameron mentioned it to me on my Instagram page when I started posting the picture of our horse piece. She said I should join the challenge, so here we go.

This is our completed horse piece - it is about six inches by seven inches - and it will be displayed in a shadow box. Mom and I were trying to go for the rustic/southwest feel for the colors in the horse. Both of us are really happy with the way it turned out.

The piece first starts out as a pattern that is then glued down on 20g copper sheets. Mom and I try to get as many patterns on the 12x12 inch sheet of copper (no waste of copper here).

We then use our big cutter to make the pieces smaller for us to saw out.

Mom hand saws out the pattern (you can see a video of her sawing on our FB page) with a jeweler's saw and then she files and sands the piece before I get to the enameling.

I then enamel the pieces in a kiln. I try to have an assembling line going of pieces so I can maximize my time since I can only enamel on the weekend.

And this is the piece right out of the kiln.

I hope you enjoyed our process for the horse plate.

Here is a list of those participating in the challenge. Mom and I have the last day of our show today, so I will hop when I have a chance.

Guests:

Alysen

Anita

Beth - you are here

Catherine

Jill

Paulette

Raven 

Sarajo

Tammy

AE Team Members: 

Caroline 

Claire

Jen  

Laney 

Lesley 

Marsha 

Niky 

Sue

We Are Back - Pretty Pieces to Share

We are back and we are currently prepping for our first show of the year. The show is in Plainfield, Indiana called The Arts Gala. Mom and I have never done this show, so we are super excited to see how it enfolds. This is actually a three day show - and I am so glad mom is retired now and has more time to devote to the business.

Besides getting ready for the show - I have been enameling like a fool. I have enameled bowls, earrings, double sided pendants, necklaces and plates.

So - here is a look of what we have been up to since mom has retired (though she is disappointed in herself that she hasn't got more done, but she had an infected tooth and that played havoc with all of her plans for retirement).

Bowls:
These are our ThumBOWLina bowls. They are little bowls that you can use for decorations or place your rings in.
We have had a person use our bowls in a wedding. They put their wedding rings in the bowl, and then passed it around the guests asking them to put their well wishes on the rings.

Plates:
These pieces are displayed in our shadow boxes.

Double Sided Pendants:
I enamel different designs on each side of the pendant - so you get one pendant with two different designs.

Earrings:
Some of the earrings have been assembled and the rest are being put together before the show.

Assembled necklaces:

The polymer clay pendant is from Swoondimples.
Enameled copper pendant, our lampwork glass beads
and stones.

Enameled copper pendant, our lampwork
glass beads and howlite beads.

Enameled copper pendant, our
lampwork glass beads, gunmetal
beads and a pewter clasp.

I hope you enjoyed what we have created in the last few months. Mom and I hope to also start participating in challenges again. We have asked to join the April Theme - Horses on Art Elements. We also want to start participating in the monthly challenge on Art Beads again. So, more pieces will be sure to follow.

I will share pictures of this weekends show next week.