Art Elements August Theme - Mandala

 

Link to image on Pinterest

The Art Elements Theme of the Month is the Mandala. I thought that was a cool theme and a different idea.

What is a Mandala - a mandala is a diagram of geometric patterns. Each aspect of a constructed mandala has a deep symbolism and meaning. You can find out more about the mandala here.

The colors I used in the mandala were: blue, green, red, yellow and white. The five colors from nature and each color has a deep meaning. You can learn more about the colors I used by clicking here.

I found lots of images on Pinterest and I have a board where I save images for the Art Elements Theme for ideas. I have a board called Pretty Rocks that gave me inspiration for the pattern I used on our piece.

Mom was drawing on one of our copper pieces for this month's piece. We have made this piece two other times and each time I forget to scan the pattern into our computer. So, I actually had a photo of the copper piece after it was sawed out, so mom used that to draw in the parts that needed to be sawed out. This time I actually remembered to scan the pattern into the computer (finally).

Mom worked sawed out the piece. I am just so glad mom likes to saw out all the pieces; this is so not my favorite thing to do. I can do it, but I complain the whole time (in my head).

After mom saws out the piece she then files and sands the copper. Once the copper has been filed and sanded we then clean the copper to start the enameling process.

The piece is ready to be enameled. I always start with the first layer of clear enamel. I don't know if anyone else does that, but that was how I was taught when I took an enameling class at Purdue.

Here is the layout of the piece as I added all the colors. After I put the clear enamel on the piece I then added a layer of black. Once the black was fired I then started adding all the colors. I used a stencil to put the dots on the piece. I am so happy with the way it turned out because I was winging it.

So, here is how the piece turned out.

If you would like to see what everyone else has created please go to the Art Elements Community Facebook page and check out the month's challenge album.

Art Elements July Theme - Hollow

Wave pendant - made back in 2013

The Art Elements Theme of the Month is the Hollow. I thought that was a cool theme and a different idea.

Definition of Hollow: 

• Adjective: having a hole or empty space inside. 
• Noun: a hole or depression in something.

I found several images on Pinterest that I thought was interesting. I save them to my Art Elements theme ideas board.

Mom found this wave image that she really liked. I told her she is sketching out the idea for that piece. We also both wanted the piece to be one of our plates so we could display it in the shadowbox.

This is one of the sketches mom worked on. I told mom there was no way I was sawing out that piece. To many holes I wasn't sure what to saw out.

This is a picture mom took sawing out the piece. The piece ended up being about 9" long and 6" wide.

I was awful about taking pictures this month. So, you aren't being bombarded with tons of photos of the process of us making the piece. The above picture is of the back of the plate, with clear enamel on it, before going into the kiln.

This is the backside of the plate. Mom and I decided to use crackle enamel on the plate. I used one of the recipes from Laura Bracken's crackle recipe book. I love her recipe books - I have all three of them. Laura has posted that she is creating a fourth book and I can't wait. Unfortunately I can't remember which book I got this recipe from.

I did make a slight tweak to the recipe when it came to the front side of the piece. I ended up making the front of the wave plate too dark with the black I added. I ended up adding a different color blue to tone done the colors. I also added in a lot of white.

I am so happy with how this plate turned out. The photos does not do this piece justice.

If you would like to see what everyone else has created please go to the Art Elements Community Facebook page and check out the month's challenge album.

Art Elements June Theme - Solstice

Sun Bowl we made back in 2012. We sawed out the pattern on the copper,
formed the bowl into shape, and then enameled it in a kiln.

The Art Elements Theme of the Month is the Summer Solstice. Mom and I actually created two pieces for this month's theme.

I was bad this month - I didn't take many pictures of the process. I am going to blame the heat for this because, dang, is it hot.

Here are the pictures I did take of the process:

Mom actually sawed out this whole piece - I usually saw out
the perimeter. But, I am not complaining!

This is after mom has filed and sanded the piece. It is ready
for enameling.

This is the sun goddess pendant - sorry for no before pics.
Both mom and I weren't thinking. Mom sawed out
both pendants and then I will enamel them together.

Hopefully what it will look like when I enamel both
pieces together.

I did a huge enameling session that day. This is all the pieces I worked on. The
notebook is a list of colors I was going to use to enamel each piece.

One of the layers of enamel waiting to dry before I put in the kiln.

 Okay - here are the final pieces for this month's theme:

 Mom and I love creating the "Green Man" plates. We have done several plates and some pendants (which there are four for sale in the Etsy shop). Now that I am done with pictures mom will put this piece into a shadow box to display. When I enameled this piece I used crackle enamel to give it this look. I LOVE how it turned out!!!

The final piece is the "Sun Goddess" pendant we made. I am really happy with the way the pendant turned out. I am not sure mom really likes the colors of the sun, but we will make it work. I still haven't decided what kind of beads to use to make a necklace with this pendant. I want to use some of our lampwork glass beads, but I have to figure out what colors to use. I also need to go through our bead stash to see what we have. I am looking forward to seeing this being completed.

So, that is my blog post for this month.

If you want to see what everyone has created please had over to the Art Elements Community on Facebook. There is a photo album for each month's theme. Here is the album for this month's theme. Enjoy!

Art Elements May Theme - Butterflies

One of our metal prints with a buttefly

This month's Art Elements Theme was butterflies.

Mom and I love working with butterflies - we have fun taking photos and making plates and pendants.

This month mom and I had several pieces we worked on and one we didn't complete.

The first one I worked on was one of our double-sided pendants. I was playing with decals I purchased at the beginning of the month. I wanted to have a stencil on one side and a decal on the other.

The two designs

One side with the decal

One side with the stenciled butterfly

 I had a lot of fun working with the decals. I am so happy with the way everything turned out. This double-sided pendant is for sale along with several other double-sided pendants in our Etsy shop.


The other two pieces we ended up completing was a butterfly plate and a butterfly pendant.

I worked on sawing out the exteriors of the bowl and plate (the bowl wasn't completed). Mom hates sawing out the exteriors while I hate sawing out the interiors. So, this works out for the both of us.

I think I only ended up breaking three blades sawing out both pieces. I thought that was pretty good for me.

Here is mom sawing out the interior of the piece. I actually recorded mom sawing out one petal of the flower. I posted it to our Facebook page and you can view it here.

Mom also does the filing and sanding. She completed the plate last Saturday and I enameled on Sunday.

Here I am enameling the butterfly plate and a butterfly pendant. Mom has had the butterfly pendant sawed out for a while. I am just now getting around to enameling it. I thought this was a perfect time.
I think this is the backside of the pieces. I always like enameling the back first. This gives me an idea of the colors and if it will work before I flip it over to do the front.

So...here are the last two pieces we worked on.

The butterfly plate will be displayed in a shadow box. Now that I have pictures taken mom will work on put the plate into the shadowbox.

Butterfly pendant

Butterfly pendant

I love how the colors turned out on the pendant. I am never sure what is going to happen with the cobalt blue when I use it, but this time worked out great. I am listing this pendant in our Etsy store today.

I know Art Elements is posting the theme pieces on their new Facebook page Art Elements Community. Please take the time to go and see what everyone has created.

April Art Elements Theme - Bees

One of our Bee images on metal prints - you can find in our Etsy shop

This month's Art Elements Theme is Bees.

Mom and I love making bee pieces and taking pictures of bees (We usually will take the pictures at the little hort park near my work, but haven't been there yet this year. I am not sure when I will get over there since we aren't supposed to go back to work until after June 30th, maybe). We have one customer who loves it when we have metal prints with bees as the images. I think she has bought all of our bee images and now she is working on purchasing the butterfly images. I think we only have one bee metal print left in our shop. The yellow one above just sold right before the lock-down.

Mom and I have made bee pendants and a bee necklace in the past. One of my former co-workers bought our bee necklace when she retired. That necklace is still one of my favorite pieces that mom and I made.

For this theme challenge mom and I decided to make a plate. But, we wanted to give the plate a three dimensional look, so we started off with the plate in two different pieces. So, here is the process.

We first had to find an image mom and I both agreed we liked. I found the image on Pinterest. Then mom prints off the image and makes a pattern (I am so glad she is good at this part because I suck!). Once mom has the pattern drawn out - we print it off again and then glue it to the copper.

The flowers were sawed out of a large piece of copper in the shape of a circle. The bee was glued onto a smaller piece of copper. I actually sawed out the perimeter of the circle. The rest was all mom because I have no idea what her plan of action was on the sawing. Plus mom wings it a lot when she saws. I DO NOT wing it - I must have a pattern. I am in my box, I stay in my box :)

Mom then files and sands the pieces before it is handed over to me for enameling. You can sort of see mom's dirty hands after filing the bee.

Before enameling I took a picture of the bee and plate and how mom wanted the bee placed on the plate for enameling. The way I enameled the two pieces together is the same way I enameled the piece for our February Art Elements Theme - Letters.

This is the first layer of enamel on the pieces. I enameled the circle plate backside first and I also enameled the backside of the bee first. I wanted to have that done before I had the fun part of connecting the bee to the plate. There was some sweating going on when I connected the bee, let me tell you.

This was the final enameling - I used my heavy iron to try and make sure the plate was flat. Mom and I still have not decided if we will display this piece in a shadow box or leave it as is. We are afraid you won't be able to see the the bee off the plate if it is in a shadow box. We are still playing.

So after all that I am sure you want to see the final piece.

Here you go:

I am really happy with the way the whole piece turned out.

I hope you enjoyed the process and the final piece.

Now go and enjoy what everyone else created for this month's theme!

AE team:

Niky

Sue

Jenny

Jen

Cathy

Marsha

Guests:

Tammy

Cat

Alysen

Kathy

Sarajo

Kelly

Evie and Beth

Hope