EASY RIDERS, GREAT MAIL AND UNFINISHED ART......

Today we sold our old 1981 Yanmar tractor. We'd bought it used about 4 years ago, to move gravel and dig post holes. We probably put 15 hrs on it - that's it! As fate would have it, we sold it to the Saiva Siddhanta Hindu Temple here on Kauai. I didn't even know they had a temple here, that's how out of it I am.
He invited us to visit the sects extensive and very famous gardens.... http://www.himalayanacademy.com/ssc/
As a result of this sale, and because it was bugging him and he is very obsessive, my DH stopped at the motorcycle shop and bought this:

Yep - we are now the proud owners of a 2007 Yamaha FZ6. Age be damned - woohoo - we're easy riders!
A great mail day, today - I love mail! I always feel a little lost on days there are no or only junk mail. First, i got a some teeny tiny antique square nails - they came out of antique picture frames. Then, I got a package from ........DJ Pettitt! Woohoo! When DJ visited me, she showed me how to properly use tar gel and fabric and whatever I had on hand to fuse in a heat press. But i only had an iron, so we ironed it. It turned out ok, but DJ took it home with her to properly fuse it in her heat press, and said she would send it back to me after she got home from teaching in Arizona. DJ being DJ, she returned my small sample and also sent me the COOLEST fused folder - huge - binder sized, that she said was an experiment that didn't work, so maybe I could find a good use for it. YEAH, RIGHT! Knowing DJ, that was just her excuse to give me something gorgeous! She is so generous - and I am very lucky! Look at this-

This is the cover. It is all machine stitched and fused. There are feathers and words and splats and all kinds of stuff on it. And then it is heat fused flat and feels like leathery smooth vinyl. See the grommets? That's the part DJ said didn't work.....

This is a Close Up of the cover

This is the folder opened. It has 2 fused pockets. DJ included other fused samples for me to play with, and one large white fused piece for me to try painting on. The yellow piece is the one I made that she took home with her. Only she added lots of cool stuff to it before she re-fused it. The string that goes thru the grommets unties and you can add pages!

This is a CU of my fused piece. DJ had me take a piece of fabric (this was about a 4 x6 piece of white sheet). We put tar gel on it and then stuck on a piece of yellow lace that I thought looked like houses, and then a piece of green fabric that i crudely cut like paper dolls, and added some other fabric snippets that DJ took and just put here and there, and some threads. and then DJ took gesso and a drop or two of alcohol inks which she smeared together with a palette knife - and VOILA! that was it. (this took about 3 minutes - we'd run out of time!) then i ironed it really hard with a lot of pressure. It was pretty flat, but parts were still a bit hazy, so DJ said she was going to take it home and fuse it with the press and then return it later so I could see what it was supposed to really look and feel like. Of course you can see in the photo that DJ added sequins and words andother great adornments. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, DJ!
I am easily distracted and find myself jumping from one project to another. I have a zillion unfinished projects going right now. I saw these really cool porcelain teeth on ebay and I won them. They are used by dentists to match porcelain veneers on peoples teeth. The ones I got also happen to be vintage, probably 1940's. I got an idea to make a necklace with them.
I thought I could make a "positive ID" pendant - string some teeth together and then add an enameled Precious Metal Clay thumbprint. But making the PPP mold didn't go too well. Soooo,
I changed my theme to "tooth and nails". I went on ebay again and got 6 lbs of antique square nails that came out of an old barn. They are much bigger than the teeny 1/4 and 1/2 inch ones I got today.

Here are the nails I am using for the necklace. The second one from the right has a loop of hammered and twisted baling wire around it, and a tooth just sitting there.

Here's that same nail with two teeth added. They are strung on sterling wire with sterling beads. I'm going to LOS patina them. I don't really like the round beads, but at this point I'm just doing prototypes. I'm going to experiment with some other silver spacers and barrels that I have. I tried using thinner baling type wire, but the stuff I had on hand was too soft and when annealed it became brittle. When I decide on how I want to put the teeth together, I will first seal all of the nails so they don't rust any more. I am also going to make the necklace links out of more hammered baling wire, ala Richard Salley, my hero! I love love love his stuff! He has a great tutorial on his website.....
Well that's the plan, anyway.
I did a bit of painting today also. But I am going for realistic, and it is turning out ...AWFUL. .. Oh well.
This is a bracelet i made for my sister, but decided it's too girlie for her, so I'm going to give it to my niece Brittany, who is Izzy's mother. It is made from fine silver wire, swarovski crystals and silver alphabet cubes. A pic of Izzy will go on one of the pmc charms, covered in resin. I need to add one more link and then it will be an anklet.



Izzy - Isn't she a beauty!