mountain magic arts

Over the years I have done several types of jewelry, both at home in my crafting area and on the road in hotels Even when it is a pain to haul all the heavy jewelry making supplies, there are trips (driving trips only) I do and work on different pieces in the hotel rooms in the evening. Which can make for interesting conversations with the housekeeping staff :) This pieces was a mixture of thngs found in a hardware store, jewlery supplies and "found" objects While this one was pretty much just different jewelry findings and gears This and the next few are other examples of ones I have done in the last few years This one and the next two I used cast resin focal pieces that I created to look emberish This one and the next one are really some of the more elaborate  ones done in the steampunk style I hope to do some more of the steampunk ones over the summer. I really do enjoy doing the and then I can start to built some for

Every year I bring treats to my accountants office at tax season Homemade divinity macadamia fudge different cakes and candies Chocolate dipped fruit and berry cups Tarts Cupcakes and more. When we lived in Utah Valley I would do it several times a season, but this year they only got it once, but it was the office favorite; Chocolate  Berry cups which are dark chocolate cups filled with raspberries and blue berries then covered with more chocolate. It has been fun just to do something for them as Tax season requires such long hours and they are generally very nice people there.

So over the years when I saw  craft kit that I felt might be fun I picked it up. This was on of these. You start with these half round olds Then you either use round circles of paper or glue that is colored and has glitter For the paper one you layer them around the mold Until you have covered it for the glitter glue ones you just keep painting on thick layers for the glue the paper one need several coats of modge podge painted on them after the paper is all one As they dry it goes clear and you apply another coat until you have done it 4 or 5 times you know the glitter is dry when it goes shiny instead of milky These are right after I put the last coat of modge podge on After they dry you need to let them "cure" on the molds for a week or so, then you carefully remove them from the mold. I have yet to trim the extra modge podge off  These are another set I did using Christmas paper scraps I had from making Chris

So earlier this year for my Birthday I went to one of those ceramic painting storing and sat down and painted these two pieces, they did not come out like i had hoped, so I decided unless I was going to use the ceramics for food items, I will probably not do it again, it was so different from when I had my studio and knew all my paints and what they did, also the cost to do multiple firings to get the effects I would have like is fairly expensive. Here are the to bisque pieces I started with  They were not pour in the Staes I found out after I chose them. They came out okay, but not up to my usual standard I then decided to try a different route and went to a store down in the valley where the owner pours and cleaner her own stock This was a little cupid peace I did for valentines time First I put a set of black on most of the piece Then I stared to add color by dry brushing the grass Then I added some dark brown to the bear Next I stared to ligh

I bought a triangle loom years ago, but did not do a project until almost a years ago after I retired and moved to our Park City Home. since then I have done several more  I am working with different yarns Fringe ideas Colors Finishing techniques  Multiple weavings  and Patterns All the above shawls were the ones I created during 2017 including the bottom one that I gave to my mother for Christmas. I will do another blog later in the year about the new ones as I finish them and maybe pictures of the process. Weaving takes me about 40 plus hours per shawl and then finishing the fringe and top take another 15-20 hours about, so most of the shawls take me somewhere around 55-65 hours total, if they are a more complicated pattern or finishing process they can take longer. I am about to try some more variations of ways to design new ones and use the loom.