Autumn Harvest at the Jersey Shore

This weekend I reluctantly admitted that summer is over here at the Jersey Shore. I took a look at some of my beach walk finds that have accumulated over the past several months on the back porch.

 

And I decided it was time to sort them and "can" them into wide mouth canning jars. This should make it easier to find the perfect beach glass, pebble, seashell or other found object for each  project. I'm excited about all the flat pieces I have that will be perfect to set like precious gems in my jewelry. It's almost like finding them on a beach walk all over again.

Maybe next weekend I can find a space in my studio for all these jars.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the turning of the leaves with me. It's still a perfect time to gather treasures at the beach.

Thank you from Mary Lu

I was happy and grateful to see my collage pendants mentioned on The Carrotbox jewellery blog this week. If you are not familiar with The Carrotbox, then you must go NOW and check it out. But be warned, it is addicting and there is new delicious eye candy everyday. If you are not an art jewelry addict yet, especially for rings, you will soon be chanting, "Feed my Fingers".

Thank you to The Carrotbox!

I'm also thankful to Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton NJ, where you can now find some of my art jewelry for sale in their Museum Gift Shop. I love that place, it is so unique and inspiring. I'm so excited to be able to offer my own art jewelry there. Please make the trip this Spring or Summer, especially if you are in NJ, PA, NY or DE. It is worth the trip!

Finally, I'm sending a belated thank you to the folks at Artella for publishing my how-to article on Making Found Object Art Jewelry. The article was published in December 2009 in Artella's *Art Journaling Journey* online magazine Issue 14.

I always feel good when I see others recycling as a part of making their art. I was glad to share some techniques.

Back to my studio now. Every day I am making something..usually rings. They are starting to appear on my new website. Take a look at www.MaryLuWason.com .

This week on Ebay



I put some jewelry up on eBay today. Haven't done that in months, or maybe years, so we'll see what happens. You might be able to get some good deals with these.

I put up three of my soldered glass pendants that feature my original collages. These are based on the concept of Alice in a Steampunk Wonderland. I create the collages, then scan the originals and have them printed on professional grade printers. I then sandwich the print between glass and use a stained glass technique to soft solder them together. This solder has no lead or nickel so is safe for jewelry.

I also put up two rings that I made this week on President's Day weekend. They are made of coins. I think they're fun. If I get much interest, I'll offer custom coin rings - any size, year, coin, etc. I think they would be fun for special anniversary gifts or birthdays. Even a shower gift could have the bright penny ring as part of the gift wrapping. Kids would love these too, I think. 
So, if you're interested, please make a bid by Sunday February 28, 2010.

Rings for Haiti Auctions

Don't miss it! My Tears for Haiti ring is on auction with only a few hours left. All funds go to Haiti relief. There are also more rings being auctioned for the next few weeks at this link. Please consider shopping for a good cause.

Ring a Day and Tears for Haiti

This year I joined a flickr group called Ring a Day. It was started by Nina Dinoff as a challenge to jewelers of all types, to be inspired each and every day of 2010. The challenge is to create a ring and then post a picture of it on the Ring a Day gallery. Sometimes the pictures don't get posted until a few days later (almost always in my case). But the day of creation is listed, so at the end of the year, there should be close to 365 rings for each participant.


This has been a fun and inspiring challenge. The concept of a ring is all that is required, so we've come up with some silly and some artsy examples. There's a freedom to this, to play with different ideas or techniques. As an artist, my creativity floodgates are open. Some days I can't stop writing in my sketchbook all the ideas. It's wonderful to think, maybe I'll actually get to try most of them, since I've dedicated a part of every day to it. And I've been pushed to make some ideas that I've had gathering dust (always a good thing for an artist to do).

It's also becoming a bit of an addiction to watch each day as new rings are added to the group. There are so many artists with different styles and approaches. If you take a look, you are sure to be surprised, awed and have a laugh too. I'm reminds me of the Lark 500 series books. This summer I was traveling for a month. Suitcase space was precious, but I packed both 500 Wedding Rings and 1000 Rings books. Why? It just gives me energy and inspiration to see forms of pure creativity. I get the same surge checking out the new additions to the RAD gallery. So do take a look and enjoy!

The link to the whole group, with over 100 members is here. The link to just my (Mary Lu Wason) ring entries is here.

Tears for Haiti

Since we are making the ring each day, they are reflecting our lives and concerns, in some cases like a journal. As you can imagine, this past week our concerns about the conditions in Haiti have shown in the rings.

On January 13th, as the news of the earthquake was on my radio, I decided to make a carved ring. Often when you see a carved ring, it was originally carved in wax. Wax is easier and more forgiving than metal to carve. It's also less wasteful, which is important for gold or other precious metals. But carving in metal is more immediate. When it's done, it's done - no casting. And the final product is one of a kind, a testament to the time involved, unique to a memory. I wanted something to reflect my concerns of that day.

It took me several hours to work from a ring of square sterling silver metal, to the ring pictured here, which I call Tears for Haiti. Stylized tears flow one to another, in a circle of silver.

I am donating this ring to be auctioned, with other rings from the RAD group, to raise funds for Haiti relief. Thomasin Durgin of Metalriot has generously offered her time to run the auctions soon. Watch her blog for updates. I'll post details here too, when available.