More works in progress...

Here are some materials I'm working with right now...
Pieces from a clock with some keys and chain...
We'll see how it turns out.

Here are two finished pieces. They photograph way better on a black bust instead of rumpled up on the counter.

I am working on several things at once, waiting for everything to culminate into finished pieces. Sometimes you have to have them in your hands for awhile until you know how to put them together.

The Wolfman!

I have seen The Wolfman and I must highly recommend it!
I won a seat at the premier tonight and it was pure eye candy all over the screen. I scarcely paid attention to the plot because I was consumed by every detail of visual delights throughout the entire movie.
It is an homage to the original 1941 film starring Lon Chaney. So many things I love seem to come from that era...
The screenplay is breathtaking, indoors and out...

It is Industrialized London, sooty post Jack The Ripper era. There are interior shots in the begining that I couldn't find online that are just delish; very Steam Punk/The New Antiquarians/Victorian cabinet of curiosities that I so dearly love. I want to live in this world! Even though I couldn't help but notice a few things I thought were off, like the tiger furn trim on a totally fabulous robe Anthony Hopkins is wearing in the beginning; the fur looks fake and I don't know hey they didn't use a more realistic faux fur.

I can overlook such details in light of everything else that makes this movie a genuine visual treat...especially this time of year, after the saccharine sweetness of Christmas and before the blooming pastel beauty of Spring.
The Wolfman is a sight for the Halloweenstress's sore eyes.

I will be going back to watch it again with my sister and her guest Dani very very soon!

Here is my latest assemblage.

This is brass chain with miniature escutcheons, jump rings and a skull bead converging on a prefabricated cast metal piece. I cut these skulls in half and drill holes through them to turn them into beads. Then I gouge out the eye sockets to accommodate vintage rhinestones in their original settings. A bicone Swarovski bead hangs beneath the skull.

I love making art from found objects and using materials in unexpected ways. I have a few more interesting things in the works such as a plastic doll face set in a Byzantine bezel and a necklace featuring clock hands.
I will be posting more pictures as projects are completed!

Brandi's Pagan Birthday Party!

Saturday we celebrated my sister's birthday like the fun loving blaspheming pagans we are.
Friday night, after cleaning and organizing my house all day I had the coolest idea...I decided to make her a cake in the lamb cake pan I found earlier and give it birthday candle horns! I did a test run that night with a home made chocolate cake and it did not turn out right at all, a first for me. But no matter: Saturday morning I made a red velvet cake in the lamb and it came out perfectly, even the little ears! I covered it in home made cream cheese frosting and decorated it with a little bit of black gel icing. The eyes are Valentine's day candy corns stuck into his head. I experimented with heating up candles just enough to curl them into horn shapes without melting them. After two sets of trial horns I had the technique down to make these cool flaming horns out of black & white candles.
It was hidden away in the fridge and Bran didn't see it until we lit it and brought it to her singing "Happy Birthday". It was too fun! We had a great guest list with friends dating back to the 80s.
You can't have a party without Sally Bingham. She wrangled me and helped me with the cake unveiling amidst all the chaos. Thank you Sally!

Here is Brandi about to sacrifice the lamb, with my cleaver no less! It was a riot, a sacrifice to the birthday Gods to ensure a fruitful and fabulous year ahead for Miss Brandi. Plus it was really really yummy.



I didn't get pictures of everyone because I was too busy mixing & mingling. That's the thing about parties; you just don't get to spend enough time with anybody. But a good time was had by all!
Dee & her oldest daughter Kerrie Clayton came by. Aren't they just the cutest two little things you ever did see? I gave Kerrie a clock that didn't sell on eBay; that's the upside to when something doesn't sell, you get to give it to a friend.

Misty & Phil were there too. Philip is an old friend and Misty is a relatively new one, and they make a great couple.
I love being a hostess and getting all my friends together. A new friend of mine from my MS group came too, and it is really interesting for me to talk to someone else who has it who knows what it's like.
Vanessa, Tiffany & Janine were there too and I didn't get to talk to them hardly at all. I'll just have to have another get together real soon.
As I sit here fresh from the shower, towel still on my head, Roxi is snoring by my side and I am winding myself down for bed. Tomorrow I get to see the results of my last MRI and I just know it will show an improvement.
Always expect good things my friends.

Escutcheon and key necklaces

I have slacked off on my writing the last few days. But bare with me...
This is an escutcheon plate from a chest of drawers that fell off years ago, and I kept it in my jewelry box all this time. I always thought it would look better as jewelry than it did as hardware and tonight the forces that be finally moved me to whip it out.
Viola!
I've had the key longer than I can remember, since I was a kid. As I played around with different configurations with this necklace I remembered the key; a perfect match!
I posted a picture on Facebook and my sister, who is officially the birthday girl in two and a half more hours said she had to have one. And who am I to deny her? As luck would have it I had another chain and one more key. The key goes to my favorite armoir, but I never use the key on it.
The birthday will get to chose! Brandi McKenna of "She Off Her Rocker is my big sister and bff and the recipient of one of a matching set of found object jewelry.

I oxidized the silver plate chain on the left to harmonize with the authentic patina of the brass escutcheon plate and key.
On the right, so far I've left the chain silvery since its key is more steel colored.
I feel super fancy wearing this. I love making my own everything and rocking my own odd style. Are Bran & I too old to have "BFF" necklaces? No, it's not as if they are half hearts or anything...
I can't wait to spend her b-day with her tomorrow ALL day! And I can't wait to give her this, just one of many small birthday gifts I have in store. I can't post pics of the other handmade gift because it would ruin the surprise, so you'll have to stay tuned to see what other fabulous items await my sister.
It is going to look so fabulous on her! I will have pictures of her modeling it tomorrow.
I just love other people's birthdays! Isn't giving gifts so much fun?

New & Improved!

Tonight is a time to rejoice! First off we are having the most glorious snow like we hardly never get around here anymore. although it does seem like just yesterday I took Roxi out to play in the evening snow when she was just a little Pokey Puppy of a thing. She's a year old now.
I took her outside tonight to frolic in the silently falling snow, and to take a few pictures although I do so hate to use a flash that there's really no use.
Here's one I tried to get just because the sky has that glowing, snowing, otherworldly feel. Even though it's not in any kind of focus, I think it still conveys the right tone...

Secondly, I recently came into a Nikon D50. I know! Amazing! Where to even begin?
I suppose it began last month when I told my Mom "I don't know how, but I am going to get a digital SLR in the new year"...I really didn't know how, but I knew that I would.
Fast forward to this week, my cousin had this one sitting in its box and found out that I was in need of one, so he mailed it to me! How's that for manifesting? Don't try to tell me intention doesn't work.
I am just playing around with it tonight, trying to relearn all I once knew about photography. I was never any kind of "real" photographer, but I knew my F-stops, ISOs and shutter speeds. This camera is so entirely different than my beloved 1970s Minolta, but wow cam,eras have come a long way. I am generally a purist but I am loving all this new technology. If nothing else the ability to take seemingly unlimited shots as freely as you please and weed through the whole batch for free and fast on your computer, all that alone is enough to turn even the most Curmudgeony of cynics into fans.
I need the ability to get good close up shots of tiny things, fine detail for portfolio purposes and for bringing new & improved photo quality to this blog! I can get this close up with a 35-70 mm. And these interior shots are all taken with existing lighting (I didn't even try to set up anything) and free handed!
I've been walking around for hours with it hanging from my neck and I don't much plan to go around without it too much for a spell. It feels like an entity in your hands as the AF lens zooms and zips in and out as you set up your shots. I had almost forgotten how the sound of a shutter clicking thrills me!
This is my mantle, just playing around with a little depth of field stuff...(planning for a nice row of old tombstones in crooked lines later).

By the way, how spoiled am I? I get to be an art snob because I'm lucky enough to have to many wonderful artists as friends and family. Brandi painted this for me several years ago, and it is a scene that I could just jump right into. It's her rendition of one of the Pre Rephaelites' work and I love it. I call it my "Graveyard painting" (guess I should find out the title and artist's name) and it hangs above my stove.
Here is another closeup of objet d'art a.k.a. cool stuff I have layin' around. I do love my vintage maple shoe forms. Aren't they pretty?

Let me just say thank you to everyone who continues to inspire me and support me throughout my very charmed life.
Thanks!

****************Dana Dee: Glimpse, Part 2

Do yourself a solid and check this out. Short and sweet.

****************Dana Dee: Glimpse, Part 2