Pimp My Bandsaw

Well,it's that time of year again, time to treat the ol' family bandsaw to a set of fancy new orange urethane tires! Actually it's not so much the time of year as it is an overdue maintenance issue. My Shopsmith is at least 40 years old and the rubber tires were crappy and misshapen and I've always had a bit of a time keeping saw blades tracking properly. O how I've learned not to use any other brand of blades. P.S. It also didn't like 1/8" blades. It's been rather finicky. I haven't tested with a 1/4" blade yet, but the 1/2" works like a dream and I think the space age tires will indeed track far better, as everyone claims.

After you remove the old rubber tires you can clean the decades old glue off, I used a brillo pad. While I was doing that I simmered some water on the hotplate and warmed up the new tires in the hot water. A can opener worked to keep the urethane under water, and it matched.

I was super careful trying to get them on at first, they were so tight it felt like if my fingers got trapped underneath they'd be squished to smithereens. But after shooting the tires off the wheel several times like a rubber band I came to the conclusion I'd have to just wrassle 'em in there, fast and furious. You can also use a little dish soap to lube up the water and pop them on there, it really helped.

Also I would be remiss if I didn't mention, I of course wore safety glasses because as Hank Hill says "Now remember, safety glasses don't just make you look cool, they also protect your eyes."

I just know I'm gonna love my better tracking, way fancier bandsaw upgrade!

Style

We all think we got it, even if only in our own minds.
I've been studyin' on altars and I plan to create around that idea this year, more than ever.
I'm one of those who makes a point to have aesthetically pleasing surroundings.

 I end up making little vignettes everywhere.

Composing shape, line, texture, color wherever possible.

Because of this tendency I with relish making assemblages in the coming months. Brand new year, brand new studio, long cultivated plans coming to fruition.
I welcome 2013 with eager anticipation. Come on Lucky 13!

2012

Here we are at year's end, 2012! So many new things for me in the past year.
Most painfully, some new hardware.

Also I moved studios to my a fabulous new building to share with my sister, all to ourselves! That is truly the realization of a dream.
And you can see it in there, a new (6 yr old) car "Sequin" as Cassie named it!

And finally using objects d'art long collected to collaborate on assemblages with Bran.
Here is our raccoon retablo.

I have so many ideas to come to fuition in 2013 and I eagerly anticipate all the new things in the year to come!
My list of things to look forward to includes:
A healthier body, mind and soul
Massive expansion of creativity and production
Mastering new skills
Drinking more wine

One does want to imbibe on occasion.Happy New YEAR!

Space

Getting things set up at work in a purposeful way, I'm sometimes surprised at how much great stuff I have. It's all waiting to be made into something else, something way better.

Last night I got this set up, at least temporarily.
The feeling of the new space down the hill is so perfect; relaxed, clear, beautiful, conducive to productivity, energetic, it feels right.

There's a window in front that casts a bright half moon across the floor and up the wall in the afternoon.

Here's the window. Roxi slumbers comfortably underneath.

I've been working on jewelry and cleaning, organizing, arranging and settling in this week. Santa's workshop is a merry place indeed.
All I want for Christmas is to be here!

Last Saturday was another open house at the gallery for Clearwater. We made some big changes and I must say it looks gorgeous. This is just one wall and I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the others, but I was whooped, also this wall has a bunch of my work on it.

My sister and I collaborated on several pieces with objets d'art from our precious personal collection. This is one of my favorite sweet little goat skulls from Mississippi.
"Goat Door Knocker"

This one is from my best friend's personal collection, it is her wedding gift. The skull was actually her's, I snuck it from her place while I was house sitting! It was months ago and I can only assume she hasn't noticed it was missing...I hope!
Once again, I made the silver chamfron and Brandi sculpted the horn from paper mache.
"Unicorn Skull"

Here is really a favorite of mine from Brandi and I. I think the skull was from Brandi's collection and the rest was my own hoarded items and jewelry bits and pieces.
It gives me a feeling of giddy anticipation looking through the convex glass window to the secret inside...

"Cat Retablo" It's a little kitty-hoogitt-boogitty-box!
This was a clock case I found and only loved for the box; the clock itself was gyppy and unremarkable. I cut the window from a circle to an oval to accommodate the little Italian brass frame with bubble glass. I buy and hoard any form of bubble glass I find because I have an affinity for things behind it. But I don't have it just to have, I eventually use it for something special, like this.
We added a crown which was the wick surround from a tiny oil lamp, which you can hardly see here. Affixed to the skull also were a pair of tiny gold wings and a button with a vintage rhinestone set in its center.
I added some gorgeous ruffled ribbon Bran picked up from M&J Trimming in New York to the inside of the window to add an even more Victorian touch. This piece is so much fun!

I think we did an amazing job in a very short time. Brandi took charge of hanging the show in the gallery, which she excelled at and took to like a fish to water.
Our pieces looked fantastic displayed among Thorin Medford's fire paintings. The show was a wonderful opportunity to breathe fresh air into the Clearwater Gallery.
Now, just wait 'til next time...

Studio Movin'

The saga continues!
I have been lucky enough to share a large studio with my sister Brandi for over a year now and we just got luckier. I just moved studios a week ago and the new one is a huge improvement. Plenty of space, ventilation, running water, natural light. We have our own building and can be sequestered more in the way we like. It's just perfect.
Here's a piece I started on since moving in...just playing around with materials.

Roxi is a home girl, but she seems relatively pleased with the new digs. It's no big deal to take her outside and I think she gets less antsy. I know I do. Plus we can open all the windows!

Here's my first creation to break in the new space! It's a beautiful assemblage with silver and wood, metal and bone, hard to see details here. Just me hamming it up.

I used the underside of an antique silver tray. Polishing Mom's silver when I was a kid, I always noticed how gorgeous the patina always is underneath. I'm so taken with the colors and textures. Reminds me of bluing and color case hardening in fine guns. Hard to duplicate.

It's comforting to know that as time flies by, I am making progress. Movin' on up. I look forward to years of productive creativity in this new space. I was looking through my pictures in the computer for this post, sequentially from now on back through the year. It automatically started flipping through them chronologically and just just sat and watched my life flash before my eyes. Really. Birthdays, cars, family, friends, vacations, weddings; a staggering number of snapshots of this year of my life. It just seems to keep speeding up, which causes me to have to enjoy it even more.
I am thrilled to get to take another huge leap forward in this, the very last month of the year. I'm not saving up my resolutions for the New Year!

WATERWORKS Studio!

So much to be thankful for these days. My sister & I are moving into a 3100 sq. ft. studio, with garage doors, climate control, running water, out own bathroom and an enormous electric hoist! We can hardly believe our good fortune.

We signed last week and are moving across the parking lot into our own building this week. We have yet to move the gigantic pain in the butt shelves so right now it all looks like a huge garage sale threw up in there. But it's all coming together.

When I went to look at my old studio over a year ago, I was hoping it would be in this building:

It was actually a separate one behind this one, but now it's mine. Ours. And we have a 3rd studio mate also but there is plenty of room.
I will be able to wheel things outside to spray lacquer or to strip pieces. I have running water in the studio! I could conceivably drive my truck in there to work on it. I'm just itching to cut out & upholster a headliner for the cab and I have a ton of other little things in mind...
December is a crazy month and I really have my work cut out for me just getting set up in here, but o the anticipation for what the new year will bring!
Happy Times!