Making Components...

I got in the mood to make components this week.  I'm not sure what this pile is going to turn into yet, but I'm leaning toward a few necklaces.  I'll post pictures when I get this project finished.

The Latest Addition to the Family

"How much is that doggie in the window? (Bark! Bark!)

The one with the waggely tail

How much is the doggie in the window? (Bark! Bark!)

I do hope that doggie's for sale."

 

We've got a new member of the family, and his name is Oscar.  We really weren't planning on getting yet another dog to add to the mix, but it happened anyway.....

 

It actually happened about a month ago, when my friend Cindy called me.  She knew we had pugs, and knew of a 7 month-old male pug who needed a home.  Her co-worker was fostering him for a humane society which was an hour away from here, and because she was going on vacation for a few days, she really didn't want to have to take him back to the shelter.  Cindy knew how I love pugs, and thought that if we would be interested in having another little guy to add to the pack, perhaps I could contact the shelter and adopt him.  Unfortunately, I was also going to be out of town during that time, so I told her that I couldn't take him, but that I'd maybe be interested in adopting him once I was back home. 

 

I kind of brought up the subject to Mike before I left, but I really had my doubts that he'd want yet another pug in the house.  But to my surprise, he actually warmed up to the idea!  So, the following week I contacted the shelter to find out if I could possibly adopt the pug, but found out that he just got adopted, and was going to his new home that afternoon.  When I told Mike that we weren't going to be able to adopt him, he really felt rather let-down.  He really was looking forward to having another little pug running around the house.  What I didn't realize at the time, was that he really had his heart set on a young puppy.....

 

So I started searching the internet for pug puppies.  I just couldn't find any that were close to here.  Then I went on eBay Classifieds, and low and behold, there he was.....

OSCAR!

He was only 8 weeks old and was the last one left from a litter of 4 fawn pugs.  And he was only an hour away from here!  I told Mike about him and warned him about what it's like to have a little puppy in the house... Chew, Chew, Chew, and Piddle, Piddle, Piddle.  But he wanted him anyways, so off I went to pick up the pup.

What a little sweetie!  He weighed just under 4 lbs., and was sooo cute and tiny!   He seemed to adjust to the new surroundings of our house easily, and quickly started playing, biting, and chasing after Popeye and Junior.  Popeye is really tolerant of Oscar always nipping at him and chasing around after him.  He actually acts like a papa pug to him.  Junior, on the other hand, is a different story.

Junior was always the 'baby' here, and he didn't take too kindly to the new kid on the block.  If he's on my lap and I have Oscar on my lap also, he'll jump right off if Oscar even touches him.  But I think he's slowly accepting the fact that Oscar is now part of the family too.

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I found this little 'Bad Dog' costume when I was out shopping this past week.  I thought it was perfect for Oscar, since he's always either chewing on something, or doing a little piddle on the floor.  He's lucky he's so cute.....

Fine Line Creative Arts Studio

Last week, I had the privilege of once again assisting Thomas Mann with three workshops being offered at Fine Line Creative Art Studio in St. Charles, Illinois. I have to confess that I had never heard of Fine Line, so I really didn't know what to expect. But as I was pulling into the driveway, I could see what a beautiful setting it was. There were beds of wildflowers landscaped all around the buildings, with a large manicured yard behind them. It's a wonderful, relaxing setting, which really sparks your creativity.There are several buildings on-site, and they are well-equipped for every type of art medium. In one of the buildings, there was a room which housed many large weaving looms. I also noticed that there were a group of people at an out-building away from the main buildings who were blacksmithing. I also saw an area outside where there were kilns for ceramics.

The workshops began on Thursday morning with "Learn to Saw." I think there were 20 women all ready to learn the proper way to use a jeweler's saw. Tom really knows his stuff, and not only shows people how to use a saw, but teaches all the components and explains the 'hows and whys' of what is going on as you saw into your material.
In the afternoon he taught the second workshop, "Fastenation." This workshop focused on cold-connections, tube rivets, wire rivets, and wire-wrapping techniques.

Due to the number of students who attended, the workshops had to be held in two separate classrooms. Needless to say, everyone was going from one room to the other, depending on what stage of their project they were working on. It really worked out well, though.

This is Ellen, who was one of the students that I had the pleasure of helping. She is wearing the pin that she created in the "Found Object Sandwich" workshop which was held on Friday and Saturday.

And these are some of the pins that the students created in the workshop...

I love the soldered brass frames around some of the faces on this one.

Kathy's Pin
This gal made hers into a standing piece...

...and I loved her idea of using cutout shape as the easel in the back.

Robin's Pin

Gale's Pin

Leah's Pin

I like the embellishments on this one

One person even made little sculptural pieces!

Everyone did a fantastic job on their pieces!

I drove back home on Sunday morning. Shortly after I got over the border to Wisconsin, I noticed an antique mall in a town I was driving through. And it was open! So... of course, I had to check it out. It was a pretty good sized shop, and its always fun to snoop around a shop that you've never been in before.

I didn't leave there empty-handed, either. Here's what I bought...

This really cool little wooden cash drawer with a metal change-maker mounted on top.

And I'm always a sucker for small wooden cabinets to stash my stuff in. This one has nice solid-bottomed small drawers, a couple slots for putting metal sheet on, and on the upper-right side it has a door that opens to reveal a nice-sized cubby. Not only does that door have a lock on it, but it even came with the key!

I also found a few old wooden folding rulers, and three wooden cigar boxes.

When I finally arrived back home, I was welcomed by my two little boyz, all fluffy and fresh from getting bathed and groomed while I was away. Junior was even wearing a little bow!

And my sweet husband had a beautiful card and three dozen long-stemmed red roses waiting for me!

I had a great time at Fine Line, and look forward to returning there again next year!

"BIG Links" with Thomas Mann

This past weekend, I attended Thomas Mann's "BIG Links" Workshop at Valley Ridge. We learned how to constuct and solder together heavy gauge wire and tubing to make some really cool links which can be used in jewelry.

Tom also showed us how to make links from acrylic sheet, and how to make and set large tube rivets into them.

On Saturday evening, we had a wonderful treat - Tom hosted a dinner party for all of us, and prepared a wonderful assortment of gourmet dishes!!!

The food was absolutely delicious!!! And the party was a lot of fun! Before each course was served, Tom told us what it was, what the ingredients were, and how he prepared it.

He also made 2 centerpieces for the dinner table. They were constructed with steel wire, and moved. (I won't say what the end of this centerpiece looked like to me, though...)

On Sunday, it was back to business to finish up our links and make them into a chain. Here's how mine turned out.

And here is a group shot of the class, all holding our finished chains.

And finally, here's a picture of Tom and myself.