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.

As I Was Driving Along....

Late one Sunday morning a few weeks ago, I was on my way to my daughter's place, to drop off something for her. As I was driving along, I noticed a sign. It said "Treasure Finder's Sale." I made a mental note to investigate it on my way back home. So, when I got to where I saw the sign, I followed it and it led me to a house in Waldo. I arrived there at 11:55 a.m.

I wasn't sure what to expect as I entered the house, but I was greeted by a woman who told me everything was 75% off the tagged price, but in 5 minutes they were going to start a bag sale. I immediately realized that this was obviously day 3 of the sale, so the contents of the house was really picked over. But I did manage to find a few things.....

....a large old lace tablecloth...
...and this wonderful pair of vintage black ladies shoes...


...Voila! A second pair of vintage shoes! This pair is brown...

...and this old tin hinged box thingie. It reminds me of an oversized lunchbox. It's pretty cruddy on the outside, with a hint of old painting on it...

...and this little brass hinged box. It's quite heavy. I thought I could etch the metal on it...

...and here it is opened. See all the caked-on crud inside??!!...

..I also found a few little manicure/sewing scissors and a few old cloth tapemeasures...

...and this souvenir spoon from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair...

...I love this old thing. The tag said it was an antique carpet stretcher. I just liked the looks of it!...

...And check out the old books! There were boxes of them!...

...and finally, here's a vintage world atlas book that I found. I figured I could use the pages in assemblage work...

So this is everything that I purchased at the sale. And this is the best part...I got all of this stuff crammed into one brown grocery bag! So...are you wondering now just how much I paid for my haul?????

$10.00!!!!!

My Weekend at Valley Ridge

This past weekend, I made the familiar trek to Valley Ridge Art Studio in Muscoda, Wisconsin. This trip was to take the workshop, "Hunter, Gatherer, Maker - The Art of Found Object Assemblage" with Jane Wynn. I had never met Jane before, so it was exciting to get to know her and be in her class. She has a book out entitled, "Altered Curiosities." I had planned on being at this workshop since last December, but due to some health-related problems with my husband, I didn't think I was going to be able to attend. In fact, I was so sure I wouldn't be able to go that I didn't even have anything packed for it. The workshop began on Friday morning, and I was still at home. I didn't know what to do. But Mike was getting along all right, and insisted that I go and have a good time. So.... I scrambled around and tried to gather an assortment of found-objects to take along, get all my tools and supplies together, and pack my suitcase. Finally, at 11:30 a.m., I was on the road. I arrived at Valley Ridge late in the afternoon. The workshop was almost over for the day. So I unpacked my stuff and settled in to get busy. Fortunately, I was able to continue working in the studio that night, so by day 2, I was pretty much caught up with everyone else. I have to confess, though, that I didn't build my own box to house my assemblage like most of the others did. I used a deep cigar box instead which saved me some time.

After the workshop was over for the day on Saturday, a few of us took a little 'field trip' to Muscoda to visit the studio of Ellis Nelson. Now that was truly a treat for me! Here is a little visual of our trip there....

Ellis Nelson, who is 81 years old, is a nationally-known Metalsmith/Sculptor. His work has been on exhibit at galleries across the country. He was also featured on the television show, "Good Morning America" as well as CNN. There is even a book published about him!

This is a page from the inside of the book.
This is Ellis. And this is where you'll usually find him...sitting outside in front of his studio. An array of his work is for sale in front of the building....
along with the large 'Grim Reaper' he made from metal.

Yep...this is his place! And wait until you see the inside........

Over the years, he has equipped his studio with a number of imaginative machines which were self-built in an effort to accommodate his work.

Get a load of this place! It was like a page out of some crazy steampunk magazine!

I totally love his anvil!!! It is enormous, and the patina on it from all the years of use was absolutely amazing!!!

And check out this chair! I think it was once a barber chair, but I'm not for sure. There was a lone light that hung right above it. In the darkness of the studio, it reminded me of an electric chair! And that evil-looking piece behind and to the right of the chair is his furnace...

Ellis actually built this furnace himself. It is a heat-regulated furnace fueled by sawdust. And he is the only person who knows how to run the thing! It serves as a source of heat for the studio, as well as a forge for his metal work.

It was such a treat to get to hear him talk about his work, and to see his place up-close!

After we got back to the studio, I got busy with my assemblage...

By Sunday, I had a general idea of what direction my piece was taking. Here are a few pics of my work in progress....

I had an old tin-type which I wanted to use in my piece. Unfortunately, I wasn't happy with how dark it was. You could barely make out the woman's face in it. So...I used a photograph of my great-grandma, cutting out her head and gluing it over the woman's head in the tintype. Voila! Problem Solved! I then added little touches of paint here and there on the photograph.

Here is another element I made. In the 'community' junk box, I scavenged an old brass plate which was possibly some kind of doorbell at one time. I totally dismanteled the piece and reinvented it. The bottom base of this piece was a piece of 2" by 4" wood that I got from another student in the class. I nailed my reinvented bell piece to the wood, and painted it up. The text was from an old 1908 newspaper that Jane had brought along with her. I attached a brass decorative stamping under the bells, and also added some teeth that I brought along. No, they're not real...they were from an old dentist's sample card.

I had also lined the entire cigar box with the old newspaper, and applied different paints to it to create a nice patina. Now I had to decide how I was going to arrange my assemblage.

And here is the interior of my cigar box assemblage. I made wire hooks, and suspended the tintype and the old wire light protector thingie from the top with two tiny eye screws. It swings and can be removed if I want.

I may fine-tune the piece a little bit sometime in the future, but overall, I am pleased with how it turned out.
And here is a group shot of the class, with Jane sitting in front. I am so glad I was able to get to the workshop. I had a great time, and learned some new techniques which I'm sure will come in handy in my future work!