closer to fine

little bit of bokeh, eh?

I just made this more-delicate-than-is-usual-for-me necklace from an antique watch chain and vintage brass rosary chain and a tiny pin I got in Hardy, Arkansas, made of brass and celluloid. The pin was costume jewelry in its day but is closer to fine today.

And here I will confess that I used to perform this song by the Indigo Girls when I lived in the Florida Keys. It was the end of the '80s, and I'm a sucker for a nice melody and decent lyrics, so I was playing Edie Brickell and Suzanne Vega and Emmylou Harris, and if she'd made her break by then, I would have been playing Sheryl Crow, but that would have to wait till the '90s. Before Vega's "Luka" was a hit single, I'd said, "Damn, this song should be a hit single, but it's too dark."

*****

"Closer to Fine" --Amy Elizabeth Ray, Emily Ann Saliers

I'm trying to tell you something about my life

Maybe give me insight between black and white

The best thing you've ever done for me

Is to help me take my life less seriously, it's only life after all

Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable

And lightness has a call that's hard to hear

I wrap my fear around me like a blanket

I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it, I'm crawling on your shore. 

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain

There's more than one answer to these questions

Pointing me in crooked line

The less I seek my source for some definitive

The closer I am to fine. 

I went to see the doctor of philosophy

With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee

He never did marry or see a B-grade movie

He graded my performance, he said he could see through me

I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind, got my paper

And I was free. 

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain

There's more than one answer to these questions

Pointing me in crooked line

The less I seek my source for some definitive

The closer I am to fine. 

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.

To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend

I woke up with a headache like my head against a board

Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before

I went in seeking clarity. 

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain

There's more than one answer to these questions

Pointing me in crooked line

The less I seek my source for some definitive

The closer I am to fine. 

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain

There's more than one answer to these questions

Pointing me in crooked line

The less I seek my source for some definitive

The closer I am to fine. 

We go to the bible, we go through the workout

We read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout

There's more than one answer to these questions

Pointing me in a crooked line

The less I seek my source for some definitive

The closer I am to fine

The closer I am to fine

The closer I am to fine

You can buy this necklace soon,
as well as other pieces, in my Etsy shop.

HelloGiggles: Item of the Day

Alessandra Rizzotti just wrote up Millennium General Assembly for HelloGiggles.com. I am psyched!

work in progress...on a plate

sea horses cut from a very old tin and a riveted combo of vintage tin pieces

gamesmanship necklaces for Renegade

antique game pieces from France, vintage rosary chain,
vintage brass and steel chain, antique brass uniform
beads, antique crystal bead, vintage black steel bead

tin riveted to antique yellow-dyed bone game counter, antique
yellow enamel and sterling watch chain, antique turquoise enamel
and brass watch chain, African trade beads, copper heshi beads, vintage
copper leaf bracelet links, antique dog clips from watch chains

the antique swivel dog clip makes this piece reversible

RENEGADE HANDMADE

I'll be selling my wares at the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles on July 28 & 29.

Where? 1245 North Spring Street, adjacent to
Chinatown and Dodger Stadium.  FAQ!

Per Renegade, here's what's happening: "We’re finishing up the West Coast leg of our 2012 RCF summer tour with the 4th Annual Renegade Craft Fair Los Angeles on July 28+29 from 11am-7pm both days, at the Los Angeles State Historic Park! Get ready for hundreds of today’s best indie crafters, hands-on workshops, music, food trucks, booze + oh so much more.  As always, our favorite free-to-use photobooth will be in full effect, and DJs from KXLU will be spinning our crafting + shopping soundtrack.  Attendees can help LA’s four-legged friends find a forever home with Second Acts Animal Rescue. We’ll also have several of LA’s finest food trucks on hand!

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YOU CAN BUY MY STUFF ON ETSY

many metals, many years

New necklace: Victorian enamel and cut-steel button mixes it up with 1940s TWA DC-3 pin from a Stetson Stratoliner. Metals are mixed, too: brass and nickel silver chains and plane; and steel and pinchbeck (an alloy of copper and zinc that shines like gold) on the button. Two links from an antique watch chain accent the neck. Delicate brass-beaded rosary chain holds the twin-engine craft. That bitty plane makes me happy to no end.

wild blue yonder

YOU CAN BUY MY STUFF ON ETSY

general assemblages and musings on the ins and outs of tin

On my to-make list are a birdcage veil for my friend's wedding and a fancy hat for me; a belt for Mike's birthday; an unfinished mixed-media piece that includes tuning pegs and violin strings, as well as dovetail joints, encaustic wax, ephemera, brass findings, machine plaques, collage blocks and whatever else I decide to throw into that recipe; and jewelries incorporating tin elements.

I love the look of old tin, deconstructed and riveted and layered and waxed. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it. What keeps the paint from all flaking off when you manipulate the metal? Should you never soak a tin container to clean out its contents...like the beautiful Camphor Ice tin I bought then soaked to get the remaining camphor wax out of it, only to wreck most of it by making the design all cloudy and peeling?

How does one rivet? Do I have enough tools, the right tools? The aviation metal shears I just got may be too large for anything except breaking down the tins. I've been using tiny scissors--I think they're embroidery scissors--to make the fine cuts. I bought Renaissance wax to "seal" the pieces. I need techniques!

How far do I go in demolishing old tins to make something else out of them. What if I cut up a rare tin that a tin collector has been dying to find for his collection? Are people going to be offended? If I were more gregarious, I would reach out and ask one of the amazing artists who already make fabulous creations with tin, like these:

fofum's chicken badges


adaptive reuse's vesica pieces

adaptive reuse's metal-wood-metal pieces

fluxplay's mathematical pendant

anvil artifacts' turkomen earrings

say hello to Alma and Ben, earrings

antique assemblage earrings

I'm not sure what I will call this pair, maybe Alma & Ben. They were described as love tokens in the auction I won, but they look more like they were cut from some other existing piece of silver, since there is cutwork on the backs. At any rate, they're silver. And the coral bits are coral, originally from an antique necklace that belonged to my grandmother. The string disintegrated, so I've had this box of coral pieces with drilled holes, thinking I'd eventually use them for something, and lo and behold: Alma & Ben.

YOU CAN BUY MY STUFF ON ETSY

astounding

That's the word that came to mind when I first saw this work of art.

corset by Irena Gasha

I was so taken by the artistry and craft that I had to make a treasury in tribute.

Okay, enough with the treasuries;  I need to post these new necklaces to my Etsy shop.

And work on the white balance (!)