Penland Glass Book

Since the winner announced for the Penland Book of Glass never contacted me, I've drawn a new winner at random from those who originally commented and expressed interest in either book or the glass book. 


It's Pam! 


Nothing like a second chance :)

To the original winner (Laura) wherever you are - I waited a month for you to appear and even posted my search for you on the Lark Crafts Facebook page...

New Directions: Powder Metallurgy in a Sheet Metal World Part 1

crafthaus: PARTICIPATORY SPORT FOR CRAFT ARTISTS

I'm excited to be a part of the current online exhibition on crafthaus - New Directions: Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) in a Sheet Metal World Part 1 is the first of a multi-segmented exhibition celebrating the unique personality that metal clay brings in the form of jewelry, vessels, functional and decorative objects. New Directions: Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) in a Sheet Metal World Part 2 will debut July 17, 2011 on crafthaus.  A print exhibition of the entire Powder Metallurgy exhibition will be on view at the Metal Clay World Conference to be held in Chicago July 14 -17, 2011. 

The show was organized by Susan Breen Silvy and Christine Norton; Juried by Ann Davis, Jeannette Froese LeBlanc, and Gwen Rukenbrod.

An expanded collection of images will be released in an exhibition catalog titled, New Directions:  Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) in a Sheet Metal World to be released at the Metal Clay World Conference in July, 2011.

crafthaus is a "lively online social network/community of contemporary art and fine craft practitioners and enthusiasts." It's a place where craft artists can connect with other artists. Artists can have a web presence (if they don't already), share work, participate in discussions, learn about calls for entry and much more. There have been several excellent online exhibitions and if you'd like to see some of the excellent past online exhibitions on crafthaus, follow this link.

Penland book winner? Hellooo?

Well, I heard from Kim, but not Laura. Hello Laura? Where are you? I'd like to send you the book. I'm afraid if I don't hear from you by April 19, I'll have to draw a new winner. I mean, that's a month, seems reasonable? So if you entered a comment on the book review, I'll draw from those who commented by the original deadline. The instructions to contact me are on the winner post.

Ring A Week #4,5, and 6

Goodness... the weeks do fly by. I had posted some more rings to the flickr Ring A Week group a while back but never got a chance to post them here. Oh, I'm still behind... working on weeks 7 and 8, when the group is on 13. But nothing can be done about that - I'll have to press on in my own time, which is often behind schedule... and for anyone who wants to complain, you try fitting 25 (or more) hours into a 24 hour day. It's a real challenge!

But I digress... this is about posting rings, not about lacking time. I've written plenty about that already!

So here is the ring for week #4. It's Faux Bone again (yes, it's a series...) still just working out design ideas. This one uses a glass bead. These aren't finished rings. But Faux Bone is great to work with. I love making the shapes in this lightweight and easy to manipulate material. I'm going to use it again when I get around to a resin series for this challenge.

And week #5... (this and weeks 2 and 3 are my favorites so far) it's a coral bead.

And here's the ring for week #6. It's copper tube rivets holding Faux Bone and copper discs together.

We have winners!

As promised... winners for the Penland books were chosen today using a random number generator. Congrats to the winners - wish everyone could win a copy... thanks for participating - I hope to be able to do this again so keep your eyes peeled!

And so... without further ado, the winners are:

Kim for The Penland Book of Jewelry 

Laura for The Penland Book of Glass

Congratulations!

Please send your name and address to cdp(at)cdpdesigns.com so I can arrange to send the books to you!

Penland Books

Have you ever seen any of the Penland Books from Lark Crafts? These are beautiful books that function as master classes in technique. The Penland School of Crafts is an influential and highly respected center for craft instruction in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Each of the books showcase the work of 10 instructors who have taught at Penland and offer hands on technique sections by each of these artists. In addition, the books are filled with relevant technical information and plenty of inspirational examples created by other talented artists. These are just two of the books in the series - they are wonderful - see the end of this post for special surprise!

I love the Penland Book of Jewelry. It has been a favorite of mine since it was first published in 2005. Lark recently released it in a sturdy paperbound version. In this book, you'll experience the teaching of Marilyn da Silva, John Cogswell, and Tom McCarthy to name a few, along with seven other wonderfully talented instructors. The book is filled with page after page of inspiration - if you're a jewelry lover, you won't be disappointed.

 Marilyn da Silva

John Cogswell

Tom McCarthy

Until recently, I'd never seen any of the other books in the Penland series. The Penland Book of Glass is amazing too. I really like glass, though my experience is limited to enamel (both kiln and torch work) and some very basic lampworking - I was totally in awe of these flamework techniques. Like the jewelry book, it's filled with beautiful examples and wonderful instruction by talented masters (and was just released in paperback too). Some of my favorite pieces from the book are shown below.

Elizabeth Ryland Mears

Kristina Logan

Shane Fero

Here's the best part about sharing these two books with you: Through the generosity of Lark Books, I can really share them - Lark provided a copy of each to give away! Post a comment on the blog by March 18th (indicate which book you'd like to win if you have a preference). I'll announce the winners (drawn at random) on March 19th. Good luck!

Ring A Week #3

Here's the ring for week #3. I'm having a blast. These aren't about making finished rings - at least at this point. They're about experimenting with different materials - trying new forms, exploring ideas. You can see lots of cool rings in the Ring A Week Flickr group.

Today our PMC Guild local chapter had a "field trip" to a wonderful bead shop. We went to Bead Paradise II in Oberlin, Ohio. And Gail Lannum took lots of pictures! I found a bunch of great beads to use for some rings. Just need to make some sketches so I don't forget what I want to do with them. After shopping we had lunch at Weia Teia - inspired cuisine and fabulous presentation...

On another note, I've been fooling around with fold forming again. Maybe I'll find a way to work something like this little beauty into a new ring.