maureenthomasdesigns.com blog

Back to the treasure chest! I pulled another drawer from my many little drawers of fun stuff a few weeks back, but I forgot to post a picture because I was in a hurry to finish a batch of Halloween and autumn jewelry for the Blue Line Gallery in Roseville. This was not a random pick because I knew inside this drawer lurked some cool metal spider web stampings. Vintage, I believe, because I’ve done a pretty recent and thorough search and have not found any new ones at any of my usual sources. If you recognize the spider webs…..PLEASE drop me a line because I’d love some more!

In addition to the spider webs, this drawer contains some fun souvenir stamped pennies from Disneyland and the Skunk Train, some pressed paper flower beads (broken, so now they are cabochons), an old tiger’s eye pendant, a lucite/resin vintage red striped pyramid, and miscellaneous metal beads and drops.

Because I love the spider webs and can’t find more I’ve been holding on to them for dear life. I didn’t quite like the bright shininess of them so I knocked down the finish with a torch until they were dingy and more spider-worthy. A simple molded and antiqued polymer clay spider was all it needed to become a fun Halloween pendant. Mine, all mine!

Two treasure drawers down and many more to go!

Have a spooky Halloween…….
Maureen

I’ve had a piece tucked away for the Autumn Art Studios Tour preview show for some time (thought I was way ahead of the game). I then decided to submit something a bit more seasonal and ended up scrambling up until the deadline to complete it in time.

We have an abundance of oak trees and acorns on our property. Acorns are everywhere, but I still get excited every time a find a “perfect” specimen. I pick them up by the pocketsful and end up with bowls of them every fall. I decided to make molds of a few exceptionally large ones recently and that was my inspiration for this necklace. The focal bead is a molded polymer acorn, the tiles were each impressed with a different oak leaf, and then they were textured with silicone sheets created from either the bark or cut surface of an oak branch.

The AAST preview show opens this Thursday (Oct. 14) at the ARTS Building in downtown Auburn. Please check the PlacerArts website for details. I hope to see you there!

Maureen
www.maureenthomasdesigns.com

I’ve been out there shooting lots of pictures and I’m trying to make it a habit to carry my little point-and-shoot with me. I’ve also joined a number of Flickr photography and art groups. One that I’ve been enjoying is Art Inspiration Revealed, which was started by Tamara Shea of Block Party Press. Artists create and post photo collages of their work to include a photo of their inspiration. Great fun to see that sometimes a little thing can spark a great artistic idea.

I posted a collage of my new ONION SLICE pendants which includes the onion slice that inspired me to create them. I tried to come up with all sorts of clever names for the series, but they all seemed to be copyrighted business names so I left them alone….ONION SLICE pendants it is until I have a better brainstorm.
I just posted a few on Etsy. Love that I can put some of my vast vintage button collection to work so I think I’ll be making more.

I am learning more and more to keep my eyes open for interesting shapes, patterns, and colors to use in my work. Mother Nature usually provides me with inspiration, but you never know what you’ll find….

Maureen

At several recent art shows we received quite a few inquiries about the papier mache busts that Clyde (my husband) has made for my necklaces. They seem to be real conversation starters because they’re rather unique. A number of artists and gallery owners have asked about buying them so we have decided to place some for sale on both the website and in my Etsy store. We’ve called the collection OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

Clyde has been furiously working in his studio (aka: the garage) to streamline the process as much as possible, but they are made individually and they require a lot of drying time on the form before they are removed. Even with the hot days we’ve had in Northern California recently they take surprisingly long to dry and set completely.

Clyde has been enjoying the creative process. If there is enough interest we may offer other finish and color options in the future. We’re hoping that fibers artists will find them as useful as they are for displaying jewelry. Fingers crossed!

I was shocked to see that I haven’t posted here since February. I’m going to make a New half-Year’s resolution to try to write something at least once a week.

Maureen