maureenthomasdesigns.com blog

My husband, Clyde, has been busy in his studio (aka garage) creating display busts. He wanted to offer different configurations of neck, shoulders, and textures and ended up with twelve different busts! He’s finally gotten enough of an inventory that there’s a good chance that we already have what someone orders.

This has been a great creative outlet for him. I wanted some unique display for my art shows. We were inspired by some displays that were made by Lorrene Davis (a fellow Clayville California member) and by a local ceramic artist as well as a workshop I took with Robert Dancik.

When I get ahead on my own work (ha!) I’m going to try doing some embellishment on one of the busts…some fancy paint technique or mosaic or ????????

I’ll be at the Gourd and Arts Festival in Folsom, CA this Saturday and Sunday (September 26-27). During setup today I saw the most gigantic gourds for sale. If you’ve ever cleaned a gourd to use for an art project you know what a lot of work goes into just the prepwork. There are sure to be some amazing gourd-related pieces and a lot of other artwork as well. I’m in booth 19 so stop by if you decide to check it out.

I’ve also had a few other art show confirmations in the past week or so. Please check out my website’s Events page for more details and links.

Maureen
Maureen Thomas Designs

A while back a generous member of Clayville California (my local guild) opened up her home for a metal play day. Because we have a number of artists who already work with metal we had lots of tools, gadgets, and materials at our disposal. I brough a sheet of copper and was able to texture, torch, use a dapping punch and block, etch in an etching tank, and watch a rolling mill demo! I was intrigued enough to invest in a few basic tools of my own and have finally gotten around to using the beautiful bits of copper that I have in my studio. I love making polymer clay beads and I enjoy mixing other materials with them in my jewelry. Here are some samples of what I’ve been working on. OK, back to work!

Maureen
Maureen Thomas Designs

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

October 2008

Fall (my favorite season) is finally here…HURRAY! As always, there are plenty of fun things to do this time of year. Please stop by my booth and say hello if you are able to attend the following events:

~The First Annual Kobra Crush Wine and Art Festival in Roseville, CA on October 18 (5-10pm). This event offers food, wine tasting, music, and the works of fifty Placer County artists and supports Placer County Tourism. Tickets are $30 prepaid or $35 at the door.

~The Mountain Mandarin Festival in Auburn, CA on November 21-22-23. The Mandarin Festival is held at the Auburn Fairgrounds and is pretty self-explanatory. If you’re mad for mandarins as I am you should have a great time discovering all the ways to use them, plus enjoying the entertainment and getting some gift shopping done at the same time!

~The Crocker Holiday Art and Craft Festival on Thanksgiving weekend at the Scottish Rite Temple. Please check out the Clayville booth. I won’t be there this year, but about 10 of the guild’s artists are participating and there are sure to be lots of fun and fabulous items.

My pasta machine, convection oven, camera, and computer have been keeping me very busy. I’ve been working hard to keep my web and Etsy sites updated with new items: bookends, wine stoppers, perfume applicators, rings, new bracelet designs, mosaic frames, ornaments, pens, and notebooks. I’m also hoping to make it into another gallery or two in the near future (I’ve been selling through Made in Tahoe at Crystal Bay on Tahoe’s north shore). Clyde is pitching in by drilling beads and making jewelry displays for the upcoming shows. Learning about paper mache at a recent Robert Dancik class reminded me that I bought a torso on eBay a while back to mold some lightweight and (hopefully) unique necklace displays.

I’ve decided that my time right now is better spent getting inventory ready for the shows rather than posting every item online as I make it (my usual policy). If you’re looking for something in particular or have any questions, please ask!

Hope to see you soon,
Maureen
http://maureenthomasdesigns.com
http://maureenthomasdesigns.etsy.com

A few years back I watched a video by Gwen Gibson on making polymer clay bracelets. I was intrigued, but I got sidetracked. I finally got around to making a few of the tools she “invented” to streamline the process a bit and got to work. I am hooked! I am adding my own touches by using lots of texture and adding a vintage button clasp to each bracelet. I have the first set listed on my website and also on Flickr.

I just heard that my just-about-to-graduate nephew, Kyle Zoeller, won $500 and a first-place blue ribbon for a lovely ring that he made in his high school metals class. A local Michigan jeweler offered the prize to the student who designed and constructed the nicest jewelry piece and Kyle was the winner! Woo hoo, awesome, way to go Kyle!!!

I received my copy of “1000 Jewelry Inspirations” by Sandra Salamony today. I couldn’t wait until July for my contributor’s copy so I ordered one from Amazon.com. As the title suggests, the book features page after page of beautiful jewelry by contemporary artists meant to inspire the reader. It is divided into chapters: beads & baubles, paper & mixed media, polymer & metal clay (that’s where my work is featured), vintage & repurposed, fibers & fabric, and wire & metal.

My local polymer clay guild, Clayville California, has so many amazing artist members. Many of them have been featured in books and articles and now I can count myself among the “published artists” too!

(Trying to recreate the last post from the previous blog!) Inspired by the wonderful Kathleen Dustin, I created some custom earwires for these new polymer clay earrings out of 20g sterling wire. Kathleen has been urging her students (and other jewelry artists) to consider the earwire as an extension of the overall design of the piece. In this instance, the elongated and slightly assymetrical polymer clay pieces wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting if merely hung from stock earwires. In fact, they might have been downright boring because of their simple design. To me, they now seem simply elegant.

http://maureenthomasdesigns.com
http://maureenthomasdesigns.etsy.com