Now appearing in my etsy store. (Update: the first two sold last weekend. Yay! But there are still two very cute feline frames in there!)
The mosaic muse is kicking and screaming lately for NEW PROJECTS! Some days I just walk around down in my studio in a fugue state trying to discern what wants to be made, petitioning the gods of Creativity for inspiration. Until it arrives, I suppose I'll go with what I already know.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Jim & Pat's Lazy Susan (or Why I Love Custom Projects!)
A week after shipping the completed 20" lazy susan off to California, I woke up to this email:
Oh wow!! It's beautiful! I really can't say enough. And you really connected to what I envisioned. Your choice of colors is perfect. I'm glad you didn't listen to me and paint the edge white. The dark blue is the right choice. I haven't shown Pat yet...I'm going to surprise her by just putting it on the table and wait til she notices. My only complaint is...you really didn't charge enough!!...holy cow...the packaging alone looks expensive...and all your time and artistry...I feel guilty. Look for a little surprise from me. It's been a pleasure!
Regards...Jim
Seriously. What on earth could be more fulfilling and gratifying for an artist who asked someone she had never met, never even spoken with but via emails, to trust her to bring his vision to life? (Not quite as gratifying, but close, was the picking of my first two squash from the Earth Box project out on the back deck!)
Thank you for the honor, Jim. You are a very gracious and generous Being!
Update: The "little surprise" from Jim was more money! Seriously! I have been so blessed throughout my entire mosaic-making career with the absolute best clients imaginable. Who sends someone more than what they asked for? How generous a heart.
Oh wow!! It's beautiful! I really can't say enough. And you really connected to what I envisioned. Your choice of colors is perfect. I'm glad you didn't listen to me and paint the edge white. The dark blue is the right choice. I haven't shown Pat yet...I'm going to surprise her by just putting it on the table and wait til she notices. My only complaint is...you really didn't charge enough!!...holy cow...the packaging alone looks expensive...and all your time and artistry...I feel guilty. Look for a little surprise from me. It's been a pleasure!
Regards...Jim
Seriously. What on earth could be more fulfilling and gratifying for an artist who asked someone she had never met, never even spoken with but via emails, to trust her to bring his vision to life? (Not quite as gratifying, but close, was the picking of my first two squash from the Earth Box project out on the back deck!)
Thank you for the honor, Jim. You are a very gracious and generous Being!
Update: The "little surprise" from Jim was more money! Seriously! I have been so blessed throughout my entire mosaic-making career with the absolute best clients imaginable. Who sends someone more than what they asked for? How generous a heart.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
She Lives!
Good Lord. 15 months tomorrow since I posted on this thing? My worries about not remembering how to post here were for naught since everything has changed inside the control panels anyway! Here goes something:
After spending the first five months of this year finally creating the Z's Garden Room Potting Bench (photos on that to follow, "soon"), a new burst of creative energy rose up at long last. And while I continue to wonder "what's next?" in terms of some new venues and vehicles of creative expression, e-Serendipity graced me again with a new custom project for a wonderful California couple.
I shall do a 20" lazy susan using only blue and white shards, not too busy, and as simple and elegant as I can manage. Gulp! I'm not known for my subdued minimalism, but I'm gonna make this work!
As always, Annie the Mosaic Muse inserts herself into the process. (I believe the studio insertion space she requires might have "expanded" a bit over the last 15 months.)
The susan is bound for this 1887 beach house in Pacific Grove, CA! My favorite location on the planet, thus far. Synchromysticism rules!
After spending the first five months of this year finally creating the Z's Garden Room Potting Bench (photos on that to follow, "soon"), a new burst of creative energy rose up at long last. And while I continue to wonder "what's next?" in terms of some new venues and vehicles of creative expression, e-Serendipity graced me again with a new custom project for a wonderful California couple.
I shall do a 20" lazy susan using only blue and white shards, not too busy, and as simple and elegant as I can manage. Gulp! I'm not known for my subdued minimalism, but I'm gonna make this work!
As always, Annie the Mosaic Muse inserts herself into the process. (I believe the studio insertion space she requires might have "expanded" a bit over the last 15 months.)
The susan is bound for this 1887 beach house in Pacific Grove, CA! My favorite location on the planet, thus far. Synchromysticism rules!
It shall live on this beautiful table.
Very excited!
I love custom projects.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Alexa & Demet, Almost Newlyweds!
Here is my latest commissioned piece, my most favorite of all types of work! A lovely woman who shall go by "Cat Lady" found me online and requested that we create a frame for the impending marriage of her daughter, Alexa, and Demet. Cat Lady sent me a baggie full of special items to include and was very helpful with ideas for other touches, like birthstones of pearl and peridot for the couple.
This battered and rusty lady-in-sunhat brooch was found by Alexa and Demet on the side of a road on a trip to Mexico.
The brass swan is jokingly referred to as "the most beautiful thing in the world" since that is how Alexa viewed it as a very tiny girl.
The Siamese kitty was the first of many animal figurines that Alexa collected in childhood. Both are teachers of young children, so I found some great items to represent their shared vocation.
Demet teaches art so the palette charms were a score!
More of Alexa's darling kitties.
Canines represent!
The Canadian dime is significant because a close relative was the owner and skipper of the boat.
Demet is a musician so lots of fun things were found for him.

The wedding will take place in early April and I eagerly await a photo of the radiant couple. Many, many thanks for trusting me with such a special project, Cat Lady!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Ms. Tally's Wild Cats Pride!
Favorite client, Ms. Tally, of Lima & Prissy Christmas frame fame, upon seeing my Big Cats frame that had just sold, immediately requested her own Big Cats frame in which to showcase a photo of herself and all her best gal pals, thus Wild Cats! Say no more?
(Be sure to click on photos to supersize them!)
This amazing brooch on the upper right came from Ms. Tally's personal collection and it is truly my favorite of the whole lot.
This tiger bracelet was a trip and a half! What a score.






Another joyful project thanks to Tally, who has just welcomed a new member into their family: 10-month old Papillon, Zander the Great! I think Santa might be hunting for Pappilon charms and brooches this very moment.
(Be sure to click on photos to supersize them!)This amazing brooch on the upper right came from Ms. Tally's personal collection and it is truly my favorite of the whole lot.
This tiger bracelet was a trip and a half! What a score.





Another joyful project thanks to Tally, who has just welcomed a new member into their family: 10-month old Papillon, Zander the Great! I think Santa might be hunting for Pappilon charms and brooches this very moment.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Happy 2011 Ginny & Guesly!
After memorializing dearly departed cats and dogs for his sisters with my vintage jewelry frames, I begged friend John to let me do a frame for, you know, still incarnate pets. His parents adopted JRT littermates Guesly (gray) and Ginny (tan) in December 2008 and they get plenty of blog love from (Uncle? Brother?) John's readership.
I pulled this photo from John's blog for my inspiration as the composition was perfect for the layout of the frame.
I could not believe my luck in finding so many perfect JRT charms and brooches on eBay. I spent three times what I normally pay for personalizing such creations, but the pieces that I found were too serendipitous to walk away from.
Check out this little Ginny charm on a chain with the bone in the bowl at the end:
The double Terrier brooch was the first one I found, and needless to say, it rocked my little world!
This altered art, JRT pendant was another gem and seemed so fitting for a few reasons:
Another inspired and very fulfilling custom project. Thanks, John!
What Jack Russell Terrier frame?
Labels:
balloon juice,
ginny and guesly,
mosaics,
vintage jewelry
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Sidney, My Solace. Merry Christmas to Annie C.!
I discovered over the summer, while chatting with several other artists in various mediums, that I am an artistic anomaly. I LOVE CUSTOM WORK! I would rather make special pieces for special people for the rest of my life than sit around manufacturing stuff on spec that I think will appeal to prospective buyers. I've got plenty of that in my etsy store gathering dust. Go look! -------->I have a calm confidence in my creative instincts, I trust my (normally spot on when I don't get in the way) intuitions, I delight in deadlines, and I love me some an inspiring muse. That said....
I had the joy of doing a Christmas commission for a friend who wanted to memorialize his youngest sister's deceased cat, Sid. Said friend had commissioned me a year and a half ago to make a memorial frame for his other sister's deceased dog, Irie, as a birthday gift for her. Apparently youngest sister saw older sister's frame and loved it and what's a peace-loving big brother to do but keep the favoritism scales balanced as best he can?
I had access to a few photos of Sid via my friend's blog, and being the super cyber stalker that I am, it was easy to find Annie on FaceBook and quickly see that she adored Sid and he was most certainly her "solace" during a very painful time in her life.

As synchronicity would have it, I happened to have a rather chubby, black and white cat brooch in my personal stash that resembled Sid perfectly.
From what little I could glean about Annie from her FaceBook page, it was clear she loves all animals, so the birds, bunnies and elephants all clamored for inclusion.
The tiny unicorn next to the "y" in "my" was an inside political joke for her big brother I could not resist.
And here is the earlier tribute to Irie, Devon's beloved:





Next up:
Frames for the still-living pets!
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