Retirement Day 4 - Me and My Little Artiste

With retirement has come renewed inspiration and excitement to get creative again and in a serious way.  For once, my summer is not filled with what-ifs about the upcoming year.  It is not filled with anxiety over how to get in enough relaxation, projects, and adventures before it all starts again.   It is filled with wow, I have so much time to do whatever I want to do!  And so yesterday I started up my metals class, this time at the Button Factor and with my jewelry mentor who I have followed around from Heartwood College of Art, to Sanctuary Arts and now to her fabulous studio in the Button Factory.

I love manipulating metal into jewelry.  The whole alchemical process draws me in from the pounding with hammers and stamps;  to the soldering (well, I am not very good at this but I keep working away) and quenching and pickling; to the shaping and forming with fingers, pliers and hammers; and  I really love transforming the color and texture of metals with patinas (a skill I will be working on this summer).   I love enameling, as well.  And I have even used colored pencils and eye shadow to add color to mental pieces...love that whole process. 

And, lucky me, I got to spend 3 days with my beautiful and talented granddaughter between the end of school and the beginning of her summer program.   Happily, Alice, my jewelry mentor welcomed her to our Friday morning class.   Pictured above is her and one of the three (yes 3!) necklaces she made during the 3-hour class!  What a really great morning with me and my little granddaughter artiste!