A Scarf for my mum

I made a scarf for my mom (who lives in Tucson). She loved it and wore it often while I was there (the evenings did get down into the 40s). I noticed while posting this that she is also wearing one of my fused glass pendants that I gave her.

The gift of The Daily Book of Art

I got a great book for Christmas (from Steve) called The Daily Book of Art by Colin Gilbert and seven other collaborators.

It is a good motivator when you have a mental block or just not inspired to do art. It talks about those who have done great works and where they got their inspiration from. There is an entry for Dia De Los Muertos, stolen art, museum mess ups displaying an artist's work, the history of the fig leaf, notable stolen art stories, and so much more.

Day of the Dead Party 2010

I love Day of the Dead - everything about it. I've always wanted to have a party with that theme. Since I have been collecting Dead art and memorabilia for over 10 years, I had plenty to decorate the whole house. The mantle alone was "101 Happy Skulls". About 30 people attending. Many brought Day of the Dead trinkets for the host in order to receive extra raffle tickets where they could win door prizes which were in turn extra Day of the Dead trinkets that I didn't need. It really was a win/win situation. I made about 20 Day of the Dead pieces of art this year. The party must have really inspired me. Here are some photos from that great party.

Day of the Dead Fabric Collage piece

I quilted and embellished this piece for the Day of the Dead show at CHAC (2010). The main skull image was a t-shirt I had that was impossibly too small, but perfect for an art piece. The overall size is 22 x 28.

2010 Day of the Dead Show art

Here are some other pieces I had at the CHAC Dia de los Muertos show 2010.

I blasted some "Dia" stones. I sold about 20 of them.

I also blasted several bottles. This one had a blasted stopper as well.

Day of the Dead quilt in three evenings or less

I have to tell the funny story that goes with the making of this quilt. We were having a "cube decorating contest" for Halloween at work. No one was really getting into it, but then my work friend, Ann, decorated her cube exterior with just sheets of Day of the Dead fabric. I really enjoy giving Ann a hard time about everything, so I dropped the comment, "This isn't decorating a cube.  You didn't even do anything with your fabric. I'll show you how to decorate a cube. I'll make a quilt with my Day of the Dead fabric." She doubted my sense of competition. So, in two evenings, I made a 30" x 30" flip-n-stitch quilt. I also brought in 4 full boxes of decorations and covered my cube. We both ended up winning equal-valued gift cards for our decorating efforts, so I didn't technically win, but we know what really went down.

New stone fetishes and sculpture

Here are some sculptures that I had at a show in August. A vendor a couple of booths down gave me/traded me for some stones to use on the fetishes.

Bender is the (robot) man!

This is the 4th or 5th sandblasted Bender bottle I have done. They seem to be very popular. To avoid any copywrite issues, it is probably the last one I will do.

Here are some other bottles that I had for sale at the Country Fair Nursury show on August 12th, 2010.

Some fused glass pendants

Here are a few of the fused glass pendants I have made lately. I realized I hadn't posted any for awhile. I am still making them ever week.

More Striped Glass

Janis and I bought molds for doing the very thing I tried with the brown and black striped glass. I fused that one by surrounding it with fiber board and kiln blocks. This mold isn't very tall, but it can create a 1" x 2 1/2" x 61/4" block of glass.


I then cut it into 3/16" slices.

Then made into jewelry and a 10"x10" plater.

Fused glass small dishes

Here are a few small dishes that I have made in the small kiln. I certainly have been learning how long to soak the glass in order to not melt it too far. It starts to puddle into the center if it goes to long which makes the edges curved and look "wobbly".

Fused glass dessert plates

Now that my friend, Janis, has a bigger kiln, I am able to do larger glass pieces. These are 10 inch round plates with a square base. I wanted to do a design to use with different colors so it looks like a set, but each dish is different. I want to make at least ten of these to serve dessert at book club. I'm really liking how they are turning out.

Liberty poster for ACLU

I was commissioned to do a poster for ACLU in Denver for Pridefest 2010. This is the one they selected out of 5 drafts.

Bee House

I have been SO distracted by my new bee hive. The bees are truly interesting creatures. The Top Bar Hive (TBH) I created for them also includes an observation window. It has allowed me to see their progress in building their comb. Within 5 weeks, they have filled fifteen hanging bars with double-sided comb! I built in an observation window so that I could see their progress.

Here are some photos of the TBH being built and the final design.

750 square foot stone sculpture

The focus of summer 2010 was a huge installation sculpture otherwise known as the Back Patio. It has been 4 years in the making. I dunno...I might have made it more complicated than it had to be, but I need to be surrounded by art and the space just called out for something...spectacular. The idea was to create a large Sun and surround it with the planets (including the Dwarf Planets - Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.) The pathway and sitting area around the West side of the house will need to be finished next summer.







A lot of work, but it moved along quickly considering that this is a photo from April 2010. There was still about 4 tons of dirt to move out, a French drain to dig and a 80 foot wall to put up before the patio could begin.

Hat and scarf

I finished these after I discovered circle knit looms. These are so easy to make. You really can't tell the difference between these and something that has been knitted without being a knitting pro.