New blog link

I have created another blog for my talk about my life here in korea. I find that i may have two fairly different audiences for the two topics, and have decided to create a second blog for that reason. On it, i will show pictures of my life here in korea, and talk about how things are going. Here, i will continue to show my art. If any of my blogfriends here want to come visit my new blog, you are more than welcome! I may even have a giveaway or something there soon... we will see.

The link to my new blog is http://daleskoreanadventure.blogspot.com/

Leaving date!

Those of you who might have been following my blog know i have been talking about my impending trip to korea... i finally have a date for my flights!!! After 2 months of waiting, i move to Seoul, Korea next wednesday! Wish me luck with my flights :).

Also, i went to send a friend a link to the mint tin present i'd been creating, and discovered i never did post the final product! Silly me. This is my presnet to my friend Erin. It includes a hand made bracelet and the tin case. The hanging charm is etched and rusted copper and the framed charm is resin. I discussed the process i went through (and it WAS a process) in previous posts.






















I wrapped it up all nice for Erin. I hope she likes it :).

Lastly, i had been recently linked to a book giveaway on a new blog... Ilka's Attic. She is giving away her book Exhibition 36: Mixed media demonstrations + explorations. I myself am intrigued by the idea of getting a mixed media book... i'll have to keep an eye out for it next time i'm at the bookstore.

ATCs finished

I finished up an ATC before moving out that i hadn't posted yet. Thought i'd show it here. Maybe that will help fulfil some of my art fix? My fingers are just itching to work with some resin, but everything is packed up and probably will be till i hit korea. I think it would be great to create a resin bezel or something like that for the most recent Creative Construction challenge, which has 'fire' for it's theme.

This card i think will be going to Collette. She made some gorgeous atcs, and i am really looking forward to trading with her. I created the background with gesso and texturing, and scratched the word 'fly' into it. I then painted it. The first part of the nest is painted on, and then i glued on feathers. Three beads were wired up and then attached to the card.

I wish i could start a countdown to the time when i go to korea, but i don't know my leaving date yet! Sometime in the next two week, at latest. I'm so very excited!

Ode to my art table

Well, table, i guess this is goodbye. I'm moving out of this basement suite and you aren't comming with me.

From when I first saw you at Ikea i knew you were the table for me (and not just because you were only 10$). You started out as my table for holding my stereo, but when i moved into the basement here you became my art table.

We had some good times as a table. You were a good drying surface for my myriad of projects. I could splash paint/resin/rust/glue/whatever all over your surface ithout any great concern. When i started jewelry making, i even accidentaly drilled holes in you! You took it all with your stoic, blue ways. I loved being inspired by the splashes of all the different media i worked with.

Things weren't always great. I appologize for the times when I cursed you for your lack of height. It isn't your fault that you are only about 2 feet high, thereby forcing me to sit on the floor and get stiff knees. Nor is it your fault that you were all sticky in the top corner after i spilled some resin there that didn't cure propperly.

Hope it isn't too cold out there...

Dale

So, i am now officially moved out of the basement suite. After 5 days of intensive moving, packing, hauling, and cleaning, I am finally moved in with my boyfriend and his family. This is all only temporary, until my visa is finally processed and i am off to KOREA! Should be gone on only about 2 weeks :).

As for my art table, it was with great sadness that i tossed it in the dumpster. It was sticky and kinda destroyed... too bad. Couldn't resist a silly little 'ode to my table' here.

Hope your week is off to a great start :).

Resin problem. Any help out there/

So, it's been four days, and the resin from the present i prepared still hasn't hardened completely (see previous post)! I searched the net for help on this, and found causes for this varying from changes in humidity to cheaper resin to insufficient hardening agent. What i did not find was an answer to how to fix this problem. Should i just add another layer of resin that will (hopefully) harden propperly this time? Is there some kind of 'hardener' or technique i can use to help it harden? Just putting this out there, i know some of you are so skilled at working with resin!

By the way, i just noticed that i am here my 2000th viewer to my blog! Wow! Thanks for all the hits guys. This is really great. I will have to do a giveaway or something someime soon.

As for how things are going with my looming move to Seoul, things are progressing fairly nicely. There have been a number of hitches and holdups along the way, but at this moment things seem to be going well :). Wish me luck for a speedy delivery and procesessing!

Gesso and new bracelet

I occasionally pop in at the GPP Street Team website... this time i decided i would try out what they were talking about. The theme this time is gesso. I myself was specifically interested in the idea of stamping with gesso... that kinda blew my mind haha. Apparantly, the gesso acts as a resist when you stamp it, so that if you paint overtop of it with another colour after it dried, and then wipe off some of that colour the white (or whatever colour you used) of the gesso will show through. Fascinated by this, i thought i'd give it a shot.

I had previously stamped this card with the mask shape, as I found an irresistibly gorgeous hand carved stamp at an Artist Trading Card meeting (no one seemed to know who carved it...?). I got a couple stamps in while i could :). I then stamped the word 'masque' (french for mask) and used the resist technique... voila!






















































I have also been working on a bracelet for a friend of mine, Erin. I missed giving her a present on her birthday, so this is going to be a belated birthday present. I figure that late is better than none? This is a rather simple bracelet, made with twisted wire and these gorgeous beads I picked up while in the Rockies. Their frosted green colour reminded me of the ICY COLD glacial rivers where I went white water rafting. I want to finish of a nice case for it to go in. I am thinking something similar to the mint tin i made a while back for my friend Tasha's birthday... but with the bracelet inside instead of a unicorn.

I still don't have a date yet for when i leave for Korea... I am hoping that it will be soon. I kinda get the feeling like I am sitting here waiting for things to get started. That feeling you get when there is something totally exciting looming in the future, but it is uncertain when it will actually happen. Wish me luck that the immigration office processes our papers quickly :).