Narwhals, Narwhals!

Narwhal Halloween Costumes

So basically these costumes are pillows shaped like fins and safety pinned to our coats. This is a good costume method if you don’t know how cold it is going to be beforehand, and need to travel in it. The horns are made of rolled card stock cones with muslin glue over it and held on with an elastic and stapled head band. Cheap and comfortable. We wore them to the zoo for halloween pumpkin enrichment.

Halloween Crafts

It's Halloween time again, so I thought I'd share a few Halloween-themed copper crafts that I've made Here are two different designs for witch-themed pendants. This first one one is a witch with a cat and broom flying against the moon. It's an etched and oxidized copper pendant 2.20 x 2.13 inches (5.6 x 5.4 cm) with 17 inches (43.18 cm) antique fine copper chain with lobster clasp and jump ring terminal.



The next design here is "Spiral Witch Flying Against the Moon". It's an etched and oxidized copper pendant 2.9 x 2.9 inches (5.3 x 5.3 cm) with 17 inches (43.18 cm) antique fine copper chain with lobster clasp and jump ring terminal.



And here are a couple of Halloweenish etched and oxidized copper cuff bracelets, one feeaturing a horde of bats and another featuring the Nikki Skeleton logo design.

DeWitt 4th Annual Harvest Festival

This weekend I will be selling at the 4th Annual Harvest Festival in Riverside Park, downtown DeWitt Michigan. The festival will be held on September 25th, 2010, from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. In addition to the arts and crafts, there will be a talent contest, carnival games, pumpkin decorating, an apple pie baking contest, and food concessions.

So if you're in the area, please come out to the festival and look for the Nikki Skeleton table. I will have a selection of metal and clay jewelry.

http://www.dewittareacc.org/pdf/2010HF-Flyer.pdf

Catcraft

I love cats. Now perhaps I'm predisposed to one day become a crazy old cat-lady, or perhaps cats just make excellent inspirational artwork, but either way I do enjoy cat-themed jewelry. Here is a picture of my Tonkinese cat Basil. I know that some people treat their pets like spoiled children...my relationship with Basil is more like a respected friend and long-term roommate.



And here is a piece I did inspired by Japanese/Chinese style brush-painting and woodcuts. This is a collage that features 12 cats, in a variety of cat poses (including perennial cat favorite, napping). This is a 4.5 inches x 2 inches (11mm x 4.5mm) etched copper barrette with spring clasp.




Here I am walking through the neighborhood randomly making friends with the local neighbor cats. I like to name the surrounding cat populace wherever I live. I have often considered starting up a neighborhood walking tour of local cats, but that is somewhat weird.


And here is a second barrette I call "Japanese Cat with Kittens" in a similar style to a Japanese woodcut. The depth and shadows on the piece give it a haunting yet serene look. Also a 4.5 inches x 2 inches etched copper barrette with spring clasp.

DeWitt new town new events

Last week we moved to DeWitt, Michigan. They have a great farmers' market. So this Tuesday I set up at the farmers’ market. It was hot but I had a blast. Here are some random farmers’ market pictures. I will be there next Tuesday as well.

Weathered Ponies

Weathered Ponies

This pendant's design is a little more abstract and stylized...this is a weathered image of horses running in a lightning storm. The design came about almost by accident but I liked it. I enjoy Western motifs, especially images of horses; I have been riding my entire life, since the time I could walk, and it reminds me of my childhood. This was one of my first copper pendants - an etched and oxidized 1 1/2" x 2" pendant on an 18-inch spiral-braided hemp cord with a pounded copper S-clasp. And also here are a couple of pictures from my home-town rodeo (which I still faithfully attend every year).

Armadillo Pendants

Here are a couple of different etched oxidized copper pendants that I've made, both with an armadillo motif. Nine-banded Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) are pretty common in Oklahoma and I see them frequently. Armadillos are fascinating for a lot of different reasons - for example, they are the only known mammmal to always give birth to four identical young (which develop from the same egg and share a placenta). A female armadillo can also delay fertilization for up to two years. Everyone knows that armadillos are great diggers but they're also great swimmers and can jump straight up in the air nearly four feet as a defensive mechanism (which is also why they end up being hit by cars so often, as they tend to jump rather than stay put when a vehicle passes over them). The Nine-banded Armadillo has relatively recently colonized the U.S., not crossing the Rio Grande until the turn of the century, but is now one of our most common mammals in Oklahoma. Contrary to popular belief the Nine-banded Armadillo cannot wrap itself into a ball in its shell. Of the several different armadillos found in the Americas (family Dasypodidae), there is only one genera that can truly perform this trick - the Three-banded Armadillos of South America.

This is the first of two armadillo themed pendants I made. I call it "Rustic Armadillo". This is an etched and oxidized copper pendant 1½ x 2 1/8’’(4.5 x 6 cm) with armadillo motif on 36-inch vinyl cord with adjustable Love Knots terminal and S-clasp bails.




Here's the other pendant, which I call "Tribal Armadillo", an etched and oxidized copper pendant (1 1/2" x 2") with tribal armadillo motif on 18-inch leather thong with pounded copper S-clasp.





Here's a couple pictures of nine-banded armadillos, and a picture of me trying to chase one through the brush!





And here's a Three-banded Armadillo.

Heron Earrings

Another bird-inspired metalwork design - these are etched copper earrings featuring a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). These birds may be common but they are still beatufiul and make an interesting design. I depicted this bird standing in front of some cat-tails at the water's edge.





Here's a picture of a real Great Blue Heron:

Elf Owl Pendant

Out of all my etched copper pendants, this may be the one that I am the most proud of for several reasons - 1) I created this image from scratch, based on my own drawing 2) I got an incredibly large amount of detail into such a tiny space and 3) I made this as a custom request for an 11 year old girl's birthday present - she is really into the Guardians of Ga'Hoole and her father is an ornithologist. She loved it and wears it all the time now.

If you haven't heard of it before, the Elf Owl (Micrathene whitneyi) is the world's smallest species of owl. Elf Owls live in the Southwest U.S. and often nest inside cavities in giant saguaro cacti.

This is a two-sided pendant featuring a closeup of the adorable little owl in its hole surrounded by a cactus spine motif around the edges of the hole. On the reverse side is a wider view of the giant saguaro with the tiny owl visible peering out of its hole.





And here are pictures of an actual elf owl.