On Line Video – Ornamento

Clayathon Goes Virtual

By: ornamento.blog February 18, 2021February 17, 2021

Art, Clayathon, On Line Video, Polymer Clay conferencesArt, Carol Blackburn, clayathonLeave a Comment

Normally, the articles I’ve posted after the annual Clayathon conference are heavy on photographs. But this year, we took Clayathon online because the pandemic made gathering at the Stockton Seaview an impossibility. None of us had ever hosted an online conference before. There was a lot to learn! In the end, we went for three days and had more than 300 people in attendance via Zoom from all over the globe. That’s 300 people at one time watching our guest artist Carol Blackburn in two live streams from London each day and our end of the day presenter Syndee Holt, live each day from San Diego, California. That’s an 8 hour difference for those of you who are wondering. Carol shared a screen in Zoom with her work surface. Everyone got a clear view. People could ask questions in the chat box. After Carol’s demos, there were pdf handouts for paid registrants

Pit Crew including — Meeting of the pit crew

In the middle, we had presenters from the Eastern Standard time zone: A panel discussion with Lindly Haunani, Laura Tabakman and Kathleen Dustin on the impact the pandemic has had on their art, a live tour of Kathleen Dustin’s studio in the woods of New Hampshire and a presentation by Loretta Lam on her book (which I highly recommend) Mastering Contemporary Jewelry Design. In the afternoon, we had breakout rooms in Zoom where people could mingle, socialize and trade ideas.

None of this happened by accident. We’ve been planning virtual Clayathon 2021 for months. We had great people on the crew. For more information, go to our web site where you can read all about Clayathon. Be sure to visit the shop where you can buy art from many of the teachers who taught workshops in the days before and after Clayathon.

Clayathon in full swing with screens and screens of participants

Is Saltwater Etching Safe?

By: ornamento.blog June 14, 2018June 13, 2018

Art, Etching, metal etching, On Line Video, YouTube VideosArt, metal etching, Nancy LT Hamilton, Saltwater etching6 Comments

I’ve been saltwater etching for a long time and didn’t know all the chemistry behind it. Then I watched Nancy LT Hamilton‘s new video on electro-etching and learned how dangerous the chemical byproducts of saltwater etching can be. As the Reddit article explains:

“Using saltwater as your etching electrolyte can be rather problematic due to competing side reactions. The main one of course being electrolysis of salt, which produces chlorine at the anode and hydrogen at the cathode. So you would have a toxic gas and a highly flammable gas to deal with. The other product of electrolysis of NaCl solution is sodium hydroxide,[my note: lye] which remains in solution.”

I encourage you to read the whole article, here. and to watch the video, here. Hamilton offers alternatives to saltwater that will allow you to etch better and more safely.

And on a lighter note, my neighbor Bob added some beautiful new plants to his garden. I just have to show you more pictures.

Triangle Beaded Beads

By: ornamento.blog September 25, 2014September 24, 2014

Art, beading, On Line Video, Right Angle Weave, tutorial, tutorialsArt, beading tutorials, creativity, inspiration, TutorialLeave a Comment

I have been experimenting with cross weaving which is sometimes referred to as two needle right angle weave. It definitely uses a different set of “head muscles” than single needle RAW, but it’s not that difficult to learn. Below are some examples of beads that I discovered by accident while trying to do something else. My beads are not new discoveries; I have since found other examples of them on the Internet.

Triangle weave is not right angle weave strictly speaking because the beads are not pointing at right angles, but it lends itself to a great deal of possibilities depending on the size and shape of the beads you use, how long you keep repeating the pattern, and the manner in which you repeat the pattern. You can also weave a pattern similar similar to hexa gon angle weave that to my eyes resembles more of a star pattern than regular hexagon weave. Then again, these are more likely the same patterns but they look different to me depending on whether I use oval-shaped beads or round beads.

The two beaded beads below are extremely simple to make. The one you see here is made from six beads.

This bead is made from nine beads and I have added some seed bead accents.

The 12 bead beaded cube is the easiest one of all to make. Here is a good video tute to get you started.

Give these beads a try if you are interested in learning some of the more complex bead cross weaving.

The End of Summer in Bob’s Garden

By: ornamento.blog September 15, 2011September 15, 2011

Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, Koi fish, Koi Pond, On Line Video, Personal History, Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, South Philly, Turtle, Urbancreativity, inspiration, Philadelphia, repurposing3 Comments

It’s the end of summer in my neighbor Bob’s sidewalk garden, which now takes up the front of four row houses in South Philadelphia. Bob takes care of the garden and koi pond. The only thing he asks is permission to place a beautiful flowering plant in front of your house, which adds badly needed curb appeal in an urban environment. There’s a new addition to the koi pond this year: A big, sleepy turtle. He just appeared one day. Do you think he’s a magic turtle? Bob thinks he’s blind. All I know is that he’s very lazy. Once I saw him on a Lilly pad and thought he might have died. Then I realized that if Turtle had gone to the great hereafter, it is likely he would have fallen off the Lilly pad. But he bobbed up and down on that Lilly pad for quite some time. Turtle is lazier than a house cat. If you don’t believe me, try to sit through this video.

The Garden

Do you think Turtle is really blind?

Enjoy the slideshow.

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On-Line Ideas and Inspiration for Jewelry Makers

I troll the Internet in search of ideas and inspiration. Here are some new finds and some old favorites I want to share:

Nancy LT Hamilton offers free metalsmithing videos on sawing, riveting, soldering, making findings and other techniques. She offers a few metal working tools and her site is full of useful information about tools, metal, measuring, ring sizing, drill bits and more.

Beaducation sells jewelry making tools, books. DVDs and findings. In addition paid on line classes, Beaducation offers free on line classes in several mediums including metalsmithing, felting, resin jewelry making and beading

Brenda Sue Lansdowne sells cool vintage jewelry supplies on her web site, B’Sue Boutique and her blog, Jewelry Making Outside the Box is chock full of interesting information. She also offers free on line videos showing how she uses her products to make eye-catching mixed media jewelry. The videos and blog are great places to get ideas and inspiration.

Speaking of ideas and inspiration, I found these silver plated serving forks at a flea market. I plan to saw off the handles and make the serving ends into pendants.

If you think you have seen it all when it comes to jewelry made from spoons, knives or forks, you must watch this video by Italian Artist Giovanni Scafuro.