SuzeBlogz

3 'Sticks' yer out !

and how did YOUR day start?

Well....mine began with lots of water (but no food) for the yearly blood work that you have to have when you're on "drugs" !
Now...bear in mind...the average person goes in, gets stuck once, the lab gal gets her vials and.....yer done. Bye Bye....
 NOT MOI !
I have no veins....apparently I also have no blood because, for as long as I can remember, years & years & years (lest I should exaggerate...years!) .....I've been a pin cushion - no matter how good the technician or how small the needle.........
Today......no different !


Okay...I vented......Im so over it now !

Moving on.....

The lab tech was a really "with it' kind of gal.
she had these oh so cool skeletons on top of her computer screen. I whipped out my camera (again).....there were the 3 "see, hear, say no evil...etc".
I came home and googled it....Guess what....

I just ordered mine. Skeletons should be arriving soon. The Lenster will have further proof that I am insane!

Now I must share....
some of the goodies that have come my way....
When Angela came to visit during Ranger U she made me this positively gorgeous necklace, earrings and ring set...I wore it today....Major compliments !
She used Tims Fragment Charms. Brilliant

I'll be teaching again at Angelas store, Gemstone & Bead Imports, on Friday, July 31st.  I'm doing a beeswax class. Have YOU hot-waxed today !

When Judy and Wendy left for home I found these yummy cards hanging on one of the guest room doors


When did they have time?  let me guess...?  they were made before they came here ??? ...which just goes to show how much time & love went into it. but..hey..how the hell did they even know they'd be thanking me for anything...
what if they didn't have any fun here !!??
*AS  IF*
LOL

and, for my little project today...I got out those way cool ALUMACHIPS and alcohol ink .
I glued them into various Amate settings and dropped ink on everything...then stamped using Rangers Black Pigment Ink.
All just experimental. Took a while for everything to dry thoroughly. 
Heat set with a heat gun.


tomorrow is dentist day....that's worse than blood day as far as I'm concerned.
NOW OPEN WIDE.........

 

 

Bring on the wax

I have become obsessed.
Maybe po-ssessed is more accurate.

I picked up this wood arrow book from Tanya at Stampers Ink when I was teaching there and thought, originally, that I'd make some kind of an altered book with it...like a normal person....but, instead, Wendy & Judy inspired me to wax it and use each of the 4 wood pages individually to "tell a story" and then have them mounted on a dimensional custom made wood frame. I think that's the route I'm-a-going.
I'm on the waxing highway of life today.

Here are some of the arrows and their waxy details. Real mesh fabric was laid onto warm wax. More wax brushed over it, fused with a torch, let it cool, removed mesh.
 

NOTE to Angela: ...if the wire with the bead looks familiar it's cause it's the one you made ! I made a large wax bead and inserted the wire. I got the hole in the bead using the calligraphy pointed tip from the Hot Wax Stylus Tool.



I used many layers of wax and fused each one in between. Fusing simply means I heated it so each layer of wax sticks to the previous one. I had been using my heat gun but the girls taught me how it's much better to use a torch. Now I'm a fusing maniac with a fire extinguisher nearby !
I also used Pan Pastels to color the wax and then fused it. I am crazy about these pastels.They are highly pigmented and rich in color and stick to the waxed surface  just great.

I also saved a bunch of wax that I had scraped off of other projects and added them into this project as dimensional embellishments. And yes...I also use Perfect Pearls over my wax..they stick beautifully, and then I fuse again.


Fusing also helps to give you a very smooth surface, as you can probably see right above.

The leaf imagery is done by applying the Pan Pastels to a rubber stamp and placing the stamp on the hard wax. Then you fuse it in. Below is another example of my extra scraped off wax pieces.


Hope you like the arrows....I'm not done yet, so more as it happens.

 MAKE A NOTE: It's not too soon to mark your calendars for ART IS YOU October 8-11 in Connecticut....Ill be there !

and, now I believe it's time for a snack...
The Lenster is enjoying coffee in his new mug...a present from Tanya. He loves it...and thanks you so much.

and for me........well, a glass of milk would go perfectly with this fabulous Oreo cookie....
it even tells you how far to dunk  !!

DAMN.....what will they think of next ?? !!

 

It's much too quiet here

Wendy(l) & Judy (r) departed for California this morning and a hush came over the house.
I am completely missing their gorgeous smiles and all the laughing. We took them to the airport and said our goodbyes...

should any of you live near their studio in Aptos, California you need to sign up for their amazing encaustic (wax) classes and learn from the best. They also have guest artist teachers...check their blog and website often.

Just to give you a small idea of some of the things they do that are completely "out of the box"...all of these real objects were waxed for an exhibition. Well okay...the bird wasn't real, or, if he was, poor birdie !

even the newspapers were waxed.....so much work..so amazing...so inspiring !


and so the sad little "they're gone" feeling set in......that's always cured with food of some type (or shopping) ....The Lenster took me for breakfast at the Edison Family Restaurant, Edison, New Jersey. Home made everything. I had Matzo Ball soup....for breakfast..yes.


Then...just a short hop, skip away from the food The Lenster decided I should have some really good rain gear for when we ride on the motorcycle and the skies suddenly open up....
DUH.....where was said rain gear when I got drenched on the Savannah ride last month...with the wet undies and bra...ahem.....a little late to be thinking of rain gear now...but...we bought it....it's reflective.....I glow.....  AND, I look like a body builder at the same time....a most attractive look ! The Lenster has a matching set.

When we got home I laid out the various projects I'm working on.


This one uses colored wax as a resist on card stock.
Even though I use my Melting Pot almost exclusively, I also have a very large metal palette that I got from the WaxWorks gals which you place over an electric burner in order to heat lots of wax colors at one time (like the cubes we sell)

I bought an Indonesian metal 'stamp" when I was in KS at the surface show. I sprayed it first with a non stick spray then pressed it into dark red wax which I then stamped onto cardstock.

Then I diluted some of Claudines Studio Paints in a muffin tin (see above) and brushed over the wax. It's a gorgeous effect and I can use it for a book cover or such.

I also happened to find a humongous white mug at Michaels....obviously a fathers day type thing...and I applied alcohol ink to it (not totally done yet) ....I'm going to also stamp on it (roll the cup over the inked stamp) and use it to hold brushes.

because....obviously..I don't have enough other things to do !

and..I  did want you to take a peek at a wonderful surface designer from The Netherlands, Els van Baarle who I met when I was in Kansas.

her work is so inspiring...I had trouble resisting her wonderful scarves and bought one that had lots of calligraphic lettering on it.


well...enough for today....time to unwind if I can remember what that is !

how do you know when it's time to go home?

Wendy informed me she was out of toilet  paper.......


I explained that that was the ancient secret clue letting you know it's time to go home !

1000 laughs later we practically wet the floor ...we've been laughing so hard over absolutely nothing and positively everything!
Today, being the last day with these fabulous ladies I took them past the Lakehurst Naval Air Station (which is right near my house) where the famous Hindenburg blimp blew up in 1937. Along the way we pass the gorgeous Cathedral of the Air

 and then on to my favorite bird store.

and then for pizza lunch because the east coast makes the best pizza....don't argue with me..this is a fact!


and then Wendy asks me what 'custard' is....as in soft ice cream....apparently she isn't familiar with this term in the east coast land of different types of ice creams....hence she tries to lick the plaster replica outside the ice cream store.

and then a brief foray to the camera shop so Wendy could think about buying a new camera with a good macro...

as you can see by the look on Wendy's face, she is technologically challenged and hasn't got a clue what this guy is talking about.....'DUH', she's thinking....but not only does she buy one, but I (who needs another camera like I need a third boob), buy a "spare" one too. You will never see me without a camera.....I could sell YOU a camera.....it's just another obsessive compulsive problem I have. okay...enough about me.

Judy discovers this years most promising use for a water bottle....

the water bottle tripod...okay..now that we are done laughing...think about it. It's actually brilliant !
The day forges on.....we get down to waxing....
They show me how to do layers of beeswax encasing coffee grinds. I love it !
 but, the most exciting thing so far (& the evening is just getting started) is how to apply pan pastels to a rubber stamp and then press it into colored beeswax.


here I am fusing with a torch after I have stamped.


The arrow book is made of wood and it came from Stampers Ink in Shawnee KS.
I'll keep you posted on how I'm finishing it and what I plan to do with it...it's not going to be  a book when I'm done...maybe you can get some ideas from it !

If you obey all the rules, you will miss all the fun

and so begins another round of silliness with Wendy & Judy..I never want them to go home. And, they don't seem to want to go either. PERFECT.

they visit my office...they buy a ton of stuff....they are enamored with the leftover stamps from the Gar-Art sale.
I give my office manager Maureen the vintage barrette I bought for her...straight outta the 50's.

We stop by Ranger...we do lunch with Bonnie (R)  and Debbie (L)  at my favorite restaurant near there -  "Redheads" (wonder why...must be the name!). Sushi for me...what else !

we share yummy dessert...it's like we're on a sugar high the last few days !

we go to Barnes & Noble and look at craft books....lotsa craft books these days. But, then we scoot over to Home Goods where I don't need to buy anything, you hear me NOT ANYTHING....I already have everything Home Goods carries....I need NOTHING...NADA...

Damn..it's a sale....it's EUPHORIA disguised as something necessary...I am in deep trouble....

It's not possible that I could need another bird house...but..I love the shape..and I figure I could use Claudines Studio paints to repaint it the way I like and then collage it. Wendy eggs me on......SOLD !

I figure Wendy deserves to get her nose bit off.....

Judy deserves a new hat

Nobody deserves these....be afraid...be really afraid !

Then the Lenster dropped by.....he found us out.....the spending waves must have been sending out signals....he approves of the wire birdcage...I tell him I'll collage it...he falls for that.

I even find a great sign....but....I reject it because it has weird implications.....LOL

we schmooze some more and finally make it home for dinner.....Lenny serves wine he has made himself with his wine group...Wendy looks a little looped.

we are a happy bunch....we will make art later.....we're just laughing the days away...the way life should be lived.

Steppin' Out with the Girls

Don't ask.....I have never had such fun....there's no explaining how 3 girlfriends can all be so "on the same page"  every minute of every day...we are just having a blast.

Wendy Aikin and Judy Stabile are real life sisters and also my friends from California. I met them last year when I went out there to take workshops from WaxWorksWest which they own. They are encaustic (wax) artists...REAL artists (not crafters !) , and Judy is, additionally, a marble sculpter.

They've come to visit me for a week.
On day 1 I took them locally to one of my favorite shops, Calgo Gardens in Lakewood.

They specialize in unusual art of all kinds...I love this shop. Just the week before I took Mona and Angela there too. And, they have gorgeous landscape gardens.
And, in the town of Lakewood the geese rule the roost....
 

In the evening we stayed up really late playing in my craft room where they helped walk me through fine tuning a beeswax piece. I love how it came out.

Next day we were up early and off to the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ. I'd never been there and yet it's only 1/2 hr from my house.
Oh My Gooooooood....totally freakin unbelievable.....
Here are some shots...random shots....just a taste.






and there was even organic work by artist Steven Seigel involving grass, newspapers and glass...this is just a tight closeup of some of the papers..which, believe it or not, are designed in such a way as to purposefully degrade.


there was even a small piece of work by clothing designer Gloria Vanderbilt who must secretly want to be an altered artist.


and peaocks roam freely....swear it...

and LUSH...LUSH landscaping

and lunch at the FAAAAAABULOUS restaurant RATS..no words to describe this place....
like an Indian Casbah....

and the dessert....oh my...a little piece of chocolate art.

and...to top it all...the adorable waitress MaryBeth turns out to be an ESTY artist in her spare time...she loved the ring (big bling !) I'd been wearing that I made from the Wire from Belguim & wanted to buy if off my hand....hell no...she was adorable, and an artist herself...I gave it to her !

 Now..you need to check HER out on her site...Studiomfloral.com

she is a floral designer.

wow...my fingers hurt now from typing....so..hang on...more.... as we continue enjoying the journey.

It's a bunch of "Nun sense...

Honestly..sometimes you just have to go to that place where it's nothing but sheer silliness and laughs and you feel like you're gonna wet your pants cause you can't stop laughing...and that's how it was for me today....
My California friends Wendy Aikin and Judy Stabile, owners of WaxWorksWest in Aptos, came to visit me today. From the second I picked them up at the airport until bedtime we have been laughing so hard my sides hurt & my mascara is running down my face.
And..most of it has been over this silly little game I got them as a gag gift from Barnes & Noble.

We got so slapstick silly today that we had to make a little video....so...
since I don't have a lot of time to do a proper blog today, just enjoy this 5 minute bit of "Nun sense" and try to imagine you're sitting on my living room floor with us as we make complete fools of ourselves. Laughing is the best medicine.

and then there was Brooklyn

and an all day (70 mile) motorcycle trip to the Renegade Craft Fair held in McCarren Park, Brooklyn, New York. The Lenster and I grew up in Brooklyn, went to High School there (Midwood) , got married there & lived there the first 2 years we were married. It's always nice to "go home", especially for a craft show.


There were tents set up all over the park and all the exhibitors were ETSY designers and sellers. When I asked if I could take pictures & blog about them they jumped for joy....they were all the kindest lovliest people with marvelous handmade items. And I never saw such an assortment of fun dogs before.....it was so adorable. It seemed like everyone there had a dog on a leash or in a carry bag !


So..I will try to blog about everyone I stopped to chat with over the next few days. As artists we all know how important it is to support other artists...it's that Pay It Forward thing.

Today lets start with  Megan Stelzer Designs

I fell in love with her keys..she takes real ones and uses a coping saw to alter them...Bravo for her..they are completely unique and she'll do custom orders with your keys ! Plus all of her metal work was really cool & completely affordable.



Then I really liked  Claire McDermott...she takes used skate boards and makes the most unusual & uncommon  jewelry and luggage tags I've ever seen. I was fascinated. They look hand painted and they are...but not in the traditional way....



and then I had such a laugh (and a fun purchase) at Schmutzerland...where they had vintage thread & other tchotchkes that are, as they say, repurposed on purpose.


and I waited on a long line at Erica Weiner

who had all types of vintage stuff at very reasonable prices. I saw old bottle openers from the 50's and barrettes that were once 29 cents back in the 50's in their original package. I found one with the name "Maureen" which I picked up for my office manager...it's older than she is !  LOL

and I also want to highight a good friend of mine.....Terri Ventura aka Dime Store Emporium...she has AMAZING, AMAZING STUFF.
here's a small sampling...go shop her too !


Then we said bye-bye to  Brooklyn....giving us a view of Manhattan ( see the Empire State Bldg) as we biked by on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway...


so, after a very busy day the best advice is "Relax...take a break...breathe deeply....look at the sky and step out of the mayhem for a moment."
Just something worthwhie from "1001 little wellbeing miracles" by Esme Floyd.

watch for more ESTY vendors in future blogs.

but wait....there was more...

Ranger U just keeps going...


now its Claudines turn...

and she always comes up with the BEST projects for the class of 24 using her beautiful creamy rich paints, a chipboad box and her sticky back canvas. Everyone does their own interpretation after she explains her techniques and all about the products.








Then...after pizza lunch comes another round with Tim and his wonderful distress techniques.





and then we conclude for Day 2.....with....
the Ranger Designers Q & A time..2 hours of thought provoking questions are thrown at us and we try to give our best answers and tell our funniest stories.



When everything was done I invited our French Distributors (who came over to attend the classes) to come back to see my house and have Sushi dinner at my favorite local restaurant. They are always so wonderful to us when we go over to demo for them.

Mona (R)  decided to rough it on the back of the Lensters Motorcycle.... Madeline (L) owns ACICAM in France and they distribute Ranger product.


Mona turned out to be a real biker chick !!!

Viva la France !!!!! (and viva la sushi)
(L) Candice, Madeline, moi, Mona and Manuela

they're all back for another round of Ranger U day 3 today...I get the day off....The Lenster and I have some interesting plans.....

Lets Play with Stuff

That's how fabulous Ranger U is....
you play with STUFF all day
for 3 days
stuff....stuff....stuff
and you get to play with fabulous people
fabulous....fabulous....fabulous....


like Angela Bannatyne and Donna Downey (both of them a laugh a minute !)
and

Angela (again !) and Heidi Swapp
and

Margot Potter, beader extraordinaire....
and students from all over Europe, Canada, Australia
who got a fantastic tour of the Ranger plant

and made incredible things using multiple UTEE colors all melted together in one pot


and did cool stuff with Perfect Pearls and Magenta stickers

then, taking all their UTEE projects and gluing them to a display board to take back to their store.


and then topped off the day with the famous Ranger Bar-B-Q (Theresa may just want to kill me after posting this picture of her ....Love you T!!! )

and tomorrow there will be more of same, minus the hotdog.....wahoo!