In May of 2013 I was into making sculptural wood and wire photo frames.
Photo description: oak wood photo frame with wire tree and Mother of Pearl buttons as leaves
I cut the frame from hardwood, sanded and finished it, then put a peg hole and dowel in the back to function as a stand. I drilled holes for the wires, epoxied them in and shaped them. I added tabs to the back to hold the photos in. Did I take a picture of the back? Not of this one.
Photo description: back of an owl photo frame showing peg stand, metal tabs, and hanging hardware. The eyes of the owl were fused glass with iron oxide pupils that matched the tone of the wood. the back of the eyes can be seen in the photo.
My photo skills took a slip back at this time. Many of the photos for the other frames were blurry, or at a strange angle, and others were taken with photos in them. Some of the photos of photos were decent, but since I don’t post faces on this blog, it made them unsuitable for future use. In my past-self’s defense, I had two young children and I’m frankly lucky to have remembered to take pictures at all.
In February 2013 I made a small glass baseball style cap from glass clay and painted it with pearlescent powder before firing it in my kiln. It is a very wee object, measuring at less than an inch in length.
Photo description: small glass hat next to a plastic rulerPhoto description: inside of the hat with my maker’s markPhoto description: back of hat showing some detail work that remained after firing
Here is an example of a picture without a thousand words from January 2013. As I was going through my album looking for Throwback posts, this almost didn’t make the cut because I didn’t leave myself enough information.
Photo description: printed image of an ancient bronze fibulae, clay model with wire spring, polished bronze clay fibulae (new), mystery fibulae (made by me)
At the time of the photo I was still experimenting with metal clay. My sister is an ancient historian and I suspected this was a project for her, so I pinged her for confirmation. She provided the name “fibulae” and an interesting article about their findings and use.
I can tell from my photo that I had a museum photo as reference, and I made a model with less expensive polymer clay, that looks more swan-like than my reference photo. The middle polished bronze clay fibulae I obviously spent more time on, but I’m not sure if I fired the clay with the wire in place or epoxied it in later (I’m already not using ancient foraging techniques, since I’m working with modern metal clay.) The last fibulae on the right is what raises the most questions. Did I not polish it? It is the same shape and style as the bright bronze, so I’m sure it is my work (my replication skills are not finely honed, especially then.) Did I try to antique it by adding patina, or is this how it came out of the kiln? Did I make this before or after the bright bronze fibulae? I have a feeling that I fired it with the wire in place and either the firing or the antiquing weakened the metal, causing the breakage. Did I do it on purpose? So many questions.
Here is a picture of the back, which answers the question of how the pin fastens.
Photo description: back of modern-made bronze-clay fibulae showing the pin pocket
Back in December of 2012 I was into cutting up wine bottles and heating them up to melting in my kiln. I made an ornament from the base of a green bottle, cut a groove in the side with my wet grinder, and wire wrapped it. Using an engraving tool I wrote the first verse from A Visit from St Nicholas by Clement-Clark Moore in a spiral out in tiny lettering.
Photo description: green glass ornament with spiral writing and organza ribbon
As I scroll my photo history, I don’t take every craft project for a throwback post. When I look at a photo, if there aren’t enough words in my head, it doesn’t get picked. There are some projects where I don’t remember what materials I used, or don’t have any in process photos to remind me how I constructed it. So I keep scrolling. Since I’m still picking projects from 13 years ago, I figure I have some leeway.
In August 2012 I helped finish a crocheted rope project. Unfortunately I didn’t write down details. I remember that the woman who commissioned me to do the work received the started pieces from a loved family member that passed before finishing the necklaces. She wanted something that she could wear, not just sit in a box. The original intent of the work was to make a long rope with looped beaded tassels on the end. That didn’t suit my client, so we decided they should sit near the collarbone with a magnetic clasp. The original maker had threaded the beads, made the first tassel, and started the crochet with a size 13 steel needle. There was one pink seed bead project and one with white seed beads.
Photo description: box of white seed beads threaded onto cotton thread, tassel and crocheted rope laid on the outside of the boxPhoto description: pink seed bead crocheted rope with wildly different translucent seed beads on the tassel.Photo description: my method of beaded string organization, a huggy spool
I removed the tassels and finished the crochet to the desired length, then ran a piece of 49 strand beading wire through the tube. I attached the magnetic clasp to the wire so that no pressure was applied to the bead work.
Photo description: finished crocheted ropes in white and pink on a reflective black surface
I love the feel of crocheted seed beads ropes, but it is small detailed work that is not fast. The client was pleased and I enjoyed helping a project reach completion.
This was before I learned about the Loose Ends project that matches unfinished projects with volunteer finishers.
Critters and Craft 