On My Workdesk Wednesday #5

This is WOYWW #287 (and the fifth time I've participated) and if you want to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters, check out the linky here!

Well, my friends, this semester has been a doozy. When I wasn't in class for 27 hours (per week), I was working on hours upon hours of homework, working on custom orders for my Shoppe, going to bible study or other meetings, and somewhere in there trying to fit in as much of a social life as I could. Oh, yes, and eating, sleeping, and exercising. Priorities.

Needless to say, I don't plan on taking an overload semester again anytime soon. Next semester will only be 15 credit hours. Right now it is finals week, I am delaying on studying for calculus, and I really just want to be home enjoying Christmas break and getting the time and freedom to make some fun art.

For today's "What's On Your Workbench," I am going to share some pictures from the past several weeks!

So, this is a slightly random sampling of what my workspaces have looked like this semester.

Probably one of the most interesting things I had on my desk was the pinecone collection that I scavenged from the trees around campus...

This was when I was watching Anastasia while cutting up the pinecones and gluing them onto copper.

And THIS is why my roommate and suitemates are fantastic people. Well-- one of many reasons. They don't kill me when I take over our table with my wire and beads (and pinecones)!

All three of these pictures are from one project for my Shoppe-- a custom bridal "Entwife Woodland Circlet" inspired by the circlet I made a couple of years ago. I will be blogging about this piece sometime soon. Here's a couple of pictures of the finished circlet:

Another incongruous sight for a dorm desk:

(Well, I would imagine that the face of John Green isn't too incongruous. Same with the calculator and tea. However I think that the metalwork tools are.)

This was, again, for my Shoppe. I was stamping quotes on sheet metal, which I then sawed out (yes I was careful with the dorm furniture, mom, I am not five years old! lol!). Our priest at our campus ministry let me work with my chemicals in the church's backyard. I was using Liver of Sulfur to darken the letters and then a resin spray to seal it.

Here's some of what came from this batch of metal:

This is a picture from the classroom of my favorite class of the semester: Color Theory. A very sweet, classy, excited Polish lady taught the class. I found good friends among my classmates and am very sad that it is officially over (I had my final on Monday).

It's so much fun to be an art student, lugging up a summer's worth of money in paints and supplies up flights of stairs every day. Oh so much fun. But (very nonsarcastically) completely worth it for this class.

I'm not sure what project I was working on in this picture below, but I think I was braiding wire for circlets.

This is the only in-progress shot I can find of the bridal party jewelry I made for an autumn wedding.

These are more workdesk shots from my color theory class:

And THIS lovely shot is not of my dorm desk, or a workspace in one of my classrooms. It is the kitchen table at home, from the one day during Fall Break when I worked on homework for eleven hours and drank an entire kettle of peppermint tea:

(Picture from my Instagram)

The following three pictures are from my dorm desk when I was working on more projects for Color Theory. I didn't take many pictures of my design classes-- mostly because I did not enjoy them very much. Don't get me wrong, I love the subject matter and still plan on majoring in Graphic Design-- but it is amazing how much mediocre teachers and projects can try your patience.

This project pictured below is, weirdly enough, from a design class! We had to create a piece of art based on a list of mashups our GA gave us. My piece is a mashup of M.C. Escher ("Print Gallery") and Frank Lloyd Wright ("Fallingwater").

We were given the assignment on the Monday before finals week and it was due by our Saturday final. I got so into it that I actually finished three days early. What is this.

And what is on my workdesk THIS week?

A mess.

To be fair, I am both packing and studying.

Anyway, there you go, my friends! Please believe me when I say that this whirlwind is just a very small snapshot of all the craziness that has been going on in my life this last semester. :)

I'm off to study for my last three finals, but as soon as I am ready for a study break, I'm going to check out the workspaces of everyone else involved in "What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday"! So should you, if you can. There are some creative people participating in WOYWW.

On My Workdesk Wednesday #4

This is WOYWW #275 (and the fourth time I've participated) and if you want to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters, check out the linky here!

For the past couple of weeks, my college dorm desk has been my workdesk-- and boy does it have a lot going on today. Yes, this is the normal state of my desk. God bless my roommate for being so fantastic.

Since I am up to my ears in projects at the moment, I'll hold off on blogging about college. Suffice it to say that I am blessed to have fantastic friends, that I have some surprisingly good classes, and that I am involved in perhaps one too many activities.

I am going to take a page out of some of the other WOYWW bloggers' books and do a quick rundown of all the clutter on my desk. But first, an interruption by the most appropriate quote I can think of at the moment...

A clean desk is the sign of an empty mind.

(I've heard this quote assigned to Albert Einstein, but apparently no one knows who really came up with it.)

• 5 subject notebook, opened to my Literature course Hero and Quest. I am delaying on an essay in that class by writing this blog post instead. As we all know, writing blog posts about the contents of one's desk is a higher form of literature than writing a concise paper on the difference between knowledge and wisdom as presented in Diotima.
• Math. I'm taking Baby Calculus this semester (Big Kid Calc is the killer 5 credit hour class) and I also have homework due in that class.
• Tristan and Isuelt and the corner of The Forest People. More class readings.
• My sketchbook which holds sketches for Color Theory and two design courses. I've been spending a lot of time in Adobe Creative Suite lately.
• A paint palette, which is drying so that I can clean it and use it tomorrow.
• Half-braided copper wire for a bridal circlet I am working on.
• Pliers and chainmaille supplies for some consignment work I am doing.
• The mouse for my laptop. I forgot to bring my mouse to my internship today, and I also forgot to bring my Wacom tablet. It's hard to do design work with a trackpad! But everyone was pleased with the work I did, so I've still got a bit of a high from that.
• Last night's tea.
• A birthday card.
• Pictures of my lovely family.
• Packing tape which never made it back out into my box of mailing supplies. This weekend I mailed out SEVEN orders, and two of them were international sales!
• A to-do list on a post it note.

Some more sneak peeks into the art and jewelry work I've been up to:

From my Instagram-- a very early morning (before the cafeteria opened!) eating breakfast and doing design work before heading to a very early morning class.

Another Instagram shot-- this was taken at approximately one in the morning. Color theory homework. I promise that I actually do sleep sometimes. :)

More from Instagram-- a custom etched necklace that went out in the mail not too long ago.

These are a few more of the jewelry pieces I made recently-- all custom work. :) Yes I am just digging through my camera card to find some pictures to share! Most of the pictures I've taken recently have been of friends and events here on campus!

These are handstamped metal quote pieces that later had leather and silk ribbons threaded through to make bracelets.

And for good measure, here's a shot of my Color Theory sketchbook. I am really enjoying this class despite it being one of the most difficult art classes I've ever taken! There is so much analytic thought that can go into art-- even more than I ever imagined!

That's all for today, folks. I look forward to taking a peek at other artists' workdesks throughout this week!

On My Workdesk Wednesday #3

This is WOYWW #270 (and the third time I've participated) and if you want to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters, check out the linky here!

My workdesk this week is once again the dining room table. Last week, I was making new graphics for my blog and editing photos. I've still been doing that, but a couple days ago I had some beautiful free-time to spend painting.

The picture above shows the very start of a drawing that I inked and watercolored. I'm still working on getting a blog post up about it, but for the meantime, here's a progress picture from my Instagram:

Whoah, Instagram pictures look weird when they aren't two inches big on your phone!

The painting is an illuminated-style illustration of some quotes in The Silmarillion (the history and mythology of the world that The Lord of the Rings takes place in). The whole theme of the piece is about how much the Elves love starlight. 

I've haven't only painted this week, but I haven't been as productive as I want. I'm actually writing this post on Tuesday night because all of tomorrow (Wednesday) is going to be spent in the studio.

Tomorrow is my last full day to spend in the studio before I leave for school.

I'm excited for another year at college but so sad that my summer is nearly over. I've been busy, and also took two summer courses, and time really flies.

Anyway, my point was that as of Tuesday I don't have a picture of my real workdesk. I'll try to update this post with a snapshot at the end of the day on Wednesday. But I do have a picture of a piece of jewelry that I made for someone who wanted a black-and-white medieval-style necklace featuring the Evenstar pendant. She is doing a cosplay of Lyanna Stark from Game of Thrones.

Here's what I came up with (pic from Instagram):

I really enjoyed making this necklace-- I just kicked back and listened to Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (fantastic YA fantasy novel to listen to, it was interesting and didn't require much concentration) and played with beads and wire for a couple hours.

So... This has been a peek into what I've been working on since last Workdesk Wednesday. I'm looking forward to glancing at everyone else's blog and seeing their workspaces later this week!

On My Workdesk Wednesday

This is WOYWW #269 (and the second time I've participated) and if you want to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters, check out the linky here!

This Wednesday, my workdesk looks like:

Yup, it's not my workdesk at all!

It's actually the dining room table, but we call it the game room table on account of the fact that the only time we eat here is when guests or over or when we have desert while playing a game. My family is addicted to board games. This morning we are setting up for a tournament of Catan and Ticket to Ride with some of my brothers' friends.

Last night I got the itch to do some design work, so today's workdesk consists of my laptop!

(And by last night I mean that I sat down at eleven o'clock to check my email, got sidetracked with ideas, and didn't go to bed until one-thirty.)

I haven't updated the graphics and code on my blog since... well, I made the graphics in 2010 and did some fiddling with the code early last year to make it a bit cleaner. You'd think that someone who is starting her Graphic Design studies this semester would have kept her blog design better updated. My problem is that I have wild ideas that I never have time to implement, and that I don't want to change the graphics all the time because it's best when people actually recognize my blog if they come back.

Last night, though, I decided that enough is enough and I wanted a cleaner, more professional look. A few hours later and we have...

BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS! Yes! My blog's design is finally updated! 

I'm a little sad to get rid of the fairytale swirlies on the side of the blog, but the background image I used to get the swirlies there wouldn't load on all computers (and on one friend's computer, the swirlies covered up the text because her monitor is a strange resolution). Plain colors are safer.

My idea was to create a more modern, streamlined, and brighter look, without going all-out minimalist. Plain white backgrounds work really well on some blogs, my my blog has always needed a little more flair and color than that.

Keeping the Faerie logo as-is was a tough decision. I made it the same year I got my graphics software, the same year we moved to our wonderful house, and the same year I started my sophomore year of high school. FOUR YEARS AGO. Gosh, I'm old.

The way that the Faerie is sitting is just... awkward to me. However I couldn't bring myself to redo it since I like to think that my little Faerie has got a little big of brand recognition. Instead, I created new swirlies and flourishes for the Fearie to sit on.

Hopefully by the end of the day I can reflect the design changes in my Shoppe and start getting it together on my artist's website.

Also, this Wednesday, I made my "workdesk" so much better.

I FOUND A COMPUTER MOUSE.

This little unused wireless USB mouse was floating around in my Dad's office. Guys, for the past four years I've been using the trackpad on my computer exclusively. (Except for when I pull out the tablet pen). I wear my hands out pretty quickly every day, what with art, jewelry, and typing stuff for school, so using the trackpad can get tiring-- especially when doing design or photography work.

Using an actual mouse yesterday and this morning has been so nice. And my midi sketchbook is perfect as a mousepad.

My actual workdesk is a HUGE FREAKIN' MESS.

But, hey, a clean desk is the sign of an empty mind.

There aren't any big projects on the desk because I've just finished everything up, and I'm waiting for more sheet metal to arrive to work on my next round of custom orders. But I think that the variety of tools and supplies here show you that I've been busy making jewelry using about twenty million different techniques.

Last Wednesday, I shared my experiences with electroforming copper jewelry. I haven't perfected the technique or anything (3/4 of the leaves I've made so far are ugly wrinkly little things) but I did make ONE solid copper leaf and turned it into a necklace.

Below is the leaf I just finished yesterday. I ran it through Liver of Sulfur to oxidize it and then sanded it down to create the brownish look. I can't make jewelry with this one, though, because I hadn't treated the leaf properly before electroforming it and the piece is really weak.

Now I just need to go find some baby maple leaves that are a little prettier as stand-alone pendants.

There's no better way to start the morning than with tea! 

Especially when you get to use your mom's china. I love my giant mugs but sometimes cute little teacups add just enough flair to your day to make it wonderful. (Particularly when you've just finished reading two retellings of Beauty and the Beast and "Be Our Guest" is firmly lodged in your brain).

Now that my blog is (mostly) updated, I've moved on to editing photos. A few of my friends were gracious enough to model for me, despite the fact that I kept sticking the lens in their faces or at their necks and constantly having to apologize for the awkwardness!

Yup, this is the only picture I've fully edited just yet. I promise that not all the pictures have truncated heads... lol!

I'll probably spend the rest of the work day inside or on the porch, editing photos and glancing over my old calculus book (I've forgotten so much and have to get up to scratch for next semester). I hurt my foot (again), this time during Taekwando, so walking around doesn't sound much fun.

It's such a RELIEF to have my summer classes over. Here's to a glorious two weeks of real summer vacation. I've already devoured two books, played six or seven board games with my parents and brothers, watched movies with my little siblings, and hung out with friends. Next semester will be great but I'm soaking in the rest of summer. :)

Well, this turned out to be much more than "What's on Your Workdesk" (it's more like "What's on Your Workdesk Plus Lots of Ramblings) but oh well. :D

On My Workdesk Wednesday

I'm staring a new, regular blog feature: Workdesk Wednesday.

It is inspired by the WOYWW link-up over at the blog Stamping Ground, but I'm going to use it as a personal challenge to keep this blog updated on a weekly basis!

(You should check out WOYWW to see the workdesks of other artists and crafters!)

Every Wednesday, I will take a picture of the workbench in my garage studio at home, or my dorm room at school, or one of the tables at my school's studio.

So, what have I been up to this week?

What's On My Workbench:

What's this? A gigantic power supply running electricity through an acid bath?

Ooooooh, yeah. After learning how to etch and oxidize copper using all sorts of chemicals, I just had to keep going. This technique is my largest monetary investment into supplies... so I'm really hoping it works well. I'm having some hiccups right now.

I'm learning how to electroform organic materials! This means that I will be able to literally turn real leaves into copper. Well, not literally. What I'm literally doing is plating them in a nice, sturdy coat of copper.

I can then take the copperized leaves and patina them in various colors to make jewelry. I'm also looking for a way to create a sparkle dip that doesn't look cheesy, so I can make the leaves a little iridescent.

Hiccup #1: I can't skeletonize the leaves very well. I've been boiling the leaves in baking soda, soaking them for a day, and scrubbing gently with a toothbrush, but all I've managed to do is tear the leaves apart. If anyone has ANY tips, please let me know!

Hiccup #2: The conductive paint is taking some trial and error, as I can't seem to get an even coating and only parts of the leaves are turning copper.

Hiccup #3: The rectifier I bought online was defective and I had to return it. I'm borrowing this one from my dad's work but it's only for a couple days. They recently got an upgrade to a stronger power source, so maybe I can buy it from his boss?

(edited)

What's On My Workdesk? + Wordless Wednesday

I recently heard about a blog linky called WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) hosted by Stamping Ground where many artists and crafters write a short blog post about their workspaces covered with all their works in progress. Since I've been much too busy to prepare a blog post for this week, I thought I'd go ahead and join in and let you all peek at my workdesk!

Well, okay, you get to see about a square foot of my workspace. The rest is... um... I'm a teenager-- we're supposed to keep things messy, right? Right?

Above you can see projects from this week that are still living in my crafting space. The circlets are custom orders that I am very excited about!
And the painting is clearly just an acrylics exercise that isn't going so well.

I snagged this shot two weeks ago so I'm going to sneak it in here just because I forgot to take other pictures of the torc necklaces. So. I made two cool torc necklaces lately. :) And used up all my thick wire. :(

I also killed half and hour working on some Elf-ear costume jewelry things. I made a few of these a couple of years ago, but it would be nice if I can figure out how to make them fit multiple ear shapes without falling off. Clearly I'm still working on it.

Some sketches for a booklet I'm working on.

This is a sneak-peek picture of one of those circlets that is still sitting on my workdesk.

So, those are the artsy things currently cluttering my crafting space! The desk in my bedroom is covered with school papers, so I imagine you don't want to see what's on that workdesk. And most of my time this week is being spent on the Ink and Fairydust magazine. But that's kind of hard to photograph because it's just my laptop and tablet!

I'd love to see what's on your workdesk, so if you join the blog linky leave a comment so that I can be sure to check your post out (I wish I could browse every link on the regular linky but I can't!).

Wordless Wednesday by Aquariann is another cool Wednesday linky so I thought I'd share a photo I recently took:

Complete tangent: I know that many of you have realized that I am very excited, nervous, and slightly overwhelmed with my upcoming decisions on college. This weekend I made a two-day trip to do a scholarship interview and I will be doing another shortly which also involves timed essays. I think that the moment these interviews are over, all the nervousness will be gone and it will be pure excitement! I'm more and more impressed with the programs of the two colleges I'm deciding between. So thank you all for your prayers and support!