Happy Holidays!!!

Here I am wishing everyone the happiest and most joyful holiday season. I hope that you have a magical time celebrating whatever you may celebrate. Here our Christmas tree is up all glowing and with gifts under it. Quinn is overjoyed about it. I will do a new post in the New Year.
Again happy and safe celebrating.

November Studio update

November is almost over already. I feel like it has just started. Thanksgiving is over and I hope everyone had as a joyful one as we did. We have lots to be thankful for this year.
We have had our first snow fall of the year. And Christmas is fast approaching.
Here is a quick update on the studio.
Here is Quinn helping me bag and put away inventory. He is such a great assistant and he love to be in the studio making also.

Here is a picture of several project that are in progress. I have finally settled on the design of them and now they just need to be finished. Some are old projects rediscovered and others are new.

There will be four new necklaces and one new pair of earrings. I have loads of new ideas also. I just have to find more time in there. I am hoping to find more time very soon. Again thanks for always reading and I will do another update very soon.
Have a fabulous day.
Liesl

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving.
This is one of my favorites, it is all about family and friends and well of course food.
I am thankful for all of my family and friends. I am thankful for being one to make and I am thankful  for everyone being be happy and healthy. I hope everyone has a fabulous holiday and is happy and safe.
Thanks for reading,
Liesl
ps- I ma also thankful that all of you keep reading. Thank you

Quilting update

Here is a quick update on Quinn quilt. Well first it is not done, as I knew it would not be done in time for his birthday. And Christmas is fast approaching. I am hoping to at least have the top done by then. Also I have my new machine. It is a Singer 128 with gold sphinx decal on it. I love it. It is a treadle and I love that it is so simple, Quinn is excited to learn how to use it also.

 Here I am Working on it. So fabulous!!

 Here is a good amount of the top done. All the big squares still need to be put together. After that I will lay it all out and put the top together. I am so happy with the way it has been coming together.

I promise that my next post will be about jewelry and what is going on in the studio. Thanks for reading. Have a fabulous day.
Liesl

Quinn's Art project

Last weekend Quinn made this amazing piece art. I think it is just amazing. He worked on it for most of the day. First he blew up a balloon and then added masking tape all over the balloon, so that it could not be seen. Then he took markers and crayons colored it and then wiped it off. The effect was this amazing texture of color. Then he popped the balloon and cut a slit in it and had help from daddy to put the twine tied on it. Then he filled it with cloth from my scrap bag.

I just think that it is amazing that he took it upon himself to make this fabulous piece of art. It warms my heart to see him enjoy making so much.

Singer sewing machine

I was at my friend Betsy's house working on my quilt and she let me use her no.66 treadle singer. It took me some time to get the rhythm down, but I got it!! And now I am hooked!! I am getting my own treadle singer and can not wait.
My quilt is coming along slowly. Quinn is hoping in time for his birthday(this month), I am hoping in time for Christmas. Only time will tell. Thanks for reading.
Liesl
ps- I'll post pics of my new machine when I get it.

Yesterday I had a sale at home in Steve's studio. I got a chance to meet some really great people. Yesterday was a great fall day, crisp air, the trees have a just about turned here. I feel like fall came fast and furious this year. I love fall, but it never last long enough, then it is winter and that is not my season.

 Quinn had a blast helping me out, he loves to check out all of the jewelry and he had a great time playing with his remote control monster truck in the driveway. All in all it was a great day.
Have a fabulous day.
Liesl

Betsy's sewing room/studio

As you all know I have stated to quilt. All with the thanks to my friend Betsy who give me a couple of hours on Sunday afternoons (when we can) to teach and help me through. Last week I was piecing some of my larger blocks together on one of her fabulous vintage singer machines. The one that I used is named Margaret. It is a electric treadle. I would love to have one these. Here is a photo of her sewing room/studio.

 The picture below is the machine I was using and some of my work on it. So far so good. Quinn is hoping the quilt will be done in time for his birthday, I'm hoping in time for Christmas. We will see, either way I love it and so does he. I do another quilting update soon.

  Thanks for reading. Have a fabulous day.
Liesl

The flowers are gone and fall is here. The trees are already starting to change colors here in Massachusetts. I am not ready for fall, I feel like summer never happened. Oh well embrace what we have now and that is cooler days that are great to work in the studio on.
When I place my bench in front of the window I had envisioned working and being able to see Quinn playing in yard. And that day has come it was amazing. With the door open he could talk to me and I could keep and eye and an ear on him.

 Here is what I was working on. I an working on another piece related to Alzheimer's. I think that it is a great start. It will be another necklace. I am not sure if these are the elements that will end up in the finial piece though. I have a habit of looking at things and changing them around several times before I am happy with them, or just want to finish it to move on. Sometimes that is something you have to do. Just finish and move on.

 Here is a collection of stones and pearls. Fist who doesn't love a bowl full of pearls. I love pearls and I love to use them in a lot of my work. I think every women should have pearls, I love to make them wearable for any age and any type of person. There are three bags of stones one set is from the beaches in Toronto one is from hiking trips with Quinn at Purgatory Chasm (one of our favorites place to hike and explore) and the third is from a friend who thought that I would enjoy them and be able to use them.

 After a while Quinn came to join me in the studio and work on his own projects. He has been asking for a bigger workbench. He needs for space to work he tells me. Taking after his parents already. I am one proud Mama. I love that he enjoys working and creating with me and does the same with Steve in his studio. He is already saying that our next house he will have his own studio!! Fabulous!!

Thanks for reading have a fabulous and joyful day.
Liesl

growing

This past spring I planted some gladiolus(?) (I am sure I spelled that wrong) bulbs. It is in honour of my late grandfather who was the biggest influence in my life. Not sure if they were every going to bloom, I have been getting most amazing flowers! The colors are spectacular.
Quinn and I have a mystery plant growing (we think it is a pumpkin), it started growing in our compost bin and Quinn and I have been moving from to pot to ground. These are two things that my grandfather would always grow, especially in his latter years. I am taking it as a sign from him, that we are heading in the right direction and that things are going to continue to go our way.

It caught my eye

Steve and I were at one of our local antique store and this table of items really caught my eye. The colors, the way everything was in glass containers. I just had to share it with you all. I found it really beautiful. This collection of objects that by themselves may seem plain or ordinary but put together just grabs your attention.

Tangled Mess of Memories

This is a necklace that I created for the series I have based on Alzheimer's and other memory disorders/diseases. I based this piece on the fact they seem to have this tangled mess of memories, a piece of a memory here and there, all of these little bits all tangled together. Some make sense and others don't. This is not of my normal aesthetic, I am much for simple, clean and neat. Where with these they are busy and chaotic just like what is going on with the alzheimers.
Here is the list of materials that I used in this piece: sterling silver, tourmaline(various colors), fresh water pearls(various), labradorite, rubber, aquamarine, citrine
I used quite a lot of parts in this necklace. I think it came out really amazing. I hope you like it.
Liesl  

Up North

We spent the fourth up north in Toronto Canada, Steve's home town. We up for the service of his dad who had passed. Sad times to go up for but it is always great to see family no matter what.
Even on the drive up (11 hours) I managed to get some work done.

Steve took Quinn and I on a tour of where he grew up. The now trendy beaches. even though Toronto is a massive city it has some amazing beaches that are surprisingly quite. And being me I could not pick up some rocks from the beach and what wonderful rocks they are.

I already have some great ideas of what to make with them. I am surprised by the smoothness of them they just feel amazing in your hands. Quinn even picked up a few for me, and well I have been finding rocks in his pockets all the time he likes to find me rocks to make jewelry with.
As always thanks for reading.
Liesl

quilt update

My quilting is really coming along. I have somewhere around 30 of these small squares. I still haven't made my mind up about a solid color to alternate with them yet. This is for Quinn, and he gets so excited when I finish one and he loves counting them to see how many I have done. He also loves putting all of the little squares together to make the design. He is becoming quite the maker and designer. I am loving this quilt that I am making. The colors, the feel of it and all of he hand work that I am doing (which is all of it). It is great to do as you watch tv or sit outside. I'll keep you posted on the solid color choice I make.
Happy Making,
Liesl

Pickles!!!!

Now I know that this doesn't have anything to do with making, but I am just so excited about this I have to share.
Yesterday we went for a drive and found this amazing little thrift/antique store in Connecticut great store and great people run it. Anyways I have an obsession and a great love for vintage dishes, mostly pyrex but I also love odd things, I have a spoon rest that is a radish and one that is a stack of celery and now I have this fabulous pickle dish!! You just don't see them anymore. I love it. We I was growing up my grandmother had a dish of sweet gherkin pickles out on the table at every meal. Now here dish was not as cool as mine but it still made me think of her. As she is a rather an amazing women. Anywho, here is my pickle dish!!

One shot with no pickles

One a shot with pickles

How great is this dish? I just love it and I only paid three dollars! It just made my day. And what a great day it was out yesterday. I feel like it has taken me a wicked long time to get over that horrible winter we had. But I have, a little in the game but I am here. Thanks for reading about my dish. 

Liesl

 

The studio

It has been a very rough year for us. And because of that I have been finding a hard time to get in the studio and work and also finding inspiration has been hard for me this year. I am taking some time to clean out my studio and re-organize it. I am hoping that will help my juices flowing again. I have started with my bench I think this is the most clean it has been since we moved into this space.

  I still have a lot of work to do in cleaning out my studio. I have the habit of collecting things that I really will never use. All this cleaning out and re-organizing will be like a fresh start. I am hoping to make room for my other mediums that I have not had the space to do. It will take a little bit of work.  

On a different note. One who has no problem with his creative juices is my son. He is always wanting to go into the studio and work. I get mommy can we make some jewelry all the time. It is fabulous!! He has been picking out tools that he would like to get and is asking for his own flex shaft!!! How amazing!!

Here he is working hard on his fathers day project. I need to work on his bench so he make more there. It a much smaller bench, and he likes to work on his painting projects there, I think we might have to find him a bigger bench. It is crazy how fast they grow. He continues to amaze me each and every day. Thanks for always reading and I will be posting a quilting update very soon.
Liesl

A quick break from Art All State

Here are a bunch of us sitting and chatting at Art All State. It was great being submerged in art for the two days.
Lisa Montanaro, Lauren Savoia, Rosa Ibarra, Emily Sandagata, Rob Sandagata, Me and Elaine Smollin
It was fabulous talking with all of these great artist. Thanks for making it a great event.
Photo taken by Dori Latman

Art All State - 2014

This past weekend I was an artist mentor at Art All State at the Worcester Art Museum  This was my third year doing it and as always I had a blast. I had a fantastic partner Dori Latman.
We had a fabulous group of kids (15) who took the challenge of AAS and made the most wonderful piece of work. Their challenge was to take the empty room below and transform it (inspired by works with in the museum) using only three materials fabric, yarn, and the liners from hanging plants.

 This is what they had created in the two days of the event. Is it not amazing? I was blown away by what they created. They all worked really well together. And keep in mind that they did not know each other before hand. They came from all of the state of Massachusetts.

 Here is a close up.

 At the end we had some time left and did a exquisite corpse drawing. That is were we had the kids sit down and draw for two minutes and then move to the right till got back to their original space. That was also a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun as did the kids.  

 Thanks everyone for making Art All State 2014 a fantastic one!! Studio 102!!!

Something new and different - quilting

Lately I have been finding myself drawn to the art of quilting. I find this art beautiful and interesting. I have found a friend who has willing to teach the fine art of hand quilting. I am wicked exciting. I had my fist lesson this past sunday. My sewing has already gone from bad to pretty good (or at least I think). I am loving the fact that I can take pieces with me to work on anywhere. It is fantastic!

As you can see from the above photo all notes and books and fabric that we started with. That pile of wonderful bright wonderful bali print fabric was a gift from my son for my birthday awhile ago. He already has great taste.

I chose a simple nine patch pattern to start with, using the amazing fabrics that Quinn gave me and some white muslin. I think that my first quilt will be great.
Keep reading as I keep you updated on my quilt and how I will integrate everything together.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Happy Mothers Day to all mothers. I love being a mom to my amazing boy. He amazings me more and more everyday. This morning I recieved breakfast in bed (amazing), and the gift that Quinn made me is spectacular! It is a bracelet, and a book that he made of flowers and why he loves me. He informed me that it took him three days to create this wonderful gift. Below is the fabulous bracelet he made me. Again Happy Mothers day to all, and I wish you all a marvelous and wonderfilled day.

First from new series

This is the first piece that is finished form my new series that is inspired from my work with people who have alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. I have been working on this for some time now and have several more pieces in the works and hopefully will have them done soon.

The piece is sterling silver, with a rutilated quartz that I bezel set.  The lines of rutilation in the quartz are to represent the "tangles" in ones brain and how thing can easily get confusing. The bottom piece is hollow constructed and I have put various sized holes in the dome to represent the missing memories that come from the disease.
I love this piece and can not wait to show it.

New piece and my bench

Here is a new piece that I am working on. It is coming from my new series of work that is inspired from my work with Alzheimer's. It represents the "tangles" that happen with in the brain. And the bits of memories. I can not wait to finish it. I also can not wait to get going on the pieces that I have in my head.

 Here is a picture of my bench. I love to take photos of my bench I really have no idea why but it brings me joy and I strive to be as joyful as possible everyday.

Don't forget that I am having a huge sale in my store!

SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!!!

Holy sale!! I am having a major sale in my store! These are the lowest prices I have ever done. I am working on some and exciting series or work and am cleaning house. If there is something that you have seen here on blog and it's not in my store email me at lcarlsonjewelry(at)gmail(dot)com I hope you all find something you love and would like. Have a fabulous day!!

Art All State 2014

This past Saturday I was at the artist mentor orientation for the 2014 Art All State.
I am so excited!! One I was able to check out the museum (always a plus). I met with the other artist that I will be working with and I think that she is great! We pick out some amazing pieces for inspiration. The materials that we picked will be amazing. I am looking forward to doing it and seeing what the kids can do.  

Studio Tidbits

Last week I was asked to be an artist mentor for Art all State again this year!! How wonderful, I think that it is a great program and am very excited to be part of it again this year. Thank Worcester Art Museum. I can not wait to showcase some of the new work that I am working on.
On other new news Steve bought this great hammer for only $2 at out local flea market in Douglas. What an amazing deal!

Here is the first look at one of my pieces that I am working on. I work as a CNA for a day job and very inspired by work with my dementia and Alzheimer's residents. My new work comes from them.

    I am hoping to finish this piece this week. And will talk all about it then. I am very excited about it. I am just hoping that it starts to warm for longer then a day. It has been a very long and cold winter here is Massachusetts. It makes it very hard to work when it takes all day to warm up enough to hold my tools.

Finally back to the studio!!!

After what seems like the never ending winter here in the northeast, we have had a little bit of a warm up (above freezing) this weekend.  It was loving to not have to wear two sweaters under your coat! I am beyond excited for spring as I know most people are. The last month and half we have had several colds and stomach bugs go through our house, which has made going to the studio very difficult. So this past weekend we finally made it out there. Quinn and I are working on a project and it is very exciting. I can not wait to share it with you when it is done. I love that he asks to go work in the studio. This year coming up he is going to need a larger bench in the studio. So exciting!
I am hoping to have much more to show you in the coming weeks. As we are all done being sick. Thank goodness.

 

Earrings - pebbles and puddles

I just finished these earring over the weekend. They are fabulous!!! I made them for myself, I have not done that in quite awhile. They are the perfect small size about the size of a dime. They are so comfortable and light I do not even know that I have them on. I think everyone needs a couple of pairs of fabulous earrings that are wicked comfortable.

Love is in the Air

It is getting close to my favorite holiday. Valentines Day!!! A just about love, how wonderful.
Here is a coupon code for 20% Valentine2014. Use it in my etsy store. Happy shopping!

Wedding Ring

I finally finished Steve's wedding ring. He choice a simple ring, with a high polish. It came out great, I kept trying to make one that was much fancier than this. But this is the perfect choice for him.
It looks great on you baby.  

After a short break

I have taken a short break from the studio this past year. But I have returned and am hoping to a spectacular year coming up. With this warm snap and the new year I have hopefully found better balance in life and will have time to spend doing what truly feeds my soul - jewelry. I have repairs and new pieces all in the works. I am hoping to revamp my etsy and this blog in the coming months. I have missed my studio and working on my art.

My bench is full of great pieces that will find their homes in new work soon. I am very excited about all the new work that I have planed.

Quinn is wicked happy about being back in the studio also. He is excited to work on new painting projects and a new project for our new dog Rocco. Quinn is making him a dog tag. How beautiful!
I will be posting much more hopefully at least once a week.