Decades ago when I was just beginning to muck about with crafty stuff, I had a mental block. I made miniatures of anything, because committing to a human-sized project seemed too daunting. I’m still shaking off that block. Every few years I try to create a larger tapestry, or book arts piece, or wearable art, mostly…
Read More Beaded glovesWarning: I put on my pro-science hat here. Thanks to a friend’s generosity, I attended the February 1, 2014 ‘Parallel Realities’ discussion at Arizona State University. This is part of an ongoing series of lectures and other events called The Origins Project: “…an exciting transdisciplinary initiative that fosters new research and dialog, partners to transform…
Read More The Origins Project and sad little realitiesI was gently challenged last week by the owner of a book arts gallery. She’d hopped on the blog to see the latest 2013 and 2014 book arts pieces, and ran into the disclaimer that I keep on the front page. The fairly big ‘Adult Content’ note to the left, which is just the first…
Read More Erotic book arts projects (adult content advisory)Round Four of the Singer in Rhunshan e-pub cover: more texture in foreground, clothes, and trees. Deeper shadows. Highlights in the shadow-figure in the sky. The sig to the lower left is a stop-gap. I’ll be sending off my real one to my cover designer once we get this part nailed down. This is a…
Read More Further cover adventures (slight adult content)It’s that weekend again, folks: time for DarkCon. If you like your SF&F and media conventions with a little more grit and spice than the usual corporate-run fare, and you are in the Phoenix area this weekend, check it out. From their main homepage: DarkCon is a fantasy, science fiction, media and gaming convention. It…
Read More 2014 DarkCon in PhoenixSome book art pieces require a minimum of design, but a lot of production time. I already know how to make them, and I know there won’t be too many engineering surprises along the way. Other pieces require me to get the book out of my head and into a tangible object I can test for…
Read More Book art sketches: Night Flight and Night in MountainsExhibit A: my big clunky writer’s ring. I occasionally hang out with other romance and science-fiction authors. Large dramatic rings seem to be part of the uniform. Until I can afford the Swarovski crystal emerald ring that I rather lust after, I decided to make my own. Sterling silver wire, an old garnet and silver…
Read More I love silver, part two (slight adult content advisory)Good news, everyone: I have found a skilled cover designer to do the text that I am obviously not qualified to go anywhere near. The designer and a pack of sharp-eyed folks in an online art forum found all the places I’ve messed up, and pointed them out. It’s called a critique, and it’s a…
Read More Singer cover, round threeI had an interesting criticism leveled at me over the holidays: someone told me I was representing myself as some sort of professional or expert at this mishmash of stuff I love. Coming from this particular person, it was not a compliment. After I stopped laughing (not the expected response, I’m sure) I had to…
Read More Professional or expert?I like green. I think this has been adequately established. I keep playing with green beadwork projects, some more effective than others. The pendant on one of them was originally this borosilicate glass flame, flashed in the same pink-gold as some of the #8 seed beads in the right angle weave chain. I never liked…
Read More Another rebuilt necklace, a bead vest, and a lesson…And Hanukkah, Saturnalia, Sunreturn, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and whatever else anyone wants to celebrate. In the dark times of the year, we all need a little joy and sparkle. Which is why I took this two-year-old necklace, the first piece I made when I got back into right-angle-weave beadwork: And reworked it into this: Because I…
Read More Merry ChristmasA good workspace can enhance both inspiration and production, but it won’t magically do all the artist’s work. (This fits writing-related workspace issues, too.) One of the recent would-be insults leveled at me, as an artist: I ‘worked out of a kitchen’. The person who said it was possibly deflecting scrutiny from their own unprofessional…
Read More Craft Credo #3: Work is more important than workspaceSinger in Rhunshan is now in its more or less final form, hovering around 16,000 words/75 pages. Too big for a short story now, but respectable for a novelette. It is a romantic fantasy action/adventure with discreet hints of a male/male/female love triangle (but no actual sex in this part of the story), and a…
Read More ‘Singer in Rhunshan’ novelette inches closer to publicationSince I have snarked about cover art before (and the current fad for more-or-less competent photocollages overlaid with text), I thought this would be a good time and place to tout a cover designer who goes well beyond average with that medium. Erin Lark is a writer, a friend, and a fellow nutcase over on…
Read More Erin Lark Cover ArtI do most of my reading online these days, but I still love the physical feel of a real book in my hands. (With book artists, that’s probably a given.) I really like bookmarks – the civilized answer to turning down pages. I’ve made them from silver sheet, carved bone, and antique ivory piano keys,…
Read More Bookmarks and other anachronismsI am fortunate to have a piece in this exhibition: Watershed Tapestry, seen below. I’m in the company of some of the most well-known book artists of our time, in a unique gallery devoted to book and text-based arts. The show runs November 15, 2013 to December 28, 2013 23 SANDY GALLERY • 623 NE…
Read More Now showing: EcoEditions at 23 Sandy GalleryUpdated 6-19-2017: Brass Stars has been revised and expanded, and A. G. Carpenter now has the dark and gory (and gorgeous) results here. Her new cover isn’t shabby, either. *** A fun debut today for my friend A. G. Carpenter, who is a far better (and more prolific) writer than I am. Remember the name,…
Read More ‘Brass Stars’ by A. G. CarpenterJohn Paul Miller 4-23-1918 to 3-1-2013 A belated but no less heartfelt obit for one of the heroes of modern goldsmithing. Followed by the reasons why I think luminaries like him – in any field – are incredibly important to artists just learning their craft. When I was a total neophyte fussing around with the…
Read More When a kick in the pants is good for you (adult language advisory)Filmmaker Dan Perez has some great comments about how damaging that one word can be to an artist’s career. I’ve included the LinkedIn discussion as well, because it continues the conversation. In short, if you are any kind of creative person trying to make a living at your art – even just enjoying it as…
Read More ‘Exposure’ comes in many flavorsToday’s art-related Public Service Announcement is all about a company called Alien Skin, and a filter package called Snap Art. I’ve been lucky enough to use versions of this going all the way back to its introduction. I recently had the honor of helping beta-test Version 4. Wow. Okay, backtracking here. This will mean nothing…
Read More Art PSA: Alien Skin Snap Art 4