Smudge and Charlie in da house

D and I are leaving for summer vacation today - a week in Cape Cod with his family! Should be a great time. Smudge is home from the hospital AGAIN after being re-admitted for a third stay last Friday. He appears to be doing better so far (read: not urinating all over the house) but I feel awful to put him right back in a cage now that we're going away. Alas, this vacation has been planned for months. I do feel good however that the Dr.'s will be able to keep an eye on him and properly administer his meds while we're gone. Poor lil' guy…


And on that note, I might as well leave you with another bit of cuteness from his brother, Charlie, asleep in the Barbie house…

See you August 6th! Have a wonderful week!

Vivi Sun

New York jewelry artist Vivi Sun's resin work really caught my eye (via carrotbox). Her pieces are so wildly textured and deliciously hued they make me want to eat (or at least nibble) them…

Vivi has an etsy shop and when I "hearted her" as a favorite she contacted me and mentioned Susan Sloan, (resin queen and one of my mentors.) Turns out Susan had shown a slide of my work in a class at the 92nd st Y that Vivi was attending. How cool is that? Small world! You can check out more of Vivi Sun's lovely work on her website.

I'm a Crafty Bastard

A few weeks ago I applied to take part in the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair in DC on September 30th. Well, I'm pleased to announce I've been accepted! My friend Casey, (aka the Candy Thief) and I are sharing a booth which should be a lot of fun. Casey is somewhat of a seasoned craft fair gal… this will be my first time. I'm really looking forward to it and I have a lot of display ideas in the works. (remember that barbie dream cottage I mentioned a few posts back?! or that barbie couch collecting obsession?)

The 4th annual Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair will be held Sunday, September 30, 2007. 10am-5pm at the Marie Reed Learning Center at 18th & Wyoming in the hip Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.

For more details go here. If you're in DC and available that Sunday come say hi!

Barbie & Ken Dance Party

This video is really pretty great! Definitely made me giggle. Gotta love YouTube sometimes. Have a look…

New Work

What her Smile Meant, Pin
sterling silver, plastic and pigmented epoxy resin
1 5/8” x 1 3/4” x 3/16”

Take My Hand, Pin
sterling silver, plastic and epoxy resin
5/8” x 2” x 1/2”

I completed these two brooches for the upcoming Facere Jewelry Art Gallery Exhibition entitled Pins For Men (opens September 12, 2007.) A great idea for a show, in my oPINion (haha) …men who are courageous enough to wear art jewelry? Very hot. Men courageous enough to wear art jewelry made out of Barbie and Ken dolls?! Even hotter :-)

Liu Jianhua

I recently discovered Chinese artist Liu Jianhua's porcelain plate series (via Phantasmaphile) and was completely blown away. I find these works to be so erotically charged; disturbing as well as slightly humorous, utterly compelling and undeniably well crafted.

"Liu Jianhua creates small-scale sculptures from fibreglass and porcelain. Trained as a ceramicist from the age of fifteen, he is well-known for several series of works of headless and armless female figures dressed in cheongsams and high heels and lying in erotic poses. His works comment on attitudes to women as well as the place of China on the contemporary art scene and political world stage."

For even more information go here.

custom necklace

I just completed this custom necklace for an etsy customer and am pleased with how it came out…


A simple yet bold, fun pendant. This is the type of new work that I will be making for my wholesale line. I only wish I had more time to develop it! I have so many ideas and never enough time to produce them these days. As I work through designs I will be posting some prototypes on my etsy shop so check back often. Etsy really is an amazing online community, filled with so many good people with BIG hearts, selling and shopping. I'm happy to be a part of it.

From the bench…

massacre scene from the bench

bits and pieces

A lovely redhead Midge recently purchased on ebay! Too pretty to cut in to but wow it's tempting, I absolutely love her lips.

My dream house!! (Actually technically it's the Barbie Dream Cottage, but whatever) I have big dreams for this abode. My collection of ebay sofas has grown a bit and for now I've decided to take a break from collecting them. But they really make me so happy to have in my studio with me, even if the whole thing is taking over my drafting table!

What I've been working on lately…

Here are just a few of the earrings recently sent out to Julie Artisans Gallery in Manhattan and Facéré in Seattle:







I also added a few new pairs of earrings on etsy, so if you're interested you can check them out here.

Earth Art at it's best

I've been meaning to share this link for a while. It's an Underwater Sculpture Gallery created by artist Jason Taylor, located in the west indies. Being slightly afraid of all things in the deep I find this idea both alluring and frightening. For the life of me I can't remember where I first came across this website but anyway it's pretty amazing. Check it out…



So haunting, no? If you have a moment, watch the decay slideshow - it's very cool.

Healing

Smudge has returned from the hospital, fingers crossed this time it's for good! He was re-admitted after he was released last time because he re-blocked AGAIN two days later, which apparently is fairly common. We brought him home on Wednesday and so far so good as far as the blockage goes.

However, we're having some issues since his return with him urinating wherever he pleases - ALL over the apartment! Needless to say it's been driving D and I a bit crazy, but as the Dr. says, at least he's peeing! (sigh)

He has been walking slower than usual and it's pretty obvious he's still in some pain, but he's been very cuddly and I think he's happy to be home again. I just hope the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory are doing their job.

He's now sporting his new haircut… a "Lion Cut" as it's called. He really does look like a little lion being orange and all! Too cute. My dad would laugh himself silly if he saw him! Once he saw a woman on TV that had given her long-haired cat a lion cut and with the southern inflections in her voice she kept calling it a "Liiiiiiiiine cut" so my father would often walk around the house imitating her and announcing he was going to give Emma (mom and dad's cat) a "Liiiiiiiiiine cut!" Silliness.

At first I thought Smudge looked kind-of ridiculous, but now I think he looks adorable this way and I'll probably continue to have him shaved once a year. It's so much easier for him (and us) to manage! No more dreadlocks! And in this heat, I'm sure it's a relief to him. He feels like a soft little peach.

So that's the conclusion to the heartache that has been my life lately. It's been an emotional couple of weeks but I'm hopeful he's officially on the mend. Now I can maybe get back to the business of life as usual and start blogging regularly again. Thanks for your patience and your kind well wishes.

Happy 4th of July everyone!