Blog Title: All Things Metal Clay: An Expert Guide on Where to Buy What - Elaine Luther

Jewelry Tourism: Shop Handmade in Chicago

A different kind of craft show, instead of booths, everything is arranged by department, for more “natural shopping.” Check it out at: http://www.depart-ment.com

The show is the weekend of December 5, 6, 7, 2008.

Jewelry Tourism: Lillstreet Art Center Holiday Show

You may know Chicago’s Lillstreet Art Center for its fabulous classes in metalsmithing and more, but they also feature artist’s studios on the upper floors.

If you’ve taken the Handmade Pledge this year, knock out a bunch of shopping in one stop at Lillstreet. Start with the Gallery on the first floor, then visit the 50 artist studios on the upper floors.

They even have “drop and shop” craft activities for kids 4 and up.

The holiday show is up Nov 28th - January 4th; with an open house Friday, December 5th, 6 pm-9 pm.

Details here: http://www.lillstreet.com

Can I Save this Dried-up Metal Clay?

Why, yes, yes you can.

Here are some super instructions online:

From Maggie Bergman: http://www.silverclayart.com

and

From Angela B. Crispin: http://langeestla.canalblog.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s a cool coloring sheet from Flickr user relentlesstoil / Keet Leibowitz. For a larger one, go to Flickr.

She asks that you upload your finished project here: Relentless Toil International

Want more? See last year’s Thanksgiving post, which holds the record at this blog for most views in a single day, see it here: Happy-Thanksgiving

For more on giving thanks, see the blog carnival post here: Blog-Carnival-Gratitude

Jewelry Podcasts to Listen to While the Turkey Cooks

Alison Lee of Craftcast recently interviewed Lisa Cain, founder of the Mid Cornwell School of Jewelry at Treesmill Farm, UK. Listen here: http://www.craftcast.com.

After that, if you’re still looking for something to do, check out all the videos at BenchTube on ganoksin.com.

Jewelry Tourism: The Nature of Diamonds

You can see the show, “The Nature of Diamonds,” at the Royal Ontario Museum, Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall until March 22, 2009.

Not in Ontario? These museums helped put the show together, so you might be able to see it if it travels to one of those towns next:

The Nature of Diamonds is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, in collaboration with the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; The Field Museum, Chicago; and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

via Katie at the Art Jewelry Magazine blog. AJM also has an article on it here.

New Show Online: Metal Inclinations

The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths presents METAL Inclinations: An International Online Exhibition

Go to http://www.metalinclinations.org to see the exhibition.

Fifty images were chosen by the three jurors: Michael Monroe, Marilyn da Silva and Susie Ganch. Seven awards winners share $4,000 in prizes.

The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths receives funding from: Hauser & Miller Co. and Pasternak Findings. The awards were sponsored by the Society for Midwest Metalsmiths, Hauser & Miller, Pasternak Findings and Rio Grande.

The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths is a not for profit organization. The Society’s goal is to promote, develop, educate, and encourage individuals who are interested in metalsmithing.
http://www.midwest-metalsmiths.org

Call for Entries: Toy Show

The “36th Annual Toys Designed by Artists” Exhibition
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR

Juror: Suzanne Ramljak, editor Metalsmith magazine
Purchase Awards totaling $2,500

Successful entries are creative and original and feature excellence of design and superior craftsmanship. Toys may be functional or conceptual, child proof or too delicate to touch. Have fun!

Deadline for digital images on CD, fee and entry form: Dec. 19, 2008
36th Annual Toys Designed by Artists Exhibition, Mar. 13-May 10, 2009

For more information: www.arkarts.com

Blog Carnival: Gratitude

(c) Elaine D. Luther 2006-2008 All Rights Reserved

For Thanksgiving, the blog carnival group is talking gratitude.

I’m grateful to be healthy, that my family is healthy. I’m grateful for the internet, and the opportunity to make money in my pajamas, for Precious Metal Clay, and artist-made glass beads, for space to work, computer-controlled kilns, fresh ripe peaches, and that gadget that cores and slices a pineapple all at once.

I’m grateful for friends who come over for dinner, and when I apologize that I haven’t cleared the books and paper off the dining room table, and say “I should do that before people come over”; they say, “We’re not people.”

I’m grateful to Charles Lewton-Brain and Tim McCreight for their generous sharing and documenting of metals techniques, including Charles’s low cost publications and free articles online.

And I’m really, really grateful that we’re all alive. Between my family and my husband’s family, we had an 15 month time period where 8 people died, including my father-in-law and my older brother.

In 2005, my daughter Sophia died.

I’m grateful that all that death has made me a more compassionate person. And a braver artist.

The shrine above is for my brother, Joe Luther. It was in the El Dia de los Meurtos show at the Indianapolis Art Center in 2006. On the right side is a picture of him as a little boy, on the other side, as an adult. The image on the back is a picture of a quilt that my mom and I made out of his clothes, to give to his children and widow, my dear niece, nephews and sister in law. Neither of us had ever made a quilt before.

Here are the links to the other folks in the carnival:

Kirsten Skiles

Lora Hart

Marco Fleseri

Angela B. Crispin

Tamra Gentry

Chris Parry

Lorrene Davis

Tonya Davidson

P.S. I’ve also made a shrine for my daughter, two, actually. Both were also in the Indianapolis Art Center show, in different years. One was made with PMC, sterling, copper, cloth and photo. You can see it in Tammy Powley’s book Picture Yourself Creating Metal Clay Jewelry, in the Gallery Section.

What Would Seth Godin Do?

Master marketer and Squidoo founder Seth Godin doesn’t need any free press from me, but apparently, I’m going to give it to him anyway.

I was astonished to hear that neither my step-father nor brother had heard of Seth Godin. What? How could they not have heard of Seth Godin, author of many books on marketing and web design, all with silly names, like The Big Red Fez?

Then two things happened in one day: the new Archie McPhee catalog came out, (I’ve mentioned them before, here) and guess what, they have a Seth Godin action figure!

For those not in the know, Archie McPhee is your source for the Crazy Cat Lady action figure as well as Chum Bucket gum, and bacon band-aids. The second thing was that Manizesto, a marketing blog quoted Seth as their quote of the week:

“There are four ways to make a million dollars. Luck. Patient effort. Skill. Risk.”
-Seth Godin

So I thought, yes, the time has come to fill in my family members and blog readers on who this bald wunderkind is.

Here’s a round up of Seth’s Books, and below that, my Squidoo Lenses.

Links to All My Squidoo Lenses

Jewelry Clothes, a Guide to Cafe Press for Beaders, Rockhounds and Metalsmiths


Blogging bonus: the title of this post refers to the WWSGD WP Plug-in, that suggests to new visitors that they subscribe.