Moving

Hello -

It's been a long while since I last posted here.  It occurred to me that I should let you all know that I've moved my website and my blog to a new platform.  I'm on Squarespace now.  You can find me here:  https://mybrownwren.com/blog/.

It is my hope to blog more frequently, adding some free how-to type content for jewelry makers, and to share more about me.  I don't usually share too much about me personally, but I think it's important to let you know why I have long spans between posts.  Like most artists, I am always in a state of flux about my work - how I feel about it and whether I am worthy enough to call myself an artist.  I may not be the best artist, but I try my best - most of the time.  I am making a commitment to myself to do a little art everyday, whether I feel up to it or not.

Last year, I had hand surgery to repair a trigger thumb and to release a tendon that was causing weakness in my right pointer finger.  I had an amazing surgeon who really got what was going on - in more ways than one.  You see, ever since I was a little girl, I have always been super flexible.  I never thought much about it.  But, with the help of this amazing and wonderful surgeon, I have been putting the pieces together about why I am the way I am.  Let me explain...

I have a very sensitive system.  I have had anxiety and depression my whole life.  Until I met my hand surgeon, I had no idea it was part of a complex syndrome that also causes me to be quite flexible.  It's called Ehlers Danlos.  I have the hypermobility type, which makes my joints super flexible.  The laxity in my joints causes me to experience periods of tremendous pain.

As I learn more about Ehlers Danlos and the associated disorders, I have discovered that I need to be very careful with my diet and fluid intake.  When I am careful, I tend to have less pain, sleep better and feel more energetic.  When I'm not taking the best care of myself, I go through periods of horrible insomnia and excrutiating anxiety, which consequently makes me very depressed.

As I learn more about myself and how this disorder affects me, I am learning to accept where I'm at.  I've also discovered that drawing and painting help me to feel more calm.  So, I've been spending more time these days in my home studio painting sweet little house paintings and drawing lots of tiny houses, birds, flowers and bugs.  I will be sharing them with you through my process of discovering me.  It's a good place to be!

Advanced Sgraffito Technique Tutorial Released

Fifteen information packed pages of images and tips on how to make advanced, multi-colored designs in enamel with liquid porcelain, opaque and transparent enamel powders.  Find it in my Etsy shop today.

Advanced Sgraffito Techniques

I am working on an advanced sgraffito techniques tutorial that will cover combining liquid enamel with opaque and transparent enamels to achieve more complex designs and colorways.  Here are a few examples of the things that we will cover:

The tutorial is due to be released in my Etsy store towards the end of the week.  Stay tuned...

Sgraffito Enamel for Beginners

The latest My Brown Wren tutorial is now available on Etsy.  Sgraffito Enamel for Beginners is a PDF tutorial that takes the student step-by-step through this very easy and rewarding technique.  Learn how to use liquid enamel to create amazing designs and color those designs with transparent powdered enamels.

Some examples of what you can create...

New Jewelry Tutorials Available on my Etsy Shop

I've made a commitment to create more tutorials this year.  I recently created a video tutorial on riveting enamel.  In this tutorial I show several examples of heat rivets and cold rivets directly up against enamel and with a metal disc between the enamel and the rivet.  Riveting enamel is simple and easy with just a little practice!

My latest tutorial, Designs on Enamel, takes enamel to new heights with decals and direct image transfers.  Take your original artwork, print it on a special decal paper or print directly on a copy machine or laser printer to see your designs become permanently adhered to the enamel surface.  It's so cool! The image above on my riveting enamel video has been decorated with a decal.  The images below are both decals and direct image transfers.

My next tutorial, that I'm working on right now, is on Sgraffito Enamel Techniques in Enamel.  It should be complete in the next few days.  Check back later if you are interested.

More About The Retreat

So many people have been asking about the art jewelry retreat.  It's not for sale just yet, it goes on sale October 25th.  But, if you want to know more, you can go to the teacher page to see who is teaching and what their projects look like.  There are 19 teachers and 24 videos.  More info will be available on the 25th.

If you want to register to win a free seat in the class, please fill out your name and email in my typeform.  You will be automatically registered to win, and I'll send you a link to the registration page once it is live.

Looking forward to working with you all on this fun project!

Check it out!

What's New at My Brown Wren

What's new?  Tons and not much, all at the same time...

Back in April I made the decision to go back to full-time employment as an optician.  It was a difficult decision, but it's necessary for right now.  It's been great working with people again.  I was beginning to feel pretty isolated - even in the group studio setting at Blueschool Arts.  The down side is that I don't get to my studio as much as I would like, and getting ready for a show can be pretty exhausting after working a full day.  It's almost been 5 months since I made the transition.  I'm hoping to find some balance now that the Studio Tour is over and we've gotten our taxes out of the way. 

Now, I'm working on a super fun project that I think will change the future of how I teach my classes.  I can't tell you much of anything about it yet.  It's TOP SECRET.  Sign up for my newsletter to be the first to know about this really cool project that I'm embarking on.

For now, I leave you with some pics of the fun pieces I created for the studio tour this year...

Earring A Day Challenge

As you probably know, I've been participating in Victoria Takahashi's Earring-A-Day 2015 challenge.  This is one of those things that I've always wanted to do, but never quite been able to follow through on.  Well, I'm pretty far behind, but so are a lot of the members.  Some have just jumped into the challenge and we are almost at the third way marker.  I am so happy to be doing this.  It makes me think more creatively.  Knowing that others are having a hard time too is comforting.  We're in this together!

Why keep going you ask?  Well, I have the opportunity to connect with other jewelers in an open forum, which is not something that happens as a general rule.  We share what we've made and sometimes how we've made it.  We share our mistakes and our triumphs.  It's very supporting and spawns new ideas and pushes us personally to take our work up a notch.  The newest idea that has come about is to make earrings with what we have - not buying any new materials for the project.  I've been doing this for the most part.  The verbalization of the idea has made me think that I need to explore new materials in my studio - something I wouldn't normally use to make earrings.  I can't say I have any ideas yet, but the idea is in my mind now.  I'm really excited to see where it leads.

Here are a few of my recent earrings made from pieces and parts in my little parts drawers...