A Love Note To My Readers

Dear Friends,
My gallery has decided to move and it saddens me to say that I will not be going with them. I have broken away from the herd.
So what now?
This is what I ask myself and to be honest I do not know.
I turn to you.
The ones who come back to read...to listen to my failures, successes, and my angst. I am grateful that you are still here.

The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) was here in New Orleans. I was so thrilled. I made new friends and visited with old friends and we had a blast!

Halstead held an exhibition along with SNAG at RHINO Contemporary Gallery. 200 kits went out and 30 pieces were selected for the Halstead Design Challenge. My piece, What's Her Story? was selected to be among one of the 30. I was so honored.
_/\_
Inspired by the women of Storyville and Bellocq's photography this brooch is the first in its series.
The story behind the story.

Every woman has a story, especially the women of Storyville (red-light district of New Orleans from 1897-1917), who inspired this piece. The eyes of the woman in the photo stare at the camera, revealing a sense of mystery and resilience. She was dancing in a storefront window on Magazine Street and looking at me while I snapped her photo, making me curious about her story. Her haunting eyes beckon me every time I look at her, which is why I chose to put her inside the keyhole, along with a key to unlock her story if anyone dares. A 1919 New Orleans token adorns the key and gives the piece a sense of time.

What's Her Story? - New Orleans Brooch

Below are the 2nd and 3rd in the series. Made using Bellocq's photographs and then using a decal to fuse them to vitreous enamel. All done in a kiln. They were at first to become sculptural pieces but they wanted to be brooches. Check out the 1919 Street Car token. Did you know that there were brothel tokens available?
But I won't get into that. :)

What's Her Story? - Storyville Brooches New Orleans

Annnnnd...made with a vintage garter clip! How neat is that?

Flip Side

I just finished updating my shop. Come on over because the water is warm and calm.

With gratitude,

Namaste

Kalaya

Comments

The Risk to Bloom

It all started with an acorn button and grew from there. In an earlier post I mentioned this button swap blog hop, that I am participating in, and how I was immediately drawn to the acorn button. Every day I would hold it in my hand, feel its essence, exam it, and then put it down. This lasted for about 2 weeks. Then I remembered I had etched an oak tree on to brass when making buttons for my partner Kylie of Lotus Out Loud . And... so begins the journey of creating something with this wonderful acorn button, which only started yesterday. Haha! Etched brass was copper riveted to a piece of oak. Merci beaucoup Papi for finding some oak! I am using what Jesse taught me in his workshop . It was the first time trying his technique. It worked beautifully! The riveted brass was then captured with a piece of pierced copper. Voila! And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk to bloom.

Pepe Jump Ring Maker...New Is Not Always Better...

For the follow up (2014) on jump ring makers go here . Introducing Pepe's new AND improved Jump Ring maker... When I received my new jump ring maker I knew the new model was more compact but did not expect it to be so unstable. It was precarious but I accepted it. After all I will have jump rings galore with a single swipe! The outcome outweighed the little difference and yes...I am lazy! hahaha!!! To the bench I go to test things out. Test No. 1 The first set of jump rings turned out great! I was satisfied. ☺ I then received an email saying that the top plate (cover) that came with the system was too thick and needed to be replaced. Okay. I receive the new plate but did not test it out until some friends were over and wanted a demo. Well...it was difficult to place the handpiece collar over the plate. It did not fit over the coil holding device very well. I had to finagle it to go in and when I started sawing the handpiece did not move sm

South of the border in Oaxaca, Mexico

I've been idle for too long but I have lots to share with you! Oh where to begin? Let me first say that Oaxaca is a place full of beautiful people. The city was VERY safe and the place we stayed in was absolutely wonderful. And the very best thing about it all...the plane ride was only 3.5 hours from New Orleans! Gotta love that. I don't want to bore you with all the details so I think I will stick to the art side of things. Oaxaca is known for their textiles but I didn't take any pictures of any textiles. :( Lo siento. There was this place that we stumbled upon called La Mano Magica #26 Macedonio Alcala 203, Centro . This place had a variety of high end pieces for the taking and a price. Off to the side we noticed a show going on and I immediately knew the work. It was the work of ceramicist Alfonso Castillo. One of the the great folk artist of Mexico. Eeeee!!! How exciting! FAMILIA CASTILLO Candelabro Ofrenda a mi papa Alfonso died i

Kalaya Steede

Search This Blog