Some Snapshots

ok, I am bad at blogging. There I said it. But I am obsessed with Instagram and hipstamatic and I will say that even though I went to art school I never took a photo class and know absolutely nothing but I do like to pretend to be a professional photographer when I have my phone... So anywho, I thought I'd share some photos I've taken at my work bench.

I just recently ordered some prong settings to teach myself how to set. It was surprising easy.

My files <3 I think these are one of the few tools that I still use from my metals 1 class.

containers

My tank! My biggest investment

My holy bench pin.

More prong settings, a cute little ring that will have a garnet set into it.

I do have christmas ornaments up in my shop! I only have two right now but am in the process of making more. I'm still trying to think of what my black friday sale will be, whether it will be a % off, free ship OR maybe a free gift...hmmm...

Upcoming Fall Shows

I know it's been pretty quiet around here, just started a new job so that's kinda been taking up my life for now. I do have a few shows set up for the fall and I hope to get a few new Christmas-y items up on etsy soon!

September 16th, 12-5
Adams County Heritage Festival, Gettysburg PA

September 22nd, 9-4

Fall Crafts Festival, Lebanon PA

September 29th, 9-4
Mercersburg Townfest, Mercersburg PA

October 13th, 9-4
Elizabeth Craft Fair @ Elizabethtown Public Library

October 20th, 9-4
Applefest, Chambersburg, PA

November 2nd & December 7th 5-9pm
Lancaster Art Market

Christmas in July craft show

Just a note that I will have a table at the Christmas in July craft show at Cross keys banquet room in New Oxford this Saturday from 9-2. I know there's a couple other shows in the area so make a day of it!

Address:
CrossKeys Motor Inn / Crosskeys Diner Banquet Room,
6110 York Road, (Route 94 and Route 30), New Oxford PA 17350

A few new stitched items.

 A couple of new earrings I made, all available in my etsy shop.

the thought

Since I'm jobless at this point, I'm using as much time to make jewelry to stock my etsy shop and trying to come up with new ideas. I found a ton of those laminate samples that you get from home improvement places in the back room of the metals lab and they've been sitting in my room ever since. So today I tried to sketch up some ideas of what to do with them since there was no way I was going to be able to work out in the garage.
I'm going to experiment this week. End result to come!

A space to work

So, I graduated. It's strange and exciting and depressing all at once. Definitely the worst part of leaving school was having to say goodbye to my own bench in the metals lab.

I've been working at this bad boy for the past two years and it was absolutely perfect. It was big, plenty of drawers and right next to the microwave! The back room was tiny but the walls were lined with everyone's different inspiration and pictures. I just loved that room.

This is my new work bench. Yes, it is an old set of kitchen cabinets with a bench pin screwed onto it and it's in the garage so I always have a fear of bees attacking me (have I mentioned my intense fear of bees??) and I can't really work on ungodly hot summer days. But hey, it works and it's a free space. Luckily it's comfortable out this week so I'm putting of the dread of finding a job to make new jewelry.
Happy graduation! 

Scissors Brooch

I made this new pin a couple of weeks ago. Since a lot of my 2D works deals with overlapping linear drawings of sewing notions I decided to make jewelry using the same technique. I just traced one of my prints and pierced the design out of brass. I love how this format makes the designs even more abstracted. I'm thinking of making different pieces of jewelry and break out of the circle. I'm super excited!

EDIT: I lost this brooch!! I'm so sad about it but I hope someone found it and loves wearing it.

menagerie

Since I was little I always collected little plastic animals amongst a lot of other little things. But I had these animals for a while and never knew what to do with them so I figured I'd make some jewelry!

hippo pendant, now on etsy

squirrel pin, now on etsy

squirrel cameo, now on etsy

blue elephant, now on etsy

duck pond ring

squirrel ring, size 7

poodle ring, nfs

Snail ring, nfs

Everything besides the duck pond ring are one of a kind pieces because I really have no idea where I got those animals. And the poodle ring and snail ring are not for sale because those are my two favorite, the poodle came from a polly pocket set and the snail was always on my dad's dresser and eventually he gave it to me. 

I set up a new section in my shop called menagerie where all of these little creatures are for sale. I can't wait until one of them are adopted!

 

 

 

Notions : BFA Exhibition

Last week my BFA exhibition was displayed in the art building and it's such a relief to have it done at this point. The first three pictures are of my installation of the giant pincushions and images of just a couple of my jewelry pieces. I had about 15 pieces of jewelry and 8 pincushions in total.

Printmaking

Right now, my show is up! I'm so happy with what I've made but now I'm already wondering what it's gonna lead to. But for today I wanted to deviate from my metal work and display what I'm doing in other classes specifically relief printmaking. These are images from my first two projects.

A Constant Ringing, linocut, 2012

Accumulation, woodcut, 2012

Accumulation monoprint, woodcut, 2012

Accumulation Offset, woodcut, 2012

Etsy Favorites

maldonadojoyas

Geometric Fish pendant by maldonadojoyas

I just discovered maldonadojoyas's shop last night and I love all of the geometric colorful patterns and the funny fish pendant above!

one week

it's been a little quiet over here. Mainly because I've been living in the art building getting everything done for my BFA exhibition. Next week at this time my show will be up and my stress will be over. heh.

I still have plenty of pincushions to make over the next few days!

On my honor

Did you know that today is the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts? Well you know now.
I started Girl Scouts as a daisy, and then my mom made me stay in when it wasn't "cool" anymore. Then I stayed with it til senior year and became a lifetime member. Commitment. So basically what I'm getting at is this has been a huge (roughly 20 years) of my life and it's even influenced my artwork.

In my first metals class we had to create a container for someone from history. Now I wasn't the rough and tough outdoorsy kind of girl scout. I was the crafty, smore's making expert kind. I was in it for the crafts and the cookies. So I thought what better to make than a campfire tealight holder for Juliette Low because I would probably not be able to make her one in real life.
Happy 100, Girl Scouts!

Back to Basics

Everyone needs a break.

Tomorrow is the start of the last week of classes before spring break. What?!? Since the beginning of the semester I've worked in the studio 15-20 hours every weekend making stuff for my BFA show. I'm at a really good spot right now and I decided to take the weekend off from my BFA show and make some jewelry for "fun". 

 This is actually a piece that I made last semester but I love the simplicity of it. I think I made my point clear that I like spheres. So I made jewelry focused around hemispheres.

 

Well, back to work!

Etsy Favorites

I love etsy.
There are people in Hong Kong, the Netherlands and all over the U.K. wearing my jewelry along with some pretty awesome places in America. This could never have been possible without etsy. I've had my etsy for almost four years and I've just recently gotten semi-popular so to anyone just starting out- keep going!
Nine times out of ten the money I make on etsy goes right to other sellers on etsy. I can't help it. Handmade is the way to go and nothing from a major chain can compare!! Whew, needed to get that out of my system.
Okay, I'll get off my soap box. I hope to make this a recurring feature where I show a few pieces that I love. So I'll start with some wooden jewelry.

Wooden Yellow Sewing Machine Brooch by lucie0ellen

I first found lucie0ellen's shop when her bunting necklace was featured on the front page but I love her brooches and necklaces made from found images most of them have a retro feel.

DressUp Polly Necklace by Vectorcloud

This necklace by vectorcloud has interchangeable outfits. I know, your inner 5 year old self is screaming! A perfect way to continue any fascination with paper dolls in a grown up way. Also, I have to plug the ocean liner necklace. I have it and it's definitely one of my favorite pieces and I ALWAYS get complements on it. Every single time. 

Yellow bunny suit brooch by littleloveboat

I just recently stumbled upon littleloveboat's shop and fell in love with this brooch. First off, if you know me, I love bunnies. Even though my little one is sometimes a big jerk, he's so adorable it makes up for anything. Second, yellow's my favorite color. Secretly I think this was made for me.

So click on those links and check out the rest of their work. It's just as cute!!

Hoarder?

Do you feel dirty after watching a Hoarders marathon too? It's not just me right? Also after watching hoarders, I go away a little paranoid that that may be me one day. I'm not going to be one of the gross, rotting food, dead animals (maybe people) under the trash piles hoarder. I would have everything clean and organized, but it would just be stuff. Everywhere. I remember that there was an episode where the hoarder was an artist and kept collecting things because she just knew that one day she might use that junk for an art piece. I have used that excuse...

Then I started to realize that a lot of my work deals with repetition, accumulation, layering and sometimes just pure chaos. Here's some of my work to show you what I mean.

Kortni Sheely, 2011

This piece was for my sculpture class. We were encouraged to use the big scary power tools in the workshop, I ended up using my jeweler's saw with a spiral saw blade. Each hexagon is about 2 inches wide.  

Kortni Sheely, 2011

I think this accumulation thing started in my watercolor class. I LOVE pattern. And my 3D work deals with sewing, and cross stitching a lot, so I thought what would be better than creating a pattern by overlapping linear images of sewing notions in this case thread bobbins. I'm now exploring this idea in woodcut relief which will definitely have a different look.

Kortni Sheely, 2011

This is a close up of one of my giant pincushions. I also made this in my sculpture class and this was the start of my BFA exhibition. Since then I've made more giant pincushions and wearable counterparts.

It all starts somewhere.

This was from my second metals class and the first part of the semester we focused on making hollow forms. I remember how incredibly proud I was of myself for making a perfect sphere out of metal. My first metals class was a little rough but after making this I knew I could do it and was so much more interested in the material. Since then I've made several more spheres but I honestly think this is still my best one.

Some Stitched Earrings

All available on my etsy shop