One Last ADORN ME Post

Meet the artist night kicked off ADORN ME the first night. Diana Frey & Melissa Manley set up next to each other at this event & became fast friends. As you know Diana is my friend & mentor from California & I couldn't wait to hug her neck. And I was BLESSED to have Melissa as my roommate. When I signed up for this event I knew I would be driving down by myself & I did not have anyone to share a room with. I put up a message on the Yahoo Message Board that I was looking for a roomy. For over a month no one contacted me (most girls went with friends & had roommates already). Then one day I got an inquiry about sharing a room. I didn't know this person... she lived in North Carolina & she was an instructor. Enter Melissa Manley & a friendship that was almost like a sisterhood ensued. And I am sure it won't end here (also, I have a forever roomy for future events). We are both Gemini's & have so much in common. LOVE YA GIRLFRIEND! Here is Riki & Diane at Diane's table. Sorry for the grainy photos!!!!! The lighting STUNK in this hotel.

And sweet Rice I told you about(wish my computer would put those TWO dots over your name like it's supposed to grrrrrr). She & Earl were everywhere taking pictures & getting info for the new book. Notice her shirt... she dyes her own fabrics & does all the bead work (and there are thousands of beads hand sewn on this tunic) on all her clothes.

Tuesday after classes we all met in the lobby bar for a free Happy Hour provided by the hotel. That was an evening event so everyone could socialize & meet other artists.

Tuesday night I took a Resin Paper class from Deryn Mentock. It was a fascinating class & again, I feel very blessed because Deryn & I just sort of bonded & we have promised to keep up with each other & try to do a few things together since we live fairly close to each other. Deryn lives in the Houston area & teaches at many events all over the country. She is teaching in Salado, TX at an event called Shady Ladies in April. Click HERE to visit her website & get more details. Come on Texas girls let's support these art events here so we get MORE closer to home. Anyway, here is Deryn & some of the girls mixing resin.

After we had our resin mixed we sponged it onto our papers. Sorry about the glaring YELLOW plastic sheets laid everywhere but, RESIN IS MESSY & we had to protect our work areas & have a place for all of this to dry overnight. Below you can see Rice watching as some of the girls are working.

Here are my pieces drying. A big piece of sheet music, a blue & white piece of tissue paper (that when dry is transparent) as well as a napkin with a bird nest, egg & feather.

Here is a necklace that Deryn had as an example. The oak leaf is made of resin paper. And the acorns are actual acorn caps while the nut part is a bead that she used when making this wonderful piece. I loved the natural elements used!

The next few photos show the class example. The necklace used the resin paper in the flower as well as the leaves on the sides.

The flower part has a cone of resin paper wrapped inside the cone that sari silk is spun around. Deryn buys these & then puts the colorful kits together with sari silk & packages them up to become these beautiful floral centerpieces. I bought an extra so I would have another one to use in a different necklace.

I also wanted to share Deryn's AMAZING ART JOURNAL with you. She made this beauty for herself & it is a working artists journal. It is bound in a vintage book.

With an interesting technique for the spine. I love all the area this gives her to add wonderful trinkets & finds.

An inside page showing some resin papers that she had colored(with descriptions so she would remember what she had used to achieve those colors) & some design sketches Deryn had done! BEAUTIFUL JOB MY FRIEND!

Now, let's move to Vendor Night. Oh my goodness there were so many wonderful things to see & buy. The public showed up in droves! I will warn you the photos are not the greatest because the lighting in the ballroom was terrible. But, let's step in & see a few of the tables.

Here's my precious roommate Melissa. I told you she was into big time metal work. She is a teacher at a college in Wilmington, North Carolina. For vendor night she had made a tray (the long black piece in the center) of rings. Each one was so different & unusual. People loved them.

And below is her Ocean Talisman Necklace (she taught this class at ADORN ME). Inside the mesh was a couple of beautiful shells & attached to many of the ribbons there were shells also.

Next is Deryn Mentock standing next to her beautiful Santos. I loved the Santos & she really made a statement on Deryn's table. Sadly she only gets to accompany Deryn to events held in Texas because she is so difficult to transport.

Another shot of Deryn's table shows her fabulous VINTAGE velvet jewelry box full of some of her treasures she stocked for Vendor Night.

And her is sweet Diane at her table full of goodies. Love the old travel case Diane! This gal has a knack for displaying!

And here is a shot of Diana's table before the masses came in & scooped up her wares. And I do mean masses. When the doors opened her students RUSHED to buy the pieces they had coveted during class. Diana left with very little to pack (but I did notice she just listed a few of the remaining piece on her Etsy Shop so rush over HERE to scoop one up or just see some better closeups).

A shot of Riki's lovely table & all her goodies. That beautiful silver candelabra was a prop Diane brought from her favorite Antique Store in Katy, TX. It was a perfect piece for Riki's necklaces to hang off of.

Here we are LATE in the evening. The hot lights had curled Deryn & my bangs, the lights were glaring off Diana & my glasses but, it had been a busy night with lots of sales & these girls were happy!

OK, I warned you the lights were horrible & Photoshop can only fix so much girls. SORRY! This is the end of the ADORN ME photos. I wanted you to feel like you got to see my classes & teachers as well as meet some new friends. Please click on each person's name & go visit their blogs. You will see some interesting things & meet some amazing artists. Please tell them Charlene sent you to see them. Now I am back to trying to catch up after being gone for a week. WOW those invoices sure can pile up on a girls desk while she is away having fun. Have a wonderful week. HUGS!