“Framed” Class with Diane Cook

Two little sisters holding hands… FRAMED in a Mother of Pearl Buckle.

WE were the LUCKY girls to take this class! It was in Austin, TX & taught in Janise’s home. Janise is AMAZING!!! She is also a PMC Silver Clay teacher & you know after Diana’s class I just took… I’m HOOKED on PMC! Janise & I already have a PMC Play dated planned.

Ms Diane brought all kinds of tools & information to share. SHE IS AN AMAZING TEACHER & FRIEND! Here she is teaching us to use a flex shaft to CAREFULLY drill the holes in the Mother of Pearl. This is Janise’s studio. IT ROCKS!

Table one has Diane helping Angela, Sue, my buddy Charlotte & at the end is Pat (another PMC pro). Below is our table with Rita, Konnie, Janise, & Cindy. Janise & her sister in law are also quilters so you see the “Stash” of fabrics, books & patterns. ART CAN SURROUND YOU & bring such joy. What I wouldn’t give for a studio like this to work in.

Diane brought many TREASURES to sell. Some already made pieces & components for us to buy/use in our creations.

4Sale.. Don’t you love her balls of Sari Silk? If you need some… CONTACT HER HERE

I LOVE both of these pairs of earrings. And don’t you love her card they are displayed on? Again, 2 sisters holding hands. This is a family photo & Diane uses the phrase “take my hand & we will learn” as her teaching motto. LOVE THAT GIRL!

And learn we did. This was Cindy’s first jewelry class ( it was an intermediate class but, she did a great job & I think she’s hooked) & it was baptism by fire! Literally!!!! Below you can see that she & Diane are torching the enamel work on a piece. Cindy’s hubby was worried about her using fire… NO NEED TO WORRY!!!! The other photo shows all the colors of enamel we had to work with. Remember this is FINE ground glass so you must never breathe it. Diane is so careful to teach all the safety aspects of every class.

And some of the finished pieces…

Only Janise finished hers completely (as she used a red set of rosary beads to be the necklace part). The rest of us went home with our finished focal points. I have been working on my piece to finish it & hope to show you soon.

I hope you’ll come back soon so I can share a funny story about the “Mystery Student” for this class. And share a cute vintage suitcase for supplies that she brought with her. This story shows what a truly small world we live in. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

HUGS! Charlene

Diana Frey Studio Tour

As promised, this is the final post about my trip to San Luis Obispo, CA & the subject today is a quick peek into the studio of Diana Frey. Artist & Teacher Extraordinaire. Her studio is in her garage. YES! Imagine being able to sit in your outside studio & NOT SWEAT TO DEATH!!!!! Since today was 106 degrees (yes, we broke the 1980 record of the most above 100 degree days in a year) so I can’t imagine. Beautiful pots of flowers grace the entrance. And Chloe her mannequin was all decked out in a new prom dress & necklace.

And Chloe had a new necklace which was shown in the recent Bell Amore Magazine. I know Cindy will LOVE the bride necklace.

One of the first things to catch your eye on the right hand side is a HUGE shelf of stamps.

No lack of inspiration here! And since we were doing PMC Silver Clay & you use stamps… The possibilities were endless.

Behind that was a favorite of mine… a chandi she made in Sally Jeans Class in Washington. I Soooooooooooooooo LOVE this & want to do one too. I think Sally Jean is doing an online class for this in January!!!!!

Let’s look at a few more of her treasures.

A doll she made in another class.

Every where you look you will find treasures!!!!

On this precious shelf (above) that sits right in front of her work space you can see one goody after another. On the shelf is a darling bracelet that she had made with yet another German Doll Head… Does the wonder ever end??? NO!!!!!!!!!

More wonder… Surrounded with all of this how could you not be inspired?

Even inside the house the beauty continues. On her dinning room table there was the most unusual, SO DIANA, arrangement…

And on that sweet table behind this is another manni covered in creations.

My favorite being…

Now, DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN THERE???? I am telling you that IF you have the chance to take a class from Diana… RUN! Do not walk!!!! Be there for the time of your life! Thank you precious friend for sharing your home, studio, art, & talent with all of us. And most of all… for being MY FRIEND & MY MENTOR! LOVE YOU !

Hugs! Charlene

A New Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader & Remembering 9-11

I’m just back from a jewelry class in Austin, TX with my buddy Diane Cook. IT WAS A GREAT CLASS!!!! And when Cindy & I got home this is what I found…

Daddy Darling & Ms Elle (dressed in her Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader outfit). Daddy Darling is of course in his LAZY BOY LOUNGER (On the phone as always) & Elle is resting at his feet. Everyone that knows us knows Elle has quiet the wardrobe & Daddy isn’t afraid to show it off (ever seen a big guy push a pink dog stroller through Lowe’s???? I HAVE).

And Momma’s not the only one with new jewelry from “Aunty Diane’s” class as Elle got a new black (above) collar with BLING & a new white one (below). No! Not from class but, from the groomers.

She’s one fancy/spoiled little Havanese don’t you think?

Now, on a more serious note… I want to say how today makes my heart hurt… Remembering 9-11 & the loss our country suffered. The loss of lives of so MANY souls. The loss of FREEDOM as we knew it! Almost a loss of innocence. Oh how false our sense of security was. I still remember where I was, the shock, the horror… But, I never want to forget… WAKE UP AMERICA! Thank you Channel 11 news for this photo I borrowed to remind everyone to remember… to come together as a nation & to be proud of who we are & what we have.

I will be back in a few days with the last post of my trip to California & give you a peek into Diana Frey’s AMAZING studio & then share the class from Diane Cook. Have a great week.

HUGS! Charlene

PMC Silver Clay & The LOVE of Diana Frey Continues!

There are times that God intervenes & puts you in the right place at the right time. And that happened when I met Diana Frey March 2009. I had been through a rough time & I needed some new friends & a hobby that I could sink myself into. I had just started looking at Blogs (& had started mine) a few months before. And I saw this…

It was LOVE at first site! I had never done jewelry design before. I HAD DONE SOLDERING… I had taken (& since have taught) soldering. So that little charm with the music note (in the necklace above)… NO PROBLEM! But, the rest of it… Virgin Territory. I signed up for Diana’s class, bought an airline ticket, rented a car, talked a friend into joining me & we were off on our adventure (go HERE to see that trip).

I made mine (above) & have been a Diana Frey Fan ever since(Note: Sandy is obsessed & NOW MUST HAVE ONE TOO). I have been blessed to have taken MANY classes with Diana since. And BEST OF ALL to be blessed with having her as my FRIEND & MENTOR! She then introduced me to my precious friend Diane Cook here in Texas because she said we needed Art Sisters closer than California to tie us over between visits… Since that time Diane & I have become so very close & do a lot of things together (although we do live 5 hours apart) in Texas. Diana also introduced me to Riki who lives near Diana. Riki has become a dear friend too (she came down to go to Round Top with us). And precious Susan Hunt who took care of me in that very first class in 2009. Oh my California sisters of the soul how I LONG to be closer.

So when Diana (Ms Cutie herself in photo above) offered a PMC Silver Clay Class in her studio… Sandy & I were all over it! The plans began to come together. On August 27/28 we had the privilege to spend 2 days in the wonder of it all.

The tray above FILLED with the beauty of her work…

Pieces like the Copper Tube Bead (above) that she created in a class she had taken… And the bird house that reads “BLISS” Oh yes, it is BLISS to be around the talent of this magical soul.

This heart from another class where she worked all day on this one piece (it is hollow on the inside). Front Above.

And the Back also COVERED IN SILVER APPLIQUED PMC CLAY PIECES. STUNNING!!!!!

So the students (there were 8 lucky girls – Back row right is Susan, next to her is Sandy & I’m the tall one in the back) came to The Master to learn…

The bezel (right)created with the silver from the syringe & resin poured to fill & protect the image… You might think “oh that’s easy” NOT!!!! The box made with individual flowers that had been molded & then applied…

And this piece… THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF WORK that went into this. Each piece molded & applied.

The whole process is… you take a piece of clay (tiny VERY expensive package) & you roll it out or put it into molds & carefully work with it until it has dried, been sanded (in a fragile green ware state), fired, cleaned, hardened, & polished. It is then ready to hang your crystal bead below it & your post above it to create a pair of earrings that you will be proud to say “I MADE THIS”. Or for the pair on the left (that I did) set a stone in before it is fired.

Which ended up looking like this (I don’t know if these are mine or Sandy’s as we both did a pair).

There’s never a minute she doesn’t look like a million bucks! Here’s Diana taking a bunch of our goodies out of the kiln. Oh yeah… ANOTHER TOOL NEEDED!!!!! And baby, that’s a BIG ONE (price wise). The PMC Clay is made of ground silver, a binder, & water. Once made into the piece & fired it comes out to be 99% silver.

Is your heart beating a little faster now? While looking at that bracelet above? I have begged Diana to teach this bracelet class again. Sandy & I want to do it & know that Cindy Craine & Charlotte Perez NEED this class too. Diana, that’s half a class already full… GIRLFRIEND DO YA HEAR ME NOW???? Hee Hee!

And this is a ring (left) made by an artist Diana & I met at Adorn Me. I LOVE IT & NEED ONE! Diana please send me her info. And the piece on the right is one that was on the tray as an example & for some reason it calls to me. Now, let’s look at a few of my pieces that I made.

A bracelet focal point.

A beautiful bird soaring with wide spread wings.

Some small pieces on the left that will be used on other things & on the right a piece for a necklace “Let Your Heart Take Flight”.

Another pair of earrings. And below, is Sandy’s AMAZING piece. It is large & made to go on a necklace. Each thing you see is an individual piece that has been layered onto that base piece. Instead of making a lot of small components, she made one MAJOR FOCAL PIECE! GOOD JOB!

And then below is my friend Susan’s pieces for the bracelet she is going to make. This was her second class with Diana & gives me much hope that I too will be able to master this with some more practice. Susan, I can’t wait to see this finished & envy you being able to get together with Diana to play since you live so close. Although after all the tedious cutting out & stone setting on these pieces she assured me she would NOT be playing with PMC Clay any time soon.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the things from the class. I had such a great time being there. I am off again for another class this weekend with Diane Cook. Hubby is pouting about being left home again but, it’s a quick trip to Austin & back. Pray that the wild fires have been controlled & we have a safe trip back… Next week I’ll do a post about Diana’s studio & some of the treasures to be found in there. Also, I hope to have some photos of the class with Diane. Have a great weekend.

HUGS! Charlene