Gilded Life Studio Tour

Would you like this to be YOUR STUDIO? Who wouldn’t? I wish it were mine but, alas it is the little piece of HEAVEN that Shea & Debbie create in. In my previous post I shared with you the amazing Art Event I went to at A GILDED LIFE which was held in Shea & Debbie’s home which just happens to be a renovated Church. Well, this USED to be the choir loft. Makes your heart sing doesn’t it? Remember, you can click on any photo to enlarge it.

And how long could you sit at this desk/computer? Me…….. forever! And out the windows on the right looks out a tree lined street towards downtown Dallas.

Have a seat!

Turn on a light.

And let’s look at some of the things you would see in this amazing studio.

This RED Velvet coat was made by Debbie for Shea to wear over her wedding dress during her December Wedding a few magical years ago. Don’t you ADORE the red roses on the train? I DO! This mannequin looks out one of the MANY windows which let light stream into this MAGICAL STUDIO.

SUPPLIES FOR CREATING MAGIC!

I told you they have LOTS of toys to play & create with. Create What???????

MAGIC!!!!!!

Oh I want to be a GILDED GIRL EVERYDAY!!!!!!!! And now I’m off to dream of a new studio… Thanks for sharing your world Debbie & Shea. If you missed the previous post about the event… be sure & go check it out.

HUGS! Charlene

Studio Wanted

I created a niche in the DEN. It's not a studio but, it is a place for me to work on my jewelry!

In my previous post I think many of you thought I did not have a studio at all. That is incorrect. I do have a studio but, it is small & has WAY TOO much stuff going on in it for my jewelry to have the space it will need & deserve. Also, the other problem I was having was that I was trying to do my jewelry work on my lap(sitting in my recliner which when you drop a bead or jump ring... it falls between your legs & disappears in the bowels of the chair never to be found again arggggggg maddening I assure you). And the light was horrible! I had to redo too many things. You are asking "why is she working on her lap?" Well, "Honey" loves to watch TV at night & likes me to be in the room with him "because he doesn't get to see me much when he is working so much." OK he's spoiled I admit it but, he spoils me so I try to make it all work. I can not just sit & watch TV without doing something with my hands. So, I tried to do the jewelry in my lap. WRONG THING TO DO! There is the birth of the jewelry niche. As I said before this is in the Den & the theme of the Den is "The Lodge Look" We found a wonderful painting of a man fly fishing in a stream. Along with this I have hung my Daddy's rod & reel along with his fishing creel. It is just a wonderful reminder of him when I walk in that room. The furniture (only 2 big chairs because only we watch TV in there) is leather & the other items are all "Lodge". Someday I will photograph that room & share but, the main thing for this post is my niche & how I made it work in the only "Manly" room in the house. All the other rooms have more my personality than his & I did not want to take over his room too. I used a desk that I already had painted white (prior place guest room). Since I put the desk facing into the room so I could view the TV I needed to do something with the unfinished back of it. I made a black & white gingham skirt & stapled it to the back. I then put the glass back on the top & I have a nice sturdy work surface. And the OTT light is on the corner & what a difference that make!!!! And it has a magnifying glass built right in for when I need the extra help seeing tiny things. The bookshelves have a lot of stuff that needs to come off so I can use the space. Right now there are DVDs on& Cd's on the top shelf but, I have the second shelf for jewelry bead containers. I will show you progress as it goes BUT this is PROGRESS... I have a jewelry niche to create in & I am happy! Now this is my studio in my Laundry Room. It is quiet & tucked away so my mess does not show. This is my crowded work space. The very best thing about this studio is that it looks out over my garden in the front of my house. I love that! I can see the birds, my birdbath/fountain, flowers & all the coming & going of the neighborhood. The theme of this room is "Garden" & I love the colors. It is hard to see because there is so much light coming in the window right now.

Stuff all over the top of the work space & under it too! Someday I will paint that orange chair. Right now... it doesn't bother me & I would rather create fun stuff than paint the chair.

Here is a photo of the wall paper in this studio. We do not have much wall paper in our house but, I did like this. It is cheerful & colorful. So, until we build another house that has room for a much bigger studio I will keep my jewelry niche & my current studio. Maybe I can do a better job organizing it all to make it work better. But, I am just happy to have places to create. There are many of you that responded about wanting studios or remakes on the ones you have. Be sure & pick up the magazine Where Women Create. It is published by Somerset & is full of wonderful studios as well as the artists that create in them. Have a wonderful weekend.

Wonderful Studios! I WANT ONE!

Recently I shared the studio of Diana Frey with you. AND THIS HAS GOT ME THINKING!!! OH NO!!!! This will be expensive! Too Late! I could not stand it! Since I posted this I draft & waited for permission to post photos with the other gals... I decided that I needed a separate place for my jewelry work & my paper/craft area so... I started working on my new area to create jewelry. Yes, it was prompted by sitting & trying to finish my Shaker Doll Necklace in my lap with less than good light. I had a mini hissy fit & that is when I said OK I need to fix this(OK I really said more than that but, that is the cleaned up version of the scene). I will show photos later. For now... the broken leather lounge chair left for Goodwill thanks to "Honey & my big strong baby boy & I have gone to Hobby Lobby for an OTT Light. Enjoy these tours.

Today I was reading some favorite Blogs & found this beautiful Art Nest posted on Eileen's http://starsfault.typepad.com/stars_fault/2009/04/the-art-nest-.html#comments Blog! What a treasure it is!

And I am sure you all follow the wonderful, fabulous, Dawn Edmondson http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/2009/04/happy-wednesday-sweet-friends.html & know she is working on her NEW Studio. Go check her out & please don't drool on your key pad while you are visiting all these lovely sites. This is just one link of her studio redo. If you go into her main Blog & scroll down you can see the studio as it is evolving.

And then I started thinking about my friend Tiffany (you know I met Tiffany because I saw her in Studio Magazine from Cloth Paper Scissors last year). Go to http://wwwbeyondthevintagepath.blogspot.com/2008/10/cloth-paper-scissors-magazine.html to see this wonderland.

And let's check out LuLu... http://coastalsistersnews.blogspot.com/2009/01/where-magic-happens.html FUN!!!! Just like LuLu.

If you have a great studio or Art Nest please let me know & SHARE!

Now... Are you seeing the problem????? This poor little twisted, confused, Gemini doesn't know what she wants to do... This will take some more soul searching & a serious talking too. Also, better go out & get a lottery ticket. :) Thank you for sharing your inspiration girls! Can I blame the overhaul on you?

A Tour of Diana Frey's Art Studio

As so many of you know I went to California for a class by the talented jewelry designer Diana Frey. While there she invited me to her studio on Sunday afternoon for a little one on one time in jewelry design (because I was so new to this & she covered so many techniques in class). While there she let me take a number of photos of her & her studio. She is currently published in the "Studios" Magazine by Cloth Paper Scissors. If you would like to see her post about this, visit Diana at http://dianafrey.blogspot.com/ otherwise I am going to share our visit to her studio.

Diana & I with one of her Mannequins full of jewelry she designed.
Here I am hard at work wrapping, wrapping, wrapping! I had serious hat hair that day because we had been toodling around in the convertible. Note the beautiful handbag Diana had created & hung over the work desk where I am sitting. She designs jewelry for a clothing designer in Los Angeles (if you go on Diana's blog you can find links to see this designers work & other pieces Diana has done for her shows). The designer gives her a lot of the silk fabric scraps from the clothing line. So Diana makes wonderful headbands (see Jody wearing one of the headbands the day of class) & other things using these silk scraps. Creativity & art just seems to oooooooooze out of Diana. This is a shelf that holds all of Diana's Art Stamps. I thought this was a great way to display the stamps because, one of the biggest problems is remembering what you have. This way it is all visible as well as decorative. And I loved the "QUEEN BEE" above it all. This shelf hangs above a long counter of work space that holds many TOOLS! Grinders, torches, a kiln, SERIOUS TOOLS! This counter is then covered in a sweet vintage floral fabric hiding her storage shelves.
This is another work area for Diana. She used to be a floral designer & the white piece to her right is a cooler that used to hold her flowers. Now holding her favorite cold drink selections. On this station you can see her drill. And her little shelf unit hold some of her treasures created in other workshops or art retreats, photos of her & friends, & things near to her heart.
Here is a treasure she created at an art workshop that I thought was wonderful! There was so many details to this I can not even imagine the amount of time it would take. I believe that this was a Sally Jean Alexander class. I just purchased her book & I loved it.
See how these German Porcelain Doll Heads keep showing up in so many different forms of art.

This is a TERRIBLE picture of me but, for the sake of showing you a better glance of the studio lay out I will add this photo of Susan & I. See the work space under the stamp shelf to the right. The workstation I just showed you to the left behind me And the table I was working at is behind us in the rear of the room. There is a center work table directly behind us & above this is a banner that says DREAM. This studio is a DREAM!
A Manni full of treasures created by Diana.
And a another one!
OK here we are, Almost look like convicts in the stripes don't we? Funny, there was no notice of what to wear that day, it just happened that all three of us were in stripes, jeans, & black shoes. And doesn't it work well on her carpets there in the studio!
Outside of the studio door was this pot of orchids in full bloom. I hope you enjoyed the visit as much as I did. And if you have a chance to attend one of Diana's classes I urge you to do so.