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

More California Fun!

Did all that BLING catch your attention? IT DID MINE!!! And I can tell you Ms Sandy is a BLING kinda girl! From the treasure box above (this was on a shelf in my room) to her clothes, car & I guess her whole world… I wanted to share a few shots of the treasures she has created & placed in MY ROOM! FABULOUS is her word & loved the feathered fan & FABULOUS BLING pin.

Here’s a sweet shelf on her bookcase with her Vintage Glam book which was a class she taught. Some sweet little shoes, some wooden spools… shelves of treasures!

A photo of her Momma, a sweet “Nest” sign & the soap… ELLE like my sweet puppies name!

More treasures are stashed above… the feathered crown (from Gilded Life Event when she came to see me in Texas), some wonderful cabinet cards (oh I want copies of some of those), a cute soldered box (we crafted one whole day & made a smaller version of that) & that glittered cone on the left was amazing! Yes, Sandy that’s the little girl I love to the left of the cone…. And that’s her grandparents wedding photo on that amazing piece on the cone. She did those in a class by Deb Hodge at The Urban Barn a few months back.

Her Manni with another crown from a Gilded Life class we did together & more of her jewelry draped around the manni’s neck. Even her bra is BLING!

While there she was the hostess with the mostess. We went so many places (I have shared 2 posts already about some of the places so check them out) & on day 2 after Urban Barn we went to Laguna Beach & drove around to see how the “elite” live. And then we went to see The Pageant of The Masters (click on title for a link to see the site)which is an amazing outdoor performance where they use human actors & put them INTO works of art creating an amazing 3D piece of art on stage. The theme this year was “Only Make Believe”. Complete with fire breathing dragons, fairies, knights on horseback… So much fun! And before we went to the show we stopped at a cute 50’s style burger place & the view below was from our table on the rooftop.

Looks like a burger place view where you live doesn’t it???? Yeah… I told ya this is how the elite live. Day 3 we hopped in the car & headed about 4 hours north to Morro Bay to shop at Lina G’s . If you click on the name/link you will go to her FaceBook page & on the left column is her EBay listing link. She has lots of things for sale. Happy Hunting!

A TINY shop PACKED to the gills with vintage trims & treasures. From floor to ceiling STUFFED!!!!!

Trims, Yarn, Silk Flowers, Beading, Buttons, Lace...

And display cases FILLED with tons of stuff…

BLINKG studded buckles, lady head vases, vintage beaded flowers, spools of gold thread & a derringer. YES! A GUN! I’m telling you she has everything you can imagine & then some.

I don’t think I have ever seen such an eclectic mix of treasures before! Hope you enjoyed this little part of my summer California trip. NEXT will be my PMC Silver Clay Class with Diana Frey! Be sure to come back!

Have a safe & Happy Labor Day!

HUGS! Charlene