Several Things

Here are my swap pins from SNAG. This was the first year I was able to do the pin swap--I should have brought more. I had to turn down a lot of people because I had so few, and it was unfun.




And I've begun putting on the first epoxy resin jacket on the little beast army. This could go on for some time...



Because this is how many DON'T have an epoxy resin jacket yet.





And here's a new piece I finished just in time to wear at the conference. I'm not sure if he's actually done. I think I might put a slick coat on the outside. Partly for functional reasons and partly to get more depth out of the blue spots. The matte surface flattens the layering.







And did I mention the current state of my bench?

And Proliferation Continues

So everyone got double dinner jackets and felt very fancy.







White undergarments.



Then I donned my mask and had a spray paint party in the drive way. This made the local residents confused. They don't appear happy and ask if they are flowers (in a way that means "you're doing it wrong.")









I will be sad when I begin putting Envirotex on all of these.

Making Babies Con't

For the sake of my own sanity, I'll try and finally lay this out with visual aids.

Aqua-Resin--a composite fabricating resin that is non-toxic, opaque, and used only for structure. I always prime and paint over this layer.

EnviroTex Lite--a clear epoxy resin used only in thin instances due to viscosity and difficulties with degassing, not good for breakfast, makes my babies shiny on the outside.





Here's your product placement for the day. Aqua-resin is my best friend. It won't kill me like the EnviroTex Lite is going to.








This stuff smells like Elmer's Glue. Very reassuring.




Here's a party of juicy little babies. The Aqua-Resin dries in about 20-30 minutes. After that I'll do a second coat just to make sure they're strong. The first coat is thin and doesn't adhere to the foam well. Later coats are much thicker because that first layer is so thirsty. Two coats is more than enough for these little guys. I tend to do three or more for the big lugs.



Here's a pile of the first batch with their first coats on. Notice the popsicle action. This is handy now and will be later for the EnviroTex Lite layer.

Making Babies

Just got back from the SNAG Conference in Philadelphia. Exhausted but ready to get back to work. I started this piece awhile ago and thought I'd finish it before I left. No such luck, so now I'll post my sad, unfinished failure. It'll be done in time for some exhibition deadlines next month.

Made some last minute babies for the pin swap that were popular, so I'm attempting to do some similar small pieces to sell.






Hope they'll be on Etsy sooner than later. Then I need to get back to larger pieces like the yellow blimps at the top. Object Fetish wants to do an online exhibition of my work to coincide with the release of the Exhibition in Print in August. It will be a good way to show more pieces so I've got to get my nose to the grindstone.

Met so many amazing people and got to see a lot of old friends too. I'm too tired to remember everything, but Philadelphia was a wonderful city--may favorite of the conference locations. I was less interested in the lectures. Some were good, some were not. Some were torturous but I'll leave out the details for propriety's sake.

And the Jewelry in Motion event organized by Gail Brown was absolutely crazy! Way more than I was expecting! Another participant, Jennifer Crupi, was kind enough to send an image to all of us in the show.