December news from the BZ Homestead

this pic is from a few years ago- an oldie but a goodie!

Hi Everyone-

FYI: Maureen needs mending
I am going in to the hospital on Thursday Dec 8 to have surgery on my 2 ruptured discs in my neck. (an artifact from my many years of being a test pilot for ornery ponies)
This will put me out of commission for a few weeks. I am going to keep my etsy shop open but will have some delay in shipping after this Thursday (I don't know how I will be feeling about standing in lines at the post office, so I will be bribing my best friend and Husband to take packages there for me...at least until the chocolate runs out)


RE: My holiday schedule for shipping/shop closure schedule........
(for http://cosmosmoonjewelry.etsy.com )
I will be closing for the Christmas break starting on Monday Dec 19th.  
LAST DAY FOR SHIPPING before Christmas is December 20.
I will re-open the shop on Monday December 26.
Thank you for all of your support this year- I really appreciate it- Have a wonderful Holiday season- Merry Christmas,Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Buon Solstice, Auguri and Cheers to you all
 <3 Maureen

June's Box a Month

Here are a few images of the latest in my "Box a Month" series 2011. 

I have given myself a personal challenge to create a handmade metal box or container every month this year- It is a challenge I created for myself to stretch my metalsmithing and design skills to a different (larger than jewelry) scale. I also am keeping my pewtersmithing skills sharp by re-visiting my pewter bench on a monthly basis. I'm enjoying the challenge of working bigger, and am hoping to continue this project throughout the year. My wish would be to have a show that exhibits my box a month collection at the end of the year.

"Octo Krakken Portal Box" June 2011
It's hand fabricated in pewter with a domed and patinaed copper hinged lid. and resin coated pewter tentacles
This piece has a hidden compartment inside the box (a box within a box) to hold secret treasures/ valuables.
Measurements are 4 1/2"x 5 1/2" round

opening the portal

This container has a hidden "Box within a box" compartment, shown here- I always love to make a little surprise in these pieces- I feel that it adds a special-ness to the object (similar to how cool it was to find a hotwheels car with doors that open...you know that feeling, right?) here are a few images that show the hidden compartment...

Oh, and one more thing about this piece...I developed a latex allergy halfway through completing this box. I found out about it after spending 20 minutes with latex gloves on (while working with the resins on the box's tentacles). I worked those 20 minutes- closed my studio and went to bed- when I woke up the next morning my hands were bright res and blistered! I've heard of allergies "coming out of nowhere"- and now I believe it!

Anyhow- here's a pic of my hands (and the bottom of the box) one week after the initial reaction...Yikes!   I'm happy to say that my hands are now looking much better- 10 days after the fact. I've thrown out my latex gloves, bought some nitril gloves instead, and am looking into allergy websites to get information on what I should now avoid because of this new reaction.

I'm learning something new all the time! All's well that end's well-
ciao for now- Maureen

PS- yes, I will be listing these box a month pieces in my etsy shop soon- I will announce their posting in my Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/cosmosmoon
Come join Cosmo's Moon fans by clicking "like" on the Facebook page, where I reveal sales, open studios, Etsy discounts and coupon codes and introduce "sneak peeks" of my latest designs!

red hook

red hook , a photo by cosmosmoonjewelry on Flickr.

Here I am Modeling my embossed and spray-painted aluminum "hook" earrings- They are a new style that I'm really loving to make (and wear) I love big earrings, but don't like the feeling of being dragged down by heavy earrings. I can recall some very sore earlobes in the '80's when I wore a pair of big blue glass and brass earrings that were amazing, but super super heavy. That was 20+ years ago and I STILL remember it!
These earrings are also versatile - they can be worn hooked front (like here) or back- and because they are aluminum they are big but LIGHT! (sterling silver ear wires)
I'm listing a few of these tonight (in red and green (they glow in the dark too!)
I mean, come on....who doesn't like Glow in the dark? :-)
I hope you are having a great summer- We are facing 111* here in Tucson tomorrow... I am setting up the pool tonight!

Confession and regrets

OK- it's been about a week since the SNAG conference in Seattle- last week at this time I was dining with a group of fabulous people from the conference in a great restaurant- trying to figure out what exactly a "dunkle" was..(lol, I still don't quite know, but I think it's like a turkey duck chicken thing)

Anyways- I'm writing this because I have a regret and confession- While I did go to the SNAG conference I feel like I really didn't even see half of the speakers- and I don't know why! Well, one thing was that I was kind of at the end of a longer trip- I went up early to teach a class...by the end of the week I was missing my family and dog really acutely. so, there's homesickness... And then my !!*^)^?***&(* neck started acting up again. (disc issues, long boring store- suffice to say OUCH!)

I'm really baffled how I could have gone to the conference- and not have seen so many things! I don't know- I think I kind of "checked out" when I saw how many people were there (over 900 attended).
I don't like crowds- but I've never been really phobic (I don't think) but maybe that had something to do with it- feeling a little displaced, hurting and kind of tired....OY VEY I'm kind of angry with myself for missing out on so many tidbits!

well- I did have a really good time- Maybe the trick will be to actually stay IN THE SAME HOTEL as the conference- even though I was only about 5 blocks away it was a disconnect- perhaps I could have left my heavy laptop in my room and returned every once in a while if I needed.

Le so< I guess what I want to say is- I'm sorry I didn't get to see/do everything I wanted- and I know there were more than a few people I really wanted to connect with but for some reason didn't. 

OK- now that this is off of my brain I'm going to stop beating myself up about it and move ahead- Next year is the Phoenix conference- and I'm working on getting a few things together for that one- I will stay at the hotel- will most likely have my hubby and son with me and if we can- I'm bringing my Daisy dog too- she's my rock.

If I missed you at the conference- sorry- I hope you had a delightful time! And I'll look forward to seeing you online , at the Yuma Symposium, and/or in Phoenix next May!
ciao ciao for now- Maureen
PS- have you heard the Whaley studios interviews from the conference?
Jay did a great job chatting with a bunch of interesting SNAGsters-
I even got a shot at the mike- My interview is about 3/4 of the way through the DAY2 interviews (right after Rachel Timmins and before Andrea and Les from NC Black) check out all the interviews Here

post SNAG hangover

Last week I attended the SNAG conference in Seattle Washington with about 900 other metalsmiths. It was one of the largest conferences ever- and incredible to see that quantity of talent in one (big) room together.

I considered Blogging during the conference but decided that it would be better to simply direct you to some friend's blogs, who were diligently working on blogging the conference. so...
here are a couple of links....

 fromWinona Johnson-  http://artbywinona.blogspot.com/
The semi- official Flickr group- http://www.flickr.com/groups/snag2011/
The Crafthaus blogs from Jillian Moore and Katja Toporski found here- (on Crafthaus) http://crafthaus.ning.com/group/fluxsnagseattleconference

I will hopefully be rested and ready to re-start myself in a few days...in the mean time, I'm hanging out with my kiddo and relaxercizing in the Arizona heat.
ciao- Maureen BZ


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