Tales From Enameling Class: More enameled Christmas ornaments -- and a Christmas cat tree!

Class was crazy this week! A couple of my classmates blamed the eclipse or the fact that Mercury is in retrograde. I don't know if I believe in that, but everyone was behaving strangely.

People kept losing things, from small pieces of wire to large projects. The handle on the kiln stuck. One student accidentally broke another's piece.

Meanwhile, the newcomers are learning how to navigate the crowded classroom. When shuffling back and forth to the kiln with your items, you have to do a bit of a "dance" in order to weave between the work tables and other students... but these women kept bumping into everyone. I'm trying to be patient because I was new not that long ago, and I know how difficult it can be to adjust. Look at me and soldering!!! Still, the class was chaotic.

The good news is, I finished four more enamel Christmas cat ornaments!

I made a black Santa cat, brown and orange cats in stockings, a ginger tabby angel cat and another gingerbread cat. What's funny is that after I sifted the brown powder onto the gingerbread cut-out, the glass left a brown cat-shaped outline behind. "It looks like a murder scene!" a classmate joked. The orange angel cat had black burn marks on the face. I'm not sure how they got there; perhaps the kiln was a bit too hot? But I covered them with the black tabby stripes.

I purchased a tiny tree for the ornaments and had a good time hanging them. I've never owned a Christmas tree, but think it looks very festive. Maya, our cat, likes it, too; when I was trying to work yesterday, she kept nuzzling the tree and pushing it over. Finally, Jon had to pull her away so I could finish my orders. I've heard stories of cats climbing into trees and got a little taste of that!

My craft fair is in two weeks and I'd like to have at least a dozen ornaments completed by then. My tree is still a little empty and I'd love to fill it up. Meantime, you can check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs or MayaGirl Creations.

Tales From Enameling Class: Handmade Enamel Christmas Ornaments!

For the past few weeks, I've been logging extra hours at the Y so I can use the kiln and finish my handmade enamel Christmas ornaments. So far, they're coming along nicely! At this point, I've officially finished and listed three -- and am almost done with five others.

When I posted the items on Etsy, I wanted to create a holiday feel, so I photographed the ornaments on top of a green cloth and then took some pictures of them hanging from an ivy bush:

At first, my classmates chuckled at me making cat-shaped Christmas ornaments, but after seeing all eight lined up, they were pretty impressed! They then came up with ideas for displaying them. One suggested I make an enamel tree. Another suggested I make an avant garde copper tree. Honestly, both ideas would require a lot of work -- and I wouldn't really be able to sell the trees -- so I'm just going with a store-bought mini tree. But I like that my classmates were getting so into my project and were being so supportive.

As of now, I have a craft fair scheduled for November 7. I'd love to have all 20 ornaments completed by then, but I realize it's a tall order, especially since they're taking longer to make than I'd thought. I want them to look good and don't want to rush the process. I'll be happy if I can have a dozen done, though, and I think that should be doable. A dozen will still look nice on my little tree.

I'm off to saw out some more copper ornament bases so I can continue with my project. Right now, you can purchase my angel cat, Santa cat and gingerbread cat -- all limited edition Christmas decorations. You can also see the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Tales From Enameling Class: Another One Bites The Dust!

Well, first the bad news: I'm having the worst luck with craft fairs this years! Yesterday, I brought in my application for the holiday fair at the Y... and learned that it's already been sold out. Bummer! Apparently, it sold out on the very first day. Many of the jewelry teachers and students grabbed several tables at once so they could guarantee that their students/classmates would have a slot.

I'm not too upset by this. Live and learn, I guess, and I now know to sign up IMMEDIATELY the next time. But my teacher is furious. She made a list of all of her students who want to be in the fair and promised to speak with the director about getting us a table. She also apologized for not getting us a table herself. I'm not sure they'll have the space to put an extra table, but I really appreciate her going to bat for us. I suggested that since the fair is a three-day event, they simply have different people sell on each day; then they can have way more participants. If that many people are interested, they either need to find a larger space for the event or have it juried. If I were rejected from this fair in a jury situation, I wouldn't object. I'm constantly impressed and humbled by the work of the other Y students.

But now some better news: I'm really making progress on my enamel Christmas ornaments:

I stayed for two hours of studio time last evening so I got a lot done -- and I'm still not completely finished with these four pieces. I have to add a layer of counter (the enamel put on the opposite side) and clean each piece. They're turning out to be a really time-consuming project, much more so than I anticipated. But I'm pleased with how they look. I think they're bright, colorful and fun -- perfect for Christmas! One of my friends said they remind him of Christmas cookies, which is exactly what I'm going for. It does feel a bit like I'm "frosting" the pieces when I add on the designs.

One of my classmates was amused at the idea of, as she put it, "A nice Jewish girl making Christmas ornaments," but I do enjoy the holiday season. I help decorate our friends' tree each year, so I'm having a great time making my own line of ornaments.

I'll continue to share photos as I make more of these guys. Meantime, you can purchase the rest of my handmade enamel and wire wrapped jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

Tales From Enameling Class: Back To School!

The new semester of enameling began today! This time around, we have 11 people. That may not sound like a lot, but it's a large crowd for enameling. The group includes four newbies. On one hand, I'm pleased that so many people are interested in this art. But the spoiled only child in me is like, "Damn it, I don't want to have to wait in line for the kiln!"

It always takes a while to get going when a new semester kicks off, but I made a lot of progress on my cat-themed Christmas ornaments. I brought in four ornaments, one of each design, and managed to apply a white base coat to all. I then got about 75 percent done on my "cat wearing a Santa hat" piece:

The Santa cat will be getting an extra coat of enamel, plus black tabby stripes. As for the others, the angel cat will have a wreath painted onto the white robe, the gingerbread cat will have a colorful button design and I'll probably put some kind of holiday decor on the cat in the stocking. I was originally going to write, "Meowy Christmas" on the angel's robe, but I'm not sure if there's enough room. I don't want to have a lot of empty white space, though, so I think the wreath will look nice -- and will be appropriately festive.

It's difficult to tell in these photos, but I added some additional white enamel to the Santa hat brim and pompom. This way, they'll have that "fluffy" look that the furry white area has on real Santa hats. I'm probably going to leave the cat faces blank; I like the idea of the ornaments being a little abstract. Besides, there are already a lot of colors and textures and I don't want the ornaments to look too cluttered.

It felt so good to be back in the classroom! These ornaments are taking longer to do than I anticipated so I'll be staying late to get in some studio time. What's also exciting is that the Y is holding a craft fair at the end of November. It's going to be a three-day-long event and I'm planning to sign up. I definitely intend to sell these pieces there.

Meantime, check out the rest of my handmade wire wrapped and enamel jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

New Project: Handmade Enamel Christmas Ornaments!

I know, I know, it's been a really long time since I've posted. Well, we were on vacation for a few weeks and it's been a pretty quiet summer in terms of my jewelry businesses.

Happily, things are picking up! So far, I have two craft fairs scheduled for the fall and class stars again in a few weeks.

In retail, September typically means the start of the Christmas season. Yes, it's realllly early, but I've seen many stores put out the beginnings of their holiday items along with the back-to-school stuff and Halloween costumes. I guess some people like to get their holiday shopping done well in advance so they don't have to contend with crowds -- and can enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, etc. without having to worry about everything else.

For this year's holiday, I'm trying something new: I'm making cute enamel Christmas ornaments. It seems like a natural thing to do with enamel, but I haven't made pieces this big. Anyway, my ornaments are all cat-themed:

Obviously, they are still unfinished. I won't have access to the kiln until class resumes next month so for now, I'm cutting out the metal shapes from 24 gauge copper. I drew those shapes free-hand, by the way, and then used each of my initial cut-outs as my pattern. I made angel cats, cats in stockings, cats with Santa hats and gingerbread cats. I think these Christmas ornaments will be colorful and fun, and when they're finished, I plan to hang them from a tiny Christmas tree.

From a distance, it looks like I'm making cookies or paper dolls, but working with metal -- even metal that's pretty thin -- can be dangerous. I'm using extremely sharp sheers and any rough edges of the copper can slice through your skin. I've actually spent much more time filing the ornaments because I want the metal to be smooth for the enameling process. I have a bunch of cuts on my fingers from my work, but that's okay.

This past weekend, my childhood friend Lani came to visit and wanted to try her hand at cutting out a metal shape. She thought it would be like cutting through paper and was surprised at how tough it is. With some work, though, she managed to make a little fish, which she called her "Sharknado" (after the movie, of course):

At first, she didn't want to file down the points, but gave in and let me do it after she poked herself. Her plan is to paint her shark and put it on her living room shelf.

As of now, I'm almost finished with Phase One of my ornaments. My plan is to make 20 to start -- and then make more if they sell well. I'm very eager to get to enameling, but I'll have to wait. Meantime, enjoy your Labor Day weekend.

Check out my jewellery at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.