Also...

We did A LOT of planting in the garden today. We planted zuchini, squash, cucumbers, basil, and various flowers. There's one large bed that I was able to play around with and design...I guess you might call that landscaping. I also designed another bed of flowers last week over by one of the student houses. In this most recent bed I planted sun flowers, amaranths, straw flowers, and holly hocks...and there's still more planting to do!

Masks!

Here are some pictures of things I made in my jewelry class a few weeks ago. The top is a pendant and earring set. I made the faces first out of a wire and then used a hydrolic press to, well, press the image into sheet metal. Then I used liver of sulfur to on one side to make it black. I really like the black and copper look. I think it's cool.

The second picture is of a full sized mask I did. It's mostly just saw work on the mask. I made the eye using the hydrolic press so it stands out a bit. I made the feathers out of brass and did fold forming and texturing on them and I also gave them a heat patina. There's a chicken bone in there which I did not make, and then little cone shaped things at the bottom. Again fold forming and then liver of sulfur patina.

First of all I want to give a shout out to ma Doge...Happy Birthday Kylie!!

It has gotten pretty dang hot here. We went from really mild nice weather with some rain to super dry and super hot which makes working out in the garden pretty dang intense. Today we put up tomato steaks. These are not your mother's tomato steaks...these things are like 6.5' tall. Seriously we needed a step ladder to get up high enough to reach them. We were using an 8 lb sledge hammer I borrowed/stole from the blacksmith shop. I hit my fingers twice trying to do this which is more times than I've hammered myself while blacksmithing. I got my fingers caught between the post and the hammer...one finger is skinned and the other bruised...but nothing at all serious. For the finger I scraped, my boss Liz who knows everything about plants, had me chew up some plantain leaves and spit them on to my finger and then wrapped it in duct tape. I must say it worked pretty well...the only thing is the plantain leaves stain your skin brown, so now I have brown finger which is a little awkward.

Then this afternoon we helped to set up the May Pole. It was very colorful and will be pretty cool to see in action this Saturday. I've never seen a May Poll and its business before.

Speaking of this weekend...We have more weekend classes, Mom and Dad you know what's up. I got into my first choice which was portrait painting. We have a live model whether or not they or going to be nude is to be determined.

As ever things are busy busy here.

Pour One Out

Today was a sad day…Bittersweet is probably a better way to describe it. One of our work/study ladies left to go back home which is good for her, but sad for the rest of us. Louise, for several different reasons, decided she needed to go back home. She was really sweet and I enjoyed talking to her about all sorts of stuff especially art…dude was a kick-A artist. But yeah, I’m gonna miss her. No word yet on whether we are gonna get someone to replace her for these last three weeks.

In other news I’ve been working hard…as a work/study should do. I was out in the garden all day today planting things (I designed, or landscaped I guess, my first ever flower bed), I transplanted compost heaps that we picked up in Georgia the other day, I drove a golf cart around which was totally awesome, and I cut out our tiller that got stuck in a wire fence. That required a trip to the blacksmith’s shop which I was more than willing to take to get a pair of wire cutters. The tiller is now free and no damage was done to it. The fence on the other hand is no longer doing its job as a fence.

ps

I wrote this yesterday, but my internet connection crapped out before I could post it

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day and yet the work-studies are not working in the earth as we normally do...we're up at the shop sawing wood and playing with power tools...

Some Little Nuggets

It was a wonderful weekend with Snack Pack and Pa...they made some really neat things...wood bowls and scarves and what not. I made myself tired from all that contra dancing.

Also, dad is on the phone with Brendan...hey-yo!

Parents Week(end)

Oh my goodness this is family week for sure. Everyone's parent's are visiting this week...there must have been some memo sent out by the office that I didn't know about. Well, I knew my parents were coming (they're like two hours away) and taking some classes this weekend. We got Pat sittin' pretty in the weaving study making a scarf...Dad's turning some wood and looking stylish in protective eye wear (PEW)...and I'll be kickin' it contra dancing all weekend.
FunFun

Make it Work

I feel like I'm on Project Runway right now...I'm trying to create a cohesive body of work and I only have until tomorrow at 11 to finish it. I need Tim Gunn right now to tell me what to do.

I should be in class right now because I have a ton of stuff to do!

But instead I will write about it...I thought I'd try something different so I'm taking a metal jewelry class. It's been fun and I'm learning a lot and all that. Once again I am the youngest person in the class. I'm sitting at one end of the table with three ladies from Louisiana and I'm really enjoying listening to their accents. They're really sweet but aren't always sure of what they're doing...at the other end of the table there are a bunch of frisky 30-50 somethings...not really my scene.
I don't have anything complete yet, but I have a lot of projects in progress. I'm kind of into masks right now so I have a lot of that going on. Maybe I'll actually finish something today.
Busy busy.

Watermelon:
I bought some deoderant last night called Afrikan Spice or something like that...one of those sparkly Spirit kinds...I was thinking of you

Hey-Yo

This is actually what I've been up to

Some Views From the River Cane Walk

Mom and Dad I was on the phone with you when I took these...I have more pictures but it wouldn't let me upload them all at once

I Have a Degree in Seeing

If there's one thing you learn here at the Folk School it's to see with your mind's eye. Sure you come to learn a craft or how to play an instrument and so on, but the one thing all these classes have in common is to visualize what you are going to do before you do it...See it in your mind's eye.

Sorry I've not had the chance to update I let a friend of mine file her taxes online so she's had the computer most of this week. A lot has happened...I came back from the blacksmith/bladesmith shindig where I helped to launch an anvil (look it up on the youtube)...It snowed here on Tuesday but now two days later it's bright and sunny and in the 70s...It's been a work week for me this week digging trenches, cleaning out the kitchen studio, mulching, planting, transplanting...Contra dancing, scrabble playing, crocheting in the evenings.

The pictures of me blacksmithing were taken by my workstudy buddy Louise...the anvil shoot is just something I found on the google...I did not launch that one, but that's what it looks like

Change it Up

I've talked way too much about blacksmithing I think so I thought I would change it up with a quote from John Greenleaf Whittier...This is one of the blessings we say before our meals

No longer forward nor behind, I look in hope for fear; but, grateful, take the good I find, the best of now and here.

The Grit

After two weeks of blacksmithing I learned how to control my soot coverage...this is me on a clean day, it was way worse last week...Oh my look at all the things I'm learning.

Never Shopping Again

All I'm saying is that I totally have Mother's Day more than taken care of...I could probably also cover Father's Day as well as various birthdays with the stuff I'm making.

In other blacksmithing news...

I think I might be going to Birmingham, AL this weekend to go to a blacksmith extravaganza...they're gonna launch an anvil! More on that later