Cichlids in Waller Creek?
I take frequent walks along a Central Texas cree and document the flora and fauna extensively. The natural state of these creeks is crystalline clear. In their natural state they are populated with a variety of brightly colored sun fish. Apparently the sun fish do not survive in turbidity. I am interested in any fish that can survive in the environment metamorphed from the crystalline state.
Texas Cichlid (Herichthys Cyanoguttatus)? This species abounds and I have not been able to identify it.
I decided the study the specimen, I do this in metal because it forces to to contemplate the entire ecology of the subject.
Fish in Red California Pitch
I Photoshopped the image to get a better understanding of the bone and muscle structure
Picture shows fins swept back
Like the mosquito fish, an invasive species in the area, this baby uses its side fins to stabilize against the flow, allowing it to stay in pools and eddies when the water rises.
The fins had to be redirected
Shown from the point of view of the fish, with indistinct entities walking around, unobserved in another realm of existence on the creek bank.
These fish pick a spot and clean the water around it. As they grow the spot expands until the entire basin is clear, Note the muscular side fin. It holds the fish steady against the current. I would like to identify the species.
after 8-10 hours' study I may put this aside and begin study #2 which will delve into the matter of the eyes and the lips.
DISCOVERY GREEN AGAIN...
🎶 We just can't wait to get to the show again!!! 🎶 (sung to the famous Willie song On The Road Again)
We are SOO EXCITED about this show!!!! Looks like good weather, we have some new designs to share as well as some GREAT NEW pieces!!! Come on out and say "Hi" and do a little dance with as we enjoy the music and fun!!!
This is what's new ;- )
THE EXPANDED SWIRL
GOING INTO DISCO FLEA
We were experimenting with crude forms a couple of weeks ago...
Which led to the FIRE PATINATED SWIRLS
LED TO THE EXPANDED HEART -- WHICH SOLD BEFORE I COULD EVEN GET A GOOD PICTURE.
WHITE LINEN NIGHT WRAP-UP
I've been to big street fairs from Boston to San Francisco, Charlotte to Chicago. White Linen Nights in the Heights is a spectacle participated in by about 20,000 people. It is very special to me. This is the neighborhood where i grew up. The event is remarkable for its simplicity and grandness. Set your calendar for next year, first Saturday of August. When you look at my work, you are looking at the Heights and Oak Forest, two of the neighborhoods of Houston, Texas.
I think this is the 200 block of 19th Street, photo by Erik Kolflat
Here are a few items that I made up Friday night that were sold on Saturday
Rutile
The rutile is a special piece with a hammer-chased bezel and bail.
Crysoprase (sp?)
This one did not stay around long enough to be documented. I have already gone back into my collection and pulled two more for the pipeline.
Flame Patina Copper with silver
First etched with a small wire brush on a rotary wheel, then torched, carefully manipulating the flame to being color-texture to different parts of the metal. Protected by Color-Loc
Brazilian Quartz
The tips of the wire in this pendant were hand tapered to create the curled ends.
MUSEUM of the SOUTHWEST SEPTEMBERFEST SWIRL STUDY
As I shared with my patrons at While Linen Night, I'm having a swirl fest. This is a 6-week exercise leading to Septemberfest 2015 at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas.
This afternoon I grabbed three pieces of copper with hand-tapered and curled ends. I then fashioned swirls with my fingers. There are a number of real ways to do this in the textbooks. A more consistent curl is achieved by using steel tools and making templates. These studies are to develop an organic form that is most fully expressive.
HAMMER AND FILE - WHITE LINEN NIGHT in the Heights
1 week before While Linen NIght in the Houston Heights. I grew up in the Heights. The project has shifted in the study of hammers and files.
Rutilated quartz mounted with hammer-chased hand made bezel
This week's study leads through hammering and filing. I witness very fine work by other artisans whose primary tools are the hammer, the torch and the file. They will even put the final polish on by hand with felt cloth.
5 pieces arranged together.
The secret according to Nile Fahmy, likes in the tip. These were ground on a wheel. I have progressed to doing them by hand with a file, the results to be shown in subsequent posts.
Production table after a full day at work
Pre-finish area - note the rutiliated quartz pendant is one among many
DESIGN NOTES BEFORE WLN
This is the night before the Discovery Green Flea by Night, where some customers know new things are coming.
Harmony Turned on Side - Ometron - Rossette Encross
Of course this is true every place we demonstrate our wares for a premier is merely the beginning of a new phase of study.
We are now 1 week later and 1 week before While Linen NIght in the Houston Heights. I grew up in the Heights. The project has shifted in the study of filing.
NEW ITEMS TO THE DISCO FLEA
HERE are a few of the items which I have made in the past week to take to the Discovery Green Flea Market at night in sparkling downtown Houston...
The song writer MJ Richarson came over one day and inspired me to make a rose pendant like this and it became a popular line...
The design is based on the Russian Rose as taught by the master, Nile Famy at Creative Side Jewelry Academy.
I built 10 new mobiles using a new octagon which will throw a lot of glorious rainbows when placed in a sunny window.
Mystics tell us that bloodstone is good for prosperity. While my own prosperity is based on luck, preparation and faith, I will not dispute the intuitive powers of the mystic.
Remember today Aristotle's dictum: Do good and avoid evil.
ON HAND JUNE 1 2015
Here is a gallery of some of the jewelry pieces I have on hand. We have just completed the Spring season and are about the commence the Summer. We have seen some rain and expect to see more. Production is something that goes on every single day rain or shine.
(Click on the images ;-))
Playing With Open Dream Vessels
Copper vessel resting against a wooden anvil fashioned from a scrap of wood. The wood was used in the construction of the Red Studio where the vessel was formed.
Rocking at Stubbs an image from my painting on the side of the vessel
Inspired by pottery glazes I've seen over the years.
Alignment Intregral
I acquired a crystal that didn't seem to balance like the typical pieces which we select to be made into mobiles and pendants or earrings. I usually work with crystals that point to the center of the earth when they are fastened into a setting for a pendant or a mobile.
A particularly luminescent piece from Crystal Works
This rock does not align comfortably with the center of the earth because it is not gravitationally centered.
Two bands wrapped at the bottom can make it stand up straight.
More can be said about these bands, however, I want to address the integrity of this stone.
Standing in alignment with itself.
When allowed to find its on natural alignment with gravity, the crystal shows the perfection of its integrity.
PROCESS SHOTS - AT FIRST SATURDAY ARTS MARKET
I had a piece of copper that I had colored with Prismacolor Pencils. I fabricated a setting for it during the first musician's set at the First Saturday Arts Market. The game here is inspired by Taureg jewelers whose dramatic silver work is produced with very few tools under ancient conditions.
Finished product...
Starting place
Marked and partially cut fire-patinated copper
Tabs cut and bent to fit the piece which had originally been rectangular but had been distorted with a specialized hammer (cross peen).
Tab in the back used to roll out a tube for a bail
I tapped the tabs with a punch to give a texture and to seat the tabs
Finished.
COMPLETION IS THE NEXT BEGINNING
Next month's projects commence today--Working to First Saturday Art Market for March 7, 2015
The Box
This is a study of the ebb and flow of this box....
A lot of these things are like life-problems to be worked out...
(To be continued...)
Disco Flea February 21, 2015
Just a few of the new things for the Discovery Green Flea...
Jeffrey Solution Quartz
I found a tiny stash these rare quartz points from a flooded mine that has been off limits for the past 25 years. I am a bit of a hoarded and needless to say, I've had them for decades.
They are tiny and brittle, but I can wrap them in wire with an expectation that they will stay. Here I have combined them with tiny awesome amethyst points I found over at Crystal Works in Austin, Texas
I found myself sold out of 'popularly priced' mobiles. So I made a few...
$18-$24, hammered bronze
Copper with patina, distorted in color by the iPad lens, nonetheless cool in its own right.
WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!
On Lovers Lane...well Hwy 71 to spread LOVE & JOY to all our friends @1stSaturdayArtMarket!! We are so EXCITED to kick off the month of love this way!
Mueller Lakes
The next neighborhood over from mine in Austin is Mueller, which is a redevelopment of the Old Mueller Airport. In order to build the neighborhood and not flood all of East Austin, they had to build an extensive retention system to hold back the water. They went a step further to pump purified waste water from the purification plant on the Colorado River back to Mueller to be used for irrigation. An extensive lake system with park land around it was built to manage this water.
The "Thinkery," a red Building in the background, is the Children's Museum, nestled in the center of the entire project, about 4 blocks from the Dell Children's Hospital.
The Browning Aviation Hanger is used as a public space. A farmers market meets there every Sunday. The air shaft tower from the Dell Children's Hospital is seen in the background. The Browning Hanger is often incorrectly identified as the first airplane hanger in Austin. The first hanger was the Austin Aero hanger which was demolished in 2013 without out much noise from local residents. It was located on RR 2222 and Avenue D, about 2 miles from the Browning Hanger.
One feature of the park is an extensive hike and bike system
From the same spot as the above images can be seen the transition from a big open space to a rookery from wild birds and butterflies. Here is where the nature trails begin.
Wide gravel paths accomodate traffic
Sculpture gardens abound include works by Chris Levack
Contigo Restaurant can be seen through the trees.
I call it Contigo Lake because its near the restaurant. I am sure the city calls it something else, like reservoir X, but probably not Reservoir Dog.
A built up embankment on which there is a gravel path protects the restaurant as well as the street and the entire neighborhood from flooding.
Picnic area and rock outcroppings create personal space. You can go there and eat a barbecue sandwich, write poetry, paint or think.
Traditional Hand-Forged Components
Nile Fahmy came back by popular demand to give another masters class in forging of metal jewely components at the Creative Side Academy. Here are a few pictures of the results. His website, The Tattooed Tinker Studio is worth some time. Currently he is directing his efforts to the art of raising vessels. He says the 24kt plating inside the silver cups make the spirits taste better. I thought I would show a few of the tricks I learned from this master who at age 35 has 30 years' experience.
Fold-Forming
This piece is about the size of a jumbo shrimp. It started out as a 1 inch by 1 ½ inch piece of copper which I fabricated using the fold form technique invented by Charles Lewton-Brain in the 1980’s. This technique will show up in our Spring jewelry line. I might make up a few shrimp.
Calla Lilly
According to the internet, "You'll be hard pressed to find a more unusual flower with such a deeply rooted cultural and historical significance as the calla lily." WE'll be seeing more of these. I can also see where the techniques used here will work well with the shrimp.
Leaf
We have been featuring leaves in our designs. I wanted to pick up a few more leaf tricks.
Twisted Bracelet
Many new variations and avenues of creativity are suggested by this form
Quartz stand in from of Ralph Parker Painting
On my way back to work after class one day I stopped off at Crystal Works (11th and North Lamar in Austin, Texas). There I discovered a box with several pounds of the very finest quartz points I have seen in 30 years. The photograph doesn't show just how brilliantly vibrant these are. I made a stand for one of them and I look forward to making a few more.
DISCO FLEA HERE WE COME!!!!
Rain or shine we have a GRAND TIME!! Well, we have really enjoyed the rain in Austin and are now on our way to celebrate life "Flea" style at the "Disco" in Houston. That is to say the Disco Flea on Discovery Green https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryGreenFlea by the Brown Convention Center down town! Come see us and join in the celebration with live music, food and fun!! The local art is quite fabulous too!!! No worries about getting rained on, clear skies ahead!!
* http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.discoverygreen.com%2Fflea&h=KAQGieYfL&s=1
TWO HANDS AND A BRAIN TO MAKE ONE'S WAY
"BOY WITH CABBAGE NETS" by Joshua Reynolds
This is from an exhibition of paintings that Jane Austen saw when she visited an exhibit at the British Institution in Pall Mall, London in 1813. The exhibition was recreated by University of Texas English Professor Dr. Janine Barchas with a very entertaining little essay.
BACK OFFICE EARRING PHOTOS
When at the Discovery Flea by Night in downtown Houston I show a lot of post earrings made from Austrian Crystal. These are usually kept under wraps when I show at juried Fine Art and Craft Fairs such as the First Saturday Arts Market. Recently I took an inventory. I also photographed them, to get a handle on the complete collection. I thought I would open the door to the back office and let you peak in. Click on the picture and it will move to the next image. These are not intended as fine art photos. They give me a visual breakdown of what is in stock so I can plan for the Fall season. By the way, if you really want to see a great collection of these classic earrings, while in Austin go to Crystal Works on 11th and North Lamar.
