my first free clinic visit and some bit and pieces of neato art

so i have been m.i.a. since wednesday. 

wowzer what a day that was.  since the hubby is still 'officially' unemployed, he is working with a temp agency, and we are without insurance i had what i hope to be a first and last experience with a local free clinic.   i needed a refill on a medicine that keeps my heart rate and rhythm in check.

first of all let me just say God bless those people.  they are volunteering their time. 

second of all...i will be applying to our local large well known hospital for future care.

this free clinic is located in the basement of the salvation army....behind the soup kitchen....and it looked just like it was out of a t.v. show, and worse than what you are imagining!

all of the nurses and doctors are, and i kid you not, 70+ years old.   the doctor i saw said he was a youngin' and he was in his 70's.   he was a big wig at our local large well known hospital until heart surgery forced him to cut back on office hours.  he was the kindest man, but forgetful as could be.  he said my heart sounded great.....and that always makes me feel relieved...i just hope  he remembered what a great sounding heart sounds like.

one female doctor had to use a cane, it took her about 15 minutes to make it to the bathroom, which was about 25 feet from her office.  one of the nurses had to ask her if she needed help.  as she approached i notice the white-see-through-sweater-wearing-cane-toting-woman-doctor  did not have a bra on.  it was a bit chilly in the room.  and oh-my-lawd  i could see her....areolas.  uh...according to google plural would be areolae.   i suddenly turned in to a teen-age boy and had to hold back a bout of hysterical, i can not believe i am seeing this, giggles.   i then asked God to forgive me, as i am doing now, and then prayed that she would not be my doctor. 



there were no computers, calculators.....the nurses station i was at had one of those clip on auto lamps....my nurse was so sweet and was just as deaf as i am!  *snort*  thank God my daughter was there to translate for the both of us!   it did not help that my tinnitus was roaring so loud i could not hear, and to top it off my hearing aid battery died and i was out of new ones. 

the free clinic had just the group of people you would expect...your average person who you can tell works for a living but does not have insurance, and then couple on meth....or some form of drug, the gansta, a poor woman who had a stroke in january...she broke my heart.  it was her first visit there as well.

the doctor wanted blood work done to check on my anemia, which was life threatening a few years ago.  he took me to this room with a woman that i swear was about 90 and there was a place to rest your arm....an old wooden t.v. tray.  i have had my blood drawn so many times over the years that i have track marks and look like a druggie so it does not bother me.....but,  oh holy crap there was no way this woman was going at me with a needle while my arm was on a germy tv tray.....but thank God this was the medicine room.  she could arrange for financial aid on presciptions if we could not afford them.   thankfully my meds are only 12 bucks.

ok....so now on to happy schtuff......

ohhhh.....forgot to upload photos....hold on......

oh, as a treat for being a good girl at the doctor my daughter took me for some froyo at my new favorite place.  orange leaf. 

coffee, chocolate, and cheese cake frozen yogurt topped with mini chocolate chips, mini caramel turtles and reeses pieces.....i just know this is what heaven tastes like!

this one was steph's

so on the way home from our treat we were stuck in after school and construction traffic.  i was thinking to my self how sad i was that i had not seen a sysco truck.  the hubby and kids see them all the time, and since it is a rare treat lately for me to get out of the house i was sure hoping to see one.  my dad was working for sysco when he passed away almost 8 years ago.  it has always been taken as a hello from my dad since then.   right as i began to then tell my daughter that i was sad i just happened to look up and see a tree in the shape of a heart.  i reached for my camera, but was too late to snap a photo as traffic began to move.  

my daughter and i caught the attention of several young hunky construction dudes....they waved as we drove by.   that makes a girl feel good!

we decided to pull back around and sit in traffic again so that i could take a photo to add to my collection of hearts from heaven....and great,  now the construction dudes are going to think we are out to pick them up....*snort*

on the way back we noticed the tree did not look at all like a heart from the back.  as we approached the tree from the other direction it was not looking hearty in the very least and if my daughter had not also witnessed this i would have thought i was losing my mind.  now i was really sad that i missed the photo op for this.  then traffic began to move again and there must have been the slightest breeze and it looked like a heart again!  i was able to snap a blurry photo of it.  not quite as hearty as the first time we saw it, but hearty it was.

this project originally started as a necklace.  wellllll....i decided mid construction to turn it in to a bracelet. 

the top reliquary has a bird skull i sculpted out of polymer.  the bottom and smaller reliquary has a coyote toe bone.  (i bought the bones from a fellow etsy seller who promised the coyote was road kill and not just killed for the bones, just in case you wondered about such things)

when i first told my daughter she said 'you know that is huge mom' and i told her not much huge-er than some of the chunky bracelets girls were wearing lately. 

ok...i am just way out of the box.....like i can not even see the box i am so out of it!    i spent way to many years stuffed and crammed in the box.....i am now allergic to boxes. 

so here we have the bracelet put together....but if you notice the end pieces....i had to remove the jump rings and re-solder them on a bit different to get the 'clasp' i chose to work.

this is a tim holtz doo-hicky.  i believe it is a pocket watch fob. 

and here are the jump ring do overs

and all patina-ed and the clasp attached.

and pics of the bracelet on in the studio and kitchen....

today was a wee bit of a nutty day.  oh....but last night this night owl fell asleep at just a bit after 11 pm the night before and woke up without the aid of an alarm at 9ish!  ....come to think of it, maybe that is why it was wonky?! 

i have been looking on the internet for a tute on how to texturize solder.  at least 2 years ago, maybe a wee bit longer,  i have had a few bird nest reliquaries ready to solder, but i wanted the solder to look like tree bark.  

today i found several photos of what i wanted but not a tute to be found for free that is....then it hit me.  i know this look...i did it to my bathroom a few years ago.  our bathroom paint kept chipping and for some reasone i got this idea to schmere the walls with joint compound and then give them texture with a wadded up plastic bag.  the paint no longer chips!

well, i could not use a wadded up plastic bag on hot smoldering liquidy solder, so i used a paper towel...that was not quite it...then i added water to the paper towel and wah-freaking-lah!  squeeeeee!

there was still condensation on the inside....the ants in my pants could not wait for the photo op.

now i liked this....but not quite what i wanted....

a few hours later i realized that i wanted the high spots to look more shiny, as though time had rubbed off the patina.

i wanted to use steele wool, but we had not a bit of it and the budget did not allow for a run to the hardware store....thankfully i had some bazillion grit wet/dry sand paper used in auto detailing that i used for the time being.

now this is just how i pictured it looking!  like a dork i keep looking at it with the biggest grin on my face that i figured out how to do this technique, and for free even!

today, the 22nd, i get to share my birthday with earth day.   according to the calendar i am 47.  my mind begs to differ.  it feels more like 20something.  

i received this in the mail from someone i feared i might never get to talk to or see again and that made me happy beyond words, and that is a pretty difficult thing to cause when it comes to me....to be beyond words. 

i have also received some of the sweetest and kindest and most unexpected birthday wishes.  i believe this arty girl's smiley face might just get stuck this way....just like my mom always told me! 

much love to you all.   big sloppy smooches and squishy hugs.

reliquary bracelet in the making

today i only had a wee bit of time in my studio....it was an off day and by the time i was able to make it to my studio i was in a wonky mood.  i kinda really did not know where to start so i started playing with cutting glass in house shapes while trying to figure out where to start. 

i am going to need some more play time cutting house shapes free hand or make a pattern that is for sure....i did find that i am good at cutting myself with glass.  twice.  in a row.    with the first mishap i ran upstairs and washed the boo-boo and then put a band aid and neosporin on it, made it back downstairs and rammed the end of another finger in to the pointy end of a piece of glass and then ran back upstairs and washed that boo-boo out and figured that one would not need the boo-boo be better medicine.  at this point i figured i should work on something else. 

i began this reliquary with a necklace in mind and now i am planning on making it a bracelet.


on the inside is one of the bird skulls i sculpted from polymer.

ummm......i played with instagram....remember i said i did not see what the big deal was?  i am kinda liking that little app the more i play with it!


here a just a couple of elements of the bracelet.....have more to put together tomorrow if i have time.

it is going on 3 am...sheesh i told myself i was going to be asleep by now since the first alarm will go off in just about 3 hours from now and i need to be up by 7am.  oh i need to get on a normal people sleep schedule! 

nighty-night.....smooches.

take that blah monster...this arty girl is back

it has been a long couple of years, but the last 5 months have been intense to say the least. 

a couple of years ago i would not have made it 5 weeks in, a couple years before that i would have been lucky to make it to 5 days. 

this girl has been playing cheerleader to the peeps here at our home and being brave, and i think that no matter who you are and how strong you are...... there comes a point where even a brave girl has her moment   where she becomes vulnerable to the blah monster...'specially when the poo hit not just 'the fan'...but a room full of them.....and there was no dodging it.

so....... the blah monster got a good grip on me and held tight for a few weeks, but i  broke free and i am standing in faith once again that we are going to make it through this storm and be better than we were before.....and soon.

during my moment of utter and complete blah-ness i had the urge, stronger than when i was nesting during my baby making days, to clean and purge....the whole entire house. 

normally when stressed i clean drawers, closets, and all the hidden places and spaces of my domain.  the laundry may back up, the dishes pile a mile high in the sink but this girl got clean drawers!

 i am sure if i were to lay back on a therapists couch i would find that this enhanced and amplified nesting is a need to take control and symbolically clean up what ever mess i felt i was in the middle of.  this feels different, though, and it feels good to be getting rid of schtuff..... and the floors are mopped, toilets scrubbed, the dishes done, next weeks laundry is done.....

okayyyyyyy...with the ick out of the way now i can catch up on some of what went on here the last few weeks.

so, this cute little guy here, the one fast asleep with the pink veener dog toy.....

uh-dorable isn't he?

a couple of weeks ago i looked out in the back yard and noticed he was behaving in such a way that i knew in a mega instant that he was playing with a critter of some sort. 

now, it was 1 in the afternoon.   i had just crawled outta bed.....this arty girl is part night owl and does not shut down until 4....5, 6, 7 in the morning.   i had major bed head, blanket crinkles and drool on my face, no bra, and the beast was misbehaving so i was walking like a drunk person trying to walk across a waterbed.  we have privacy fence, buuuuut the neighbors have decks and the neighbors on both sides of us were outside.   lovely.  just lovely. 

mike refused to come when i called him cuz he knew mommy was gonna take his play mate away, which meant that the mommy had to come out after him in all my fresh-out-of-the-bed-glory.  again....lovely, just lovely. 

let the chase begin.  thankfully i was able to grab michael.   clenched between his teeth was a soggy, drippy, and now dead playmate.

  it was either a vole or baby possum.  

i had michael by the scruff of his neck, and gave him a few gentle tough love shakes and told him to drop it and drop it now! 

michael looked at me and i just knew what he was thinking....no way iz i spittn 'im out,  dis bees my toy not yours.  (i just know that is how he sounds...take my word for it)

with that he did what the gators and crocs do on the wild life shows when eating an antelope in one swallow....he did that flick of his head thing so that the vole/possum was not laying cross ways in his little mouth any longer, but now long ways.....then he swallowed it.....whole. 

no way was that dog gonna lick me....evarrrr again. 

everyone was so worried he was not going to be able to poop it out.   ewww. gross, right? 

the loads of dryer sheets he steals seem to have made their way out, pistchio shells, and who knows what else...

everyday as everyone came home from work and school i was asked the same question......so did mike poop it out yet?

really?

why do even my own peeps think i have any desire, or time, to follow the dog around the backyard to see if he has pooped out his playmate.  really.   once my last baby was fully potty trained i gave up having to look at anyone or thing's poop. 

about a week later we let mike have, play with and eat part of a mini pumpkin.    steph, my oldest and only daughter suddenly freaks and started to take it away from him fearing he might get sick from it.....really....he licks his butt daily and eats critters....whole.  i really doubt a mini pumpkin will do any more harm than his other activities do....sheesh. 

halloween came and went....steph and a co-worker of hers dressed up as thing 1 and thing 2 for work and my youngest was a cowboy.

i am lucky i was even able to snap a quickie photo as steph was getting ready to drive max to his girlfriends house for some halloween fun......squuueeeeee i totally forgot to mention that max has a girlfriend, didn't i.  she is cute, and seems mentally well adjusted and normal....thank you Jesus for that!  Lord knows we have had our run of crazy girls between the two boys. 

my smallest baby at birth, only 9 pounds 7 ounces, it now the biggest.  he is 6'2" at the moment.  next week who knows since he is in the middle of the whole puberty thing.

i finished my prototype art doll and am ready to finish up another to send to a swap friend.

these are quickie photos.

i am so in love with this.....and excited.  i am thinking about making one to sell on the nest feathers and twine shop. 

this is a new wire wrapping thing i tried.  i had to figure it out by looking at another artists online.  i am hoping someday soon i can pick up a copy of the book that this technique is in.  the back is up here....and the front down there.....

last night i headed back downstairs to do some more studio purging and cleaning and realized i needed my storage tubs. 

the storage tubs are outside awaiting a rinse down with the hose.

it was 30...40 something degrees and dark and windy.  the hose down is gonna have to wait until this weekend when the temps warm up a bit, so darn it i just had to play a little while doing a little tidying.

i took some of the skulls i had sculpted from polymer a few weeks ago....

i added some acrylic paint to the ones on the left and right.  i was going for a found on the forest floor look. 

 
this afternoon i used a combo of alcohol inks, acrylics and stamps pads  to give these skull their aged and forest floor found look. 

i think i like 'em.

i still like them bone white as well.  i think i will just let each project they will be used in dictate what i do to them. 

i also used utee and regular embossing powder and a stamp to do this to a wooden bead

that is what the stamp looked like i was using to press in to the utee while it was still warm and workable to give the bead texture. 

i also added a vintage stamp to a wee bottle.

i did not like the 'newness' of the cork so i aged it a bit with some ink.

wahlahhh....now it is ready to be used in a future assemblage/collage piece. 

just one of the goodies i found while cleaning the studio....it is gonna be part of a necklace someday real soon...

i have been driving myself looney looking for these and found them....also to be part of a necklace soon, and a few other projects. 

the photo stinks, i know.  i just wanted to snap a quickie to play some show-n-tell of a couple of goodies i have been working on.

i am loving working with the steel wire again.  i did not realized how much i missed it. 

beads i have gathered for another necklace i am working on.   the darned big beads with what i thought were big big holes in them won't take the wire for my original idea.  seems the holes are much smaller in the middle.  so i am rethinking the 'stringing' process for this piece. 

this is the focal for the necklace.  a locket that holds a toe bone from a wolf, or was it a coyote, that was hit by a car and did not survive....according to the etsy seller. 

i am thinking of calling the piece the sacred bone.

i have used steel that i hammered and wrapped it a bit with sari silk. 

i think that is about it.  i am sure i will think of a gazillion and a half more things i wanted to say or show-n-tell as soon as i hit the publish post button. 

i am off to find something of the chocolate variety...wish me luck because i don't think we have anything.  maybe there will still be that swig of pumpkin spice milk. 

i have missed you all.  big squishy hugs and sloppy kisses to you. 

be back soon.