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.

there are bits of fall starting to make an apprearance.....

i could so live in a place where spring and fall were the only seasons.....

my studio is down in the basement....and i am so cut off from the outdoors.....in my dream home, i will have a studio above ground with plenty of windows so that i do not miss sights likes these.

i have been a busy girl in my studio and i am loving it.   so much so that yesterday i refused to crawl back in to bed while the beast was kicking my butt...i had the hubs help me downstairs so i could play.

i made a few more bird skulls...but i have been working on an art doll mostly.  the one i am assembling now is the practice model...the one i will keep for me.   a second one is being assembled to send to a fellow artist for a swap.

her front side

her backside....

i knew i wanted to make a 'cage' dress for the polymer clay doll...i have never done this before this evening.  for a few minutes i wanted to give up and quit, at least for the night, so i put the wire and tools down and worked on another project for a couple of minutes.  this gave me time to rethink my process of bringing all of these pieces of wire together to form the 'cage'.

wah-laaaaaaaaa!  taking that little break is all i needed.

here she is with her wings temporarily places on....i just could not wait to see what it would look like.  unfortunately the person i am to send my doll to lives in australia and i can not use feathers for her dolls wings....i am thinking of using some vintage millinery leaves in white.

while staring at her i wondered what she would look like wearing a mask....the hubs and my daughter like this version better.....i am still deciding.   i like them both. 

a few doo-dads wired to the cage.  this arty girls eyeballs were having a hard time staying focused by this point after 7 hours in my studio so this is the point  i left it before coming upstairs to go to bed...and an hour and a half later i am now trying to keep my wittle eyes open long enough to finish this quick post. 

my husband and oldest son can decide to go to sleep and *poof* within minutes they are asleep...for me and my oldest and youngest, going to sleep is a process of winding down.  

i am not completely wound down, but i am one tired girl, and just right on time.  4:30 am is about my bedtime.

i threw up my mini photo studio so that i could cover up some of the background clutter so you could see her details a bit better.

i will post pics when she is all done tomorrow.   this girl is going to tuck herself in to bed before she face plants in to the keyboard.....

mwah!

keeping my promise to myself....

i promised awhile back on my other blog that i was going to get myself back in the swing of posting daily. 

so....not much happened today....insert cricket chirping noise here......

the blushing pink scarf i was stitch-stitching away on, i decided to add even more stitches to it, so it took me a bit longer to finish it up.

after my last post  steph and i sat up and talked for a couple of hours and by the time i wound myself down it was 6ish.  as i was tucking myself in the hubby was having one of his boxing matches and fighting someone, something he has not done in awhile, up until the last few nights that is.  so this tired arty girl slipped outta bed and poked him then backed off and waited for him to fully wake up.

after that i attempted to tuck myself in to bed again and mia, our scaredy-cat guard dog began barking ferociously at what was probably a blowing leaf...but to be on the safe side i crawled out of bed to check and make sure there was not an evol villian standing at our back door....nope there wasn't. 

pretty soon though mia was joined in the barking by mike, who has discovered recently that he can bark even louder...he sounds like he is about 6 feet tall and weighs 600 pounds now when he barks....

and then there is mollie, too smart to bark at such silly things, but she did have to add her two cents worth
and bark once. 

so since the other two barked i crawled out of bed again to check one more time....nope still nada, nothin', zilch...i attempted to crawl back in to bed and moan-uh the cat decided now she wanted in the kitchen to eat...so back we went to the kitchen and i open the gate....our puppies are naughty.....and let her in to eat. 

 moan-uh, our geriatric kitty is still purr-fectly able to get in to the kitchen all by her self, but i feel bad still for her, and she will meow until you escort her to the kitchen....she gets out of the kitchen with not a peep.

so now i am climbing back in to bed and then.....i gotta pee.  so i climb back out of bed.

by this time it is after 7.  i crawled back in to bed, and since the tinnitus was at an all time glass shattering level i turned on a comedy show and don't even remember seeing the first seconds of it because i was out.  

steph and i opted not to try out resist technique with the gel glue and just to work on putting the finishing touches on the scarves we have done and getting them photographed and added to etsy....we will then start on a new batch with new tricks and techniques.  then we talked about all things girlie....i love spending time gabbing with her.  i am one lucky mom.

i can not wait to get this first batch of scarves done done....all the way done and listed.  i so want to get back downstairs and working on other projects again.....

i still need to add a few finishing touches to this one before i can list it on our nest feathers and twine etsy shop.  the hubby and i both loved it so much i am going to make one for us.  i am not sure where we will put it until we own our dream house though.



warning....below is a photo of a nakey polymer clay art doll, if nakedness is offensive please do not go any further....but if nakedness is offensive then telling you i had to pee earlier probably was as well and you may have already left.....but i am warning you anyway.

this is an art doll i need to finish.  before the hubs lost his job back in may, i entered an art doll exchange and since i signed up to make a polymer clay version to challenge myself, this is the first version of the doll.   i have not worked with polymer clay in quite some time and wanted to get back in to it so hey...lets stress ourselves out right?! 

i got a bit nervous about sending a stranger a nakey doll, so i made her something else.  i can not show you that doll yet because she has not received it yet.  i will play show-n-tell when she has received it. 

she is not really suppose to have full arms and legs.  thought about giving her some cellulite dimples and more of a saggy belly.  like the belly of a woman who has been stretched to the limits by having 3 nearly 10 pound babies.  i have never worked with this brand of polymer clay before and don't like it, so maybe i should not mess with her too awfully much.

so i am going to add a few more stitches to another scarf and try to get to bed a bit earlier since the boys have school again tomorrow and i have to get up before the sun, birds, and most other humans to wake them up.

nighty-night...big squishy hugs.