I've spent the week in Ontario with my wonderful friends Angie and Marly.  We've had such fun.  So it's easy to figure the basis of my weekly "bird in the hand" - the things I'm grateful/happy about that happened this week.

Photo by striatic

• The friendship of Angie and Marly
• Having the opportunity to meet (and laugh with!) Sue McNenly after being email buddies for quite a while
• Snuggling under a blanket outside listening to live music - (Dala and Zoe Janzen)
• The low humidity in California!
• Finding new foods - like Za'atar
• Having time to experiment with metal clay - (we tried three different bronze clays this week and I'll blog about which we liked best and why next week)

•  Having friends to share ideas, dreams and goals with
•  Lake Houses 
•  Cocktail hour (but then I guess that could go on every week's list!)

Hope you had a great week too with lots of be thankful for.

BY GUEST BLOGGER MARLY FROM STUDIO 28

Angie and I are SO excited that Ruth is coming for a visit to Waterloo! As you read this blog, we will be having fun together in Toronto!  We’ll have to post lots of pictures of our adventures together! It is always wonderful to spend time with Ruth. There’s lot of laughter, sharing of ideas, and interesting metal clay collaborations. It is so enriching to have the opportunity to share ideas and studio time with another metal clay enthusiast!

 I am very fortunate to have a wonderful friend and business partner, Angie, who I can collaborate with on a daily basis. I’d like to dedicate this blog to her and thank her for her constant support, encouragement, and inspiration. She is a talented and creative artisan and I am lucky to have her presence in my life! Below are some of her beautiful metal clay creations!

Ancient Treasure

Dream Box

Dream Spinner

Love Letter

Mushroom Stones

Tribal Drums

Varanasai Sun

Stay tuned for the further adventures of Ruth, Angie and Marly in Waterloo.  Ontario will NEVER be the same!

I admit it. Both Angie and I are addicted to home renovation shows. We love to see how unappealing rooms turn into beautiful, stunning spaces. We have had our share of renovation experiences here on Spring Street, and although they are stressful to go through, the end result always makes it so worthwhile. I bought this little house on Spring Street twenty years ago. I was delighted that it came with a downstairs apartment as it provided extra income to help with the mortgage.  Being close in proximity to two large universities has always made it easy to find tenants, but after a flood caused some damage in the spring of 2008, it was the time to renovate and upgrade the apartment. We also wanted to reduce the size of the apartment so Angie and I could have more studio space downstairs and access to our storage space.

I always love looking at before and after shots, so I thought I would let you see the renovation process we went through that summer.  I’ll focus on the galley kitchen section of the downstairs apartment. It’s always a bit nerve wracking when the workers come in and totally gut what was previously there. No turning back now. Thankfully, we had a contractor that we knew and could trust!


As in the most dramatic renovation T.V. shows, the contractor informed us that the wiring and pipes behind the walls were a nightmare. The small kitchen ceiling was hiding twelve junction boxes. I could see by the look on the contractor’s face that this was not a good thing.

Obviously, a previous owner had been a bit of a “do-it- your-selfer” with very little knowledge or expertise! Also, the plumbing was old and pipes needed replacing. Ah yes, a bit of drama and added dollars to keep things exciting!


Now that the wiring and plumbing were fixed, we could focus on the fun stuff!

Angie and I decided to save some money by designing the new space, purchasing bathroom and kitchen cabinets and accessories, and by doing all the painting ourselves. After the summer was over, I really didn’t want to see another paint brush for a very long time.


How exciting to slowly see the transformation taking place. Here is the final result. I even had fun making a collage (seen on the far wall) from Japanese papers and the left over paint from the kitchen walls. Talk about art that matches the surroundings!


We were so pleased and excited about our new, sweet, little downstairs apartment. And we were able to reclaim some room downstairs for ourselves. All the work has really paid off! We still can hardly believe its the same downstairs each time we go down to our studios. Just wish we didn’t have to rent out the apartment! We could take turns living down there. But it is that time of year to rent it out to another grad student....we are now screening through tenant applications! We’ve had great tenants, so far! Wish us luck on finding a new one!

You can see more of Marly's work at Studio 28 - Waterloo,  Canada.

Oh dear! We’ve been so busy with summer projects and get-aways that I almost forgot that its THIS Monday that my next guest blog is due. Where does the time go? Its been fun having time for new projects like updating the little kitchenette in the front apartment and putting in a perennial garden in the front of the house. And we had a little get away to see Sting perform with the London (England) Symphony Concert Orchestra here in London (Ontario) on Wednesday night. Wow! What an amazing concert!

Not much time for the studio these days, but I’ve managed to create a few new pieces in the last while that I thought I’d share with you. I’ve grown to love working with copper and bronze clay along with fine silver clay. Although bronze and copper can be a bit more difficult to work with sometimes, the result of three metal colors in one piece is really worth it. Both Angie and I have found working with Hadar Jacobson’s bronze and metal powders to be our preferred choice. You can mix just the amount that you need, and the clay when it is first mixed is supple and very easy to work and manipulate. I currently am working with the three metals in a collage form that looks like a little temple. I like the form and hope there is lots of room for playing with texture and shapes within this format. Here are some of my initial pieces using this format.


I purchased some tree stamps at the art clay conference last year and decided to make a few pieces using this tree design.





The next two pieces incorporate some “Lake Huron Series” earrings that I had left in my “odds and ends” box.





I’m looking forward to playing with more copper, bronze, and silver soon. Just a few more projects....like clearing some space in the studio and I’ll be on my way!

By guest blogger Marly

A major heat wave has hit Southern Ontario. Nothing like it since 2007.  I gratefully bow to our little window air conditioner which is managing to keep the house comfortable and cool. A perfect kind of day to write a blog entry since its way too humid to venture outside. In my last blog entry, I wrote about some early artistic adventures...weaving, printmaking, picture framing, and watercolor.

Around 2005, my color palette started to change. The turquoise blues and greens that predominated my earlier work shifted to warmer colors...maroons, reds, browns and earth tones. I realized how much I loved doing collage and started to integrate watercolor and acrylics with photos and Japanese washi papers



I decided to take an early retirement from teaching in 2005 so I could make art and travel a bigger part of my life.  I took a course in fused glass and fell in love with the process. I very quickly started to experiment with collaging different colors of glass together.



It didn’t take long before I fell in love with dichroic glass and the way it reflected colours.
I started to make jewelry pieces using this specialty glass.



In between creative adventures, Angie and I travelled to the southwest in my camper van several times between 2005-2007. It was there that we discovered the silver metal clay community and took some introductory courses that got us hooked on creating metal clay jewelry. It wasn’t long before I started experimenting with previous art mediums and metal clay. Could I put in some of my collage art into a metal clay frame?
I discovered that by laminating miniaturized versions of my collages, I could, indeed, include my art in metal clay jewelry.




I really feel drawn to making artisan jewelry right now. My work in various mediums has always been small, so translating my art to jewelry seems like a good direction to pursue. I also love the personal nature of making wearable art. So many people have told me how they think of me when they put on a piece of jewelry that I’ve made. Its feels good to know that people enjoy wearing my creations.

My art experiences have truly been stepping stones. All of life’s learnings can be built upon and used in many ways. So embrace the desire to learn something new. Trust that pursuing new experiences and having the courage to leave your “comfort zone” will only broaden and enhance the creative spirit within. Here’s to the journey!

Marly and Angie are owners of Studio 28, Waterloo, Ontario

Those of us who live in Southwestern Ontario have our own "West Coast" along the shores of Lake Huron. Back in the 70's, (I was merely a child), Dad and I went looking for cottage land and we were very fortunate to find a rare lake-front property just north of Kincardine. Mom and Dad spent every weekend and the summers for the next few years building the cottage and putting the finishing touches on the inside. Both Mom and Dad had busy and demanding careers in Waterloo and the opportunity to get away and shift focus to cottage projects always lifted their spirits and gave them renewed energy. This is one of my favorite pictures of them as it reflects their happy playfulness when they worked together at the cottage.




They aptly called the cottage "Huron Haven" and it became a relaxed and peaceful gathering place for friends and family. The highlight of every evening was watching the amazing sunsets over the lake.  The beauty and majesty of this natural wonder would draw us to the beach or to the cottage deck and we would end each day gazing at the ever changing reflections of the sun on cloud, sky, and water.  This is a picture taken from the deck of the cottage.


When I started creating with metal clay, I knew I wanted to work on a Lake Huron Series to capture some of the magic of my cottage memories. First, I started with a very simple representation of sky, sun, water, and sand by making a texture plate using sandpaper and wallpaper textures along with a hole punch to create the circle shape for the sun.


I also wanted to capture the beauty of the trees lining the shore, so I twisted some copper wire into a tree shape and made a mold of the tree with the textures from the domed pendant in the background.


I, then, decided to use some gemstones to represent the sun or the moon over the lake. I have various stones in different pieces including garnet, oregon sunstone, and citrine to represent the sun, and opal to represent the moon.





I have truly been touched by the response to my Lake Huron series as so many others have shared their special memories of summer days on the beaches and in the cottage towns along Lake Huron. 

Dad passed away in 2002 and Mom continued their tradition of welcoming friends and family to their beautiful cottage home for seven more seasons. It was with a mixture of sadness and gratitude that we opened the cottage this spring, the first time without Mom or Dad. It is the end of an era. There are so many of us that miss Mom and Dad's kind and generous presence, but I know we feel grateful for their hospitality and the many beautiful memories they helped to create. I know that they will continue to inspire us to take time to enjoy nature, each other, and to end each day looking at the sunset with a peaceful and happy heart! I love you, Mom and Dad!

I’m sitting at the table amidst piles of last year’s receipts coaxing my shy and often timid left brain to step up and make sense of the numbers, tables, percentages, and schedules that make up my income tax return. As I look over a receipt from one of myToronto suppliers, my right brain merrily skips into my head and says, “Remember on that particular trip to Toronto you also went to Massey Hall to hear the Canadian Songwriters Tribute to Neil Young.”  “Oh yes!” I enthusiastically respond, “What a great
concert!” Which inspires me to go over to my computer and click on iTunes...a bit of music in the background to help me get through this tax thing would be perfect! Oh and while I’m here at the computer, I might as well check my email. Ah yes, an email from my dear friend Ruth inviting me to be a guest writer on her blog. What a great opportunity! How exciting!  But wait, now I need to write something!  How does one begin? Looking back at the pile of receipts on the table, I decide that, indeed, this is the perfect time to think about my first guest blog entry.

So let’s go back to spring of 2008. Angie, my good friend and business partner, and I have dabbled in metal clay for a few years, but its when we spend three days with Celie Fago in her lovely Vermont studio, learning about the tear away technique, doming and keum boo, that our excitement about this incredible medium really takes off! 


During our time with her, we are introduced to bronze clay which Celie has been testing for Bill Struve and Rio.  We also learn that she will be teaching the first introductorycourse in bronze clay at the PMC conference that summer. Mmmm.....another exciting opportunity presents itself. Angie is lucky enough to make it in Celie’s bronze clay course which fills up within days of its posting. It is in this course that Angie has the very very good fortune of sitting beside a lovely British woman named Ruth Baillie.  Both of us continue to enjoy her company during the course of the conference, discussing seminars and people we have met each evening over a glass of Ruth’s very own Birdland Merlot. And the rest, as they say, is history.





Little do we know that when we say our sad goodbyes at the end of the conference, that we will all be together again in a few months. Wait...what’s that? Oh dear...the left side of my brain is wringing her hands, glancing over to the pile of now neglected receipts, and telling me in a very forced whisper that there are tax deadlines to meet.  I guess, the next chapter of our adventures with Ruth have to wait. But, at least now I know what I’ll be writing about in my second entry. I really wish I had invested in that nifty “receipt reader” thing that Ruth talks about earlier in her blog. I might be a little less reluctant to go back over to the table. Maybe, I should go online and learn more about those receipt
readers, or perhaps go for a walk on this beautiful, sunny day to clear my head a bit before I get back to the numbers...isn’t there some dirty laundry that needs attention?...and so it goes.

I want to introduce you to a new guest blogger - my great friend Marly.  

Marly is an artist who works in fused glass, metal clay and lots of other things too.  She and Angie own and run Studio 28 in Waterloo, Canada (near Toronto).


The photo below shows Marly in my studio last year, when she and Angie were visiting.  While we were together, we had an incredible time making some collaboration pieces - three pieces with each of us contributing to each piece.  The process - and results - were amazing. Here's the link to the final blog post about our metal clay collaboration projects so you can see what we came up with.


Anyhow - I won't tell you too much about her, as she'll be doing that!  She will be blogging on alternate Mondays in her new slot "Mondays with Marly". So one week it'll be "Mondays with Marly" and the next it'll be "Monday's Millinery Musings" with Jennifer.  (Now why Jennifer's name doesn't begin with an M I'll never know!! Maybe she should change it!!!)


I'm delighted she agreed to join our little band of bloggers, so we get to hear a little about "inside the artisan Marly".

See you Monday Marly!

Two great friends have just launched their new website - Studio 28. It's beautiful and definitely worth a look.


It's timely too as they are having a Summer Solstice show and sale this weekend so if you live anywhere near the Toronto area - go see them!


They create with metal clays - silver and bronze, do fused and dichroic glass work, watercolors and teach classes in these mediums too, plus collage and framing.....

They are such fun people to be around. I met them at the PMC conference last year and knew instantly that they would be long time special friends. We had so many laughs....Then they came to stay for a while last year when it was Angie's birthday...and now they are coming back to California at the end of this month so there will be more play time! Yippee!!! Can't wait to see them again.... Hurry here soon you two!