I joined the Four a Month group on Flickr to make myself learn new techniques, and boy have I been doing it! I've been making mixed media pictures with all kinds of new methods, scanning them, and then printing them or editing them in my drawing and painting software and then printing them. Then I shrunk them down and put them in some commercial pendant blanks and resined them. Now, I am going to get into my own metal, polymer and/or metal clay blanks soon, but each technique takes time to perfect, and I am not going to rush anything. I will be putting the 4AM pendants up on here and on Flickr after photographing them.
I'm also beading a triple spiral, which is a lush and gorgeous technique, and I have a beautiful pendant that I just made that will go with it pretty well, I think. I've also been doing some crochet coasters, dishcloths, scarves, slippers and gloves in the evenings when it's hard to see to bead. So, I'm busy all the time, and things are getting done, but I just have neglected to share.
The first thing I'm going to share here is a bit of good news. A couple of months ago, Linda Britt and I started talking about creating a "My History" board on Pinterest. We were going to do our own, then see if our online friends might like to do it as well. We thought it might be fun to share who we are as well as what we create. So, as always, life kind of got in the way for both of us, hubbies with health issues and the day to day things that seem to take precedence over good intentions, along with some procrastination on my part.
The procrastination on my side came because I have very little in the way of pictures of my past. I have moved many times, (MANY times), have had some destruction from a vicious stepmother who wanted to wipe all memory of me from the face of the earth, and I lost a lot of things in Hurricane Katrina. So, to try to find pics or mementos from my past is going to be challenging, but here comes the good news.
My brother and I have been estranged since 1996. There was a lot of craziness over the years, and though I have always loved him, I just had to be away from him for a time. So, a few weeks ago, I found him on FB, contacted him, and found the craziness is now gone. We are working on repairing our relationship, and he has sent me some pics from his life and from our younger days. I am very happy to be working this out. He is very important to me.
I also had a few family pics that I rescued from everything, so the work begins on getting the photos scanned, the memory cards uploaded and the photo-editing done. I am also going to get pics that my kids have, and more will follow.
So here are the teaser pics, raw and unedited. Stay tuned for more pics, and the results of all the art projects.
Grampa Zig and friend with the Thunder Road car from the roaring 20s. It had no seats in the back to allow room for more bootleg whiskey to be transported! On the back of the photo it says "Huba Huba" (sic).
Grampa and me in 1952 - I was less than a year old. Yes, when I was born, Truman was president.
My Grandma Avis, but Ziggy always called her Rosie. circa 1939 or '40
