Happy Birthday Veronica !! Feliz Cumpleaños !!

Today, March 30, we are celebrating the life of our wonderful miracle baby. It was nine years ago that Veronica came to our life and taught us how to live life to the fullest.
Hoy, Marzo 30, celebramos la vida de nuestro bebe milagro. Hace nueve años que Veronica llego a nuestras vidas y nos enseño a vivirla al maximo !

Her beginnings were not very easy for her and us, she fought the most difficult fight. The fight for her life!
Su comienzo no fue muy facil, ella lucho con todas sus fuerzas. Lucho por su Vida!
During her first three months of life she survived many battles.
Durante sus primeros tres meses de vida, ella lucho muchas batallas !
Now, she is FULL of life and energy. She is always laughing and happy.
Ahora, ella esta llena de Vida y Energia. Veronica siempre esta feliz y sonrie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET VERONICA !!!

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS VERONICA !!

Thank You for all your love and for teaching us how to see life in a different way.
You and Christian are my heroes !!!
Gracias por todo tu amor y por enseñarnos como ver la vida en una forma distinta.
Tu y Christian son mis heroes !!!

I Love You !!!   Te Amo !!!!

Creative Leave ?!

I though I needed a creative leave 4 days ago and I have to be honest....I just can NOT do it !!
It only lasted two days, I was getting depressed. For me creating is like breathing, without it I can be very sad. 
I Love my kids and my husband, I am blessed to have them in my life. They make me the happiest person in the planet, but creating is the other part in my life that I can not go without it. When I started taking silversmithing classes in 2006 I discover something magical. Little by little I started to form my wings by creating and since that day I have not stop. It does not matter what material I used or if it is jewelry or not, I HAVE to create. Creating makes me a happier person, a better mom and wife.


I just finished this angel with creative paperclay and I feel she represents how I feel when I am creating.

©2011 Lorena Angulo
SPRING ANGEL
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, acrylics and polymer clay.

The bright colors transmit happiness and good energy and of course a good pair of wings to feel the freedom that I feel when I make my work.

©2011 Lorena Angulo
SPRING ANGEL
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, acrylics and polymer clay.

I also made this organic ring.

©2011 Lorena Angulo
VERDE ES VIDA
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, acrylics and pearls.

©2011 Lorena Angulo
VERDE ES VIDA
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, acrylics and pearls

Do you think I am crazy?? How do you feel if you are not creating?


Love,
Lorena

Bird a Week #11

My inspiration for this week was the wonderful "Alebrijes" from my country, Mexico. The "Alebrijes" are wonderful and colorful creatures made with hand carved copal wood sculptures and painted with a lot of bright colors. The first Alebrijes were made out of cardboard or papier mache.

I choose to create a peacock in this style and I have to admit I had a great time.

I did notice that I will have to look for better paint brushes to be able to paint better and finer details in the piece. I do not have that type of brushes and I did the best I could to make it.

I started by sculpting the peacock with Creative Paperclay. Typically the alebrijes have pieces in the sculpture that came apart. In my case I made the feathers and the wings detached from the piece.

After I sanded the whole piece I started to paint my bird with some vivid acrylic colors.

My Peacock found a home in my "Sun Room" !!

I had a difficult time trying to get a good image, sorry !!! ;o)

30-Minute Rings (LARK book)

30-Minute Rings is a wonderful book by the publisher LARK and written by Marthe Le Van. This book is fill with 60 quick and creative projects from 49 artists.
I always look forward to see what new books Lark is publishing and this great book is not a disappointment. You will love to see the many designs and materials used in all the projects and create unique rings in only 30 minutes.
The artists that participated in the book are great jewelers and designers. It will be hard for me to mention all their names but just to give you an idea here are some of them: 2 Roses Studio, Lora Hart, Emma Baird, Cynthia Del Giudice, Sara Westermark and Danielle Miller-Gilliam; just to mention a few.

Designer: LORA HART

Designer: AJA ENGEL

Designer: EMMA BAIRD

Designer: NICOLE JACQUARD

Publication date is April 2011, you will love to add this book to your bookshelf!!

Inspired by Spring

One of my favorite seasons is Spring. I love to see all the plants re-flourish and the flowers come out.
When I lived in New Jersey I could really appreciated the beauty and colors of spring, I enjoyed planting my flowers in my garden all the time.
Now I live is sunny Texas and it is not as easy to have the many colors of spring but I still love to have some colors in my garden.
This was my inspiration for making this ring, I wanted to have something that will give me the colorful beauty of this season.

Here is what I came up with !

I created this ring with Creative Paperclay, colored pencils, yellow yarn and glass beads.

©2011 Lorena Angulo
SPRING
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, yellow yarn and glass beads.
2 inches by 1.85 inches

©2011 Lorena Angulo
SPRING
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, yellow yarn and glass beads.
2 inches by 1.85 inches

©2011 Lorena Angulo
SPRING
Creative paperclay, colored pencils, yellow yarn and glass beads.
2 inches by 1.85 inches

Do you have a favorite season?


Love,
Lorena 

The winner of the giveaway is...

M A R T H A !!!!

You are the winner of the fantastic book, Creating Glass Beads by Jeri Warhaftig. 

Congratulations !!!!

Please send me an email with your contact information.

Visit my website to find my email address.

Lorena Angulo

Thanks to all who participated !!!

Vintage Jewelry Design by Caroline Cox

Are you a lover of wonderful jewelry ? This amazing book by Lark Jewelry & Beading will be the perfect book to have.
I have always loved the mystery about the relationship with the cultural influence in jewelry and this fantastic book will take you from Art Nouveau, circa 1890 to present day.
  
The author, Caroline Cox, is a leading fashion authority whose work explores the relationship between fashion, beauty and culture.
The book covers more than 100 years of jewelry history, focusing on different designers and trends of each decade. I enjoyed so much looking at the trends in each decade and falling in love all over again with some wonderful designs.
The pictures of the jewelry are incredible, rare pieces from museums and private owners will take your breath away.


Here you have three of the images in this great book, the information at the bottom of each picture comes from the book.

The large ruby and diamond "wrapped heart" brooch of 1941 by Fulco di Verdura in  18-karat gold and platinum, set with 62 cabochon rubies and 232 round diamonds. Originally commissioned by a wealthy Palm Beach client as a Valentine's Day present for his wife, this became a trademark piece of the jeweler's.

A Juliana parure of brooch, clip earrings and bracelet in silver-tone with grey chatons and ruby red rhinestones with central cat's-eye cabochon stones. Juliana was made by William DeLizza  and Harold Elster of New York and sold to other jewelry companies and was marked by a paper tag. It is recognizable by incredible colorful art-glass stones.

American costume jewelry in the 1940s was exuberant and glamorous. Cocktail jewelry was designed to turn heads and discretion was definitely not the order of the day. This jewelry ensemble dates from 1941.

The book includes a shopping guide that gives tips and other important facts that collectors should know before buying.
The publication date will be April 2011. You must get this gorgeous book !! Believe me, you will fall in love with it.


Love,
Lorena

Bird a week #10

I have been very busy with lots of paperwork that I am a little behind my birds a week !!
This bird was made with Creative paperclay and acrylics colors.

I hand sculpted and carved the bird little by little.

After I finished forming my bird I started to painted with acrylics.

I really enjoyed painting this little bird. For me painting and thinking how I want my bird to look like it is a time I love. It gives me such happiness no finally see him finish.

PMC Guild Annual 2011

I am honored to be one of the Jurors for the PMC Guild Annual 2011, Fifth Edition.

This book offers a terrific opportunity to display your work next to the best in this medium from around the world. 

Three of the four Jurors have been already selected, Celie Fago, Kelly Russell and of course Me.

PMC Guild invites all members to submit work for the Fifth Edition of the Annual,visit this PAGE to find more information.

If you are not a member of the guild you can join in to be able to participate.

The guild is a great place where you can connect with other artists and keep yourself inform about this great medium.

The deadline for submitting is May 16, 2011. 

Do not let this opportunity pass by!

Good luck to everyone and lets keep creating !!!

Love,

Lorena

©2010 Lorena Angulo
CORLISS CALAVERA
(included in the PMC Guild Annual Fourth edition 2010)

©2009 Lorena Angulo
SPRING MASK
(included in the PMC Guild Annual fourth edition, 2010)

©2010 Lorena Angulo
TREE OF LIFE PENACHO
(included in the PMC Guild Annual fourth edition, 2010)

Penland Book of Jewelry and Penland Book of Glass reviews.

I had been fortunate to received some books for review and I can not tell you how much I love doing it. This set of books especially are very close to my heart because I think they are FANTASTIC !!! The books are so well made and have amazing work by some of the best artists in their craft.

I will start talking to you about the first book I got a while ago. 

The Penland Book of Jewelry is a remarkable book showing the work and techniques of Master Artisans. The editor of this great book is Marthe Le Van and is another wonderful publication by LARK.
Lets start by saying that Penland School of Crafts is a Nationally Renowned education center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.This school has been an important destination for eager students and very gifted teachers for more than 75 years. I hope one day I can be able to visit this wonderful place.
The artists that are featured in this book are shown demonstrating the craft from which they are known.
I particularly love the work by Marylyn da Silva. Her specialty is nontraditional color on metal. Marylin da Silva devised and refined the application of gesso and colored pencils on metal. Her work is full of color and has so much soul in it.  In her section of the book you will learn how she applied the gesso and how to prepared the metal for it.  There is a hands on project and the images are magnificent. She also shares samples of different variations produced by different colors of gesso and textures in the gesso too. The gallery section in each of the masters in this book has amazing images of different artists.
The other masters in this book are: John Cogswell (Forging), Jaime Pelissier (Alloying), Rob Jackson (Fabrication with steel), Heather White van Stolk (Casting), Jan Baum (Die forming), Tom McCarthy (Alternative stone setting), Maria Phillips (Electroforming), Mary Ann Scherr (Etching) and Douglas Harling (Granulation.)
Believe me when I tell you that this is a MUST have book. Every master in their own craft has incredible information and wonderful images.


The second book is The Penland Book of Glass, master classes in flamework techniques.

The senior editor of this fantastic book is Ray Hemachandra and published by LARK. Even though I do not work with glass this is such a beautiful well done book that I will have it in my library and will look at it over and over.
The masters in the book have incredible talent and their hands on are fantastic. 
I was amazed at how impressive their work is. Everyone with their own style and technique make this book to be a great book to keep. I am sure you will be inspired no matter what medium you work with. 
The masters in this book are: Paul Joseph Stankard ( He makes amazing paperweights with floral themes; the image in the front cover of the book is one of his stunning pieces), Shane Fero (His birds are out of this world!), Kristina Logan (Her beads are gorgeous, bold and full of color), Vittorio Constantini ( He is a fantastic Venetian flameworker and his nature inspired work is beautiful and so real), Sally Prasch ( She explores the outer limits of glass in her work, you will be amazed when you see her work), Elizabeth Ryland Mears (Her work is beautiful and I love the way she plays with glass surface treatments), Janis Miltenberger ( She creates dramatic sculptures that will take your breath-away!), Ingalena Klenell (Wonderful large scale pieces),Susan Plum (Beautiful weavings and installations) and Emilio Santini (his goblets are spectacular.)
All this master artisans have hand on projects in the book which also includes beautiful galleries with works from other incredible glass artists.


I am sure you will not regret getting these books, they are very well made and will give you a lot of inspiration !


Love,
Lorena

RAD (ring a day) exhibition for the annual SNAG conference 2011.

I am so excited about being part of a wonderful exhibition during the Annual SNAG conference in Seattle, May 2011.
All this started last year when thanks to a great friend and artists, Lora Hart, told me to join a group challenge named RAD (Ring a Week) in Flickr. My good friend Lora Hart, who also will have 4 of her amazing rings in the exhibition, was going to do it and I taught this will be a great challenge for me because I usually did not make rings at all.
I will never regret joining this challenge because it was an amazing experience. I grew as an artists and also as a person. I had the opportunity to met so many talented artists from around the world. 
This group made such a great job that LARK took notice and will publish a book about this fantastic challenge and the experiences with all received while doing it. Some of my rings are going to be in this book. 


Thanks to the jurors, Collen Baran, Kathryn Cole, Shannon Conrad, Nina Gibson and Sara Westermark, who have done a fantastic job putting this exhibition together and selecting 365 physical rings accompanied by 14 framed photos of temporary rings. You can visit the blog to see progress of this project at Ring a Day 2010.
The Ring a Day exhibition will be installed in the PUNCH gallery and it will be on the official SNAG Gallery tour. The exhibition will run for a month, from May 5th to May 29that the PUNCH Gallery in downtown Seattle, Washington.

These are the rings that were chosen to be part of the exhibition.

©2010 Lorena Angulo
ALCATRAZ ring
Hand sculpted and carved Bronze clay.

©2010 Lorena Angulo
BIRD'S NEST ring
Pure silver(PMC3), hand sculpted and carved.

I am very happy and honored to be part of this great exhibition next to so many talented artists.

Playing with steel wire

After I posted my review for Steel Wire Jewelry I wanted to play more with the wire but I got to busy organizing a show and a teaching trip. Finally Today I could sit in my studio and grab the steel wire to play with it.
I have been playing a lot with Creative Paperclay lately and I had made some pieces to be use in a combination with other techniques. That is what I did Today.


First I started to play with the wire to make a form that will surround my paperclay piece.

I flatted the wire with my hammer and textured it with some chasing tools. After this I added some brass wire, a rivet and my paperclay bead to finish the piece.

©2011 Lorena Angulo

TRAPPED BY LOVE

Steel wire, brass wire, creative paperclay,

colored pencils, rivet and acrylic.

It is very fun to start combining materials and techniques to make a unique piece. I like it and maybe I will add a chain to make a necklace. More hammering in my future !!! 


Love,
Lorena

Creating Glass Beads by Jeri Warhaftig (Book review and giveaway.)

 When I received this book a couple of days ago I was very excited to take a look at it, even though I do not work with glass. The book is so attractive and full of color that it was impossible not to look at it, definitely another great book by Lark. 
If you work with glass and are a beginner or intermediate level artist this can be a great addition to your personal library. The book includes 10 great tutorials with very good step by step images and instructions.
The author, Jeri Warhaftig , had an incredible idea to included 14 "project testers" which made the 10 tutorials in the book. I love this idea because you can have a very real perspective of what you may be capable of making with this book. It is very interesting to see at the end of every tutorial the images of the testers and what they came up with. Some of them look very similar to the original piece in the tutorial but there are some that only use the technique and created very original pieces.
The testers did not have images of the step by step tutorials and this makes their experience much more interesting.
At the end of the book you can also read the testers comments and experiences while making the tutorials, great information.


I want to giveaway this wonderful book to anyone who can leave a comment in this post. Tell me why do you like to create art.
The winner will be announce next week, March 16.


Do you have a twitter account? Tweet away and win another chance to win this incredible book.


Tweet

Queen of Hearts Class in Houston during Adorn Me!

I am back from a couple of days away for a wonderful art event in Houston, Texas. I taught a class in Adorn Me! this past Saturday and I was very happy with my amazing group of energetic and talented students.
Some of them had never play with metal clay before but they all did a great job.


During our class my students created a pendant and a set of earrings with PMC3. 

These are the pendants they all made !!

I am very proud of all of them !! You all made me have a great time and I hope I can see you again soon !

Thank You to Terrie Bodine, Carol Graves, Stacey Johnson, Lisa Klein A, Simone Palmer, Rebecca Terrazas, Susan Urband and Debra Sweeney.


Hope to see you all next year at Adorn Me! Houston again !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

24 Hours of jewelry in facebook by Marthe Le Van

Left to right, top to bottom: Laura Lang Dix, Lissa Hashimoto, Lorena Angulo, Lorincz Reka, Margaux Lange, Melody Armstrong, Mes-Tau Précieux, Michael Mara, Muriel Clemenceau, and Peter Skubic

Marthe Le Van, Jewelry Editor at Lark Crafts, made a great post about the wonderful opportunity to promote our craft via social networking.

 I agree with her 100%, thanks to social networking I have been able to promote my craft and meet wonderful people.
I just gave a presentation on self promotion and social networking to a group of artists and told them about how wonderful it is to have this technology at our hands Today. We all need to take advantage of what a great tool this is.

My earrings "Pajaritos" were featured in Marthe's post. 

PAJARITOS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Fastfire Bronzclay, sterling, Peruvian blue opal.

Go and visit her blog, I am sure you will like to read it.

24 hours of jewelry on Facebook by Marthe Le Van

Bird a week #9

This time I wanted to play with metal, since I have been creating with other materials a lot.
My birds were hand sculpted with Fastfire Bronzclay and I added bronze embedded eyelets into them.
After the birds were fired and polished I added sterling chains and a Peruvian Blue Opal with sterling wire.
I am happy with this earrings, I love the combination of metals !!

PAJARITOS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Fastfire Bronzclay, sterling, Peruvian blue opal.