Happy Holidays and a great New Year !

I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday season and all the blessings, health, love and work for the new year.Thank you for reading my blog and being part of my artistic life. I have loved reading your comments !Peace and love for all.

Love, Lorena Angulo

The best little gifts for any art book lover: Lark Studio Series

I am so happy to share with you these little treasures.
As I mentioned before in my blog, I am a big lover of books and these small books are just the best I can imagine to give away to your friends and family.

Lark jewelry and beading had a great idea by making these small size books from their 500 Series.


The Lark Studio Series have 100 images from a corresponding title in the 500 Series. What I like best about these books is the beautiful pocket-sized, this makes them a perfect gift for this holidays and great stocking stuffers !
It is like having a tiny gallery in your hands !!

Each of the books have wonderful images and great print quality. You will love to see each one of them, the work is so inspirational and beautiful. No matter what type of medium you use, you will love them all.

My little Catrinas: Veronica, Dolores and Carmelita

I finally finished my little Catrinas and I am very happy to see them with their own personalities and charm.

I present to you my "Little Catrinas."

Catrina CARMELITA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Creative paperclay, acrylics, watercolors

Catrina DOLORES
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Creative paperclay, acrylics, watercolors

Catrina VERONICA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Creative paperclay, acrylics, watercolors

Here you can see better their faces.

Catrinas DOLORES, CARMELITA and VERONICA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Creative paperclay, acrylics, watercolors

Before and after images.

Catrinas CARMELITA ,VERONICA and DOLORES
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Creative paperclay, acrylics, watercolors

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PMC Sterling

I got the great opportunity to play with the new PMC Sterling in November and I will love to share with all of you my experience and what I think about this new type of clay.
The clay looks very similar to the PMC Pro, the color is darker than the original PMC.

When I took the clay out I noticed the texture is great and very easy to work with, I decided to make a ring first and I made a snake with some of the clay to form the band for the ring. I used a plexiglass to make a long snake and I rolled it around a mandrel.

I went 3.5 sizes bigger to get the size I was looking for, a size 9.

I do not used any inserts in my ring when I fired it.

The PMC Sterling has a longer working time than the PMC3 (this is the type of clay I usually use in all my silver work.) In case the clay gets dry, you can add a little water and it gets soft very fast, almost immediately.

Carving is also great in this type of clay, it goes very easy. This is something I was very eager to try since most of my work has carving into the designs.

It carves very smoothly and with no problems at all.

TIP: Always save the carving scraps, these can make a great texture in your work, you will see it in my finished pieces at the end of this post.

Hand sculpting and forming is fantastic because the clay does not dry fast. This gives you the perfect time to hand form flowers or other things. I hand sculpt a lot in my work and I was very happy to see how easy it is to do it with PMC Sterling.

I also made earrings and a pendant. For the earrings I decided to add some fire in place CZs and I embedded two sterling jump rings into each earring.

I used my carving scraps to add texture in my heart pendant.

Because my pieces were more than 3mm thick I decided to fire them to a longer time that the suggested time in the package.

I first fired them in the open shelf, like we do with any other type of PMC (except PMC Pro), fast ramp to 1000F and hold there for 40 minutes. I waited until the pieces were cool inside the kiln; I also waited until the pieces were cool because I had fired two CZ Hessonite Garnets and we always have to be careful not to take the pieces very fast because the change of temperature may crack the stones.

The second firing was done with a steel pot and activated carbon. I added half an inch at the bottom and added my pieces in one layer, covered them with another half an inch and added the top of the pot.

I fired them inside the pot fast ramp to 1500F and hold for 45 minutes.

I left the pieces cool down inside the pot in the kiln before I took them out.

This is how the sterling looks like when you take them out of the kiln

I brushed them with soapy water and a brass brush. After this I added LOS Gel patina and brushed some of the patina off before I added the pieces inside a tumbler. 

I usually use a rotatory tumbler but this time I decided to give it a try to a magnetic tumbler. I was AMAZED at how fast this wonderful polishing machine can give your pieces a beautiful shine. I will have to start saving money to get myself a bigger size, since some of my pieces are bigger and do not fit in this size tumbler I have now. It is worth it !!!

These are all the pieces I made with 25 grams of PMC Sterling. They are not very thin, so if you make pieces that are thinner and small in size you will be able to make more out of the 25 grams of PMC Sterling.

The cost is very similar to the PMC3 and I feel it is great to have it like that. Now you will be able to create pieces that can be mark as .925 (sterling) and they will be stronger than fine silver.

I do want to mention I will be firing for almost two hours on the second step firing of the PMC Sterling. I want to be 100% sure they are totally fired to their best strength. I am saying this because I tested the little Calla Lily and I felt the piece was not fully sintered when I tried to curl up the point of the flower after fired. I will let you know of my future firings.

The pieces are beautiful and easy to polish and I am sure you will enjoy working with it.

EL CORAZON
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling
photo: Speedy Peacock

ROSAS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling
photo: Speedy Peacock

FLOR
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling, pearls, CZ Hessonite  Garnets, embedded jump rings
photo: Speedy Peacock

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My little "Catrinas"

I have been making little figurines with Creative Paperclay inspired in the dead of the dead lady figurines called, Catrinas. These are my own interpretation of the Catrinas and I am falling in love with all of them.
The first two I made were my Little Frida and Catrina, they both have new homes now.

Little Frida and Catrina
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Creative paperclay, acrylics and watercolors

What I like the most about making these figurines is that every time I hand sculpt one, they each have their own personalities. I never draw a design when I start, I like to create them in the moment, this way they tell me how they will like to look like. Yes, I know it sounds crazy but that is how I feel when I sculpt them.


My first step is to hand form the heads, I think the form of the head guides me in how the "catrina" will end up looking.

Depending on the form and size of the head, I hand sculpt the bodies that I will attach to the heads. As soon as I have the bodies, I can start visualizing the dresses.

©2011 Lorena Angulo

©2011 Lorena Angulo

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Little by little they start coming alive and it makes my heart warm and very happy to see them transformed in from of my eyes.


I will post later the three finished pieces. I can not wait to see how they will end up looking !!


Love,
Lorena

My last shows of the year, 2011

Today I am going to the Opening night of La Noche del Broche exhibition at the beautiful Equinox Gallery in La Villita. This exhibition will display 100 brooches from 86 artists and I am sure it is going to be incredible.


I can not wait to see the brooches and mine on display !

VIRGEN MORENA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Copper, acrylic and silver

My next event for this month is the fantastic third Bracelet Show at Kathleen Sommers, I have been honored to be invited the three years in a raw. This is another wonderful event in San Antonio and a portion of the sales for the bracelets will go for the Scholarship Fund at Southwest School of Art.

CROSSES
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Pure Silver

MARIPOSA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Pure SIlver

On December 10 from 9:30 am to 5 pm, I will be at Articopia in the beautiful Ursuline Campus of Southwest School of Art. This is my third year participating in this wonderful show.
I am always very happy to be part and to promote this beautiful art school in San Antonio, if you have not been there this is a great opportunity to visit.

My last show of the year will be at the University of the Incarnate Word, the Christmas Art and Craft Market on December 16 and 17. I am more than honored to see they chose two of my pieces to promote the event.

Wishing you all a BEAUTIFUL Holiday Season !!!!


Love,
Lorena Angulo