Getting ready for ACC Baltimore

My first big show is coming up next month and I have been working in all the details to show my work the best I can in my booth.

Since I got the news I was going to be able to go to the American Craft Council show, I have been planning how will I do that. I have to travel to Baltimore and my displays will have to be more practical for me to be able to transport all of them to the show.


As some of you may know, doing a show like this is not cheap and I have to be very creative to change my displays with a very conservative budget.

I was able to buy some artist's boards in different sizes and painted them with blackboard paint. I chose blackboard paint because this will give me the opportunity to be able to write the title of the piece (in some pieces) and the price (this will help in not having to use a price tag.)








Presentation is very important for any show and since I do not have a big budget to do all I wish I can, I had to prioritized and focus on displays and marketing material (business cards and postcards.)

I am sure this will be a learning experience because I am still trying to understand all the aspects of doing a show as big as this one,but meanwhile I am having a great time.



For now I am working in what I know best, my jewelry!!

I will keep you informed!

Love,
Lorena

New Year and New Adventures !

Happy New Year 2015 to all !

I have been very quiet in my blog, sorry about that. I promise I will be posting more often to share with you my new adventures with my work and new designs for this year.

As some of you may know, I had a health problem in 2013 that forced me to stop creating jewelry for almost a year. It was a difficult journey because I enjoy creating something almost every day, but I also felt I needed this break to recover and get better.

Before I got sick I had so many plans, one of them was to do a bigger show outside Texas. One of the shows I wanted to be was the prestigious ACC (American Craft Council) in Baltimore. I knew it was not easy to be there but I never lost hope that one day it will happen.

I am more than happy to share with you that I was selected to be one of the invited artists by SNAG to attend ACC Baltimore this year in February. I am thankful to be part of the group of artists selected by SNAG and can not wait to be there next month!

ACC launched a Charm Collection program last year and I decided to participate too. I created 4 charms that I will be selling individually, in a bangle, a brooch and a necklace. You will have lots of options to choose from!

Charm Collection 2015
©Lorena Angulo
ACC Baltimore

I am going to be BUSY this month for sure!! I have to finish putting all the details for my booth display and producing lots of jewelry to bring to the show.

I am also preparing for Fiesta Arts Fair in April at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas. I was fortunate to be accepted last year for the first time and I will be doing it again this year, hope I will see you there!!

Celebrating my journey and recovery: Soulful Reliquary

Tomorrow (April 5) will be a year from the date I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. Although it was a little shocking to found this out I also knew this type of cancer had a bigger positive outcome and I was ready for the battle.

The best way I have to express my feelings is through my art and I wanted to make a piece of jewelry that will be a symbol of my journey and recovery during 2013; I am still working on getting my energy better but I am sure I will get there very soon.

The symbols I wanted to have in my pendant have been with me during my whole journey as an artists and I have represented them a lot in my work. Now they have a stronger meaning for me and this makes my work have more soul.

The tree of life on top with the Milagro heart is the representation of the family and friends's support during this journey with the heart symbolizing all the love I have received and also my own love and passion for my family and life. The two birds looking at the tree represent my husband and me; he was and still is my best friend and companion but they also represent my two kids, my great loves in my life!

Thank You to all for your love and positive energy!!!

The big butterfly in the center represents my thyroid but mostly is a representation of my transformation, faith and soul. the butterfly is the bigger element because I am stronger and ready to fly again!

The pearls are the tears I had shared with my love ones but they were not only sad tears they also symbolized the happiness tears we had when I was told after my surgery that they were able to take all the cancer out. The red coral are a strong statement symbolizing my passion, love and courage.

SOULFUL RELIQUARY
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze, pearls and red coral beads
2.82 by 2.06 inches

Thanks again to all for making me feel loved during this experience in my life!

New "Pajaritos" designs for 2014

I have been making little sculpted birds since I started creating my jewelry and this year I decided to come back again and design new pieces. I can honestly say I enjoy very much sculpting the tiny birds with metal clay. Sometimes it gets a little difficult because they are super tiny but these miniature birds are the ones I enjoy making the most!

This time I created 2 sets of earrings and a necklace with the same bird motif, I managed to add a mini butterfly (one of my new elements in my work) into the necklace design.

I can not wait to show all these pieces in my show in April at SSA, Fiesta Arts Fair.

©2014 Lorena Angulo
Silver and pearls

©2014 Lorena Angulo
Silver 

©2014 Lorena Angulo
Silver and pearls

Getting ready for Fiesta Arts Fair in April

I have been working on new pieces for my first show of the year. I am very happy to finally be able to show my work at Fiesta Arts Fair in San Antonio, Texas.
Fiesta Arts Fair is located in the beautiful historic Ursuline Campus of The Southwest School of Art .The event takes place during the Fiesta celebration in the city every year during April.
Fiesta Arts Fair showcases the work of more than 100 artists from all over the US and this year I am glad I will part of these wonderful group of artists.

I hope you can come and visit my booth and see all the work from the other artists! The show will take place in April 19 and 20, 2014.

©2014 Lorena Angulo

©2014 Lorena Angulo

©2014 Lorena Angulo

©2014 Lorena Angulo

©2014 Lorena Angulo

Louise's Calavera (brooch/pendant)

I have always design pieces inspired in my Mexican culture and almost always they reflect an experience in my life. This new piece was made honoring a wonderful person who I lost this month; I never imagined how hard this news will be for me. Louise was an amazing and talented jeweler but most of all she was a very kind and dear lady. I met her almost 8 years ago in the school of art here in San Antonio, her jewelry was so beautiful.
Every minute I spent with her was valuable for me, I respected her a lot and all her comments about my work meant a lot to me.

In Mexico, we honor our family members who passed away in the Day of the dead; this was the reason I wanted to create a piece with the sugar skull inspiration from day of the dead.

This skull has crosses and butterflies which represent transformation, her soul and faith. The tree of life on top of the skull has a Milagros heart symbolizing Louise big love for her family, friends and her craft, it also has butterflies. In Mexico we have a saying that when you see a butterfly someone has come to visit you, their souls come to visit you.

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze and steel wire (pin)

Louise, I love you and I thank you for every word of support during my journey with thyroid cancer and for making me feel that my work was valuable! ♥

Cafe Estrella, 2002.

Sterling silver, found object, patina; cast, constructed.

1  7/8 x 1 7/8 x 3/8 in.

Photo: Alex Jordan

"Angel Guardian" Milagro heart

I finally finished my "Angel Guardian" Milagro Heart, I can not express how happy I am with this piece. Hope you all enjoy it too!!

It all started with an idea!

Angel Guardian Milagro Heart (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze (Goldie Bronze), Garnets and turquoise

Angel Guardian Milagro Heart (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze (Goldie Bronze), Garnets and turquoise

The Making of my "Angel Guardian" Milagro Heart

Lots of people has asked me how do I start creating my pieces and if I start with an idea and then follow up on it. Yes, I find the inspiration all the time from my cultural heritage and folk art from Mexico. Mexico for me is a strong influence, no matter if it is a piece of jewelry, a painting or a paper doll. I like to create pieces that are close to my heart and that have a strong meaning of what I am and where I come from, this gives me the great opportunity to create pieces that can transmit this great passion.

Since the beginning of this year I have been focused on creating strong and soulful pieces that will allow me to transmit a story and an emotional feeling. In this occasion I wanted to go back to my beginnings where I was obsessed with making a lot the "Milagro Hearts", they are always close in my heart and I think it is time again I honored this wonderful symbolic icon in my work.


I started by sketching my ideas in my book, I have had a sketching book since I started making my work and I always go back to it and see what ideas I still have on paper that are still waiting for me to became real.

Sketching is something I enjoy a lot, I think you do not have to be a great drawer to be able to transmit your ideas and I hope everyone will have one no matter what medium you work in.

This heart will have the butterflies (representing transformation and soul), the guardian angel (representing protection and guidance), the cross (faith) and a healed Milagro Heart (representing the big Love for life, family, work and principally love for yourself and what you are; respect.)

After having my drawing finished then I am ready to start building this piece little by little. Pieces like this have a lot of details and I make each one of them individually by hand; each little butterfly is made alone and this makes them more unique and not looking like they were all cut out from a mold. This is what makes my pieces be more soulful, in my humble opinion.

Making each one of the pieces is a joy for me, every single detail has my total attention and this is one of the parts of my process in creating that I enjoy a lot.

Little by little I will put all the pieces together and finally will have my "Guardian Angel Milagro Heart" finished. I will have more work to do in this piece, finishing more details and then finally attaching all the pieces to the heart.

Work in progress
Angel Guardian Milagro Heart
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Goldie Bronze and Hessonite Garnets

Hope you like my post, I am always happy to share with all of you what I do and how I work.

The Transformation of my "Corazon Renacer" necklace

I have been working on this new piece since January 1st, I noticed I am still not as productive as I used to be because is taking me longer to finished this piece but I am SUPER HAPPY to be back in my studio creating no matter what.
It all started with a bronze clay bezel I had in my work table, I looked at it and was not sure what I will do with it. I knew I will add a heart inside but the rest was still a mystery. A couple of days later I knew what I wanted and little by little this new piece is transforming to what I have know. I am again listening to my heart and following my emotions to finished creating my necklace.
Hope you enjoy some images of this journey!

Corazon Renacer
(Reborn Heart)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

I still need to add some final details and then it will be ready to go to the kiln for its final transformation!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

It all started like this.......

I started playing with metal clay in 2006, I took a class with Claire Holliday in San Antonio. Claire was my metals teacher and she mentioned to me this practically "new" material that she though I will like to play with.
To be honest, I was not very happy with it the first time, I took the class but I was confused by the material and did not continue with it after the class.


Everything changed when I took my second class with Claire again and came to the class with a more open mind. Something happen during that class that finally made me understood the incredible use I could do with this material. I was able to translate my ideas into reality, ideas that I have been holding on for a while.

I was eager to start exploring more with this material and since that date I have not stop. It was during this class that I made one of my symbolic pieces, my Flaming Milagro Heart. The heart was 4 inches tall by 3 inches wide and I sold it almost as soon as I made it. This is why I decided to make another one and it was this second heart the first piece I had published, my Flaming Heart.

FLAMING HEART

©2008 Lorena Angulo

Hand sculpted in pure silver.

Photo by Dean Powell

Since that date I have been creating most of my work with metal clay although I also fabricate my work and combine metal clay with fabrication techniques too.

Another piece that has a special place in my heart is my Tree of Life, I enjoyed making them and sculpting the little birds that I always include in them. This was my first Tree of Life that I had published.

Arbol de Vida
©2009 Lorena Angulo
Pure silver and a lab Garnet
2.44 inches by 2.22 inches

I am also known for my Calaveras and one of the calaveras that I have close to my heart and where I combined the use of metal clay and soldering and riveting techniques is my Corliss Calavera.

Corliss Calavera
©2010 Lorena Angulo
Pure silver, copper and bronze

Taking a look back at how I started is a great incentive for me to keep moving forward, after having a year of almost not creating as much I used to, I am now feeling great and I am ready to start creating as much as I used to.

I am BACK !!! I can not avoid to smile when I create  another set of little birds, I have missed making them so much!

Pajaritos
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Sterling and Peruvian Opal

My new templates to make jewelry: Papel Picado

As you all may know, all my work is inspired by my culture and traditions from Mexico. This year I started to draw more ideas for designs inspired in the Papel Picado style from Mexico and had the wonderful opportunity to be able to share my love for this style with people by creating my own templates with my designs.

I have 7 designs for you to choose from or maybe you may like them all. You will have lots of fun creating jewelry with them and adding extra details if you want to. Metal Clay Supply is selling them here: Lorena Angulo's Papel Picado templates.

My transformation

August is my birthday month, I will be turning 44 this year and after my whole journey with my Thyroid cancer I can honestly tell you; I will be more than happy to celebrate my 44 years !
I am finally coming back into my studio to make my work again, its been so long since I was able to create something and I am enjoying every minute I can spend here.
My journey through out this whole ordeal has been difficult and scare at times but I never lost my smile and positivism, yes I did have my moments but who does not have them? I had so many plans for my work and where I wanted to move on with it, so many plans.......but life made me put a stop on them until I can get better. Having to put my plans away does not mean I am not making them a reality, it just means I have more time to get ready for all of them.

This experience has transformed me in different ways, all of them positive ones, I always take the good and learn from the bad in all my experiences in life and in my work.
Now that I have more energy I am starting to draw some ideas in my journals, I love the feeling of grabbing a pencil and drawing in paper. I have two big sketch journals and love to go back to them and see my ideas since my beginnings.
Most of my work is inspired by my culture from Mexico and the beautiful folk art, this time is no difference. I love to design using the Milagro heart motifs, birds, flowers and skulls and this time I went back to look at my drawings and saw two butterflies I made 2 years ago and I knew what I needed to do. I have always love butterflies and knowing their symbolic meaning made me realized they will be the perfect reflection of my whole Thyroid cancer journey.
Butterflies represent transformation and faith, this is exactly what I had during all these months!
I am finishing my first "Mariposa" piece today, I am happy to finally be able to transmit my feelings with my work again.

MARIPOSA REINA
©2013 Lorena Angulo

Behind the Brooch: The Book !

I started a wonderful project last year about collecting images of brooches from the side we rarely see, the back side. It was such a wonderful experience to see how different artists approached the back look and mechanism of their brooches.
I started looking around for more pictures, and although it was not an easy task I managed to create a wonderful board on Pinterest named, of course, Behind the Brooch.
One morning while talking with the wonderful Brigitte Martin in the chat room at Crafthaus I mentioned to her about what I was doing on my Pinterest board and how I felt this topic was obscure. She asked me if I would be interested in making an online exhibition about it and I told her that it sounded like a great idea!!
I started organizing the online exhibition and at the same time thanks to my talk with Brigitte, I was also moving forward with a new project; A BOOK!
Brigitte was such a wonderful and positive person and gave me the push I needed to send my proposal to a publisher about my idea, and in less than a week I received a call from Schiffer Publising. They would be happy to publish  my book.
Meanwhile I was already selecting the artists that I will feature in my Behind the Brooch online exhibition at Crafthaus. The exhibition was a great opportunity to show a little sample of what my book would be about.

Come and take a look at it if you have not visited yet! Behind the Brooch exhibition at Crafthaus.

It took me almost a whole year to make this great book, it was the most challenging and wonderful experience I have had in my life as an artist. Having to invite every artist to submit images of their work and having the fantastic opportunity to meet so many incredible artists from around the world and see what they are creating is just something I will never forget.
I want to thank every single one of them for taking their time to submit images and for being so patient with me during this whole journey. I worked many nights all through the morning hours, sending emails, editing and writing all the images' information. It was hard work but I enjoyed every second of it!!!
I can not wait for all of you to see the book and the incredible work I have managed to collect for the project. Every artist brings their own voice and story in each of their pieces you will see throughout the book. I am sure you'll get much inspiration from the images you will see of work from artists making pieces with different materials, not just metals.
This has been a wonderful journey into the stories and ways every artist approaches the making of the back of a brooch as important as the front, and in some cases making the back view the more interesting side to see and discover.

I am happy to present my book to you!

Behind The Brooch: A closer look at backs, catches and pin stems

The Bracelet show at Kathleen Sommers, 2012.

I am happy to be part of The Bracelet Show at Kathleen Sommers this year again. This is the fourth annual collective show and every year this event gets better and better. The reception will take place on December 6th from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Kathleen Sommers located in 2417 N. Main St. in San Antonio, Texas.

The show will have over 100 designs by more than 60 artists

Bracelets will be on display and available for purchase until December the 15th.
10% of all proceeds will be donated to the Scholarship Fund at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio.

These are my bracelets that will be in the show.

Folk Bird
©2012 Lorena Angulo
Sterling PMC; hand sculpted and carved.

Paloma
©2012 Lorena Angulo
Sterling PMC and LOS patina; hand carved and sculpted.