Wild Lupin is now on Pinterest !

Hey !!! I now have a page on Pinterest !!! you should all follow us :-) http://www.pinterest.com/wildlupin/

Late night post....

So it's been a while and I'm now working on my WEBSITE !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally !! it's about time, and I'm almost done with it...it's scary, didn't think it would be though. Soon everyone will be able to see ALL my stuff, anytime, and I wont be able to see/hear their reactions to it. I can't tell if I'm more worried about bad reactions or just not knowing....I'm one of the many who doesn't like the unknown, surprise, surprise.

Anyway, now to the artsy stuff...I haven't allowed myself recently to work on any new pieces just because I need to focus on my website, otherwise what is the point of making all this stuff...did I just think it was going to magically disappear and I would magically make money? I'm using wix.com to make my site. So far it's really easy, meaning even I can do it. It's a template that you basically fill up with your own stuff and then play with the colors and fonts, so why is it taking SOO long?

The point is that I'm going to have a link attaching to this blog from my website so I figured that I should at least post something since I haven't form, what was it? Several years I think, at least one for sure...I have seven different collections up on it already! Some of them only have one or two pieces though. Here they are:
-New Zealand Sea Glass Collection
-A Traveler's Coins Series
-An Industrial Woman
-Out of the Gun
-Stones & Discs
-The Wire Wrapped Collection
-For the Men

And it's really funny to me that I already have a handful of ideas for three, YES THREE, new collection ideas.These would be:
-The Wyoming Collection
-Some Things Obtuse
-About the Weather

I love that with these names you have NO idea what I'll be making. I've usually always been about the metal, but with the Wyoming Collection it will actually be all about the colors. I went on a trip to Tensleep WY with my boyfriend for his birthday and was blown away. The combinations in the grasses was incredible. There were the golden grasses, a frosted teal colored plant..I believe it was a sage brush, then there were these rust colored flowers that were delicate and spectacular. Then to top it all off, there was these puffy and fragile giant dandy lion like plants and the steel-gray skies. I'm going to try and work with these colors and create quite the collection. And so I still get my metal fix, I got a jack's patina that can turn brass and copper greenish, which I'm extremely excited about!!

A few nights ago I actually couldn't fall asleep because I was getting ideas for the other collections as well...after 30 minutes of tossing and turning I realized that I had to get up and sketch, at midnight, because the fear of forgetting the design ideas was keeping me from sleeping....

But what happens if I make this website of mine live and nothing happens? What if I don't sell a thing? Have I failed...no, not really, but I'll be putting in a lot of work for nothing. Maybe I won't be able to advertise properly, or maybe it'll just be that none likes my stuff, or that I have it priced too high. On the other hand, what if I do start selling stuff, a lot of stuff? This takes a ton of time and that's just taking all the photos and cropping them to fit. What about finding models to wear the pieces for the photos? What about measuring them and getting the dimensions? What about pricing? Keeping track of inventory? Then there is uploading the pieces onto the website and adding a description of a sentence or two that is supposed to convince someone to buy the piece. Now I need to list the materials involved and dimensions...and you know what? I haven't even thought about the time, effort, and creative time it takes to come up with a piece and actually make it!

Now with all that happening, whats going to happen to the time I spend with my boyfriend? My full time job? My training/climbing? What about my friends and traveling...Ahhhhh, and my family!!?


Oy, only one way...I guess...to find out. Let us find out then.

some things INSPIRING

All of the below pieces have inspired me and I think are fantastic, they very in materials, size, functionality, and color. The only thing they all have in common is my admiration.

All of the below photos I've either gotten off of etsy or some other artsy search I did. I DID NOT MAKE THESE PIECES

This one was created by a CU art student and is actually a marble machine. I thought that it was very unique being made of all found objects, I liked how different it was from mine.
The first lovely piece was created by Sara Watts and the second piece was created by Miranda Kyger Wachtel, both talented artists at Angie Star Jewelry on Pearl st. Wish I could buy BOTH!!
So fun and wonderful for V-day coming up. I've now made a few out of triathlon magazines to sell at All-Sports Recovery Club.




These are actually from the Anthropology website, they're all very interesting.
VERY strange feathery statement pendent, quite interesting.


The leaves are actully made from the glass of old wine bottles.

RaNdOm & EXCITING

The glass pendents I've been making were put on hold for a while when I finally accepted that I shouldn't be making pendents with 60% lead solder... SO I have finally purchased non leaded solder for the pendents and should be working on more soon!!!


Oh and the lower picture is from our ART NIGHT !!! Had a handful of friends show up, it was fun and busy. Hope to plan another one soon ! We made some of the above pendents!!


SARAN WRAP ENTERTAINMENT

Quite a while back my parents left on a short trip to the Grand Canyon and I was stuck with these little munchkins and my 18 year old brother of trouble. While the 18 year old was out and about I did this little activity with the little ones! First you wrap up the person in saran wrap and make sure to have the little cardboard runners (makes cutting the person out of the tape way easier)then you start wrapping up their body with packing tape until you got a few sturdy layers built up. Then cut the person out with scissors or an exacto knife...my little bro and sis must trust me a ton to have me cutting them out with and exacto knife super close to their skin... Then you just tape the open seams back together with the packing tape. We ended up going through about 4 or 5 roles of packing tape total...it was so much fun ! My dad was not pleased



So I actually made this little wall piece way back in May for my little sister...last minute gift idea. It is sheet copper that I drew a light design on with sharpie, then with a hammer and nail I tapped in little points outlining the sketch, I then oxidized the entire surface and sanded it down so only the little dots were black. It was a success, she liked it !!


Here is a new experimental project. SILK POPPIES.

I bought two silk shirts from thrift stores and have only cut up the red one so far. Supper happy with the results. I cut out the circular shapes, burned all the edges, then dipped the edges in super glue to keep them from fraying. Final steps were to sew on a button and a pin back.


ALUMINUM Squiggle Necklaces !

Here are two necklaces that I've sold ! The squiggle is made our of recycled electrical aluminum wire, it came from the house that my dad is building.I had to strip the thick plastic off of the inner wire and then just used my rounded needle nose pliers to shape. Then as I'm hammering the designs flat I have to stop every few hits and re-shape the squiggle. After I file/sand the shape a little and wash it, it's ready to be attached to the chain and a clasp!! I've also tried to hang them on ribbon and I hate it, chain is the way to go with these.

p.s. I've made many more than just these two, I've sold one other, and the rest are waiting for new necks to hang on ! LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ONE $30-$35 depending on the squiggle size and chain desired (unless you want silver chain...then it will be a bit more)

RECENT wire works

And this is the most recent swim, bike, run that I've made. This is the third one that I've created, but one of them I didn't put on a stand. Still looking for a buyer for this one.


Here is one of the special orders I received to make a lacrosse and water polo player. It's mounted on a nice little wooden stand.


CHRISTMAS AT ALL-SPORTS RECOVERY CLUB !!
Mini bike tree ! I bought spray paint for the holidays so that there could be some festive bike ornaments.



Here is the newest swimmer I've made for an All-Sports Recovery Club client! He ordered it for his wife for Christmas and told me that she LOVED it ! which I was so glad to hear cause while I was building it I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and completely forgot how I made the first one....

A Traveler's Coins Series

THE NEW PIECE !!!
There are seven lucky coins for this necklace !! I LOVE this piece !!! This piece was definitely time consuming and slightly frustrating to create, but so worth it. It is shorter and kinda makes me think of a breast plate. I hammered all of the coins then had to drill out multiple holes on all of them and bail them together with brass wire. It has one large and one small mother of pearl beads connecting the coins to the doubled,red brass chain. It is finished off with a nice brass clasp.

Pretty SURE this piece is mine and if anyone wants to buy one from me I'll just make them a different one !!


Here is the front and back of these two coin necklaces I've made. I hammered on the edges of the coins for a nice texture, then drilled a hole in the top of both and wrapped brass wire on the top to make a place to hang it by. Each one is hung from a different ribbon/lace and is finished off with a hand made brass S clasp.



This piece is made up of one strand and has foreign coins, turquoise, smoky quartz, and hematite beads making up its unique design. It is bailed together with brass wire and was then connected to a red brass chain. It is finished off nicely with a brass S clasp and a lovely oxidized finish for that vintage look.


FAVORITE PIECE that I will be keeping !

This piece is made up of a unique and lovely combination of foreign coins, pearls, hematite, smoky quartz beads, and brass oval links. The oval brass links are actually from an antique brass towel hanger. I sawed it into thin slices and used sandpaper to smooth the edges down. The two strands are connected together with brass wire using a technique called bailing. It is hung off of a red brass chain and is finished with a hand made brass S clasp. The whole piece was then oxidized and brushed back.



The reason that I have pictures of these pieces on my and not hanging on a piece of wood like usual is because when I post pieces on my Etsy account I need photos of the necklaces on a neck...and mine has been the most avalable.