Music on the move

If you have attended or exhibited at a professional craft show you may have seen a dapper gentleman with a harmonica in hand, and several in cases around his neck, waltzing around the show floor.  It took me two years of seeing him at nearly every show I was participating in until I agreed to construct a beaded vessel version of a case to add to his extensive hand-made collection.  Artists from all over the world refer to him fondly as “Hoff the Harmonica Case Man”.  And his one-of-a-kind harmonica case collection is no joke–he has already had exhibitions of the set and will be having a book published in the future.  Be on the lookout the next time you’re at a show because you may even be lucky enough to hear him play a little tune:

 

 

Here are some informal studio shots of my harmonica case!  I’m pretty proud of this creation and I am sort of wondering why I put off making it for so long…

 

IMG_6490 IMG_6485 IMG_6483

2.0

The time has come…to edit new portfolio images.  One of the less exciting aspects of being an artist I’m afraid.  Because I have the equipment and know-how to photograph my own work I do.  Frugal–party of one!  And with expenses mounting around every corner it certainly makes sense to save a couple hundred dollars where possible.  The negative to wanting to do everything yourself is it drains your time spent creating new work.  As promised here is a far more professional shot of the completed piece I have been documenting over the past couple of weeks.

 

2X2A5598

 

I’m up for making another…who’s buying this one?

Method or madness?

Looks a little bit like a rainbow threw up on my studio floor right now.

 

IMG_5801

 

I’m really going balls to the wall making these little spheres.  My hands hate me just a little bit, but I have some big ideas floating around in my head that have no where to go until I have amassed a large enough collection with which to experiment.  For those of you that happen to be social media fiends you also find all these images by following me on Instagram.

Rise of a champion

And in this corner…weighing in at an impressive 4.8 lbs.[I swear it feels MUCH heavier] with a record of 5 wins by knockout via needle nose pliers gouging my hands and a near miss to my face…wearing all the glorious colors of the rainbow…from the York, PA studio of moi…I give you BALL BOWL 2.0! [two point ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

 

BALLBOWL

 

51 spheres total for those curious.

Inside every artist is a teeny-tiny hoarder.

And I mean that in the best way possible.  It may not be the best to apply a generalization to an entire group of professionals so I will just speak for myself on this theory.

 

When presented with a collection of random inanimate objects I see possibilities whereas others might see trash.  If given the option to keep, donate, or dispose I will almost always choose keep.  Hence teeny-tiny hoarder.  I like to take comfort in the belief that I am of the highly selective teeny-tiny hoarder variety.  There is always the very real possibility that these ‘things’ could find a purpose or use in a future project.

 

It is that reluctancy to throw away possible supplies that necessitates a lot of storage in my studio space.  It is mostly beads that are taking over.  Baskets, bins, and tins [oh my!] full of them.  So I guess it should not have come as a complete surprise that, when looking for another spool of copper wire, I stumbled upon a two gallon bag full of beads squirreled away on a shelf.  That teeny-tiny hoarder stashed them everywhere like I was stocking up for some bead-apocalypse.  In the unlikely event that currency becomes obsolete in the future and beads are chosen as the replacement I will be filthy rich.

 

IMG_5260