My first week of scheduled updates pretty much crashed and burned due to a wool sculpture commission that took me so much longer than I thought it would, with a deadline looming, and to the crazy heat wave that’s been settling in. Wool + Heat + Deadlines = A very hot, tired, and stressed artist! However, I finished my commission and delivered it. It was a big hit, but I can’t post the images of the finished product just yet since the woman who commissioned it is giving it as a gift to another person. In the mean time, I have photographs of my recent woven ring watch band with custom toggle commission for your enjoyment! The weave, Jens Pind, is one of my favorite weaves and bright aluminium is a great metal to work with. It’s bright and shiny like silver, but doesn’t tarnish, is very light, and is much less expensive than silver.
I had so much fun working with the client and creating the perfect piece for her. The project didn’t go completely smoothly though, there were a few times where we thought we’d have to give up on the whole thing or certain aspects of it due to the nature of the watch itself and the fact that no one seemed to sell the correct sized ring for a toggle! Thankfully, the lady was just as determined as I was that everything should be perfect even if it took longer. Finally I was able to get the watch to cooperate (breaking the tips off a number of Exacto blades in the process!) and after ordering and waiting to receive rings from Canada that ended up being the wrong size anyway, I decided to give up on buying them and make my own! It was very satisfying to wind the wire and cut and file the rings and it took me about 20 minutes to make them.
I’m very glad that I had such a wonderful client and was able to keep working on the watch until I got everything just how I’d envisioned. When I finally presented it to her she was thrilled! I was so happy. She was even kind enough to let use the watch in a local art show I participated in and she gave me a tip. Working with great people is such a pleasure and I’m glad I could create something that my client treasures and that our perseverance and patience paid off.
As for what else I’ve been up to, well over the past months I have been working on getting all my social media sites updated and up and running and I’m happy to say that they all are! The last one I finished was my deviantART account. I was really ecstatic to find out that they had added some customization options for profiles in my absence and I immediately got to work designing and customizing my profile and gallery pages. I’m really happy that I was able to transfer my style and look over to that site. I think it present a really cohesive brand to have a similar look and style across all the different profiles and websites a business maintains today. If you’d like to see the customizing I did, you can check my dA here. I’d love to hear what you think, so leave me a comment here or there!
Another fun thing about returning to deviantART was that I was just in time to participate in a fun little competition. It was a “Random Phrase” contest and to participate you had to represent a phrase (chosen by a random phrase generator) in art. Any medium was acceptable and I got the phrase “Talking Kidney”. I immediately had the idea to draw a little kidney with a face, but when I sat down to draw I was overcome with the urge to make a plushie instead! This was the result:
He came out exactly how I pictured him in my head, which is always nice, and he just makes me smile. I entered him in the contest and…… I WON!!! I can’t believe it. It was very exciting and encouraging and I discovered that I really enjoy making these little felt toys. He’s made from Eco-fi felt and stuffed with Polyfill. The facial details are glued on with fabric glue and then hand stitched for strength. The pupils (errr…. the ^’s) are hand embroidered with embroidery thread and he has a heart & “Julia Grace Arts” hand embroidered on his bum (if you can call the backside of a kidney a bum).
Well, I still have quite a bit of news to catch up on and share, so I’ll (hopefully) have another post up in a few days!
Have a wonderful day and stay cool if you’re affected by the heat
– Jülz
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