Treasures in the Earth

The ART of Recycling

2010-11-26T12:06:00.005-07:00

Artist's work table with found objects

Shown here is one of my work tables covered with found objects, smashed and folded metal, bottles of sand and misc flotsam and jetsum. Combining just the right objects means you have to have a LOT of stuff around and know where it is (not always doable). I keep everything, even the littlest piece of trash as you never know just what you might need. It's the ultimate recyling.

Found plastic flotsam from the beach in Florida

On the right is a pile of sea washed plastic, literally garbage. I collected all of this in about 15 minutes near Marineland in NE Florida on the beach. How do so many tooth brushes end up on the beach? In the past I would not have picked up plastic, preferring more "natural" materials but the plethora of items tempted me and once I started really looking at the pieces and seeing now they had been salt-etched by the sea, the more I liked them. Who knows what this stuff will become?

Catadores of Rio from the movie Waste Land

Want to learn more about making art with garage (literally), see the new movie Wasteland which profiles artist Vik Muniz as he works with the catadores or "pickers" at the bigges landfill in the world to make ART. What evolves is more than repurposing stuff into something valuable.

Amazing, moving and unbelievable. After seeing this there is no way can anyone in America who lives in a house feel sorry for themselves, even in THESE times!

What is Wabi-Sabi?

2010-10-20T15:57:00.005-06:00

Old gas tank, shot up with holes by hunters
and left to rust in the hills near my studio

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that values rustic simplicity, asymmetry, asperity, and beauty that comes with age and change. Wabi-sabi cherishes unique, quirky and unconventional objects and sees that by keeping these objects around, they will help us see the cycles of birth, death and rebirth, connect to the earth and nature. Wabi-sabi is an aesthetic that is very much in line with earth-based spirituality, but there are few rituals, no drums, rattles or smudging. Instead, there is a focus on observation of nature and change which leads to meditation and eventually insight into the nature of impermanence.

The wabi-sabi aesthetic accepts the natural cycle of birth, growth, decay and death as all part of the impermanence life. Evidence of this process is can be seen all around us if we just observe. The patina on a very old bronze statue, the weathered gray wood of an old barn, or the rust on the bumper of an antique car. These quirks and anomalies result from age and exposure to the elements in nature. They can also occur when an artisan is making an object and lets the hand leave a mark or imperfection. These “flaws” add to the uniqueness and elegance of an object and contribute to the wabi-sabi notion of beauty.

Very old cactus with anthropomorphic features, also with some
holes - was this shot up too? Discovered on a hiking trail outside
of Sedona, Az

To train in the art of wabi sabi, one must learn to find the most simple objects interesting, fascinating and beautiful. This is why, in the tea ceremony, much time is spent contemplating the most simple of tea bowls, noticing a drip in the glaze, a thumbprint, or a small spot of color.

Wabi-sabi meditation can change ones perception of the world and provide a new perspective on an old and possibly undervalued object. As many of us grow old, much to our dismay, we may find comfort in the Wabi-sabi concept of beauty which is the kind of beauty that comes only with age and change.

All images © copyright Christine Marie Davis

If it Doesn’t Have Character, Pound Some into It

2010-10-04T09:44:00.004-06:00

I just picked up several old hammers at a garage sale this weekend. One is a tack hammer and the other two I forgot what they are, but I don’t care, they have wooden handles and metal heads so that’s all that matters to me.

Keith Lo Bue Grinding a Hammer Head

I was inspired to collect hammers by my teacher Sabra Sowell who has a huge box of them in her studio. If she acquires one that is too pristine, she gives it two her two boys to take outside and bang on the ground until they pound some character into it.

It’s refreshing to just buy an old beat up hammer and give it a new life and a new purpose. To modify the hammer heads, you can just grind them down with a grinding tool on a dremel or a drill. You can see Keith Lo Bue here demonstrating to our class at Adorn Me in Houston last year. He is grinding a head to make custom texture. Even if you don’t need a texturing hammer, its fun to do this just to make all those sparks fly!

Maybe that’s what we need these days, to pound some character into all of the slick stuff we have around our homes. (hummm, now that’s an idea, ugh oh!)

On the Hunt

2010-09-24T09:03:00.008-06:00

I was in my element last week at the big Denver Gem and Mineral Shows where I scouted hundreds of booths for gemstones, beads, fossils and other goodies. I was looking for items that were unusual and intriguing for my new assemblage work. I plan to make amulets, talismans, containers and protection necklaces from these finds. Here is a sampling...

From top left, clockwise- Brazilian Flower Amethyst (looks like a little galaxy), Libyan impact glass from a meteor hit in the Libyan desert 28+million years ago (wow), Big silver and brass filligree beads from Afghanistan (nice workmanship), A big bunch of shark's teeth, (sharp), Fossilzed cave bear teeth from Romania (ugh!) and some lovely faience wheels also from Afghanistan (a fired glass/clay that was used in Roman times).

From top left, clockwise- Crystal spheres from Madagascar, Fossil disks with sea spirals, a sack of jade, ameythst, moonstone and sandstone Venus of Villendorfs from China, boar tusks from Tibet, and Coprolite (aka fossilized dung- no it doesn't smell).

A Cluster Pluck!!

2010-08-30T10:03:00.050-06:00

My teacher Bob Ebendorf showed me how to make these cool cluster necklaces when I attended his workshop at Anderson Ranch in 2007. First, I made one for myself, then one for my sister and we love them. So I'm hoping that you will want one too. They are a great way to own a personal piece that pulls together your life and loves.

This one I made for my sister. She chose the center shell fragment from my stash, then gave me a handful of her old jewelry odds & ends. Earrings she had lost the mate to, charms she kept because they were souvenirs or gifts from loved ones that were treasured but rarely worn.

She "plucked" them from her personal stash, then I plucked out the ones that I thought would work together. Hence the name Cluster Pluck Necklace!! These charms ended up forming a collection from places she lived or traveled to in her life: the Grand Canyon, Alaska, Idaho, California, Hawaii. She now has a personal memento that reminds her of all the places she has lived and the people she has loved every time she wears it (which is a lot).

If you like this or want one, please let me know. You can see more examples on this page, then contact me (cmd --at- - sacredearthdesigns.com). I'll eventually have these on my website but for now this is a sneak peak.
All images © copyright Christine Marie Davis

Jewelry with Potatoes and Peanut Butter???

2010-08-27T18:40:00.022-06:00

I attended a “fold forming” workshop with Sabra Sowell last weekend at her lovely adobe home/studio outside Taos, NM. I learned to bend, fold and SMASH copper sheet to create interesting organic patterns and forms.

Fold Forming Sample from Copper Sheet

This technique, developed by Charles Lewton Brain is easy you need only a hammer, a torch, and something to pound on. No soldering is required. You use thin copper sheet metal, bend and hammer it, then unfold it, anneal it, and then hammer some more.Above are some practice pieces I made there.

After I got home I cut up some of the pieces to make a “dreamcatcher” cluster necklace, shown here on the left. some natural patina materials such as sesame oil, potatoes and even peanut butter! These are natural alternatives to the toxic chemicals normally used to get patina colors on copperm though they do make you feel like you just spend the day frying fritters in a donut factory. More cluster charm necklaces are on my jewelry bench right now. I love making these and this one jingles very softly, due to the soft copper metal.

A Giant Santa Hat and a Lampshade

2010-07-21T09:50:00.013-06:00

One of the most ridiculous things I picked up at a garage sale recently was a bag of giant Santa hats, all brand new. Why I picked them up I don’t remember, oh yeah, because they were FREE!!!! I couldn't figure out what they were intended for as they were way too big to wear on a normal head. Weeks later, I noticed a label on the bag which said “chair covers,” oh how mundane!
So mystery solved and needing to clear my bulging studio, I put them in my give away box. But when I went to smash some glass, I dug one out to use as a protective cloth bag. Turns out they are perfect for this, a heavy material that won't tear easily. These pieces are from an old overhead lampshade that I smashed to bits and then tumbled in play sand and water... just like the ocean... for about 24 hours. They came out softly etched and looking like they had been in the ocean for years.

Edward Scissorhands

2010-07-20T12:11:00.005-06:00

I attended the CoMA – Colorado Metalsmithing Association Conference in Salida this past weekend. I saw some great presenters and picked up some unusual items. Can you guess what these are?? These would make great fingernails for an Edward Scissorhands costume but I plan to use them in some new jewelry or sculptural pieces.

Back from the Ranch

2010-06-14T16:53:00.012-06:00

Bob Ebendorf demo at Anderson Ranch

I just returned from a fabulous week studying with my favorite teacher Bob Ebendorf at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Co. We hammered, sawed, riveted and assembled found object art jewelry. It was one of the best workshops I have attended due to my wonderful classmates, high energy and non-stop creativity. In this supportive environment we had lots of fun and made lots of jewelry.

Bob Ebendorf Sawing

Right, Bob is talking about his brooches and on the table are lots of samples that he brings to spark ides. The photo on the right shows Bob demonstrating sawing with a jewelry's saw with Cece and Judy, two students looking on.

Bob Ebendorf's Tintype Brooch

Bob Ebendorf's Assemblage Brooches

The photo on the left shows one of Bob’s assemblage pins made from an old tin type photo and frame with a tin bottle cap, built up to be a 3D image. And on the right are several colorful brooches of Bob's made from smooshed tin cans, colorful printed tin, vintage jewelry, coins, bone and brick-a-brak. For more pics, go here.

Button Charms

2010-06-02T11:01:00.002-06:00

My button assembly is done! Once sufficiently smooshed, I decided to pound them on one side only so that they would be slightly concave like little flowers, then I layered 2-3 buttons in a stack and riveted them together.

I added some beaten old coins to a few, drilled holes and added jump rings. All are pendants except one pair of earrings at the top left and one brooch at the very top with the blue center which is an old cufflink.
All images © copyright Christine Marie Davis

Button, Button, Who’s Smashin Buttons?

2010-05-06T09:57:00.006-06:00

A few days ago I was feeling very frustrated and pissy. I could not work, I just needed to smash something. So I took this bag of metal buttons that I had on my vintage Etsy shop and decided to just smash the living daylights out of a couple dozen of them. They were dated and hadn't sold, so I didn’t care if I trashed them out, but I figured a few might become interesting!

So I smashed and smashed, with my hammers, with the claws, with a ball peen. On some, the plating peeled off, others turned out to be plastic, but quit a few became much more interesting. Especially the solid brass ones and the hollow filigree ones.

After I smashed them, I dumped them all in a dish of bleach to get a patina on them. And whoa, some rusted and foamed in minutes. And as you can see from the photo on the right, they look like they had been buried for years. Then I cleaned them up with fine steel wool, some a lot, some just a little bit as I did not want to remove too much of the patina. I’m pretty happy with this little experiment and plan to use some of these in jewelry assemblages, look for photos of these in a future post.
All images © copyright Christine Marie Davis

A Purple Prize

2010-05-04T11:26:00.003-06:00

I found buried treasure yesterday. Well it is a treasure to me, maybe not everyone. My current find is a piece of purple campfire glass. I live near a large tract of BLM land that has been used by hunters and campers for decades and I am always picking up things on my dog walks, including bullet casings, old bones, hides, skulls, tin cans and broken glass.

Campfire glass is made when beer and liquor bottles are chucked into a fire by drunk campers and left to melt. I guess you could call it natural slumped glass, that is if getting drunk and smashing beer bottles on rocks could be considered natural.
These guys have probably had a wild time as the fire has to get pretty darn hot to melt glass. (around 1400 degrees F.)

Campfire glass can be found occasionally in campfire pits but is usually green, brown or clear. So to find this lovely lavender is very exciting, plus I know it must be pretty old. When was the last time you saw a bottle made from purple glass?
This particular piece has apparently melted around small rocks, which have made rock-like impressions in it. So it has an organic look. I plan to make a lovely found object assemblage jewelry piece from this gem.

This was an especially fruitful outing as I also found a bunch of painted glass pieces, textured glass, the bottom of an old Pepsi bottle and a nice glass handle from a coffee pot. There was so much glass that I just picked everything up right on the surface of what appears to be an old dump. Just imagine what is underground a few inches! I plan to do some diggin when I get the chance.

How Can I Mess This Up?

2010-04-20T07:31:00.004-06:00

Sabra Sowell Necklace

Things are a mess in the world today and we don’t like it. After all, messes are messy, chaotic, and not easily understood. But making a mess is not always bad. I’ve always loved to make messes, much to my parents dismay, but messy is way more interesting that tidy.
I realize that I have reluctantly followed the artsy/craftsy trend toward slick and perfect. This has been escalating since the late 1960s when tie-dyed shirts and macramé were in. But after I attended a workshop in Houston last month with the metal artist Sabra-Sowell Lovejoy, everything changed.

In her workshop, Shape, Texture, Color, Smash I learned that bent, flawed, scarred metal can be beautiful (you can see in an example of her work in the photo on the left). She "made" all of these found object pendants from scratch by torching, hammering, folding and adding patinas to metals.

Now, when I see something smooth, pristine, shiny and new I ask "How can I mess this up?" How can I smash it, bend it, burn it or rust it and what will happen?? I also learned that old tools that have sat in a box in some farmers shed for 80 years are way more interesting than a $60 Fretz texturing hammer.

Now, I play around with materials and get wonderful results and I know that you don’t always have to have a plan or even a design in mind when you start something. You just need a general sense of where you want to go, some basic tools and a desire to explore and discover along the way. How freeing!

Enjoying Simple Pleasures

2010-04-14T10:20:00.003-06:00

Nothing is more satisfying than sipping your morning coffee from a beautiful, well-crafted handmade mug. It’s like a morning meditation, a simple and inexpensive pleasure like no other.

My favorite mug is pot belly shaped and glazed in a soft Shino, a traditional Japanese glaze that is a speckled burnt orange and gets creamy where it pools and sooty black where the kiln flames lick it under the rim. It’s an earthy, fiery color that is energizing but also softly soothing to me. It was one of my favorite glazes to use when I made pottery.

This particular mug has a nice thick handle with two ridges running down the length and a bit of pooled thick glaze on the foot rim which bubbled in the fire, then froze when the kiln was done. It has a darker “finger” line of orange around the mid section where the potter swiped their finger through the wet glaze as a kind of statement that a human hand touched this piece. The middle of the cup is rounded out and fits inside my other hand like the belly of a warm puppy. It feels comforting and familiar.

It’s not perfect in a traditional sense, and I would never want it that way. Too many things are perfect these days and perfect is quite boring.

When I drink my morning coffee it’s like I am having a conversation with this potter; a Marti from Lincoln, Nebraska. That is all I know about him/her, but I am connected through their handmade creation. I know that a person, with a life, with a love of clay took time and made this. I know that this was made with love because you don’t make handmade pottery for the money! You make it because you love working with soft malleable clay, you love to give your creations over to the fire and let it have its way with them. You love the surprises that you encounter when you open the kiln. And you love that you are making something that will be used and cherished for a long time even though you know that eventually it will go back to the earth from where it came.

If you don't have at least one handmade mug in your cupboard, go out and get one, it will make your morning special.