nDesigns by Nancy Lee: Handmade Metal Jewelry and Objects

Circle City Industrial Complex

Me and my two friends, Bonnie Ramirez and Jari Sheese, are on the final countdown to the grand opening of our new collaborative space called Flame Art Studios.

It’s been quite a journey, a little bit of drama, and a lot of fun! The opening will happen this Friday, February 5, 2010 at 1125 Brookside Ave, Indianapolis, in conjunction with IDADA’s First Friday Art Tour. We have 5,000 square feet of the 500,000 at the Circle City Industrial Complex on the Near Eastside of Indy. It’s kind of a hidden secret of the Near Eastside. Slowly, over the past couple of years, artists have been entering the space, carving out niches, and making themselves a studio home. I’m pleased and proud to be a part of this, particularly since I live in the neighborhood now, too.

Come on out Friday night and visit all of us!

wUG LAKU’s STUDIO & gARAGE, featuring painting and collage of Kate Oberreich in a show called “Undertow”

Martha Nahrwold’s Five Seasons

Matthew Davey, paintings and sculpture

Drew Cadaver and Jerod Kienitz, Cadaverous Muse Studio

Mike Lyons, installation artist and sculptor

The Pastry Station, European pastries by Pilar Lopez

And check out the nice article by Tricia Meyer with the online newspaper Examiner.com!

See you Friday!

Flame Art Studios is Nancy Lee, Bonnie Ramirez and Jari Sheese

I’d like to share this list of “10 things to make a metalsmith smile”, directly from the Lapidary Journal/Jewelry Artist Newsletter called “Flashcard,” written by the amazing and inspirational Helen Driggs. If you every make anything at all, you can be assured of a few trials and tribulations. There is celebration when things go right, and here are ten little causes for celebration, plus two of my own!

1. When the hammer hits exactly where you intended it to, with exactly the right amount of force. And it’s a brand new hammer, too.
2. The bezel really fits and you aren’t in denial.
3. You find a 2” x 6” sheet of 18-gauge silver you forgot you bought. (this actually happened to me in December!)
4. No firescale.
5. The ring fits the finger you made it for.
6. No scratches.
7. You put exactly the perfect size solder chip right where it needed to be.
8. The eagle eyed cat looks right at the 3mm faceted stone you just dropped on the floor until you pick it up.
9. The sawblade doesn’t break when you know it really should have.
10. The phone call that results when your best friend e-mails you a photo of the piece she just finished at exactly the same time you were e-mailing her a piece you just finished.

11. Helen Driggs is Managing Editor of Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine, and an accomplished metalsmith, toolhound and teacher, and I’m a big fan. I love her Flashcard e-mails. I’ve made some of her projects (see bracelet image, right). Her is often the only newsletter I consistently read, word for word. I always learn something, and often get a smile just from Helen’s down-to-earth, soul-filling writing style.

12. Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist Magazine is the mother ship of Flashcard. It’s a hold-it-in-your-hands paper periodical full of tips, tricks, inspiration and techniques for lapidarists and jewelry artists of all skill levels. Metalsmiths and rockhounds covet issues the way some covet the beautifully photographed and written National Geographic magazines. In particular, the January 2010 issue contains so much good stuff that my issue is already dog-eared, bent up, underlined with ink multiple times and highlighted for good measure. I’ve thought of placing it on my forehead before retiring in the hopes of awakening the next morning, imbued by osmotic effect with all the wonderments of knowledge contained in the ink.

It’s a great day when a metalsmith can appreciate any one of these ten + two things. What makes YOU smile?

I’ve coordinated a holiday show called “Deck the Halls…and YOU!” with three other local women artists. See pictures of their work here.  This has been a fun process, and I’m excited to do a show with people I like and whose work I admire. I mean, how much fun is that?

Hand dyed and woven wrap by Carrie May

Blue and White Glass Vase by Judie Sloan

I was smart to get fired from my old job so I could do what I truly love. Who knew I had the power to create a huge economic downturn, cause China to corner the market on steel, drive up construction costs and practically bring the construction industry to a halt in my neck of the woods, rendering me #1 on the “most expendable employee” list as “last hired, first fired” rules dictate?

Anyhoo, back on the topic of this show, all you hafta do is click on the “events and workshops” tab and you can see a pretty little poster I made for the show, and you’ll also see the other stuff I’ve got going on in December. Well, most of it anyway. I haven’t told you that my mom has a big birthday tomorrow. And I’m not going to.

Another cool thing about the show is that a portion of the proceeds are being donated to Fresh Start of Indiana, helping victims of domestic violence get a fresh start after leaving their abusers. Not only can you pick out a handmade gift for yourself or a special someone, you will also be helping people start over again.

Mindy Raber McCain's Little Purses of Handwoven Fabric

Rings of Saturn Earrings

A few pictures from the recent First Friday Gallery Tour held Friday, November 6, 2009. Things were hopping at the Circle City Industrial Complex, where I share studio space with Wug Laku. It’s Wug’s name that is on the gallery, but we both put on a pretty good show for First Friday. In fact, I was quite happy that Wug’s own paintings were on the walls this month, as he typically shows works from other artists. I had a lot of new work to show, including the Jelly Roll series, so it was fun to see people’s reaction to those pieces as well as to Wug’s work.

And, as luck would have it, there was a lot to see in the building. Brilliant sculptor and painter Matt Davey was open for the first time since spring, Pilar Lopez from the Pastry Station served up her popular artisan pastries, Martha Nahrwald’s Five Seasons show with Bonnie Ramirez and Carolyn Mabry, Cadaverous Muse with Drew Cadaver and Jerod Kienitz, Dianbaar African fair trade goods from Kimberly Harwell, and Exodus Refugee Immigration Center with their fall open house featuring live music, food courtesy of Jeff Reuter of J.S. Reutz Cafe on 10th St. (inside the Boner Center), we had it going on! Enjoy the photos. As always, your comments are appreciated!

If you missed the show, you are still in luck. Open hours are Fridays and Saturdays from 12:30pm - 3:30pm. Show hangs through November.

Making jump rings eventually becomes a fact of life for anyone making jewelry. Sure, you can always buy them already made up. But that isn’t always practical when you have a great project you want to wear the next day, and assignment due, or a client waiting for a special order. Or you may have a minor repair that only requires a jump ring or two. And you may not be able to find the right size in a commercially available jump ring, though there are many available in different sizes, gauges, and metal materials. Here is an easy, inexpensive way to make them yourself. As with any technique that is new to you, start with less expensive materials before moving on to silver or gold.

Alan Revere with two of his pliers

If you have purchased a softer wire you will probably not need to anneal it, especially if it is in a smaller gauge, such as 20, 19 or 18. (*Annealing is heating metal with a torch or in a kiln to soften, making it easier to work with). If your wire is sterling silver and/or is springy, anneal it before attempting to make jump rings with it - it will save you time and frustration, and possibly the skin on your fingers!

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Cut dowel rod down in size to about 10-12″ long. Mark a spot about 1/4″ down the rod. Using a drill bit slightly smaller than the wire you wish to use, drill a hole all the way through the dowel.
2. Gently smooth out the wire. Insert one end of wire into hole and just through to the other side. Wrap wire around dowel, keeping it perfectly perpendicular. Continue winding, making sure the wire remains tight and as close to the wind before it as possible. When you have wound as many rings as needed, plus a few extra, cut off any excess while maintaining your grip on the wire.
3. Continuing to grip the wire, put some making tape over the rings you have made, all along one side. Draw a straight line down the wires, parallel with the dowel, to be used as a cutting guide.
4. Place towel in your lap, or put on your apron. Position yourself at your work surface with the dowel in your non-dominant hand, resting against the bench pin or the work surface, and jeweler’s saw in your dominant hand, lubricated saw blade ready to go.
5. Place the blade at the top of the dowel and cut right down through the wood to the first ring. Using pliers, remove the first ring. Pull back some of the tape, allowing the rings below to slide up towards the top of the dowel, and saw carefully through the rings (on one side of the dowel only!) following the line you drew.
6. Using two flat-nosed pliers, one in either hand, bend the jump rings slightly back and forth, until the ends of the rings meet perfectly. Remove any rough edges as needed, so rings meet flush. If soldering, wash rings with a little bit of Dawn dish washing liquid first.

Now you have made a pile of perfect jump rings!

Assorted Jump Rings

Scottish Rite Cathedral

Fun, and I mean FUN was had at the Midwest Fashion Week runway show benefiting the Autism Society of America. Berny Martin sure did shine with his massive production that took place at the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 8pm Saturday. Catherine Fritsch, talented Indianapolis fashion designer and owner of Sweet Revenge Lingerie, coordinated with me and several other local artists as we showed our work on the lovely mezzanine area overlooking the mile-long (okay, it SEEMED like a mile long) runway.

Berny Martin takes a stroll down the runway

After a bit of understandable confusion of models, outfits, vendors and placements, I finally met my stunning jewelry model Kasi Shelton. Catherine set me up with Kasi, and informed me that she could wear anything I could dream up, and that I could choose complimentary clothing - instead of the other way around. Wow! That was different, refreshing, exciting - scary. In that order.

Beautiful Kasi Shelton models jewelry by Nancy Lee

So, I chose the new Rings of Saturn neckpiece and earrings I had just created, then selected the dress from the many options Catherine provided.

After doing that (and waiting until the last possible moment) I decided to add a bunch more rings to the necklace, and to the earrings. So I cut a couple dozen new rings in a couple of sizes and started adding them to the necklace…and you know what? I didn’t like it. So I took almost all of them back off again, eventually settling on the addition of two. Yeah, just two. And two more for each earring. Guess the original design was pretty good.

Kasi Shelton flaunts the Rings of Saturn

What do YOU think?

Comments from real people are always appreciated…

Rings of Saturn Neckpiece, photo by Paul D'Andrea

I’m so pleased that this years Studio Showcase was so well attended - a success! Here in Indianapolis, the weather changes every ten minutes, and Thursday, October 9 started out dreary. As the day went on, rain continued and I wondered how that would affect attendance at my favorite show of the fall season.

Nancy Lee's Little Display

I set off for the Van Sciver residence, the site of the show.  I parked and upon opening my car door, noticed two other car doors opening at the same time. The ladies wanted to know if it was showtime!!! It was still 30 minutes away, yet I invited them to come in anyway. After all, it is Indiana and one learns about Hoosier hospitality, and it was raining. That small event set the tone for the weekend. The door continued to open Thursday evening and Friday to soggy yet enthusiastic shoppers. Saturday dawned clear and warm, and more smiles were in store for all of us.  The show closed at 5PM, with some last-minute shoppers quickly scurrying through the rooms, trying to see everything as the happy yet weary artists packed away the displays.

Studio Showcase 2009

A bellwether for the financial turnaround? Overall, sales were better than last year. But the greatest thing was the enthusiasm had returned to our fans. Conversations were positive. People were smiling and laughing, and speaking of family times, leisure times, jobs, and friends. Right here in the middle of middle-America, I got to witness my first solid sign of better days ahead.  Do I care what the political pundits say? Sometimes. I live on main street USA and I’m an artist. I have to wait a long time for the trickle-down theory to trickle down to me and my familiars. I felt a few golden drops this weekend…thanks to fans like you. And, I appreciate you. Thank you!

Nancy Shopping

Studio Showcase 2009

Come see me at Studio Showcase!

Nancy Lee with some of her creations

Nancy Lee with some of her creations

Not much to do here except post a bunch of pictures! These were taken a couple of weeks ago to accompany the feature article that Nuvo did on me and my studio partner, Wug Laku, for the Oranje show. The pictures were taken on location, inside and outside  the studio, by Steve Simonetto of Green Sky Media.

Wug Laku and Nancy Lee consult in the studio

I felt like a movie star! Which means I was bored out of my gourd most of the time, and attempting to stand up straight and hold my stomach in, just in case. And that shot of me and Wug looking at a drawing and a piece of metal? That’s just for the camera, folks. Goodness knows, I rarely take direction that well. At least I was comfortable holding a pair of pliers. Steve wouldn’t let me hold my 2-lb hammer, which I think is beautiful and quite photogenic.

Anyway, I was thrilled with the results, since the pics of me look better than I  really do most of the time!

Thanks, Steve for a professional job and a peek at some really amazing camera equipment.

wUG LAKU'S STUDIO & gARAGE

Nancy Lee gets an idea

Loopy Pearls

NUVO news magazine in Indianapolis is providing feature articles for artists involved in Oranje - an interactive experience of art and music (this Saturday, September 19, in a vacant downtown warehouse at 2323 N. Illinois St., Indianapolis). And their freelance art reporter, Susan Watt Grade, elected to choose me as one of the artists. The article runs in print in this week’s edition of NUVO (available Wednesdays) AND online.

Sunfire Necklace

I was surprised, completely thrilled and deeply honored to be selected for this. After this interview I was really curous as to what Susan would write, and figured it would be a brief paragraph with “just the facts.” Susan took her charge to heart and set down a concise yet incredibly sensitive article that tells a pretty good story, if I may say so.

I write this as I’m about to make the final trip(s) to the double-size Oranje  booth that I am sharing with Wug Laku of wUG LAKU’S STUDIO & gARAGE. We have a 20′ x 24′ booth space to fill! So I better get cracking so the show will be ready. That’s 8PM on Saturday, folks, until 2AM. Get your tickets.

When you get there, look for me on the main floor, at the bottom of the ramp. 12′ walls draped in red/orange fabric!

A new batch of beaded rings will make an appearance - these always go fast at only $20 and are a good alternative to my higher-end offerings.

Adventuresome??? Try your hand at metalsmithing, and take home a forged copper cuff bracelet for only $10.

Plus, see a lot of new work debuting from yours truly, hot off the anvil! We have a wonderful show in store for you, and the Oranje team has plenty of other amazing artists and over 50 bands performing. Experience Oranje! Don’t miss it!

Silver Cup Necklace

Lavanessence Series, Necklace with Pearl