o, world.

{wonderfully} Busy.

So much happened this week{+end}. My afterschool art classes finally got into full swing. The kids painted, glued, drew, collaged, sculpted and built. I got a sticker that said 'I love you', more hugs than I can recall getting in the last several months, and two drawings of Wolverine.

I went to the thrift for the first time in awhile, where I bought several wonderful things: a cracked, kelly green coin purse that is essentially useless but un-pass-up-able, being practically perfect in every way (very green, very old, very tiny), an old, red leather bag with a very confusing strap, and...



...which quickly, excitedly became...



I made a necklace for a friend's wife...



...and something I can't show you quite yet with these Moo cards.



I spent Saturday wandering around Cincinnati, which kept my over-excited (Moo cards! Silverware to slice up! Tiny coin purses! *falls over*) brain from burning out, and made for some lovely photo ops.



The light was perfect, and I took more pictures than I had in a long time.



And now I'm here, catching up on emails, looking forward to tomorrow's dinner with my parents, and to next week's finishing of above-mentioned projects and the start, inevitably, of a few new ones.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

The leaves in my yard are just beginning to curl up, but there are still half left on the tree. It's that way all over the city, and when I was running the other day, early, I reminded myself that I needed to take pictures before it was too late - of the varying degrees of leaf-blanketed-ness in yards across town, of the eggplant-y purple leaves against the still green grass, of the piles and piles hugging the sidewalks. Add in the near-idyllic light that pours through the trees at that time of morning, and you couldn't take a bad photograph if you tried.

I'm Teaching a Workshop!

I'm so excited to be back in the studio and teaching again! I'm offering a Creative Jewelry Design Workshop THREE times in October - surely you can make it, no? Bring your friends! It's going to be fun. I'm concentrating to innovative and unexpected materials and techniques, as well as helping people gain or hone solid metalsmithing skills. We'll work with found objects, repurposed necklaces and components, sterling and other metals, and just about anything/everything else. I'm posting the details below, and here's the link to sign up.

Who: Brooke Medlin, local metalsmith, jewelry designer and art instructor What: Creative Jewelry Design and Fabrication Workshop

Where: Mariposa Studio, in the Front Street Studios complex in Downtown Dayton

When: October 11,18, or 25, 2009 * 1:30 - 4:30pm (*class fee is PER THREE HOUR WORKSHOP)

Why: Learn how to create jewelry using traditional and innovative methods with an emphasis on fun and functional design. Expect lots of experimentation with creative color combinations, innovative fabrication techniques and unexpected materials while learning basic metalsmithing and jewelry making techniques to incorporate these elements into your pieces! Discover how much fun it is to acquire solid jewelry making skills to go along with the ideas that you've been sketching. An inspiring studio in which to work (Mariposa Studios is a studio run by women for women, and is a truly lovely renovated warehouse space in the Front Street Studios complex) and a small class size (maximum enrollment of 4 people per class) in which to thrive are the hallmarks of workshops run by Brooke, and this workshop is perfect both for those who've never picked up a pair of pliers or seasoned jewelry makers looking for a creativity boost and some fresh ideas. This class is open to persons aged 18 and older.

Cost: $45 (includes supply fee)

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Please feel free to contact Brooke with any questions about the class, or for the link with which to sign up for the workshop! All questions are welcome!

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The less interesting, but still necessary, bits:

*Classes with less than two persons registered will be cancelled, and fees will be refunded in full. Class will be recheduled, and persons in the cancelled class will be contacted for preferred placement in the rescheduled class.

*The class fee is fully refundable prior to 7 days from the class date (so, October 4, 11, and 18). After that date, the entire class fee will be unrefundable unless the class is cancelled due to low enrollment as referenced above.

Dayton Does {The Free Coffee Edition}

I like coffee and I like free things. I might've peed myself a little Imagine my reaction when I found out that both of those things were coming together for one glorious event I'm calling Seriously, You Can Only Get One, It's Best For Everyone - No, Really, Do Not Go Back Through That Line, or, free small coffee day on Tuesday at In N Out Java in celebration of National Coffee Day. Visit them from 6am-6pm, and be sure to ask them about their new hours, which are changing as of October 1st.

Dayton Does (German Beer and Bicycles Edition)

I spent this afternoon at the school where I'll be teaching an after-school arts program, feeling overwhelmed (I could never be a teacher - all those schedules and rooms..owie.) and feeling very self conscious as the principal and art teacher stared at my tattoos. I left feeling slightly less overwhelmed but chastened in the way that only schoolteachers can make you feel. The school is by the Art Institute, and as I drove by I remembered that the Art Institute is hosting it's annual Oktoberfest this weekend. Why did I always think that admission was prohibitively expensive? I had it in my little brain that it was upwards of $20. It is not. It's only $6 at the door! You should go! There's beer, and brats, and all sorts of things that I, as a vegetarian, cannot eat but I imagine are very, very tasty. And german beer! And local artists selling their wares. I could and would justify it based on the availability of potato pancakes alone, but Iam actually full up both days this weekend: teaching and picking up friends from airports and eating ice cream in Columbus.

So, yes. I was driving. I decided, having mailed out two outstanding orders (your necklace is on it's waaaaayyy, Wendy, I can't wait for you to get it!), to dick around on the internet chill out at the coffee shop until it was time for me to meet up with Darren for our weekly studio sesh, and as I was waiting for my New York Light and Sweet I remembered that there was yet another event that I was going to have to miss (remind me to rant tell you how infuriating it is that Dayton packs all of it's fun events into approximately 4 weekends per year - I'm looking at you, Urban Nights/Oregon District Arts Festival/Greek Festival/Italian Festival) the 2nd annual BloodNDust fixed gear bike race this weekend. Okay, disclaimer: that link will give you epilepsy (again, address for hatemail is in the upper right corner of this blog). Don't click on it. Just email Martin: bloodndust@gmail.com. Seriously. Owie.

Anyway. It's a fixed gear, no brakes bike race starting at 8pm, with $600 for first place, second place being 1st loser and getting, um, lemme look, nothing. I'm a bit of a puss and realllly enjoy having 27 gears to choose from, though that's about to change when my friend Justin (who is going to be in the race!) finds me a new bike (which I will powdercoat a very slight, matte off white, mmm, oh, yes.), but I do like watching the fixies race. Rumor is there are tall bikes, which makes the big kid in me's eyes roll allll the way back in my head, but are fun to watch nonetheless, as long as the tall bike kids don't see me, which would just encourage them. I want to go, I want to see it, I cannot. You should.