Santa Clara del Cobre-Coppersmiths

This year at the Southern Illinois Metalsmith Society (SIMS) Conference, the Angel Family from Santa Clara del Cobre Mexico is doing demonstrations of their traditional copper-working skills. They brought with them almost 50 vessels, which they are selling at ridiculously cheap prices.
N. and I bought these two vessels for less than $300! I love the thick rims and the hammered texture, as well as the rich color. I think metal that has been worked this much (they start with thick sheets of copper, and hammer them thinner, then raise them up) has a warmth and depth that other kinds of metalwork doesn't have. We love them!

Goodbye Green Walls...

...I feel I hardly knew you.

In light of the recent events at the metals house, N and I have decided to move to a new studio--one that has just a single, solid wood door, as opposed to 2 hollow core doors, and 2 ground level windows. But I will miss our lime-green walls. The new studio is a drab white--but it is much bigger, which will be nice.

The worst yet.

Well, I thought the robbers only got copper that was waiting to be made into finished bowls, but I realized today that they got this one, my pierced bowl. Every dot that you see is a drilled hole. This was one of my favorites. Bastards.

Sock Monkey Love

Now that I'm behind what can only be called my "impenetrable shroud of doom" (to quote Sarah Vowell) after the theft of my copper, I need something to cheer me up. And what is cheerier than a sock monkey? So these are my sock monkeys. On the bottom is a sculpture I made in grad school. It is an actual sock monkey that has been bronzed. I call it Bronzed Sock Monkey (I know, I'm clever.) And on the top are the two friendly monkeys that adorn my bed. I like to call the big one Sally and the short one Mabel. They are antiques, though. I didn't make either of them. But someone did.

This SUCKS!

This vacant spot under my work table in my studio is where there USED to be a bucket of copper scrap and all my copper sheet for making bowls. Where is it now, you ask? It was stolen when someone broke into the graduate metals house at SIU-Carbondale on Sunday. I'm pissed.

Everyone needs a silver spoon

and I mean real silver, like these. All my flatware is forged from thick pieces of silver stock and I use mine everyday. Now I'm selling them on etsy.

coreyackelmire.etsy.com

I'm also particularly proud of my 'product shots' of this flatware. Taking good (or sort of good) images is very hard, but I feel like I'm learning....

...baby steps (sigh...)

Wedding Cups

I'm getting married in November, and while crystal glasses may be the tradition as far as wedding glasses go, we are both metalsmiths, so ours are silver! They are perfect for wine, though they get really cold in your hand with white wine.

Bowl Crazy!

Here are some new copper bowls I've been working on. I'm trying to simplify/modernize the patterns I'm using. These are pretty small and shallow. 'bout 4" in diameter, and no more than 1.5" tall. not bad so far, I think.
See more bowls on my flickr:

www.flickr.com/photos/coreyackelmire

State Fair

this weekend, we went to the DuQuoin State Fair in Illinois. Generally fun, with lots of fried food, of course, but the best part was the car show.

http://www.agr.state.il.us/dq

new purse!

When I can't afford to buy something new, which is pretty often, my philosophy is to make something new, so this is my new purse--made mostly of linen, with a cotton lining and pearl button.

More Etsy

I've also been making little hand-stitched notebooks lately using paint chips for the covers.

Etsy

I officially have an Etsy site, and I've even put stuff on it!

http://coreyackelmire.etsy.com

above is a new charm necklace. Lately, in an effort to make salable work that I like, I've been working on little necklaces that use familiar/comforting phrases like "it's OK" and "why not."

of course, I will also sell my stand-by jewelry pieces like my ball rings, and copper bowls.

Everyone else is doing it...

why not me?

I am fresh from grad school, marooned in Carbondale, IL, and adrift in a sea of overwhelming possibilities, which usually makes me want to not to do anything. So, I thought I'd see if following my progress on a blog makes me feel less powerless and intimidated by adulthood.

above is a detail of my piece Pivoting Brushes from my thesis work in grad. school. materials: found toothbrushes, sterling silver.