I am still working on trying to finish my latest piece, which is still untitled.  While it is sitting on the easel I have been adding some of the rusted metal pieces / found object arrangements.  Look at them, walk away, move then around, look again, remove them, and then start again.  Ah the struggle to find the right placement.

I am also working on creating other pieces and more found object arrangements while the piece is waiting to be finished.

I have two of these arrangements entitled "pencil box."  they are made out of an old Altoids tin.  I burned the tins in a fire last summer to distress and and encourage rust.  Filled one half with the shavings from my pencil sharpener and a little bit of crystal lacquer.  The other side contains some little pencils from my collection. (When I was teaching, I would trade the  students a new colorful pencil for a small one.  It had to be smaller than 2.5" and you could only turn in one a day.  After doing this for four years I have a large collection.  Part of it sits in a vase in the studio.

I like how it looks on the background.  Not so sure about how it works with the rest of the piece.

Here is the first journal / sketchbook completed.  I used one of the old blueprints as the cover and watercolor paper for the inside.  The journal measures 9" x 12" and has 25 pages.

I made this journal for a piece entitled "Debris Quilt."  The leather / suede cover came from a journal cover that a friend of my daughters gave me about 5 years ago.  I put old maps, foreign newspapers, vintage book pages, and other bits of paper ephemera in there.  Wrapped the entire piece in twine and burned it with the blow torch for good measure.

Whenever I pass this piece in the hallway I always smile at that journal and I want to create more.

In the spring we unearthed a box of old architectural drawings and mylars in my garage.  When I opened the box I immediately knew I wanted to create some journals out of these large drawings.  So over the next week I will create some journals for my Archeological Remnants series.  As always, I will post the progress along the way.

My next piece is almost done.  I have just a little more to do before I can call it finished.  I really like how the pattern tissue and rust dyed fabric that were dipped in beeswax work in this piece.

I wonder why the last 5% of a piece always takes the longest to complete.

A few details: