The first unit of the semester is about color. We had to read an essay and then write a response about what colors we see and are drawn to. Then it was do 5 sketches for a piece of wearable art - we had to make the pin backs, chain(s), or other mounting hardware. We had to write an artist statement about our piece.   
Having done a square enamel sample using glass beads on a base color, I chose to use that technique for my piece. The piece would be a brooch and here is my artist statement which describes it.

Mid-Century Modern Amoeba 
What is Mid-Century Modern? 
It is a design and architectural movement that flourished from roughly 1945 to 1970, defined by clean lines, minimal ornamentation, and a blend of functionality and organic shapes.

Culturally speaking, I am a true product of the mid-century modern era. While "mid-century modern" technically describes the architecture, furniture, and design movements of that time, my birth year of 1955 lands me exactly in the golden age of the style along with being born in the middle of the Baby-Boomer era. I grew up alongside the very innovations, sleek aesthetics, and optimistic post-war culture that defined the movement. 

This brooch reflects not only the era, but it invokes a childhood memory of a giant ceramic ashtray that was secretly hidden by one neighbor in another neighbor’s house whenever there was a party. This ashtray, which was in the shape of an amoeba had a turquoise crackle glaze with lots of bright colored dots on it. Each family knew that when one hosted a party it would appear, eventually, in the house; it might take day, weeks, or months but eventually it would be found.

Here are my process pictures. I used chasing and repousse to form the amoeba, then applied the enamel front and back which was then fired. I applied  dot of gold foil in the center depression. I hand placed each bead and fired the piece again. Next was to cut out the back plate - holes to show the back of the piece and slots which would form the tabs to hold the piece onto the back place, and cut the slots to form the pin back mechanism.

I spent last week at the John C. Campbell Folk School, again. I was there over 5 years ago for a temari class. 
The school really is camp for adults. We sleep in 1, 2, 4, person rooms or a dorm. There is a dining hall for your 3 meals a day served family style; AND THE FOOD IS GOOD. There are soooo many different classes taught but there is a focus on Appalachian Crafts since that is why the school was created One Hundred Years ago, this year. Go follow the link above to see the variety of topics. Plus they are open year round. Another nice thing is that you don't need a car to get there, you can fly to an airport they suggest and then you get shuttled to and from the school - I did this the first time I came.

I came to the school this year for a week long class in Beginning Enamel and it was well worth it. I shall say that at the end of last semester, after I sign up for this class, I found out we were going to work on enamelling, next semester. Oh, well, that just gives me a better starting point. 

To start, we learned about what metals can and can't be used;  the 4 stages of basic enamel - sugar, orange peel, mature, and over fired. Then we moved onto using stencils, sgraffito, graphite, P4 ink, metallics, and basse-taille which is low relief in the base metal. For all of this we worked on small squares which were then glued to a wood block as a sample. This took 2-3 days depending on how much each of us focused on the task or made multiples.

Then we move into some other techniques to use our skills on. We wove a small dish out of 34 gauge copper strips which we enameled. Next was making a dish out of 32 gauge copper sheet (foil) and we learned a technique called Separation which is the application of at least 3 layers of enamel of which each is fired and then a special enamel is applied in a random pattern and allowed to dry and then fired. This last enamel "sinks" into the other layers and causes interesting effects and because the copper was so thin, it will expand and contract along with the enamels to warp the dish. This was so much fun, to see the results of everyone's.

The last 2 days was for us to make and play. Some bought pre-cut shapes to enamel for earrings or magnets, others did more stencils, graphite and ink. On the first free day I used 24 gauge copper sheet cut 6" square to make a bowl using the separation technique.  It took most of the day to layer and fire the enamels. In between all of this I took 2 small 18 gauge copper discs to make very small bowls and prep others for earrings. The last thing I did was apply the special enamel so it could dry overnight.  The next morning I fired my big piece and turned out amazzzzzzing! The teachers wanted to keep it as a classroom sample (or for themselves ?) because it was so beautiful.  After that I made the earrings and attached ear wires to sell at the last night craft display and show.   I sold 3 of the 4 pairs!
Here are all the pictures I took along with some nature pictures I took each morning as I walked from my room to breakfast and the classroom

In the blog post prior to this, I gave you a brief hint about my bowl for the Super Bowl Challenge.  
I have tried TWO times to participate but the first time I burned my hand and gave up. The second time, I stretched the metal as I was raising it to too much and I gave up again.  

Then for the past 3 years I was in Tucson during the challenge and did not even try to participate. 

This year, I wanted to and have completed the challenge

Since the challenge can be started before Super Bowl Sunday, I started to raise the bowl about 4 weeks ago. It is not a big bowl, it actually fits in my hand  BUT with so many other things happening, I wanted to give myself plenty of time. 

And then, with the new house being renovated, we are in Texas at the moment to do some design selections and a walk through. THUS I really could not finish the bowl today. THUS I finished it last weekend. 

I went in a different direction and didn't even do any chasing and repousse on the bowl. I enameled it. I learned torch fired enameling in 2012 and I made a ring, and had not done any other enameling since despite having bought the basic supplies.  Thus, I wanted to play with enamel and see what I could do on a small bowl. It was about having some fun.

After I finished raising the bowl last Saturday. I went into my copper scrap pile and got some pieces of copper I could do some tests on as I had a sample box of enamel and color names but no clue as to what they would look like.  I did about 6 test firings and on Sunday, I went into the garage with TWO plumbers torches (one was MAP and the other Propane) , the bowl and the enamels. I first did a counter coat on the outside in a nice bright green. Then applied a cobalt blue to the inside of the bowl and a deep blood red to the rim.  

Despite using TWO torches and forming a bit of a box with my fire bricks, it did take some amount of time to get the bowl hot enough for the enamel to melt and fuse.  Yet, overall I do like how it turned out and YES, I did have fun. 

Here is my bowl and of course, some process pictures which include some of the bowl cooling and you can see the enamel colors come out.