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Have not been writing because I wanted to install the Word Press upgrade, which always sets me on edge, and because I’ve been busy or pre-occupied lately.  I have managed to create add a Jewelry Gallery on my main website.  It will eventually become a store using some of PayPal’s merchant services as I get accustomed to using those new tools. Have joined a local internet business group, they have shown me where to find tools and introduced me to the advances in PayPal’s  services. Here’s the link directly to the new Jewelry and Metalwork Gallery . It will open in a new window and is accessible from a new button on my home page. 

 Until next time, Good Night.

Have been quite busy of late and have not posted for a while. I’ll catch up a little later, the Wordpress upgrade has me a little concerned and will deal with that in the near future too.   

This week I’ve been making boxes.  A lot of them.  These first pieces are for presentations. This is the stack as I began to cover the first four.

I seem to have misplaced the finished boxes  photo.

Another box project involved some fancy covering with marbled papers.  The little boxes are to hold a stack of cards. There are a dozen in total, first uncovered. 

And today they are covered.

Meanwhile, on the front porch an anthurium Scherzianum rothschildii has been in bloom.

I am finally getting around to writing about the Anja and Austin’s Wedding Weekend. Things have been pretty busy and I haven’t had enough time to edit the photos and get them into this blog. Al’s wife Linda put an album of photos online using the Google Picasa album uploader. I looked into it tonight and found a Mac version that works very well. I’m still going to put a few photos here and write some captions, the album can then fill in with other shots. You can get to mine here (the Friday Family Brunch) and see Linda’s (the wedding day).

I intend to get to the Wedding, but that may take a few more days. We all began to gather at an inn in Westport Point, MA Friday about noon. People were arriving from Geneva, Barcelona, the West Coast, Virginia as well as more local states.

After greetings and champagne we began to take places at the tables outside under a tent roof.  This is what I picked up from the buffet. 

While we were eating I tried to get some shots of everyone at each of the six large tables, here are a few of them, the rest are in the Album. Apologies to anyone I may have missed.  

 First, the Bride and Groom, Anja and Austin.

Anja’s cousins Angelia and Dominik with her dad, Adi and Austin’s dad John.

Austin’s Aunts Diane and Trish.

Austin’s grandmother, Mary and Tom.

Colman and Jill

Lindsey and Austin’s Best Man, Luke.

Barbara and Austin’s brother Evan.

Evan’s bride, Suda, they will be married in August, with Sabine and Peggy.

I’m sitting with Mike and Titian,  Taybin and Cat were sitting with us and he took this photo for me. 

 John made an entertaining presentation with pictures of Austin growing up, giving Anja some additional insight about what she’s likely to encounter over the years. It was a pleasant afternoon, the company was good and conversations were lively.

Before leaving, some of us walked out on the inn’s back lawn toward the water. I liked seeing this Witch weathervane in the company of so many American Flags. 

These marbled roses were growing near the spot where Sabine and Gisela were talking. 

Wednesday I went into the city to deliver some work and pick up my order from the casters on 46th street. As I passed by the diamond building site, I saw surveyors working at street level through a window cut into the building site barricade.You can barely see their tripod through the mesh. 

This is the best view I could get of the foundation still being poured since my usual window was occupied. 

Thursday we left Staten Island for Danielson to go to Anja and Austin’s wedding over the weekend.  The traffic was unbelievable for a mid morning Thursday, there was a slow  but moving line waiting for passage on the Washington Bridge. Here’s what it looked like in Fort Lee, after the Washington Bridge traffic, before we got onto the Palisades parkway.

When we got to Danielson, we found out that Al’s show was being opened that night in Norwich.  We had driven north for the show two weeks ago but the show was unceremoniously closed by a Fire Marshall about an hour before people were to arrive. 

We got to Adi and Sabine’s where other family members had arrived from New York and the west coast for the wedding weekend. Colman and I were staying with our friends Pam and Marty. I noticed this inch long moth on the wall outside the kitchen door. It was an unusual shape.

I bothered it a little and it flew down to the deck. 

We had dinner with Pam, Marty and their daughter Kelsey in their home and then they drove us to Norwich for Al’s opening. Norwich is a beautiful place, the city is in the process of a LOT of renovation. Al’s show is in one of the newly renovated spaces. Taybin and Cat were standing just outside the doors when we arrived. 

We were not among the first to arrive, the large room was full of people. Here are Anja and Titian.

It was good to see Al’s work in a gallery setting. These are large ink drawings on acetate, here are a few of the pieces.   

This one is attached to a floor sculpture by a banded string, barely visible in this photo.

Here are Al and Linda. 

 Marty and Pam with Adi and Anja between them. 

It was twilight as we left the show, this is the side of a bank across the street from the show space. I was surprised by the way suburbs were immediately behind the impressive architecture.  

I like the way porches can be a transitional space between public and private places. This one has intricate wood work that was bright in the twilight.  

Last night Colman went to the annual auction at the Staten Island Orchid Society.  He came home with a number of plants, this cattleya is particularly striking. 

I’ve just finished a few new pieces of jewelry. Purchasing the tumbling mill last week has given me the ability to finish, polish and harden metal at home so I don’t have to go into the studios at FIT to use their machines. The tumbler uses steel shot instead of the steel pins in the magnetic polishers at school. The pins shined and hardened the pieces but left a finely marked surface that wasn’t always appropriate, the steel shot takes a lot longer but gives the pieces a brighter, burnished surface that I like better. the pendants were pieces that I made a long time ago but never finished for one reason or another. The bracelet is all new, made with cast bezels and finished with a forged toggle of my own design. I’ll be putting these pieces up on my Etsy store in a day or two. Here are the pendants. This ‘Moon and Earth’ pendant is about 2 inches wide. 

The oval is large,  about 3 x 4 inches.

All the stones in the bracelet are 10 x 12 mm, marbled khaki turquoise alternating with oval Jade cabochons. It’s about 7.75 inches long 

I made several stops in the Diamond District before heading downtown, here’s a progress shot of the foundation for the new Diamond Building. Since I’m in the area about once a week I’ll take progress shots as the building goes up, I haven’t heard how tall it will be yet and am not sure I will like having all the dealers in a vertical arrangement. It’s so much more convenient to walk the street like a Mall to see all the dealers displays, it will change the street dramatically if they are all contained in a tower. 

After delivering and shopping at to New York Central Art Supply I decided it would be easier to walk up to 20th street to see Marge at Talas and then on to visit Weldon Design.  As I approached Union Square from Fourth Avenue the skies darkened as a storm was passing threateningly overhead. Sunlight was still getting through and it lit the New York Life Tower as if it were set in an opera. I took these shots just before crossing 14th street and entering the park.  

Crossing into Union Square I was surprised to see that the market has expanded to practically encompass the park, it was teeming with shoppers and all kinds of fresh produce, baked goods, art, plants and peoples pets.

Friday, Colman and I went into the city to deliver paper and samples. We parked the car in the big lots on the far side of the ball park. Some of the new trees were in bloom, one type with large heart shaped leaves had large clusters of white flowers on it. here’s a shot of the whole tree followed by a close up of the flowers. Since the trees are new and young, there are branches close to the ground and we were able to see, and smell, the flowers up close. It is a very nice fragrance, the flowers are nicely marked with purple and yellow spotting.

   This weekend marks the first Art by the Ferry exhibition, a showcase for Staten Island artists and performers. Musical performances and readings at various venues will take place again next weekend along with the displays in the galleries, all within walking distance of the Ferry Terminal.

Saturday night we attended an opening at Gallery 6 on Beach Street. It’s a beautiful, Manhattan style loft space with good lighting. The show, Skin, features a lot of nudes in painting and sculpture.  It was the first time for me to see my friend Susan’s paper pulp sculptures presented in a gallery setting. Robert introduced some new large paintings of sycamore tree trunks, the compositions like close ups of aging bodies with greenish skin; a surprise, but an approach not too far from his figurative subject matter. I didn’t take any photos, maybe next weekend we’ll visit Gallery 6 again when there’s less of a crowd.

Sunday we went to see some more of the visual art on display at 120 Stuyvesant Place. The group had taken over the entire first floor of a building that used to be the College of Staten Island. We met Esteban there while passing through the 20 or so rooms. There was a lot of familiar work on the walls but we were surprised to see a lot of work by Staten Islanders completely unknown to us. I liked a number of pieces by these unknowns. Esteban walked with us to another gallery at 150 Stuyvesant Place and then, after a downpour, to a building on Richmond Terrace that had recently been a Fish’s Eddy Store. Here’s a shot of Esteban and Colman by a little park on the way, where some oakleaf hydrangeas were blooming. 

On the way to the Fish’s Eddy building I took these shots from the terrace which rises above the harbor at this end of Staten Island. 

Then, to the right of this red building, I made photos for a panoramic view to the side walk where Esteban and Colman were entering our next stop.

At the Fish’s Eddy building we met Griselda, here she is standing  in front of two of her paintings. We had seen a very nice group of small paintings of Snug Harbor scenes and a Autumn Hydrangea at the 120 Building. It was good to meet her and put a face with her work.

This is a piece by Julius Wasserstein, I’ve written about him in the old blog. It’s a been long time since then and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to see some of his new painting. I enjoy Julius’ work and I like this wild painting.

Esteban has a piece here in addition to the paintings and carved wood sculptures the 120 building. Here he is with his celestial City Curtain. Esteban has a web site at : http://www.estebanchavez.com/

Walking on near Astor Place on  East 10th Street, the first street I lived on in New York, I arrived at the corner of Third Avenue and looked South. There is so much construction now, this crane stood out, raising another tower, following, in time, the windswept glass building south of it.  

I picked up the gift of a polishing machine from a friend on the Bowery, on the way to Mike’s loft I passed this doorway. Decorative metal work has become prominent in the things I notice these days, I’d change a few things in this composition but I think it’s still a nice piece of work.  

Last weekend we finally had sunlight and moderate temperatures. The trees had even taken a vacation from dropping something all over the yard. (That’s another story, maybe later. . .) School was finished for a week so Colman and I decided, since we had purchased the materials, we should get on to cleaning and waterproofing the deck. The cleaner wasn’t changing it much, it was probably because the directions said we should use 1200 pounds of water pressure to remove the cleaner, our hose wasn’t doing much.  Gary, our next door neighbor came over to see what we are doing, whenever there is some maintenance taking place, Gary likes to visit and give help. He offered his water pressure machine and after some discussion we accepted. The effect was surprising and easy to do, the jet of water removed 3 years of soot and algae that had given the deck a pleasing antiqued appearance. I wasn’t too happy about that but now, a week later, I feel good about it, it’s almost like having a new deck. This is the way the deck looked as we were cleaning the top surface.  

Inside the studio I finished an edition of grass cloth covered boxes that are to be used to deliver invitations. In this photo they are almost finished. 

On the way delivering the boxes I passed Madison Square on 5th Avenue, I stopped for a moment to take  a progress photo of the new tower going up on 23rd Street. The glass skin has started to be installed, in the clear bright day, wind ruffled the protective paper covering like that dry skin we have after being sunburnt.   

The anthuriums are finally all outside, this blossom on Sara has been expanding in the bindery for over a month. It’s one of the largest blooms this plant has produced so far, it’s more than 10 inches wide. 

In the front yard our Full Moon Azalea has started to bloom. All of the flowers are about 3 inches in diameter, the bush produces three types of colored flowers,  a pure white, a pink flared bloom with white edges and blossoms with broken coloring usually in streaks and spots. This bloom is unusual in that the coloring is half and half, like a half moon. 

Later in the week we went to the Edison Mall in New Jersey to buy shoes and visit the book store. It’s a beautiful mall, Summer has already arrived there. 

Weekend before last, I made a trip with Colman up to the Natural History Museum for a tour of the Hall of Gems given by my Gemology teacher, Michael, from FIT. The trains we usually ride are cancelled on Saturdays while the terminal at South Ferry is under construction. We thought we would be able to transfer to the A train at Fulton Street but when we got there the A train wasn’t running from there,  we had to go to Brooklyn to catch a train to the Museum. While at Fulton Street I saw these large ceramic tile decorations for the first time.

Moving to the A train platform we passed this Iron Gate which has been pressed into service as a subway decoration. 

Turns out we had to ride a train into Brooklyn to catch the A train we needed to get to the museum. After getting onto that A train we thought we were finally on our way. At 59th street the doors closed, after we were in motion the conductor announced we were to “go Express” to the next stop which was 125th street. You can imagine how happy I was. . . After catching yet another train we finally arrived at the stop near the museum.  The station has been decorated with these enormous ceramic and mosaic murals. Here I am standing near an octopus. 

The next mosaics are more typical of art in the subway.  I think these were closer to the stairs to the street or they may have been on the down town side, I don’t remember right now.  We were planning to stop at FIT on the way home, so I could get some pieces I had forgotten to take out of the polishing machine during the last class last Thursday. 

Walking down 7th avenue, we stopped at one of the weekend flea markets, these pearl buttons caught my eye. Looking at the photo now, I see that I should have bought some of them. I wanted all of the stars and geometric pierced circles and couldn’t see buying just one.

This past week was the peak for our azaleas. 

Fay and Robert’s azaleas across the street were putting on a show too.

In the front yard, our tree peony, Godaishu was in full bloom, this is one of about 6 flowers. 

On Wednesday, I met with Sandy and her friends before heading off to my last Gemology class.  L to R, Jan, Marjorie and Sandy. We haven’t seen each other for 50 years. Sandy’s mother found me on the web about 3 years ago and we have been catching up in email since then, this is the first time we have been together in half a century. We made plans for them to visit Staten Island on the following Sunday.  

It was final project critique time in the casting class on Thursday. Here’s the array of our projects, mine is the big gray bracelet near the center. 

I was taking a photo of Karen, my teacher when another student from another class (finishing a final project at one of the benches) decided that she’d take a photo of both of us with my camera. It was a surprise ( I didn’t know anyone was watching) and a good idea. I’m glad she acted on her impulse.

After the critique and grading we went down to the FIT Galleries to see the Senior Show where a reception was being held. I was surprised to see a lot of work displayed that I had seen completed and critiqued in some of my classes over the past two years. It was a happy moment, but a little sad because I realized that some of the people I had been working along side were graduating and wouldn’t be there next semester. 

Sunday arrived and Sandy visited with Jan and Marjorie. We had lunch at home and I took them to Snug Harbor to see the greenhouse and the Chinese Scholar’s Garden.  

Here they are on the floating bridge near thew Moon Viewing Pavilion.

The garden has really filled out, it is very lush now with all the new leaves. 

The water was very clear and almost still, the carp glowed and moved slowly through reflections of the surrounding rock formations.  

In one of the open air garden ‘rooms’ two Mahonias were covered with new fruit. I love these plants. The fruit follows yellow flowers and will turn frosted navy blue later in the year.

Saturday we went to visit our friends Bob and Patti in Pennsylvania. It was a cold overcast day but we had a good time going through Bob’s Greenhouse, visiting with other plant friends who came from Philadelphia and then later talking with Bob and Patti in their living room. 

Sunday was much a brighter better day. The rhododendrons in the front and side yard are performing beautifully.

In the side yard, our redbud is in full bloom along with the Ken Janeck rhododendron.

The first dwarf black iris bloomed this weekend. More will follow.

A japanese tree peony by the front walk, one of several flowers on the bush..

My Purple Velvet Smoke tree peony is blooming by the back terrace. The camera never gets this flower color right, it’s much a darker, almost black-maroon.

On the edge of the piano bed, one of my azalea seedlings, Elizabeth Wilson, named for my mother, is starting to bloom. It’s about 10 years old now and I should propagate it.

Near the Elizabeth Wilson azalea, Dream, another azalea, along with a rhododendron, Gordon Jones is in full bloom.  

This is a close up of Gordon Jones, this plant took a LONG time to establish itself. It’s only been blooming well the last 2 years, I think we planted it about 15 years ago. 

Over the years Colman has pollinated our tree peonies and planted a few of the seeds. This is a first bloom on one of the seedlings, I think it turned out well and we’ll look forward to next year when it should have more flowers. This plant is about 3 years old. 

Inside, in the late afternoon, the sun cast an unusual reflection from the studio into the entrance hall. It lit my sculpture and the collection of glass and pots on the shelf above out mantel. 

Colman is painting a lot, he’s started to work on small canvases. This one is of a net, it’s photographed on my work bench.

I was in the city to make deliveries and go to class on Wednesday. Walking from New York Central through Union square I noted that the new tower near the Met Life tower is getting taller.

Further north on Broadway and then Fifth Avenue I passed madison Square where the flowering almond tree blossoms were losing their petals.  The coverage was startling. 

A little closer to the ground, grape hyacinths were blooming. This variety has paler flowers than the usual plants we see, these looked like ghosts of hyacinths against the pink petal fall.

After making deliveries I went to FIT to make another mold. There weren’t enough mold frames for all the students in the last class period and I needed to make another mold in case the one I had been able to make proved unsuccessful. The RTV material has to cure 24 hours before I will be able to cut the mold open and remove the models so I had to get it done that afternoon. 

Here’s a shot of the studio where the casting class is being taught. I managed to cut the molds apart and get my models out. They had absorbed water from the medium which made the rice and sesame seeds soft, the nail polish I had painted the model with also stuck to the mold and had to be removed before I began to inject wax.  

It became problematic removing the waxes from my molds, I asked the girl, Tamara,  at the next bench to help pull it out of the mold while I flexed it open.  I  had to wait until the wax completely cooled, the warm wax was too fragile and broke if I tried to remove it too soon. I noticed some cast ingots on Tamara’s bench, they looked like beautiful silver icicles and I asked her if she’d let me try to make a cuff out of one. She handed me one of the ingots and I grabbed my hammer. I worked on it while the wax cooled in my open molds. This is how it looked before I gave it some final shaping. It’s on a brush to hold it up for the photo, the right side is about actual size, it must weigh a little over 2 ounces.     

Friday I went into the city again to deliver my cleaned waxes to  the casters on 46th street and then I went up to Steven’s to help him with a project  reupholstering some dining room chair seats.  His building is on 69th street near Lexington Avenue. It has a grand lobby with windows all around. one side looking to the street and the other into an enclosed garden. About 2 years ago the garden had an over haul and a really nice pond with gentle waterfalls was built. Here’s a shot of that. I took a short movie too through the glass. I’ll try to put that in the page below the photo (Wordpress  still has a difficult time doing that internally).

There’s a flowering almond  in the garden, wind came up and blew a lot of petals into a pink snow storm while I was shooting the video.

Pond at Steven’s