Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. ~Chinese Proverb

3 day weekend! i totally get to play a bit this weekend.  i love playing in the studio just like all of my creative friends. right now is the perfect time as it is unheated and the sun is streaming in. yummy warmth on this lovely January day. hear it will get to 50 today. great day for a bike ride too! so, i took photos of my bench as fanifuldevices likes photos of other peoples stuff so i thought i would post some components and finished work. so, after a delicious cup of coffee and 12 hours of sleep, i'm feeling a bit manic and excited for the possibilities old buttons, keys and bike parts mean to me and weaving them together is the best part of the process. silly me, i forgot i need to grade papers this weekend. hmmm, perhaps tomorrow. ;) my mental health is what is important and creating is my mental health!

my messy bench. usually i am so neat, but yesterday i left it.

i have tins and tins of delicious buttons. mostly vintage and antique shell buttons. i used to created mainly with them many years ago, now they are lovely little accents.

my bike parts. i take apart bikes parts, tumble them with arroyo sand and sudsy water to remove grease and grime.  then i touch them up with the buffer seen to the right. they come out all satiny. like silver, they can take on their own patina after time.

 laying it all out.

 connections of steel! ;)

 one and two view here on etsy.