Kevin and I married in May of 2000, but before we get too rosy here, let me just say that even though we are in so many ways well suited, I could easily hate instead of love him. Oh I could nit pick him to dust if I wanted to and at times I’m sure it has felt to him like I have… After 10 years of marriage and with lots of prayers, I have learned to most of the time, let go and let him be someone other than me.  We get along so much better that way

Well I have been working in a new medium, metal clay, and I made these beautiful fine silver hydrangea blossoms from the tree my husband Kevin bought me on our 1st anniversary.  I’ve been playing around for weeks with different design ideas for them, and then inspiration struck.

When we got engaged I gave Kevin a ring that he wears on a chain around his neck.  Last year when I was fixing the chain for him, I stamped a little sterling silver charm with our wedding year and attached it to the clasp.  I always look at that date on his neck and it is so super endearing seeing it there blaring our bond.  So endearing that I thought, I want to wear something with our wedding date on it where I can see it, not just the inside of my wedding band.

So here it is, very feminine, fun, flirty.  I’ll have it up on my Elemental Memories site soon.  For me the blossom is about how once I gave the seed of my marriage water it has blossomed.  I will wear it and remember that marriages, like gardens, need tending.

I love that it is something about us.  Our 4 boys are such a huge and amazing part of our lives, but they will grow up and have their own lives some day (God willing), and when they do, I hope Kevin and I are as in love then as we are today, and that the date on my necklace will seem like just yesterday and at the same time forever ago.

~Lisa

My son who is 8 said to me while looking at this drying bouquet of forget me knots and hydrangea flowers on our dining table  “Oh mom, wouldn’t it be so great to paint these with metal clay and make them into silver?”  I had discussed with my boys this possibile use of metal clay when I was in my full on research mode and had kind of forgotten about it when I started the process of actually using metal clay.

I was really glad he reminded me.  Hydrangea flowers have great sentimental value for me. The first apartment my husband and I lived in together in Massachusetts had a courtyard flanked by 2 old white hydrangea trees that turned a beautiful shimmery pink in the fall that I loved, so on our 1st anniversary my husband gave me a potted hydrangea tree that we schlepped from home to home for 6 years till we made it to Vermont and finally planted it.  I love the idea of using these particular flowers.  It will give extra meaning to whatever finished piece I may create using them.

Here are the dried hydrangea blossoms I started with:

I added some water to the metal clay to make some slip and then took a paint brush and started coating the petals with washes of clay:

I spent about a week coating the petals.  I’d take 15 minutes or so a couple of times a day to put on a fresh coat and then let them completely dry.  I ended up putting on about 15 coats.  I was going to fire them with the dried petals attached, but ended up carefully pulling them away from the dried clay and touching up some areas with a wet paintbrush to smooth out the connections between the petals.

I then fired them in my kiln at 1650 degrees for two hours.  When they came out they were white as all the silver particles were on end, so I brushed them with a brass brush a sink of water to lay them down in.  Below is the end result.  I’m pretty happy with the detail.

Now I’m in the process of working on some pieces to use them in.  I’ll let you know how it goes in another post when I am a little further on.

~Lisa