Have you guys seen this artist before? I was really blown away by how beautiful and original these metal beads are. I added her to my links page but I think I may need to start a religion ;-).
Wow! No, I'd never heard of her before but I'm glad you gave the link. She does really incredible work!
Teresa
Very interesting textures and I like the "earthiness" of many of her pieces.
Definitely "unique"
Cheryl
Very interesting textures and I like the "earthiness" of many of her pieces.
Definitely "unique"
Cheryl
OMG!!! Her work is gorgeous! Really unique and I love how she uses color with the silver. WOW!!!
Cheryl
I love her stuff. But taking two antique buttons, soldering them together, then heating them to create color & patina is not worth $200 to me. I think I'll learn how to do that heating stuff myself instead......
That's not how I see her work at all! To me the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If you manage to make beads like that though, let me know ;-) I'd love to see them.
Ingrid
the sum of the parts. If you manage to make beads like that though, let
me know ;-) I'd love to see them. `````````````````````````` Okay! I already make glass & solder charms with collages inside.....Should share some next time I make them. (They're all gone now.....had pictures of bees, and tiny replicas of antique postcards in them before)
amazing what can be done with PMC! Nice eye candy!
instead...... ```````````````````````````````` Okay, I was wrong. She's doing them with PMC, not soldering buttons together. She's using molds, of course. PMC pieces should really start at $90 -- they're fine silver, and they take work, even the molded pieces need to be filed, etc. But I do take issue with $260 for one PMC bead. That isn't kosher unless it's got actual emeralds in it or something similar.
````````````````````````````` Actually, I *have* made beads like that -- a LOT like that -- except for the patina, which I haven't learned yet. You can ask Marisa AU/NZ, who saw them recently. Mine have everything from leaves to flowers to birds to monograms to antique-sourced dogs on them. The images are florid and romantic like hers. I still think they're just over the line pricewise.
I agree, Kalera. If it's not to my taste (not this but anything really) then that doesn't mean it's not worth the money. It's just not worth MY money, which is a different thing entirely.
We had the rudest woman yesterday at a bead fair. She had on a nugget of amber as big as my hand, and yet she picked up one of Mike's beads and then literally yelped 'FIVE POUNDS???????????????????????' and made the most hideous face.
Mike had to physically restrain me as I was about to give her the toungelashing of her life.
I'm still steamed about it. And I'm steamed about the public criticism that Kim Neeley has been under recently. If someone sees beauty in someone's work for heaven's sake let them! I don't see it in a lot of things out there (much modern art, music etc) but that's not to say others don't. And if people make money out of their art, isn't that what all artists want?
Kim is a superb artist, I love her work and it's not tarnished by public snarking. I hate public snarking about other artists. Honest comments about technique, fine but snarking. No.
-Su
production pieces, then just as with glass beads, they're worth exactly
what collectors are willing to pay for them. ````````````````````````` I concede that you have a point. But she's using MOLDS. Not carving, not sculpting, not making canes -- using molds. It looks too simple to me. Then she colors with patina.
Maybe my problem with it is I can do the forming part easily, and so I see through it as being no big deal. (I don't know how to do the patina part because I was too sick to go to my class on it! Sheesh, that was a drag.) Okay, good on her. I should be happy for her, because it bodes well for me.
What public criticism about Kim Neely are you talking about? I didn't see any here. I've seen only good comments here. And while I find the prices astounding, I have no criticism for that. Heck, it wasn't she who established the price.
I wish when people refer to comments on other forums they would refer to them more clearly.
Tina
Sooz, I'd love to see you do that sort of thing. I have absolutely no talent for that kind of composition, like you do.
Can you work with metal and stuff? Are your lungs OK with it? Would Kevin's lungs tolerate having that kind of work done in the house (with good ventilation)?
Tina
talent for that kind of composition, like you do.
Can you work with metal and stuff? Are your lungs OK with it? Would Kevin's lungs tolerate having that kind of work done in the house (with good ventilation)? ````````````````````````` I can do the PMC stuff once we get moved out of here. I plan to set up a kiln in the garage. The patinating would be done there too, with the garage door open. (I can't wait!)
As for using molds only once, I'm sure she keeps them all and plans to use them again, if she hasn't repeated them already. I'd guess that she times their usage so that her stuff looks unique -- which it is -- and uses the molds differently each time. And who doesn't spend a lot of their time looking for mold material? Look at Sarajane -- yikes! She's a mold-maniac! I still say $260 for one bead is nutty.
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