Showing posts with label Milagro Heart. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Introducing 12 shapes for mosaics, painting or more

I am happy to announce I designed 12 shapes for Monster Mosaics. You can use these shapes for painting, creating mosaics or decorating them in any way you may like.

If you order any of my shapes you will get 20% OFF Lorena Angulo Art Bases until May 15th! Enter coupon code LAFTWEN during checkout and all of my shapes in your cart will be 20% off.

Mosaic Alternative?

A new concept for our mosaic shapes has arrived...

Why not paint and adorn our beautiful high quality mosaic shapes that are made from 99% recycled material? They are more substantial and durable than canvas and allow you to paint beyond a rectangle. We offer over 250 shapes for painting, mosaic and decorating however your imagination sees fit. We now offer 12 exciting new shapes designed by the amazing mixed media artist Lorena Angulo. SEE ALL 12 HERE...

Paint, Mosaic & More...

Get Creative with your "Mosaic" Shapes!

As mentioned above, you can use your mosaic shapes in so many ways. In addition to using acrylic paint, Lorena created fun and funky accent pieces using tin purchased at her local hardware store. Mix acrylic, mosaics, tin and more!

Who is Lorena Angulo?

We love Lorena and her art - you will too!

Lorena was born in Mexico where she had a firsthand opportunity to experience the diverse cultural and artistic expressions of her country while traveling around Mexico and now residing in San Antonio, TX. Lorena’s work is full of her culture and traditions from Mexico, every piece has a story to tell. Maria is an amazing jewelry artist, as well as many other mediums!

All shapes are made from 99.9% recycled materials, are
formaldehyde free (unlike traditional MDF) and are sold unfinished.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Celebrating my journey and recovery: Soulful Reliquary

Tomorrow (April 5) will be a year from the date I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. Although it was a little shocking to found this out I also knew this type of cancer had a bigger positive outcome and I was ready for the battle.

The best way I have to express my feelings is through my art and I wanted to make a piece of jewelry that will be a symbol of my journey and recovery during 2013; I am still working on getting my energy better but I am sure I will get there very soon.

The symbols I wanted to have in my pendant have been with me during my whole journey as an artists and I have represented them a lot in my work. Now they have a stronger meaning for me and this makes my work have more soul.

The tree of life on top with the Milagro heart is the representation of the family and friends's support during this journey with the heart symbolizing all the love I have received and also my own love and passion for my family and life. The two birds looking at the tree represent my husband and me; he was and still is my best friend and companion but they also represent my two kids, my great loves in my life!

Thank You to all for your love and positive energy!!!

The big butterfly in the center represents my thyroid but mostly is a representation of my transformation, faith and soul. the butterfly is the bigger element because I am stronger and ready to fly again!

The pearls are the tears I had shared with my love ones but they were not only sad tears they also symbolized the happiness tears we had when I was told after my surgery that they were able to take all the cancer out. The red coral are a strong statement symbolizing my passion, love and courage.

SOULFUL RELIQUARY
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze, pearls and red coral beads
2.82 by 2.06 inches

Thanks again to all for making me feel loved during this experience in my life!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Louise's Calavera (brooch/pendant)

I have always design pieces inspired in my Mexican culture and almost always they reflect an experience in my life. This new piece was made honoring a wonderful person who I lost this month; I never imagined how hard this news will be for me. Louise was an amazing and talented jeweler but most of all she was a very kind and dear lady. I met her almost 8 years ago in the school of art here in San Antonio, her jewelry was so beautiful.
Every minute I spent with her was valuable for me, I respected her a lot and all her comments about my work meant a lot to me.

In Mexico, we honor our family members who passed away in the Day of the dead; this was the reason I wanted to create a piece with the sugar skull inspiration from day of the dead.

This skull has crosses and butterflies which represent transformation, her soul and faith. The tree of life on top of the skull has a Milagros heart symbolizing Louise big love for her family, friends and her craft, it also has butterflies. In Mexico we have a saying that when you see a butterfly someone has come to visit you, their souls come to visit you.

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze and steel wire (pin)

Louise, I love you and I thank you for every word of support during my journey with thyroid cancer and for making me feel that my work was valuable! ♥

Cafe Estrella, 2002.

Sterling silver, found object, patina; cast, constructed.

1 7/8 x 1 7/8 x 3/8 in.

Photo: Alex Jordan

Thursday, February 6, 2014

"Angel Guardian" Milagro heart

I finally finished my "Angel Guardian" Milagro Heart, I can not express how happy I am with this piece. Hope you all enjoy it too!!

It all started with an idea!

Angel Guardian Milagro Heart (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze (Goldie Bronze), Garnets and turquoise

Sunday, February 2, 2014

The Making of my "Angel Guardian" Milagro Heart

Lots of people has asked me how do I start creating my pieces and if I start with an idea and then follow up on it. Yes, I find the inspiration all the time from my cultural heritage and folk art from Mexico. Mexico for me is a strong influence, no matter if it is a piece of jewelry, a painting or a paper doll. I like to create pieces that are close to my heart and that have a strong meaning of what I am and where I come from, this gives me the great opportunity to create pieces that can transmit this great passion.

Since the beginning of this year I have been focused on creating strong and soulful pieces that will allow me to transmit a story and an emotional feeling. In this occasion I wanted to go back to my beginnings where I was obsessed with making a lot the "Milagro Hearts", they are always close in my heart and I think it is time again I honored this wonderful symbolic icon in my work.

I started by sketching my ideas in my book, I have had a sketching book since I started making my work and I always go back to it and see what ideas I still have on paper that are still waiting for me to became real.

Sketching is something I enjoy a lot, I think you do not have to be a great drawer to be able to transmit your ideas and I hope everyone will have one no matter what medium you work in.

This heart will have the butterflies (representing transformation and soul), the guardian angel (representing protection and guidance), the cross (faith) and a healed Milagro Heart (representing the big Love for life, family, work and principally love for yourself and what you are; respect.)

After having my drawing finished then I am ready to start building this piece little by little. Pieces like this have a lot of details and I make each one of them individually by hand; each little butterfly is made alone and this makes them more unique and not looking like they were all cut out from a mold. This is what makes my pieces be more soulful, in my humble opinion.

Making each one of the pieces is a joy for me, every single detail has my total attention and this is one of the parts of my process in creating that I enjoy a lot.

Little by little I will put all the pieces together and finally will have my "Guardian Angel Milagro Heart" finished. I will have more work to do in this piece, finishing more details and then finally attaching all the pieces to the heart.

Work in progress
Angel Guardian Milagro Heart
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Goldie Bronze and Hessonite Garnets

Hope you like my post, I am always happy to share with all of you what I do and how I work.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Corazon Renacer , my journey.

Corazon Renacer (reborn heart) symbolizes the journey I experienced last year, the sensation of feeling scare for the unknown and what the future will be and the way how all the pain and insecurities transformed into faith and a strong will to keep moving forward.

One of the new symbolic elements that I am adding to my work is the use of the butterflies. I am using the butterflies because they embrace the will to accept transformation in the best way possible, to enjoy every minute of your life with faith and positivism, to overcome any obstacles and learn from them and focus only in the positive.

In my brooch-pendant "Corazon Renacer" I wanted to include the Milagro Hearts with the butterflies, I added a scar in the center of the big heart and all the butterflies which symbolizes any obstacle or problem that has made us stronger and that has transformed us into better people.

Corazon Renacer (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze (Goldie Bronze)
3.18 inches by 2.85 inches by 0.33 inches

"We all have the power to transform pain into something good, we are the ones who decide to sit and suffer or stand up and choose to live life to the fullest no matter what. "

Sunday, January 12, 2014

The Transformation of my "Corazon Renacer" necklace

I have been working on this new piece since January 1st, I noticed I am still not as productive as I used to be because is taking me longer to finished this piece but I am SUPER HAPPY to be back in my studio creating no matter what.
It all started with a bronze clay bezel I had in my work table, I looked at it and was not sure what I will do with it. I knew I will add a heart inside but the rest was still a mystery. A couple of days later I knew what I wanted and little by little this new piece is transforming to what I have know. I am again listening to my heart and following my emotions to finished creating my necklace.
Hope you enjoy some images of this journey!

Corazon Renacer
(Reborn Heart)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

I still need to add some final details and then it will be ready to go to the kiln for its final transformation!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Saturday, January 4, 2014

It all started like this.......

I started playing with metal clay in 2006, I took a class with Claire Holliday in San Antonio. Claire was my metals teacher and she mentioned to me this practically "new" material that she though I will like to play with.
To be honest, I was not very happy with it the first time, I took the class but I was confused by the material and did not continue with it after the class.

Everything changed when I took my second class with Claire again and came to the class with a more open mind. Something happen during that class that finally made me understood the incredible use I could do with this material. I was able to translate my ideas into reality, ideas that I have been holding on for a while.

I was eager to start exploring more with this material and since that date I have not stop. It was during this class that I made one of my symbolic pieces, my Flaming Milagro Heart. The heart was 4 inches tall by 3 inches wide and I sold it almost as soon as I made it. This is why I decided to make another one and it was this second heart the first piece I had published, my Flaming Heart.

FLAMING HEART

Hand sculpted in pure silver.

Photo by Dean Powell

Since that date I have been creating most of my work with metal clay although I also fabricate my work and combine metal clay with fabrication techniques too.

Another piece that has a special place in my heart is my Tree of Life, I enjoyed making them and sculpting the little birds that I always include in them. This was my first Tree of Life that I had published.

Arbol de Vida
©2009 Lorena Angulo
Pure silver and a lab Garnet
2.44 inches by 2.22 inches

I am also known for my Calaveras and one of the calaveras that I have close to my heart and where I combined the use of metal clay and soldering and riveting techniques is my Corliss Calavera.

Corliss Calavera
©2010 Lorena Angulo
Pure silver, copper and bronze

Taking a look back at how I started is a great incentive for me to keep moving forward, after having a year of almost not creating as much I used to, I am now feeling great and I am ready to start creating as much as I used to.

I am BACK !!! I can not avoid to smile when I create another set of little birds, I have missed making them so much!

Pajaritos
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Sterling and Peruvian Opal

Monday, August 13, 2012

The winner of the first giveaway is...

Thanks to all who participated in my first giveaway !
I was very happy to read all your comments!

12 wonderful ladies left a comment to be able to win and after having a random number generator choose the number the winner is:

The lady who was number one is JANICE FOWLER !!!

Congrats Janice, hope you enjoy it !!

Please send me your address to send it to you at my email address info@lorenaangulo.com

Thanks again to all and remember I still have three more giveaways and you can participate again !

Love,
Lorena

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

More playing time with Sterling PMC

Finally I had the time to play again in my studio and create jewelry. I have been busy with some personal issues and with lots of paperwork, I really missed playing again !!

I wanted to make a brooch with Sterling PMC .One of my signature pieces, Sacred/Milagro Heart, that I love to create was my option for this brooch.

This time I change a little my firing schedule on the second stage (charcoal). Instead of firing for 45 minutes like I did in my first time playing with Sterling PMC, I decided I will fired the brooch for 1 and a half hour at 1500F.

The brooch came out perfectly and I will continue to fire my pieces the longest time I can do for the second stage.

Pin It

Love,

Lorena Angulo

Sunday, December 11, 2011

PMC Sterling

I got the great opportunity to play with the new PMC Sterling in November and I will love to share with all of you my experience and what I think about this new type of clay.
The clay looks very similar to the PMC Pro, the color is darker than the original PMC.

When I took the clay out I noticed the texture is great and very easy to work with, I decided to make a ring first and I made a snake with some of the clay to form the band for the ring. I used a plexiglass to make a long snake and I rolled it around a mandrel.

I went 3.5 sizes bigger to get the size I was looking for, a size 9.

I do not used any inserts in my ring when I fired it.

The PMC Sterling has a longer working time than the PMC3 (this is the type of clay I usually use in all my silver work.) In case the clay gets dry, you can add a little water and it gets soft very fast, almost immediately.

Carving is also great in this type of clay, it goes very easy. This is something I was very eager to try since most of my work has carving into the designs.

It carves very smoothly and with no problems at all.

TIP: Always save the carving scraps, these can make a great texture in your work, you will see it in my finished pieces at the end of this post.

Hand sculpting and forming is fantastic because the clay does not dry fast. This gives you the perfect time to hand form flowers or other things. I hand sculpt a lot in my work and I was very happy to see how easy it is to do it with PMC Sterling.

I also made earrings and a pendant. For the earrings I decided to add some fire in place CZs and I embedded two sterling jump rings into each earring.

I used my carving scraps to add texture in my heart pendant.

Because my pieces were more than 3mm thick I decided to fire them to a longer time that the suggested time in the package.

I first fired them in the open shelf, like we do with any other type of PMC (except PMC Pro), fast ramp to 1000F and hold there for 40 minutes. I waited until the pieces were cool inside the kiln; I also waited until the pieces were cool because I had fired two CZ Hessonite Garnets and we always have to be careful not to take the pieces very fast because the change of temperature may crack the stones.

The second firing was done with a steel pot and activated carbon. I added half an inch at the bottom and added my pieces in one layer, covered them with another half an inch and added the top of the pot.

I fired them inside the pot fast ramp to 1500F and hold for 45 minutes.

I left the pieces cool down inside the pot in the kiln before I took them out.

This is how the sterling looks like when you take them out of the kiln

I brushed them with soapy water and a brass brush. After this I added LOS Gel patina and brushed some of the patina off before I added the pieces inside a tumbler.

I usually use a rotatory tumbler but this time I decided to give it a try to a magnetic tumbler. I was AMAZED at how fast this wonderful polishing machine can give your pieces a beautiful shine. I will have to start saving money to get myself a bigger size, since some of my pieces are bigger and do not fit in this size tumbler I have now. It is worth it !!!

These are all the pieces I made with 25 grams of PMC Sterling. They are not very thin, so if you make pieces that are thinner and small in size you will be able to make more out of the 25 grams of PMC Sterling.

The cost is very similar to the PMC3 and I feel it is great to have it like that. Now you will be able to create pieces that can be mark as .925 (sterling) and they will be stronger than fine silver.

I do want to mention I will be firing for almost two hours on the second step firing of the PMC Sterling. I want to be 100% sure they are totally fired to their best strength. I am saying this because I tested the little Calla Lily and I felt the piece was not fully sintered when I tried to curl up the point of the flower after fired. I will let you know of my future firings.

The pieces are beautiful and easy to polish and I am sure you will enjoy working with it.