IsabeauxStudio

Fast forward 1 1/2 years- flowers were made and I moved on.  Career took a nose dive and I dealt with it.  Learned to surf and went to Costa Rica twice.  Had a bullet go through our bedroom window, Matt bought a loft and we moved.

The new place was lovely.  It had huge windows and open space.  I had my own room for a workshop and was in heaven.  I could spread out, hide, think, create, experiment.

Once the new space was set up, I was itching to work again.  After packing and unpacking, I rediscovered my torch and it  was time to work in metal again.  I started with a wire form, and started to play.  I bent and twisted a piece of copper.  Applying heat, I let it change color and shape.  The figure began to emerge.

The process was slow as I kept experiencing technical difficulties i.e.  I kept setting off the fire alarm in our unit.  The ceiling in the shop is slightly lower than in a normal room.  The smoke detector is wired into the rest of the alarms in our space.  When one went off they all went off and echoed in the large space.  The effect was quite jarring.

Though there was no danger of fire, I was well protected.  I worked on a metal table, with a metal tray, on a fire brick, with bucket of water and fire extinguisher.  The smoke from the heated metal set the alarms off pretty easily.  After setting it off three times, Matt was a combination of a little concerned and mostly annoyed.  Problem was,  I wasn't even close to being finished with my piece.  Solution: Buy a fan.

We didn't own a fan.  Trying to find one in a store in January was a challenge.  I went all over.  I called all over. Finally I found one in an Ace Hardware, tucked away in their basement annex all the way in the back.  I didn't just buy one,  I bought two.

Thankfully, with careful angling and aiming of the fans,  they did the trick.  I was able to finish the piece.  I quite like the way it turned out, but I ended up putting away the torch for another day, as I moved on to a different project.