Vote for Your Favorite!

Coco chose four words from the comments. I thought the fairest thing to do was post a poll. But this is my first one, so be patient!



For some reason, the poll seems to work in Firefox, but not in Safari.
Poll will run until July 4!

XXX,
Alison

treated like adornment

Anyone who has stopped by my blog knows that I adore ETSY. Almost every morning, I type in a word or phrase to see what pops up. Me being me, the words I type tend to be of the kinky variety. But I found LovingAnvil when I was looking for an illustration for my Very Superstitious post. Not only did I feature the "Knock on Wood" ring, I bought one. I’m a repeat offender, I mean purchaser. I’ve gone for a huge Carnelian ring, and had words of my own choice emblazoned on rings, so far: "Knock Wood, Throw Salt" and “What Fresh Hell Is This?”

Coco Corral, principal designer, has graciously stopped by Trollop Salon to answer a few questions about her jewelry, art, and life.

Alison Tyler: How long have you been creating jewelry?

Coco Corral: well. half way through my freshman year at a big fancy pants art school, we had to pick our major. somehow, i didn't see this coming. a lot of kids knew exactly what they wanted to do. i kept looking at the choices and metalsmithing kept surfacing. it really thrilled me. to be honest, it just made sense. fashion and adornment was always my obsession and i was constructing things in a renegade fashion for a good long while. but i never thought to do it professionally until that point.

Alison Tyler: Where do you get your inspirations?

Coco Corral: Rocknroll. pop culture and the rambunctious all inspire me. I love color and am usually balancing large, beautiful stones on my fingers, squinting and considering how they'll look as a ring. I love adornment and i love combining geometry and graphic design with something lovingly hand-hewn, in all of it's beautiful imperfections.

Alison Tyler: Do you have a favorite piece or pieces? Have you ever had difficulty letting an item go?

Coco Corral: some of my favorite pieces are the ones i've yet to resolve so they sit in my studio. i did make these really huge, unedited silver bangles a few years back - by unedited, i mean i didn't place any practical restrictions on myself. it was so fun to hammer and dome and manipulate that much silver. they were in this amazing store on consignment, and were STOLEN! i was paid for them, but it kind of broke my heart that that's how they left me. i would have liked to known where they went. the other item stolen from the store was a very intricate altar to frida kahlo. totally a bold heist.

Alison Tyler: If you could choose one celebrity (and I use that term loosely) to wear one of your pieces, who would you select and why?

Coco Corral: oh man, i still have to say elvis, even if my piece did get lost in the shuffle. i did send a knock on wood ring to robert de niro after seeing he, angelina jolie, and matt damon scramble for a piece of wood to knock on during a larry king interview. and even previous to catching that interview, he was the inspiration for the name two of the styles of the knock on wood rings -- large and xl mafioso.

Alison Tyler: Did you design your own tattoos?

Coco Corral: the tattoos on my arms i've treated like adornment. the bands of words i designed completely in terms of font and layout and placement on my body. it was really hard deciding where to get the work done where we live now. not that my husband and i have a ton of ink, but we had gone to the same artist for around ten years in our previous community! i didn't realize how hard it would be to start another tattoo artist relationship when we decided to move coast to coast. so the stars on my arm and the sugar skull on my tricep was completely designed by paul zenk at infinity tattoo in portland, oregon. i want to get a big beautiful color-insane marigold(s) to complete the ring from the skull, now that i feel that i'm ready to experience that tattoo more. i have about ten ideas for tattoos that i really really want to get done but i really enjoy working with the tattoo artist to help with design and placement. i'd probably be covered if i could find someone in the area i dig working with. man, this question got the longest answer, and i worked on it the hardest. you hit a spot with me! i need to either get back to infinity or work out something on this coast. thanks for showing me what's clogging my head! xoxo

Alison Tyler: Are your pieces one-of-a-kind?

Coco Corral: i completely construct every piece. there are things i make over and over but none are exactly alike. the warmth of my hand comes through and there are always piece specific details. if i can say so myself.

Alison Tyler: I know you personalize your rings—you’ve made some special ones for me—do you have a favorite word or phrase you’ve done on request?

Coco Corral: i totally lovelovelove what fresh hell is this. and i'm not just saying that. it absolutely plays through my head periodically. i also like a ring i made about ten (gasp) years ago - this too shall pass. it just seemed powerful to have it on a ring. he wanted to keep the phrase close, to keep in mind both during the painful lows and the joyous highs. that stuck to my ribs, too.

Alison Tyler: Who are your three favorite artists?

Coco Corral: man o man. well. let's say diego rivera, goya and frida kahlo.

Alison Tyler: Do you listen to music while you work? If so, who do you favor?

Coco Corral: always always. unless i'm trying to keep an ear out for our daughter. but i like it to envelop me. elliott smith i love even though he makes my heart ache after a while. i've been loving raconteurs and white stripes and sleeter-kenney lately. the more ruckus the more better. but i love so much music-wise. it's impossible to talk about what i listen to with any consistency. we host an "under the radar" music series in our barn/studio - trying to limit it to four times a year. i love listening to the bands that have played and thinking about their evening at the hogfarm.

Alison Tyler: Where does your name, LovingAnvil, come from?

Coco Corral: i'm not sure exactly how it happened. but it just kind of made sense. kind of like picking my major all of a sudden. i loved the massive anvils in the metalsmithing studio as soon as i walked in. and you can do so much with an anvil. i love anvils. maybe anvils love me? sure, why not. i like the thought that they might.

Alison Tyler: I’m an ETSY-fanatic, and I love looking at your photos. Especially the ones that show your chipped nail polish, or a bit of your face (or both). The pictures to me are as artistic as your work. Do you spend a long time arranging the pictures? Or do you just snap away?

Coco Corral: man, i kind of dread taking photos. mostly because i am really fussy about how they turn out and i never know when i start if the mood will take over and it will work. but once i find a groove, i take about 200 or more photos. praise the lord for digital images. or maybe it's the work of the devil since i can take 200+ photos and then sit in purgatory for the next four hours belaboring tiny differences between files with names so memorable as dscn0189 and dscn0177.* but i prowl our house and yard for good colors and location and light and once i find it i try and document as much as i can. because who knows when the planets will align again.

Alison Tyler: What’s next for LovingAnvil?

Coco Corral: i really want to hone my photo etching...more to etch my own sketches in metal than an actual photo. i've also enjoyed making these crazy skeleton dolls, and hope to transfer that to adornment as well. my husband just had his first chelsea/nyc solo art show opening so we're really excited about that. we're both really involved in each other's work and this has been very consuming. we're both looking forward to just focusing on our studio work for a while. xoxoxolovelove coco

*ok, so this is an inaccurate statement (probably) since we just looked in the dictionary and i think it's actually god that puts ones butt in purgatory. but i'm taking poetic license.

One lucky commenter will win the word ring of your choice—assuming you stick to Coco's rules: "There are some words and phrases i won't do, but if you find those out, i'd suggest some kind of anger management therapy."

For more about LovingAnvil, check out her pictures on flickr!

XXX,
Alison

La Ring

Here is a photo from Nikki of her Surrender ring from Loving Anvil (with added knickers)!

XXX,
Alison

Bad Mo Fo

How much do I want this hugging my money? A lot.

Loving Anvil says: Here's a money clip for the big bad sugar daddy in your life—whether it be someone else or your big old bad self. This is sterling silver and a little rose gold heart fixed to a nickel silver moneyclip back. These are made to order, so please allow for one week turn around before shipping, altho it could go out sooner.

Perfect for Father's Day, no?

XXX,
Alison

Hell, Hell, Hell

Clearly, there's something in the air.

Loving Anvil says: This is something i've been wanting to get out of my system for a while. I really have an affinity for the word "hell." When I'm really pissed the tirade of words that's going through my head is more what you'd expect, (maybe?) with lots of words that start with f. and s. and m.f. and c.s. and all that.

But a well placed hellish expression can carry so much more weight, I think.

The cigar band is roughly half an inch tall, a rounded square shape. with one word on one side and the other word on the opposite. This listing is for hell/high water. size 7 is here and ready to go, but this ring is easily customized to your size.

Hell, I want them all.

XXX,
Alison

Now you make the scene all day
But tomorrow there'll be hell to pay

overstating the obvious

That's my new ring. What Fresh Hell Is This? Suits my week perfectly. And below, you can see Nikki's Surrender. I'm very excited in that way only new jewelry can make a girl. But I'm also excited because LovingAnvil has agreed to be one of my interviewees on Trollop Salon! And, as I'm wont to do, I will start with a little snippet:

lovinganvil was founded in 1998 in Portland, Oregon. Trained both in the east coast (Rhode Island School of Design) design sense, and the west coast (University of New Mexico) design sense. Moved to Portland, Oregon in the early 90’s and further shaped our design sense as well as a social and eco consciousness.


We worked hard and had a ton of fun in the young, burgeoning Portland fashion scene. Were involved in the first two Portland Fashion Incubator shows, various boutiques and early renegade shows with Seaplane, Cargo, and Motel. lovinganvil developed a following for heartfelt, unconventional and completely custom wedding rings.

Relocated to southern Maine in 2005. Now, we are a small design house, working out of an 1880 barn in southern, coastal maine. Our pieces play between appreciation of clean, orderly geometry and a love of and commitment to the hand hewn.

We love the unexpected, the tongue-in-cheek, and overstating the obvious.

Back soon with more about LovingAnvil!

XXX,
Alison

Surrender, surrender...

When two women go at it, people yell, "Cat fight!" What do you call two grown men fighting over a copy of a hot erotic book? You tell me because I don't have the answer. This is a picture of Jeremy Edwards and Craig Sorensen attacking Kristina's Split. A brilliant way to end Kristina Lloyd Month, don't you think?

Kristina has kindly offered to send out a few signed copies of her books, and LovingAnvil has graciously donated a Word Ring to the winner. So I've decided to select two winners from the commenters during this month. The word chosen by Kristina is:

SURRENDER

The winner of the ring, as chosen by the random number generator, is: Nikki, and the winner of the books is Paul. Email me at msalisontyler at yahoo dot com for more information. And remember to stop by soon. I've got Stephen Elliott and Rachel Kramer Bussel in the wings. I'd better go check on them to make sure they're not up to anything naughty!

XXX,
Alison