Janyes Sisters Seven

"Sisters Seven"

Some of the Sisters here gathering in the usual meeting spot:  the kitchen!

SISTERS: 
A group of family and close friends blending their talents and experiences together to create authentic, functional and attractive pieces for their homes, gardens and practical daily use. Their background began in the old country with their parents sewing, crafting and creating since the era of horse and buggy, stretching and forming leather into buggy covers and later, automobile tops.
The girl's gleaned individual styles, tastes and skills that guide their passion and work ethic yet today. From residential real estate to commercial artists to weekend crafters, each offer something unique. They are connected by a common thread.
 

During a cooking competition, this sister, Mary, prepares samples for the crowd after serving the judges her best pork dish!

JAYNE'S:
Their matriarch possessed a drive seldom seen today.  From the perfect St Louis South-Side zoysia grass to the late nights sewing the sisters' Easter Dresses, these girls learned the value of quality and the appeal of style combined to form the best combination.  Few other artists fit into this generational experience and background.  Their collective production creates unique treasures as well as timeless classics, re-purposed with today's style and needs in mind.  

SEVEN:
However, there are opportunities for other talented individuals to contribute to the synergy and offer even greater diversity in both medium and presentation.  Common to all remains the adherence to a strict code of craftsmanship, authenticity in deign and service to the final customer!  Hence the addition or adoption of a few other sisters with the necessary passion, drive and talent.

Joyce, another sister shows off a well presented entry in a competition calling for creativity and presentation as part of the scoring.  

Looks delish!

JAYNE'S SISTERS SEVEN:
When she quit her steady job to start creating, feelings of relief, assurance of success and the excitement of playing without a net welcomed Jayne into her new season of life.  Throughout the fb page, there are many expressions of care, thought and love gone into each piece.

These expressions are from the heart!  

Are there obvious favorites?

 

An artist is... An artist does...

Fulfilling.  Inspiring. With vision. Motivated. Driven. Ambitious. Aspirations.

 This hand painted "birdhouse" took a few treatments of color, distressing and attention to detail before it was ready to sit outside in the elements. When is an item actually completed?

How does one know it is ready?

These terms all seem to describe or identify characteristics of an artist.  The desires of one that knows what they are looking for in the finished product.  When is a project done, completed or finally meeting the standard?  In many situations, there is a definition for perfection.  Rules apply. Laws govern. Manners dictate.
On the other hand, an artist is often times ahead of the curve.  Separate from the pack.  Different from the crowd.  Unique.  For instance, consider Michelangelo up painting The Chapel ceiling.  Maybe laying there on  a scaffold system, bringing all his supplies up and working from 8-5, coming down and washing up for dinner.  It might not have happened like that.  Consider this as a possibility:  He heads up the ladders and paints till he his exhausted.  Takes few breaks.  Reduces his food and water intake to minimize bodily interruptions.  His co-workers probably couldn't get his attention by any means, even promising a good meal.  He was driven to complete the task till it matched the vision in his head.  He was an artist!
What drives you?

Encore to Sisters Seven

Encore to Jayne's Sisters, Seven.

An sunrise picture of the Lincoln County Courthouse after a January snow, 2014.

Why Sisters Seven?

After repurposing many feet of bleacher wood and barnwood, reconstructing frames from old building trim and various items, such as boxes, shelves, displays and gifts of all sorts, we decided it was time. Time to take the passion of design and blend solid traditional proportions and strength with color, shade and hue  to create functional yet attractive pieces for use and decoration throughout the home.

Raw material in various stages of preparation.



Our Experiences:

This gift, eye or sensitivity to decorating influences both the structure and the finish to build useful art.  We like making things together.  We design together, Tom builds, Jayne completes through finishes and presentation!  It is truly a team effort.

 

Titled: Grey Day. 

This northwesterly view looking over Table Rock Lake in the fall is all Jayne.

She painted it while gazing out the back window.

Barnwood from that same property finishes the frame!



Our Passions:

Fast forward, skipping over many dives into many dumpsters returning chairs, lamps, cabinets and other items into their original and often improved condition and purpose, we wanted to combine talents and abilities with passions.  Repurposing, recycling and upcycling has always been our hobby.  We have even done complete houses, seeing a vision for a better future for a "handyman special" or "tlc required."  Yet all this experience with "fixer up"  things leaves us both missing a connection. We enjoy the creativity and finished product but missed the social connection in the cycle.  



Our Intent:

Hence, with a name like Jaynes' Sisters Seven, we embrace the family support necessary to create an atmosphere that produces these types of pieces.  Each piece has a heart of its own.  Each piece gets a finish technique and color and message that blends the natural bent of the piece with the heart of the artist.  Of the artists, there are the family members, often times lending ideas, remembrances about the past and contributions concerning style, taste and markets.  A very close first cousin, raised like a sister fills the number six slot and the 7th slot could be filled by ???  The passion is set up a system for anyone to find success through expression in various mediums! 

Thanks

Janyes' Sisters, Seven

Jayne & Tom

God Bless You

 

Repurposed?!

Repupose, restore, renewal & recycle; These terms all speak to a similar characteristic of second chances.  This video is a short clip that shows how reclaimed wood benches from a school gym were saved from the trash heap and given a second chance! There are pics tracking the progression of events from a stack of lumber to a trailer load to floor boards to the installation process followed by the tung oil application.
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyUt6v5yfqc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Interestingly enough, this reminds me of our lives after a change occurs and we turn over a new leaf!  So many times we, or others around us, want to make a change but then, we return to our old way of doing things as soon as we run into the slightest distraction.  Similarly, installing the wood floor literally took a couple of months to get measured, cut to fit, securely anchored and then protected with a natural finish.  Our lives also take time to change.  It will not happen easily or overnight! Often we must act, even if it doesn't feel right or easy.  This is when our actions determine our attitudes!  We choose to act a certain way, even if it is not natural.
   Take a quick look at the video.  Then consider and examine familiar relationships needing a boost.  What connections could use encouragement?  What tender growth could use fertilizer, or maybe just some water and sunlight? 
Where can good discipline not diminish hope?

Bleachers to floor

Repurposed Bleachers to Floors

After arguing,and loosing,with my sweet wife about our need for an additional 240 pieces of 16 foot long lumber laying in our garage, an interesting thing happened.  But first, the background.  A local school had pulled down the bleachers in their gymnasium and replaced all the old bleachers with newer, lightweight plastic seats for the audience.  The south side was demolished one year and another party submitted a bid and won the sealed bid process.  The second year, the north side of the cavernous gymnasium was getting a stage installed and the bleachers were again coming out.
The crew pulled it all apart, taking the steel to the local scrap yard but no bids were submitted!  This meant the material was scrap and if we could get it off the premises by "tomorrow night," we could have it.  Well, we scrambled to find a heavy duty tandem axel car trailer 18 feet long and made the 15 mile pickup trips in two loads. Some estimates put the weight of all that lumber upwards of 6000 pounds.
We found a local lumber company that would mill a tongue and groove into every board, sand them smooth and finish to 3/4 inch to turn them into floor boards.  We estimated their moisture to be under 5%. The yellow pine was gorgeous to begin but when processed it exaggerated the natural patina so each board shows detailed grain and highlights.  Again, we borrowed the trailer to deliver the wood then to pick it up after a few weeks of processing time.
A former student, now professional flooring installer, loaned us a pneumatic nailer or two and we cut nearly a hundred 16 foot long boards, often trimming both ends with a mitre or coping to match existing profiles.  Each piece took multiple trips from the house, where we stored it to maintain the moisture content, outside to the garage/shop and back inside before near perfection was obtained on every piece.  A few experienced professionals recommend we use glue and we followed that advice consistently.  The subfloor was secured wherever voids formed areas for potential movement.  We wanted it to "walk" quietly everywhere.
When the wood was finally ready for the install, furniture was relocated, carpets,pad and tack strips pulled and the first of many sweepings administered.  We laid out the floor looking to minimize the long narrow strips along walls, ripped the first piece and began! For the next six weeks, we spent evenings and weekends, installing a single board at a time.  Seems were intentionally aligned to allow the spacing for the pre-existing installation holes to appear randomly and athletically pleasing.  Butt joints were inversely mitered and every piece painstakingly installed.  Halls, thresholds and door jambs were all prepared.  Oak and poplar dowel rods were cut to plug the holes in contracting colors lending a nod to a peg and plank installation.  An orbital sander was rented and increasingly smooth paper was applied to prepare for the tung oil.
Tung oil comes from a seed of the tung tree, pressed and extracted and shipped in gallon containers to the house.  Initially, equal amounts of thinner cut the oil.  Subsequent coats of saw a reduction of the tung oil proportion and increase of the thinner.  This allowed maximum penetration for the oil.  After up to nine coatings, the curing process began taking months and not the alleged weeks as others have experienced.  We feel with the original moisture content so low, it allowed a substantially greater penetration of oil which required additional drying time.
We walked on in with inside shoes only for at least one month.  Gradually, we began to bring furniture in for placement.  It was mandatory every leg or contacting point with the floor be protected with a felt buffer pad securely attached. 
Pictures were taken along the way for documentation and historical recollections. A multimedia presentation was also created and posted on a private YouTube site using some photos to log the progress.
This complete transformation of the house, wood and floors also demonstrated the persistence and deliberate attributes necessary to visualize a difference or change, execute according to the necessary quality and workmanship, and complete the process without being distracted along the way!
Who won the argument? I know we got a gorgeous new floor, now that the process is over.
Thanks Jayne, for winning, everything.