Wisp and Mallet LLC

Home
United States
Indianapolis, IN
Wisp and Mallet LLC

Woodburned art. Metalstamped jewelry. Everything made by hand.

08/24/2026

On Friday, I got to drop Thistle off at The Beyond Gallery & Gift Shop in Lafayette for an upcoming show that I’m VERY excited about.

Symbiosis is a collaboration between The Beyond Gallery and the Poetry Society of Indiana, bringing together 12 poets and 12 visual artists. Each visual artist is assigned an existing poem from one of the poets, and vice versa, and we’re tasked with creating a new piece of work inspired by whatever piece we’ve been assigned.

You can imagine, as someone who often looks to the sung or written word as a jumping off point in a lot of my work, I couldn’t apply fast enough for this opportunity. 😆

I’m practically chomping at the proverbial bit to see the poem I’ll be assigned.

Symbiosis will open at The Beyond Gallery on Friday, April 2, 2027 with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 that evening, and will be on display through May 29th.

That gives you plenty of advance notice. Mark your calendars now, and I hope to see you there at the opening!

08/20/2026

I taught my first woodburning workshop yesterday, and it was amazing.

What do I mean by that?

I don’t mean that I was a particularly skilled teacher. Partway in, somebody asked if I had a reference photo for the bird we were working on, and I did. Somewhere. On one of my devices. But did I have it in a place where I could easily share it while we were in the session? Unfortunately not. I stumbled over some words. I neglected to look up any vocabulary for the parts of a feather so I could more easily and accurately articulate what I was having us work on. I had to readjust the angle of my camera - several times - so that my peers could more easily see what I was doing. And while everyone else was game to keep working together even after more than 2 hours, I had to be the first to excuse myself so I could get my kids home from school.

So no, I’m not an amazing teacher. 😂

What was amazing was the welcoming nature of my participants. Their sharp questions. Their ability to roll with me, jump in, stretch beyond their own comfort zones as I was stretching beyond mine. The way they encouraged each other and encouraged me.

One participant came back later and said she was pleasantly surprised with herself because she had spent decades telling herself she couldn’t draw, and then she drew a gorgeous feather and burned it on the spot and blew us all away.

And well…same. Not only did I spend decades not seeing myself as a visual artist, but I had a running narrative in my head starting from my teenage years that I was not cut out to teach. Anything.

I am pleasantly surprised, once again, to find that I was wrong about myself.

I say all this to encourage you: Stretch. Try something. Even if you always thought it was something you were not cut out for. There’s nothing to lose, but a lot to gain if you find out you’d been wrong this whole time.

And if you’re ever interested in having someone teach you a little pyrography, I may know somebody.

It’s me. 😏

08/17/2026

Fellow pyros! Have you joined the Basia Chmielowiec Burn Club on Discord yet? Allow me to entice you, if you haven’t. I’ll be leading a live workshop this Wednesday, August 19th at 12pm Eastern Time to share my technique for feathers, inspired by this avian buddy here. Join in to burn along with me and see if I can effectively talk and burn at the same time. 😅

I’ve put the link to join the Discord server in my bio. I’ll add it to my stories, too. It’s all free. You know the assignment. Make sure you’re a member, and I look forward to seeing you online in 48 hours!

08/10/2026

My younger kiddo had two of my woodburnings that were his favorites - “Sky Woman” and “The Princess, The Tower, The Dragon.” They both found homes earlier this year, which left him feeling a little bereft. When he asked if I would make a piece with an orca and a dolphin, I felt like I couldn’t possibly tell him no. And I actually liked the idea. I wanted to make two versions, an “official” one, and one that he could keep.

His was the one I finished first, making it a sort of practice run. I guess I needed it, after not burning anything for dang close to a calendar month! 😬 His version is on the last slide. Did I decide I didn’t like my technique for the bubbles midway through his version and switch? 🫣 Yes. Yes I did.

08/02/2026

I am incredibly grateful for all the traveling I got the chance to do in July. New places, new experiences, new inspiration, new and deepened connections. Now I am grateful to be back at my desk, back to my wood hoard, back to my practice.

Here’s to seeing what August brings.

06/29/2026

Doing a piece for the song “Red Bird” has been on my list for probably a couple years now. To be honest, I didn’t want to do a cardinal at first. It felt too obvious. So I tried looking up some other red birds, and the few that I found didn’t feel like they’d be very recognizable. I was stuck for a bit.

When I really started debating the pros and cons of going the obvious route vs. trying to be a little more “original” (whatever that means), I started thinking about how deeply meaningful some people find cardinals to be. I’m not sure how they came to be associated with the spirits of loved ones passed, but I know it’s a fairly common belief. And then I had a sudden realization that both of my own grandmothers shared a deep appreciation for cardinals. You couldn’t have found two women more different from each other than those two. They basically had two defining characteristics, in my mind, in common: they shared my siblings and me as grandchildren, and they both liked cardinals.

That pretty much sealed the deal for me.

So consider this one dedicated to the memory of two women I loved and who helped shaped very different aspects of my personality, and to everyone who needs a reminder that you have the ability to rise above circumstances and fly out of the storm. Maybe this is the message coming to you from someone on the other side to keep going. ❤️

06/25/2026

Sometimes I wonder if I should purge my lesser-used art supplies, like my acrylic paints. But then I come up with a reason to use them. It just felt like metallic paint was what this needed.

06/23/2026

Wanted to put a running rabbit on a cuff. Wanted to play with art nouveau-inspired embellishments. Didn’t realize until I was almost done how much they came out looking like letter A’s.

I’m not even that big a fan of Alice in Wonderland, but isn’t it strange how deeply a story can become engrained and what your subconscious (if that is, in fact, what happened here) will send bubbling up to the surface?

Address

Indianapolis, IN
46234

Website

http://www.wispandmallet.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wisp and Mallet LLC posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Establishment

Send a message to Wisp and Mallet LLC:

Want your establishment to be the top-listed Arts & Entertainment in Indianapolis?