Settling Back Into Routine

Yesterday's gym time could have turned out very embarrassing, but fortunately we had warning. Apparently there was a fire drill scheduled for 7:00 am. That's usually when I'm in the shower on Tuesday, leaving Body Pump class a little early to miss the crunch at the showers, get dressed, and hit the road. Hearing about the fire drill, I left class a bit earlier than usual, sped to the locker room, showered and dressed in RECORD time, and was out of the building by 6:55. Yeah me! I didn't relish the idea of running outside wrapped in a towel in 50 F temps.

She looks MUCH happier than I would have, and she's
wearing a bikini which I usually don't wear when I'm
taking a shower in the gym. I'm glad I was able to rush
through and get out of there before I was stuck doing
a poor imitation of this. 

I have four new carpet samples sitting near my hearth mantle. I know which one I like, at least from seeing them last night and early this morning, but I want to see them in daylight too. I told DH he was forbidden from seeing them until daylight because he jumps to snap decisions. Two of the samples are VERY similar, but in the lamplight of evening, there is a distinct difference. One is way too dark, but Chara and I had decided to get the sample anyway, just in case. I'm glad we did because I now see for sure that I don't want it. Fabric samples for draperies should be arriving within two weeks. We're getting there.

By now I've looked at hundreds of carpet samples, all in shades
of grey. I'm hoping that one of the ones I got in the mail yesterday
suite DH. He's still rather go blue, but I want a neutral color. 

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about my Bead & Button classes. I haven't had the time to pick up a torch and do any serious silverwork for more than a year, and here I am wanting to create a hollow form ring and set it with intarsia stones in less than twelve hours. On a jeweler's bench that isn't my own. It's a bit frightening. I chose stones, but I'll have to cut down the pieces. Since DH has still to figure out the final steps in getting his trim saw set up, I'll have to use my own glass/stone saw to cut these. But I don't need huge pieces for the class, and spending extra time cutting there would be a complete waste of my time.

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about this project, even
though I have made hollow form rings before. But it's been a
while and I don't want to waste a lot of time with the
silverwork, preferring to spend my time working on the
intersia. Well, it'll all work out. 

So today I'm finally going to get a chance to get back to cataloging my books and working on some projects that I had to put aside for a variety of reasons over the past month. Hurrah for Wednesdays! I'm off to guppy myself awake. BTW - I admit that I really love having my tunes in the water with me. My underwater iPod was absolutely worth getting. So happy Wednesday to all. Enjoy your mid-week!

Day Off? Definitions...

The definition of my "day off" or "studio day" differs depending on what is on my list to have to accomplish before I can spend time with what I want to accomplish.  The difference is between "have to" and "want to" and today, the have-to's are winning.  I get to start my day in western Minneapolis dropping a belt buckle off with my silversmith for an alteration.  I probably could do this on my own silver bench, but I haven't had the time to pick up my torch in too long and I don't feel comfortable taking a chance with a customer's property.  If it was my own property I could go ahead and take the chance, but not someone else's.  So, first stop, my silversmith.  Then, my DH's computer won't start.  So I phoned Dale, my computer guru, and I will have to drop my DH's CPU off to him after 10am.  He is in the far north part of the suburbs.  If I'm lucky he can do a fix while I wait.  I'll find out.  Otherwise, I'll have to pop back up there later in the day to pick it up.  I also have to drop by my box people to check for boxes, and drop a pair of pants back at the tailor's so that she can shorten them.  She made them for my DH for Christmas and they are slightly too long. 

"Da Grape" and I will be driving all over town today, doing
errands on my "day off" or my "studio day".  One of these
days I'll have a "real" day off - LOL. 

Then, more or less, the day becomes my own.  That means that I can work on my own computer while doing 2-3 loads of laundry.  I have a drawing that I've been wanting to work on for the past three weeks that I may be able to get to the next stage, and of course there is the seductive siren song of reading on my Nook.  It's a powerful song.  And, I did get all three of my classes at Bead & Button yesterday.  That makes me very broke, but also pleased and leaves me with the next task - that of collecting the appropriate supplies for the classes.  I also have two metalworking projects and one major beading project in the works - an Egyptian collar that I would like to wear when I see the Tut exhibit here within the next 2-3 months, and I want to make a sistrum - something that has been on my mental list to make for several years.  So...my day off.  Up at 3:15 am, asleep at 10:15 pm and all of the above in my day.  As long as I can get some of my own activities done between the errands and obligations, I'll be happy. 

Bezels Hate Me

So, one bezel ended up too large. I remelted it off. The other bezel ended up too small (I don't know why - it fit just fine before it was soldered onto tha backing plate, but...) so I remelted it off. And...looking at my backing plates, I don't like them. They are boring. So I'm back to thinking about design and how I can mount my enamel disks to serve the function that I need them to and to still look fun. I may end up just making one more bezel and using what I already have because I have a lot invested in these backing plates, but I don't like boring. So I'm trying to think of what I can do that will make things more interesting. - back to the drawing board.

I'm not really sure why I'm so picky about my art. I have forced myself to keep pages in my sketchbooks instead of pulling them out and throwing them away, but I rarely feel that anything I create is actually good enough. But I have also taught myself to let go. It is too easy to overwork a project. That's why I think I'll probably still keep the backplates that I've been working on, I'll go ahead and get the enamels set, do the liver of sulphur and the silver black, and have something that will work for at least one season. I can always pull the enamels from the backing and put them into something else later on. I'll let things sit for the weekend and try and look at the project with new eyes on Monday. Sometimes looking at something after a couple of days off will allow for a better perspective. Have a creative weekend!

Oops, Part II

So, I coiled a new catch and got that soldered on yesterday. Then I took a look at the back components and realized that one of the coils had filled with solder. So I drilled it out carefully. So now the backs are fine. I felt that I was on a roll, so I decided to tackle the first bezel. I hate bezels. OK, I know that bezels are as basic as things come, but I really hate bezels - especially when they are large bezels on larger heat-sink back pieces. But it had to be done.

The bezel soldered on successfully. Not as well as I liked, but successfully. But, one side creeped in on me and made the fit of my cloisonne a bit wonky. After thinking about it for hours, I took my late lunch and reheated the piece, pulling the bezel off. I'll remake the bezel and try again, this time making sure that I don't get side creep so that the enameled disk fits properly. The key is not melting the bezel.... Oy - torch control again. NOT my best game since my torch is rather primitive. But one way or another - I'll get this done :-)

My next project is starting to become quite strident in my mind, so I want to get this finished up so that I can dive into the design and setting the wires for my next project. I want depth for my next project - depth, color, and design over a much larger area. I have a weight coming for my flat pieces, and I will order my glass grinder within the next day or so because I'll need that for this project also. I'm starting to get excited about the project, but have to finish my cloak pins first. Maybe I'm looking forward to those bezels after all - LOL.

Oops....

Oops....not the word that you want to hear or say when working on a project. But it is a word that I usually utter more often than I should. This particular oops was directed at the one small component that ended up with too much heat yesterday morning and melted. Oops. I would have coiled a new one and just soldered that on, but my sized mandrel was at home. Oops. So, I got five of six back components soldered on yesterday and I'll coil the replacement piece today and get that soldered on. Because I'm using coiled wire for this part, I have to make sure that it is thoroughly soldered, both the coils to themselves and the full coil to the backpiece. Otherwise, when I saw the opening later on, I'll lose coils. Not the end of the world, but I'm trying to do a fairly good job here :-)

Once I get the backplate finished, I can flip the item over and solder the bezel. Truth be told, that's the part that frightens me the most, because it is the final piece to be added and so much can go wrong. The bezels themselves were made and soldered quite a while ago and they fit well. But they are large and I have to get to the point where I make sure that the flame is appropriately bushy to heat the silver properly so that the solder will flow correctly and the bezel will adhere, but not melt. Since it is bezel wire, it is thin. And I have a road full of melted bezels in my past. But I'm determined. This project will be finished so that I can move on to the next enamel project. So, I will take torch in hand today and tomorrow and finish these up. Confidence.....it can be everything when trying for success in a project.

Experiments and Progress

It was slow at the shop yesterday. I took a short time before I opened the shop to try out some textures on some scrap copper. I decided that I liked the look, divided the sterling that I wanted for my final into the appropriate portions, and, annealed the metal. In the afternoon, took a bit of time and textured my back plates. I'm happy with the results on this, and after everything is complete, I'll LOS selected parts and silver-black other selected parts. I also scribed the locations for the pin retainers and the top bail. I want to get the back pieces soldered on this morning and hopefully get the bezel also soldered on. If I can manage this, the pieces will be almost complete and I can move on.

Today I have errands that will take me from south Minneapolis to north Arden Hills - in other words, all over the cities. Oh joy! I'd much rather be at my computer or my sketchbook, but I'll make some time for that later today. I want to start getting some measurements for one of my smaller boxes and start making the cloissonae wires for the surface decorations. I also need to order checks, get some prescriptions filled, go grocery shopping, etc, etc, etc. Playing with fire seems like much more fun than driving all over on icy roads . The challenge of life in Minnesota in winter :-)

Week Progressing, Work Not Progressing

I'm tired. I usually am tired by Friday, but today I'm really dragging. I want to get my cloak pins finished, and I can wind the wire for the pin stops this morning, but I don't want to solder them onto the back until I have designed the bail. I want to have a bail on the back of the pin also so that I can wear the pieces as pendents and pins, not just as pins. But even though I've been thinking quite a bit about what appearance I want for my bail, I just can't make a firm decision. I have to nail this before I can finish the project, so I will be contemplating this quite seriously while working today. I want this project wrapped up by mid-week next week.

I have also decided that my "Lady in the Mirror" project needs to be larger, so my guideline photos will need to also be enlarged to help me keep the proportions. This is just a drawing based on a small story by a friend, not a major project. I don't have the time to attend a serious atelier, so I have to practice my drawing skills in a variety of other ways. I always seem to put the drawings away too soon - considering them complete when they might not be, but I really want to play with this one. It's just fitting one more thing into my days - no wonder why I'm always tired, there just aren't enough hours in every day - especially when I have to work eight hours or more each day. I want time to play!!!!

Back Steps

I didn't have much time to work on my pins yesterday, but I did get the backs measured and my rod marked so that I can coil my hinge. It's actually a tube through which the pin will pass, but I decided I would make it from a coil of silver rather than pulling a tube of the appropriate diameter (the lack of a stump and a drawbench made my decision on a coil much easier). I'll use 20 gauge sterling wire for the coil and the two catches, but I'll try and get the top coils turned and fitted this morning and if we're still really slow this afternoon, I might grab an hour at the bench and get the tops and bottoms soldered on. The bottoms will be made in a similar manner, but I'll saw the bottom coils open so that they can be used to catch the pin. But, the bottoms may also be made from sheet - I haven't made up my mind 100% on the bottoms yet.

I want to get the back finished on the pins so that I can solder the bezels onto the front and finish the pins. But I also don't want to hurry and skip a step. Don't you often find yourself rushing to finish something and looking back, realizing that something should have been done between steps 2 and 3? It is one reason why I am careful about what I make and why I try and think things through carefully. (The other reason that I think things through is that I spend a lot of time packaging beads and findings - boring - and that allows me lots of time to think about projects.) Do you visualize your projects before you begin them? People create in different ways, but I always see the completed item before I ever pick up my pencil or my saw. Then my goal is to make that mental image come true - MUCH easier to say than to do!

Football and Fire

Well, Minnesota was Minnesota. In other words, we lost again. This is expected because we have a long history of shooting ourselves in the foot in the big games. This was no different. We can't blame our quarterback - he was outstanding. But our receivers kept dropping the ball and five turnovers will kill any game. Even though we made it into overtime, we lost the toss and never had a chance after that. My poor dear husband was extremely upset, although he agrees with me that it was semi-expected because we are, after all, Minnesota . I'm so glad I'm a Denver Broncos fan and used to losing - LOL. Now we get to look forward to the Superbowl in two weeks. It'll be an excellent game (and I won't have to look at a sea of purple t-shirts, etc everywhere I look as I have been seeing for the past few weeks here).

I took the base plates for my cloak pins to the big polisher on Saturday morning. I slapped on the wheel with Tripoli and started a serious polish, finishing up with Zam. The base plates are much better - I'm much happier. I would still like a smoother finish, but I think that I'm close. I will be turning the wire for the pin holder today if I have some time. Otherwise I'll do it tomorrow. I don't want to solder on the bezel until the backside is complete. Placing the enamels where they will be sitting - they look good. I'm quite pleased.

Polishing

So, I got the intermediate step done yesterday - sweat soldering on the ledge that my enamel will sit on so that the actual bezel covers less of the actual enamel disk. Then I started cleaning everything up before I solder on the pin parts and the bezel. But I'm having problems getting the scratches out well from the platform because of it's shape and the fact that I can't easily sand and file in cross-directions to eliminate the scratches one grit at a time. Picture a donut - a larger lower platform with a step-up higher platform, both soldered together. Although the inner layer will be covered, the outer layer will be on full view, surrounding the enamel and it will also be stamped with a decorative stamp as a last step. I'll pull these over to my bench grinder with some tripoli on Monday and maybe that will do the trick, but I was really hoping that I could do this a little more controlled than the big wheel will do for me. If anyone is a jeweler and reads this, and you have suggestions, please let me know.

But the project is progressing and should be finished by the end of next week. For those of my friends who can just pick up a torch and fabricate something, you're very lucky. I am very lucky if I can get a full hour at the bench, although usually my time is more like 1/2 hour at a time. It's pretty hard to do serious fabrication in 1/2 hour increments. But, I'm trying my best to continue playing with fire at my bench and my kiln because I think it's important to my art :-) And....it's really a LOT of fun!

Playing With Fire

We've been slow at the shop, so I took advantage of that and spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon cleaning up my silver bench so that I could torch some items. It's such a relief to have the old detrius put away and the current project up and running again. I turned on the torch to solder two bezels quickly late in the day and realized that I needed gas - the can was empty. Fortunately I had more cans available, so I replaced it with a new one, put on the hose, and I was back in business. I got the bezels soldered and burred out the bottom of the two pieces that I need to sweat solder today. I'll get the solder melted into the smaller pieces this morning, and then get them soldered onto their back plates. I was trying to determine the best time to do my next saw step on this project, but I think I've determined that I need to join the two plates first before I begin sawing out the final piece. I also need to finalize the pin mechanism, but that won't be massively difficult.

Winter has returned to our area with an ice storm yesterday. I expect that driving to work today will have similarity to being on an ice skating rink. I was always a good skater, but I'm not really thrilled at having to drive on ice. And I can't even afford a stupid cup of coffee on my way into work - I don't even have a dollar in my pocket. Guess it's instant at the shop for me today :-) Think creatively on this Friday. And why not treat yourself to a museum visit for your weekend mine expansion project?

Keepin' On

Yesterday was actually fairly productive. I washed three loads of laundry, pickup up more paper bags for the shop, bought a very fun box to play with, cut out my silver, edited a chapter for my Beta friend, and started drawing the mirror. I will have to re-do the drawing - refine it and change the scale. But at least I did get it started and I can work from that. It was very pleasant to pick up a pencil again. Shame on me for letting them sit unattended for so long!

I also got the next three elements for my embroidery transferred to my cloak. I'll try and get those embroidered over the next two nights if I'm caught up on my computer work. The only thing I did not get to was more refinement of my cloisonne designs. But I'll get more done this week and those don't have a deadline. Now to continue this trend into the next few days - to do the soldering and continue with my cloak pins. I'm pleased - I haven't picked up my torch in too long and I've missed it. Yippee....Sandi and Fire ... ... ... .

Time and Courage

I'm lazing about here (yeah - right....lazing - LOL). OK, starting again - I'm sitting here in front of my computer screen at 5:30 am with 1-1/2 hours left until I need to leave for the shop. Ideally I will get to the shop, turn on my laptop, do some more work on that equipment, go to the post office and the bank, return to the laptop and finish up the work, and open the shop close to 10:00 am. But the schedule above doesn't seem to leave any time for working on my silver bench, and I want to continue working on the background settings for my Two Trees enamel pieces. I really wanted to have them already set by tomorrow so that I could drop by Ho's and show him my latest project. But I won't have them ready and I refuse to rush them and do a job that I'm not happy with. So when I do finish, I'll just take a special trip out to Minneapolis to show him the final item. It'll be OK, and I'll be happier with the result and under a bit less pressure.

Yesterday I got a "wonderful" phone call from one of my major vendors. It appears that their bank lost several checks that had been received, but had never been deposited into their account. One of our checks for several thousand dollars was one of the missing, but they needed to know from us whether or not it had ever been cashed. And the kicker...the check was from April! April! Nothing like being current :-) In the old days I would have been able to answer them quickly. But I found out that my financial dude hasn't balanced the books since March. So the last two hours of yesterday were spent with him at his desk, balancing each statement. He still has one month to go this morning, but it's looking as though the check was never cashed and we will probably have to issue a replacement. Oh well, it will save us a bit of work for our year-end since the books will at least be up-to-date as of the end of October. Still looking for that mithril lining :-)

Definitions

I'm always rather amazed (and flattered) when people call me talented. There are so many other people out in the world who are far more talented than I am. People who have the ability to pick up an pencil and begin drawing and have something totally wonderful to look at within an hour. People who can look at a range of color pots with a brush in their hands and paint something exceptional within a short time. And people who can take metal and make it sing to the point that it will become wondrously complex and beautiful. I am not one of any of those people. I slog. I work hard at it. I don't think I have talent as much as perseverance and pure stubbornness. I have the internal vision of what I want to make and I try my utmost to make it happen. And sometimes, if the God/Goddess smiles, I have positive results.

I am trying to work on the settings for my enamel pieces for my cloak. I got the first piece refined yesterday morning and I'll have the second piece refined today or tomorrow. But then I'll have to get the additions on - the pin backs (two for each boss), the bezels on the front side, and maybe the corrugated wire accent (still undecided on that). I haven't soldered in months (I know - my jewelry friends will be appalled at this, but I simply haven't had the time and I've been involved in other projects). So, here I am, trying to reinvent the wheel for the umpteenth time. I wish I had a bit more confidence in my skill levels, but I'm determined that this will work (and it will). More practice would certainly make it easier, though....

Wednesday - Errands and Art

Have I mentioned lately that I love my Wednesdays? My list of errands will take me from Southwestern Minneapolis to the Northern suburbs, but eventually I'll get home, get wires laid for my latest enamel pieces and work on the prez for Chickie. I'm not quite as far along on this as I had wanted to be, but it's progressing. I know that the holidays are still out a ways, but my time compresses into five Wednesdays or so - not really much time at all.

My cloak bosses are progressing. The backing has been sawn out of the silver sheet and the final shaping and finishing is going on. The actual soldering processes have been running through my mind for the past week or so to allow me to visualize exactly what steps I want to do and in what order. I think I will treat myself to breakfast today - not exactly sure where, but I'll certainly have many choices as I drive through the cities :-)

But I can hardly wait until I can get to my kiln, and I'm very grateful that the images I'm doing today are pretty low-key and shouldn't take forever to get the wires bent and put on. I'll be using opaque enamels for this one, so sifting and applying carefully will be the key to success. I suspect I'll be shutting down the kiln when DH walks through the door tonite to maximize my time with the heat. But once I get these two pieces done, the rest of the project will be much faster and I might even have the prez complete by Thanksgiving if all runs smoothly.

Twin? - I Could Wish!

I wish I could split myself off from myself at this time of the year. I have gifts to make, a website (personal as well as my shop's) to update, newsletters to write and send, a husband to de-stress, customers to help, personal projects to do....etc....etc...etc. No rest for the good or the wicked - no time for anything. In spite of lack of time and too much to do, I still have to make the effort. That means I'll have to teach my DH how to enter names into my newsletter's database (since I need to get a newsletter going and I'm more than 20 pages of names behind - ). I would MUCH rather be working on the silverwork for my cloak or my pressie for my friend, Chickie.

I also need to get some photographs made of my latest enamel pieces, some Emails with attached photos of previous projects out to people who wanted to add them to their own technique slide shows, and in general, there just aren't enough hours in the day. And since I'm stressed to the max anyway, what the heck. Let's just add a few more things to the mix.....yeah, right! Anyone got a good machine to make me a twin? At least through the holiday season?

Progress and Brain Sparks

So, since my enamel disks are so close to conclusion, I spent my "lunch" working on designing the setting for them. I think I made some good progress on that. The setting needs to be sturdy so that it can handle the strains of being used as a cloak boss, needs to hold the disk securely, needs to be decorative - not just functional, and needs to have an attachment feature on the back that will allow it to be attached to the cloak. I have been mulling this over for more than a month and have decided to make a pin-style structure instead of sewing the boss onto the cloak. This will allow me to switch sides from the embroidered side to the satin side, and it will also allow me to remove the boss easily so that I can launder the cloak. But because I want a pin, I also have to make sure that I design the setting so that no undue pressure will be placed on either the pin back itself or the cloak fabric. It's a fun challenge and I think I've figured it out. Now to make sure that I am finished with the enamel work and then I can start scribing and sawing out the silver, turn on the torch (gotta love fire - yippee!) and get the front and back soldered together.

I also was a good girl yesterday and set up all of the doctor appointments that I should have set up four months ago. My December/January is now filled, but I was able to get early morning appointments for each of the appointments and that makes me very happy. The only question is whether I will have a conflict with any dental appointments (since I didn't check my main calendar when setting up the appt. Guess I'd better check that out when I get back to the shop in a few hours. Hope you have a productive day today - I would like you to look back on your artistic production for your Friday as happily as I have looked at my day from yesterday.

We Have a Winner!

The announcement came through yesterday. The 2008 North American Design Contest results were announced. I did not enter a piece (or more than a piece), but I have seen the work of many of these artists and there are some very talented people who won. Carol Babinau won for this lovely piece entitled "Dancing Flower Sculpture" using silver clay and enamel. She also won two other awards. For a complete listing along with photos, visit Art Clay World (just follow the link to get directly to the contest page). Congratulations to all of the winners!!

Today is a studio day. I have a TON of stuff that I need to get done today. I'll start out on the bench - got some important soldering done yesterday and have to do a match on the other component today. Hope things go well - sometimes soldering is my friend, other times it completely ruins my project. I keep working on it - I'll never get good without practice - but sometime I want to get a better torch. I have a feeling that would make a huge difference. I'd better make a list of the things I need to get done today or I'll end up forgetting something and have to postpone things for another week.

Have a fantastic day!!!