2010's Word

I have read on a few blogs about picking a word for the coming new year. I am going to go w/ "Growth". I hope everyone has a safe & happy New Year's tonight. Goodbye 2009....

Merry Christmas!

..." may your day be the bowl of cherry~est, & to you the merriest!.."

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have started my birthday @ midnight as is my custom. I am drinking champagne & going down memory lane on youtube w/ much loved music videos. Madame Butterfly started it all off, followed by.... well too many to name & I was a 'punk' back in the day, so many of my faves would be a mystery to many of you. Suffice it to say I have varied tastes & am indulging them tonight!Hope w/ only 1 week til Christmas everyone is where they want to b e in preparations

OPHA Yule Fair

The show is over, packed up & still in the car. I had a good time, it was interesting & the drum circle hours(w/ belly dancing) were really fun. Saturday was deadly slow, my only two sales were people I know,(Thanks SIL & Laura!)but I made tons of nests. I have also started making nest earrings & got 5 prs of those.Sunday had lots more traffic & I had sales slow & steady through out the day. I didn't make much money when it was all said & done, but I think I may have made a few new friends in beading.I went to a workshop on angel messages & had a reading(visitaion, consultation? I'm not sure of the term?)that was interesting. I hope I don't have a move coming(packing the bead room is the stuff of nightmares!)but the other advice was very insightful/ helpful. The organizer was impressed w/ my work & gave me info on the next show.I do plan on doing more OPHA gatherings in the summer & fall that are established & better attended. I was happy w/ my table set~up. The tablecloth from hell didn't lie flat & the skirt was bigger than I needed for my 6 ft table but it still looked good. I had rented a(I thought) 6 foot long table & made the table cloth accordingly.When the tables got there they were EIGHT feet long, no way was the tabletop piece going to fit. I was able to switch out my 8 ft table for a 6 ft planned for the silent auction & go on from there.I really liked the way the branches showed off the work, but I did have some problems w/ people walking into to talk to the reader next to me. I'm also not sure how well it will work outside here in Oklahoma w/ our wind that 'comes whistling down the plains'!It is an ever changing,evolving thing I guess. Today I did some last of the list shopping for me & some personal shopping for my SIL. I only have 2 gift cards to get for my oldest nephews~ boys love their Sonic* $$ (*local burger drive in w/ car hops for those of you not in the 'Sonic Loop')& it does make a good stoccking stuffer. Tomorrwo is the big shopping trip to Sam's to get supplies for upcoming do's.Baking day, middle nephew's & my B~day dinner this weekend & next week's Christmas Eve appetizer dinner. You should see the lists! Hope everyone's days are going smoothly & plans are falling into place.

Last Class

Last night's class was the last one. We showed our projects(completed & otherwise) & talked about how they were a success or failure & why. After we did that, Kyle went over how to take pictures of jewelry. He brought his light box(tent) & set~up & took pictures for anyone who wanted them.Over the course of the evening I set my stone in my bezel cup, but I don't feel confident it is truly 'set'. I would work on it, it would feel secure & not rattle, then it would rattle, & I would start all over again w/ the burnisher. I finally put it down when it felt like it was done, we'll see! When it was my turn for pictuers I chose 4 of my pieces. The fist is my silver skull. The assignment was saw work. After I cut it out & filed it, I put it through the mill w/ a piece of lace. I strung this on a simple ball chain & wear it about an inch longer than choker length. The second piece is another cut out skull, this one in copper. I used adhesive to mask the skull & leave the eyes,nose & teeth open to acid for etching. The adhesive did allow some bleedthrough so the etching isn't as precise as I had planned. I can live w/ this because it looks 'ghostly' this way.This is strung on a thick leather lace w/ a knot. When worn w/ the silver skull it hangs just below it. I wore them together to a Dio de Los Muertos which is why I have them @ these lengths.The third photo is one of my riveted posts. I used mica & a steel heshi disk on the copper base. I hung the piece from a bone(chicken/wing) w/ copper wire links. I haven't finished this yet, I don't know if it will be a piece in a collage or a necklace. I'm leaning toward necklace but that could change,again. The last piece is a copper cross. It has a self bail that is soldered closed. It is strung on a leather lace w/ sliding knots. This is a gift for my nephew's birthday (next week, so don't tell him!) & will probably be worn everyday, only being taken off for basketball games. I wanted it to be sturdy w/o being overwhelming. He went through a couple of gemstone cross charms in the last few months & I wanted him to have something that wouldn't break when it got dropped.There is a little over a month until the next class starts. I will 'move up' to the advanced class so I will continue to be able to share w/ y'all. I will keep postingover the next month. I'm still working on my downloading situation. My computer has been cleaned of viruses & such, but the tech wasn't comfortable trying to work on the camera problem. He did try my camera on his tower & it did show up so he was able to tell me my tower isn't recognizing anything plugged in when I try to download from my camera or card(my tower will take both). I do have a friend w/ a hacker daughter, so that will be my next fix atttempt. She wants to learn how to string bracelets so we are going to do a little old fashioned bartering. I am taking pictures of work for the Yule fair, so hopefully I'll be able to share those soon.

11th Class

The jewelry class is over. Last week my computer was in the shop so I couldn't update in a timely fashion, so here goes.I finally got my bezel cup soldered!It took 7/8 different tries. I had to rework the solder on the cup itself after finally getting the cup soldered to the base. In addition to the bezel cup I made more ball/head pins & soldered my second rivet project. It took a ridiculous amount of time/heat for the pin on the rivet project to ball up, & the cogs I used were affected when it was all said & done. So it wasn't completely in line w/ my original vision, but it's all about the learning curve!