Monday, May 31, 2010

copper love . . .


I got all my chores done for the day, cut grass, watered the dry stuff and even trimmed the rogue saplings and overhanging Bur Oak branches in the hedgerow with my 'chainsaw on a stick' so I think I deserved to spend a couple of hours in the shop creating some new things. I do have a few special orders waiting and now I'm energized, ready to tackle the week.

So here you go:
* copper love *

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Once in a while it's all about me . . .

The set up: Sunday night. 9:00pm. Bored. Too early for bed. Finished my book and refuse to turn on the tv. I excuse myself and head out to the pile of rock slabs in the shop where a cat joins me, watching from the windowsill. I find a little bit of Prehnite about the size of your little fingernail and I start to polish.

Monday morning: Using a scrap of silver from another project, I set this stone in a simple bezel, added a long loop for a bail. Change my mind and saw it off and use a tiny slice of tubing for a bail.
I am always surprised when a piece is in progress at how rough and messy it is, metal covered with glassy flux, bits of melted metal, sharp metal edges, a completely nasty piece. But in no time it's polished and hung from a snake chain, now around my neck. I marvel. I'm satisfied that I've fabricated a piece from beginning to end for my own pleasure.

Once in a while, it's all about me and what I want to make for my own creative satisfaction. No worries about finishing a handful of work for a gallery or listing on my etsy site. This is just mine. Unless someone falls in love with it while I'm wearing it. Then . . . awww . . . I'm a sucker for a compliment.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A rainy (and perfect) day for rock cutting . . .

Just to prove that it really was a heavy mist, light rain sort of Sunday and absolutely perfect for rock-cutting, here is the obligatory picture of Ink the Cat covered in light droplets. I say is was a perfect day for rock-cutting because it was too nasty to do anything outside yet it was a day you still wanted to accomplish something. Hence - rock-cutting.

Lisa 'Li'l Fish Studios' http://lilfishstudios.blogspot.com/ sent me a rock the size of your knee in a box of goodies earlier this month and the thing was too big to fit in my trimsaw. My friend Jan brought her 12" saw over and we set that noisy monster up in my newly finished side of Ed's garage shop. Here it is jammed into the feeder box with another piece of that common red stuff - glacial till - that acts as a jam to hold everything in place. I could have and should have glued it to a piece of 2x4 and pushed it through the saw using that method but I was wanting to get cutting and gluing requires drying time. And who has the time to wait for glue to dry . . . so I used my fingers. Little Miss Impatient.


These pics show the slow process of cutting into the stone and once again, you never know what you're gonna get. This according to my lapidary instructor of old who equates picking up nondescript 'parking lot' stones with picking up women in bars - you never know what you're gonna get. And again, I digress.



This stone had an agate look on the outside and I'm not sure exactly what we ended up with. I do know that it was hard as all get-out, took forever to slice and it did start to get prettier once I made a few slices into it. You can see that the 'steak fat look' turned to white and orange inclusions with some nice little dendrites. I'm anxious to polish a few bits to see what we've got here.

Just for laughs, here is a lovely shot of me in my Hefty Trash Bag. I'm too cheap to purchase a real rubberized lapidary apron so I have to go this route to keep from soaking my clothes through and through. Yes, a realy Hefty Trash Bag with a drawstring hem.

In the next week as I polish these little guys into something sweet, I'll post the pics for you all to see how fun it is to discover beauty inside of the Rock with No Name. Maybe we'll call it Bowesite . . .

Friday, May 14, 2010

O.M.G. My first!

I finally made it to etsy's front page today! I'm validated! The little Tourmalinated Quartz necklace was part of a treasury and it sold immediately - yay. Add 7 hearts and I'm tickled!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

How lucky am I?

I have all my friends trained! I put the word out that I like unique, old wood boxes, preferring those with advertising and such and now I'm reaping the rewards. Seriously lucky.

A friend found these two red boxes as he was cleaning his barn. No idea where they came from but clearly one came from 'MIKE JONES'. They both have silver painted interiors, one with a tray and the other with slots along the inside for (I'm assuming) files and narrow tools. And the bonus? A pair of old welding goggles! O. M. G. Seriously. Lucky.



Not only did I get these two great boxes, I also got this incredible red wood well bucket. I'm just over the top. I'm so pleased with myself that I'm trembling like it's Christmas morning. You couldn't stand to be around me in this moment. NK.

I'm putting these two boxes and the uber-cool well bucket on my front porch and I'll be smiling every time I drive in and get a hankering for a glass of iced tea and a trashy book.






I'm in heaven.