Happy Birthday Brother!

Yesterday I went to Santa Barbara to celebrate my brother's birthday with his wife and 6 children plus various spouses. We ate German food and drank German beer. The beer was VERY good - hehe!

But I am the one who came home with a present - because my dear brother, who reads my blog, whipped his own reading glasses off his face and gave them to me. These are the kind of glasses that you buy at the drug store when you are far sighted. I am also near sighted and have prescription lenses but these glasses from the drug store are wonderful!!

This morning I reworked my original copper moon brooch into something I like more. I wore the glasses and enjoyed non blurry wire. My usual anguish over my eye sight was not present at all! I am very grateful to you John for stepping in and fixing this problem of mine! Happy Birthday!

I'm starting to become very eager to get back to the wire. Still have big projects to complete around the house but look forward to creating again soon as I can.

Getting there...

(Where Miss Angsty heads straight into the dark maw of her life armed only with a can of paint and a stockpile of freshly made burritoes...)



I decided something finally! I decided I wanted to finish what I started around my house, painting, decluttering, and cleaning.

I also decided I really wanted burritoes and I cooked. Who knew I would want to do THAT (cooking)!? hehe

Over Christmas my daughter and I realized that she can no longer attend school away from home. It is very expensive to room and board at college and neither of us can keep it up financially. She has grown up so much being away from home and it is a big loss to her to be coming home next June.

A little loss for me too, but more so for her. Since I never married we can be 'too close and entangled' and it's been good for us both to be separated. Crossing my fingers that we have both changed and evolved since she has been gone for almost two years, so hopefully we won't be a stumbling block to each others growth.

My mom asked me to make her a treble clef pin. My parents have a life long background in music so this is special to her. I would oxidize this... but I think she will prefer it to be bright.

Reluctance

Dragging my feet about going back to making jewelry. Not sure exactly why, but I do have some theories.

1. I really like having my home in order and I didn't get to finish everything I had wanted to do to it.
2. Many things I might want to make are a bit beyond my skill level and that means pain and suffering as I try to improve my abilities.
3. My eyes seem to be getting worse and they quickly blur and strain as I work with the wire:(
4. I'm indecisive about what direction I want to go in with jewelry. Do I want to make easy relaxing things? Or challenging things? Do I want to make money? Or do I want to make art? These questions come to mind only when I make jewelry.

I was asked to make some pink earrings for a friend. I got these done this morning. Raspberry jade and rhodochrosite.



I played around with fusing fine silver wire and made these lumpy jump rings:) They look awful I know, but I was really happy with the results because this is the first time I have ever been able to fuse fine silver with out destroying it. They definitely made me smile;)

Long Pause...

I haven't made any jewelry in almost 3 weeks! I thought for certain I would use my holiday time off from work to make all sorts of things but I made nothing at all.

I did take care of other areas of my life that were troubling me. I enjoyed decluttering the house and putting order into my world and making some repairs that I had ignored. I painted the inside of closets that haven't seen a paint brush in 35 years. I did alot of raking of leaves.

I got a Wii and reorganized my living room so that it would be more spacious for playing with it. This was my solution to the couch potato problem of sitting all the time. So far I have had fun with the Wii and I am sore in various places:) So far so good with that plan.

I haven't had any desire to jump back into the jewelry making:( In early December I was feeling a bit burned out by it but I hadn't wanted to confess that. I am feeling uninspired. It feels horrible to say that out loud !!

I'm not giving up but I do need to reconnect with some joy in the wire. To figure out what I really want to make.

In the meantime I got a big pile of stuff to Ebay, the Wii to play and another closet to paint. I'm still here, not gone, but maybe a little lost;)

Saying "Hi"

Dropping by the Blog to say Hi! :) My mind is more on Xmax gifts and shopping and house cleaning, rather than jewelry making at the moment:)

I'm starting to want to do some ambitious time-consuming jewelry project again, but I don't have a design idea as of yet, and I won't have time until over the Holidays when I expect to have some time off from work.

I'm sure I will have a post or two up during December, but I won't be very active again until the end of the year.

Just barely managed to pull off a submission to Year of Jewelry this week: The Ruby Brooch

The following pics are for my daughter's sake, becasue she doesn't follow my flickr account. To most of you it's old news:)

Oh yeah, while I am at it, let me throw in a failure:( This ring was what I was having so much trouble soldering a few weeks ago. You see the bad soldering if you look closely, and also the ring turned out way too big:( I want to be able to make soldered closed frames like many other wire artists do, but I still have a ways to go!

No Copper Allowed

Jewelry Lessons is planning a new contest and I'm excited about it! You can find details here if interested http://www.jewelrylessons.com/article/jewelry-contest-overcoming-economic-crisis

The idea is that artists are to make something that is just as rich and valuable as their best works but replace half the silver or gold with some other type of material, as long as it isn't copper. (EDIT: JL has revised their contest to allow copper. Seems less challenging to me, but I know many other poeple will be happier) It seems very challenging! JL was also very smart to allow two months for the contest to complete, this gives poeple plenty of time to participate. ...Now what to make?.....

I started a necklace that was meant to be a prototype for a silver design, but somewhere along the way I crossed the line and it became the real thing. It turned out to have a surprisingly gothic/romantic feel. It hangs really well around the neckline!









I've also been playing with some 10 gauge copper wire. Oww-y on the wrists and hands! But I love the forged look of this copper bangle. I hammered it and annealed it and shaped it into a bangle and I love the textures that came out in the metal.






I also tried texturing the wire using the concrete in my patio, but I didn't care for that one as much.

Brooches

I drove to the post office saturday afternoon and kept having near misses. Why are the roads so unsafe I ask myself? Am I driving badly? OH!! holiday shopping! I am reminded that the roads here in LA will continue to be hurried, rushed, and full until the Holiday season is over.

On the other hand - The HOLIDAY season is here!! Hurray!

I did not solve my soldering problems. I feel like I've wrestled an alligator and lost. I put alot of time and effort into it and have nothing to show for it. I hate that:( Will take break from soldering efforts until later date when hopeful again.

Added some failed projects to the failed project box. Saved them for a future post when we all need a good laugh:)

Hooked on making brooches right now. I love the flying fantasy one alot. He makes me smile:)