Random Yapping from the Studio

Sorry... no real musings this week.

First off, I'm two days late.  Apologies.

I have three custom orders on my plate and I'm procrastinating.  Anyone else feel huge pressure when it comes to custom orders?

Anyway, to get this out of the way, yes, I did meet my weekly goal of making at least 10 pieces of jewelry.  As a matter of fact, I made 14.  Twelve of the 14 were more of the hammer textured gold-fill earrings.

The other two pieces were a bracelet cuff similar to one I made earlier... this is the new one (sorry, quick photo in the gallery)...

... and my first attempt at champleve enamel on fine silver.

 

So I'm happy for reaching the goal two weeks in a row.  Ha ha ha!  

I'm sure I had more to say but the power just came back on (PG&E scheduled all day outage) and I have so things I have to take care of so any biz babble will wait until next week.  

New Year's Resolutions Always Get the Better of Me

I want to make another resolution of sorts.  I want to try to get a photo of every piece of jewelry before I take it to one of the galleries.  It's rather nice having a record of my work.  I go back and reference things quite a bit.

There.  Now that I'ver written it down, and in public no less, does that make it official?

So I did manage to hit my "10" this week.  I had eight, but I figured if I'm going to the gallery anyway, I should make it worth my effort so I made two more simple pendants that were in a style I've been doing with earrings for a couple weeks.

Some of my other pieces were distinctly NOT simple pendants.  So... this week I tried my hand at something I'd been wanting to do for quite some time.  I tried cloisonne.  I managed two pieces.  For the first, I used transparent enamels, but kind of forgot what I read about "warm colors" and silver.  It's okay... I'm still cool with a rust-red sun.  So for the second piece, I used opaques (just while I get my bearings on the whole "warm colors" things).  These are the two pieces and I owe a huge thanks to anyone who's ever written a book on enameling, shared a tip on Facebook, or posted an online video.  I'm most likely going to be taking a proper class later this year (I've got Merry-Lee Rae in mind as well as Pam East).

Then I made some spinner rings because I have two more outstanding custom orders and I like to make spinner rings in small batches because it's so much easier than doing one at a time from start to finish.  And next to the spinners is a ring that was going to be a spinner but I decided to just leave it as a wide band ring instead.  



Then in an attempt to be timely at something for a change, I decided to make some heart jewelry.  I wasn't really sure what I was going to do but here's what ended up happening.



So there we go.  Ten pieces in one week.  It felt really good to take the majority of these to the gallery and start to fill my case.

So the bad news is that as usual my jewelry is all over the place, style-wise... but the good news is I've been at this for three weeks in a row... meeting my new year's resolution.  Whoohoo!  

Okay, next week I may add to my weekly post with some actual musings.  I've been thinking lately about some very nice people in this industry... and some not so nice people (although it's probably not malicious... just their personality).  Okay, dishing later.  Toodles!

Quit Trying to Define Art

Last week I promised you I was gonna dish.  So here's the deal.  Not everyone is self-actualized... many artists I know are thin-skinned... Do we allow people's words to affect us, even though we know we shouldn't?  There was an incident a few months back where I posted an image on social media of some pendants that were made using a technique that, while not requiring a lot of skill, can still produce some nice results and turns out a ton of people are interested in it.

Everything was going great until one person decided to go off on a tirade about how "it's not art!".  Well, dude, first of all, I never SAID it was art.  I said, "Hey guys, here's the results of some of my experiments with blah-blah-blah technique."  And sometimes just knowing how to do something can LEAD to art as the interested party learns the technique and takes it in their own direction. And this is a great example.  The technique in question was using purchased water-slide decals and firing them onto enamel.  After learning how to do that, I now create my own drawings and turn them into my own decals.  But I *started out* by using purchased decals first.  Sometimes babysteps are involved.  Secondly, why are you being so condescending?  Alas, in my non-confrontational way, of course I said none of that aloud... I basically just ignored him.  But my post (and all the "oohs" and "ahs" for my post), must have really pushed one of his buttons because he continued... on and on ... and on and on and on.  Comment after comment about what art is and isn't and how what I was showing is a sham, etc.  And as if commenting ad nauseam on MY post wasn't enough, he went on to start two or three of his own threads informing the public what art is and isn't.  One creation might take more work and/or skill than another creation, but there is no cause to ever bash someone's efforts in public.  And as I've said, sometimes what we do is the beginning of a learned skill and we know full well we have a ways to go to work on that particular technique.

Also, no one can tell me what art is and isn't.  Art can't actually be defined because it's subjective... like "love".  I was reading an article the other day on the exploration of the meaning of art which described art this way: "Art is often considered the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions."  I won't disagree.  I don't see anything in there about "Oh, you can't use THIS item or THIS technique, 'cause those aren't art!" 

The article continues with: "The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics."  I could go on but won't because there are billions of articles on the subject of the definition of art.  

Anyway, my second point is, to me, much more serious and relevant.  What did this person's negative comments do to all the budding jewelry artists who may be currently exploring that technique or other equally less-challenging techniques?  Unfortunately, I know one of the effects for sure because I heard from more than a few members of that Facebook Group who said after reading that no way were they going to post any of their own work.  Oh my gosh, this destroys my soul.  

Please please please...  if you're anyone in power, if you're anyone full of confidence, if you're anyone who is the master of their art form... use your power for good, not evil.  If you're strong, pick up the weak, don't tread on them.  I'm here to tell you that your words do have an effect.  

I know some people believe that if a person is really serious about their work, they won't be swayed by negativity that comes their way.  But this is the real world and not everyone is so self-actualized that they can carry on confidently in the face of vitriol.  

I think you get my point so now I need to switch gears and tell you about the opposite... the nurturers.  There are people who encourage, inspire, and assist others.  There are people who seem to just naturally be supportive.  I admire these people because I know first hand the effect it can have on someone's art.  Again, should it?  Probably not, but the reality is that it most often does.  I am not a duck and water doesn't just flow off my back.  Artists are generally passionate and emotional people, and most of the ones I know do let their environment affect them from time to time.

So I'd like to give a big shoutout to two people who I admire for being, not only at the top of their respective fields in jewelry making, but two great examples of supportive, inspiring artists.  I've never seen either one of these artists talk down to anyone, disparage anyone's work, or just be negative or condescending in the slightest.  There are many, many artists like this, but these two are people I've had interactions with in such a way that I was really touched by how NOT condescending they were.  And if anyone would have the right to be condescending it would be someone at the top of their game.  Instead, they reach out to everyone equally and treat others with respect.  

So thank you Jill Tower and Pam East for being great examples of what a strong artist can do for the up-and-coming artists.  (You should click on their links because their talent is amazing!)

And now for the mundane stuff.  :-)  We're in week five now of my new year's resolution to create 10 pieces of jewelry each week.  Some were fun experiments that took me all day.  Others were... not.

The first piece I made was my third attempt at cloisonne and since I messed up the silver even before I started the enamel portion of the project, I knew I was keeping this one for myself.



After that, I made three more prong-set Jasper heart pendants, similar to but each slightly different from the one I made last week.



I made two cloisonne heart pendants...



Then I made a two pair of hammer textured sterling silver heart earrings (very lightweight).



And finally I made two double-sided heart pendants using the rolling mill.  One I took to the Auburn gallery, the other I donated to the High Hand gallery for a raffle there this Sunday.



Did I mention tomorrow I start a four-day workshop at Metal Arts Academy in Auburn?  I'm taking a class on filigree taught by Valentina Caprini.  Very excited... a little nervous (but that's just because I'm the nervous type).

Encouraging Creativity

Wow, what a week.  I'm going to start off with my weekly jewelry update this time, then we'll follow up from last week.

So... I did NOT meet my quota of 10 pieces of jewelry last week and it's okay.  I give myself a pardon when something out of the ordinary comes up... and it did.

Last week I had the great good fortune of being able to take a four-day intensive workshop with guest instructor Valentina Caprini.  She is a traditionally trained Italian filigree artist as well as being just a really awesome artist all around.  The class was being hosted by the Metal Arts Academy in Auburn, CA.

I won't get too much into explaining the things we learned (sorry, I'm behind in everything), but I will definitely say Valentina pushed us all out of our comfort zones (in a good way).  At the end of the workshop, we each had a unique and personal piece displaying the traditional technique of filigree with a contemporary jewelry flair.  I wish I'd taken photos of the works of the other students... I was so impressed with everyone.

Here's my piece...



The other things I made this week (four jewelry items in total) include, two pair of the hammered heart earrings...



And one pair of large(ish) hammered disk earrings...



So that's four pieces for the week, but I think next week will make up for this.  AND... now I have a new technique/skill to work on and throw into my own jewelry mix.  Yay!

Now, as a follow up to last week, I want to share with you some of the comments that people wrote about my blog post.  As you may recall, last week I mused about how some people discourage rather than encourage artistic creativity on the internet.  This seemed to be a real hot topic and I was touched by the outpouring of support in defense of being a nurturer rather than a critic.  Although some people misunderstood and thought I had my feelings hurt... that was untrue and it was not what the blog post was about.  I was perfectly fine but I was appauled to think how newbies may have been interpreting the criticism.

Anyway, I wanted to compile some of the love :-) and share it with you here.  Since my Facebook profile as well as this blog are public, I feel I am not taking liberties by sharing public comments in one place.  The reason I want to share these comments is because some of them are extremely eloquent and because I want more and more people to know that there are totally a ton of inclusion nurturers out there... also to know that many of us have experienced this negative type of criticism, so if it ever happens to you, you're in good company.  The following are not all the great comments by a long shot, but I wanted to at least post some of the ones that I thought shared extra supportive sentiments.

"Everyone starts somewhere and sharing allows us to learn and grow. One of my favorite book recommendations is Show your Work by Austin Kleon. Show Your Work!"

"Thank you for sharing your heart, we have all prob experienced "this" person at some point or another. I actually had a glass peep stop me at a show when I was wearing a best selling design offering to demo how to do it "correctly". I just smiled and thanked HIM and walked on."

"As artists we all have felt the cut of the negative comment. Pulling ourselves out of the hole it leaves us in is another challenge that we shouldn't have to face."

"Laura, your blog post really touched my heart! I also love that you are trying new techniques and pushing your skills. Its the only way to grow. When I see "critiques" go off the rails like that... ugh. I'm sorry you experienced it directly, and you have exactly the right perspective about learning techniques and baby steps, etc. I'm with you 100%!"

"I just read your blog and it really spoke to me. I feel that some people are just bullies who hide behind the veil of social media. Their purpose is just to criticize, not give helpful advice. The only way they can feel better about themselves is to put someone else down. Logically, you know what they’re doing, but emotionally it has an effect."

"If your spirit is flying as you make then that is "art" regardless of some high definition of "ART" may be for some. I wonder if some consider Andy Worhol was just a clip-art guy or Marcel Duchamp and the "Readymade" genre to be on a par with "Sham-WOW""

"For me the negative comments get stuck in my head, much more so than positive ones. I was never encouraged to pursue art growing up or even as an adult. Positive feedback helps us know we're heading in the right direction. Very few of us are masters of a craft when we start out, those who are, that's great but most of us need to learn. I'm grateful to people like you who freely share knowledge and encourage others along their journey."

"It is Dreadful that such a person felt entitled to give such thoughtless and cruel Posts... there are degrees of Artistry & Originality of Creativity that We All go thru as we Learn A New Technique or Skill... and We Often Must Master a Technique by Practicing the Techniques Pioneered By Artisans Before Us... This is a Necessary aspect as we evolve our Own Artistry and Our Own Craftsmanship Skills and as we go from Student, to Art Practicer, to Artisan to Master / Artist... But there is the Employment Of Artistry in every Step on Our Path... And it is only a Very Damaged Mind that Can Not Understand That!  Students learning from a Master are Often Instructed to Try a “Study” of the Masters Works by Trying to Draw or Paint a Portion Of The Masters Painting in Order to Understand Brush Strokes and Light.  Apprentices in many Crafts are often instructed to make the same item as the Master, to Perfect Techniques. This has been done for a Thousand Years... Of course as we grow in Our Own Artistry we Develop Our Own Imagery. That is Very Important. We mustn’t Copy or Plagiarize our Masters... But we can not learn and grow our skills without Studying Their Process.  Their Imagery is Precious and It Belongs Solely & Entirely to the Artist who Designed it... But The Skills are for all Artists / Artisans.  And of course Many Iconic Images are for Use By All Humans. Anyone can Draw a Heart or a Rose Etc... Even some Patterns & Subjects Belongs to All Humanity At Large. They are Part of Our Human Lexicon. They are in the Public Domain!  But I do believe that as we learn, we must endeavor to make the Heart Or Rose or Pattern Etc... Your Own Somehow... But All artists are allowed to visit the basics of world Imagery."

"There’s this pervasive, mistaken belief that one must have “talent” in order to engage in artistic pursuits. My personal experiences combined with 20+ years teaching arts to adults, I can tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. Art is for everyone at every level. Practicing an art form, any art form, can be a form of meditation. It doesn’t have to have an end goal or finished product. Just the act of applying color to a page, or changing the shape of clay, can get you out of your own head for a while. The activity itself can calm the mind and bring its own joy and contentment.  I love encouraging my students to play and explore; to try and fail and make mistakes and find hidden successes they weren’t expecting. When you let go of a “finished product”, and embrace the process, it’s very freeing. By disrespecting or disparaging people who are trying new thing, you strip them of that joy and discourage them from even trying. That is what makes me the most sad about all this."

"I have felt crushed by comments, or even a lack of them. I don't share like I used to, either. But I'm probably more self-critical of my work than anyone else."

Thank you to everyone who has ever encouraged creativity!!!

Practicing Cloisonne

This will be short and sweet.  Nothing more than an accounting of my weekly progress.  

Continuing to practice my ability to fuse fine silver, I made 8 small simple champleve disk pendants and a pair of earrings in the same manner.  I was happy that out of 10 attempts at fusing, I managed to end up with 10 finished pieces (the earrings used two disks, of course).

So here is the array of that work.

Then I also did this piece... and that makes 10 pieces of jewelry for the week.

A Short Post with Random Musings

Another short one as I am both pressed for time and have little jewelry to show.

I only have three pieces of jewelry to show for the week.  I'm gonna let that slide because the other thing I accomplished this week was resurrecting my simple copper etching tutorial.  Tutorials are an immense amount of time investment, so I'm cutting myself some slack on the jewelry this week.



Okay, other than that, here are the three pieces of jewelry that I made.



Oh, maybe my two fails should count, too.  They certainly took up a lot of time (cloisonne).  :-)  

Week #9 Musings and More

So you know that Beck song that goes: Soy un perdedor... I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me? 

For years I thought it was, "I'm a lizard baby so why don't you kill me?"

I kinda still sing that in my head when the song comes on Pandora.  Anyway, trying to stave of feeling like a loser... or a lizard.  But it's hard when I've had two weeks in a row of NOT accomplishing my New Year's resolution of creating 10 items fo jewelry per week.

It's just... there are SO many things to do in life and I can't get to all of them.  :-)

So my "loserness" is totally tongue in cheek... I've been kicking butt on other projects and I know I'll get back to jewelry soon.

I have a couple custom orders hanging on the board that need to get taken care of.  

So this week, I made one piece of jewelry.  It was one of my staples, nothing new or inventive. It's a celebration of the fact that I finally understand the difference between high quality pearls... and what I used for the first years of my work.



So... how many of you sign up for those free workshops only to discover that there's one particle of useful info for every 100 particles you have to pay attention to?  Kinda makes me think about those timeshare meetings where you want to talk out of there with those free tickets to the concert (or whatever) but you must first endure the lengthy sales pitch.  I don't blame the sales people... they gotta make a living too.  My new thing is signing up for these and then either forgetting to attend or just not having time.

Besides, how much social media marketing info do I need if I'm so behind on jewelry making I don't even have anything listed on my website?  Ha ha ha!  What on earth would I be marketing?

So back I go into the studio... I actually *AM* working on jewelry today.  Mostly because I have new students coming on Sunday so I'm brushing up.  

My Cloisonne Enameling Shelf

First, we must laugh at me.  Well, at least I made it through 9 weeks (more or less).  Then the snowball started.  It was custom orders, then pandemic, and gallery closings, and tutorials, etc.  I am OFF the schedule, completely, of feeling the need to fill a quota.  As I said on Facebook, I've gone feral (in more ways than one).

On Saturday, I will catch you up on jewelry I've made recently.  On Friday, I'll catch you up on my latest tutorial.  And tomorrow, I'll show you the results of my comparison of finishing techniques for cloisonne.

But today I show you my cloisonne enameling shelf.  Not my enameling station... that's just my large work table with whatever set up I need for the day's project (kiln, torch, sifting, wet-packing, decals, graphite, liquid enamels, crackle, etc).  And not my regular enameling shelf (I've got two other places for enamel, but this one I'm showing you today is specific to cloisonne).

Recently, it came to my attention that as I got more involved in cloisonne enameling (and thus accumulated more "things"), I needed a new space.  If you are like me, finding space for a new space in your work studio is next to impossible.  But, because I spent three days cleaning garage #2, I can move things from garage #1 into garage #2, then I can move things from the studio into garage #1 (things I don't use on a daily basis).

So here's my new space.



I'm showing you because I want you to see, it's nothing fancy.  The "space" was put together using two piece of furniture I had in the house.  The bottom is a tv stand.  And on top of that, I have a cheap shoe rack.  (Both items can easily be found at most thrift stores.)

And for those who want to explore my space, read on...

Shelf #1: Some enameling do-dads by "I Love Enamels" and Eugenia Chan.  Some eutectic solder that I have not tried yet.  And a small fortune in JoolTool wheels.



Shelf #2: On the left is a tray of my finished test pieces.  I have each enamel color tested on fluxed silver, bare silver, and bare gold.  This whole tray will be for my leaded colors and I'll have to start another tray when I start making test strips of the unleaded colors.  The tray on the right has small containers of the already washed and sifted enamels that I have made color test strips for.  So basically, these are the colors I want to use ASAP (because they were wet at one point and I hear the shelf life on washed enamels is... well, not as long as the ones that haven't been washed... which is another reason to only wash a small amount at a time).



Shelf #3: My "I Love Enamels" catch trays for sifting over.  These are luxury items, but I like them and I figure I work with enamels enough that I can have some (okay a lot) of luxury items.  Put it this way, though... I have about 50 luxury items and I don't have a hydraulic press... so I'm sure it all balances out.  Next is my set up for sifting enamels for cloisonne.  The rest of the set is in my regular enamel area.  The tray on the right has enamels I've sifted and washed, but not yet made color test strips for (hey, these things take time!).  By the way, if you want to know what little jars I use for my wet-packs, it's these.  As I said, I only wash a little bit of enamel at a time... and every container I have has the enamel name on the lid as well as on the container itself.  This is a no-brainer move.



Shelf #4: On the left is a tray of odds and ends that I use for cloisonne.  Some nice tiny brushes from Pearly Karpel, some blue fuse (for champleve), cloisonne wire, (the foil and blue-stic were on my work table when I took this photo), needles, tissue blades, etc.  The box on the right has my "fines" (fines are the very tiny particle residue from sifting).  I usually use the fines as counter-enamel on test pieces, or pieces where the back won't show (see example in tomorrow's blog post).  Here are the containers I use for those (again, label the lid as well as the container, trust me).



Shelf #5: Left to right... Ninomiya (Japanese leaded) enamels, Hirosawa (Japanese leaded) enamels, a cookie sheet full of firing racks (my new Merry-Lee Rae firing rack was in use when I took this photo... I'd gotten the 3x3 and next time I order from Enamel Art Supply, I'm getting the 4x4 one.), and finally a couple of the 6-trivet firing racks.



Shelf #6:  Pearly Karpel enamels, a bowl of regular firing trivets, a Pearly Karpel enameling station, (and behind that) a heavy sheet of steel which is great to protect things when working with hot items, and finally a regular tripod for torching.



Shelf #7:  (Which is actually two shelves)... Upper: box of extra do-dads for enameling, alundum stones, Squeegee oil (the other oils are behind that one), and a cookie sheet with heavy mesh squares and fiber disks.  Lower: Sunshine enamels (for painting), a bowl of Eugenia Chan's awesome enameling baskets, a bowl of Pearly Karpel's awesome trivets.



And while we're here, I may as well explain some of the things you can see around the cloisonne station...

Let's start at the bottom left.  I have my dust buster because there are always little messes I want to clean up immediately (for example, I like to clean up the initial firescale that comes off the backs of my pieces right after I've applied the counter-enamel... I don't like things like that left to possibly contaminate anything for the rest of the work session).  Above that is a chart from Rio that I refer to a lot because is has some handy info, like what size drill bit to use for which gauge wire, etc.  The next three items (top left) are my two saws and a necklace I made.  I like my Green Lion for most of my sawing, but I use the larger German saw if I'm cutting a piece of sheet that is more than 3" (German saw has a deeper throat).  The shelving unit on the right holds my Thompson enamels.  And the thing at the bottom right of the photo is my robot vacuum that I love.  It cleans the floor after every work session, fits under almost all of my stations, and has a tray I can look through to see if it swept up anything I prefer to keep.



So there you have it.  A peek into my studio to see that I may not have a beautiful storage set-up, but what I have is organized and functional.  :-)

A Comparison of Cloisonne Finishing Techniques

How did this start?  Tangentially, like everything else in my life.  A couple days ago, I was making test pieces of some of my new enamels.



Two of the pieces I made were particularly striking.  These are Pearly Karpel's Kelly Green #463 and Blue Lake #213



… so I decided I wanted to make something with them.  Then I remembered that I had been wanting do some testing to compare hand-finishing of cloisonné versus finishing using a JoolTool.  My M.O. to date has kind of been to use both, but I want to isolate the methods in order to determine any differences.  Also, I know a number of awesome enamellists who mention not liking to use the JoolTool in the finishing process.  I don’t know if it’s because they just prefer other methods or if there’s something specific it does that is not good for the process.

So I grabbed two thick copper pieces that I had in a bin, cleaned them, and gave them a counter-enamel.  Then I created the fronts: flux and fire, silver foil and fire, flux and fire, cloisonné wires and fire, first layer of wet pack and fire, second layer of wet pack and fire, third layer of wet pack and fire, fourth layer of wet pack and fire. 



I made both pieces similar (for comparison) but not identical. 

When the enamel was at or just a smidge below the top of the wires, I began the two different finishing methods.

The first piece was finished all by hand, using only four different grits of diamond filing sticks (and water, or course). 



After the 800 grit file, I washed the piece well before fire-polishing back in the kiln.  Here are the results…



The first time I filed a cloisonné piece by hand, I learned the hard way that I was also taking off a certain amount of skin, mostly from my left thumb.  Thanks to a friend, I learned about these awesome finger protectors at Otto Frei.

The piece looks good and feels smooth.  I think I need to work on my hand filing, because the very center of the piece has less saturated color than the outer parts, leading me to believe when I file, I go over the center twice as often as I go over any other parts.  Darn!  Aw well… next time.

So then I took the second piece and finished it using the JoolTool.  I only used the coarse, medium, and fine diamond sanding wheels (and water, of course).



As before, after sanding/polishing I cleaned the piece and put it back into the kiln for a fire polish.



If you follow me on Facebook, you have heard me say more than once that I am trying to learn cloisonné from books and online resources.  There are limitations to that kind of learning, but I can’t take any in-person classes until the pandemic has abated so for now… there are pieces of the puzzle that are missing.

One such piece is… when I fire polish, my enamel sinks just enough to make the surface not feel like one smooth piece of glass anymore.  Okay, so I can sand/polish it again… but then I have to fire polish it again and will run into the same problem.

Here are the three things I can think of to try to combat this problem.  Other people end up with cloisonné that is smooth as glass and I want that too.  It’s just an aesthetic difference, but I’d like to know I can do it.

I can try sanding/polishing with finer and finer grit (I have the option with both methods) and continue to fire polish hoping that as some point, things stay level. 

I can try sanding/polishing by hand and NOT fire polish in the kiln.

I can sift a thin layer of clear over the whole surface and fire that to smoothness.

Just more experimenting.  Also I may write a follow up blog post about the use of cerium oxide in the finishing process.

So what’s my conclusion?  Hand filing might take longer but you can have more control.  The JoolTool can be faster, but that goes hand in hand with accidentally removing something you didn’t intend to.  And seriously, the way I do it there wasn't a huge time difference.  Does that mean I know what I'm doing?  No.  But with my limited newbie knowledge, they took roughly the same amount of time. 

Granted, I made my big error using the hand files, but I learned from that (don’t pass over the center so much!).  Both pieces are very smooth on top (just the slight sinking of the enamel from the fire polishing as described above).  

Also, note that I only sanded up to 800 grit with the diamond sanding sticks (the by-hand filing) while the JoolTools wheels may have given a higher grit effect (no clue what "grit" their "fine" is).  I will be trying finer grit sanding on these pieces so stay tuned for that.

I’m sure I’m not skilled or knowledgeable enough to understand why some enamellists don’t like the JoolTool.  Moving forward, and until proven otherwise, I may continue my hybrid method of using both the hand files and the JoolTool because at this moment I don’t see a difference. 

I’m thinking that as I progress and refine my skills, maybe then I’ll have a more discerning opinion.

My Open Front Cuff Ring Tutorial

As promised, this blog post is just to show you my latest tutorial (click here to see the listing with all the detailed info).



The tutorial is called "Open Front Cuff Rings" and in the instructions I show you two different basic ways to make the rings... open and slightly adjustable... or with a stone (and not adjustable).  Within each of THOSE basic styles, there are still so many variations.  My template has several different shapes for the ring band itself... and then you can do other things to the metal to further design the ring in other directions (etching, rolling, hammer textures, stamping, saw-piercing, etc).

In the second part of the tutorial, I show you how to set stones on these ring shanks using pre-fabricated bezels.



Here's one without a stone, but I etched the metal first (you may want to check out my simple copper etching tutorial too).



So many variations to try!

The tutorial is a combination of thorough handout with lots of text and images (also links to supplies)... AND videos showing most of the processes.  You have access to the videos for life... there is no cut-off date.

You also get to join a private Facebook group for only customers of this tutorial where we share experiences, tips and tricks, inspiration, and more.

Check out these photos from some of my first customers of this tutorial.  These rings are amazing!

First up, beauties from Tina Faxas (click here to see her awesome website)...




Next we have Lin Karrels...




And Leslie Litt...




And Susan Sandeno...




And Maritza Heurtas...




And Dianne Culbertson-Jacques (you can see Dianne's beautiful creations if you click here)...



You guys are rocking it!!!

There are more but I'm waiting for their permission for me to share their images here.  Stay tuned...