The New Photo Cube, SRAJD, Copper Clay in Bronze Clay

THE NEW PHOTO CUBE

And as promised (even using a dog for size reference), here is my new photo cube.



Now, if you look at what I purchased (see next paragraph), you will note that I set my cube up sideways. I will correct that during my next shoot. :-P

Anyway, this is what I ordered (including the person I purchased it from… tell 'em Laura Bracken sent ya!).

Things I like about this set up over my previous set up…



The new lights are fluorescent, not incandescent, so I can get them right up onto the sides of the photo cube. With the old ones, they were so freakin' hot I could only leave them on for about 30 seconds at a time and don’t even THINK about getting near the photocube (what you see in the above photo was arranged just to get everything into one shot… normally, the lights would be about 12 inches from the cube… and there wouldn't be a cat sitting in the middle of the cube).

Now, although I didn't realize I was ordering a monstrously huge photo cube, it turns out (as things often do) to be precisely what works for me. When I tried to shoot on shiny black background previously (and no, this isn't a random and unaltered shot… this was the best shot I could get and it IS edited in Photoshop to the best of my ability)…



... not only does the piece of jewelry get washed out, but you can clearly see the outline of the photo cube reflected in the black surface.

Here's the same layout, but shot with the new cube…



... better photo even WITH my photo cube being sideways. Ha! Not a stellar photo, but definitely better than the old set-up.

See how some of the beads are still washed out? I bet I could just adjust something on the camera to fix that some. I (ashamedly) don't do anything special with my camera controls. I say ashamedly because I actually USED to be a photographer. Won awards even. This was back in the day before digital cameras. We were all into SLRs and controlling everything about the exposure.

Ah well… for now, I'm happy with the new set-up. I still haven't tried out my macro light thing. Need to get on that. It'd be way cool if it works the way I imagine it to.

Also, on backorder, I have the riser that Amber Ballard and Shari Sislonski (and others) use… but I hear it scratches really easily (not a good thing with me).

Update: just got an email saying my backorder was shipped today. Yay!



COPPER CLAY IN BRONZE CLAY

Didn't realize I hadn't yet shown you the bronze rocks…





Thanks for all the nice comments (in FaceBook) about the patina on these pieces. Yeah, I know… I have to decide:
A) Keep the rocks "as is" and wait to see how long until the patina fades (which also means not putting it up for sale).
B) Polish them up and use them as bronze rocks in a necklace that I put up for sale

Oh, there is one other thing… doesn't help the current dilemma, but would help future ones… I can do some testing. Wow, now there's a concept.

BTW, my fingernails are disgusting! They are all black under the nail… and my nails are SHORT! Ick… I have to find something to fix this. It's from the patinas and stuff. So that's next on my list of things to hunt for… a system to keep my nails from being black. I did, however, pick up two things this weekend that I'd been wanting. One was a mug warmer (the key was to look for a "candle warmer", not a "mug warmer"… same darn thing but thanks to the Friday Night Ladies I knew where to go this time), the other was a tiny vacuum for cleaning out the ash after a firing. Hadar said hers is meant for picking up seed beads. And sure enough, that's where I found it at Michael's… in the seed bead section. Yay! No more terrifying the dog every time I have to clean out the kiln ash.

Oh, but it gets better (although I feel I already mentioned this)… I just happened across a stainless steel pan that is larger than my current one AND has a flat lid. Yeah, I'm definitely sure I mentioned that.

Now, back to patinas… Barbara Fernald mentions trying to regain some patina via a torch after polishing the bronze. It'll be fun keeping up with her clay experiments. BTW, she also uses Hadar's powders.


SRAJD

I do my data cleaning for the SRAJD organization on Mondays generally. I don't like out-dated info posted on the site so I make sure emails and websites are still working… when I can.

Anyway, I find it sad, in a way, when I have to cross another one off the list. No, they are not removed from the group, but I will remove hyperlinks that don't work. Ew… irks me to go to a website and have too many links not work.

I wonder about each and every one of these people. Did they just change their email address and forget to give me the new one? Do they have a new store and forgot to update that info with me? Did they move? Did they stop making jewelry? And if so, why?


MISC

Kindle sounded kind of cool until I saw the price. The neatest feature (as far as I'm concerned) is being read to… but I can have my MP3 player and my car do that for me.

The latest thing I love and can't get enough of? Ice water. That’s unusual for me. I spent many years liking only room temperature water. Must be the hot flashes. Heh

What a cutie patottie! And is that a black circle right in the middle of his tummy?


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Fixing IE8, In the Kiln, and Friends

FIXING IE8

Forgot to tell you about fixing one of my computer problems.

On Internet Explorer 8, if a photo (or image) is used as a hyperlink (thumbnail, etc) the default is for it to not show up. You actually have to go in and change the settings.

It’s TOOLS, INTERNET OPTIONS, ADVANCED, scroll down and click on “Show image download placeholders”.

All I can say is, thank god for google.


IN THE KILN

Here’s a question: Do I face my pieces in or out? I have six one-sided bronze-copper pieces in the kiln at the moment. When I load them in the charcoal pan, I have three in front and three in back (both those positions are closest to the heat). I currently have all six facing the front of the pan… but I wonder if I should have all their “backs” facing out and “fronts” facing in. Hm…

Well, it turns out I should pay more attention to all the details of how I load the kiln, marking the pieces so that afterwards, like when I’m sanding and discover that one or two of my pieces didn’t sinter… ahem… then I can see where they were in the kiln. Sigh…



Anyway, this is a shot of the six pieces when two of them were sanded and the other four were just straight out of the kiln.



Speaking of kilns…


FRIENDS

I had a really nice day with a friend today. We went to lunch then went shopping. I got… are you ready?... tada!... a stainless steel pan with a flat lid! Yay! I hope to try it in the kiln tomorrow.


OTHER

Sorry to cut this short… I’m tired.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you pictures (if I remember) of the new photo set-up. And with a bit of luck I’ll also have some new jewelry listed.

THE CONTINUED EXPLOITS OF A METAL CLAY NEWB

But before we begin...

P.S. Forgot to mention a jewelry contest (followed by more!). No time for me to give you all the details... just follow this link and good luck!


THE CONTINUED EXPLOITS OF A METAL CLAY NEWB

Went to Hadar’s last night. Showed her my “rock” progress. She put the rocks in her hand and let out an “oh” (and not the good kind of “oh”). Eek! What did I do wrong?

“I thought these were fired already,” she said.

I stammered, then mumbled, then admitted I hadn’t had time during the past week to do a firing. As a matter of fact, I’d only sliced the final rock while at my desk in my office yesterday, mere hours before heading to class.

Yeah, well, someone has to be the slowest student in the class, right?

Anyway, Hadar showed me how to make the outside of the rocks as smooth as possible (or at least as smooth as *I* can make them). I did that, then went on to have some more attempts at my current favorite thing which is copper inlay on bronze. I guess I should be over there sanding those down now rather than here typing, but the longer I put it off the more time I have to not feel like I screwed it up again. My last ones were paper-thin by the time I decided my sanding wasn’t yielding any results. Did I ever post pictures of that? I think I’m behind on pictures.

So this morning (after getting only six hours of sleep… what’s up with that?), I decided to do phase one of the kiln (for my rocks only) and take Bear to the dog park. Since I wasn’t happy with my previous firing experiments, I’m going back to 1000 for 20 mins and 1480 for 2½ hours.

When I began to make holes in the rocks, I pointed out to Hadar that I’d never be able to get any charcoal into those teeny holes. We then discussed various ways of firing the rocks to make up for that. Firing them without anything else was the first step, then Hadar added that I should do phase two twice.

In the end, I decided I didn’t feel like experimenting right now so I just made the holes big enough for me to put charcoal in them. Hollow forms fire better when partially filled.

Took me a few mins to figure out the fastest way of getting the charcoal into the holes. First I tried picking up a pinch and laying it on top of the hole… but I don’t think anything was going in at that point. Next I tried sliding the rock around in the pan of charcoal (like a seed bead spinner). I think the rocks still remained empty. Then I got my tweezers and began picking up one piece of charcoal at a time and placing it into the hole. Successful but dreadfully slow. Finally I found something that works well enough for me: I placed the bead at an angle in the pan of charcoal and used the tip of my tweezers to push bits of charcoal into the hole. I had all six rocks done in five minutes. Yay!

Got the rocks planted into the charcoal pan and placed the pan in the center of the kiln’s octagon (or is it a hexagon? I’m too lazy to go look at the moment) on two kiln stilts, no lid, phase one on.

I would like to pick up a FLAT piece of stainless steel for placing on top of the charcoal pan for phase two of the firing. That indented lid (see below) takes up way too much important room in the pan.


I’m also checking out my local Smart & Finals to find a stainless steel pan in a better size for my kiln (large).

BTW, I noticed that the top of the charcoal pan seems awful close to the top of the kiln. Since the heating element is along the top portion of the interior of the kiln, it makes sense that I want the items in the pan to be about that level too, but I am a little concerned that the kiln lid is actually touching the top of the pan once I close the lid. If that’s the case, I might not be getting enough oxygen to my pieces during phase one. I’ll try to have a better look at this later today.

I need to order some more drill bits. This means I have to remember my Rio Grande log-in and password. D’oh!

Hours later…

Okay, got back from the dog park and shopping. Kiln is cooled down. But what’s this? I open the lid and see no ash! Waaa! That can’t be good. When I add the lid for phase two, I see maybe why… the kiln lid isn’t closed all the way.

Sigh…

Okay, so I try to shorten my kiln stilts… by smashing one with a hammer… holy cow! They’re indestructible. Okay, next idea? I take my stainless steel tea strainer and yay… each half is shorter than the kiln stilts. But oops… the pan won’t balance on the curved tops of the tea strainer halves. Back with the hammer… I flatten the tops and yes! I have my new set-up… or at least until I see the results and then have to change it again. Ha ha ha!



My main concern now is… if something isn’t right at the end, will I know WHERE the next change should take place? I mean, I’m thinking now maybe I should have redone phase one. ARGH!

In case you can’t tell, btw, my blogs are usually written along the course of the day the blog is posted.

So, phase two finished and has cooled. I just donned my dust mask and poured the charcoal (is it charcoal or carbon? I feel like I’m calling it the wrong thing… hm…) into my sieve. OMG, the colors! Sigh… Since I’m not making bronze pieces for the colorful patinas you CAN achieve during the firing, I’m not sure how to feel about this. The plan was to polish these up. I’ll feel a bit sad losing the beautiful iridescent blues and oranges. But then again, I don’t think they’ll last for a long time anyway, so I wouldn’t want to give the impression (since my job is selling jewelry) that this is what the beads would look like forever.

But… does anything really last forever?

Oh dang… what a moronic dilemma.

Anyway, I’m going to switch gears here for just a minute (I may set up the photo studio later to shoot some jewelry and I’ll snap a pic or two of the bronze rocks (pre-finishing).

See the white spots in this photo (this is copper in bronze before firing… and for the record these are STILL too thin… ha! Next time I go REALLY fat with my base)?



That’s binder. That means I didn’t roll out my clay enough before shaping it. I don’t know yet how it will affect the piece during firing. I’ll let you know.

Okay, just started firing phase one of batch number two (the inlay pieces).

Y’know, I was so excited about the colors of the bronze rocks that I forgot to check for… imperfections. Just looked. No blisters or cracks and only minimal pitting.


DEPRESSING OR REALISTIC?

One thing I like about Hadar’s Friday night classes is that we talk about things, often that have to do with the business… of being an artist (or of trying to sell art… yeah, I have issues with semantics and stuff).

Anyway, Hadar is very much a realist, I think.

Since I’m not nosey, I have no clue what other jewelry makers get in the way of profit for their pieces or what price they get for teaching or books they write, etc. But I get the feeling that even the cream of the crop aren’t “rolling” in dough.

Where does this leave me? Two things. One, I say first and foremost I make jewelry because I really enjoy making jewelry. Whew! And two, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I retire. But retire I must because I need something different in my life soon.

Can I put my faith in the universe? Might as well… seems as good as any of the other advice I get.


FRIDGE NOISE, NOT TAOS HUM


My fridge is REALLY loud. The buzz is atrocious. I need to deal with it somehow.

Other than that, however, I was really happy last night. I got home late. And I wasn’t tired or sleepy, so I stayed up and did some stuff and it was just so cool to be able to stay up if I wanted without worrying that I’ll be tired the next day because I have to get up at a certain time. Weekends like this are good!

Of course, then I go and get up at six in the morning. Ha ha ha! I’ll probably fall asleep early tonight. But that’s okay. Tomorrow morning (but not too early), I’m heading to San Jose to have brunch with Alex and maybe catch one of Monica’s scrimmages.

This is a link to making cool reptile like skin effects in polymer clay.

Okay, I’m going to go set up the photo studio. I’ll post this now and I’ll be back tomorrow with (hopefully) new jewelry listings and photos of the bronze rocks.

Dragon Guardians, Artist Commune, Jewelry/Beading Article, Bronze Clay, Copper Clay, Silver Clay, Internet Browsers

INTERNET BROWSERS

Y'know what irks me? How I can't get a given website to look the same on any computer and with any browser.

Here's the deal: sometime last year, I was having trouble seeing the new changes on pages I uploaded to one of my websites. I was told to clear my cache (temporary internet files), reboot, etc). I did all this, multiple times. Finally, a friend (thank you, Katherine!) advised me to load FireFox (I'd been using Internet Explorer) and voila! I now saw my new pages instantly.

Okay, that's fine for when I have to see pages that I'm working on… but how does it help the general public that may be using IE to look at my websites?

I am at least aware of step #1: setting your computer to always show you the most recent version of the internet page you're on.

TOOLS ->INTERNET OPTIONS -> SETTINGS -> "Check for newer versions of stored pages: Every visit to the page

Although I admit I don't know the difference between that option and "automatically".

It's also not a bad idea to clear out your stored temp files every so often.

TOOLS ->INTERNET OPTIONS -> (middle section) TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES -> DELETE FILES (can take several minutes; be patient)

But given that, I still see the older versions of the pages even after doing all that then opening a fresh browser window (in IE, I mean).

I guess I just don't know enough about computers to figure this one out. I need an IT expert to join the SRAJD team pro bono. Ha ha ha!

Let's take my most recently updated webpage. It's the gallery page of my bracelets.

I uploaded the page and…
On computer #2:
1) Could see the update on IE (version 6.0.2800.1106CO) after 24 hours
2) Could see the update on FireFox (version 3.0.10) instantly
On computer #1:
3) Could not see the update on IE (version 8)… saw the new page, but no pictures are showing
4) Could see the update on FireFox instantly

This will not stand. I must figure out this mess. These are not fancy code things… these are (trust me, my knowledge of html is bare bones) simple things like photos and hyperlinks.

I've heard: "A good programmer will develop a site that will look and work exactly the same in ALL engines, but these programmers are few and far between." Hmph!

Well, I'll keep trying to work on this… until someone comes to my rescue.


BRONZE CLAY, COPPER CLAY, SILVER CLAY

I go to Hadar's tonight. I've got six bronze "rocks" (yes, actually shaped the bronze clay onto rocks, let it dry, cut the clay off the rock, stuck it back together, cleaned it up, sanded). I'll ask Hadar to critique them before I proceed further. I'm guessing "further" is drilling holes in them, filling them with charcoal, and firing them.

If I can't think of anything else to do at class tonight, I may add copper and silver rocks to the mix… make a multi-metal rock necklace. Shrug.


JEWELRY/BEADING ARTICLE

I'm going to get back into a little non-fiction article writing here. Have an upcoming article on beading wire. To make my final touches, though, I've just ordered something to measure the exact thickness of some of these wires we use on a daily basis (I'll explain why in the article). Excited to get this one finished and see which mag shows interest in it.


ARTIST COMMUNE

Those who know me well, know I've often mentioned my idea of wanting to start an artist commune. But then those who know me REAL well know that I kinda go through life wearing rose-tinted glasses.

Therefore, I'm thinking that instead of jumping right in with a commune, I may first see how it goes running an artist retreat. A place where people can come to embrace their creativity for a weekend or a week at a time.


DRAGON GUARDIANS

Wanna see something cool? In Seattle's Chinatown district there are ten massive dragons set up on poles as guardians of the city.


THE USUAL

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MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES and JEWELRY

THIS WEEKEND

I'm excited about this weekend. I want to do some metal clay stuff. I need to remember to order some dremel things. Can't remember off-hand what I need, but I need to get back to experimenting with FINISHING my projects instead of just learning new ways to START projects.

Tomorrow I need to make some flight arrangements. It used to be that you'd get a better deal if you called early. Now you seem to get a better deal if you call at the last minute. Eek! I wonder how long before the kids have to fly that I should do this. I've got Gabe going to L.A. twice, Mon going to Vegas once, and Gabe and I going to New Hampshire once. I think (hope) that's it.


JEWELRY

Here's a new one that I haven't listed yet 'cause I need to get some decent photos of it.



I guess we'll call today "sneak preview". Here's a pair of earrings I haven't listed yet…



... and ...




MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES

I know, they sound trite. I realize that. But really, they are (IMO) so important. Get past the schmaltziness of them and listen:

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up." Babe Ruth

"Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors." African Proverbs

"A man is not finished when he's defeated; he's finished when he quits." Richard M. Nixon

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The reason people blame things on the previous generations is that there's only one other choice." Doug Larson

"Each player must accept the cards that life deals him or her. But once in hand one must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game." Voltaire

"When it's all over, it's not who you were ... it's whether you made a difference." Bob Dole

And here's one that seems to be about me (ha ha ha!): "Responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them." Tom Stoppard

I hate responsibility yet it seems to follow me like a shadow. Is that because I actually DO things?



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Oh, here's a quote that's not motivational but it IS something I feel strongly about…

"There are no facts, only interpretations." Friedrich Nietzsche