We're staying in Vermont, but the camp we're attending is in New Hampshire. It's only a ten minute drive and the parts of each state that I've seen make them look the same to me. Although I'm leaning more toward Vermont since the population is less than 700,000.
When we were driving up here, Gabe and I were noticing the "moose" road signs. I told Gabe I'd never seen a moose. Then I shouted out, "There! Look, a moose!!!"
Hmph! Gabe explained that was a metal silhouette in someone's yard and real moose are much larger.
Fine! I got even with him later that day when we were driving up to find Dartmouth. He kept saying, "Maybe that's it," every time we passed a large building (and by "large", I mean oh about four stories high or something). I was trying to explain that Dartmouth was NOT going to be a building that we could miss while driving past.
As it turned out, it's a campus about the size of Rhode Island (or at least it seems that big). Okay, just looked it up... 270 acres.
It's so much fun watching the hockey games among these four teams. And especially fun watching my son play on a great team.
Today was the "recruitment seminar". I know $48,000 a year is a lot, but you never know. At least Gabe's "academic index" (198) is good enough. (Can't get into any Ivy League schools if your AI is below 171.)
Tomorrow the kids get their evaluations. Again, Gabe thinks they won't have anything to say to him because "no one watches the goalies". He might be surprised someday to find out that someone is indeed watching the goalies and he'd better be "on his game" at that time.
Gabe has the nine o'clock game again tonight (ugh!) so it's another late one for us. Then back to the campus at 9am. Then they'll either have a game at 10 or noon (depending how they come out in the standings for the four teams).
That afternoon, we'll have to wrap up all our sight-seeing 'cause that's our last night here and we leave for the airport EARLY in the morning.
I can't get over how beautiful everything on and around the Dartmouth campus is. It's inspiring.
No cats though. I see a lot of dogs, but no cats. We've seen one since we were here... in Boston. He was a feral, living in the park. We were watching him hunt. My cats would go nuts here with all the trees to climb. I think I'll be sad to say goodbye to such beautiful country. Yes, there are things in Oakland that make life a lot more convenient, but I'm not sure convenience outweighs other things that I like.
I'd better go now. I only brought one jewelry piece to work on. It's for the Use the Muse contest I'm trying to enter. I hope to have it done and photographed in time to enter. We get back Thursday early evening and the first commitment I can think of is Gabe's 18AAA SJ tryouts Friday evening.
Okay, hope you're all doing well. Will write more later!
This is my yappy place. Sometimes I share my workshop experiences in jewelry-making; sometimes I talk about other things that interest me. I have created tabs along the top of my blog (next to the word home, below this msg) so you can select certain categories if you like.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Day 1 of camp, but I have no camp news to report
Because we'll be getting back around 11pm tonight and I will probably be too tired to blog, so I'll tell you what we've done so far today.
We both slept in... massively. Entirely missed the free hotel breakfast (6-10am). Got up around 10:30am. Gabe says we have no jetlag. He says it's negated by the fact that we didn't get any sleep on Friday night... so missing a night of sleep then going to bed at 9:30pm on Saturday and sleeping until 10:30am (holy cow, did we really do that?!) removes the effect of jetlag. Hm... maybe there's a funded study in there somewhere.
We were going to go to breakfast, but Gabe decided that since "check-in" at Dartmouth was at 2pm (and we didn't know what "check-in" consisted of) that we'd just go have an early lunch instead.
My navigator doesn't work up here (so it seems), so we ended up just getting in the car and going. Ended up... hm... I don't remember the name of the town, but we found a diner and had a nice breakfast. There was a very cool-looking cemetery 20 feet or so across from the diner. I took a photo, but can't show you until I get home. Just realized I have no way to upload here. Sorry.
Left for Dartmouth around 1:30pm. It's only a ten minute drive from the hotel. Wow... wow wow wow! What a beatiful and HUGE campus. And the rink (Thompson Arena)... it's gorgeous. I hope the people who go to Dartmouth appreciate where they get to be on a daily basis.
BTW, I want to live in Vermont. It's beautiful... and no smog! I know... I can't 'cause I can't bear the cold, but really... it's just so dang nice here right now.
Anyway, check-in was brief. Then we came back to the hotel and walked around a bit, then returned at 5pm for a meeting. That's it for now. The first game is at 7pm... we'll go and watch that, but Gabe's game isn't until 9pm. Four teams.
Tomorrow, while Gabe has dryland/weight-training, I'll explore the campus. I think we'll need a whole extra suitcase for all the hoodies we want to get. Hee hee. But really... it's a great souvenir. We'll just have to make sure we don't all wear them at the same time.
Oh, another thing they do different here... women's public restrooms (the ones I've been in, anyway) don't use paper toilet seat covers.
Not a complaint, just an observation.
I've been kind of surprised to see that all the seafood places offer lobster, but rarely crab. :-(
I'll get a photo of Thomspon Arena so I can at least show you when I get back to Oakland.
Well, I'd better get back to the room now. Hockey tonight... how exciting! I miss hockey.
Although the coach's speech might have let slip that they really look at the skaters more than the goalies... 'cause what they want to see is "Great passes, great plays, and lots of goals." Ha ha ha! What about great saves? ;-)
Nothing new to us in the world of hockey, which is what makes Hiroki's, Sean's and Steven's camps so nice... it's all goalie-centric. Okay, back to the real world.
Later!
We both slept in... massively. Entirely missed the free hotel breakfast (6-10am). Got up around 10:30am. Gabe says we have no jetlag. He says it's negated by the fact that we didn't get any sleep on Friday night... so missing a night of sleep then going to bed at 9:30pm on Saturday and sleeping until 10:30am (holy cow, did we really do that?!) removes the effect of jetlag. Hm... maybe there's a funded study in there somewhere.
We were going to go to breakfast, but Gabe decided that since "check-in" at Dartmouth was at 2pm (and we didn't know what "check-in" consisted of) that we'd just go have an early lunch instead.
My navigator doesn't work up here (so it seems), so we ended up just getting in the car and going. Ended up... hm... I don't remember the name of the town, but we found a diner and had a nice breakfast. There was a very cool-looking cemetery 20 feet or so across from the diner. I took a photo, but can't show you until I get home. Just realized I have no way to upload here. Sorry.
Left for Dartmouth around 1:30pm. It's only a ten minute drive from the hotel. Wow... wow wow wow! What a beatiful and HUGE campus. And the rink (Thompson Arena)... it's gorgeous. I hope the people who go to Dartmouth appreciate where they get to be on a daily basis.
BTW, I want to live in Vermont. It's beautiful... and no smog! I know... I can't 'cause I can't bear the cold, but really... it's just so dang nice here right now.
Anyway, check-in was brief. Then we came back to the hotel and walked around a bit, then returned at 5pm for a meeting. That's it for now. The first game is at 7pm... we'll go and watch that, but Gabe's game isn't until 9pm. Four teams.
Tomorrow, while Gabe has dryland/weight-training, I'll explore the campus. I think we'll need a whole extra suitcase for all the hoodies we want to get. Hee hee. But really... it's a great souvenir. We'll just have to make sure we don't all wear them at the same time.
Oh, another thing they do different here... women's public restrooms (the ones I've been in, anyway) don't use paper toilet seat covers.
Not a complaint, just an observation.
I've been kind of surprised to see that all the seafood places offer lobster, but rarely crab. :-(
I'll get a photo of Thomspon Arena so I can at least show you when I get back to Oakland.
Well, I'd better get back to the room now. Hockey tonight... how exciting! I miss hockey.
Although the coach's speech might have let slip that they really look at the skaters more than the goalies... 'cause what they want to see is "Great passes, great plays, and lots of goals." Ha ha ha! What about great saves? ;-)
Nothing new to us in the world of hockey, which is what makes Hiroki's, Sean's and Steven's camps so nice... it's all goalie-centric. Okay, back to the real world.
Later!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
We're in Boston! But it's really Vermont.
I'm not sure WHY I keep telling people we're in Boston this week. For some reason it just seems easier.
So here's how it went, for anyone (meaning family) who wants the boring details...
While we were at the airport, heading to our gate, my phone gets a text message from the person (bless her heart and soul) who is watching Bear while we're gone.
"Bear," she texts, "chased after a skunk on my porch as soon as we got home. Now Bear and my house smell like skunk."
Eek! Man, now I really feel badly. Sigh... Hope the weekend goes better than that for her.
The only flight that went this way non-stop was Virgin America (and I must say... wow, REALLY nice airlines) and it was a "night flight". We left SFO at about 11pm and got in to Boston Airport at 7:30am (but 4:30am to our bodies/brains).
It seemed ideal. We were saving so much time (all the other airlines were three flights and almost 24 hours of travel... ugh!).
But alas, I had five and a half hours of RLS (restless leg syndrome). Blah! It was absolute torture (well, torture for me, anyway... comparatively speaking). So I arrived in Boston with no sleep and we set off straight away for sight seeing.
Today (Saturday) is our only real "free" day, so we had to do SOMETHING.
We went to the Aquarium first (well, after stopping at one of the million Dunkin Donuts... no restaurants opened until 11:30am) and it was really cool. Gabe took a ton of photos. I took some too (and will try to upload some here tomorrow, but I don't see any photo-editing software here... I'm on the hotel computer... didn't want to lug the laptop across the states). Y'all might have to just wait until I get back home before you SEE the pix that go along with this text.
Boston is a difficult place to park in. We ended up doing a LOT of walking because we had a good parking space and a mile here and there didn't seem too far.
People were telling us the weather was unusual. Lots of rain in June.
We had nice weather (beautiful, in fact) all day. It didn't start raining (and it rains hard!) until we were all settle comfy cozy in our hotel room.
After the Aquarium, we went to the Museum of Fine Art. I was so impressed with Gabe being interested in some of the artwork. I mean, when I mentioned "museum", he actually said that sounded good to him. I couldn't believe it.
We didn't stay all day, but we saw a number of cool things, and again got tons of photos.
This must be the first time Gabe's gotten to see a Van Gogh, a Monet, a Renoir, etc. up close and in person.
After that, we were trying to find a restaurant, but the driving here is... um... not my forte. So we decided to hit the road (toward our hotel) and just find something along the way. Good thing Gabe was hungry and we stopped only barely outside of Boston... 'cause after that, well, it was pretty slim pickins.
Things we observed, noticed, or were suprised by:
There are fire hydrants ALL OVER the place in the Boston Wharf area. It is really hard to find a garbage can in the Boston Wharf area.
There are a lot of elderly people in Boston. Is this a popular place to retire? I could see myself retiring somewhere around here... er... except for that thing I have about being cold intolerant. Let me visit here in the winter and THEN ask me how I feel.
Um... what else? Oh, rainstorms here are heavy and accompanied by thunder and ligthtning.
The trip from Boston through New Hampshire and into Vermont was trees... trees, trees, and more trees. I was (I have no idea why) expecting to travel a road out in the country lined with farms and ranches and great expanses of open land. Not so. It's hills with trees on them. That's it. An occasional pond or lake... then more trees.
We didn't see houses until we got right close to our hotel. Which is very nice, by the way (Super 8).
Gabe says the people here are really nice (friendly, helpful).
We don't head over to Dartmouth until about noon tomorrow.
I'm sure there won't be TOO much for me to report regarding Gabe's hockey camp, but if anyone wants, I'll come back and blab about our trip each day.
Well, I'd better get back to the room there. I left Gabe alone with a pint of Ben and Jerry's!
Later!
So here's how it went, for anyone (meaning family) who wants the boring details...
While we were at the airport, heading to our gate, my phone gets a text message from the person (bless her heart and soul) who is watching Bear while we're gone.
"Bear," she texts, "chased after a skunk on my porch as soon as we got home. Now Bear and my house smell like skunk."
Eek! Man, now I really feel badly. Sigh... Hope the weekend goes better than that for her.
The only flight that went this way non-stop was Virgin America (and I must say... wow, REALLY nice airlines) and it was a "night flight". We left SFO at about 11pm and got in to Boston Airport at 7:30am (but 4:30am to our bodies/brains).
It seemed ideal. We were saving so much time (all the other airlines were three flights and almost 24 hours of travel... ugh!).
But alas, I had five and a half hours of RLS (restless leg syndrome). Blah! It was absolute torture (well, torture for me, anyway... comparatively speaking). So I arrived in Boston with no sleep and we set off straight away for sight seeing.
Today (Saturday) is our only real "free" day, so we had to do SOMETHING.
We went to the Aquarium first (well, after stopping at one of the million Dunkin Donuts... no restaurants opened until 11:30am) and it was really cool. Gabe took a ton of photos. I took some too (and will try to upload some here tomorrow, but I don't see any photo-editing software here... I'm on the hotel computer... didn't want to lug the laptop across the states). Y'all might have to just wait until I get back home before you SEE the pix that go along with this text.
Boston is a difficult place to park in. We ended up doing a LOT of walking because we had a good parking space and a mile here and there didn't seem too far.
People were telling us the weather was unusual. Lots of rain in June.
We had nice weather (beautiful, in fact) all day. It didn't start raining (and it rains hard!) until we were all settle comfy cozy in our hotel room.
After the Aquarium, we went to the Museum of Fine Art. I was so impressed with Gabe being interested in some of the artwork. I mean, when I mentioned "museum", he actually said that sounded good to him. I couldn't believe it.
We didn't stay all day, but we saw a number of cool things, and again got tons of photos.
This must be the first time Gabe's gotten to see a Van Gogh, a Monet, a Renoir, etc. up close and in person.
After that, we were trying to find a restaurant, but the driving here is... um... not my forte. So we decided to hit the road (toward our hotel) and just find something along the way. Good thing Gabe was hungry and we stopped only barely outside of Boston... 'cause after that, well, it was pretty slim pickins.
Things we observed, noticed, or were suprised by:
There are fire hydrants ALL OVER the place in the Boston Wharf area. It is really hard to find a garbage can in the Boston Wharf area.
There are a lot of elderly people in Boston. Is this a popular place to retire? I could see myself retiring somewhere around here... er... except for that thing I have about being cold intolerant. Let me visit here in the winter and THEN ask me how I feel.
Um... what else? Oh, rainstorms here are heavy and accompanied by thunder and ligthtning.
The trip from Boston through New Hampshire and into Vermont was trees... trees, trees, and more trees. I was (I have no idea why) expecting to travel a road out in the country lined with farms and ranches and great expanses of open land. Not so. It's hills with trees on them. That's it. An occasional pond or lake... then more trees.
We didn't see houses until we got right close to our hotel. Which is very nice, by the way (Super 8).
Gabe says the people here are really nice (friendly, helpful).
We don't head over to Dartmouth until about noon tomorrow.
I'm sure there won't be TOO much for me to report regarding Gabe's hockey camp, but if anyone wants, I'll come back and blab about our trip each day.
Well, I'd better get back to the room there. I left Gabe alone with a pint of Ben and Jerry's!
Later!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Pricing Calculator Version 2, Collaboration, Etsy, Great Expectations, Metal Clay, My First Foray Into Silver Land
METAL CLAY, MY FIRST FORAY INTO SILVER LAND
Yes, it’s true… anomaly though it may be, I learned Bronze and Copper clay before ever even TRYING silver clay.
I have a friend that I want to make something for… big hole bead caps. So I tried yesterday, finally opening my silver and making, oh about a dozen or so. Two different sizes, three different patterns.
That’s my set up for drying them. The largest spheres I have are some massive Quartz beads. But they roll!!! It was a lightbulb moment when I noticed a tray of Alex beads sitting on my coffee table. Ah, perfect set up to hold my Quartz beads still. Then I just laid the wet clay bead caps on top of the Quartz spheres and let them dry. (Once they were dry like this, I moved them to the candle warmer.)
I looked up on the internet, and not taking it from ONE source alone, determined that I’d try a firing schedule of 1650 degrees for two hours. Almost all the websites said this was best. I’m talkin’ PMC3 here. Yeah, I know… the insert-recommended firing schedule is something more like 1250 for 30 minutes. But I swear, there were a million websites that said PMC3 should be fired at 1650 for two hours. Wwwwwwaaaa!
Darn… just remembered that my kiln supposedly runs hot. Argh!
Got up this morning, opened the kiln, and actually thought at first that my bead caps had evaporated. But no, they’d merely sunk into the aluminum hydrate (the stuff you use if you don’t want your silver to slump during firing… helps it hold its shape).
Everyone said silver comes out of the kiln white, so don’t be startled. Um… mine came out black. Or at least dark gray.
Please don’t laugh… here’s my disastrous results.
Okay, seven flat out broke. Three were intact (one is off camera), one of which has a gnarly edge and can’t be used… the other… meh.
Here’s the one I think is salvageable. I didn’t tumble it because it wasn’t ever white. Shrug. I did, however, LOS it a bit, then buffed it. I like the two-tone look.
My thinking is: either that firing schedule is really NOT appropriate for PMC3… or my kiln runs hot and I need to lower that a bit… or I just made my pieces too dang thin (I was idiotically trying to make my silver last).
Not all my pieces fit into the bowl of aluminum hydrate, so now I need to know…
Can my five leftover, non-fired caps be reconstituted?
Can anything be done with my icky, but fine silver busted bead caps?
Oh, now here’s something interesting. As I sit here and type this, I pause and pick up the quilted pendant. I turn it over and notice pitting.
But then it hits me! The back of this pendant is copper; copper isn’t supposed to pit. And then… I get an idea. I grab the photo I took before firing… the photo of the bits of binder in this piece. I make the photos match in size and I lay them one on top of the other. Then I make the top one translucent and start rotating it. There! I’d say those binder bits match up pretty well with the pits. Wouldn’t you? (The white dots are the binder; the dark dots are the pits.)
Oh, and great news! Monica’s pendant is selling tonight. Whoohoo!!!
PRICING CALCULATOR VERSION 2
Finally got it listed, in eBay, Etsy, ArtFire, and my website.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Saw Great Expectations the other night. The one with Gwenyth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. What was up with all the green? Personally, I found it to be overkill. The point (whatever the point was) could have been made without hitting the audience over the head with green overload. Subtlety works too.
OPINIONS
Is it possible for me to go one day without voicing a single opinion? I’m considering this and may expound upon it at a later time.
ETSY
Watched an interesting thing on Etsy just now (which was last night). I listed a piece of jewelry, then went to the main page, clicked on BUY, then CATEGORY, then JEWELRY. Then I watched… and refreshed every few seconds. Within five minutes my listing went straight from oblivion to… the second page. Ha ha ha! It never even got on the front page… not of jewelry anyway. It did last a few seconds on the front page of the subcategory of necklace at least.
COLLABORATION
Here’s a sneak peak of a bracelet Mon and I collaborated on. She made the bronze clay pieces and I put the bracelet together.
COMMENTS
Cindy Gimbrone: Thanks for sharing your bronze and copper clay journey in such rich detail, Laura. The mandala is beautiful! I don't doubt you'll sell many of those!
I love LOL cats! Sometimes I feel like I'm the staring contest :-)
Keep doin' whatcha do! It's all lovely!
Cindy
Thank YOU for reading my blog. Y’know, I go back to my posts all the time when I need to refer to something I’ve done or a setting I’ve used. It’s nice to think that anyone else reads about my metal education.
I agree with you about Alex’s mandala. She’s going to let me use it when I post the tutorial listing. Yay!
BTW, your most recent blog post comes on the heels of someone chastising me for having a blog with no focus. Ha ha ha! I’m supposed to have one “jewelry” blog and one “personal crap” blog, I guess. Far be it from me to ever do anything I’m supposed to, though. Besides, my jewelry IS me… I can’t separate them. Everything I do in my life is connected to everything else I do in my life. It’s all intertwined and would be really hard to pigeon-hole things into separate compartments.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Yes, it’s true… anomaly though it may be, I learned Bronze and Copper clay before ever even TRYING silver clay.
I have a friend that I want to make something for… big hole bead caps. So I tried yesterday, finally opening my silver and making, oh about a dozen or so. Two different sizes, three different patterns.
That’s my set up for drying them. The largest spheres I have are some massive Quartz beads. But they roll!!! It was a lightbulb moment when I noticed a tray of Alex beads sitting on my coffee table. Ah, perfect set up to hold my Quartz beads still. Then I just laid the wet clay bead caps on top of the Quartz spheres and let them dry. (Once they were dry like this, I moved them to the candle warmer.)
I looked up on the internet, and not taking it from ONE source alone, determined that I’d try a firing schedule of 1650 degrees for two hours. Almost all the websites said this was best. I’m talkin’ PMC3 here. Yeah, I know… the insert-recommended firing schedule is something more like 1250 for 30 minutes. But I swear, there were a million websites that said PMC3 should be fired at 1650 for two hours. Wwwwwwaaaa!
Darn… just remembered that my kiln supposedly runs hot. Argh!
Got up this morning, opened the kiln, and actually thought at first that my bead caps had evaporated. But no, they’d merely sunk into the aluminum hydrate (the stuff you use if you don’t want your silver to slump during firing… helps it hold its shape).
Everyone said silver comes out of the kiln white, so don’t be startled. Um… mine came out black. Or at least dark gray.
Please don’t laugh… here’s my disastrous results.
Okay, seven flat out broke. Three were intact (one is off camera), one of which has a gnarly edge and can’t be used… the other… meh.
Here’s the one I think is salvageable. I didn’t tumble it because it wasn’t ever white. Shrug. I did, however, LOS it a bit, then buffed it. I like the two-tone look.
My thinking is: either that firing schedule is really NOT appropriate for PMC3… or my kiln runs hot and I need to lower that a bit… or I just made my pieces too dang thin (I was idiotically trying to make my silver last).
Not all my pieces fit into the bowl of aluminum hydrate, so now I need to know…
Can my five leftover, non-fired caps be reconstituted?
Can anything be done with my icky, but fine silver busted bead caps?
Oh, now here’s something interesting. As I sit here and type this, I pause and pick up the quilted pendant. I turn it over and notice pitting.
But then it hits me! The back of this pendant is copper; copper isn’t supposed to pit. And then… I get an idea. I grab the photo I took before firing… the photo of the bits of binder in this piece. I make the photos match in size and I lay them one on top of the other. Then I make the top one translucent and start rotating it. There! I’d say those binder bits match up pretty well with the pits. Wouldn’t you? (The white dots are the binder; the dark dots are the pits.)
Oh, and great news! Monica’s pendant is selling tonight. Whoohoo!!!
PRICING CALCULATOR VERSION 2
Finally got it listed, in eBay, Etsy, ArtFire, and my website.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Saw Great Expectations the other night. The one with Gwenyth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke. What was up with all the green? Personally, I found it to be overkill. The point (whatever the point was) could have been made without hitting the audience over the head with green overload. Subtlety works too.
OPINIONS
Is it possible for me to go one day without voicing a single opinion? I’m considering this and may expound upon it at a later time.
ETSY
Watched an interesting thing on Etsy just now (which was last night). I listed a piece of jewelry, then went to the main page, clicked on BUY, then CATEGORY, then JEWELRY. Then I watched… and refreshed every few seconds. Within five minutes my listing went straight from oblivion to… the second page. Ha ha ha! It never even got on the front page… not of jewelry anyway. It did last a few seconds on the front page of the subcategory of necklace at least.
COLLABORATION
Here’s a sneak peak of a bracelet Mon and I collaborated on. She made the bronze clay pieces and I put the bracelet together.
COMMENTS
Cindy Gimbrone: Thanks for sharing your bronze and copper clay journey in such rich detail, Laura. The mandala is beautiful! I don't doubt you'll sell many of those!
I love LOL cats! Sometimes I feel like I'm the staring contest :-)
Keep doin' whatcha do! It's all lovely!
Cindy
Thank YOU for reading my blog. Y’know, I go back to my posts all the time when I need to refer to something I’ve done or a setting I’ve used. It’s nice to think that anyone else reads about my metal education.
I agree with you about Alex’s mandala. She’s going to let me use it when I post the tutorial listing. Yay!
BTW, your most recent blog post comes on the heels of someone chastising me for having a blog with no focus. Ha ha ha! I’m supposed to have one “jewelry” blog and one “personal crap” blog, I guess. Far be it from me to ever do anything I’m supposed to, though. Besides, my jewelry IS me… I can’t separate them. Everything I do in my life is connected to everything else I do in my life. It’s all intertwined and would be really hard to pigeon-hole things into separate compartments.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Metal Clay Follow-Up
ARTFIRE COMPLAINTS
Yeah, I know they’re new and all, but there are enough people who’ve joined ArtFire to warrant ArtFire having enough hired personnel to deal with some of the consistently annoying issues on the site.
I can’t begin to list the things still being complained about by those of us trying to use the site that have NOT been dealt with. What a huge disappointment they are turning into.
BTW, this has nothing to do with my success or non-success in selling there. I’m talking about annoying things that have been mentioned to the ArtFire admins time and again that are not being taken care of. It makes me not want to list any more products there until they get their act together… but I’ve been waiting months and it’s still not happening. So sad.
I hear that it’s even worse if you try to use the site as a buyer. Ugh!
METAL CLAY FOLLOW-UP
Last night, after I posted my blog, I had one of those lightning bolt moments. During class Friday, when I was showing my “Orient Express” bracelet (so named because it’s a “mystery” to me what the Chinese characters stand for) around and Hadar had asked me if I’d done anything different that might account for the colorful patina. I thought back, and nope, nothing different. Even quite the opposite of what one might expect, as I didn’t even take the pieces out while they were hot… after both phases, I let the kiln cool down all the way naturally.
But then just before going to bed I remembered… I remember that icky moment I’d had with the kiln. During phase two, I was trying to look at the numbers on the digital read-out, y’know, see where I was progress-wise. During the day, if the sun is on this side of the building, you just can’t see an LED readout. I thought my kiln had stopped. So I began to push buttons. By the time I’d figured out that it was just the LED readout and not the kiln itself, several minutes had passed and I don’t even know if when I got it back going again with its program if it was starting the cycle over or picking up where it left off or picking up where it left off but ramping up fast to catch back up to wherever it was before I started messing with it. Argh!
And I think what a shame it is that I don’t remember exactly WHEN this happened (as in, what exact moment of phase two) and/or exactly what I did at that time. I’d love to replicate it if that’s what produced my colorful patinas.
So I wake up this morning and I’m laying in bed thinking, “It’s your birthday, you really should get up and do something.” And then I remember I have a kiln full of stuff to check out. Oh yeah, baby, THAT gets me out of bed.
Here’s the goods, straight out of the kiln.
Apparently it wasn’t my mistake from earlier that gave me the patina. Yay!
BTW, that black stuff is just charcoal powder. After the pieces sat for a second (and after I took the picture), I turned the pieces upsidedown and all the black stuff came off.
A PET PEEVE
I don’t like being asked what my favorite (of anything) is. I don’t have a favorite color, meal, movie or book. First of all, I have many “things” that I like in any given category, and secondly my likes and dislikes change.
Okay, that was no big deal. But I just wanted to get it off my chest.
COMMENTS
mclainjewelry: It was great to see your finished pieces in the bronze and the pot and the kiln. I love the raku look of the finished product. I don't think I will venture there, though ... so much schtuffz going on with charcoal and containers, etc! I think the bead mandala is fantastic!
Thanks, Cathleen! Y’know, I actually allowed myself to be intimidated by clay for years based on a comment from a lampworker about how difficult a medium it was to work in. I mean, I figured, heck if LAMPWORKERS think it’s hard, what chance would I ever have? Ha ha ha!
But it’s funny, because it’s the list of “things” that keeps me from soldering projects. The pickling and the flux and the polishing (not in that order). I need projects that I can do here and there, in bits in pieces. If I have to get a whole “set-up” going, well that just doesn’t work. I rarely (if ever) have a full day to spend doing something.
Meh, I’m sure those are all just excuses on my part.
Anyway, I agree, Alex’s bead mandala is fab! I hope she does more. If she put them on notecards, I’d buy them in a heartbeat. Maybe I can talk her into a partnership deal.
Alex: Laser cutters aren't generally available to the common man, unless the man has mega-bucks. It might have been cut with a plasma cutter, still spendy but the common man (with a few bucks) can get one. My guess is it was a purchased component... And cool bracelets!
Hm… plasma cutter. Y’know, my first thought was also “purchased component”, but after looking at the profile and other items for sale, I really got the impression this was a bonafide metalsmith person. I’m gonna have to go back into my history for that day and have another look. Hee hee.
And thanks for the compliment on the bracelets. 99.9% of the credit, however, goes to the glass artist (as in most cases with my jewelry). I hate to think I’ll be making less and less jewelry in the future out of Lampwork, but I just can’t put the prices as high as the pieces deserve and I feel it’s so disrespectful to both me and the lampworkers if my pieces (using their work) sell for huge discount prices (as in, materials cost or less… ugh).
There was a post in the LE bathroom yesterday where a lampworker showed a matching pair of beads and asked for comments as to her idea on price ($30). The general consensus was that her price was spot on. The beads were really nice and I agreed that the price was spot on. The problem with a jewelry maker, though, is that if I buy those beads and make earrings out of them, it’s unlikely I’d make a profit and I’d most likely take a loss when selling them. Why? Maybe it’s me… maybe it’s where I sell. Perhaps in a Beverly Hills boutique or given the right artist’s name, those earrings could easily bring a profit to the maker, but I don’t sell in Beverly Hills boutiques nor do I have a name that commands such prices.
So although I TOTALLY feel the lampworkers’ prices are fair to them as artists, I can no longer buy any Lampwork beads because it’s not a feasible component option for me as a jewelry maker.
mclainjewelry: Laura, I totally missed why you are going to Hanover (Dartmouth) Is Gabe gonna go to school there? You know I am just over 2 hours from Boston .. if he does end up going there on one of your trips East, please consider flying into Bradley (Hartford) and visiting me (15 min from airport.. I can pick you p) then driving north to Hanover (only adds maybe an hour to your journey and hey you can visit my mess and my kitties!!)
About the laser cutting ... Google : laser cut metal and you will see many links including Youtube videos. At its best there are some cool intricate results... but usually it is just used for kitsch.
Thank you so much for buying my pin... I have spent 400 dollars for car repairs in the last week (there goes my rent) so it REALLY REALLY REALLY helps! Now .. the other day you were pondering on how to maximize your Etsy ... um um the way to make money on Etsy is to hang in there and NOT spend all your profits *snark*... but thanks so much anyhooooo.
I feel sad when I see empty shops on Etsy or elsewhere... people do give up a bit too easily. I have had sales come out of the blue so I just keep on listing. I just finished a big batch of pins, so my photographing extravaganza is about to begin, then I will list. I also have a craft fair in RL 3 weeks from tomorrow and saturday. Hope the weather cooperates, that is all I ask.
Thanks again.
Ha! Cathleen, I don’t expect people to keep up with my ramblings. I’m going to Dartmouth in July with Gabe because he has a goalie camp there. I wish I’d known ahead of time about Hartford. I really didn’t have any preferences as to airports, once I realized there weren’t any big, convenient ones. Ha ha ha! I would have loved to see you!
Okay, I will google laser cut metal and have a look. Apparently I’m intrigued enough. :-)
Sorry to hear about your car repairs. I was just thinking that since mine is over the 80,000 mile mark I’d better stash some cash… y’know, just in case.
And no, I’m not giving up yet. Heck, I’ve been with Etsy practically since it began, why would I give up now? Ha ha ha! But now that I’m settled in, finally, after the move, I am making more items and trying to keep the listings going.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Yeah, I know they’re new and all, but there are enough people who’ve joined ArtFire to warrant ArtFire having enough hired personnel to deal with some of the consistently annoying issues on the site.
I can’t begin to list the things still being complained about by those of us trying to use the site that have NOT been dealt with. What a huge disappointment they are turning into.
BTW, this has nothing to do with my success or non-success in selling there. I’m talking about annoying things that have been mentioned to the ArtFire admins time and again that are not being taken care of. It makes me not want to list any more products there until they get their act together… but I’ve been waiting months and it’s still not happening. So sad.
I hear that it’s even worse if you try to use the site as a buyer. Ugh!
METAL CLAY FOLLOW-UP
Last night, after I posted my blog, I had one of those lightning bolt moments. During class Friday, when I was showing my “Orient Express” bracelet (so named because it’s a “mystery” to me what the Chinese characters stand for) around and Hadar had asked me if I’d done anything different that might account for the colorful patina. I thought back, and nope, nothing different. Even quite the opposite of what one might expect, as I didn’t even take the pieces out while they were hot… after both phases, I let the kiln cool down all the way naturally.
But then just before going to bed I remembered… I remember that icky moment I’d had with the kiln. During phase two, I was trying to look at the numbers on the digital read-out, y’know, see where I was progress-wise. During the day, if the sun is on this side of the building, you just can’t see an LED readout. I thought my kiln had stopped. So I began to push buttons. By the time I’d figured out that it was just the LED readout and not the kiln itself, several minutes had passed and I don’t even know if when I got it back going again with its program if it was starting the cycle over or picking up where it left off or picking up where it left off but ramping up fast to catch back up to wherever it was before I started messing with it. Argh!
And I think what a shame it is that I don’t remember exactly WHEN this happened (as in, what exact moment of phase two) and/or exactly what I did at that time. I’d love to replicate it if that’s what produced my colorful patinas.
So I wake up this morning and I’m laying in bed thinking, “It’s your birthday, you really should get up and do something.” And then I remember I have a kiln full of stuff to check out. Oh yeah, baby, THAT gets me out of bed.
Here’s the goods, straight out of the kiln.
Apparently it wasn’t my mistake from earlier that gave me the patina. Yay!
BTW, that black stuff is just charcoal powder. After the pieces sat for a second (and after I took the picture), I turned the pieces upsidedown and all the black stuff came off.
A PET PEEVE
I don’t like being asked what my favorite (of anything) is. I don’t have a favorite color, meal, movie or book. First of all, I have many “things” that I like in any given category, and secondly my likes and dislikes change.
Okay, that was no big deal. But I just wanted to get it off my chest.
COMMENTS
mclainjewelry: It was great to see your finished pieces in the bronze and the pot and the kiln. I love the raku look of the finished product. I don't think I will venture there, though ... so much schtuffz going on with charcoal and containers, etc! I think the bead mandala is fantastic!
Thanks, Cathleen! Y’know, I actually allowed myself to be intimidated by clay for years based on a comment from a lampworker about how difficult a medium it was to work in. I mean, I figured, heck if LAMPWORKERS think it’s hard, what chance would I ever have? Ha ha ha!
But it’s funny, because it’s the list of “things” that keeps me from soldering projects. The pickling and the flux and the polishing (not in that order). I need projects that I can do here and there, in bits in pieces. If I have to get a whole “set-up” going, well that just doesn’t work. I rarely (if ever) have a full day to spend doing something.
Meh, I’m sure those are all just excuses on my part.
Anyway, I agree, Alex’s bead mandala is fab! I hope she does more. If she put them on notecards, I’d buy them in a heartbeat. Maybe I can talk her into a partnership deal.
Alex: Laser cutters aren't generally available to the common man, unless the man has mega-bucks. It might have been cut with a plasma cutter, still spendy but the common man (with a few bucks) can get one. My guess is it was a purchased component... And cool bracelets!
Hm… plasma cutter. Y’know, my first thought was also “purchased component”, but after looking at the profile and other items for sale, I really got the impression this was a bonafide metalsmith person. I’m gonna have to go back into my history for that day and have another look. Hee hee.
And thanks for the compliment on the bracelets. 99.9% of the credit, however, goes to the glass artist (as in most cases with my jewelry). I hate to think I’ll be making less and less jewelry in the future out of Lampwork, but I just can’t put the prices as high as the pieces deserve and I feel it’s so disrespectful to both me and the lampworkers if my pieces (using their work) sell for huge discount prices (as in, materials cost or less… ugh).
There was a post in the LE bathroom yesterday where a lampworker showed a matching pair of beads and asked for comments as to her idea on price ($30). The general consensus was that her price was spot on. The beads were really nice and I agreed that the price was spot on. The problem with a jewelry maker, though, is that if I buy those beads and make earrings out of them, it’s unlikely I’d make a profit and I’d most likely take a loss when selling them. Why? Maybe it’s me… maybe it’s where I sell. Perhaps in a Beverly Hills boutique or given the right artist’s name, those earrings could easily bring a profit to the maker, but I don’t sell in Beverly Hills boutiques nor do I have a name that commands such prices.
So although I TOTALLY feel the lampworkers’ prices are fair to them as artists, I can no longer buy any Lampwork beads because it’s not a feasible component option for me as a jewelry maker.
mclainjewelry: Laura, I totally missed why you are going to Hanover (Dartmouth) Is Gabe gonna go to school there? You know I am just over 2 hours from Boston .. if he does end up going there on one of your trips East, please consider flying into Bradley (Hartford) and visiting me (15 min from airport.. I can pick you p) then driving north to Hanover (only adds maybe an hour to your journey and hey you can visit my mess and my kitties!!)
About the laser cutting ... Google : laser cut metal and you will see many links including Youtube videos. At its best there are some cool intricate results... but usually it is just used for kitsch.
Thank you so much for buying my pin... I have spent 400 dollars for car repairs in the last week (there goes my rent) so it REALLY REALLY REALLY helps! Now .. the other day you were pondering on how to maximize your Etsy ... um um the way to make money on Etsy is to hang in there and NOT spend all your profits *snark*... but thanks so much anyhooooo.
I feel sad when I see empty shops on Etsy or elsewhere... people do give up a bit too easily. I have had sales come out of the blue so I just keep on listing. I just finished a big batch of pins, so my photographing extravaganza is about to begin, then I will list. I also have a craft fair in RL 3 weeks from tomorrow and saturday. Hope the weather cooperates, that is all I ask.
Thanks again.
Ha! Cathleen, I don’t expect people to keep up with my ramblings. I’m going to Dartmouth in July with Gabe because he has a goalie camp there. I wish I’d known ahead of time about Hartford. I really didn’t have any preferences as to airports, once I realized there weren’t any big, convenient ones. Ha ha ha! I would have loved to see you!
Okay, I will google laser cut metal and have a look. Apparently I’m intrigued enough. :-)
Sorry to hear about your car repairs. I was just thinking that since mine is over the 80,000 mile mark I’d better stash some cash… y’know, just in case.
And no, I’m not giving up yet. Heck, I’ve been with Etsy practically since it began, why would I give up now? Ha ha ha! But now that I’m settled in, finally, after the move, I am making more items and trying to keep the listings going.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)