And we are live in 5,4,3,2,.....

Well, sort of. Yesterday was epically bad for me. Everything seemed to be going wrong, and I was walking around in a fog. Fedex, which normally delivers at my house like clockwork right at 11-11:30 decided to deliver my new computer (!!!!) at 10am instead. So I missed the delivery. Which then necessitated a trip to BFE, otherwise known as the far reaches of NE Portland, past the airport. Right during rush hour. Then I had to endure this huge strip mall development (really, why would you build all of this stuff out in the middle of nowhere? Seriously!) to buy a wireless router at Bestbuy (another place I despise! But it was right next door to a Petsmart (of course) so I did get the pugs their favorite toy, which is a rubber ball thing in the shape of a cat). But then, upon my return home, I discovered that the pugs had made it into my bedroom and the littlest pug had peed on my floor, and someone, I'm not pointing fingers (Dieter), had puked on my pillow. Yes. It was disgusting.

Ok, so I was all ready to not let that ruin my night. I unpacked my gorgeous new Mac (people, I've been limping along with the computer that I purchased for grad school a million years ago), and set it up where I wanted it, when it occurred to me that my living room only has two outlets, very inconveniently situated. Again I was like, no problem! I will just get out the extension cords I got the other day (Smart me! Thinking ahead!) and use them. Alas, these two extension cords only had two prong inlets. Sweet! As we all know, computer plugs are three pronged, of course. Then, I also realized that the plug thing for the cable modem was across the room was nowhere near an electrical outlet. And modems tend to need to be plugged in. All during this, the littlest pug is just going crazy. Jumping and running and harassing Gunter, who is having ear problems and just wants to lay in front of the fire. It was just too much. But I rallied. I talked to my best friend on the phone and whined about all that had gone wrong and that seemed to help. Then I drove to Fred Meyer at 9pm-ish to buy a cord and a coaxial cable to string across the living room. Yay! Well, it also turns out that I probably didn't need 50ft of the cable. Who knew?

Ok, so at this point I just want to have the computer plugged in and turned on. Well, I underestimated the distance to the electrical outlet behind the couch that I wanted to reach. It worked, but barely, and not in the best or safest way. 50ft of coaxial cable later, I have the modem plugged in and the wireless router up and running. Computer turned on, searching for internet. Nothing! Nothing! (I had already called Comcast and had it all set up for a switch on yesterday.) So I called Comcast. Of course nothing worked and they couldn't send someone for a thousand years and when they do schedule a time I will have to stick around the house all freaking day. Which, really people, I can't do at this moment. Seriously. I'm about to explode with all the work I have to do. And then I'm going to visit my sister this week and taking Friday off. Which just isn't helping. I want to see my niece though. I digress. At this point, with the computer balanced precariously on the edge of my little table and cord everywhere and packing material all over the place I just throw in the towel and go to bed.

Ok, so that was my bad day. I'm sure that it is pretty mild in the way of bad days (except, of course, for puke on my pillow). It was just a series of unfortunate events that cumulatively added up to a very frustrating day.

But I have a new computer! At home now! So I can now answer emails while I drink my coffee and the pugs play at my feet. I love having a studio, but having the computer there has really affected the quality of my communication with customers and my blogging. At 5pm, the last thing I want to do is stick around the studio and answer emails and blog.

I'm pretty excited! I have plans for the holidays. I want to create a new holiday shop banner and do some more blogging about specific items and maybe do some more process photos.

Casting Update:

So, all of the equipment that I purchased last month has just been sitting in my studio unused and sending me reproachful glares when my back is turned. "I know kiln and vacuum table! I see you there and I want to use you! I do! I'm just so busy that I can't get to you!"

I'm also a little bit nervous about going it alone. Whenever I've cast before it's been under the guidance of someone more experienced. You know? So, technically, I know what to do. But I'm nervous to do it alone. I'm afraid the kiln might explode. I haven't even turned either thing on. But I'm going to. Because the thought of hand fabricating another pebble ring or three stone ring is completely unacceptable to me. And I have BIG ideas! BIG plans!

Ok, sorry that the majority of this post was about my epically bad day. I feel better though!

FIRE!

Design Monday

Seriously?

And another:


hello
Am interested in the immediate purchase of ur item.. so i will like you to get back to me in my private email: katerine_smith31@yahoo.co.uk

Creepy stuff that happens to me on a semi-regular basis

So I got an email this morning:
I am interested in the immediate purchase of your item and will be make payment via cashier check/money order, my private shipping company will handle the shipping, but before payment will be made i need to be sure of who i am dealing with if you are going to be honest and sincere throughout the transaction. A certified cashiers check is cash-able the same day,there is going to be an excess fund on the check ,the excess fund is meant for the private shipping company who will come to your place for pick up of the item, so shipping is not a problem,will you be able to transfer the excess fund to the shipping company the same day you receive the check?. check would be sent to you so when you get payment you can easily cash it at any cashing point near you or deposit in your bank. You'll be sending excess fund to my shipper , which would be meant for shipping arrangement.if you agree, signify your interest by forwarding to me your Final Asking Price, Full Name & Contact Address a
nd Tel # also i will want you to email to my private email address markdonald19@yahoo.com because i had some bad network with my acct in Etsy.com,So plz kindly email me to my email address I await your response soonest.
Best and kind regards,

This is how I plan on responding:

Oh! Fantastic! Thanks so much for targeting me for your scam! I know you think you will get me to respond by dangling a cashiers check (that can be cashed the same day, even!) in front of me, but you know what douchebag? I don't need money (unlike you), therefore I'm not going to be suckered into giving you my personal information.

How about I prove how honest and sincere I am by just sending you the item without you paying anything? Or better yet, why don't I just send you a big wad of cash? Here is my full name and social security number and mother's maiden name and my bank accounts (for good measure!). This is the address that you can send the immediately cash-able at any cashing point cashiers check to:

1234 Gofuckyourself Lane
DoIlooklikeIwasbornyesterday Township,
Biteme, 0923092 USA


Seriously, this happens every month just about. Someone approaches me wanting to buy my most expensive item, but they first want all of my information and the english is always really poor. It's really creepy.

Pretty Pictures

Design Monday

Maybe a constructive idea, maybe just an excuse to stay home with the pugs to drink coffee in front of the "fireplace"?

What Could All This Be!?!?!?!

Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!

The excitement! The excitement!

to be continued......

I have Arrived

So, week before last I finally moved into a studio.....just in time to have a very slow two weeks at work. Lol. So of course I am freaking out. But things are not slow, slow. Just not crazy like the last couple of months. I suppose the wedding onslaught couldn't last forever. But now I am trying to get everything in a line to hit the holiday season in stride. I think I will buy that equipment I talked about in a previous post this month. I am going to put it here:

It's going to be awesome and make my life so much easier. Some of my designs are crazy labor intensive to hand build, and are actually much better suited for casting. So that will be a huge relief, to be able to cast instead of break my back fabricating.







The one drawback: I can't bring the pugs like I thought I could.... :-( And the landlord is a bit of a jerk. So that's not awesome. But all in all, I'm glad to have the place for now. Yay!

Disaster Waiting to Happen

That, sweet readers, is my gemstone tray. It exploded upon impact after it fell to the floor, showering my gemstone supply all over the ground. How did it fall to the floor? Well.....I had it balanced on a corner of the open drawer of my supplies cabinet. My mother's voice echoed through my mind as I looked at it in horror: "that was a disaster waiting to happen". Note to self, don't precariously balance anything in a high traffic area of the studio.

(Like that carpet? Not me! Moving into the studio tomorrow! Then into this sweet apartment on the 15th. Holy smokes am I excited!)

T-minus Ten

days until I get to move into my new studio! Good gravy, I am so excited. It will be like a whole new world! This last Monday I went to look at the space, which was so much larger than I expected. It's in this old house near Mississippi (which is a cool little street with a great breakfast place called, aptly enough, Gravy, and an okay yoga studio). I met the two ladies I will be sharing the space with and they seemed super cool and laid back. It will be so nice to have people to talk to about jewelry things. We chatted for a while about stone suppliers, casting places, and mold making. It was awesome. I'd been in such a vacuum working alone for so long (well, since February). The space itself is large (I have no idea how I will fill it up..I'm sure I will manage it. I'm picturing a little space with my desk etc. and a couch for people who want to consult in person to sit on, and then my work space.) and the house is so old that the floor sort of slants away from the middle of house. But it's sort of perfect, really. Next door to our space is a tailor's sweat shop. I think the main lady over there is Russian, and there is a clothing store downstairs. One of the girls has a little brindle french bulldog, so Gunter and Dieter will have someone to play with! What else..... I'm thinking of getting this:

(vacuum table, kiln and assorted odds and ends for investing)

Along with this:

(centrifugal casting machine)

And eventually this:

(this is used to inject molten wax into molds)

and this: (to carve wax with)

Man, I am so excited to start carving my own designs. I love fabricating by hand, and the possibilities and limitations of the method have definitely influenced my designs for the better I think, but carving in wax just seems like freedom! There are just so many more possibilities! Right now I sort of feel like I'm caught in 2D and when I can start using wax carving and casting I will break free into 3D. Does that make sense?

This is new:

And it's in my size, so I plan on keeping it for myself.

Time for a Studio?

Dearest friends and family, is it time for singleB to move into a new space? I think it is. I go to look at studio space tomorrow afternoon. It would be a shared space, I'll meet the two other jewelry artists tomorrow. I hope they are cool. The space seems sort of neat (craigslist find), it's open, but also allows for a semi private space.



I am just not very efficient when I am working at home. There is just too much to distract. Plus, I would like to move into a smaller apartment (perhaps downtown?), so it would be nice to have a separate studio to put all of my tools and misc. business stuff in. I plan on purchasing casting equipment towards the fall/winter this year, so I definitely need this extra area. I'm so excited, I hope it works out with the other girls at our meeting tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Process Photos

Wrench in the Gears

Or maybe, more appropriately, drill bit in the gears.



People, this is the last thing you want to see when you are in a hurry. Even if I'm not in a hurry, it's still not at the top of my list of things I want to have happen. That evil pointy thing, sticking up from the top the ring is a broken drill bit. And it is close to impossible to remove without substantial damage to the metal around it (unless you use acid to dissolve it out...but I try to use as little acid in my work as possible). If that ring had been silver I would have just scrapped it and cut my losses. But that was 14kt palladium white, so I had to fix it somehow. What made it even worse was that I couldn't really enlarge the hole at all since I had to set a small stone there, one that was not very much larger than the drill. Argh! These eternity rings are really starting to be the bane of my existence, I'll be honest. They are just so high stress...there is so much that could go wrong. I'm either going to have to give them up in gold entirely, or only make them with slightly larger diamonds. 2.1mm versus 1.7mm. The smaller stones just make it so much more difficult to center in the middle of the band. My other version in silver is much easier to do, because the stones are 2mm. Stressful. Ok, resolution: I finally got the drill bit pieces removed through persistence and judicious use of a hammer and punch. Whew.

New Designs! Coming soon!

Man! I am so excited! I have time today to do some work on my own projects...things I've been thinking about making forever. And the best part is that I'm going to make them in my size! Yay! I will finally have some of my own jewelry to wear. If it doesn't sell right away my sister generally makes off with it whenever she comes to visit. But who can say no to someone to who brings you this to squeeze:


The answer is that you can't. She takes anything she wants while I'm occupied snugging my niecette.

Ok, look for pictures and design sketches in the next few days!

Burn Notice

So this post title is actually a double entendre. It seems like I moved to Portland just in time to die of heat stroke. It's is 104 degrees outside right now, and I have no AC. And I work with torch. It's fantastic!

And this, loyal readers, is photographic evidence of the first burn I have ever received in the course of my work (well, there was this one time that I dripped molten dop wax on my finger, but that doesn't count). This comes from pure foolishness on my part: I had used this thing called a third hand, which is basically a set of tweezers attached to an adjustable weighted base, to prop a ring up for soldering. Instead of picking up the third hand from the cool base part, I used another pair of tweezers (which I will talk about more later) to quench the piece of metal I was working. Then, moments later, I was clearing my workspace for another project when I grabbed the third hand to move it out of the way. With my bare hand. And since it hadn't cooled at all, it burnt the bejesus out of my grasping fingers. This is just the most visible evidence:

Not bad as burns go, but I won't be modeling rings on that hand any time soon.

A pictorial day in the life:

let the pugs out in the morning before the back yard becomes a blazing pit of heat

coffee!

emails, quotes, general questions

figure out what is on the agenda for the day

survey the wreckage of my kitchen table. the larger the horizontal surface the messier it gets.

The supplies cabinet. Which right now is making all of my supplies smell like an 80 year old woman with an addiction to avon perfume and nicotine. hence the can of kilz primer and odor blocker sitting in front of the printer. I love this cabinet, I bought it on craigslist, but the smell was driving me cra----zeee.

Now a little game I like to call find the tweezers, preferably played while you have a live torch in your hand. There are two pairs in there, can you find them?

Recent variations:

gold on gold, citrine and 14kt

ruby, sapphire, silver


My lovely friend Kellie, modeling the new bangles. Of course she got to take that set home for her troubles.

An oldy but a goody.

Multistone rings.

New eternity band shape.


Since the move, I've lost my white windowsill that I used to photograph on, so I got this little decorative piece of ceramics. But I wonder if it is too distracting?