Quick update- hospital and house

Hi all ! As some of you know, my daughter went into the hospital Monday night - in through the ER and she is still there. She was admitted Monday night, had surgery Wednesday morning and will hopefully will be discharged in a day or two.

Our house is still undergoing renovations and I have no computer at home until the kitchen is 'more done'. :) I'm at the library right now -- my son checking out a few books, me checking in online....

I had no bench night this week as I was back and forth to the hospital ad nauseum...even missed a day of work - its just been a crazy week. But I DID finally get to the bench last night and I dove in with wild abandon - ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I just got totally absorbed which was GREAT! I have several new pieces almost done. I am hoping for some more 'me' time tonight, but we'll see how the day goes and if daughter gets discharged today or not.

Have a great weekend all!

~Janice

TT - Enamelling (again!)

I mentioned a while back that we did some torch enamelling at the JAR this year. So its been on my mind a lot lately.


These samplers were not done at the retreat, nor were they torched, these are my little play pieces done in my new kiln (a few months back). Nothing fancy, but the enamel 'stuck' and I got some varied colors and different techniques (such that they are...)





Enamelling is one of those things that is both easy and very difficult.



I think it depends on the technique you decide to go with.


There is torch firing, kiln firing, sgraffito, cloisonne and Champlevé, Basse-taille, Grisaille, Taille d'epargne, Plique-à-jour....there are 'additives' or inclusions such as mesh, wire, frits, metallic dust...you can paint, draw, scratch, grin, etc.



And all of it is a 'world' unto itself. People who are good at enamelling have invested a lot of time into learning about glass and test firing, making color charts/samplers, etc.



It is relatively easy to do simple torched pieces, but its very difficult to do work the likes of forum member Angela Gerhard. I was really happy to have Angela stop by the forum and discuss her work with us as I've been a huge fan of hers for quite some time. Angela's work consists of a lot of 'sgraffito'. Sgraffito is a technique that uses 'drawing' through the ground enamels to reveal layers of enamel or surface metal below - and can be used to create drawings, patterns, blocks of color, etc. Angela wrote a project article in the July 2009 Art Jewelry Magazine (issue #29) titled: Scribble into Enamels -- Sgraffito Revealed which is a great read.



I've posted an enamelling tutorial (forge and fuse - love this one!) before, and here are some more:


Intro to enamelling by Copperheart

Sharing - Mary-Lee Rae (TONS of info and pictures)

Cloisonne technique by Jane Cather

Applying images to enamel by Andrea Oda

Enamelling on metal clay by Jean Vormelker (and Lilyan Bachrach )



And here are some of my inspirations for trying enamelling:


Angela Gerhard

Kimberly Keyworth (and on google images)

Steff Korsage

Shana Kroiz


and JS Ellington, who is sadly no longer producing jewelry.


There are more, but I don't have links right now. If you love enamelling or have an enamellist that inspires you - leave a link or name in the comments please!



And I guess this qualifies as Tutorial Tuesday. So YAY! (quick change of post title and insert graphic...)

:-)



I haven't made anything in a while and I've been out of touch because our kitchen is gutted presently - the floor is almost done and then the cabinets will go back in - but it will be a while yet until I have my computer at home so I'm not online as much. And I wasn't able to access my studio for several days due to the flooring - grrrrrrr - I can get down there tonight but then won't be able to do so for another 2 days (at most) but after that we should be ok. Sooooo, I hope to have some work done tonight - I have several pieces in progress, though two were left in the pickle (not feeling really confident about that) - so hopefully I can finish those and maybe take a couple of photos.



In other news, my daughter was admitted to the hospital last night for an infection - is on IV antibiotics and they may need to lance/drain the abcess - will know more later. If you are a praying person - lift her up please - we'd appreciate it!


Hugs all!


~Janice

I can't, I won't, no........

I was all set to post today about my surprise upon discovering I'm featured in an Etsy Treasury; and then I was just going to ramble on about 'nothing'. But then I was reading something on the internet and had a flash of awareness.....which we'll get to in a minute.

First the treasury - yay! Purple is my favorite color - though green is quickly encroaching on purple's #1 status....So this treasury made me smile - big! It was curated by a member of BEST . :) Check out BEST: http://www.baltimorecraft.com/

SO happy to be included!

Moving on to my internet experience - so I have been confronted lately with a recurrent sort of theme - reading about people who are living 'counter culturally'.

Those who have decided to shuck 4 year degrees and/or conventional lifestyles in one way or another. . . . and some of them are downright cool, but all of them seem to have this 'liberating' quality about them. AND, they are making it work! My initial thought is always, 'wow', 'cool', 'looks like they are so happy', 'looks like fun'...........and then right behind that comes...

" I can't........"

"I can't..........'xyz'"

"I can't 'thus and such'"

and then I had a sudden awareness of how I often I say "I can't". I think I am going ot BAN those words from my vocabulary. They stink!

Now, I am a big proponent of learning to say 'no'. Or even - "I won't".

Some people have a hard time saying 'no' but I have learned that it is essential. And I really do know how to say 'no' now - without added qualifiers, excuses, or ancillary comments. "No" can stand alone. No is no.

And "I won't" is great too - I won't allow this or that or I won't stand for this or that....etc.

But - "I can't" ..... hmmmmm, I don't like it so much. Its so.....umm,powerless?
Maybe that is what I don't like about it. It seems to be full of a sense of powerlessness. What happened to the days of "I can do anything!" ??

Can I do anything? (could I ever???)

I am speaking apart from the idea of "all things are permissable though not beneficial" as in 1 Corinthians 10:23 -- certainly I'm not debating that.

I'm speaking of ability, abandon, drive, devotion, freedom......TRYING.

I'm thinking of norms, expectations, responsibilities, committments....DARING.

Can I do anything? Am I able to make a radical change in my life if I so chose? Would I choose it? What holds me back?

Is it that I can't...........or that I won't?

And what about things that aren't radical? What about more commonly acceptable changes - little dreams - is it that I can't? Or that I "don't"...or that I "won't"? And what holds me back?

Do you ever wonder about these things?

Are you living your dream? If not, what parts are missing?

What would need to be different?

Why not make some changes?

WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK?

Lately I am wondering.

A lot.

TGIF?

~Janice

Addendum - before I hit post, I got lost in another endeavor and I got to thinking about dreams and life -- and Randy Paush came to mind. I haven't thought about him in quite a while. I never met the man, but he tends to leave an indelible mark on one's memory. He lived a rather conventional life but he lived it with an unconventional passion. He lived his dream in many ways - he took chances and was unperturbed by hearing 'no'.

I want to be more like that. :)

Gorgeous new jewelry!

I have the pleasure to make jewelry that I love. I love the process of making it, start to finish - by hand, all the little components, fabricating, building it up, finishing, etc. I love seeing the finished piece and knowing that it started life as simple sheet and/ore wire. And now I am beginning to enjoying the thrill of seeing other people love my jewelry. Enough to purchase it with their hard earned money. THAT is a great feeling!

I also have the pleasure of being friends with people who make jewelry that I love. I even own a few pieces made by some of them!

On top of that (as if that wasn't enough!), I have the immense pleasure of being part of a community of artists who support one another and share advice and technical talk.

Recently, on the forum, Jerry Scavezze took the time to post a few photos of some recent work. And he has been patient in answering questions about his work!

Jerry is a fine craftsman who works and teaches (read that - TEACHES) in Colorado.

The first photo showcases his 14k gold anticlast rings with diamonds, sapphires, pink tourmaline.

This next is a 14k gold cuff that is anticlast x 2! With diamonds.

Stunning. Elegant. Classic.

Now add sexy.

Two anticlast forms, offset, but together - with 5 diamonds.

I could drool, I mean stare, at this one all day.

Not only does Jerry create beautiful works of art but he is a really nice guy.

Not only does Jerry himself teach, but he brings in fabulous well known names to teach. Names like: Harold O'Connor and Tom Herman.

More info on Jerry Scavezze:

Jerry's website -

http://www.scavezzegoldsmith.com/

And his classes here -

http://www.coloradoschoolofjewelryandmetalarts.com/

Just another reminder to surround yourself with positive people and lots of beauty!

~Janice

Packing, and treating, and etching...oh my!

Appetizing, isn't it?

This was dinner last night. (well, not for me, but for the family!)

More on that later.........

This weekend was a wild whirlwind of cooking, packing, treating, and other regular activities (laundry, grocery shopping,e tc) thrown in for good measure!

Our kitchen is being gutted today (although now they aren't starting until tomorrow).

So we spent a large part of the weekend clearing it all out - pots, pans, trays, racks, bowls, plates, cups, glasses, utensils, tupperware.....foils, phone books, pencils, all of it - ALL OF IT!....appliances (microwave, coffee pots, toaster, etc).

It all had to go. Where did it have to go?

Good question.

Some is in the garage, some in the dining room....I spent the last half of the weekend running up and down stairs and in and out of the garage trying to find what I needed to cook dinner. Fun.

This morning was fun too. Packing lunches, getting my breakfast...actually this morning went surprisingly smooth. yay.

We went treating on Halloween -so that blew, I mean, took...all evening/night - we left the house at 5pm and returned near 9pm.

We met at a friend's house, hung out a while, went out around the neighborhood,

stopped at another friend's house, hung out a while - walked some more...treating along the way.

It was a nice evening - despite some rain.

Tired treaters. :)

On Sunday I made this for dinner: a meathand ala NotMartha. :)

Never having made a meatloaf before - EVER. It was fun. I looked at a recipe in the Fanny Farmer (love that cookbook) and then altered it.

Our family likes a lot of sauce and we use tomato soup for that - so this is how it cooked.

This is how it looked out of the pan, on a tray, with the mashed potatoes all around it.

I also cooked a lasagna,

a sort of groundbeef hash,

some pasta, and hotdogs....oh, the mashed potatoes....

packaged all that for dinners (with the exception of the meathand and potatoes) for the next couple of weeks while I kitchen is being redone.

Also made my first 'nut mylk' - from almonds.

YAY!

That was fun.

I first soaked some almonds - maybe 2 cups, but probably less - than ground them, then strained through cheesecloth.....added more water, ground again, strained again. I was really surprised with how much it made! And now I literally have nut 'powder' too - so I can make something with that. Not sure what - but something!

I really need to purchase a better blender/processor and a dehydrator. I tried to make a squash 'soup' -- umm, ewww, no. It was not creamy AT ALL. It was grainy and nasty and I threw it out. :(

Sunday evening we were blessed with a lovely little viola recital. :)

It was a crazy weekend!!!!!!!

I'm so tired and its only Monday! lol

I still have lots to share from the retreat - here are some etched pieces. We did some electro-etching - these are sterling and they look FABULOUS! No 'bite' marks...just a lovely clean DEEP etch. YAY!

I had never electro-etched before (and I still can't say that I have, as I only observed...) and I was really surprised at how quick and easy - and no nasty chemicals. I still have my ferric chloride and ferric nitrate and will still use them, but will be transitioning to an electro-etch model soon.

More on that later!

~Janice