Friday Fave & Friday Five - a twofer!

So today's Friday Fave is also going to be a Friday FIVE. yay! ;-)


I want to share 5 new Favorite Etsy shops.


Mary Judy - I stumbled onto her shop and was immediately mezmerized - the colors and patterns just made me so happy. So today I bought this:
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=17734750
as a little birthday pressie to myself. :) YAY!



OnaRoll - there is just something so cozy about her items, oh crap - they ARE cozies. But you know what I mean...well, maybe you do. I think as I grow older I appreciate softness....-which I know seems in stark contrast to the bright WOW colors in the first shop.....so I'm a gal with lots of facets - want to make something of it? hmmm, I thought not. ;-) I love that her items bring a little gentleness into one's day - on your ipod or on your cofee cup - ooooooooooh, I know why I like it. I'm tactile. Texture girl, remember? uhh-huh. I want one.



UnderthePlanet - lush, fabulous handbags. Need I say more?



Amy Giacomelli - Fabulous bright paintings....



Joshua Craig art - metal bowls -- really really NICE metal bowls. :)




There you have it - ENJOY! :)

~Janice

BUMP-a-LUMP

That's what we say whenever we go over a speed bump - "BUMP-a-LUMP". Don't ask me why. Its one of those things that predates any possibility of meaningful explanation, and it just 'is'. We have lots of those things in our family - I am sure you do too. :)

The phrase came to mind as I was playing with texturing some copper to use in enamelling. I wanted something bumpy that would have some relief to hold color with some high spots that could be knocked off to show the copper. Although I fried those enamel pieces, I really liked the preceeding forms and wondered what they would look like in sterling.

So, on bench night I made a couple of quick samples - and I do mean quick.

These are hand formed, no press, although I wonder if I could do something similar in the press and have exacting reproducible shapes. I like that these are all a little different though. I'm not sure what gauge I did these in, but they are VERY lightweight -almost too light. I am going to try again in a heavier gauge but these are perfectly wearable - I will clean them up a bit and oxidize them and probably suspend them from leather cord. In addition to thinking 'bump-a-limp' I also think 'sea slug'. What about you? What comes to mind when seeing these weird forms?

Thinking sea slug reminds me of another favorite phrase of my LG and I - 'say hello to my little friend'. Used in a variety of capacities and situations - from, "Here comes a snowball directly at your head!" to "look at this cool bug I just found".

Today I'd like you to say hello to a friend of mine - Stevie B. He makes cool stuff and is tremendously witty. Its a lovely combination. :) Go see him - do it now.

I didn't get back to the bench last night - LG's arm is ok, just badly bruised. He's not a 'suck it up' kinda guy, but he was fine by the time I got home from work so I knew it was no big deal. STill he took th enight off from swimteam, we had a relaxed evening and I did some computer stuff. Messed around with some 'social site' stuff - Facebook mostly. What I should be doing is updating my website. That has GOT to be a focus. I also have two more tutorials in mind, just need to do some process photos and take care of the write ups, format them, and upload. I think I am going to do a third one as well - a freebie. I hope to have them all done by Sunday evening.

Back to work for me - Ciao' all!

~Janice

TFT - WsIP

Thats WorkS in Progress today. :)

I had a GREAT time at the bench last night - even though it was one of those exploratory kind of nights. I can NEVER seem to just leave well enough alone and do what I know, or repeat what is 'safe'. So lat night I got into a struggle with a 12 ga piece of sterling wire. I haven't really worked with any large gauge wire for a while, I tend to forget what a bear it can be.

But, out of my struggle - came this WIP

This is 12 gauge sterling with an 8mm lab sapphire....and a smaller gauge wire for the top part.

I plan on adding chain to each side to complete the piece (after I clean it up some more, polish it, and set the stone!)

I made 3 ring shanks - like this one - got them all soldered and now need to make just the right settings for them!

That's the fun part - looking at all my yummy stones!

I like the shank - its simple, lightweight, but different...makes a statement (almost) without really trying. Ya know?

I re-took some photos last night - am going to be adding a new photo with each online listing for a ring - it will show the ring on a mandrel - for sizing purposes. This one has a split view because the shank is a stirrup shape and I wanted to show how it sits up a bit making sizing difficult.

The next one is just a repolished ring - love the polisher!

This ring looks SO much better with a higher polish.

What else - ohhhhhhhhh, I have two little sterling pendants - warty little things - I totally forgot about them. I had made something similar in copper to enamel on and then thought - why not silver? They are different, quirky, organic...fun. I need to oxidize them and polish or tumble - but I'll snap photos tonight, even if I don't work on them.

I guess that's all.

My LG fell today and wacked his elbow but good. Got a call from camp - he wanted to stay even though it was a good knock. Got another call from camp - increased swelling, numbness....they put him in a sling. My Dad was good enough to go get him - took him to the doc for me - they just called on their way home - no x-ray, just rest and ibuprofen and see how it is tomorrow. Poor LG.

I guess he wont' be going to swim practice tonight. hmmmmmmmmm, that means I might have a bit of extra time tonight.....

oh.

Is that my bench calling? ;-)

Janice

Wonderful wacky weekend

I would have added busy crazy tired...but that goes without saying I think! I can't even recall what I did Friday night....maybe worked on some jewelry..? Not sure, seems like SO long ago.

Saturday we woke early for a swim meet - had to be there at 7am but thankfully it was a 'home' meet so it was a SHORT drive. We left the house at about 10 minutes til 7. :) I worked as a Stroke and Turn judge so I was there from start til finish, on my feet, the entire time - standing at pools edge, water glinting, watching swimmers work so hard to win their races. It is such a bad feeling to disqualify someone, but...well, its part of the schtick and a learning experience for the swimmer. Our team did well and it was a simply stunning day.. not too hot, not too cool, not too bright, it was all 'just right'. Yes, goldilocks, it really was.


We only have one swim meet left, then the HoCo Invitational - which they let ANYONE swim in. Well guess what? I'm an 'anyone'. So I think, maybe, I just might swim. Here's a little known tidbit. I used to be QUITE the swimmer.


I swam for YEARS - and I was good. As a matter of fact, I swam in an upper level league and trained with Murray Stephens of NBAC. . . that's where Michael Phelps swims. Only I was *cough* *cough* a few years before him. And I was young and dumb and quit when I was about 13. But that's another story for another day (or not)...so I was thinking of swimming. I'm just not sure I have the cardio to do it. We shall see. :)

Anyway - Saturday afternoon I went and visited my daughter while my son went to a friend's house.....to do what? Swim in his pool of course. As if that child hadn't had enough water for one day!! Picked him up around 5 and came home and made dinner - a rare thing, a FRIED dinner. MMMM, thin pork chops, coated with flour and crushed honey corn flakes. MMMMMMM. So good. A big green salad on the side and we were set. I touched up a ring and took some photos and went to bed around midnight I think. Oh yea, caught a few minuted of Saturday Night Live, so it was probably a bit before midnight when I went up.


Today was church and then Little Guy had a friend over - we actually went bowling. We were quite surprised to find out that its Cosmic Bowling all day on the weekends. So that was a nice treat. We played tow games and then came back here for a while before taking LG's friend back home. Dinner was a quicky, and another rare one. Hot dogs. Nathans. Oh. My. Gosh. were they ever good. Fresh corn on the cob and a fruit salad -- mmmmmmmm, it rivaled the meal from last night.



I added another 'storage' solution to my bench recently -- you can see it to the left - solid wood 'riser' -- or shoe rack. Picked it up on sale somewhere for $15.00!! What a bargain!



And it gives me two shelves plus I can still use the benchtop underneath. YAY! Now I just need to clean up all the MESS!


In the meantime, here's a ring I finished - well, I think its finished, I don't know - I think it may need to be oxidized -



PLEASE let me know what you think.....oxidize it or no?

I really like the way this ring turned out and I'd LOVE to keep it - but I think its going to go up for sale in a day or two - I just need to decide if its 'done' or not.


So please, give me your thoughts - would you oxidize this or leave it shiny? (and it is shiny - really really shiny - LOVE the new polisher!!)



I think I have a busy week at work this week -- but, soon....... in just two weeks......vacation.


Blissful, long, lovely days at the beach.


AND, this year - two weeks! Not that I'll stay the entire time, I'll scoot back, check in at work, make sure things are going well, but then I'll go back down. The rest of the family will make do without me. AND, I'll have a couple of nights HERE, with no one home...do you know what THAT means!?? BENCH time!! Whoot! Whoot!

Doesn't take much, does it? ;-) (to excite me that is...)


Janice

FF - TGIF - MIA

I was wondering how many acronyms I could put in the title. Not really, but it struck me as funny - there's one, two, three...ha!

OK, sorry, I am quite easily amused.

TGIF - Its Friday, and I should probably be cheerier, but for some reason I just feel a bit blah. I'm tired and wish I could go home and climb in bed and pull a blanket up to my chin and snuggle down with my eyes closed drifting off into a deep sleep. I adore naps and don't get to enjoy them nearly often enough. But 'TGIF' anyway! Slap a smile on and call it good. And it will be. :)

MIA - yea, I've been a little MIA here on blogland lately. Just haven't been inspired to write or felt like I had anything worthwhile to contribute to the blogsphere. Of course, I've been reading everyone else and I've commented here and there, so its not like I've been TOTALLY gone. I've just been all up in my head.

So what's going on up there? Oh heavens, a real mish-mosh of stuff. But primarily I've been tangled up contemplating things such as - how much time I spend online, is it really productive (or worthwhile), where I should focus efforts, how do I streamline, am I spread too thin (ok, so that's a rhetorical question), am I just too damn busy at this point in my life to try to contemplate turning my hobby into a business, should I be working on my website, and then things like - how do I teach my son about compassion in a tangible way, what about that guy on the corner, am I making a difference, am I screwing up my son (that one came out of nowhere this week, I really don't know what the hell is going on in my brian lately), is it too much, it is too little, why can't I make myself do the things I know I should, could I simplify, what is the meaning of life (no, not really - just thought I'd throw that one in there).

okaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Now that I've purged.

On to better things.

FF- Its that day. Time for a favorite.

My favorite this week has GOT to be my new little polisher.

It was a steal for under 70 bucks.

And I lurrrrrrrrrrv it.

It is certainly not without its down sides - such as the freakin' mess. And I need to secure it to the benchtop....its very lightweight and so it moves around. But, I have never worked with a polishing unit before, EVER. So its really really made a big impression on me - I think that's all I've done this week - almost. Just polish stuff. I've dug out old pieces which haven't seen the light of day in so long - and I've polished them and its like they have new life breathed into them! For me, this has been one of those things that you just don't know you're missing until you get one. Then ya' wonder why you didn't do it long ago. Those little buffs on the flexshaft just never did much for me - although I just received some new ones and they are working pretty good - its still not the same as the bench top polisher. And no more running the damn screw into a piece and yelling @!&%! One of these days I'll upgrade to this little guy's big brother, but for now this little guy is perfect for me. I have it in a box with some strategic cut outs and plastic wrap over it and vent holes cut in and that helps with the mess, but I really need a small exhaust of some sort to vent the garbage.

And I have new news.

I have a little secret. Something I've kept close to the vest.

I was made aware of an artist who was liquidating her studio. So I made some purchases. I normally attend a gem show the first weekend in July - always over July 4th weekend - and I drop a fair bit of money on gems and HillTribes and/or sterling beads/spacers, its my big yearly purchase of stones. I made the decision to forgo that and instead invest in some items from this liquidation sale. I purcahsed ALL of her faceted gemstones (*gulp* that was a big ticket item), a AF-99 kiln (YAY!), some enamelling supplies, some sterling chains and a few other misc items.

I set the kiln up right away and had the pleasure of using it already twice to test fire some enamels. There they are. Cute huh? Just kind of messing around seeing what the colors look like. Some of you know that I bought a trinket kiln some time ago for granulation and at that time I also purchased some enamels, "just in case" and just to tinker with. That defines me so well, doesn't it? FOREVER tinkering....with something new. Will I ever grow up and figure out what to make for heaven's sake? Will I ever have a 'signature style' or piece? (refer back to that 'focus' question above)

Believe it or not, the stones have just been sitting, I've hardly had a chance to look at them. Until last night. I finally began pulling some out and thinking about what to do with them. I used two of them last night - one as an accent on one of those pods I made a few weeks back. And one in a new ring. The stones aren't set yet - I need to do a final clean up of the solder areas, hope to pop the stones in tonight. But wow - what stones. They are better grade than I probably would have bought. Since I don't sell that much yet, I purchase mostly affordable mid-grade stones. These are very high grade stones. yay!

We have a swim meet tomorrow morning - but I hope to get some bench time later in the day. So hopefully I will have new pics to show and some new items in my Etsy shop - or my website, depending on if I get time to work on that - the entire website needs updating. So much to do, so little time...........

Janice