chain

i love how this chain turned out. earthy and rustic. but it needs something. don't know what. just.... something. i'll ask becca. she's very good at figuring things out. patina? verdigris? hrmmmm......

classes are over. i'm relieved yet sad. i think this semester was my last, at least for the time being. i just haven't had enough time with the girls and that means they're just a little distant. you know the saying, "quality time"? bull-honky. it's *quantity* time that matters with kids. be there when they need a bandaid. be there for the recounting of the days events. be there. just be there.

so my big project for the summer is to set up a metalsmithing studio in the garage. i think i can do it, with the income from market combined with my job. save and scrimp. no more bead purchases. no more extravagances. big things like torches! ($350) rolling mills ($500)! it would be nice to get another foredom, so we each could have one at our benches. i've figured out what i think will work for our benches. you know the gi-normous drafting table i bought seven years ago? i was thinking i could turn it so the skinny side is to the wall and then becca could have one side and i could have the other... two benches for the price of one! i'm just worried about the height of the desk and what kind of chairs to get. both becca and i have issues with our backs/necks and so the height needs to be *right*..... all the workbenches i've seen are ($350-$500!) are enormously tall with a flat work surface on top and a sweeps drawer where i want the desk top to be... am i spoiled from the desks on campus? why yes, yes i am. wonder where they got those...

i'm excited to begin this next phase. i feel like i'm on the right path. like i'm actually where i'm supposed to be. just a-walking. where is it leading? i'm interested enough to continue.

must get photos of my new work! one of the new pieces sold on saturday, the kylie parry one, with the bird by her and the nest bead by humblebeads. and i have no photo of it! so sad. must. take. photos. this week!

oh, and the sirevaag car died. so we're all sharing the truck. argh! poor becca. taxi mom.

but i've got high hopes. go slow, bethiboo. don't get disappointed. just keep on this path and listen to the birds sing. sing. sing. sing.

'she not only saw the light, she became the light'

i've slowly begun collecting art beads. i need to take some photos and share.

the thing is i've been reading so many jewelry blogs where the artisans use art beads.... and magazines where the published work uses art beads.... and i've actually gotten over not being willing to spend 30 or 40 dollars on a single bead. haven't gotten past the 50 mark yet, though. and with this new art bead passion has come a new style of work. *must* take photos and share. i'm all aflutter with "new", "new", "new". and farmers market opens in a week! yay! can't hardly wait. and all the snow is mostly gone. nothing green, yet, but it's coming! the geese have arrived.... sun stays up later and later and gets up earlier and earlier.... all of which means that summer (oh, blessed summer) is coming! land of the midnight sun, shine bright on me!

when i made these guys i was thinking about poppies. even though they don't look much like poppies, i still love how the turned out. yay, metalworking gods! sometimes they are friendly.

celestially obsessed

i absolutely adore the night sky. moon? oh. my. god. could it be any more *perfect*?!? stars! twinkling planets! wispy clouds skudding across a full moon...

romance.

and something a little nostalgic about it. like a memory of a haunting tune.

i have a crescent moon with a girl swinging from it and three stars tattooed on my left shoulder blade. love it, love it, love it. and a sun on my right hand. which is a daytime thing, but hey. i love the daytime sky, too. not as passionately as the night.

i make it a habit to always look up when i step outside.

i like how these earrings turned out. the moon's stone is much sparklier in person. it's a blue goldstone. the star is amber. the only problem is that they're so freaking heavy. rrrrr. but i still love them.

i paired this kitty in the window looking at the moon pendant with oval tiger's eye and of course didn't get a photo of it before it sold. but i was so happy with how this pendant turned out! all the pierced sawing turned out really good. yay! it's hammered brass with little wire-wrapped links up top.

rings

this is my chaoroite ring that a wear all the time. i get lots of compliments on it. but mostly people want to know what it is. because it doesn't look real, does it? but it's totally natural! out of ground, this is what chaoroite looks like. it's from russia, and it's only found in one place; the chaoro river. i love this stone, but because it's so rare it's terribly expensive. why do i always fall in love with the stinking *expensive* stuff?! i swear, i go into a store and fall in love with the costliest item. it's a sickness.

i haven't yet decided what i'm going to do with this lovely feather. i made it my second semester of metalsmithing. i was thinking about using it as a pendant, but this puppy is *huge*--like four or five inches long.... maybe on the side as a link? cuff? in the front sideways with danglies dangling?

i don't know! so many possibilities!

metalsmithing

here's the little box i made for metalsmithing this semester. i *really* don't like making boxes. i want to make *jewelry*, not boxes. but it's required, so i guess i'll just have to suffer through it. on the way home from the previous class, my sister and i were listening to the radio and a j.j. heller song came on that i absolutely love. the first line is 'i have unanswered prayers, i have trouble i wish wasn't there' and it just struck me. wow. that is soooo me. so i stamped it on the lid of my ugly rectangular box and suddenly it wasn't so ugly anymore. yay for amazing inspiration from the universe. my wierd blogging platform is centering all my stuff today and i can't get it to stop. annoyingly justified.

rings

here are two more of the rings i've made in metalsmithing. the clear stone is moonstone and the turquoise one is chrysacolla. i really like the chrysacolla one. the moonstone not so much. but i'm getting better! yay!

metalsmithing

this brass piece is my first ever metalsmithing project. see all the mistakes?
the next copper piece is my second one, same assignment. i love this one. i hope to make a pin out of it.

the next assignment was twins; cut out two pieces at the same time (taped together). the deers are my first attempt. i just love them. the birds are my second. i'm pleased with them, but i got the hole in the wrong spot, though. the butt is too heavy, so they hang funny. lame-o! both of them are sterling silver.

metalsmithing

here is my first ever ring! soooooo cool!!!! so, okay, there are *tons* of things wrong with this piece, but oh. my. god. i made it! i love how simple it is. the thing that went the most wrong with this piece was when i *melted* it. it's made of two bands; an inside one and an outside one. jack (my teacher) soldered the inner ring to show me how to do, 'cause i'd never soldered before. and i've always been terrified of it. eeek! open flame! so jack showed me how to do it, and told me i had to do the outside one. i can do this. i can do this! so there i was, freaked out, with my acetylene torch and my fluxed ring. heating it up. heating it up. putting the solder on. heating it up. heating it..... oh, crap! it's red! it's *slumping*! turn off torch. dump ring in water. crap, crap, crap. show jack, who says, that's not that bad. advanced student says, "sandpaper it out." yay! salvagadgeable. is that a word? dunno. anyway. so i sanded it till the cows came home. which, of course, *thinned* the metal. hmmmmm... put the two rings together. stretched the inside band. compressed the outside band. soldered them together, and because i was the first one to get done, jack soldered one side of it for me, with the whole class looking on. so i had to do the other side. i can do this. i can do this. so i prepared my solder and then becca comes and says jake had a funny episode where he couldn't see out of one of his eyes. so i left, to get a ride home so becca could take jake to the er. on the way home jake refused to go to the er. i'm getting pissed off 'cause i had to leave my work in the middle of it.... jake's okay. just the wierd, random blindness virus, right? anyway, i went back up over the weekend (before the horrible esperanza concert; see next post) and soldered that puppy. i wasn't as scared of it the second time. i accomplished it! yay, me! so i don't especially *like* to solder, but i can do it. hopefully next time without melting my silver.