Life is a circle

For 13 years I taught elementary art before I transferred to the high school level and finished out my last 22 years there.  Usually I had three elementary schools that I saw each week.  One of them was Oakland Elementary which consisted of K-6 classes.  Oakland was a rural school that sat in the middle of one of those weather centers.  There could be a major blizzard at Oakland, but in town the sun was shining (which meant that school would not be let out early.)  Often whoever had bus duty had to stay until after 5:00 because the buses couldn't get through.  Even though it made for longer days, Oakland was a wonderful school to work in.  The people I worked with were great and the students were great.

I saw about 300 children a week (and in those days I could remember every single child's name...... don't ask me about names now though.)  Surprisingly there are elementary students that I still remember.  One of them from Oakland works with my son.  In the mornings Dan use to carry boxes to all the classrooms for me (there wasn't an art room.)  Dan's wife, Angel was a student there also and I remember her crying when we got a letter back from Andrew Wyeth.  (He painted Christina's World.)

For Christmas this year, Dan wanted a necklace made for Angel that included a pearl they'd gotten at Sea World.  (The pearl was such a pretty teal color.)   How convenient that I had taken Gordon's class on a box ring with pearl.  I kept the design simple and made the necklace reversible but I had to work out a different method for setting the pearl, as it wasn't drilled.  (And I wasn't about to drill the pearl since there was only the one.)  Instead of setting the pearl on a post, I created a small dish to work as a well to hold lots of glue.   This would create more surface for maximum contact with the pearl.

This isn't something I would have done with a ring, but a necklace doesn't take the beating a ring does.  My biggest concern was getting the dish the right size for the pearl (which luckily worked out.)  I torch fired the little dish so I could check it's size and remake it if needed.  My next concern was that it would shift inside the box during firing (but it didn't.)  When Gordon fired our rings, he filled the box with vermiculite to keep them from slumping.  I wasn't able to do that since the dish enclosed the opening.  That was another concern but it all worked out.

At least for this piece, the Jewelry Gods were watching out for me.  I think they were on hiatus when I was doing my wrapped piece!

Now I'm sure

For the past four months I've been dealing with knee and shoulder pain.  I always thought I had a pretty high tolerance for pain but this chronic stuff is for the birds.

We suspect that the knee pain is a torn meniscus (in both knees.)  I was looking up information about the meniscus on the internet (because of course that's what we all do when we can't sleep at 3 AM) and discovered that meniscus injuries are common in athletes and old people.  Now we all know I'm not an athlete so where does that leave me?

I've suspected lately that I'm getting old.  Now I'm sure of it.  Damn!

Fourth time is a charm

Most of my post-graduate credits are in fibers. So, basically I have a masters equivalence in weaving.  Metal clay can be woven, both in the paper and the clay form.

There is another weaving technique that is used in the jewelry making process called wrapping.   It's done to bundle loose yarn ends and is done with yarn.  It consists of looping a single piece of yarn, using the long loose end to wrap around itself and the yarn to be bundled.  Wrapping is done from the loose end up to the looped end, where the loose piece of yarn is pulled through the loop.  The other end of the piece is pulled, which causes the loop (with the other loose end) down inside the wrapping to secure it.  

The wrapping technique is easy and fun to do until it has to be done with wire which is what this post is all about.  I truly admire people who can do wire wrapping.   I tend to be all thumbs when it comes to working with wire.  

I was making a necklace with a copper and bronze focal point, which needed a copper clasp.  The copper crimps have to be glued onto the cord and I don't trust them so I decided to do the wrapping technique.  (Which is just my favorite thing to do..... yeah, right!)  

I probably went through five or six tries before I got something I considered acceptable.   Then, when it was time to trim the cord I accidentally cut through the good side.  Augh!  More practice ensued before I finally got it right.  Time to trim the cord and guess what.  I cut the good cord, AGAIN!  Back to the practice board and finally after several tries it was done.  I very carefully trimmed the ends and this time I didn't cut the good cord.   But......... I accidentally put the wrong focal point onto the cord.  So......... for the fourth time I started again.  The fourth time was a charm.   Thank God.  I don't think I could have done it one more time.  

Merry Christmas!

Only one school program this year.  (Thought that was odd.)

So just a little Santa Cody to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or what ever you celebrate, I hope it's a good one.

I'll be posting again before the New Year but I still want to wish you all the best in the coming year.  May peace reign and love abound.  Hope your new year is full of all that glitters and shines.  (Like silver jewelry!)

Granddaughter post

Olivia's dance class is in the National Transit Building where my studio is.   Often on Mondays I stay late in my studio so I can take her home.  After dance she always wants to visit the donated library books on the first floor and usually manages to talk me into making a donation for a couple of books.

She usually gets there early and spends a few minutes looking at jewelry in my studio ( trying to get me to give her some) or drawing and coloring.  Last Monday she wanted to draw jewelry, so we chose several pieces, set them up in front of her and she got to work.

Just thought I'd share her drawings.  She's five and I think it's great that she wants to draw what she sees.

This is the last one...... Honestly!

This is my last post on the Ginkgo tree.  (At least until 2012 when the leaves come out.)

Lately I haven't parked down under the bridge as the lots have been full so I haven't walked by the Ginkgo tree.  Surprisingly the other day there were tons of parking spaces so once again I passed my favorite tree.  Of course it was bare, but there were plenty of viable leaves laying on the ground.  The leaves were beginning to have black mold spots on them but other than that they were in perfect condition.

Earlier on I made very tiny silver leaf earrings from this tree, but this time of year all the leaves were either big or huge.  So, making a full leaf earring was not an option.  Instead,  I tried to tear the leaves in half but that didn't work well either.  I ended up cutting the leaves up the middle while trying to keep the flow of the textures.

Using  different leaves for the earrings gave each pair it's own unique look.  The pair I made for myself is rather large.  The other pair is much smaller.  (Even though that was not my intent.)  While drilling the second pair a piece broke off.  So, of course I had to break off a piece on the other earring which lead to another piece breaking off and so on and so forth.  (Hence the smaller size.)

I also learned some other facts about the Ginkgo tree.  First off it is from China and is similar to Jurassic Fossils.  Another name for the tree is "Maidenhair Tree" which makes sense.   I had been told that the female tree puts out a rather pungent scent.  According to an article I was reading, it smells like vomit.  There was a town that had many of the trees and for years there hadn't been a problem.  But, the male trees can ( it doesn't happen very often though) change into a female tree.  That's what happened in the town and nobody could stand the smell, so they cut them all down.

The woman beside me at the craft show last week also said she was told that the Ginkgo tree drops it's leaves all at once.  (At least the leaves could be raked all at once.)

Okay, I've had my say.  No more Ginkgo leaves for awhile.  I promise!

Okay to be Square

It's okay to be Square, especially when credit cards are accepted.  For a while now, I've had the "Square".  The Square is a little white plastic piece that can be plugged into a cell phone and used to process credit cards.  Up until now, I did not take credit cards because it was too expensive to do so.  (When I first started out I had a plan that cost me $30 a month and I used it only once.  Got rid of that plan; not at all economical for the small businessman.)

At the Bizarre Bazaar last week I got to see the Square in action.  The girl just picked up her phone, swiped my card and had me sign right on the phone with my finger.  It was pretty slick and she said she loved it.

So, today I was scheduled to take part in a small show at the Montessori Charter School in Erie and figured that maybe I would have a chance to try it out.  Let me just tell you that in VA she made that swiping technique look so easy.  I did find a section in the program that was set for practice.  There are three check boxes showing and every time it's done correctly, a pretty green check appears in one of the boxes.   Well........ let me tell you that it's harder than it looks.  I practiced and practiced and practiced.  Finally I got six checks in a row and success went to my head.  (I knew I should have practiced it again last night!)

Today, I got my chance...... a charge!  Thankfully, the guy making the purchase had the patience of Job (is that the right spelling?)  After what seemed like twenty five tries (about six of those were by my friend who accompanied me) it finally went through.  (Thank God..... I was getting pretty embarrassed and stressed.) The customer was even offering suggestions.  But boy when it works it's really fascinating.  What technology can't do!

Sales today were ho-hum, but as usual I made some contacts and met lots of nice people.  Check out some of their sites.

Dottie Gilbo.... www.dmg-creations.com   (She works with metal clay too.)

Yvonne Lewis made jewelry (just realized there is no web site.)

Michelle Shuey.... www.cocobonitacreations.com  ( Michelle like me loves to take classes.)

and Lynn Fizel...... www.quiltingbylynn.com ( Lynn makes beautiful quilts from photos she takes.)

This was only the second year for this show.  It was a small show but had some nice work.  Wish I'd been selling baked goods today though.  I think they made out the best.

The Bizarre Bazaar

Sorry, I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted.  Last week I was in Virginia with a friend.  We stayed at her daughters house (complete with grandchildren, so I felt right at home.)  We went there to visit The Bizarre Bazaar.  This was the 36th Christmas Collection (there is one in the spring too.)  It was held at the Richmond Raceway Complex in Richmond, Virginia.  There were 541 exhibitors and I think I saw them all.  (At least I thought I did.)

Now I don't know about you, but I've been to so many craft shows during my life that I have a tendency to walk through quickly (as quickly as my bad knees will allow) and look for something that jumps out at me.  I'm looking for something I don't usually see.  We had two hours there and I was afraid it would not be enough time, but for me it was.  It was a nice show, but there were a lot of commercial vendors there which I don't want to see.

I did find one jeweler that I really liked.  It was obvious that she did indeed make her own jewelry.  (It wasn't something you would find just anywhere.  I found myself wandering back to her booth several times until I finally bought a pair of earrings. ) This was the only booth that had unique jewelry and something that wasn't just assembled purchased parts.  Not everyone realizes the difference but if you make jewelry you do.  She said she could tell I understood handmade jewelry by looking at the earrings I was wearing.  (I had on a pair of slip-trailed earrings.  No way that duplicates can be made of that.)  Check out her website, www.celestefriend.com.  She names each of her designs by the first person who buys them.  My pair was called Denise (I think....... don't expect me to remember everything exactly.  I'm old!)

There were some other places that I did make purchases too.  They were not necessarily handcrafted but they were interesting and gifts for friends and family.  I had to buy some sweet treats too.  (There were lots of samples out there and of course I had to taste them.  Weight Watchers be damned that week....... but not this week.)

One thing I did find that really, really tickled me was a pair of cherry wooden salad tongs made in the shape of the gingko leaf.  (Don't know what it is about that leaf, but I'm hooked.)  The site for these is www.cpbasils.com.

Several years ago, my daughter and I stumbled upon the North Carolina Craftsman Guild show at the Raleigh Fairgrounds the weekend after Thanksgiving.  That show has to be my all time favorite.  I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.