Nothing stays the same

Life changes.  We all know that.  But why do my metal clay suppliers have to change?

Last year it was the end of Whole Lotta Whimsy, the supplier I used the most.  One of the things that I could only find at WLW was the two and four inch, metal backed PPP plates.  All the other supplies were available elsewhere but not the PPP plates.  I asked Tonya Davidson if she knew another place to get them and she said she was working on it.  Yes, I can buy big sheets of the plates and cut them myself....... but that creates more work and theirs were so much nicer than I can do.

Today, I heard that the Mitsubishi Co. will no longer be making PMC Standard.  The standard was the very first version of PMC clay.  It shrinks 30%, has to be fired at 1650 degrees for two solid hours and is the weakest of the metal clays.  But there are times it is really handy to have the Standard formula.

Awhile back I needed a dragonfly for a pair of earrings.  The dragonfly mold I had was too big, so I made it with the standard clay which shrank it considerably.  I took the new smaller dragonfly, made another mold and made it again two more times.  This gave me the right size for the piece I was making and a batch of dragonflies to use in other pieces.  

The shrinkage is also good because standard clay carves like butter in it's dry state.  This allows the artist to work big (which makes carving easier.)  Then when the piece shrinks it looks even better.  (I understand that newspaper cartoons are drawn large and then shrunk for the same reason.)  

I hope enough metal clay artists will raise a fuss about this.  Standard may not be used as much as the other formulas but it has it's value.  

 

Model Me!

Last fall I signed up for Tonya Davidson's "Artful Success Class."   This is an online course and  I have to admit that I wasn't the best student.  By the time I sat down in the evening to listen to the class I was so tired (that's what happens when you get old) that I often found myself dozing.  (Sorry Tonya, but your voice is very soothing.)

Thankfully, Tonya had it set up so that we could download each of the class sessions.  I had big plans to listen to them while I worked at the studio.  For me, that is actually the best option.  (And again, I have to admit that I haven't made use of that option very often.)

I did most of the initial paper assignments so that part is done, but there is still so much that I need to work on (like self promotion.)  I'm the person who ran for class treasurer in high school and voted for the other person because I thought that was what nice people do.  (Silly me....... she won by one vote!)

Anyway,  enough rambling.   One of the points of the class was to advertise our jewelry by showing someone wearing it.  (I did think that was a great idea and chose some people I thought would make good models.  Never followed through on that one though, except for using my daughter in law as my hand model.   (Can't beat young hands with an impeccable manicure.)

But it is true!  Showing people wearing my jewelry is the way to go.  Every time I do some kind of show, people like what I have on.  It never fails.  They look everything over, ooh and ah about how nice everything is and then say..... what I really like is what you are wearing.   Usually, I'm wearing some of my personal collection which I don't want to part with.  Better start wearing the "for sale" stuff (and leave the price tags on since I can't remember the price once I take the tag off.)  Besides needing bi-focals and falling asleep early, memory loss is also one of those getting older bonuses.  

A Paradox

 In my Artful Success class we were asked to think about who we are, why we make the jewelry that we make and how our jewelry shows who we are.  In the past I've been asked to do this in other classes but never really took the time until now.  Instead of just thinking about it I started to write it down.

Here is where the paradox comes in.  Do I really know myself.  I say my decorating style leans towards the mission style (actually it's mostly eclectic but I like the mission style.  Except when it come to dusting in between those little slats!)  But my jewelry does not have the clean simple lines of the mission style, it's very organic.   This contradiction, I've noticed before.

But with this new class I've discovered another contradiction between who I think I am and my work.  We have accountability buddies in the class and I told mine that my ideal day would begin by waking up in the mountains and seeing the mountain tops shrouded in mist.  So..... why do I have so many pieces that deal with water?  I'm not a beach type of person (although if someone wants to give me a free vacation on the beach I'm not about to pass it up.)  My latest piece "Diving for Pearls" pendant is about water.  I haven't actually counted the number of water pieces yet (but I will.)  I have a feeling I'll be surprised.

So what does this say about me?  Oh, too much to think about!

It's a Mind Set

This evening I listened to a web seminar presented by Tonya Davidson from Whole Lotta Whimsy.  The presentation was on The Five Keys to Success.

The first key to success is "Mind Set"  Tonya went through a variety of things we can do to help make ourselves think successfully and actual techniques to do everyday to make that happen. 

Her discussion on mind set brought to mind an experience I had when going to grad school.  (Actually, at the beginning of every school year I would tell my students about this experience to get them to understand that what they learn is up to them.) 

Most classes at the college level were taught during the day.  A 4:00 class was considered an evening class.  I taught until 3:30 and the college was an hour away, so my choice of classes was limited.  The weaving class was always twice a week from 6:00-9:00, so they fit in.  (But boy was that a tiring ride after teaching all day.  How did I do it?  Oh, I was younger.)  

I really had an interest in art history and there were a few of those classes offered at 6:00.  The first art history class was being taught by a woman who had been teaching fifty years.  I had signed up for the class but dropped it when several of my colleagues told me that I wouldn't learn anything from her.  All we would do is go to her farm and draw her horses.  

Another class that I really wanted to take was "20th Century Criticism" and guess who was teaching it?  That's right..... she was.  Instead of dropping the class I went into that class with the mind set  "She is going to teach me something whether she wants to or not." And guess what, it was the best class I ever took.  I not only learned about 20th C. criticism but also some philosophies of life.  I attribute the success of that class mostly to my attitude.  As I sat in that class, taking it all in I saw other classmates who skipped class at the break, read books, and slept.  No wonder they didn't learn anything.  

After the class was over I wrote her a note about how much I had learned.  (Never did that before.)  I did it after the grades came out so she wouldn't think I was brown nosing.  

Also in that class (and here I date myself again) we had to write a twenty five page paper and make a presentation.  I had just gotten my first computer and the spacing for double spacing looked so much farther apart than my typewriter did; so I didn't use the double spacing.  Instead I did what "looked right" to me.  When I ended up with l00 footnotes, someone told me that shouldn't be.  There shouldn't be more than two per page.   Well, it was okay because my paper was actually a fifty page paper (so much for the spacing not looking right.)  No wonder it took me forever.

Anyway, the point is that the mind is a powerful tool.  Our attitude and mind set can make all the difference in the world.  (Better practice this on the golf course too!)