A fallen woman

I have to admit that I've been on vacation (for a long time.)  Had a great time in the sun.  Got in lots of swimming (I'm tanner than I've ever been), golfing and lots and lots of shopping.  (If you've ever been to Florida, you know how addicting Beall's is.)

Our house here has a loft which wasn't being used this year, so I set up a metal clay studio up there.  It's a great space, I set the table in a position to view the television while I worked.  I've been so busy with other things that I only got up there a couple of times.

What I did do was beading (to try to use up some beads.)  My friend and I sat for quite a few nights working on beaded bracelets, anklets and earrings.  None of these pieces involve metal clay.  Now there is nothing wrong with beading, but I just never felt that's what I wanted to do.  (Basically I was being a beading snob.)  The reason I felt that way was the amount of beaded jewelry out there is massive.  Basically when I use beads, they are an integral part of the metal clay design.

These past few weeks my art has become a "hobby."  (I'm so ashamed!)

My vacation is over.  It's time to get back to work.  Time to get back to ART.

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!

88%

I was trying for 100% but didn't quite make it!

There is a tendency for me to make the kind of jewelry that I wear.   I don't wear post earrings so I tend to make dangly earrings that hang from ear wires.  There are a lot of people who do wear post earrings, so I've been trying the last few days to create some earrings for them.

Of course, this involves soldering the posts on (unless I use fire-in posts that are expensive and bend easily because they're made of fine silver.)   Soldering ear posts is very easy (unlike some of the soldering I had to do in college.)  No fancy torch is needed, just a creme brulee' torch.

When soldering on fine silver, the back needs to be very clean and more solder has to be used because of the fired clay's porosity.  Silver solder can be used on copper and bronze pieces too.   The solder will show as silver, which looks a little messy to me since it doesn't blend in like it would on a silver piece.

Last week I had two pair of bronze earrings that needed to be soldered.  It took me three times "each" on these earrings.  I cleaned them with the 3M bristle brushes with my flex shaft and that is where I think I made my mistake.  The 3M wheels must have a compound in them that kept the solder from working.  After I cleaned the backs with a wire brush, things went more smoothly.

Today, I had four pair of earrings to solder.  Cleaned them first with the wire brush.  The first seven earrings soldered on without a hitch.  The eighth earring took two times.  Hey, 88% isn't bad considering my batting average last week.

These have not been cleaned up yet.

Keeping it Simple

The Oil Heritage Festival is coming up next weekend. I plan on having a tent during the Art and Fine Craft Show. So.... I am trying to get some lower priced items ready to sell.

These are a few earrings I made from the bronze pieces. Nothing difficult. Just keeping it simple. KISS!