TFT - Step away from the bench

Ever have one of those days (nights) in the studio?

Where everything you touch either melts, cracks, or somehow just ends up garbage?

I know we all do, but I have to be hoenst, I haven't had one in a really long time.

Or at least not to this magnitude.

Truthfully, I'd call comedic error but there was nothing funny about it.

Not even remotely.

Except possibly my persistence.

When every shred of evidence suggested I should turn off the tanks, put down the pliers, and just step away from the bench....I failed to listen.

So I melted more.

I burned my finger.

I pinched my thumb in a pair of scissors.

I got my specs stuck in my hair.

I created a lot of scrap.

But I just could not walk away.

At first I was sad - frustrated near tears.

Then I was mad.

You see, I only get ONE night dedicated to the bench. I may score some other time here and there over the week - but Tuesday night is my ONE guaranteed 'me' time to work. To try to alleviate my brain from a weeks worth of designing, and dreaming and planning.

But a clean schedule is no guarantee of clean work - or any work at all. There have been times when I have begun aching to get to my bench by Sunday night and when Tuesday rolls around I am DYING to dig in...and then I get there...and....like my issue with blog post titles - it strikes. Some weird sort of performance anxiety...and I freeze up and just stare at all my lovely tools and stones and metal. *sigh*

In reality, last night was a little bit like that. I had cleaned off my bench over the weekend and I arrived there last night and thought "hmmmm, what to do, what to do..?" I didn't have a clear objective. Well, I might have had an objective - but it involved LOSing and polishing already finished work and I just ummm, well, decided to ignore that and turn my energy in a different direction.

Big mistake.

So I wasted more than an hour fiddling with a stupid box. . . before deciding I just wasn't meant to make a box last night.

Then I decided to use a stone that I bought earlier this month -- pulled some materials and made a bezel. Ooops, a little small - stretch it....errggggg, ok, it fits. Grab a piece of scrap sterling that had a lovely texture on it. Flux, heat, apply solder....great. Quench. Inspect. RATS. Bezel popped open just a tad -- ok, easy fix. Heat, flux, solder........crap. Melted part.

No big deal, do-overs are relatively cheap at this point.

Grab metal, measure bezel big enough this time, snip, file, solder, quench, grab a different backplate, heat, flux, solder (yea, yea yea rinse repeat blah blah blah)...great.

ouch, gap under bezel. Tiny one. Fix it. No problemo.

Flux, solder, yadda yadda....oh @^*#! wasn't watching my flame - melted a tiny bit of the top of the bezel. Hmm, stop, inspect. Measure stone.......

OK, was going to shave it down anyway. Quench, dry.....ok...not bad. (so tired.....)

Clean up backplate - carve decorative edge - grab scrap for ring shank - solder.

OK, success. FINALLY.

But wait.

Howzabout adding a little sparkle. Some visual interest...

how about a little faceted stone up there somewhere?

*rummage* *rummage* oh look - a little blue sapphire - 2mm - PERFECT!

Careful now - lets go to some easy solder.......drill hole, apply solder, balance setting...heat.

melt setting.

Clean up hole, grab new setting.....apply solder, heat....reposition setting, heat...reposition setting repeat.

repeat

repeat

repeat

And then, just shy of throwing the whole damn thing across the room. . . .

Success.

pfft. Sure doesn't FEEL like success.

I left the basement around 10:30 half promising never to return.

Oh wait - pictures...right? You want pictures.

*sigh* The ring isn't done.....not cleaned......but here is a quick peek of what will be MY ring. It has issues. I have issues too.

We were meant for each other

So what about you? When was your last totally frustrating day at the bench?

Come onnnnnnnn, share, you know you want to!

Misery loves company ya know.

~Janice

Friday Favorite (FF) - GingaSquid and Ron Gibbs

I have been wanting to post about this first favorite of mine for a while and just didn't get around to it. (shame on me!) Its really two things - a person, and her work.

I am completely amazed by my fellow artist Vicky Hunt, of GingaSquid. For lots of reasons...

She's talented, funny, quick witted, smart, and best of all - down to earth.

And she makes the most amazing art jewelry.

I love her, love her work, and am THRILLED beyond words to say that I now have in my own personal collection a ring that she made.

<- There it is, on my very OWN HAND!
Where's that little guy we use on the forum??

Oh yea..............

This is hand felted, faux bone, rough diamonds, and a REAL LIVE PLANT!

Whooohoooo!

The shank has sterling tube rivets and is very comfortable to wear.

I still can hardly belive this is mine - and it was a GIFT! So add to everything I already said - Vicky has a very generous heart.

Check her out at: Ginga Squid

In addition she sent me a blinky eye (see them in her work) and I need to figure out how to use it in a piece of jewelry - but for now I'm just having fun looking at it and tilting it back and forth to watch it open and close.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I also wanted to just note that my current fave stone seems to be jasper. I never thought I'd say that - but lately I'm really diggin' some jasper stones - am ready to set a couple of ocean jasper stones and have a couple of willow creek stones I've been hoarding for more than a year - one of them I've had for a couple of years now.

So, it comes as no surprise that I just ordered (and received) this book:
Agates and Jaspers by Ron Gibbs

I can't say that the book is a favorite yet, I think it will take some time for me to appreciate the layout etc....but I believe it will become a great resource for me.

Now, its your turn, leave a comment and tell me one of YOUR favorites - an artist or a book. The floor is yours - go on now - doesn't have to be jewelry or metal related.

~Later
Janice

Well Hello again!

I've been holed up at home much of the past couple of weeks with a tooth that needed to come out but apparently was quite secure staying where it was....which ended up causing me a fair amount of grief and pain. In between trips to the dentist and oral surgeon, bouts of bedrest, and intermittent pain-med-induced-incoherence-dizziness-and nausea.....I managed to grab a few clear headed moments here and there to work on this pendant.

This pendant was truly done in tiny snatches of time and amazingly it ended up working out well. Maybe its a lesson in 'slow is the way to go'. I have always known that I rush things and in doing so I cause myself more work or to just give up on a piece. Setting it down and allowing it to just 'be' and then coming back and working in stages really allowed me to focus on each stage or step.

I am hoping to begin taking more time and really working through each step from now on in order to have truly clean pieces.

I have received a lot of comments about the photo itself. This was taken in my traditional 'photo box' which is a plastic container turned on its side. I cover that with paper towels to help diffuse the light. In this picture I used a VSH cassette tape box and a piece of raised glass (I raised the glass with two pop of lids from disposable propane canisters). And used no flash.

The only downside to this photo is that it doesn't show the more mellow colors on the right side of the pendant, the overall photo is a bit dark. The right upper corner of the pendant is a mellow light orange, then a whitish stripe, then the rest of the stone is a yummy translucent red.

In this photo you will see a not quite as flattering version, but the color of the stone comes out better. Partly it is the lighting and partly the angle which the photo was taken.

The pendant is sterling, 14k gold, agate, and (I think) a faceted orange sapphire.

~Janice

Collaboration

This pendant (or it may become a brooch) is special to me because my 19 yr old daughter helped design it. I had the two stones picked out and had made bezels for them but didn't really have a clear idea how I wanted to put them together. so I had my two children - ages 19 and 6 draw some ideas for me. What we ended up with is greatly inspired by my daughters drawing. This is a blue lace agate and some other agate I think. Set in sterling.

But don't feel bad for my son - here is a pendant he totally designed last year:

(had a little trouble with the 'x' part - but its still fun!

Janice