Tension, not always a bad thing

Tension, sawblade, 'twang!!!' - not a bad thing.


Tension, headache, ow - bad thing.


Tension, sapphire, sterling - not a bad thing.










Yep, my first tension setting. What a sweet little baby.

Maybe something only this mother will cherish, looking past any newborn oddness, bumps, or weirdness -- bless your haaaaaaaaaart little one, you're all mine.

This was made yesterday when I got together with 3 other metalsmiths in PA. We converged AGAIN upon Rina - in her awesome studio. Lisa, Gary, and I all arrived before noon and stayed until at least 8pm. I was the first to arrive and the first to leave. And I had a blast. We hardly made anything, in fact, I was the only one that actually made anything although Lisa and Gary started a project very late into the day, and partway into a bottle of bourbon. They never finished. The ring that is. (actually they didn't finish the bourbon either - it was a HUGE bottle!) But they had fun anyway. ;-) Gary helped walk me through my first tension setting and I think I'm hooked. Can't wait to try another. And can't wait to get together with my pals again! Rina's studio is central for all of us - it took me less than 2 hours to get there, Lisa comes from the furthest but was there in just about 2 hours. Besides the yearly retreat in NC, this is the only time I really get benchtime with others. Can't say how much I enjoy it. :)


On Saturday I had some rare free time so I made a couple of rings, with my trademark shank.

This one is opal in sterling.

The other ring was damaged during polishing, I need to remake the setting. :(









I decided I needed to make something other than rings for a change, so I made this sweet little pair of sterling and garnet earrings.


I am leaving for vacation on Saturday but hope to get some bench time this week in addition to my Tuesday night tomorrow night. I am having a renewed 'fun' creating lately. )


It was a busy weekend and will be a busy week, but I hope to have a few more intersting things to post this week. STAY TUNED!
Janice

Out of sync

This week has been T-totally out of sync for me. So I didn't do Tutorial Tuesday and I didn't do Tales From Tuesday (had a brief encounter with my bench on Tuesday night, but nothing worth writing about)

So, why am I so out of it? I must be getting old...or something.

I travelled this past weekend - to visit my incredibly talented friend Christy. Christy lives near VA beach and is an awesome metalsmith, but not just that, she's an awesome lampworker, but not just that, she's an awesome potter, and stained glass-er, and many other things -- but mostly she's an AWESOME person and friend. yay! Our good friend Lisa, another AWESOMELY talented metalsmith, joined us as well. It was a great weekend of creating and commiserating and laughing and.........it was just, well AWESOME (sorry, had to do that) anyway you get the idea.

Not only was it great to create with these ladies but it was just good to talk. To share tips and techniques, but also our lives - the good, the bad, and everything in between. What women can do, will do, do do....how strong we really are, our capacity to love and forgive and endure. It was really a great time for me. :)

Unfortunately I came back to a migraine...and then one thing after another that had piled up while I was gone - like a boatload of laundry, and a bajillion papers from my son's school, and 2 new birthday invitations..etc etc. So, I'm still trying to get it all sorted out and get back on top of things....well, as on top of it all as I've ever been which is really something like being precariously perched on the side of a mountain made of melting swiss cheese - thank goodness for the holes, they give me something to grab on to!

Before I left I made some changes to my blog - notably the background.

Can you say "ooohhhh...aaaahhh"? (come on, it will make me feel good)

I made it myself which just tickles me to death since I know as much about graphics as I do about March Madness (I just know its something about basketball...) rah! rah! And that Morgan State is in the mix???

Happy Thursday all! :-)
~Janice