A design a day

That would be crazy, right?

Actually, there are a lot of people making a design a day - whether it is in jewelry or painting or something else. . . there are many 2011 creative challenges going around.

but the design a day I am referring to is one I've been capitalizing on for a while now.

We've got a winner!

Thanks everyone for entering and for ALL of the comments! You sure know how to make a girl feel good! And its truly been humbling and heartwarming to have so many artists that I respect and admire and strive to be like, give me such great feedback.

I combined the comments from here and from the JAN blog – put the numbers ( 1 – 34) into a random generator, and hit “pick a number” and lo and behold…..

Number 4 which turns out to be Stacie!

Stacie – please contact me using at janiceihg at hotmail dot com and we’ll get started on designing your piece! I’m really looking forward to it!

forgive me

forgive me bloggers.

it has been 2 and a half weeks since my last blogpost....

I'm not even Catholic - But that flowed out of me like I was born to confess.

why no posts?

I've been bathing dogs.........

Lisa looking pathetic

and Pedro looking even more pathetic

and there are other reasons -- I won't go into too much detail

but I've been busy and

hectic and

un-motivated and

somehow 'disconnected'.....and

OK, enoughs enough - 'eh?

I have no idea why I've felt sort of disconnected lately.

Actually, I have definitely taken a step back from some of my regular online habits
and I think that may be why.

I needed to get control of my head-

the input, the inspiration, the motivation.

Everywhere I looked I was seeing 'sameness'
and then when I went to my bench all I could see where those images.

same

same

same

and although lovely.

utterly 'same'.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I wanted to scream.

blacccchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

out! out! out! (damnd spot!)

It may be working.....

Yesterday I had some unanticipated bench time - and got to work with an uncluttered mind - and then

I melted stuff.

Too much stuff.

Simple stuff.

So I did what I should have done the last time I had a bench night like that - I polished some older work. Made it shiny and pretty and 'new'.

Now if I could just take photos I'd be ready to offer those babies up for sale. (I think the pendants would benefit from chains of some sort first though....)


We're also doing a LOT of baseball here lately.


Two games a week plus a practice.....plus picture day and Hits for Kids (fun fundraiser)



Cute - aren't they?

I think he's going to keep me hopping for the next couple of months...

we also concluded our first giveaway over on the JAN - stay tuned for the next one!

~Janice

Back to Metalsmithing!

Seems I've been posting mostly 'off-topic' lately -

not that I intend the blog to be SOLEY and ONLY specifically metalsmithing, every post, all the time, 24/7/365........

its a Metalsmith's journey - and part of this metalsmith's journey is balancing family, full time job, and other hobbies/interests.

However, I know that many of you reading are my fellow 'smithers' so I am very happy to say that I've gotten some bench time over the past week and I have some new (in progress) pieces. Such as the little peridot ring to the left.

YAY! New work makes me so happy. :) Or maybe its more the creating of the new work that makes me happy.

Oh heck, its probably a bit of both.

I don't know how I went so many years without a creative outlet. For so long I really wasn't 'into' anything. Not seriously, if at all. I went through buying stages but not really 'doing' stages. I bought all the stuff for making candles, but never made any. I bought all the supplies for dried flower arrangements, but only made a few. I have bought all sorts of other crafts supplies and just never found my stride. I spent some time working in pastels when I was a youth (back in the dark ages) but that was so long ago the old drawings have probably turned to dust.

I am sure the other smithers out there can relate to getting lost in the making. That is what it was like for me last night.

I was in the zone.

Be sure - being in the studio has its ups and downs - we have good days and bad days - days when the solder flows and days when it doesn't......days when it flows but not where we want it.....or flows in previous joins when we don't want it.....

days when the sawblade wanders or each and every one breaks


I actually had a blade break last night - ok, probably more than one.

But this one broke and a piece of the blade flew off and went right through the skin of my finger!

how weird is that?

and is it weirder still that I had my camera RIGHT there?

or weirder yet that I thought of you all, grabbed the camera, and took a picture?
(does that blade make my finger look fat?


Now I need to remember to keep that far away from the pickle.

For the non-smithers, 'pickle' is a substance we use to clean off all of the remnants of soldering - glassy bits of flux, oxides, dirt, etc.

And its caustic. No matter what formula is used - commercial, home-made, 'green' or not....they are all caustic. They 'corrode' the 'gunk' off.

And make no mistake, it will BURN your owies.

So yea, last night I was zoning. Not that everything went perfectly, it didn't. But I was just zooming right along anyway. From one thing to the next, several pieces going at once. I know many of you get to enjoy that every day - I'm positively jealous of those of you who do this full time - but for me, its been a long time since I've slammed through a bunch of pieces at once.


I had the tunes on and was bopping along. I finished a pair of earrings, made a ring, started another pair of earrings.....



well, when I say finished I mean stones set - ready for polishing/finishing.










As many of you know - I am horrible at actually REALLY finishing things......

I leave them in various states of pre-finish most often -

still needing polish or oxidizing...or earwires!











but I'm getting better!

Partly because I've amassed more than enough personal jewelry.

I need to begin getting more of it out the door. (more on that later)

I have placed a moritorium on 'incoming' items though. I am on a stone buying freeze. I MUST use what I have at home.

However, that hasn't stopped the mailman, fed-ex guy, etc from coming to my door. Just yesterday I received a lovely Fretz chasing hammer as a contribution to the monthly giveaways at the Jewelry Artists Network. If you haven't entered the first one yet - DO IT NOW!

The Fretz hammer was so kindly donated for the JAN to use in their giveaways by Fundametals. Check them out - every time I look, I see new unique items and some of the latest tools releases, Not only that, but everyone I have spoken with who has used Fundametals has stated unequivocally that the service is THE best. And that certainly means a lot when we're buying online.

Dont' forget to enter the giveaway and the April EarthDay challenge!

GOOD LUCK!

Easter and other things - giveaway anyone?

I'm really excited about a few things. 

Spring is in the air - definitely - here! Flowers are blooming (well, the ones the deer haven't eaten) the sun is shining.....its Easter weekend. 

Life is good. 

Sweet.

Yesterday was Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. 

What our church refers to as 'Maundy Thursday'  

when we remember the Last Supper and the betrayal of Jesus and so much more. 

Posing with GeeGee

and giving me some lovin'

And then it was off to church....yes, we're coming!

It was a really nice service - contemplative, quiet (almost....the band did 'rock' it a bit)...and I'm so glad I went. I hadn't been to a Maundy Thursday service in quite a few years. It was a good time to think and be thankful. 

After getting home and getting LG off to bed I finally got the chance to update the Network website with the information on the first monthly giveaway.

YAY! 

Its a giveaway! 

And totally free - no work on your part. 

Just answer a question - not even the 'right or wrong' kind -- all of the network giveaways will consist of  easy fun questions that have no right or wrong answers - its all for fun! You don't have to be a member of anything, don't have to tweet or blog about it (though its fun if you do!) - all you have to do is answer in the comments and you're entered!

Go here to read about it. 

And then DO it - ENTER! :) 

I'm excited about the monthly giveaways and hope that you'll join in. 

~Janice

Another Marvelous Monday

I know, I'm strange....I don't mind Mondays.

Well, I don't mind them once they are underway. Ask me Sunday night and I might have a different opinion. ;-)

My weekend didn't turn out quite as rushed as I thought. Saturday was pretty much go-go-go, iwe had baseball practice, which was also the rescheduling of our Hits for Kids fundraiser, and since I'm the team coordinator for that - we really needed to be there, so we had to skip the soccer game. I went and visited my daughter in the early afternoon and then back home to change up and head out for dinner. We ate at PF Chang's - YUM. :) Nothing fancy, but good food. Decided I'd have to have bread and water and yogurt all day Sunday to make up for it. ;-)

However, when Sunday rolled around it was such a beautiful day that after church, at the grocery store - we decided to cook out that night - mmm. So for dinner Sunday we had hamburgers done on the grill. So good. I also roasted a ton of veggies (yellow squash, zucchini, and vidalia onions) under the broiler (the grill was too full).

I didn't get to Snafu Sunday again. :( but come on!! It was MOTHER's Day!! I'm a mother! So cut me some slack. ;-)

I was going to try to pull some photos but am having trouble finding them right now - and I need to get back to work.

Don't know what to make for dinner tonight? Try this onion soup I posted here.
(ha, how was that for a total change of subject??!!)


Ohhhhhhhhh, and here is the ring I made for the Giveaway winner, Candace. I had to wait for her to receive it before I could post it. :)

Its lapis, sterling silver, fine silver. Size 7 1/4.


I am THRILLED that she likes it! you can see a picture of her wearing it on her blog.












It looks GREAT on her.

I hope she enjoys it for a long long time. :)










Janice

TFT - Animal Hospital

It started out great. I left work just a few minutes early, stopped by KFC for a bucket of chicken, even took a minute to run into Kohl's to search their sale - got a couple of tops and a pair of pants - whooohooo! After losing about 40 pounds, I am in desperate need of clothes.

Got home, tossed the food on the table, changed out of work clothes (and into different 'work' clothes), tidied a couple of things and was in the basement by ohh maybe 6:30. Got out a ring I've been working on for Candace (from the giveaway), removed the shank becuase the ring was sizing just a bit too big. Actually I sawed it open, removed a tiny bit, or what I thought was a tiny bit, and hammered it closed and dropped it on the ring mandrel. WOW. That tiny bit cost me an entire ring size. Now its way small. OK, melt it off - grab new metal, start hammering it on mandrel to size....and I hear my Mother yelling something. Sounds like "Comfy the blogs"...better turn my ipod down...."WHAT?!" I yell back up. Again, some frantic request that now sounds more like, "Come feed the dogs" - I'm like (to myself) "duh, I always feed the dogs, head on off to bible study now Mom"....but again, I yell "WHAT?!" and again some nonsensical thing comes back to me...so now I"m up from the bench and to the bottom of the steps and she's yelling "Come see the dog(s?)!" ...oh great. Run up the stairs and Missy is laying on her side....barely breathing. Why do dogs have to get old?

For the past couple of weeks she's been having these little episodes -- seizures?, muscle contractions?, wicked charlie horses?, mini-strokes?....we're not really sure but we've just been watching her closely. Well shit, now I'm thinking she's dead cuz dude she's not moving at all. So I go over and talk to her....pick her up...thats when I see the puddle of urine on the floor. %$!*, losing control of the bladder -- not good. And she is completely limp in my arms, dangling, no muscle tone at all. Crap. Call the vet, they are closing in 10 minutes but hey,the animal hospital up the block from us opens in 10 minutes (at 7pm) so, run upstairs and throw some clothes on and back downstairs, I wrap Missy in a blanket and out we go to the Animal Hospital. Get there, they take her back, put her on 02 and start cleaning her up a bit (she lost the other end on the way over.....poor baby)....her heart rate is slow, but strong - her lungs however sound a bit dull.....they want to do blood work, x-rays, yadda yadda yadda.

So then comes all the decision making. What to do? What will the diagnostics mean in terms of treatment or palliative care? Meaning, will the results really lead us to treatment or are the kinds of things we are looking at going to mean, for us, supportive care? I opted for limited bloodwork to start us out. She had a chem panel and it showed her liver has some damage - her LFTs are elevated. Her calcium is low. She's 'waking up' a bit -- is looking around, trying to stand, finally does. Is walking a tiny it - no, make that stumbling.....

So, for now we decide to take her home and have her LFTs repeated in a few days. We got home a little before 9pm - my son's first question -"did she make it?"

"Yes sweety, she made it. but we dont' know for how long, we're not really sure what's wrong with her but she's getting old" Then ensues a conversation about death and dying (very limited) and so he says "Can't we just call it 'giving out'?" Sure, hon' that sounds like a good way - when her body gives out...

((hugs))

So, Missy slept most of the evening but was coming around more and walking a little bit better. We seperated her from the other dogs for the night. Woke this morning to a hellacious mess in the bathroom where we put her. She had horrible explosive diarrhea in the night (sorry if thats TMI) and it sprayed EVERYwhere. But.....she's alert.

And so begins another day for her. We don't know what is really wrong - my guess is she may have a mass, ?? cancerous. We won't do chemo and all of that if it is cancer. We'll keep her comfortable as best we can. I also suspect that these episodes that she is having will become more frequent and increase in intensity. I have been agonizing over our course of action with her and my Father finally says, "ya know, you're going to go through this all....." and I'm waiting for him to say '....with the other two dogs eventually' but NOOOOOOOOOO, he says:

"ya know, you're going to go through this all with US one day" Meaning him and my Mom! Well, gee, thanks alot for that uplifting little thought....I'm going back downstairs. After all, my ipod is still playing, bench lights, pickle pot, and tanks are still turned on....Its now 9:30 probably.

I finished the ring shank, soldered it on to the ring, put it in the pickle, then called it a night.

Here is a pic of Mis as I was driving her home from the hospital. She's 'up' but not alert.....just kind of bobbing along in the car.....
In her snazzy little bed which I think made her feel 'more better'. My Mom brought it up to the hospital while we were there - while we were waiting the test results we brought it inside and she was able to lay in it. I think having her own smelly thing was a comfort to her.

It seems its always something in our house.......

Janice

And the winner is....Part II

It would figure that my running a giveaway would be full of some sort of misconbobulation. Sometimes it seems nothing goes smoothly in my life. But -

Onward and upward, as they say (and no, I have no freakin' clue who 'they' is)

:)

When I drew the name out of the tumbler for the winner of the giveaway, I drew a back-up name. I did this for a couple of reasons - 1., I wasn't quite sure everyone who commented really wanted to be entered, and 2., what if the winner didn't contact me?

Well, turns out the back-up name is getting their chance at this as the first person never contacted me. Soooooooooooo, the name drawn as back up.........

are you ready???

It is

ironic

because.....................

I won something from her not long ago (ME, who never wins ANYthing!)

Do we know who it is yet??

CANDACE - its YOU my dear!!

I drew your name and have held it just in case.

This is the case. :) And you get to pick:

It was a winner's choice giveaway.

I'll do you MOO mini-cards or a ring - you decide. Email me janiceihg at hotmail dot com within 7 days please with your choice. We can work through the details then.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

For everyone else (well, Candace too) its FRIDAY!! YAY! I am so happy its Friday. I swear, if I could quit work, I just think I might would do that. I never used to think that, thought I'd go stir crazy at home, but now I'm thinking...mmmmmmmmm, maybe not so much. It would be divine to not work at an outside job. . . .or to only work maybe like ummm, 3 days a week. That would really kick ass. Sorry. That would really be rather pleasant. :-D But, that is so not likely to happen. There is no way I could come CLOSE to making my salary at home metalsmithing. Now if I downsize the rest of my life, paid off some bills and well, told my son no more baseball, soccer, golf, or tennis....or new games for his DS....or a whole slew of other thing, then maybe, just maybe I could make it work. *sigh* Dream life. Well, maybe in another 10 years. ;-)

I am working on some photos for the new feature for the blog - ya know, I mentioned it a few days back -- the 'what NOT to do' - where YOU learn from MY mistakes. Should be a riot, well, for you all. Maybe not so much for me. ;-)

OK, got to go -

Ciao for now!

Janice

Tutorial Tuesday!

Ok, I'm trying to get back on track here. Today I'd like to share the blog of Perri Jackson of Shaktipaj Designs. Perri is a VERY talented wire artisan and is a lovely person to boot! Please visit her blog to see her wire tutorials - and more!

-------------------------

I am planning on bench time tonight - its TUESDAY after all. My son has drama practice right after school - my Father will pick him up at 4:45 and then my little guy has soccer practice at 6pm and my Dad has agreed to take him to that each Tuesday - sooooooooo, its lookin' promising for me tonight! YAY!

Hope everyone is having a very productive day.

Oh, and I still have not heard from Nina Gibson re: her winning the giveaway - I maybe wasn't clear that the person needed to come back here and check in and contact me, then again, I never said winners would be notified.....and I did announce it rather boldly - it was the title of a blogpost.....hmm. I guess I'll shoot her off an email and then go from there. I still have the 'runner up' name waiting.........just in case. :)

We HAVE a WINNER!

I've seen lots of giveaways and contests etc and I know a lot of people assign numbers and use a randomizer....I did it the old fasioned way. I printed the comments, cut them out (removing any duplicates) and then put them in my tumbler (hows that for fitting?) and shook it up REAL good, and then covered the top with one hand whilst I reached in with the other....



annnnnnnd, drew a slip of paper..........



annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, we have a winner.



Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd - you wanna know who it is right?



Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, I'm agonna tell you.



OK, enough already.



The winner is NinaGibsonDesigns! YAY ! ! !
(Nina, by the way makes REALLY gorgeous jewelry - go check her out if you aren't familiar with her work)


Nina - I need you to email me your choice of 'prize'.



Either a ring - if so, give me your ring size and your snail mail addy



OR



the MOO cards - and we;ll work through details.



My email is janiceihg AT hotmail DOt com.


And, in the attempt at full disclosure - I did pull a second name in the event that Nina doesn't get back to me.

Thanks everyone who reads here!!! Especially those who take the time to comment - it really means a lot! Sorry I couldn't give EVERYONE something.....there's always next time!!

HUGS!

I'm off for a weekend of metalsmithing fun with a couple of friends - but I'll be checking in. :)
~Janice

Giveaway Entries closed! (and a ring...)

ENTRIES (COMMENTS) ARE NOW CLOSED!! (TH 11:44PM)

I WILL RANDOMLY PICK A WINNER TOMORROW MORNING!

And here is a ring I finished tonight:

Charoite and sterling and lots of texture!

Night!!

~Janice

Tales From Tuesday

Just a quick note to say that I did get some bench time last night - despite a harrowing evening preceding said bench time. With two separate melt downs - first my dd on the phone in tears and not long thereafter my son in his room in tears......it was really a stellar start to my Tuesday at the bench which almost didn't happen.

Despite all that went on, I was determined to get some work done. I was trying out a new design concept and ended up messing it up along the way. A learning experience which I'm glad to have had and yet it was a time eater. I almost packed it in after that and wasn't really sure what to do next when I spied a ring I had been playing with. Truly not a ring that was ever going to see the light of day - it started as me fiddling with one element (the shank) and then instead of scrapping it I decided to top it off with a 'bar' on top...and its been resting rather pathetically on my bench since. Oh sure, its been thrown in the tumbler a time or two - why not take a ride with the other kiddos? But it was surely the black sheep of the family. Well, after last night I am no longer sure. This ring just might be a contender!! I decided I'd try to flush set an amethyst in the top. I have only set one flush stone before, and that was under the direct guidance of my buddy Gary. And actually I think he technically 'set' both of the stones I tried that day we all got togehter up at Rina's. Ahhh, memories....

OK, so anyway - I tried it, got it in there but scratched the hell out of the setting.....sanded it, oops, there goes my shiney amethyst - now a dull opaque piece of..well, not nice thing. So, out it comes and in goes another. More careful this time (not to mention I had taken a file and some sandpaper and re-surfaced my little homemade setting tool) and yes, I think its in there - let me try to push it out from the back...yep, ITS IN THERE! WAHHOOOOO!

But you know me, I gotta be really really sure. So I held it over a hard countertop, from about 12" high and I dropped it 5 or 6 or ok 10 or 12 times. . . and. . wonders of wonders.....

IT STAYED!

Next test is the tumbler.

~Janice

Oh and Hey - HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!! Halfway to the weekend!!

Giveaway update- I"ll be closing comments in the giveaway post tomorrow evening. And I'll draw the winner on Friday morning and post. The winner then just needs to contact me with what they choose and all their pertinent info.

EDIT: You asked for it - you got it - well, sort of -- here are pics of the ring before the session last night - this was on one of its trips in the tumbler...






Now imagine it with a scratch finish on top and a little 3mm amethyst flush set.

~*~Winner's Choice-Multiple Choice Giveaway~*~

ENTRIES (COMMENTS) ARE NOW CLOSED!! (TH 11:44PM)
I WILL RANDOMLY PICK A WINNER TOMORROW MORNING!

Time to 'sign-up' if you want in!!

I'm hosting a "Winner's Choice-Multiple Choice Giveaway".

And all you have to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post!

Yep, you heard me. You don't have to go here or there or click anything.

(and NO, multiple comments left to this post does NOT increase your chances of winning!! You only have to post once! Although you are welcome to come back and forth a zillion times between now and next Friday and chat your little head off! I am a chatty person myself so I quite enjoy it. But each person gets ONE entry. )

This is my way of thanking and luvin' up on my current friends and followers - the people who take the time to read me. So you don't need to announce this on your blog or spread the word --- noooooooo, that would sort of defeat the purpose! So hush-hush - this is for YOU.

OK, what do you win?

You may choose a "Surprise Ring". I will make you a ring, sterling and stone - in your size. Why is it called a "Surprise Ring"? Because if you choose it, you will allow my 'muse' to choose what it looks like. SURPRISE!

(but It will probably be in the style of one of these:

OR


You may choose an order of marvelous mini-moo cards. You can see my recent Moo cards here:


http://doxallodesigns.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-was-here.html


and we'll work out the details on how the cards will be made. (you can send me pics or you can arrange the cards in MOO yourself...we'll work it out)

Next Friday I will draw, at random, a name from a hat or bowl or bag or whatever I happen to have handy....and the winner will need to let me know what they choose and provide me with their snail mail addy and any other information pertinent to their choice.

So . . . . if you can hang with all that and you want in - LEAVE A COMMENT - and say you want in.....I mean some people might want to comment WITHOUT being entered....

Good luck and HAPPY WEEKEND!!

"I was here"....

.........and this is the proof.


These are my new 'calling cards' which I can leave with anyone anywhere!

They are pint sized and pack a punch! The front has a cropped image of a piece of my jewelry and the back has my contact info.

I had found these on another blog (wish I could remember who) a long time ago and have been wanting to order some for myself. Well,I finally did and I am THRILLED!

See how small they are?

They were so economical and easy to create! They shipped and arrived REALLY fast too.

The company is MOO. You can find them at, where else but......moo.com :-)

AND - I've been thinking of doing a giveaway - other people have and it inspired me to do one. Now I am wondering if someone would want an order of MOO cards - compliments of moi'?

What do you think - is that a good giveaway? The winner could either send me their snapshots and text and I'll mock them up, pay for the order and have it shipped to the winner...OR, they could go in and mock up their own - and then I'll order and pay and have it shipped.

Give me some feedback please - what do you all think? Good giveaway or not so hot? Should I just stick to a piece of jewelry......?

~Janice