Week 42

I made this at 1am on New Year's Morning. It isn't perfect, but I spent the whole day conceptualizing what it would be in my head, knowing that I had a very small window to make it in (I have to work all day today starting at 11am, so this was really my last chance to make something this week). It isn't perfect- one of the hazards of putting things together at 1am- and I wisely convinced myself to stop trying to fix it before I could melt it into a lump of amorphous silver, but I like the design, and feel like there may be some more ornate versions in the future- will have to consult my dwindling gemstone collection. lol.

Off to bed now... Happy New Year!

Week 41

It's Xmas eve, and I honestly considered taking a week off for xmas, but...you know...i have RULES and all ;p so I threw together a quick simple piece for the week. It's a hair comb, made of soldered nickel and silver, swarovski beads, and a feather.

As you can see, it's pink. Umm...that was unintentional...and could be fixed...if i wanted to fix it. In college, I worked with nickel a lot (which is what the comb I bought is made of) because it's silver in color and relatively cheap. Nickel really isn't recommended for jewelry, because a lot of people have sensitivities to it. Anywhoooooo, there are a few things about nickel that i forgot in our time apart (since i switched to silver). The first is that it gives off a really horrible smelling fume when you heat it for soldering- the kind that makes you think TOXIC...the second, and more important- is that every piece I have ever made containing both nickel and silver has resulted in the whole thing plating pink in the pickle pot (pickle is a citric acid used for removing the tarnish/heat patina created during soldering or heat forming). A similar thing happens with steel, but i don't work with steel...

Just for fun, here's a picture of our xmas tree:

There are only 4 indigo flourescent bulbs on the whole tree, but boy do they stand out in this picture...

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Week 40

This week was earrings. There's a few different ones: green glass to match the bracelet I did last week, silver spirals in a smaller gauge as a gift for someone, and a set made out of some swarovski bead I forgot I bought for my birthday.

Week 39

This week I'm working on glass jewelry (seaglass, broken glass that's been smoothed by sand and water). I've tried a few times in the past and haven't really been happy with it, but I like this go at it. Bob wants me to make a piece of seaglass jewelry for his mom because we both share a love of picking up seaglass- though all of mine is from the Caribbean and all of hers is from Lake Michigan. I'm not sure that this will be the gift piece, but it's a good mock-up/practice run for a gift piece.

On a side note, my clumsy streak has struck again. This piece took me two days to complete, because when I went looking for the length of chain (the chain part is purchased chain) to make this, I fell down my stairs. My mom was just over this week and commented on how my stairs really ought to have a railing too. I know I'm lucky- I didn't break anything- but I have a big bruise on my thigh and I wrenched my shoulder pretty badly (I'm gonna give it a week before I really worry though. It hurts/pinches, but I'm pretty sure that if I'd torn anything it would be excrutiating). I only skinned a fingertip and an elbow so I'm lucky for that as well. The Xarata Project lesson of the week? Always wear the socks with the grippy dots on the bottom.

Week 38

I have a cold. I would like to veg out on my couch until I am better- unfortunately, i still work. LAME. I just did commissioned orders this week. The different thing about all of these is that I used a pattern (a printed picture behind the glass) for all of them.

The first was just to personalize a set of glasses I already had painted. These were purchased on my etsy site by someone who picked up my card at the wine show- read as NOT my family or friends- which is kind of exciting. They chose Lucida Handwriting font (which was my pattern)-  it's not necessarily what i would have picked, but it's cute.

The second was those tribal shotglasses I was telling you about:

And the last wasn't really commissioned- it's a coffee glass I've been trying to paint for Bob for awhile. I've painted it several times actually and never been happy with it so i keep washing the paint off while i still can. I decided i liked the tribal design so i made it smaller and then painted a chain of the design around the top of the glass.

Week 37

It's Thanksgiving week, so lots of visiting to do and lots of work at the end of the week, but still some work in progress.

I painted the leatherback turtle family wine glasses my sister requested. They came out pretty cute. Not sure if I'm going to add any seascaping to them yet. I usually draw more traditional (green) sea turtles with the soccerball shells, but leatherbacks were kind of fun. I freehanded them while looking at photos. Some of the lines (for the vertical white spines on their shells) kind of bother me in their waviness, but in the photos, they're not perfectly straight and i feel like they would be less realistic if they were perfectly straight.

This first photo was actually taken before I opted to make an adjustment to the lone turtle's shell. I just really like the relationship placement i got in this photo.

And...painted wednesday, posted sunday:

Margarita glassed with orange flowers! (purchased gift- requested as such)



Week 36

This week is all about sales and commissioned pieces- ergo, glasses. My etsy site had 2 sales this week- a hairflower and a set of shotglasses. I also had requests for some painted glassware for xmas gifts, so this week i started in on the sets.

I started by finishing the set of daggers wine glasses that I redesigned in an earlier post- it is now a complete set of 4.

The set of shotglasses ordered was a set I've done before, but have since added to my own collection and used at parties, so i painted them to order.

 As you can see on the left side of the first photo, i'm planning on painting a bunch of shotglasses (as gifts), and in the bottom right you can see a shotglass i did with a tribal design on it that I will be re-doing due to poor placement of the design.

This week's doodle:

Still to come in commissioned work- a set of margarita glasses and some sea turtle wine glasses.

Week 35

This week I played with a multiple stone setting. The overall shape is nice, but I feel it's too wire heavy and could use some work.

Also made some headbands this week. I made 5 out of 2 fabrics. I love the batiks, this one is a sort of green and brown mix and the teal on white damask for some reason makes me think of snowflakes (i don't know why, it's not even cold today) I took pictures of them on, but today is not my most photogenic day so you'll just have to settle for the closeup:

Pain

 New development this week...I've developed a hand twitch...which is probably not good :( It doesn't twitch all the time- mostly if I spend too much time on the computer- but I haven't started on a piece yet this week and am not really sure what effect pliers will have on my hand. We'll see. The twitch seems to be associated with the same movement (pinching something between hand and thumb, like pushing a button on a remote, turning keys/dead bolts, holding certain things-like a measuring cup) that caused me a lot of pain when I originally damaged my hand 3 years ago (oh wow, has it really been 3 years?).

For those that don't know, I popped the cartilage is my hand (where the thumb and index finger bones meet the bones in the wrist) 3 years ago opening a jar of honey (yeah...the jar won...) causing permanent damage. I didn't originally have it treated and after a month of two of diminishing motor function in that hand (related to the aforementioned pinching/squeezing actions- i couldn't turn the deadbolt on my door, couldn't take the parking brake off my car, couldn't scoop ice at work or even feed the dog without intense pain) I went through a couple months of physical therapy with exercises and a fluidometer to regain the full use of my hand/joints. It was my senior year of college so while I was going through physical therapy and wearing an immobilizer, I was still abusing my hand through ceramics, metals, and sewing classes.

 I also have carpal tunnel in both of my hands which in the past few months has caused random pain from hand cramping and stiffness, pins and needles, and sensitivity to cold- especially in the last two fingers on my hands- to unexplained throbbing that radiates in my forearms from wrist to elbow.Carrying really heavy trays aggravates it- which is why i don't pick hours in the banquets department anymore- though the regular trays I carry every day can still leave my fingers miserable.

 Most of the time, I either wake up in pain or I don't and that sets the tone for my day, occassionally the pain comes suddenly in throbbing waves. It's been worse the last couple of weeks and I'm not really sure why- I suspect the incoming winter cold is to blame.  Hopefully this new twitch will be short-lived, but in my experience my hands have only gotten worse over time- there are good days and bad days- but new symptoms don't go away. My carpal tunnel didn't used to bother me, other than occassional pain and tingling- now it bothers me all the time. It doesn't mean that I'll stop working on pieces, because they offer me a sense of fulfillment I don't find in my job, but it does make me remember being told by a doctor that there would come a day where i would have to choose between my hands and my career...I told him I would cross that bridge when it came, I hope I still have a ways to go...

From what little I know, once cartilage is damaged, it is damaged forever and will never be the same. There is no fix for it. The only cure I know of for carpal tunnel is surgery to cut the tendons in the wrist that are aggravating the nerves- and if you continue to use your hands the way that you did, the carpal tunnel will return. Immobilizers offer temporary relief of symptoms. Maybe I should see a specialist, but what are the odds that they can do anything for me? Magic 8 ball says the odds are not in my favor.


*There will still be a week 35 post this week. I just felt the need to vent/share/put my thoughts down in writing. This post will not be facebook linked or anything, but it will be here- mostly because deep down, part of me is terrified that that doctor was telling the truth, and it's a choice I am completely unable and unwilling to make. As I write this, my right hand is twitching- a muscle or tendon in it clearly spasming, and every time i pick up grab something cold with my left hand, the last two fingers seize up and curl- only for a moment, but a moment is enough. The things we take for granted...like being able to use our hands...

Week 34

Right about now is when I realize the irony of the fact that I spent all my warm summer months upstairs painting glass- because I lit up the torch again and my studio(aka the concrete basement) is COLD!!! And full of house centipedes fleeing the cold outdoors- if you don't know what a house centipede is, I strongly encourage you to google image because it's a very disturbingly creepy bug and it lives in my house... Actually, I will google it for you:

creepy, huh?

Ahem...anyway...Last week I promised you a peacock pendant and so of course, I have made good on my word!!!

 I'm actually even happier with it than I really knew I would be. I want to wear it all the time. I need to buy it a worthy chain... For awhile, I felt kind of guilty for never attaching the pieces to earcuffs, but I'm so much happier with them this way... I have no idea what the stone is- my guess would be cubic zirconia, but i'm honestly unsure. It's clear and it's sparkly...

Week 33

I guess I let the craft show get me discouraged, because i just did not want to touch anything this week. An hour ago- the last hour in the week- i looked at the clock and thought "I haven't skipped a week yet, and there's no good reason to start now". I'm not the only one who will know if I skip a week... soooooo.... It's just 1 piece (well technically two but it's earrings so they're kind of one), but it's something. They're 100% sterling silver and made in the curlicue greek style I've been working with in copper. The gauge for the wire is the same as the copper, but i kind of feel like it should be thinner/daintier for this sort of thing or maybe because the silver reflects more light/looks bigger. eh, it's still pretty:

So...if I haven't been crafting, what have I been up to? well... I have been working these past few days- 14 hours yesterday (in a corset, what was i thinking? Anything for the love of halloween...lol) and when I left work at 1am, my car battery was dead so i got it jumped and drove around to charge it up. I think i need a new battery- they never did replace when i fried my car's computer this summer- it's probably damaged.

 Bob bought me a video game (fable III) which has kind of usurped my attention this week. I'm not a huge videogame player- i'm not very good at most videogames, and i get bored easily-if you didn't already know this about me ;p, but I like the fable games and the viva pinata games and they'll usually keep my attention for at least a week when they come out. Not to worry I'll be over it in another day or two, and back to my crafty ways.

My creativity hasn't been entirely wasted this week in that we get to dress up for halloween at work, and I put my own costumes together and I'm something different everyday. Yesterday I was a pirate, and today I was a wood nymph. I wasn't allowed to dress up earlier in the week, and I'm not entirely sure what I'll be tomorrow but fear not- I never fail to celebrate Halloween in style. It's my favorite day of the year.

I actually do know at least one thing you'll be seeing next week and that's a peacock pendant made by taking those half finished ear cuffs i made in an earler post and soldering them together back to back. I had them pushed together on my workbench and realized their greater purpose :) I also want to try a wire wrapped glass, but i'm out of copper wire so it may have to wait. I have quite a few half finished headbands in the studio and some fabric to make new too, so I've got work to do!

Week 32 -The Craft Show

Yes this post is a couple of days late, because I wanted to include the craft show...The craft show was a bit of a bust for me, I only sold 4 items. I had a lot of ogling with everyone telling me how beautiful and unique my stuff was, but not a whole lot of buying. I did have a lot of people ask about custom orders  and my website, and they took my card. One person asked about me doing a custom wedding gift set with initials and i traded cards with a vintner who just opened a winery in Hershey. In theory, my not so great craft show experience COULD turn into some great online orders. Let's cross our fingers. In the meantime, I think I'm finally going to take my inventory to the HodgePodgery and see how consignment treats me.

In preparation for the show, I did make a few things. I painted all those sets I said I would and made sure all the glasses were clean, clear coated, and washed. I also did my geekery glasses this week :) They were pretty much lost on the older crowd (a lot of people told me that 42 was their age or the year they were born), and the pi glass was my suffered casualty to the wind (though if a glass had to break, i'm kind of glad it was that one)

I also made about 4-5 more of those copper bracelets. I sold one. I took another apart to lengthen 2 of the others and used them as arm cuffs and bracelets for my goddess Halloween costume.

My Halloween party was also sort of a bust, but I ended up having a good time anyway. I said I wanted to have a party and at least 2 couples said they were definitely coming and several other singles said they might drop in. Then one couple caught the flu, several friends had visitors come in from other states this weekend, one couple had a family function, and i got a whole lot of "we have to get up early"s which I am not ashamed to say i think is a really lame excuse. All of my friends are in their 20s, and in college i'd party til 3am and be in class operating sewing machines and torches by 8am(which means i got up at 7am). I got out of bed at 8am today, took a shower and picked up the house, and then went back to bed for another hour, but I COULD have gone to work. It wouldn't have been fun, but for a once in a blue moon thing to hang out with friends, i could have done it.

However after much cajoling, one couple agreed to come play with me, and we had great fun. And since there were only 4 of us, I didn't mind using the good liquor. We played spoons,  cracked glowsticks, and threw confetti eggs (painted eggs that have been hollowed, filled with confetti and sealed back up) at both the inside and outside of the house which was a lot of fun. They live down the road and went home around 2:30am and I was glad that Bob got to meet them, because I've always hung out with them without Bob before. Honey actually took to them very quickly also, which she almost never does and made things easier- i prefer when she's kissing guests rather than barking at them.

Week 31

1 week til the craft show- I'm pretty excited about it. I've been pretty busy finishing up glasses and thinking of display stuff.


Glasses:
I told you I had 15 glasses left to paint. They became a set of polkadots, a set of pink roses, a set of flames, and some geekery glasses. I have more plans for "geekery glass" in the form of "42" with 2 little mice (hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy reference), the symbol pi, "I speak GEEK", and "This is my Zombie Plan". If you're not a geek, it's okay if you don't get any of these, but I assure you they target a demographic. My hand hurt, and I have started developing calluses, but I'm proud. Everything is clear coated now, and even prettier. I intend to wash them before the show, but i want to give them time to air cure.



see the little mice? I feel so clever. lol



This week's glasses

The martinis- you've seen them before



mostly lava and tree bark sets


What I'll be working on this week:
I finally bought some 20 gauge copper wire to play with and began my attempt at the artsfest bracelet i've been promising. It's a fun twist on a link bracelet though i'm still working on getting the links trully consistent. Bob said should make a collar for Honey (our dog) like this. maybe I will. I do want to make a few to take to the show. They take about an hour.

What I'm taking to the show:

-Roughly 50-60 glasses including wine glasses, martini glasses, and shotglasses displayed on neon end tables and some white tables my neighbor tossed when he moved out this week.

-Roughly 50 headbands which i'm going to display on a pretty curtain rod.

-Random pieces of jewelry including chains, link bracelets, pendants, and earcuffs

-maybe some hairflowers

-maybe some copper quill pens

Wish me luck!

Week 30

Ok, so I'll start by fessing up- not all 40 are done, I have 15 to go. Why? In a nutshell, i had distractions (said in a russian vampiric accent because it's fun- dis- trauk-shuns) (books to read, long work days, angry work days, more books to read, new roof keeping us from getting any real semblance of sleep...)

Progress shot: There's 16 on the top and middle shelves each (so 32) and then a handful of martini glasses and random wine goblets on the bottom (let's say a dozen all together) so i have painted more than 40 glasses...just not THE 40 glasses. lol

Here's the randoms for the week: flames polkadots, a greenman face, and another rose. Obviously i haven't done the clean-up phase on these. I'm actually planning on using these designs as sets for the part of the 15 i have left, making a flame set, a polkadot set, and set of roses. The additional 3 will probably be something random.

To tell the truth- I'm all cupped out. I'm sick to death of painting glasses. It's pretty reminiscent of when i embarked on my 100 headbands. I haven't made a headband since. (though i did buy a pretty green batik with a coupon today specifically for some headbands...)I'm ready for a new project- i bought wire today to play with the link bracelet Bob wanted me to make.

On a side note, since the roofers pretty much destroyed my flowers, i took the broken stems of the ones that got most trully squashed and put them in a vase. I LOVE these flowers and fully intend to plant them every year of forever. The one's i have now are a "kimono mix" of celosia so a nic conglomerate in the flowerbed of burgundy, red, purple, orange, and yellow, but mostly it was reds that got smushed. They're an annual so they don't come back, and i so enjoy them and am just a little heartbroken that they got smashed under half a rooftop's worth of shingles that i decided they should at least be appreciated before they trully die.

Part me mentally giggles at how appropriate this picture is for me what with the flowers and the fairy and the sketchbook, and the sewing scissors, and the box (i kind of collect pretty boxes) and BAND-AIDS. thehehee...um...i get hurt a lot... :)

Featured on Etsy

I don't know why I didn't bother to mention this but...my headbands were featured on etsy in the treasury section!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c8ba4f4ed9e6d91f6709606/solids-v-patterns?index=34

I just thought it was kind of cool...

Week 29

Alright, the craft show is at the end of the month so it's time to kick my glass-painting butt into gear. My shipment of glasses came in today and I have 40 glasses to paint. The plan is to paint at least 5 glasses everyday for the next week- duplicating a set of 4 and 1 random glass each day. Within 8 days, I will have painted all 40 glasses- giving me time(roughly 2 weeks) to go back and perfect/clean each one, seal them, and have the paint cured before the show.

There's no point in posting pictures of the duplicate sets (you've already seen them), but I will post the random glasses that I make for your enjoyment. Today I painted a set of lava glasses and a black rose glass.

You can't really tell in these pictures, but I painted the center of the rose on the bottom of the glass so the rose actually IS complete when you look down into the goblet.

While picking up my shipment of glasses, I also happened upon these tables for $9.99 each that i think are perfect for taking to the craft show. The legs screw on and off, so they'll transport really well too. Normally lime and hot pink aren't really my thing, but almost all of my glasses are black, and it really pops on these tables.



 This picture doesn't really demonstrate how awesome the glasses look when you're walking near the table, but i was trying to get the whole setup in one picture. I photographed the rose goblet on these tables- so basically it looks like that only zoomed out... with more glasses... I don't really intend to overcrowd it like that either, i just have a lot of glasses that were dominating my kitchen table. Bob suggested i stack them in a pyramid instead of an L. I'll have to play with it.

Ultimately I should have roughly 4 lava sets- one in silver, 2-3 treebark sets, a couple of polkadot sets, and a hodge podge of individuals including a wedding henna wine set, a couple different greenman glasses, a couple of roses, a fingerprint, and about a dozen martini glasses. I'll also be bringing my headbands (I sold 5 this week!), and some assorted silver pendants and ear cuffs, as well as a handful of copper quill pens. 



To those who read my blog, offering critique and support, as well as those who purchase from my etsy store: thank you for keeping me going. There are days when I really hate my job, and you're the ones that make me believe that someday I won't have to wait tables for a living. There are days when I watch my art pieces piling up in my studio and wonder what the point of it all is, and then I get a notification that someone shopped at my etsy store and even when it's just a headband, I feel just a little bit proud that somebody wants something that I made. There are days when I would really rather be lazy and do nothing at all, but posting here makes sure I make something every week- whether it's 100 headbands or 50 handpainted glasses, dozens of hairflowers or intricately twisted silver jewelry- I make and meet those goals because of you. I don't know how many of you there are- I know it's more than the 5 followers I have on blogspot- but I cherish you.

Week 28

Well...I was planning on tonight being my big worknight this week, but then Bob went and cut himself and we've been trying to stop the bleeding for 2 hours to no avail so...i'm going to post what i have. It's not a lot, but it's fairly detailed. Two glasses.

First, a green man design- i'd like to perfect it a little further, but Bob says he calls dibs on this glass anyway.

The second glass I made this week- was my final attempt at translating the daggers design to a wine glass. I've only done 1 so far, but I will probably make the other 3 for the original commission.

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry- i had the flash off and wasn't paying enough attention and really don't feel like re-taking them at the moment.

I also made another ear cuff- i think this one is kind of fun, but i'll have to add some glue to secure the gold rings to the green beads so they dont slide around:

I may find something else to do yet in the night, but there's only an hour and a half left in the week so I think I'm just going to shoot for a heavy load next week.