coldfeetstudio

I have moved.

2012-06-09T09:19:00.002-05:00

to

http://coldfeetstudio.wordpress.com/

please come and visit me there :)

when is enough enough ...

2012-06-02T15:15:00.001-05:00

Could this be referred to as an obsession?

A twelve step problem?

Or a healthy hobby?

Do you think I have enough?

Should I lock away my credit card?

But just look at all the beauties. Quietly waiting for their chance to shine. Sitting neatly in their holding cells. I can't wait to get at them but perhaps I should hold off buying any more until I have used the ones I have?

So all of you lapidaries out there, you masters of stone cutting, you revealers of beauty ... stop it!

saturday notes:
happy diamond jubliee your majesty.

that's her, waving at me.

right back at yer ...

i bet she doesn't have a gemstone addiction - oh, wait, maybe she does.

and talking of crown jewels, take a look at these beauties ...

now that's a pair of earrings.

new pieces

2012-06-01T11:13:00.001-05:00

I have some new items listed on my etsy page.

I tried a new background because I thought perhaps the red was a little too dark and dismal, but, now I don't know.

friday notes:
i've been painting. sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. having a fight with myself right now. housework or studio? so, so far i've done neither ... makes sense, right?

The sorry story of the amethyst - and why I had to dump her.

2012-05-28T09:10:00.002-05:00

Terrible things have been happening in the studio. Things that had me thinking I should give up, walk out, and never go back.

I can't tell you what happened. It's a mystery even to me. Yes, I have my suspicions but until I am a more experienced jewelry maker I will have to wait to confirm them.

I'll tell you this for nothing ... I wont be buying any more amethyst for a while.

I didn't like the stone to begin with. It was too big, too uneven, and it had a scratch on the front, (yes, a scratch), a clue to the outcome right there ... but, I had promised it to a friend for her birthday. (Another clue, never promise anything ...).

I suppose really this should be a story about going with your gut and stop being so stubborn, but I'm still too annoyed with the whole thing to admit it.

Long story short. I soldered that @^&@$* piece probably eleven times. I knew it wasn't going to fuse, each and every time I did it. So, why, for the love of God people, did I continue, time and time and time again! We might never know.

I finally abandoned the piece, but not the stone. No, I took out some more silver and started again, determined to make this pendant work, because now it was a fight to the end.

This is when I fell into despair.

Remarkably, however, even then I continued. I even took it to an international level, calling my dad in England for advice and to vent my theories. Dad's not a jeweler but even that didn't deter me from my crazed path for answers.

The madness continued. I went to my daughter's graduation thinking the break would be the answer. I would come back refreshed and with new skills that would enable me to finish the task.

Nope.

I did finally finish the piece, by which time I hated it. It's big. It's ugly, I had to put prongs over the scratches. It's used up more silver than I care to admit. But! I won! (I think.)

My friend wont be getting it for her birthday.
In fact, I am going to take it to pieces and reclaim the silver the first chance I get - that will teach it to mess with me ...

As for my friend, I bought another stone. Purple because that's her favourite colour. Sugilite - because amethyst is now banned from my studio.

I hope she likes it because it's the last birthday present she'll be getting ... joking jules :)

I read on a jeweler's blog once (wish I could find it) that when she had fought with a piece and finally ruined it, her husband told her that she should then, not only make it again, but make it twice. I kind of like that, it fits right in with my stubborn streak. I'm not quite fully recovered to fight with the amethyst again, just yet, but, here are a few other pieces that I managed after got back on the bike, so to speak.

Take that amethyst! Mwaahaahaa ...

where i've been

2012-05-25T21:13:00.001-05:00

This is my baby (second from left), newly graduated from university :)
Man how the time has flown. I remember when she was just 18 months old, like it was yesterday. Bouncing around on the bed, laughing and playing with us until she suddenly bounced right off. Same as when she swung right out of her baby swing. Nothing like hearing the rhythmic swaying of the swing suddenly take on a totally different sound when the weight of your child exits from it. Yes, it's all fun and games until someone crashes to the floor.

Surprising that she made it through college really.

friday notes:
still in a slump. a bit exhausted i think from all the turmoil. kids coming home for summer, the eight hour car ride to the graduation ... and back again. the fact that the a/c in the graduation girl's apartment had not been working for days and days and days and she didn't mention this and we just melted away into big blobs because somebody (me) forgot to book a room at a hotel in time before every mother and her family came to watch their child graduate. etc. etc. but all is good.
except i'm having a really hard time with the jewelry at the moment. it's like, suddenly, all i touch goes wrong. but i will not give in. i will never surrender! (that was in my best winston churchill voice). anyway, i can't give up as i've just had a large delivery of silver turn up, and have ordered some more cabochons.

oh well. i'm nothing if not persistent ...

love you becky. rock on.

jewelry versus painting versus the sofa

2012-05-11T19:08:00.001-05:00

Better day today.

I did get off the sofa yesterday and go into the studio. I decided on jewelry and tidied my table.

I know the corner doesn't look that tidy, but, believe me, it is.
So this made me feel good. I felt really accomplished before I even started anything. I was good to go. But then, everything I touched went wrong.
Yep, everything. No exaggeration.
I must have attempted to solder one thing, three times, another twice. Nothing took. I don't know what I was doing wrong. The silver was clean, it was all flush, but just wouldn't solder. I'm wondering if the solder I was using was old, (can it be old?)I know I cleaned that also. Maybe it wasn't solder. But it was in my solder area. I don't know.
So, I gave up, no point going on down a soul destroying path, and thought, I know, I'll paint.
Man! Wrong move.
I spent the rest of the day painting only to scrub it all off in the end. I guess when you have a bad day nothing is going to change it.

Should have stayed on the sofa.

Needless to say I hesitated going into the studio today.
I steered clear of the jewelry table as, I must admit, I couldn't face another day messing it all up. But, I did paint, and it was o.k. At least I enjoyed it.

Funny thing is, at the end of the day, I realised that I'd been painting it upside down. O.K. so I'm not really sure but I think perhaps it looks better this way up.

friday notes:
willow had an eye appointment today. here she is in the waiting room.

we're seriously thinking about getting her some doggy prozac as she is a nervous wreck when we take her anywhere.
her eye is good and she doesn't have to go back for six months.
if you remember, here she is with her special collar on.

looking rather pitiful.

poor willow.

cats, dogs, tennis balls and joshua ledet

2012-05-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

So far today is a sofa day.
Hopefully I'll be able to get off it at some point but I'm not holding my breath.
Every so often I have a slump, and, 'go into one', as it's known as in England.

Don't really know why.
Perhaps I'm just tired, but I feel a bit low and useless.

You know. One of those low and useless days :)

I've got paintings waiting to be painted. Stones waiting to be set. Quilt designs waiting to be designed. Even pots waiting to be ... well, you get the idea. But I can't be bothered to even think about them.

I think one of the problems is I have all this stuff that I love to do but can't get over the hurdle of what to do with it all once it's done. Doesn't seem like a big deal but the idea of thinking about prices, approaching shops or galleries etc. is kind of freaky for me.

But, I'm not going to dwell on it. (Well, I am, but I'm going to pretend I'm not). I'm going to sit here with my tea and Willow and worry about the next step when the tea's gone.

Willow is a tennis ball collector extraordinaire.

We have never bought her a tennis ball but she has 10 of them squirreled away. That's not including the ones outside in the garden. She collects them on her walks. We think the balls from the tennis court get lost and make their way down the stream where she takes her walks. Or runs, if truth be told. (We don't think she knows how to walk). She bounds through the stream (I call it a stream here, for aesthetic imagery, but it's actually a ditch), and picks up anything she can find just so she's doing the retrieving bit that spaniels do so well. Yes, she is a repressed bird dog. Poor Willow but yeah for the birds.

Spencer is here with me also. But then Spencer is always with me when I sit on the sofa.

Spencer sits right next to be. Wally sits on my lap and Pickles on the arm of the sofa, right next to me. It's like I have a protective circle of cats around me. Sometimes it get a bit much and I have to have a word with them ... doesn't work. It's like they don't even know what I'm talking about. Got to love them though.

thursday notes:
don't have any because i'm feeling too low and useless.

except, someone explain to me why this boy is even in this competition ...

maurice sendak

2012-05-08T13:01:00.002-05:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1

www.colbertnation.com

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The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2

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how to recover from a mild mishap - or, help, my turquoise is on fire ...

2012-05-05T22:04:00.002-05:00

So, here's the thing. I'm not good at being told what I can't do. If someone says I can't do something, it kind of plays on my mind, like, why can't I? - until I do it.

I like to make my own way. You can tell me, but, I'm going to do it my way anyway, even though I know that I'm probably going to mess up.

Well, I've done this before, and muddled through fine, but today ... today was a different story.

Here's a necklace I made yesterday.

I was fairly pleased with it as I had made all of those little bezels, but, deep down I knew it wasn't going to lay properly on the neck.
It bugged me but I finished it anyway by putting a chain on it. Then I tried it on, and, sure enough, the little bezels kept turning and twisting and refused to play nicely with the rest of the necklace. Sooooooo, I thought, perhaps if the links were soldered. But, I also thought, I've already set the turquoise and you can't solder after you've set the stones ...

So, you see, this is where it all started to go wrong.

As I said, I've done this before and I have been lucky enough to succeed, (really lucky) but, today this is what happened.

(All you jewelry makers out there, close your eyes at this bit, it's not a pretty sight.)

To be fair, it was quite spectacular as there was real fire and everything. Who knew the thing would actually catch fire! I expected, if all went wrong, that it might scorch, but not real flames. I had to blow it out.

As you can see, I started to take the bottom turquoise out of the bezel. And, it would have come, but then I thought, oh, to @^^&$ with it, and I changed the necklace up to this.

It's not really what I wanted but at least it lays properly :) and there's always another day to try again.

And now really close your eyes ... I decided that I would still use my burnt turquoise.

Really?!!! you ask.

Yes, really.

So now I have this.

And, this.

I don't know, maybe I'll keep them, maybe I wont, but I still had a good day in the studio :)

saturday notes:
i have tomatoes on the tomato plants! And, peppers on the pepper plants! One day there wasn't any, the next day, loads ... exciting.
we've just finished watching yet another, (how many can there be?) zombie movie on the t.v. this time set in london. we were laughing as they were definitely ninja zombies. one minute they weren't there, the next minute they were everywhere. a bit like the tomatoes really. stealth zombies, only they made too much noise - screaming and stuff.
now, the return of a man named horse is on. ripped nipples an' all. and a man has just cut his eyes open. good grief why!

funky turquoise

2012-05-03T07:25:00.001-05:00

This is a little funky. It reminds me a little of co-joined twins. In a bit of a creepy way. Or two turquoise stones trying to get away from each other. Perhaps that's a better way to describe it. See the little prongs pushing each other away in the face. Aggressive turquoise, now that's a thought.

But I'm interested in where this design style might go.

There's something about it that I really like yet feel that any jewelry maker out there will be thinking. OMG what on earth did she think she was doing there! I don't usually colour outside the lines, but, you know, I think I might just start doing that a lot more.

thursday notes:
feeling a little nervous for the guardian angel.

i've even begun to feel sorry for him being out there all alone at night. He's in the creepy end of the garden. He looks so forlorn, in that - yoohoo, it's me, over here, hello, couldn't you at least set me straight?! - kind of way.
Maybe I should hire a little helper to keep him company ...

oh, and by the way.

paintings, guardian angels and the evil cat.

2012-05-01T09:49:00.000-05:00

This is still on my table.

I worked on it some more yesterday and changed the sky to red. I like the red but think I prefer the original colour now that I'm looking at the photograph.

I just don't know if I like it. It seems so boring and childish.
I like the instagram photo of it though :)I'm thinking that perhaps instagram makes everything look better.

So I got disheartened with this one and went back to this one.

I like the sky and the church seems to be coming along. But I'm just not happy with anything at the moment.
I'm going back in there today. I'm determined to persevere with it.

tuesday notes:
time for another hair cut but i just can't be bothered with it. got to get out of the funk.
i put a guardian angel by the tomatoes. they don't seem to need it as they are doing so well, but, just in case.

actually in this shot he is standing more by the jalapenos. the tomatoes are in the back.
he looks really worried, like - please, no, don't leave me here, what if something happens, - kind of thing. but, you know, someone has to do the job. i'll pay him extra.

and i will leave you with another wally pic as i love him so much ... :)

i know he looks evil here but that's just because he is a little evil. maybe that's why i like him so much.
i have to say he's my favourite. don't tell spencer and pickles ...

Art Festival and New Stones.

2012-04-30T12:15:00.000-05:00

We had a good day on Saturday at the Market Street Art Festival in the Woodlands.
I feel like such a wimp, however, as it took me the whole of yesterday to recover. There's just something about getting older isn't there? I hurt all over and had to lay on the sofa complaining all day about how tired I was. I was almost too tired to finish my glass of wine. Almost ...
We had good weather and good company and I made just over $1000 to give to charity. I haven't decided yet. It's between Save the Children, Care or Oxfam at the moment.

I was happy to sell this.

It was so nice to see it appreciated and it gave me a lot more confidence about making larger pieces. P had said it was too big and that he didn't like it so I was feeling a little unsure about it. The lady who bought it was very nice and very complimentary of the setting, but, the stone is beautiful isn't it? It's Australian Crazy Lace Agate.

I was also pleased to sell this one.

I finished it the night before and really liked it. It sold just before we started packing up for the day and the woman seemed very happy with it. The stone is Mushroom Jasper from Arizona. Really nice.

So, I have ordered some more stones from a shop called Fabby Dabby Stones. They are coming from Norway so they take a while.

These are the ones I've ordered.

This is African Green Opal.

Rutilated Quartz.

Mexican Crazy Lace Agate.

And finally another Agate.

I really like the opal and crazy lace agate.
I have another opal which is mulling around my head right now. The stones tend to stay up there a while before I finally settle into making something with them.

This one is another African Green Opal. It's 30 x 30 mm in diameter and is just beautiful.

I want to share this wonderful painting by Lea Colie Wight.

You can find her website, here.

And these fantastic portraits by Cayce Zavaglia, all done with thread.

These are incredible. Her website is, here.

monday notes:
well, it's lunchtime already and i haven't done anything yet except surf the internet. great inspiration, but ... must get on.
i really think that i'd like to have a go at trying to sell some paintings at the next art festival. i'm almost getting to the point where i could chance it. now i just have to finish one :)
looking at the work above, however, makes me want to throw up my hands. they are just fabulous.

Henri

2012-04-27T09:15:00.002-05:00

A sad day at the office.

2012-04-26T10:12:00.001-05:00

I finished up a lot of stuff yesterday for the art festival on Saturday. Putting chains on pieces, etc. I always tend to put off that bit. Maybe because it's the same problem I have with ever completing something I've made - ie. the paintings etc. I'm always worried I'm going to get it wrong. The length of the chain, for example.
I'm beginning to see that I get worried about anything to do with selling the work I do. I really just like making it and I wish I could just stay in the bubble that is my studio and not be bothered about all that other part. At some point I just seem to go into a decline. I think finishing anything, including selling my stuff, makes me anxious and I've learned that when I get anxious I turn into a lethargic blob.

This morning I am a lethargic blob.

I feel low and pretty sorry for myself. The world is not shiny and I want to cry :( but if I tell you that, this post will be boring and depressing and I have promised myself to smile and laugh - see my wannado list).

So, here's the plan.

I am going to eat a good breakfast. An omelet I think, as I've been reading that those are good for you as a breakfast instead of the sugars in cereal and toast etc. (I'm not going to poach my eggs as that will make me more depressed, see here). Then I am going to walk on the treadmill. Lexi Erickson is calling me to see what will happen next in her jewelry d.v.d. (I've just finished watching the bit about files on her hand finishing one).

Then I'm going out to the studio.

At some point I'm going to have to come back in and finish pricing.
Here is a pic of preparing for Saturday.

And here is another pic of Wally.
Sleeping as usual ...

thursday notes:
sad day yesterday. a bird brained itself on my studio window. sometimes when this happens they just knock themselves out for a while, but this one smashed into the window pretty hard. i kept an eye on him but he never recovered :(
he was beautiful.

so this just about sums up my mood.

you'd better run from this post before you're dragged into the pit with me ...

(did i ever mention i was a drama queen?)

The sad tale of brecciated mookaite and whiplash.

2012-04-22T18:54:00.002-05:00

Here is a sad tale of woe and painful injury. It is one of stupidity and regret, oh, and thankfulness that I didn't actually take my eye out.

You'll notice that I've made the photographs small so that you won't be too shocked by the horror of it all.

This is what happens when the chain you are buffing gets wrapped around the mandrel of the rotary hand piece you are using and whiplashes your fingers - multiple times until your super human reflexes kick in and you take your foot off the power peddle thing.

(You'll have to excuse the slowness of my typing at the moment, but the e's are very painful).

I had to sit down on the chair for a moment after this happened and say, ouchy, a few times before i realised that i didn't actually want to look at my finger just in case it was too frightful for me to cope with. It hurt that much that I had to shut out visions that my fingernail had been ripped off and flung across the room but that it would be such a bloody mess that I wouldn't immediately notice. Bitter sweet really.

As you can see that hadn't happened, but, it was still really, really painful and I had to come inside the house to put ice on it. N made me a cup of tea for the shock (a well known cure in England). It's still throbbing four hours later.

Thing is, I wasn't paying attention and it could have been a lot worse, meaning the eye out thing. So, all you people out there, this might not look too bad to you, even though it still really, really hurts, but remember, if you use big girl tools you have to use your big girl brains ... nuff said.

And here is the chain I was buffing. Only here it isn't buffed yet.

Apparently this stone is brecciated mookaite. I had never heard of it before. I think I like it. (You can just see the offending chain at the top of the photograph).

I hope I sell this at the art festival on Saturday. It will bring back too many painful memories to keep ...

Turquoise and crazy lace agate - yum.

2012-04-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a photograph of my table when I caught it unawares friday morning. I always think that, just perhaps, it will have miraculously cleaned itself during the night. Looking at it now, it actually looks spotless compared to how I left it last night. If I were good, I would keep back ten minutes at the end of each session to pick up for the next day ...

nah.

So, from this table came these.

I'm quite liking the third one.

Here's a little of how I did it.

I make the bezel collar first with my new found love - plain bezel sheet. (I know, I'm slow to the party).

Then I trace around it and sketch out my design. This way I can keep putting the stone back on the drawing to give me a better feel for how it will look.

Love the sketching bit.

Now, this stuff is really handy as once I've finished my sketch I can then trace it onto this clear contact paper. I got mine from Hobby Lobby. I'm not sure if this link will work but on their site they call it magic cover. If you google magic cover it comes up with all that shelf covering vinyl stuff - that's not it, although, this is clearly handy if you need to cover a shelf. The stuff I'm talking about is a clear, sticky on one side, film and comes in a huge roll. (It probably comes in sheets but I couldn't find any at the time I needed it so now I have enough to share with everyone in the whole world.)

I then simply stick the tracing onto the silver sheet and saw around it.

Be warned. If you forget to take the film off and start to solder stuff onto it, you have to cough badly and squeeze your eyes shut tight as there will be lots of not good fumes. (Not that I've done that.)

Next I soldered the bezel collar onto the base plate - sans sticky film stuff.

Probably way too much solder here but I forgive myself as I'm still trying to perfect this skill.

This is the bale that I thought I wanted to put on it, and I still like it, but, just to keep things fresh, I mixed it up a bit and changed my mind.

Then I got excited and forgot to take photographs of how I variegated the bezel to fit around the awkwardness of the stone and added the little balls. Sorry.

But I did put it on one of my favourite chains and remembered to photograph it at the end, if that helps any.

The other two are still waiting for their chains.

So those three were made on friday and yesterday I made these.

I'm not a hundred percent sure about the big one, but, on the whole I think my bezels are getting better, so I'm happy with that. That big round stone is gorgeous. It's Australian Crazy Lace Agate. Beautiful

sunday notes:
yesterday i finally got around to cleaning the bathroom, so then I just had to have a bath. it's like when you've just cleaned the litter tray and the cats simply have to use it. drives me nuts but now i get it. the draw is impossible to resist.
today i'm probably going back out to the studio. sometimes i just get too into it all to stay away.

Getting on with it.

2012-04-19T10:51:00.000-05:00

Here are the finished earrings. Still not completely happy with the corners but getting better.

And here is a second pair.
This is how they looked after I'd taken them out of the liver of sulphur. I really liked the colours I was getting. There were some lovely deep blues and rusts in there, but, it just doesn't seem right to cover up the silver this way.

Here is a different shot of them. (Sorry, I'm just loving the instagram app. Give me a while to get over the initial wonder of it and I'll get back to taking photographs that actually show the correct colours ...)

So, not convinced I could leave the silver hidden, I polished them.

I've got a sheet of nickel somewhere which I used when I was first learning to solder and I might get that out and have a go with the different patinas on that. Thing is a lot of people are allergic to wearing nickel and so I haven't used it. Perhaps if the ear wires are silver it wont matter, but I always feel as if I'm cheating people if I don't use silver.

Oh the problems ...

I really like the red creek jasper and the photos don't really do it justice. Here's another pair of earrings where I used it.

I'm usually a green/blue person but this jasper is so warm. A beautiful landscape of a stone. I have a lot more of it. I just hope I can do it proud :)

thursday notes:
the, book, is getting good. we've had the murder (i think. not a hundred percent sure right now. i'll keep you posted). it's really fun to read as, although it's by p.d. james, she is writing it in the style of jane austin. i did see that it got some bad reviews on amazon, but, right now i'm enjoying it, so ...
i had a hard time putting it down last night. i could have gone on but i have decided to heed dr. oz's advice and try to get to sleep at a decent hour. i don't watch dr. oz. i must have, at some time, just caught that one episode, or read it somewhere. considering that most mornings i seem to wake up more tired than when i go to bed, it sounds like it might be a good idea.

so i'm just going to finish up my cup of tea and then go see what damage i can do in the studio today.

oh, and one more thing ...

joshua boy, you're my favourite.

Bezel wire - where have you been all my life?

2012-04-18T14:23:00.000-05:00

I broke down and bought some bezel wire. Up until now I have been cutting my own bezel edges out of sterling silver sheet. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated learning how to do that, but ... I think I'm in love.

The wire is just so easy to use. Here they are with the red creek jasper set in them.

I've still got a bit of a ways to go setting the corners. I didn't notice until I'd started pushing the edges in that the stones don't lie flat. I get so irritated with myself as just when I start to get one thing right something else crops up that I hadn't paid attention to. These stones are quite small and I think I've found that a little more difficult.

My bezels are not as good as I want them to be. I know it's just practice and it will eventually come, but, I've come to realise that I get very disheartened when I feel that I'm just not getting anywhere. On the one hand I get excited to make more yet on the other hand I feel like giving up. One of the problems I have is finishing. The cleaning and buffing bit. This is getting better for me but I just can't seem to get the look I want consistently.

Here are some I made where I cut the bezel edge myself

These ones seem to be better although I did them some time back. It's like one step forward, two steps back. Sigh.

And here is a totally different pair that I made this morning. A little happy pair ...

wednesday notes:
i worked some more on the painting but i've kind of gone off the boil. i think the disappointment i'm feeling with the jewelry is creeping over to the painting side of the studio.

but, on a positive note, i'll leave you with a pic of the tomatoes. man they've grown ...

R.I.P. spark thing ...

2012-04-17T13:57:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful day today.
I've already been out to the hardware store, (yes, I had to replace my dremel. Whoever misplaced it, I'm watching you ...) and, I had to get a new spark thing to light my torch as mine just stopped working.

I didn't know they could stop working. I just thought, metal against metal, how simple can it get. I even felt a little embarrassed as I thought perhaps it was just me. But, as you can see, my new one came with replacement bits, so obviously they must wear out. (Watch me lose those bits before I need them.)

I also popped into the craft store, but just to return something. So proud of myself. It felt really weird leaving without carrying bags of stuff out. But then, I let myself down and went into the bead shop. Still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Just $25, not a $125 ... it's not my fault that they have lots of pretty things. In another life I'm sure I was a magpie ...

As we're on the subject, take a look at this beautiful magpie.

It's an Indochinese Green Magpie.

tuesday notes:
started reading my new book.

i'm already enjoying it, but then I love p.d.james and i love jane austin so not a lot could go wrong really.

and, i thought i'd show you a picture of my lunch

in one of my favourite bowls. tomato soup, yum.

now i'm going to change into my old grungy jeans and t shirt and go spark up my torch ...

Of herbs and murder - oh, and jewelry ...

2012-04-16T15:54:00.000-05:00

A few new things.

monday notes:
lots of rain today. can't say we didn't need it but my herbs are probably all crushed now. i haven't had the heart to look yet.
there's something that scuttles quickly away each time i go over to check them out. it's too round to be a gecko, and too fast to be a frog, but as i've never really caught a good look at it i'm really not sure. i'm wondering if it's not a mouse or something. of course, now i'm after finding it, i haven't seen it again. the search is on.

i can't say i'm enjoying, the book, as much as i have her other ones. it's not so much the murder as it's the doctor. it's so depressing. i forget each time but the illnesses that the detective's sister has to deal with in each book is seriously beginning to affect my health ...
just when i recover from the possibility of getting one of the diseases she writes about, i pick up her next book and start to worry all over again about the next disease. motor neuron disease this time. i hadn't even considered it, and believe me, i've considered a lot (did i mention the hypochondria thing?) that, and the added subject of euthanasia and dementia, is really bringing me down. good job i've nearly finished it. i'm telling you, the murder part of the story is positively uplifting compared to the illnesses.

note to self: hypochondriacs should avoid medical fiction at all cost ...

My treasures.

2012-04-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

Wally Walnut

We got Wally outside of Walmart about eight years ago. He was in a box with two of his siblings. One looked ill, the other completely nuts. So we chose Wally. He was full of fleas and cost us $5 - and then some once we took him to the vets. Love him :) albeit he's been a moody teenager for a long time. Not as bad as one cat we used to have, Tommy Town Cat, who went for your throat as soon as you caught his eye, but definitely moody. I've noticed he's getting a bit heavier just recently but he's still a handsome fella ...

Worked on some jewelry yesterday for the first time in a while. I just made some simple earrings for the art festival coming up on the 28th. I have a lot of work ready but the earrings sell the most. J will be helping me at the festival - gammy leg an' all (love you Jules). I really appreciate it as taking the money is really hard for me and J has promised to beat any awkward customers to death with her walking stick. I have two friends that are so much better than me at selling my stuff. One day they will sell their stuff and I will help them - not taking the money, of course - just chatting with the people that step into the booth :)
What? That's hard work, right?

Been painting some more. (No, I haven't actually finished anything yet, but ... I've started a lot.)

This ...
is becoming this.

Which I'm not liking, but, there's always hope.

And, this ...

is a beginning that I think I'm liking. We'll see.

sunday notes:
wanted to go to the woodlands art festival this weekend but the weather has been a bit yuck. i feel for the artists, especially as the wind has been strong. i lost a plate once when the wind blew it over, i wonder how it was for the potters yesterday.

think i'll make some more jewelry today as the painting is beginning to worry me. read a nice quote this morning, however,

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasures you seek". - Joseph Cambell.

it was on facebook with this photograph.

made me feel good :)

maybe it doesn't matter if i'm not good at painting. it can still be my treasure ...

Liking it.

2012-04-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

OMG Joshua.
That's all I'm going to say ...

thursday notes:
n is 21 today :)
happy birthday baby.

My Wannado's

2012-04-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my previous post I am making a wannado list.
So, with no further ado, and, in no particular order ... here it is.

• Make a book - see here.

• Make a calendar for 2013 with paintings or illustrations, etc.

• Learn how to use my super duper epson printer so that I can make and sell prints.

• Finish the book - that I started more than twenty years ago! I have two, actually, but the other one is a, oh my, what were you thinking book. Problem is I tend to write the way I talk, in that, what on earth has she got going on in her brain, way. Not always the best way to go, grammar wise or anything else wise really ... but, I enjoy it. I probably enjoy writing more than anything else I do, even though I'm not particularly good at it. I sit at the computer and laugh my way through all the happenings and dialogues as I type, (no, it's not a drama). I love that I don't know where I'm going with it and that it's always a surprise for me. Sometimes I get thrown by something one of the character's does, then I have to swear (mildly) and spend ages trying to figure it all out, because the perfectionist in me has to have all the ends tied up so that it makes sense. But, that's all part of the excitement.
So, we're not talking publishing here people, I'm just going to finish it, by golly.

• Write another, shorter, story and illustrate it - I wrote a children's poem once and started to illustrate it. So I would like to have another go at that.

• Try to sell some of my paintings - BIG challenge for me.

• Make $10,000 for charity - now, this might take a while. I was going to say, in one year, but maybe I should keep it real. Too much pressure isn't good for me. Although, I did make over $5,000 last year without really putting myself out that much, so, maybe it is possible. (Where's your faith girl!)

• Perfect my jewelry - I want to make the best jewelry I can and not settle for second best. I'm not there yet, but I will be. Three words I really don't like are, 'it will do', so I am scrubbing them out of my vocabulary.

• Make a ring.

• Make a quilt pattern with one of my designs - trying to publish a quilt pattern might be in another wannado list. Bit scary right now.

• Send an application to the Houston Quilt Festival to enter one of my quilts - this will be a, lots of effort required as well as photography skills, thing. Also, very scary. This one makes my finger want to hover over the delete button. But, it stays ...

• Make a small quilt picture type thing.

• Make a print - lino, wood cut, anything will do.

• Reach 100 facebook peeps.

• Find 100 blog followers.

• Make interesting tweets - because, so far, they've been really boring.

• Ditto with facebook.

• Consistent and interesting blogging - so far my blogging intentions have been purely for self motivation and facing my fears. I think it's working.

• Read a book a month - at least.

• Don't let my hair get too long as it makes me look 50 years older, and boring.

• Lose 25lb's - this will be documented in 5lb increments, otherwise I might as well just give up now.

• Smile and laugh - a lot.

Oh, and today, clean the bathroom ...

Some of the things on this list will be on going, as in the smiling and laughing one, but, I am going to repost just the list and put it in the side bar - under, Wannado, (surprise title I know), and work on ticking them off one by one. Again, not really in any particular order and not really under any deadline, so long as it's not ten years or something. Some of them will be hard for me, the negative thoughts are already creeping in, but I will keep them there, just to see.

So, that's what I wannado.

What do you wannado?

Mug from Stepanka - here.

In the evenings, I knit.

2012-04-10T12:14:00.001-05:00

Well, at the moment I do.
Sometimes I sketch, sometimes I quilt, on rare occasions I cross stitch. It comes in waves.
I find it hard to just sit in the evening, unless I really want to concentrate on what's going on on the t.v., then it can get a bit annoying for the others living here as i'm constantly asking questions or getting them to rewind. (I love that rewind thing. I had no idea for the longest time that the t.v. could do that. Definitely a wow moment when I found that out.)

So, I have this book.

(I picked mine up at Hobby Lobby. Can't go there too often. It's a little dangerous.)

And I'm making a blanket. Well, two blankets actually, as there's also this one.

This one is just a regular knit stitch. But, this one,

is my, let's experiment with all the stitches in the world, blanket. Which is where the book comes in.

I've been knitting them since Christmas because I only pick them up now and then. The 400 stitches one, however, is having a bit of a run at the moment.

I get thrilled when I do a stitch that I haven't done before, or thought would be too hard. (Some of those abbreviations are like, 'what!'.)

Here's my latest strip.

The brown one was my, 'what!' stitch. Easy for some, not so much for others. We can't all be good at everything.

Now, I confess, I do have three different thicknesses of wool going on here because, when I want to start something, I want to start it, now. A problem if you haven't got all the stuff you need and the shops are shut and so you have to make do with what you have. (That would explain the colours also. Although I'm liking them the more I go on.) So I've decided I don't care that the tensions are all over the place. I will give it to S when I am done and because he is my son he will love it. Or else.

tuesday notes:
signed up for stephanie levy's creative courage course last month and forgot all about it until this morning. it started yesterday.

i joined because I need something else to do :)
no, actually, i think it will be very good for me. the majority of my problems making art stem from fear and perfectionism. i really hope this course can help me with that. i'm also working on a, wannado, list, which will help me with my goals. i'll keep you posted ...
you can find stephanie's blog, along with info about her creative courage course - here.

i finished my book a couple of days ago and am now reading this.

already loving it, except, the problem with this series is that the main character's sister is a doctor and i tend to end up with all the diseases ...

time for another cup of tea.

Houses, birds and punishment.

2012-04-09T10:23:00.001-05:00

I am loving these.

And, I'd like to visit Finland. Coincidence ... (that was said in my best Eddie Izzard voice.)

Which one should I pick? I love the flower plate with the tiny house sitting right on the edge. And I love the bird in the top photograph. The little blue houses remind me of the houses in my paintings.
You can find all of her stuff, here.
BTW 'her' name is Szilvia Vihriala (sorry, don't know how to type the accents on top of the 'a's' - i've only just learnt how to do the degree symbol, remember - so i've probably mispronounced her name and it means something totally different.) As I mentioned, Szilvia does live in Finland but she is originally from Hungary. Go check out her work, and, her blog.

And here's what I'm up to. Still nothing finished, but I'm holding myself accountable by posting them. I think ...

This one is coming along, but, is it really want I want?

I'm enjoying this one and will probably be working on it today. The little gate house at the back looks a little shocked. Might have to change that.

And, this one. Well, it just is 'this one' right now. Half started and not sure where it wants to go, if anywhere.

monday notes:
off to the art store now for some blending sticks. then, i promised myself a tread mill moment (still can't believe i committed myself to the boredom.) yesterday i told myself that i could only watch my jewelry making dvd's on the treadmill. it's like punishment and joy rolled into one. now, i can only become a better jeweler the thiner i get.

and, hopefully, i wont be so bored.