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Showing posts from January, 2015

Serendipity or The Benefits of Knowing Many Techniques

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Today I was going to show you beautiful bronze earrings with sterling posts that I had soldered to the earring.  The earrings were going to have Mojave Stones in a bronze bezel and I was going to feel so smug about putting all those things together.  Instead I’m going to share what really happened! First I need to tell you that a client wanted earrings to match a necklace I made a year ago.  I said I would try.  In order to even come close to success I would need to practice by making several similar pair of earrings.  After this experience, my advice to myself would be:  make the earrings at the same time as the necklace.  There are too many variables possible. I still had Goldie Bronze hard and soft clay left from the original necklace.  Rio Grande carried bronze bezel and bronze solder so I ordered that.  Next I made the earring backgrounds from the Goldie Bronze clay and I added leaves and flowers and stems.  After sanding they looked good.  I had not used my kiln la

Connections in My World

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Necklace with many connections! Connections have always fascinated me.  People meeting people, learning how materials can be made to work together, finding the same shapes over and over in nature, using the same information in many contexts and - cold connections in jewelry, connection of notes in music!  Connections are everywhere! I thought I’d share a few things that have helped me see connections in history and look at my world a little differently. One of the books that has caught my interest and become a favorite is The Brilliant History of Color in Art by Victoria Finlay.  Not only does the cover with all the stacks of colors catch my attention but the author’s method of using one or two pages to tell the fascinating history of a color works well for me.  http://www.amazon.com/Brilliant-History-Color-Art/dp/1606064290/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421886674&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Brilliant+history+of+color+in+art I can pick

Cleaning Out the Library

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A Section! Cleaning out my book library is taking quite a bit of time since I have to hold the book, open it, think about when and why I bought it. My books are friends!  I have to decide to keep the book or share it with someone else.  I tend to group my books by subjects and my changing interests are pretty obvious.   In 2002, I was deciding if I wanted to be a woodworker.  My late husband had all the tools and many books about woodworking.  I made wood sculptures in college and loved the touch of wood.  I took an apprenticeship for a few months and what I found was that I love wood.  I love using hand tools but the resin in the wood played havoc with my sinus and lungs.  I kept the tools and Peter loves using them.  I kept the books until I was ready to let someone else use them and now I’m selling them on Amazon. Weaving is another section in my library.  I’ve taken tapestry weaving classes, Navajo weaving classes and pattern weaving classes.  I’ve washed and carded

Starting The New Year!

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I’m starting off the New Year with a new knee!   There is not a good time to have a total knee replacement so I opted for a winter recovery!  Here are a few things I've learned during the process: Hospital gowns in the operating room can be warm!  It had been a long time since I was in surgery and I have to tell you that the warm air (temp controlled) hospital gowns are wonderful.  http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/IPD-NA/3M-Infection-Prevention/products/catalog/~/Infection-Prevention-Products/Forced-Air-Warming-Gowns?N=7570551&rt=c3 After surgery, I had a reaction to a medicine and threw up.  That’s not so uncommon, I know, but the long plastic pocket they gave me to use was so much better that a pan!  Especially in the physical therapy room!  http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/IPD-NA/3M-Infection-Prevention/products/catalog/~/Infection-Prevention-Products/Forced-Air-Warming-Gowns?N=7570551&rt=c3 There are several different exercises for