It's a good thing I haven't made any promises lately because I would have had to keep a list and then keep track of the list. As it is I've been trying to pare down my commitments so that I can devote myself to making rings but it hasn't really gone exactly as planned.
I did start a list of things I've misplaced and I did that so that I wouldn't drive myself crazy looking for them over and over in the same places and turning up nothing. My theory is if you're looking for something just write it on the list and forget about it and you'll find it as soon as you stop looking. That's working for me.
But then I found 2 other piles of lists buried under some books I put away one day when we were having a big dinner with friends. Both piles were made up of pages and pages of random notes held together by big paperclips and I got completely overwhelmed reading them and so I put them in a pile by the computer and now I'm afraid to look. Maybe I should just throw them away and move on. I almost know I should since the lists are about 6 months to 1 year old and if I forgot about them . . . maybe I should follow my own advice and LET GO! Hmmm . . . this is so difficult . . . they're my notes . . . hoo ha, I read somewhere that it's very free-ing to do that kind of thing . . . @^@
Let's just move along shall we?
Latest news: I got juried into the crafthaus exhibition called
New Directions: Powder Metallurgy (Metal Clay) in a Sheet Metal World
which will be shown in two parts online and part one is up now until mid May. The title is the link so click on it and go over and see that. It's full of amazing metal clay pieces. Mine is in there now and I am so happy and excited to be named and quoted among those wonderful artists. It's a dream come true!
For this exhibit I made a box that was inspired in part by my trip to Europe with Grace last year. We went to Venice, Florence and Rome and got an eyeful of the sights and the architecture and when I went to sit down and begin working again I designed three boxes. Each has a name and this one is called
"In Florence They Dance on Mosaic Floors"
It's 1 1/2" in diameter by 1 3/8" tall and triangle shaped.
Many of my friends have asked to see other views of this box so I guess this is as good a time as any to show it off.
I worked on this and two others for hours and hours and one night during the assembly of the individual parts I stayed up all night, took a breakfast break and went back to work. There was adrenalin in my veins keeping me going as I saw that my vision was coming together. I didn't start dropping things and since that's one of my criterion for quitting a work session, I just kept on going.
It was tricky getting the sides to match up.
I collaged my patterns for the bottom
and here's a photo of the inside, a small mosaic style floor, with colors that rewarded me for all my work and patience.
I soldered 3 tabs made of argentium sterling silver onto the edge of the bottom of the box so that it can close snug and tight and won't budge but allows the lid to be pulled up and off. Click on any photo for a larger view.
I do have two more boxes to reveal sometime soon but this is all for now. They are going to come in handy for submitting in the near future.
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I thought I'd show you the individual seal rings and catch you up on the "Ring a Week" challenge. I'm proud to say I've been keeping up and my ring stash is growing.
I included all these in RAW 14/52
flower seal ring:
side view:
shield ring:
on my finger:
butterfly ring:
side view:
and this one is my favorite seal ring:
and a little detail I added on the bottom of the shank:
Then there was the "Kinetic Challenge"! RAW 15/52
Go here to see them all. Rocking Chair ring
The minute I found this little chair at a second hand shop I knew what I wanted to do with it. I even knew I wanted it to rock so when Tomi named the kinetic challenge I was so excited and a little nervous because I didn't know how I was going to do it. I thought about it for weeks and then after I'd cut out the base and soldered the 3x1mm wire around it, the rest of the mechanism came to me. I was still nervous though and tried to use hard solder for the base and it just wouldn't work for me so I used "medium" solder for it and for the shank. Then I used "easy" to solder half jump rings on each end and 18 gauge wire to the sides, crossing my fingers that it wouldn't fall apart. It was definitely a challenge!
Watch my little video!
Cute in't it?
Here are my works:
and the bottom view:
NEXT!:
I used that great dotted silver ribbon I showed off in my last post and made a setting for a pyrite bead. The bead came from a purchase I made on ebay shipped to me from China!
RAW 16/52 - Pyrite ring
This was inspired by Victoria Takahashi's ball ended connections. I was all set to draw down the other end and none of my torches were hot enough to do it. I think the size of the ring and the 16mm pyrite bead were too big. I need to get me a bigger torch! I decided to flatten the other end and roll it up instead. The great polka dot sterling strip came from "Metalliferous". It's a big ribbon about 1-1/2 inches wide and you can cut it down to fit almost anything. I love the texture and color of the pyrite!
on my finger:
side view:
other side:
RAW 17/52 - Druzy pearl ring
This one had lots of parts. 1x3 sterling rectangle wire with some 1/2 big dot wire soldered to it. Two fine silver square-ish pieces of 26 gauge sheet, both shaped in a dapping block. On one I melted in the edges and on the other I used metal snips to cut a fringe around the edge and then I melted the strands to look splashy.
side view:
on my hand:
Then I created a seat and prongs for the pearl from argentium wire so it wouldn't come loose and so it would also be raised up a little. Finally, I put a small dab of UV resin into the seat and placed the pearl. After about 5-10 minutes under a UV light, it was hard. It was inspired by a beautiful enameled ring posted to RAW that looked like a splash. I like how the peachy colored pearl reflects so beautifully on the wall of the clean silver.
That was a good one for sure! It must sound odd when I write that kind of thing but if you knew what details I have to figure out and measure and try to work out in my mind before the ring will work, when it DOES work, it's cause for celebration. This one deserves a drink!
So here's my next set of rings RAW 18/52, which I'll be posting later today:
Shiny stacking pair made with PMC:
head on:
worn:
Whew! And now I am all caught up! Carry on!
