Yes, I know I'm not the first to use jewelry for the J post, but mine is going off in a slightly different direction. Sure, I have some lovely old family pieces, T has had his moments when it comes to jewelry gifts, and I've even bought some things for myself, but I found another aspect of jewelry that I want to share. It will also explain why spinning has taken such a back seat in my life recently!
When our youngest son moved to Baltimore to do his Master's at Peabody Conservatory (Johns Hopkins), we were able to visit more often than when he was an undergraduate in New Orleans, although we found any excuse we could to head for the Big Easy! We often stayed in Baltimore at one of the Tremont Hotels which were conveniently located midway between Inner Harbor and our son's apartment in the Mount Vernon section of the city. Walking distance to both, and our walk to the apartment would take us by the Peabody Campus, the "other" Washington Monument, the Walters Art Museum, restaurants and lots of interesting shops. One in particular grabbed my attention after a few times going past, and finally I was intrigued enough to go in. It was a shop called Beadazzled, and it contained BEADS! Piles of beads, strings of beads, thousands of beads....and all the stuff you need to turn those beads into Jewelry! I, of course, jumped in with both feet, bought a few books, some tools and started beading!
My first attempts weren't bad, some were even pretty good. I discovered silver separators and Swarovski crystals and had lots of fun making gifts, stuff for myself, and even some pieces to sell in a local craft cooperative.
The next step was learning to do "pearl knotting" and my necklace technique of choice now is knotting beads on silk thread because of the lovely way these strings lie against your neck....beading wire, however fine and flexible, is still somewhat stiff!
These are some "black" cultured freshwater pearls that I made for my son's wedding. (By the way, has anyone else been thrown for a total loop with the newest Typepad "improvements"? Sheesh, why can't they leave things ALONE?!)
I got fancy and added a pendant to the Jasper necklace, but love the simplicity of these gorgeous Sleeping Beauty turquoise beads that I found in New Mexico last year.
There was something missing, however, as satisfying as this hobby was for me. When I visited Shelley (www.mymountainhome.typepad.com) in Idaho a few years ago, she tried to teach me soldering, but an hour is not long enough, and it was tucked away as something for the future. Meanwhile, the urge to push this whole thing to another level had me searching some of the local arts and craft schools. There was a name that kept coming up, and it became my goal to study with her, but the school tuition was out of reach at the time, especially at that stage of my fiber obsession! Needless to say, when the local Adult Education brochure came out in late winter offering a class by this woman at greatly reduced tuition (not to mention that lovely "senior discount"), oh, boy, did I jump at the chance! I signed up for a class called "Heatless Chains" with this wonderful silversmith/artist by the name of
Raychel Wengenroth. (You can read more about her at www.raychelwengenroth.com and I apologize, but I have not figured out the new linking thing, grrrr.) Here's Ray with one of the other students from that original class, who continued on with me to the next class called "Forging".
Raychel is the one with the long hair. So, we started the chain class back in March and I was HOOKED! It's called "heatless" because there is no soldering, and try as we might, we could not convince the Adult Ed people to allow us to use any heat, even the little "creme brulee" torches that would have enabled us to go SO much farther. Ah, well. It's amazing what can be done without heat, fortunately, as you will see by the photos of some of the bracelets that came out of the six week class. All these are done with nothing other than silver jump rings and pliers.
Note the clasp on this bracelet, called "Wiggly Chain". That came out of the Forging class and is handmade, by me!
These last two photos are of a chain we made called "Egyptian Spiral". Each link starts with a length of sterling silver wire that is coiled and bent and formed, then interlinked to make the chain. I also went off on my own after seeing a photo of a ring in a magazine, and came up with these.
If you go back to the closeup of the Egyptian Spiral necklace and look at the clasp, that is one of my first attempts at forging, a great segue into the second class which just ended last week. Forging is the act of moving metal in different directions with a hammer, basically. Although that clasp looks flat, it was made from round wire and hammered to flatten it. We just got the tip of the iceberg in the class, but I LOVE banging away and watching what happens to the metal. Noisy, but rewarding! Since silver is rather pricey at the moment, we did a lot of experimenting and practicing with copper. In fact, I did much practice with the softer copper wire before even attempting to make the Egyptian Spiral necklacein silver, which is much more difficult to bend! At that, the silver one is far from perfect. Ray's, of course, look like almost machine made, but she's had quite a bit more practice! Here is some of my "homework".
(Note the jump rings....I have even learned to make those, and when I perfect the process it will save a bit of money over the purchased ones!)
This pendant is something I did on my own at home. I just love it, although I don't have quite the right chain for it. I should make one, huh?!
And earrings to match, of course! These are for sale....the original pair hasn't been out of my ears since I finished them!
This ring is loosely based on a copper one we made in the forging class. It was a fluke, a piece of beginner's luck. I've tried since to make more and have failed miserably. I hate when that happens, but I wear this all the time!
Last weekend I took a workshop at the Silvermine School of Art with Ray on a technique that is getting me closer to my goal of being able to solder. Although what came out of a very intensive six-hour workshop is not worth showing here, and not something I ever intend to pursue (four little dinky pieces of fused and woven chain) I did get my hands on The Torch for the first time, learned to make jump rings out of fine silver ("fine silver" is 99.9% pure; "sterling" is 92.5% silver, with the rest being an alloy of some kind), got my first taste of The Studio, and met some very nice people who are total Raychel groupies that I will probably see again come summer!
Yes, I bit the bullet and signed up for the six week summer session at Silvermine, a class called Basic Silversmithing/Jewelry Making. Cheap it's not, and while Margene is considering selling some of her Jewelry to buy more spinning equipment, alas, I'm taking the opposite path. I've already sold the Sonata and the never-used, but very expensive, Forsyth 4-pitch Combs. The proceeds of both sales will cover the summer class and some additional and lusted-after tools and supplies, because, have I mentioned the tools? You think spinning is expensive? Sweeties, you have NO idea! Hammers, pliers, cutters, ring and bracelet mandrels, files, saws, plus a whole list of other goodies, some even falling into the power tool category. (However, I just realized that I have found my T is For, so you'll have to wait for the rest of that story!) There will, hopefully, be more to share, especially as the summer, and my knowledge progresses. The course description says that we will learn to saw, rivet, solder, and even SET STONES. Woohoo! I can't wait!
Postscript: I have not given up spinning. I'm taking a break, and will not be tempted to sell my remaining two wheels, for sure. In fact, I have registered for a class at Rhinebeck with Judith MacKenzie McCuin and am really looking forward not only to seeing Judith again, but hopefully to revive my interest. (Go check out the Rhinebeck class schedule...she's teaching several, as are Jenny Bakriges, Lynne Vogel, and several others. So far, nothing looks full. What are you waiting for?!)
