Happy Wednesday!

The phone rang and I considered (only for a moment) answering it, it's still pretty dark and it's the first day in almost 2 weeks I don't "need" to get up... was all I thought before I fell back to sleep, a black cat curled up next to me.

He didn't want to move either.

With two Loads of laundry working their way throught the process and another piece of copper in the "bath". I have an idea for a pair of earrings that I just can't wait to complete.
I am headed to the studio.

I decided last night that I would leave the paisley piece for Jeff to finish, it was his concept and he did all the work (while watching Grand Torino) last night.

He is as excited about this as I am!

Where I've been and Where I'm Headed.

This blog thing is not quite going the way I thought but I'm way too German to give up. (My dad and I use the word "stubborn" and "German" interchangeably.)

'Tis the season at my FTG (Full Time Gig), we do about half our annual business in the first quarter of the year and this year is no different.

My time is carefully divided up between FTG, Evening classes at the Art Center and Gem Society, Art Festivals and my beloved Farmers Market. Both the Farmers Market and my recent Art Festivals have brought me a bounty of custom work which I absolutely love doing.

Tony, a fabulous gentleman came into my booth at the Winery a couple of weeks ago and declared "Why doesn't any one have any men's jewelry?"

I looked him straight in the eye and said "Well sir, I do have Cuff links!"

That did not do it for him, he saw my huge ring and said. "I want a ring like that!" I promptly cleared off a section of my table, presented him with my stone collection and asked him to select a stone. Afterwards I measured him and I created the most beautiful size 12 HUGE pink Imperial Jasper ring you have ever seen!

Now here is where I disappoint, I neglected to photograph it! Lesson learned!

Tony are you out there?

Never fear, here are some other custom projects that have been lighting my path!

Linda's Gift (Still awaiting earrings)

Marilyn's Choice (Almost done!)

So ends the "Where I (we ) Have Been..."

On to "Where We Are Going..."

This past weekend Jeff and I had one day off together and we began our Etching experiments. Our first test came out okay...and produced a small pendant:

...but tonight we are on to bigger and better things...

I can't wait until this beauty is cleaned up!

I have an entire day in the studio tomorrow which will include some kitchen time for more etching...

I can guarantee that!

Have a great night!

Ode to Rainy Days

Puddles, that is what I have been calling them.

Just as every other student that has put a torch to metal I created some small domed earrings with a post...

Those are my "Puddles"...

I've never tried to make them perfectly round, perfectly textured, that's just not my style. My style? I call it more organic, less refined. Since the start of my Puddles they have progressed with Patina's and copper but now I am introducing a full line of Puddles and heading in another direction.

Unless you are a Silversmith that is the type that "casts" silver, every fabrication artist has the same situation, lots of "scrap", most of us send it out for refining. We all have silver dust from sawing and filing, bits of wire and plenty of cuttings. (Not to mention those entire pieces that just didn't work...)

The current state of my catch drawer...time for some capturing...

I often find myself sitting and looking at all of this valuable silver and wind up picking through it. It's a great reminder of just how far I have to go when I see those larger pieces that didn't make it. A number of times I have found myself rolling across to my soldering bench to try to create something, anything from all this scrap. (This is where I got the first little pieces that made my original Puddles.) I've come up with a couple of rings, small pieces that I have run through the rolling mill (waiting to be turned into pendants) and recently some very cool earrings.

Since today's weather denied me the privilege of attending the farmers market I stayed in to finish some projects. Last night I worked with Ceramit, (a polyester coloring product) that was introduced to me by my co-conspirators at FDJ. It is a coloring agent much like enamel but does not need the high temperatures of a kiln, it can be air cured or placed in a small oven at 250 degrees!

Here is my first attempt!

This is a much better result than my first try with enamel! I'm so happy.

The instructions say "shake gently" I will take that more seriously, I'm guessing that is the reason for the bubbles but I'm happy none the less!

Now obviously these babies will not make it to the Silver Lining shop but hold on I'm working on new stuff.

In the meantime you will have to settle for these creations:

headed to the shop this evening!

Throwing in the towel! (For Lois and Willard Scott.)

I've have yet to post a blog with no photos but here it goes...

I'm sure some of you are tired of hearing about Florida's COLD weather when most of you are suffering much more than we are.

We've suffered through low 20 degree weather here in central Florida.

For us down here that is downright crazy.

Unfortunately all forms of citrus, strawberries and those delicate "Babies Breath" and ferns that usually adorn your Valentines Day roses are going to be very expensive shortly.

We have just gone through the longest, coldest spell in more than 100 years.

For those of you "up north" (dear friends on the metric scale; anything with a minus in front of it...) this all seems rather silly.

But you see we hold our Farmers Markets all year round. This means loading up our vehicles anywhere between 5 or 6am sometimes 2 or 3 mornings a week and heading out after scraping the ice off windshields with our credit cards.

(We have discovered they work much better than a scrapper, which you cannot find anywhere in the state anyway.)

For the past 3 days we have been back up to the 50's and 60's but we are about to get another "cold front".

This one will be much milder, we are talking 40's thank goodness, but we are also talking another day of rain and wind.

I was planning on heading to the Market tomorrow morning for the first time in about a month but I just looked at the weather, never mind. It's not the rain, cause it's supposed to clear up by 10am. It's not the temperatures, it's the 20mph winds that are causing me to stay up late and keep working in the studio.

No, I am not up for a day of catching my displays before they all tumble to the ground.

What does all this lead to?

I am hoping at least 12 hours of uninterrupted time in the studio.

This also means I should have some photos tomorrow...

Thanks Lois!

Things that make you go "Eh?"

There are some things that I do that just make no sense at all.
(To me or anyone else for that matter!)

There are things that happen to all of us that make us wonder just what is going on.

Things that Surprise us...Good
and some not so...

When I began this adventure in Silver my instructor asked us all to draw our projects...this worked well for about the first 3 classes!

Then my imagination began to stream and my iprovisational side over-rode the patient, planning me.

That is sort of what happened to this lucious piece of Orange Agate.

The stone has so many swirls of color, I could not focus on a design so I just did what it told me to do.

This for me was a GOOD surprise

Wonderment!

In the Silver Lining shop tomorrow!

NUTS!...

...and other stuff!

Center of my World

The Great Wave

Balancing Act

NUTS!

All headed to Silver Lining tomorrow.

From the ashes...

Today was a struggle.
From the trials of life comes new hope and another day.
Upon tomorrows sunrise (yes the sun will rise tomorrow) I will view the world with different eyes.
They will be clouded from the past but they will clear in time.
Hours will become days, days will become weeks and so on.

All we can hope is for is love and trust...that is where my heart is now.