3 posts tagged “jewelry”
So this vacation has not quite been going as planned... by which I mean, I planned on working on my portfolio, tying up loose ends on projects, and getting back into the groove of working with silver so I can start selling jewelry through N.'s business. I've managed to buy most of the jewelry materials I'll need in the short term, completely failed to work on drawing, and have been puttering about to various medical appointments in an attempt to figure out what exactly has been leaving me so fatigued and unable to concentrate. I've allowed myself to be a bit of a slug o' bed and to pig out on food when I have an appetite, so if nothing else I'll at least go back to work a little more relaxed and unwound than it spit me out this quarter.
Oh, and I'm making cheese with kefir! I was totally going to be sad if I didn't get to make cheese before I moved out of the cottage so I decided that now was the time. I've inoculated the curd with a brie rind, and I'm turning a bamboo steamer into a cheese press.
Jewelry-wise I've decided I at least need to make myself a new Bajoran earring to wear to the Maker Faire. That will require all of the basics from me, so it's good practice. I'm also looking into the options for homebrewed vermeil (N. uses vermeil; we'll see if I can talk her into gold-filled) and some basic lapidary equipment. The full setup will have to wait until I can get my own studio space, but I'm going to get enough to try carving a pendant as a birthday present for my mom before the end of June--she's been complaining that she can't find a matching pendant to string with this one set of beads she has, so I bought some small stone slabs off of eBay... oh man, it's been years since I did lapidary stuff, and that was just cabs, but I am stoked to try this.
I'm also going to do some pre-emptive packing for the move: box most of my embroidery and fiber crafts stuff. In part because I need to remind myself to focus.Teh sick has put me about a month behind, alas...
Oh right--and I need to take the background out on that shirt design eh? :D I'll post previews for the dark shirt revisions shortly...
ETA: ha! There's an email from Scarface...
So I was supposed to be sketching my next couple of projects but this thing insisted on being drawn too. It's an idea I've been turning around in my brain for a while. Tolkien's description of the ring of Barahir really does sound like a puzzle ring (in part because there's no good way to fit in all those details along a single plane. I've said before, jewelry design was really not Tolkien's forte...). I post this with the stipulation that Fox is NOT allowed to commission these from Norm, because they'd cost an arm and a leg to fabricate if they're even feasible.
This is like the ultimate irony, right? I make jewelry but now I'm developing a slight sensitivity to the nickel in precious metal alloys. The good part thus far is that it's confined to my neck and above, and as long as I don't touch my face while I work I'm okay.
So rings and bracelets are fine, but I can't wear sterling silver necklaces if I know I'm going to sweat a lot, and earrings are right out. To complicate matters, I've never pierced my ears, and while there are lots of hypoallergenic findings available for the pierced folk it's hard to find nickel-free clips and screw backs.
My search for better findings shall continue... but since I need earrings by Monday, I picked up some hella cheap nickel free clip earrings at Sears.
These clips are small enough that I can modify them to taste. The silver toned ones will be a piece of cake. The gold toned ones are a little more tricky because they have nothing below the pronged settings that I could use to attach something else, and since I don't know what sort of alloy or coating they used, soldering something on is not a great option. How to play with these will be a project for later--not in the least because I want to pop those white CZs out and find some 6mm colored stones to replace them with. White gemstones are boring to me. Don't even get me started on my rant about our cultural fetish for natural white diamonds. They're not worth it and they're not your best friend, no matter what DeBeers or Marilyn Monroe tells you. Diamonds are for surgical scalpels and drill bits, not bling...
Annnyhow. So this is me trying to kick my butt to make something soon, because I'll be doing clothes mods once my corset arrives.
