they are DONE!

just a quickie-

The wind chimes are done!  You are probably all sick of hearing about them, but I guess because they are on a scale larger than I usually deal with I just can’t stop talking about them.  Anywhoo, here they are… they sound pretty good now, and I think they will not be my last set.  I made them for ECCOTA's 4th Annual Feed the Arts Soup Benefit on April 8th.  Click the link for details.  If you are near Elk County PA that day, I highly recommend this event.  $7 gets you in to taste 25 homemade soups, complimented by bread and desserts.  There will be a door prize awarded, and there is a silent auction featuring handmade items from area artists.  Go ahead!  Feed the Arts!

I also made this:

for a bride getting married on the first day of fishing season.  I hope the lures I used are not laughable, as I do not fish, and have no expertise in the fishing arena.  I hope she likes it, and if the lures are weird, I hope they at least make her smile, not cry.

Okay, that’s it for now- thanks for checking in!

Technorati Tags: wind chimes,fishing lure jewelry,ECCOTA,Feed the Arts

giving what’s owed….

My lovely girlfriend and fellow blogger Janis (hi Janis!) nudged me the other day while I was up on a tipsy soap box about blogging, that I probably was a little behind on my own posting. So here goes a quickie…

I offered to make something as a donation for an event my sister Abbi has something to do with (see ALL that helpful info I was able to provide- scary).  She asked what I had in mind- meaning thanks, but something other than jewelry please.  So I had this hare brained idea that I could make enameled copper wind chimes.  I even sketched my ideas!  That is huge for me- very little of my creative process involves sketching out my ideas.

 

So I dove in, and things were going swimmingly until I hit one of the pipes with the handle of my hammer to see what it would sound like.  Lets just say that when my two year nephew bangs on pots and pans it is acoustically more pleasant than these wind chimes were shaping up to be.  Luckily, I had only dry fit all the components together, and I had bought an extra length of copper pipe.  I googled making wind chimes, and just as I had hoped, I found a tutorial that had a chart that gave me the specific lengths of pipe for each note, also the spot where the holes for hanging needed to be drilled so as not to interfere with the sound waves- pretty intense. (I could have skipped this whole first step had I only googled first- that is not lost on me).  I skimmed the entire post, it was very involved, but it really made a 100% difference in the chimes.  I’m not saying they could be used in an orchestra, but they sound quite lovely now.  I have cut, drilled and enameled the new set of pipes.  Tomorrow morning I will set all the hanging mechanisms for the pipes, and once again dry fit all the pieces together.  I am in a bit of a time crunch now, as they are due to Abbi the first of April, but I will snap a few photos, to show my process.  I also need to pick up some type of wooden finial to use as the “striker”.  I am enjoying this process, but don’t think I will be adding these to my web store any time soon.  I don’t think anyone would be willing to pay for the time it takes to put these things together.  I will never again wonder at the price of beautiful sounding chimes (not that I ever thought the prices outrageous, I just now have personal experience with the why behind the price).

Work is crazy, of course, but we are down to the final 3 weeks of tax season, so the finish line is visible, but this final push is always a bit painful.  Tempers run short, but we also get a bit punch drunk as well so we vacillate between killing ourselves/each other/the clients and peeing ourselves when we do something silly.  So posts will continue to be sporadic until then.

Another announcement:  my sister Abbi and I will be testing the podcast waters.  We have been wanting to collaborate on something for a long time, and given we live four hours away from each other, this seems to be accessible for both of us.  We’ll see.  Maybe we just want an excuse for a scheduled phone call to each other.  We are also working on some jewelry component design ideas, but that is still a bit vague, so more details to follow.

So, this ended up being a bit longer than expected, but just as rambling as expected.

The moral of this story- be careful what you wish for.  Seriously though- thanks Janis for the gentle reminder. Sisters in blogging!

Technorati Tags: wind chimes,copper wind chimes,enameled copper,podcast

Where to begin?

So I am attempting to use a mobile blogging app, from which I won't be able to post any pictures. I had my doubrts about this, but typing using only my thumbs is actually going better than expected. I figured I can always add any pictures later- I had to get my thoughts down, they couldn't wait any longer.
So the last week of February was a doozy here on the east coast. I ended up with two snow days and a foot of snow. I made the most of those days off, which were quite a gift. These late winter months are generally a creative black hole for me. But two days at my bench, coupled with the excitement of a new medium to work with has gotten me through these usually creatively void days. I will also give some credit to a new part of my life, guided relaxation. I stumbled onto a free weekly podcast by Elizabeth Irvine that has had quite an impact upon me. When I told my husband I was trying this relaxation technique, he was puzzled. " you can sleep any time, any where, why do you need this". Why indeed, when he was right. I can sleep at the drop of a hat, napping being a treat I indulge in often on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Lately, I had been experiencing some chronic pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders, making my sleep fitfull. I would rise in the morning achy and not feeling rested. I've found that since spending 15 minutes before bed using this very simple technique I wake up refreshed, with energy and zero stiffness or pain. I have been getting up early and allowing myself an hour of time at my jewelry bench before work almost every morning these past two weeks. You'll also probably roll you eyes at this, but I really think it also alleviated my usual PMS caused witchiness. I know,TMI. Anyway, I guess you can already tell that I highly recommend giving this a whirl. The price is right, and there's really no loss if it doesn't perform for you, the miracles I've just described.
Let's see, I have also entered the final year of my thirties, which is freaking me the eff out. Where did my thirties go? I remember watching "Thirty Something" and thinking "Christ, these people are old and whiny". So in honor of my 16 year old self, I have promised not to whine out my last year of my thirties. Instead, on the advice of my sage friend Janis, I will make it a terrific year. Thanks to all who so kindly thought of me and sent so may great wishes my way. I have more to say, but think I will save it for now.
I apologize in advance for what is going to be an even more poorly edited post than usual, given the fact that a 3 inch wide screen is near impossible for an old fogey like myself to read. Wow this is a weird post, but oh well, I am going to hit publish anyway thanks for checking in- oh, forgot to mention that my sister abbi and I have a new creative venture in the works for the near future. I'll let you all chew on that for a while- you may leave your guesses in the comments if you'd like. If anyone guesses correctly, I will send you a treat! There, that's fun, right? Worth slogging through this poorly edited mess? You can be the judge of that later!
Ciao for now!
Jen

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

anticipating spring…

I don’t know about you guys, but when I am learning a new skill, I get so absorbed in practicing the new skill that I forget (temporarily) to make entire pieces of jewelry.  Case in point, torch fired enameling is my obsession of the day, and I am making these little morsels of jewelry, a pendant here, a pair of very simple earrings there, but not anything substantive.  This weekend I made an effort to change that. 

Last week I made this cute little flower.  I cut, filed, domed and then enameled it.  Getting enamel on a concave rather than flat piece of work is quite a challenge, given that you need to enamel the front and back, and I don’t actually have the proper equipment to hold the piece while making it 1000 degrees.  Anyway, I got it done, and it is cute, and I wore it on a copper ball chain for a week as a pendant.  But I like my jewelry to be a little more involved than just hanging something off of a chain.  So I gathered my wits about me, and made this…

I made links of 16 & 14 gauge copper wire that I balled the ends of, and then enameled.  The beads are lizardite rounds on 18 gauge copper.  Looking at it objectively, I think I will make the diameter of the larger links smaller.  As it is now, those links are too big in relation to the focal.  I will just slip them over a smaller mandrel than I used previously, and tighten them up.  I’ll have to add a couple additional links as this will shorten the overall length, but I think it will improve the proportions of the piece.

a detail of the links.

This is my jumping off piece for a show I will be participating in at the ECCOTA gallery this spring, Spring Things. “•Springs Things Exhibit- runs April 30-May 31, 2010 in the ECCOTA Gallery.  A multi media exhibit featuring those things that start emerging with spring.  Two deadlines-  March 2- confirm your participation and April 23 delivery of your work. Contact Abbi Peters 814-772-7051, eccotadirector@windstream.net for more information and confirm your participation.”   I have ordered additional colors of enamel, but I think this will be the focal piece of my display.

While on the subject of new skill sets, I have a question to throw out there.  I find that I am learning new techniques, and then I compartmentalize my skills, and have a hard time utilizing more than one technique in a piece of jewelry.  I love to wire wrap, and I adore my Shrinky Dinks, and I can etch just about anything onto a piece of copper, but I have a hard time integrating more than one of these subsets into one piece of jewelry.  Is this just a “me” thing, or do others of you find that you pigeonhole your skills?

I would also like to share a new fun place on the interwebs to find more out about torch-fired enameling.   Painting with Fire is a new group put together by Barbara Lewis, whose article in Belle Armoire magazine started this whole enameling insanity for me.  Please stop by.  The people are friendly, and you could learn something new, or see pretty pictures of what other people are doing with enamel.

I think that is it for now.

Thanks for checking in….

Jen

Technorati Tags: torch fired enamel,copper jewelry,ECCOTA

painting with glass…

jewelry corner:

So, for the last month or so, I have not really spent much time at the workbench that amounted to any finished pieces. I have spent time getting my workspace set up so that I don’t kill myself. I also treated myself to some new supplies, and am teaching myself to torch enamel.

I saw an article in Belle Amour Jewelry (a beautiful magazine, that I usually don’t buy) about how easy it is to enamel copper using your torch. I was immediately enamored with the the whole process. With little extra equipment, you can add color and texture to your copper.

My first order from Frantz Art Glass was only four colors (clockwise from top middle- red orange opaque, transparent bonnet blue (shown over white), white with speckles of the orange red and grey green). Not very smart on my part, when they offer a 40 color sampler pack that was very reasonably priced. So that was my second order, and using additional colors from that order, I created the “buttons” that match the wire wrapped green opal, and then I wanted to check out the difference in the two yellows included in the sampler. So there has been much “playing” until this past weekend, when I actually cut out some pieces of copper in order to create some earrings.

I LOVE color, but am not always successful in how I combine it, so I often take cues from fabrics and designers. I am currently obsessed with Amy Butler, so I wanted to use the colors from a piece of her scrapbooking paper…

not feeling that Amy Butler vibe? Well here, let me make it a little more clear for you…

…how completely off the mark I was. I certainly have some practice before me. This is after approximately three additional firings with transparents over the garish opaques. This picture actually tones down the heinous nature of this color combo- apparently my camera is not interested in accurately recording anything this ugly! So I said to myself- self, why are you trying to run, when you haven’t even finished learning to crawl with this new technique. SO I took some deep breaths, and went all mono-chromatic on myself.

The pendant is pale petal pink with dark petal pink, the earrings are dark petal pink with light orchid. The bail on the pendant is a piece of 16 gauge wire that I torched until the ends balled up, and then I enameled that with moss green. And since the set didn’t make me vomit, I wore them to work today. I hammered a tiny border of texture around all the pieces, and I don’t think I will do that again, It makes it more difficult to get a clean edge of enamel. So, I am very excited to make fun enameled headpins, and you can safely assume for the foreseeable future that everything not nailed down will be enameled until I am happy with my technique.

I will take pictures of my enameling set up, just in case any one is interested in how my mind wants to do things.

food fun:

the last two weeks, I have been inspired to try some new recipes, and with the help of the Epicurious app, on my Itouch, I found some very inspiring Asian recipes to try. (have you tried this app? It is awesome, it is free and it will create shopping lists for you, which as far as I am concerned is the most awesomest part of it.) I made a shrimp with red curry for my brother and his lovely vegetarian wife two weeks ago. Her dietary choices force me to stretch and I LIKE it! I also made a simple stir fry of snap pea tops, that were on special that day at the Asian Food Market. They were quite tasty. This past weekend we entertained my husbands friend Five-Star and his wife. He likes spicy and she does not, so I made chicken with coconut milk and green curry, a marinated flank steak, napa cabbage slaw, a broccoli salad, and a baby bok choy dish. When I set out all the food, I felt silly for making that much food for four people, but I have to say, we made quite a dent! I also am in love with left-overs, and am married to a man who will eat said left-overs, so it was a win-win for my household.

travel:

It looks like my hubby and I will be traveling with friends to Ireland in spring of 2011. We are in the early stages of planning this trip, so ideas of things to do and places to see on the Emerald Isle are welcome. Looks like this will be my present to me for my 40th birthday. Did I just type that? gulp. I did.

On that depressing note (the turning 40 part, certainly not the travel part) I will bid you farewell, dear readers. Have a lovely week, and I challenge you to try a new recipe this week. Actually, lets up the ante on that. I challenge you to a meal entirely comprised of new recipes/foods. Yes, visit a new aisle in the market, or go to a grocery store you’ve never been to. I adore going to the Asian Food Market, and walking up and down every aisle, and trying to figure out what stuff is for. If you have a family, you can make it a fun night of some kind of learning- really I am running on fumes now, can you tell?

ciao-

Jen

Technorati Tags: Amy Butler,Epicurious,green opal,Thompsons Enamels,Frantz Art Glass,Ireland,Asian Food Market,copper jewelry

time for a little introspection- very little….

Well, it has a been a whirlwind month since I last posted. I had to actually visit my blog to remember what that post was about. Then I went back again to see what I have been posting about in general. This blog is emblematic of my life in general. My posts have been sporadic, and the topics have been scattered across the board. So it is with my life, things happen in fits and starts, and I have trouble focusing. I contemplate having separate blogs for jewelry and life stuff. For now, I reject that notion as just adding another element in my life to neglect. I like bulleting, so maybe I will try to have little segments within each post. Let's try that right now, shall we?

Jewelry corner:

I have sorely neglected my jewelry this past month. I can post a picture of the piece I made for a cousin’s wife:

Amethyst and quartz crystal, wrapped with sterling silver, accented with fine sterling, fused links and heart centerpiece. The original centerpiece was a fine silver free-form daisy, but our cousins two little girls vetoed the flower and requested a heart. I was dubious at first, but the slightly off-kilter heart came out quite lovely.

In other jewelry news, I had to take apart and then reset my photo “studio”. At first, I was a little irritated by this, but it gave me the opportunity to streamline the set up, and I am so glad I did. For some reason, I had this giant laundry basket of props and other crap that at some point I had deemed critical to my jewelry photographing kit. Well, I have it pared down to the bare minimum, and that will make it so much easier to break down when I do have to. ( My studio is on an extra table in my dining room, so occasionally when I entertain, I do have to break it down.)

I did make a pretty cool pendant with some large, square, green opal beads that I have been having trouble figuring out what to do with. I realized I’d like to frame one as a focal, and here is what I came up with:

Green opal puffed square (approx. 30 mm) framed in copper, with moonstone, amazonite, and MOP accents.

I am now working on a necklace for this. I have soldered some copper links and a center element for it to hang from (not really a bail, as the frame has a bail “hook”) and will wrap some links of amazonite, maybe some smoke quartz and possibly a third stone, it depends on what is in my stash.

I have gotten back to my bench on Wednesday nights, and will be putting my nose to grindstone, as tax season is coming, and my schedule gets much less forgiving until April. My MIL wants to have a jewelry show for me in February, so I have to set my sights on that and WORK, happily and dutifully!

Family:

Woohoo, can finally talk about the fact that I will have a new niece/nephew to dote upon! R2 will be making an appearance late August, and I couldn’t be more excited for my sis-in-law and her hubby. They had to announce to immediate family on Christmas Day, when we were plying her with shots of Spiritus. What a great excuse not to do a shot! So, I did hers for her! For the next 8 months or so, I will dutifully do all of her drinking for her!

Photography:

I was inspired the other day to stop on my way to work to take these two pictures.

The sky was by turns sulky, and bright and threatening. There were almost perfectly horizontal bands of clouds of varying degrees of “cloudness”.

I also received an Eye-Fi card for Christmas, but have yet to set it up. We had a “wi-fi-palooza” of sorts at our house over New Years, and this was unfortunately overlooked, when setting up our technologies. I am not quite sure how I will use this to my benefit, but when I figure it out, I will let you know!

So, that worked out pretty well. Now I just have to apply a little effort to getting my life in order, and all will be right in the world! Or at least, my little world. Happy New Year to all, and may 2010 be happy and healthy and whatever you wish it to be!

thanks for checking in,

J

Technorati Tags: Pulled Sugar Designs,Eye-Fi,amazonite,copper jewelry,Green Opal,Fine Silver,Sterling Silver

she’s making a list, and then not doing anything on it…

I like to have a vague outline for my weekends.  I try not to get too specific, because spontaneity doesn’t like bulleted lists.  My foggy vision of what this past weekend would include was sort of like this:  Friday, spend some time at the bench, and get a couple of loads of laundry thrown in.  Saturday, while Scott is at the Rutgers game, get the house straightened up so that cleaning can happen, so that holiday decorating can happen.   Make three different cookie batters.  Sunday, bake said cookies and celebrate my dear MIL’s milestone birthday. 

Here’s what happened instead:

I made a commissioned piece for a cousin’s wife

Its a Christmas gift, so I won’t post a picture of the completed necklace until after.  I was uber-pleased with how it came out, I hope she feels the same.

I blew bubbles on the deck

Blowing Bubbles in December 2009 from Jennifer Herbert on Vimeo.

If you, like me take dreadful movies, use a program (I used Microsoft movie maker cuz its free) to edit it and hopefully improve it. I used the auto movie feature, chose a style (I chose old timey), and it does all the cutting/editing etc for you, and you end up with something decent.  I should have cut it a little short, but hey, there is a stop button, you didn’t have to watch the entire thing!

 

I made some flannel flowers

This picture happens to be the front and back of the same flower that I made into a pin for my MIL.

I made an ass-load of cookies

I celebrated my MIL’s birthday.

Not bad, not bad at all. 

One caveat- Christmas Eve is coming, whether I have my act together or not.  Ummm, welll, uh, yeah.  Did I mention I go to PA next weekend to visit my goddaughter and her family?  Yeah, my time management skills have obviously not improved over this year.  Or maybe I have decided that I need to savor the little joys that are there if you just slow down long enough to blow bubbles on the back deck, you know?

Thanks for checking in-

Jen

 

 

Technorati Tags: bubbles,bubble grill,silver jewelry,felt flowers