Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

Like a White Tornado

November 25, 2010 Karen

Like many of you have probably been doing, I’ve been racing around the last few days cleaning my house to prepare for company. The phrase “like a white tornado” kept creeping into my thoughts only I seemed to be moving like a GREY tornado. My interpretation of that means an older slower version of a cleaning wonder. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if a “white” tornado is racist. Go ahead and laugh, strange things enter my head when I’m inhaling those cleaning products.

I seized the opportunity to sit down at the computer and prove how silly my question really was. The initial information provided online was about a cleaning product, Ajax, and a slogan used to advertise it in 1972. No wonder I thought about this phrase;, that’s when my son was born and I was “into” cleaning. This link should take you to a video of one of the commercials used for Ajax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vurmg1yffg The commercial could lead you to believe that the product makes cleaning go faster. That’s when, at the rate I was moving, I was sure I was a grey tornado this week.

I was still curious about white tornadoes and found more information which might have produced the idea behind the Ajax slogan. I learned about white tornadoes from http://www.chaseday.com/tornadoes.htm : A tornado can appear white when it is “front lit” by the sun. Since most of them are photographed with the sun behind them, they look black or dark grey. (Perhaps being a grey tornado isn’t that bad.) You may also see a white cloud of water rotating into a froth at the base of the tornado. I’m sure you’ve really been wondering about that for quite a while.

The picture at the top shows my version of what might be left behind by a white tornado. The “ditch” in it reminds me of what I was taught as a girl in tornado alley Oklahoma. If you are out when you see a tornado coming and you can’t get to shelter, lie down as flat as possible in the ditch beside the road. I’m thankful I never had to do that.

I’m also thankful for readers like you who go all the way to the end of my entries, even those that are silly like this one. Happy Thanksgiving!

Diversions, Ranching

A Ranching Tale: How Many Aggies Does It Take to . . .

November 23, 2010 Karen

I think most people have a favorite “Aggie” joke. In Oklahoma, my father was poking fun at his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, formerly Oklahoma A & M, when he told an Aggie joke. Here in Texas we are usually thinking about Texas A & M when we tell an Aggie joke. If you are out of the country or unfamiliar with Aggie jokes, they are usually told to make the Aggie look ignorant as in the following example: Why was the Aggie housewife mad at her husband?
He was out shooting craps and she didn't know how to cook them.

I never thought these jokes were particularly funny, but yesterday a few of them flashed back through my mind during a ranch episode. Here’s the question: How many ranchers does it take to feed a new born calf?

We were out bottle feeding a new born calf. He was a big strong fellow, but his mother hadn’t yet come into her milk. We thawed some colostrum previously saved from a mom with a still born, put it in a calf-sized bottle and set off for the pasture. Luckily, we picked our foreman up at the barn prior to heading to the pastures. Yes, we wondered how many ranchers it would take to feed that newborn. When we started the feeding, the answer became obvious. The foreman straddled the calf to keep him in one place, no simple job since the bull weighed a good 70 + pounds. I poked the bottle in and the bull drank his fluid while the third party, my husband, carrying a big stick kept the momma cow from killing us. The latter was the most difficult. You just haven’t felt fear until you’ve heard a great big momma cow who just delivered a calf bellow at you and start in your direction with her head down. They don’t just stand in one spot to do this; they circle you creating a smaller and smaller distance from you with each round. As if this wasn’t dangerous enough, another new momma cow thought we were too close to her calf and decided to help out. Now there were two people feeding the newborn, one person keeping the cows away and two cows wanting to flatten the people. Meanwhile, the little calf was taking his sweet time downing the bottle. Once he finally finished, we all backed away, keeping a close eye on both angry mothers. Of course, the silly newborn followed me because I had been his only source of nourishment. This didn’t help his mother like me any better.

So, back to the original question; How many ranchers does it take to feed a newborn? From the reading, you would most likely answer “three”; From my experience, I think FOUR would have been safer!

Aside from this experience, when the three of us went back to the pasture for the second feeding, the buzzards were swarming near the fence and a different cow was going crazy. That’s when we saw her just born calf on the opposite side of the fence from her. When a cow is calving, she may back up to something, thinking this will help with the delivery (if a cow really thinks). We’ve found many calves that were delivered outside the fence from their mothers. We picked up the calf and tagged his ears for identification. This, of course, caused him to holler as though we’d shot him and I thought him mom would come right through the fence. Eventually, we pushed him through to her side and all was well. She quickly herded him away from the terrible people. We were certainly glad that we made that second trip to the pasture and saved this little heifer.

I’m hoping that no Aggie jokes are needed today and that all will be well out in the pasture. Yet, with another seven calves due at the same time, you just never know.

Creativity, Philosophy

Time for Carving

November 19, 2010 Karen

We’re less than one week away from Turkey Day and carving time. I’m always thankful that when we were a young married couple, a friend and neighbor in Centerville, Ohio taught my husband how to carve a turkey. Actually, my spouse already knew how to do it, but our friend showed him a different way to carve the breast such that it was both efficient and attractive. Each year we think about those neighbors and the good times with them.

As I prepare for family visits and Thanksgiving today, I’m discovering that meat is not the sole entity I’ve been carving lately. I’ve been carving out time to be creative. This is a “must do” on my agenda each day; but how can I be sure it happens? I’m reminded of another acquaintance, this time from Garland, Texas, who told me that she liked to sew, but couldn’t do it until everything else was completed at her house. She said that she just never got done with everything. Well - - da - - who does? Isn’t there always one more floor to sweep or bill to pay or cow to check? (I guess you might not have a cow to check.) The point is that we can’t just wait for creative time to miraculously arise from our schedule. We have to MAKE it.

This has been a very nice busy season for my little jewelry design business. The boutiques have kept me busy and I’ve added vending at just a few shows. Today is the first day since the beginning of October that I haven’t had a list of orders to complete. I think I’ve finished and delivered them all. So, does that mean that I can finally be creative? No! I haven’t been waiting for this day, but have carved out time to be creative every day. I don’t mean that I have been creative by finishing the orders. The bulk of these have been specified or replicas of other designs. Yet, I have done my best during this busy season to leave at least some time each evening to just be creative with no succinct notion of what should emerge from the design work and no time table for completion.

I believe that creativity is like anything else and it must be practiced. Many factors such as the stress of this season and/or emotional circumstances can easily rob a person of the ability to think creatively. Yet, the more you have practiced and gathered expertise at being creative, the less you lose during stressful periods. For example, we know that elementary school children regress on their reading skills during the summer break unless they diligently continue the reading of challenging books at home. I also believe that the better the child is at reading, the less he or she loses (Meador’s theory). I found this to be true when teaching piano. A first year student lost more music reading ability during a break than a third year student (assuming they were any good a reading by that time).

If you concur with this analysis, what can you do about it? Let’s start carving! As I have mentioned in another posting, I really rely on my computer calendar. I’m diligent about typing in all my bill payment dates, appointments and things for which I must prepare. When that list pops up each morning, I’m right on track and when the list is complete, I’m done. But, aren’t there other things that I should be doing? Of course there are, but those are probably on tomorrow’s calendar and I sure wouldn’t want to mess up the system by getting ahead (ha).

When the list is complete, everyone has been fed and the daily household chores are finished, I have time to be creative. Granted, this isn’t usually until after dinner, but at least I can look forward to that frame of space. I’ve kept to this schedule for a long time and thankfully my spouse has grown used to what occurs in the evenings when my tasks are complete. It’s my time! I guess that I could take a lesson from my dog who comes in to enjoy a rawhide bone each evening. When he’s beside or chewing on that bone, you’d better not try to pet him. He might just bite you. If anyone should try to take away the time I’ve carved out to be creative, I might just do the same!

Happy Carving! Remember – you’re worth it.

Uncategorized

Patina in a Bag

November 15, 2010 Karen

It is my hope that sometimes my blog entries offer ideas that spark your imagination or suggest some helpful technique. This IS NOT one of those entries!

I volunteered to guide a group of folks this week in making my dimensional bracelet. I say “guide” because I told myself that I was definitely not going to do any more teaching when I closed my consulting business. This is NOT teaching! At some point in my professional life, the dominant phrase was “guide on the side, not sage on the stage.”

Below is a photo of one of the dimensional bracelets. It is pictured with the necklace I made for a customer.

Since the bracelet armature requires relatively heavy wire, I gathered what we needed from the San Marcos Green Guy (recycling business). Later, realizing that I usually patina the bracelet after it is formed but before the stones go on, I decided to go ahead and patina the wire for the participants. We will not have enough time to stop and patina the armatures at our meet up. This seemed like the right thing to do, but when I looked at the amount of wire, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to fit into my little patina bowl.

I considered my options and added the condition that I didn’t want to use very much liver of sulphur which would be needed if I mixed a large patina batch for a bigger bowl. Therefore, I decided a plastic bag would work great. (My undergraduate students used to use small amount of food coloring in plastic bags to color the pasta we used with storyboards; so why wouldn’t it work for wire? ) Go ahead . . . why wouldn’t it? Look at the picture and you might get a clue. Hint: The ends of the wire are sharp!

The bag worked great at first. I used a very small amount of liver of sulphur and water and was able to move it around in the bag to cover the wire a little at a time. Everything was going fine until I squeezed a bit too hard and one of the wires poked a hole in the bag. Then instead of patina in a bag, I had patina on the table, patina on the floor, patina on the shoes, etc. (I’m glad there wasn’t a dog wasn’t sitting at my feet!)

Now, perhaps you will agree with my initial statement that this isn’t a very helpful blog entry. Surely no one else would try to put a sharp object in a plastic bag of patina. (If you, too, might have considered doing this, then my blog entry has been helpful after all!) It’s better to go ahead and mix that big batch of patina in that big bowl!

Bracelets, Wire Work

Dimensional Bracelets

November 7, 2010 Karen 4 Comments

I’ve been making dimensional bracelets for a couple of years and have enjoyed both the uniqueness and comfort of them as well as the fact that customers also like them. Since I will be teaching how to make this arm wear at a November wire workers meeting, I’m using this venue to show pictures of a few of the bracelets.

These are called dimensional bracelets because of the option of making layers of stones on the top focal area. These are particularly visible on the grey and orange bracelet. The top can also be made flat as in the purple bracelet shown here. It took many mistakes to eventually get to this design and to figure out how to measure the wire in order to come out right. I’m not showing you the pile of too small and too big bracelets that I made before getting it right. I felt a bit like Goldilocks as I tried to figure this out. The back and sides are shown in the pictures that follow.

I’ve also made these in sterling silver, but they get a bit pricey since they require so much heavy gauge wire. Luckily, the copper style is made from recycled wire that has been cleaned, shaped, given a patina and tumbled. Surely it’s good and clean by now. This wire sells around $4 per pound as opposed to sterling silver that is running about $27 an ounce. Hmm . . . don’t you think copper is really better?

Creativity, Diversions, Philosophy

Playing with Dough

November 4, 2010 Karen

This isn’t about money! Who would have enough to play with anyway? Yet, it is about playing with dough.

While at the nursing home yesterday, I asked the art teacher (working with three slightly comatose inmates) whether or not she has worked with polymer clay. The activities director overheard us and said she had been wanting to do some sculpture with a few of the residents. That’s when I told her about playing with dough . . . play dough.

I have an activity for and a recipe for making homemade play dough in one of my books, It’s in the Bag. (Pieces of Learning Press, Available at the publisher's site) I’ve used it for years; given it away; and even selected it for use in a motivational speech at a meeting. In my workshops on the brain, we used to make the triune brain out of three different colors of play dough. As you can tell, I’ve made a good deal of the stuff.

I was so pleased when my daughter, who was probably the very first recipient of my homemade play dough made it for her son. It’s really neat when your progeny can pass it on. You can see from the expression on my grandson’s face that his mom made it a fun experience.

Of course working with clay isn’t solely for fun. It is great for developing motor skills and will also give the child a safe experience with mixing colors. (Adults – it can also work for soothing the nerves through a sufficient amount of play dough squishing or relieving frustrations by pounding it!)

Just in case you need to do either of the above mentioned adult activities or have a young person coming for a fun day, why not give this recipe a try?

Playdough

Combine in medium-sized saucepan

1 tablespoon oil 1 cup salt 2 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tarter 2 cups water

Heat and stir until mixture forms a ball. Place mixture on waxed paper to cool until you can work it with your hands. Knead the dough until it is smooth and then store it in a zip-lock bag. *Food coloring may be added when kneading the dough. Paste cake decorating colors are move vivid than liquid colors. HINT: if you get the paste coloring on your hands, it can be removed with toothpaste.

*I wear plastic bags on my hands when working in the food coloring.

gifts, Philosophy, Wire Work

Raining Cats and Dogs

November 2, 2010 Karen

We weren’t really expecting a storm last night, but we weren’t in charge of the weather. First the lightening blessed us with enough brightness that sleep was tough. Then the thunder joined it. Consider the auditory experience of thunder followed by one fearful dog outside yelping and another puppy thinking it must be time to play in the middle of the night. These two were then joined by two more who barked simply because they didn’t know why the others were up. I’ll bet you’ve heard this at your house although I hope you have a few less dogs to chime in.

Finally, I let the scared dog in so she would quit barking. This of course caused the others to bark because they also wanted in. Eventually, thinking all was in order with the fearful animal beside the bed, I went back to sleep. Alas, once the dog was comforted, she realized she was hungry and commenced to eat out the bottom of the dog food sack in the laundry room adding a new auditory dimension. Eventually, the dog quieted and the thunder subsided just in time for the rain to begin falling on our tin roof. Are you getting the idea.

As I fussed with my dog in the house, I could only imagine the other folks who were probably doing the same thing. I have at least two friends whose dogs don’t like thunder. Those women probably have bags under their eyes today just as I do. Oh well, we DID need the rain . . . but I wish we’d gotten more than 1/2 inch.

It’s amusing that I spent my design hours last evening making cats and dogs (and the occasional rabbit). Was it a premonition? Who knows, but I’m not making any tonight because I really need some sleep.

By the way, the critters in the picture are bookmarks. My cousin suggested bookmarks might be a nice item around Christmas. I’ve been making the cats for several weeks, but just figured out the dog and the bunny. The animal fits in the book and the tail hangs over the book spine. I will put them on cards to give as gifts. Let me know if you need any. I can’t seem to get them made fast enough to put in my etsy shop.

Raining cats and dogs . . . let’s have a night of silence on this date or in lieu thereof, could we get a couple of inches?

Earrings, Metal Work, selling, Torch Work

Trolling

October 28, 2010 Karen 5 Comments

We used to go trolling a good bit when we lived in the Dallas area and had a fishing boat. I never thought it was much fun, but then, I wasn’t the one driving the boat. I felt the best part about trolling for fish was in the heat of the summer when you felt so hot that you thought you would faint. At least trolling meant we kept the boat moving and that made a bit of welcome breeze on wet skin.

I went trolling yesterday . . . for bottle caps. I was reminded of the time when my son was in fourth or 5th grade and his gifted class was collecting bottle caps. As best I recall, they were trying to get to one million to see how much that actually was. When I picked up my son and his friend at the Social Studies Fair, I found that they had been outdoors picking up bottle caps in the parking lot. They weren’t nearly as clean (the boys) as when I first left them there, but they did have a few more bottle caps to add to the class collection. It seemed the bottle cap hunt was more interesting than the Social Studies Fair.

I’m not trying to get to a million bottle caps. I just needed a few more for making earrings. I’ve previously posted a number of pictures wherein these were used and you may recognize a few of those that follow.

Since we don’t drink anything that has bottle caps, the few that I have used previously have come from friends who remembered to bring them to me. I don’t know if I’ve run out of those friends, but yesterday, I was definitely out of bottle caps and set out to find them.

I’d been told I should just go to a bar and ask the bartender to save me some. I told the suggester that I’d feel strange in a bar and he said not to worry that I’d look better by closing time. (I think that was an insult!) At any rate, I chose not to visit a bar, but rather went searching as I ran my errands.

The first stop was a hit! I found one root beer cap when I stopped at the office supply store. Although I searched around the entire area where I found this treasure, there were no other caps around. Later I found another cap at the filling station, but obviously the people who go there are very careful about getting things in the trash can, because I couldn’t find any others. I searched around all the various filling stands and people probably thought I must be very poor and was looking for change. I guess I could have dug in the trash can, but I chose not to. That would have made me look really desperate!

I drove very slowly through the parking lots on my way home as I looked for bottle caps. Finally, I realized that it would be hard to explain that I had run into something or someone because I was looking for caps and I gave up. The sum of my trolling is in the next picture.

Oh well, don’t you think these are good ones? The exciting part of working with them was when I used the torch to anneal them. Either the plastic center in the cap or the cap finish created a beautiful little flame that I feared would set off the fire alarm. Luckily, it burnt out quickly and all peril was averted. Tonight these little jewels will become some sort of earrings. I sell these at a very low price, but after yesterday’s effort, I’m thinking that price may just have to go up. Trolling is hard work!

Philosophy

Ten Years

October 25, 2010 Karen

My post today has nothing to do with design, creativity or the ranch. It’s just something important to me that I needed to write.

It has been ten years today since my father passed and this time of the year always brings back pleasant thoughts of him. I’m not sad, just pensive as I remember little things like the time I was working in the adjoining kitchen of his house and there came a big thud. I looked around and there was Papaw upside down in his easy chair saying “did you know this chair would turn over?” I can still see the expression on his face.

For a long time after his death, my mother kept telling me it felt as though there was someone in the house with her. I chalked it up to loneliness and wishfulness, but then a little bird made me feel differently. The day prior to the first anniversary of my dad’s passing, a little bird got into Mother’s house. She tried to get it out, but had no luck and finally, when it flew into her sewing room, she simply closed the door and left it. The next day, a man who helped out came by and Mother asked him to remove the bird. Determined, he went into the sewing room and closed the door. After considerable time, he and the bird immerged. He said that it was a very smart little bird and that it had been hard to catch. Finally, he took a blanket and threw it over the little guy to nab it. He removed the bird from the house and let it fly.

I believe occurrences like the little bird in the house only have special meaning if you let them. I’m the type who tries to explore the depth of an occurrence. After the little bird left Mother’s house, she never again felt that there was someone in her home. It was as though the bird represented a spirit that had watched over her long enough and was then released to fly where it was meant to go.

Over the past ten years memories have served my mother and I well and will continue. As Carmen Agra Deedy said in her book The Last Dance, “those we love are never really gone as long as we tell their stories.” I plan to continue doing just that.

Bezels, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, selling, Wire Work

Who IS the Customer?

October 20, 2010 Karen

Many articles that discuss getting started selling things advise us to question “who is the customer?” Unfortunately for me, I’ve often ignored that question because the boutiques I serve are so varied. Magnify that by the fact that each store’s customers are pretty varied as well and the equation about the customer is pretty overwhelming. Yet, this week I’ve found that I really needed to stop and ask that question as I prepared to call on a particular boutique. This new boutique caters to the younger set and in the past the owner has suggested I needed some pieces made with chain or leather ropes. My more heavily beaded pieces just weren’t what she needed. One day, while in this store, a girl about high school age came in and tried on clothes. As I watched her, I finally “got it” and realized I did need some pieces with leather, chain and ribbon.

I felt this wasn’t my style initially, but as I’ve made a valid attempt at it this week, I’m excited to be trying something new. It may allow me to expand the options for all my customers.

The first two pictures show necklaces made with a good deal of chain. The mahogany bead piece has handmade copper chain in the back with handmade copper jump ring dangles in the front. The second piece is similar in style, but utilized both hand made copper chain and plated silver chain. I added beads to every other jump ring in the front.

I think these pieces turned out OK, because they have both sold before I even call on the customer for whom I made them.

I also experimented with ribbon and leather cord for a few pieces. I know designers often work with ribbon, but it was tedious for me. My thumbs are quite ruff from working with metal and wire, so the ribbon kept sticking to them and raveling. Fray check for ribbon ends has now become my friend.

The necklace on the right sports a green amber cabachon wrapped with dull aluminum wire. It hangs from a dyed silk cord I purchased at a bead show. The organza ribbon bow can be removed.

I made several other pieces on the leather cord which are not pictured here and hope to also work with the black velvet ribbon I purchased.

I do not yet know if the customer for which I designed these pieces will like them, but I do know that thinking specifically about “who” the customer is influenced what I designed. I’ve found this to be true before. Once, I was commissioned to create a pin for someone whose bout with cancer was concluding. As I thought about the patient, the pin just seemed to make itself. Another time, a western wear store that usually sells sterling silver wanted to try some copper and that influenced the design of the piece shown here.

So, “who is the customer?” Apparently, my customer is the boutique for whom I am visiting next. Today while scheduling my next trip to a specific Texas Hill Country shop, the owner said “you know what I like”. Yes, I do and in the next weeks I’ll be designing specifically with her in mind.

Know your customer. This can open some avenues of design that I never imagined. But sometimes, I want to remember that I am the customer too and create just exactly what I LIKE!

Dreamcatcher Designs