Repairing Jewelry

May 26, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

Where do people go for simple jewelry repair or modification? It appears that there aren’t too many folks who will take a strung gemstone piece in to a fine jewelry store for lengthening or shortening. But, let’s face it; we’re not all the same size and modifications are sometimes needed. A tiny customer in one store told me she has seldom found a bracelet that fits her slender wrist and that most necklaces are too long. The opposite, of course, although seldom stated out loud, is the heavy set woman who struggles with length for a different reason. Also, we all have one problem . . . things break. We drop a piece or it gets hung on something and then we’re left with a mess. This happens in the boutiques even before a piece is purchased leaving the boutique with jewelry it cannot sell.

I make repairs. It’s probably one of my least favorite tasks, similar to mending a garment. It is, however, a task that is sorely needed. It doesn’t have to be jewelry that I have made, I’ll try to fix most anything. Repairing or modifying a piece of jewelry seldom takes much time and is greatly appreciated by the customer or boutique owner. I always carry my tools with me when I visit boutiques that sell my jewelry. You’d be surprised how a crimp here and a clasp change there can make a woman happy. It’s especially nice if I can take care of the piece while I’m at the store without having to transport it back and forth or mail it. I laughed at the nursing home today where my mother has been for seven years. I think the nurses must send out a signal when I arrive. One came from out of no where to show me that she had lost an earrings and hoped I could make a match for the remaining one. Another, that I’d never seen before, was delivered to Mother’s room by her friend who said she just knew I would be able to fix her pin. Today was not unusual; I do a good deal of mending and/or modification for people who work there.

The store from Maine that buys my jewelry sent me a little package of jewelry that needed repair and a pair or silver earrings that a customer wanted me to make in copper. A Texas store had another little bundle of things that a customer brought in for modification. These jobs have kept me busy most of the last few days.

If you are a designer who hasn’t ventured into repairs and modifications, don’t expect this part of the work to produce an economic boom. Little money exchanges hands when I repair or modify jewelry and I don’t charge anything for modification of a piece I originally made. The exchange is, however, quite pleasurable. People want their jewelry to fit and I can help that happen. A broken piece may have been something that was treasured and its repair yields happiness. For example, a woman once brought me a very inexpensive necklace needing a clasp repair. She said she knew the necklace wasn’t very pricey, but her husband purchased it for her on their honeymoon so it was quite valuable to her. I fixed it and she was extremely happy. She thanks me every time I see her. I made necklace extenders in copper and in silver for a larger boned woman so that her necklaces from more slender times would fit. She, too, continues to thank me and purchases my pieces when the opportunity arises.

One of my favorite sayings when people ask what they owe me is “pass it on.” I believe if we do something nice for a person she may just pass it on and do something nice for someone else. I’m not looking for reciprocation of a good deed. I’m just trying to incite the next one. A little jewelry repair here, a smile there and who knows . . . let’s just pass it on.

Earrings, Metal Work, Wire Work

Earrings Du Jour

May 12, 2010 Karen

Since I don’t do soup . . . may I offer you the earrings “of the day”? First, however, you should know that the light on the right of my photo tent is out right now creating somewhat difficult picture-taking circumstances. This appears to have caused the large circle earrings to show as different colors when they are exactly the same. It did not cause the second amethyst earring to completely disappear. I couldn’t get them both to hang well for the photo.

I got started making earrings today when a store that sold one of my necklaces requested the large circle copper earrings to match. I hurriedly made a pair and took them to the store only to learn that I had the wrong patina. I was given the customer’s daughter’s phone number to gather further details and learned that she “didn’t know what her Mother wanted” and that the necklace had gone to the other side of the state. She kindly gave me her mother’s number and after calling her, I learned, she really didn’t want big earrings at all . . . just small copper rounds that matched. Hmm . . . how do I figure out what “small” means and how do I match the patina to a necklace that I can’t see? I suggested sending a photo to the mother, but the daughter explained that Mother doesn’t compute. Finally we agreed that I would make the earrings, send a digital photo to the daughter here in town, she would forward it to her sister who lives near the mother and the sister would show it to the mother. Do you think there is much chance that the earrings I make will match? By the way, if you are one of the daughters reading this blog, I truly appreciate your efforts for your mom.

I had another call from out of state for a pair of earrings to match a copper necklace sold by that boutique. Luckily, the owner matched the necklace to the stone in a pair of silver earrings she had in the store before letting the customer get away with the necklace. She mailed the earrings to me and I think I have a chance at that one.

So, what’s the point? I’ve told myself this before, but I’m absolutely sticking to it this time. If I have the beads to make earrings for a necklace, I should do it before the necklace goes out. Secondly, if I’m going to patina metal for a necklace, I MUST patina enough to make earrings in the same liver of sulfur bath. Does anyone wish to bet on how long I remember these statements? The hurrieder I go the more I forget my promises

Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Playing With Shapes

May 6, 2010 Karen

I’ve played with shaping most of my adult life. I’ve tried this diet and that fad, but my shape is stuck. As a healthier outlet to this dilemma, my current “shape” work is being done with wire. No, I haven’t decided to wire my mouth shut! I’m working with 16 to 18 gauge wire in an attempt to find a new pendant armature to put beads on. I’ve tried this before, but always attempted to work with very heavy gauge wire that I purchased inexpensively from the recycle place. This mostly just turned out to give me aching hands. Using the lighter gauge wire, however, appears to be more successful. When I find a good shape I can then replicate it with heavier wire. Initially, I planned to use the shape shown here with the side to the right in the picture as the bottom. I planned to hang it from the loop that is on the other side. Yet, upon completion it seemed more fitting as shown.

I planned the second armature the same way, but it too seems better turned as shown in the picture below.

Next, I would like to create a much smaller version of this pendant to see how it works with less openness. I can see it with more delicate beads.

At any rate, this type shaping is much better for my ego that the shaping “supposedly” created through dieting. Of course, if I just immediately filled my hands with wire and tools each time I got hungry, perhaps my body might shape up too. (somehow I doubt it!)

Bracelets, Earrings, Metal Work, Pendants, Wire Work

Puppy Shot

May 5, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

The day started just like any other day. I had carved out some time to design and shape some copper sheet metal and then patina the pieces with liver of sulphur. I never know just exactly what color the patina will produce due to varying factors including water temperature, amount of product, whether or not a piece has been torched, etc. On this particular day, everything was working well. I liked the color produced and was pleased at its richness when I took it out of the tumbler. If you aren’t used to this process, I use a rock tumbler to remove the excess grime created by the liver of sulphur and to polish the pieces. The tumbler is partially filled with steel shot, a drop of liquid detergent and water. The shine it produces is largely a product of the length of time a piece tumbles. Following the tumbling, I pour the tumbler contents into a metal kitchen strainer in order to rinse the pieces without losing any of the shot. I then place the strainer on the top shelf of my laundry room work cabinet. That’s what set the stage for trouble.

As I continued my clean up process, our exuberant 3 1/2 month old puppy raced into the laundry room for his food. He spied the strainer, leapt up and grabbed it and then we were both showered with flying shot. I tried hard not to yell at the little guy, but when I got the broom to sweep up the shot, he kept grabbing it and trying to run away with it. (I’m thinking of rewriting the nursery rhyme to read “the DOG ran away with the BROOM) Picture a little black and white puppy scurrying down the hall with the broom head in his mouth dragging the handle. That was the end of my patience. Slipping on the rolling shot, I managed to grab the puppy by the collar and drag him out to his pen. Then I set out to sweep the shot. Sound easy? When I tried to sweep part of the shot, it would quickly roll to the other side of the room. Eventually, I put up little shoe barriers to catch it as it rolled. That shot was everywhere . . . under the washer, under the dryer, under the freezer, behind the sink, in the shoes, in the boots, buried in the rugs and even in my apron pockets. Two days later, I’m still finding shot - - - puppy shot!

Just so you won’t worry, let me say that I did not shoot the puppy. That’s just the new name for what I put in the tumbler. By the way, this is the same puppy who while waiting inside the running car while the trash was emptied from the car into the container on the street managed to lock one of us out of our own car. He’s such a good little fellow!

Bracelets, Creativity, Wire Work

Fluency and Flexibility

May 3, 2010 Karen 2 Comments

In a previous post, I commented on FFOE and elaboration in particular. Today, I’m focused on FF, fluency and flexibility. Over coffee one day last week, my friend drew a bracelet that she has made saying I could try it. I think it is particularly nice that most wire workers don’t mind sharing information and designs and I truly thank my friend for the pictured bracelet idea that she calls “winding road”. Fluency obviously has to do with the production of many ideas while flexibility deals with the ability to think in different categories, from different angles, or to see things from a new perspective. I was fluent in making many bracelets of the same design. While simply adding different beads to exactly the same shape would NOT have required very flexible thinking, I was somewhat flexible by changing the basic shape and type of elaboration. Slight variation in the placement of the beads as well as the selection of the size of the beads is indicative of flexibility.

These bracelets can be made fairly quickly and although I see the “winding road” they also make me think of Cleopatra with one of these in gold above her elbow. It also makes me think of a serpent round the wrist. (I was careful to properly file the ends of these so that serpent doesn’t sting!)

The next plausible step with this bracelet will require originality. How can this idea be modified so that it leads to something new and different? I’ll have to leave that for another day.

Diversions

TV Shows Enacted at Dreamcatcher

April 29, 2010 Karen

Does your life ever feel like a soap opera? Luckily, I’m not having that issue since life is really quite good here on the ranch. However, lately, there have been several incidents that remind me of television shows.

The first occurred when I scheduled a visit in another town to a new customer. I try to “clean up” when I call on boutiques and had done so this particular morning, yet, my attire didn’t seem to fit with “the rest of the story”. Since the puppy needed his shots and the vet was in the same town as my client, my husband and I loaded into the dirty pickup to make the trip. The puppy doesn’t yet enjoy riding, so we also brought one of the older dogs to keep him company. Picture two adult people sitting in the front of the cab, one dressed up and laden with jewelry, the other in typical “been out in the pasture” clothes. Add to that two dogs in the back seat beside a large nitrogen tank (I won’t tell you what that holds.). Hear one of the dogs in the back seat howling because he doesn’t want to go with us. But let’s don’t stop there, the pickup is pulling a large cube cart because one of the lease pastures filled with hungry cows is near where we are going. By the time we get close to our destination, the transmission on the pickup has begun to slip and as I climb out at my customer’s with all my jewelry, the pickup drives on to the vet. That’s when I see that the wheel is falling off the cube cart. Thanks goodness for cell phones as a quick call to my husband helps avoid disaster as the wheel does fall off. My thought was that we looked just like “The Clampets” who came to town. Thinking a good deep breath can cure almost anything, I took one and went into the boutique trying not to appear rattled. After a pleasant time with my customer, I checked on our status to see if I needed to hitch hike back to the ranch. Eventually, our foreman arrived, loaded the ailing cart onto a trailer behind a better pickup and we were left with the still crying puppy, the big dog, the malfunctioning transmission and the required trip to the lease pasture without the needed cubes. I think I now know why Jed Clampet didn’t have a wife.

In the evenings, we reenact another TV series, The Waltons. While we don’t have a large group of children, we DO have to say goodnight to the little animals. Four dogs, goodnight Dixie, goodnight Cheyenne, goodnight Frosty, goodnight Bruno. Then to the cats . . . Well, you get the picture. I guess Bruno, who is pictured would be our version of John Boy.

I don’t recall the name of the other TV show that seemed appropriate yesterday. As I was out climbing up and down the ladder to wash the windows I couldn’t help but think about Mrs. Jefferson before she made the big time. As I finished the windows I wished that I, too, could “Move On Up” to the east side.

Who knows what TV series will show up next. In past years we’ve had all the CSI drama with necropsies of cows and determination of causative factors. Perhaps we should turn off the TV and just hope for the best.

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Techniques, Wire Work

Two Peas in a Pod

April 27, 2010 Karen

This is a phrase most of us have heard to describe things that are very similar. When I searched the origin of the simile, I realized that most of the time we don’t hear the complete phrase, “as alike as two peas in a pod,” meaning two identical items or people. Following is information about the origin of the phrase which dates back to the 16th century.

(Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-alike-as-two-peas-in-a-pod.html)

. . . This simile, of course, derives from the fact that two peas from the same pod are virtually indistinguishable. The phrase, which is sometimes given as 'like as two peas', is quite old and versions of it date from the the 16th century. . . [the]use of 'pease' as the singular form was the norm in Tudor England. The word 'pea' came into use as the singular in the 17th century, with 'peas' as the plural. This avoided 'peases', which would have been somewhat of a mouthful. . . .

For over a year, I’ve been making a version of peas in a pod which should probably be referred to as pearls in a pod. I’ve made these in various sizes from “baby peas” to the regular size shown here.

Several weeks ago, another designer who doesn’t do metal work requested that I make her a simpler and more realistic version of a plain pea pod. As I played with her order, I began creating various sizes of the newer pod using different metals including copper and brass both torched and not torched. Then I played with filling these pods with mixed metals or pearls. I also made baby pods in this newer shape and created earrings. Finally with too many pods on the work bench, I needed to do something with them. Having hung them on pearl strands, leather and neck wires, I kept thinking I should be more original. Yesterday, thinking again about the phrase and the number two, I tried mixing the pods. I used one larger copper pod filled only with wire tendrils and one brass pod filled with pearls and silver. We might call this the ANTI peas in a pod since the pods are not at all alike. I will continue to play with this idea of “anti” and see what develops. I believe there are many other possibilities if I continue to work with this idea.

I wonder if there are there other phrases that might spawn ideas. Would the ANTI of them provide further inspiration? It’s food for thought? . . . yet I don’t even like peas!

Bracelets, Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Philosophy, Wire Work

FFOE

April 20, 2010 Karen

The letters in the title do not stand for a secret society or club; rather, they represent the four major constructs of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. While the first three are needed to develop a solid and unique design, the latter, elaboration, is often shorted by highly creative individuals who are eager to move on quickly to the next great idea. The opposite can also be true if that creative is a perfectionist. The individual may find it difficult to move on because the piece is never just right.

Elaboration is the noun form of elaborate, which Webster (1995) defines as “planned or done with careful attention to numerous details or parts” . . . The application of the term elaboration to a discussion of creativity suggests that an idea has been embellished, developed, polished, or enhanced. (Meador, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving in Young Learners, Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press (Available at Amazon.com)

Elaboration requires scrutiny of the original idea and, just as a writer adds adjectives to a sentence to make it stronger, a jewelry designer may add more detail to the basic piece with stones or wire work. In the picture examples, one photo shows elaboration of the original wave necklace that I started making a couple of years ago which is shown in the other photo. These look like very different necklaces and while one person may prefer the original, another may like the elaborated piece.

The point is not to make a judgment regarding which piece is the “best”, but rather to use elaboration to vary a piece so that a basic design gets plenty of mileage. I find it easier to elaborate upon an idea than to develop a totally new one.

While my definition of elaboration above written years ago is sound, I’m now using the elaboration step in creative thinking for a second purpose. It’s possible that a design can be overdone and have too much embellishment. I want to use the creative process to also determine if something should be removed or made smaller in a design. Creativity gurus would cringe at my use of the word for this, but we all know that sometimes “less is more”.

The final picture in this blog entry is of a basic bracelet. I worked through fluency, flexibility and originality to get to this point. Now, as I consider elaboration, I don’t know if it is better left alone or if it needs some detail. I’ll be playing with this design for a while. Currently, I believe the answer is YES and NO regarding detail. Some people will like the simplicity of the piece while others will find it uninteresting. Through elaboration, perhaps I can made something for both tastes.

Necklaces, Pendants, Wire Work

Housework

April 12, 2010 Karen

I paused this weekend at the grocery store to watch a cute little girl in the cleaning supplies isle with her mom. She looked to be about 5 years old and sported a black pony tail that swished when she moved. She happily picked up a feather duster and pretended to dust her surroundings. That’s when I wanted to tell her. “Housework Makes You Ugly!” Since I simply moved on, it could be another twenty or thirty years before she figures this out for herself.

Taking the statement to heart, I returned from the store and vowed not to get any uglier during the weekend. Since I wasn’t doing any housework, I had plenty of extra time to work on some designs. The pictures herein show some of the pieces I completed. The first couple of pictures show the same style armature which was also pictured in another blog. I added some dangles for balance on the one to the right.

The blue piece also has a bracelet and matching earrings (not pictured).

The fourth piece, composed of copper, pearls and amethyst is a prototype of pieces to come. I’m still playing with how to get the swinging swirls to hang just right. Watch for these again.

I enjoyed the designing this weekend; however, today, is Monday and the housework is calling my name. When I made my case about it to my spouse and used actresses that are my age but have few wrinkles as evidence, he scoffed. He suggested that it wasn’t the fact that they aren’t doing housework, but rather the fact that they employed Botox. Since my medical insurance won’t pay for Botox and I need to keep doing the housework, I’ll just have to make beautiful jewelry in my leisure moments and hope people look at it and not my face.

Bracelets, Creativity, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Wire Work

Organic-Good or Bad?

April 7, 2010 Karen 4 Comments

More than once in the past weeks, my pieces have been described as “organic”. It reminds me of when I wrote an article for a gifted education periodical and the editor described it as “pithy”. I had to go look that one up and still wasn’t sure whether or not the term was complimentary.

When my work is described as organic, I usually just smile and agree with the comment, but perhaps it’s appropriate to examine this nomenclature more carefully. Synonyms for the term include the following: natural, whole, unrefined, untreated, crude and macrobiotic. Most of those do apply to the bracelet pictured on the right, but I’m not sure what to think about the term “crude”. I think I’ll just move on from that one.

The dictionary further elaborates that organic describes something that occurs or develops gradually and naturally, without being forced or contrived. This certainly describes the work on these pieces. I begin twisting the wire in hopes that something unique and palatable will arise. Sometimes it does; yet, more often it does not. I think the important part of the process is knowing what to keep and what to let go with the latter being the most difficult part. Since I know from years of teaching creativity thinking that sometimes great ideas fall upon the design floor, I’m often reluctant to let something go. Lately, however, I find this easier since I now have a “whatsit box”. I’ll bet those of you who design also have one of these. It’s that place where you throw things that didn’t seem to work. When you peer into it days later you say “What IS it?”

Organic also means “being made of parts that exist together in a seemingly natural relationship that makes for organized efficiency”. It is this definition that fits with my belief that the designs that are unique, but flow naturally together may, indeed, be the best. While I attempt to be fluent and flexible creating more than one idea before selecting the best, it is usually the one that is unique yet emerged the most naturally that gets the nod. Forcing the design to work usually brings unpleasant results.

Both pieces pictured herein are made of sunstone and carnelian from Magpie Gemstones. The schiller on the sunstone, which can’t be seen in these photos, is quite nice and really grabs attention. Are they organic? Is that a good thing? As long as I can leave out “crude” I’ll accept the comments.

Dreamcatcher Designs