Intentional Stones

Camera Woes Again...

Deepest apologies for the lack of photos lately.  This round of camera woes has come at a very bad time, as I need more new photos for applications!!! 

Happily, I've found out the reason for my troubles. 

I love my little (big) point and shoot camera but do you see how the lens has one of those spaces for a door to close over it when the whole thing retracts?

Aparently my problem with the lens scratching is due to those doors being just a bit too close to the lens when it's all closed up. When I heard the question "are the scratches vertical lines?" from a camera repair shop, I knew I was in trouble. 

Cannon's going to replace the lens for me.  Not for free.  They've offered to trade the camera in for a discount, but not a great one.  I'm annoyed that this known problem and they haven't fixed it in newer models.  I can see how wrapping the thing in swaddling when you don't have it in your hands could possibly prevent the scratches from returning, but it doesn't seem reasonable.  I treat my camera very carefully.  I keep it in it's case when it's traveling and in a nice protected cubby or the case when it's at home. 

And still, Cannon is the only brand I've found with a really good macro setting that doesn't require a lot of work to use. 

So, I'm getting it fixed (along with a long nasty civilized note to the manufacturer) and starting to save up my pennies for a different one. Adam's had the idea of using a special lens tube and cap you can buy for the G11 for another purpose to replace the door mechanism.  But I'm worried that it will cause shadows in my pictures.  Still, I'm willing to try it rather than worry about scratching.

What's your favorite camera? 

I'm thinking it's time for a digital SLR- no weird doors covering the lens, just a lens cap.  They're getting much more affordable. 

-Simbelmynë

An Original

Part of my current design policy, perhaps the part that drags me down sometimes, is the concept of originality. I don't want to put anything out there as "my work" that contains the designs of another.

But c'mon here! This is jewelry and a chain is a chain! Clasps? Only so many ideas work and are readily customizable. Patrons of wearable art do NOT want their necklace to fall off. Lapidary work? Yes, someday I very much want to go there. But for now metal is a life consuming art.

There are a few pieces of progress in my thinking. One is to consider all of these things as textures an colors in my palate. Another is to realize that some things are just too time consuming to be worth it. Finally, I'm exploring some new materials, like braiding embroidery floss to make kumihimo necklaces for pendants and possibly some map or book materials to accent earrings.

Still i don't want to just take pieces i've bought and put them together. A piece feels less special when I haven't hand created everything.

I worry about all these things all the time, sometimes to the detriment of my studio time. Then I face a show with just enough art pieces to accent the table and a bunch of very very simple pieces that I don't necessarily love. It's not a good feeling.

As I become more accomplished, I can hand make more. And I've found a few techniques that I can do while we home school to make accents for simpler pieces that give them a unique touch. Hopefully my efforts are improving all of my art at the same time as eliminating my worry that not everything I make is unique or special enough.

How do you feel about handmade?
-Simbelmynë

New Sketching Habit

Free from expectation-that's what the morning pages have always been about.  Work for long enough to scrub my brain of the bits of dreams or old feelings or doubts. 

In days past, I've tried to do the Morning Pages suggested by Julia Cameron, but writing is not really doing it for me.  Recently, though, I've busted out a little sketchbook and I'm slowly filling it up with doodles.  Some have even lead to very interesting jewelry ideas.  Those I've transferred to my "main" sketchbook.  One with graph lines to easily gauge size and metal needs.  It's pretty cool. 

Homeschooling is gradually feeling like it's under control.  I can work during school hours on little brainless things-like weaving that's repetitive and calming, or sketching that's easy to put down and take back up again.  Especially if it's these little morning pages type sketches.  Who cares if you start a new idea and lose an old one if you're not sweating the finished product? 

I'm on to something here.  Even if I'm not in midst of a formal course like the Artist's Way.  It's helping me to live more visually.  When did I ever learn these habits of pushing the visual away?  It's so natural to me.  Some of my earliest memories are of shape and form and exploring them. 

Now that school's done I can get back to the bench.  Filling my table for the Chili Event won't happen without lots of work!

-Simbelmynë

Working on Photography March 2012

I think I'm getting a little closer.

Still messing with my camera, but I like this background.  A black granite tile from the big box store.  I'm also looking into some frosted glass, but I'm surprised at how hard it is to find. 

I'm using my oversized light box to keep my basement from eating all my light.  But I've moved the lights inside.  I also got some better photo editing software, but that's going to take a lot of effort to improve.

For this image, I aimed the lights at the walls, to keep reflections away.  And I draped behind the tile with black to keep all the white from reflecting. 

I really hope this will lead to greater success.

-Simbelmynë

Anybody for Chili?

We're getting ready for our very first show of the season!

 

 

I Made It! Market is back on Saturday, April 14th from 12 - 5 pm, featuring more than 55 local artists in a pop up handmade marketplace as part of Chili with the Works at 510 S. 27th Street in the SouthSide Works. Artists will offer ceramics, art prints, jewelry, accessories, housewares, plush, bath and body products and even more. For more information, or to learn about the artists, visit www.imadeitmarket.com.

This sure sounds like an ideal way to start the season!

Hope to see you there!

-Simbelmynë

 

 

 

Because I want to be more in touch

Life is overwhelming.   Whose isn't? 

I promised writing today, here I am.

It's the time of year for things to be waking up.  The flowers, the birds and animals, me.

This year I'm working much harder.  Period

I'm working to be more true to what I really want to be doing.  Working in gemstone.  Working in metal.  You won't see anything from me that's metal that anyone else has made, unless I've had it a while and I've drilled holes in it or added findings to it or taken it apart and put it together.  (see bracelet above, yes those beads were pretty, but only one hole?  Really?  for such a large bead?  they're almost an inch wide!  So I fixed them.)

I spent today working on findings and on the trinket rings that people seem to love.  Thank you all! 

I'm also working much harder on the kids' school.  It's like I have three full time jobs. 

Hence the blog falling off the face of the earth.

We went to Florida and saw breathtaking things, above and below the water.  I hope I'll have time to write about that. 

And the summer is starting to shape up beautifully. 

Save the Date on April 14th, we'll be showing at the Soutside Works I Made It Market's Chili at the Works!  More on this tomorrow.  I'm really excited.

 

Phony Phone

Dedicated to: the kind bus tour driver at the Kennedy Space Center, who (due to a likely occupational hazard) hates cell phones on his bus.

Things I have used my phone for this week:
Phone book
Bedtime story book
Cyber-school check-in device
Wifi router
Camp book
Level
Supplemental museum guide
Flash light
Computer for blogging
Music player
Radio
Shopping list
Note pad
Alarm clock
Score card
Weather person
Keeping up with friends
Business check in
Scrabble board (across continents)
Portable gaming platform
Packing list
Memo board
GPS
Problem solver
Cook book
And Phone

Thank you, Space Program (and others of course), or making all these things possible and in my very own pocket. All while I can hear the frogs singing.

-Simbelmynë

I'm heading down to the studio feeling lighter and more free. I have some stones to set tonight, but that's the only "must do" for the first time in a long long time. At least there's that.
This is in the nature of a quick post. So I'll share photos on tumblr.
But the plan for the night is set stones, get my vice and forming stake holder attached to the big workbench and maybe the rolling mill, we'll see how I feel about sharing my new workspace with that huge hunk of steel.
I need to sort out some examples of ring shapes for a customer who's visiting tomorrow.

Wow, it feels pretty good to have choices.

Learning from failure

There it is, the end of the opportunity.  I had a larger commission that I just never got done.  It started with success.  Rose quartz became a lovely set of pendant, earrings and a ring:

 

 

Great!

But then, with 6 more stones to go, I started falling apart. 

I can't really say exactly what happened.

Was I being stubborn and not confident in my designs?  Has my desire to traditionally set stones rather than wire wrap them whenever possible doomed me to failure?  Am I just uncomfortable with Sugilite?  I've never worked with it before.

I did get a pretty pair of earrings and a pendant done. 

And I like them.  But the pendant I was working on to match the earrings just never worked out.

Life got full? the design wasn't fully thought out and starting on it wasn't really reasonable? I expected too much from myself?

Clearly I need to limit taking too many pieces at once.  Clearly I need to work on communication about design.  Clearly I need to reign myself in when I get ambitious about artistic design and I'm not sure my skills will match it.  Clearly I need to manage time better.  Clearly I need to work on self discipline, since my time of late is so very precious.

But the clearest part of all is I let someone down.

And I'm really sorry.

-Simbelmynë

 

Coming to the end...

(This is another of those honest posts.  If you want something cheerful, please go to the rest of this blog.  I usually try to be more upbeat)

Of the year. 

Of what?  the expectation to grow the business AND homeschool AND learn new things?

Well, I certainly need to modify my expectations if I'm going to keep on going. 

On my twitter profile it says, "I want to make gorgeous jewelry, keep my family happy and see the world. My goals are small."  This year I've realized exactly how big all those goals really are.  Before I'd known, but not to the core of me.

School takes up all of my time and energy.  This year, I've been able (barely) to make enough jewelry to keep up with special requests and keep my table full.  But I'm raising my own standards, and I hope to make new.

Yes, if you're interested, I'll be listing many things at about half off the original prices.  Mina and I have agreed upon these new goals and the old stuff simply has to go.

And if I have a commission of yours and it's not with you yet, I will be getting it into the mail by the first. 

Mina and I have talked... A lot. 

Our eclectic style has not been working well on the sales front.  Not to say we won't go where inspiration takes us, but we'll be focusing a little more on consistency. 

So, next year will be a year of fits and starts.  A year of hard hard work, a year of learning to juggle better.  How is that different?  I'm not really sure.  But it will be more serious, more directed, more realistic. 

I'd like to blog more.  I'd like to take more pictures.  But most of all, I'd like to make a lot more jewelry. 

Maybe I'm looking forward to the end of this year with all it's stuggle and frustration.

-Simbelmynë