updating my website

I spent most of yesterday trying to redesign my website www.jonmryan.com. I didn't really make the site any different, I was just tired of how it looked. I remember now why I never really finished the site last time, I hate doing it. Right now it is mostly finished. I still want to add photos to the portfolio page, instead of just having a link to my portfolio photo set on Flickr, which I did on the previous version of my site out of laziness. There's also some little things on the new version of the site that are driving me nuts. It's trying to fix those little things that makes designing websites so frustrating for me.

Cheongju Finalist

I just found out my necklace was one of 210 pieces selected as finalists in the Cheongju International Craft Competition. The next step is to send the actual piece to Korea for the next round of judging.

August travel

I will be taking a short trip to Iceland and Sweden at the end of August with my parents. I am looking forward to it. I have never been to either of those countries before, or anywhere in Europe. I have only been to Japan and Korea. I like Japan a lot so it was difficult for me not to suggest going there again, but I figured I should see some other part of the world.

500 Plastic Jewelry Designs

Thursday I received a copy of the new book 500 Plastic Jewelry Designs. I have one piece in the book. The work in the book is good, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I just realized recently that I must not have won anything in the Jewelry Arts Awards this year. When I won last year I found out in May. Since it's July and I haven't heard anything, I guess that means I didn't win.

More stupid tool designs

Several weeks ago I got the soldering tripod from Rio Grande (item #502-085) so I could more easily torch fire my enameled things from below. The top of this tripod, which is going to be exposed to fire, is for some reason either powder coated or painted. The problem is this paint or whatever it is, doesn't hold up to the high heat it is going to be exposed to. When it is heated it makes a bad smelling smoke. This is just so stupid, the thing is being sold as a soldering tripod. I think this is even stupider than the chrome plated Peddinghaus goldsmith's hammer. Right now, as I type this, I am sitting in my studio breathing the (probably toxic) fumes this stupid thing has made, while a fan tries to blow the fumes out the window.

I thought it was stupid when I first got the tripod and saw that it was painted, but I got busy with trying to finish my necklace and forgot about it. Tonight is the first time I have burned it under normal use, and I haven't used it that much. I guess I will try to remove the paint it with a steel brush on my angle grinder. This is a good example of a tool being made by a company that is clueless as to how it will be used.

old photos

I am probably going to be taking a trip next month, and since I take a lot of pictures while traveling I like to make sure my camera gear is all in order well ahead of time and make sure I don't need to buy anything new. So while I was looking for something for my camera, I decided to check all my old memory cards I don't use any more and make sure they were empty. Well one wasn't empty. I found 15 process photos of my teapot and another piece from Oct. 2006. The photos are nothing that great, but I love process photos, so I was happy to find them.







I'll write more about the trip after I have the plane tickets. Other than that, there is not much going on worth writing about. The classes I am teaching are going well I guess. At least as far as I can tell. I am comfortable doing the techniques I am teaching, but communicating to someone how to do them is sometimes kind of difficult.

last couple days

I am so glad I am done with that necklace. I finished it Saturday night. These things always take so long. There's always stupid unexpected things that make it take longer, like I had all this tape residue stuck on the front of the piece from when I put masking tape on the front to protect the finish while I was working on the back. I have no idea why masking tape left residue, I thought it wasn't supposed to? Aside from having to deal with the tape residue I still spent several hours finishing it. I'm not even sure what I was doing that took so long. I remember my teapot was the same way, the final finish took hours. I should clarify, I don't mean I am going from rough filed to final finish, I am talking about I already pretty much have the finish on it, it just has some little scuffs and things from the other work I am doing on it and I just need to reapply the finish and make sure it looks good. Still that takes hours. With this necklace I scrubbed the front with a toothbrush with soap and pumice powder, then I sanded in one direction with a "fine" grit 3M sanding sponge. The back of the piece I finished Friday night, it's sand blasted and the balled ends of the wires are polished with a flex shaft and rubber wheel.

Below: Scrubbing the piece with pumice powder. Lighter fluid (top left) was what I was using to get the tape residue off. I started using the blue painter's tape (covering the gold scales on the ends) after I realized the normal masking tape was leaving residue.


Sunday I took some more photos and did some retouching to them. The back ground I shot on was this 32" x 43" sheet with a gradient on it. It's kind of a heavy plasticy paper, but the gradient is printed on it and it's really delicate. So even though I don't use it very often, and I try to take care of it, it still has a lot of scuffs and marks on it. Which means I always have to do a lot of work in Photoshop with the healing brush taking out all the scuffs. I don't want to buy a new one cause the thing wasn't cheap and it doesn't hold up to having things set directly on it.

Below: Photo set up for most of the non-model shots.


Today I am just taking it easy and cleaning up my studio. The place always gets so messed up when I have am trying to meet a deadline. Tomorrow I have to start on all the jobs I was putting off while I was finishing my necklace. I told a lot of people I could start on their work after the 22nd. Other than my commission work, I think the green enameled bracelet will be the next thing I will make.

Below: Some random photo from when I was almost finished.