2010 review

Not much happened with my work in 2010. 2010 was mostly about Korea. I thought I would be leaving in January or February, but I ended up leaving in mid-April. That gave me some time to get more work done in the studio, but I still couldn't finish everything. I was really rushing in the end and I think I just ended up working on too many different things instead of focusing on one thing at a time till it's finished. But I have always worked like that.

I got two of my brooches in the permanent collection of the Racine Art Museum around the beginning of January 2010. I was only in one exhibition last year, the CMAG members show, which was not a juried show, but I got honorable mention for one of my vases. I also found out I am a finalist in the 2011 Saul Bell competition and there were 2 books on anodizing published last fall that had photos of my work.

So while I had some stuff happen this year it's all just stuff that carried over from the previous year or involving work I made before 2010.

Korea has been good, but I didn't really do any work since I came here even though I have wax and wood carving tools. I have been working on some designs for a piece for the 2011 Cheongju Craft Competition, but I feel kind of stuck and don't know what to do for that design.

In the fall I had been told by my school that I could renew my contract to stay here a second year, and I was planning on doing that, but at the end of December they told me the school did not get funding for a foreign teacher next year. So now I am looking for a new job for this spring.

2010 was a pretty good year, just not really for anything involving my work.

I'm taking a trip

Tuesday (1/11) I'm going to Thailand, I'll also go to Laos and Cambodia. The trip will be three weeks, I'll come back to Korea on January 31. Most people I have told about it in Korea think it's too bad that I am going alone. I don't know why. I think it will be great to have three weeks of solo travel. I have wanted to do this for a long time. I will be alone and not have any obligations to anyone. I will be able to do what I want, and go where I want. I don't even have any hotel reservations, so I don't need to be any place at any certain day.

2011 Cheongju Craft Competition info

The information for the 2011 Cheongju International Craft Competition is now posted.

Entries from outside Korea are due June 8th. Entries from within Korea are due June 3rd.

I am planning on making a silver vessel. I've got a 12" x 12" sheet of 22 ga. sterling I will use. I just haven't made the design yet. I got it in Oct. 2008, when silver was around $9-10/oz. Silver is now around $30/oz. I'm glad I didn't wait to buy it. When I look at the price of metals (silver $30, gold $1375, pt $1700) I think I couldn't have picked a better time to take a break from making things.

I have 5 months to design and make my piece. That should be plenty of time, but things always seem to take much longer than expected, and since I don't have a design yet, I have less time because of work and no longer have a real studio I am sure things will take even longer than normal.

$675 worth of silver:

Saul Bell Finalist

My scale necklace is a finalist in the 2011 Saul Bell Competition in the silver category. The piece is at my parents house in the US, so I'll have them send it in for the final judging by mid January. The winners will be announced at the beginning of June 2011.

2 books

Yesterday I got the book Design & Make Coloured Aluminium Jewellery by Lindsey Mann. There's a photo of one of my aluminum pieces in it. I haven't had a chance to look at the book much yet. I also heard from my parents that they just received the book Anodized! Brillant Colors & Bold Designs for Aluminum Jewelry by Clare Stiles. I have 3 pieces in that book. My parents are going to send it to me this week.

no posts in 2 months

I was just going to write something for my blog about Korea and realized I hadn't posted anything here in two months. There just isn't much to talk about, and I haven't felt much like writing in either blog. I haven't really done any work since maybe July or August, and all I did then was just mess around, I didn't really do much.

old lock picks

I just realized I forgot to post photos of some lock picks I finished not long before I went to Korea.

The handle of this first one is sterling silver with 14k gold rivets. The patina is liver of sulfur. I sold it before it was even finished to someone in Minneapolis.


This one below was the last pick I finished before going to Korea. I wanted to make something different before I left. I had been constantly making lockpicks for almost 2 years, but I was always making the same designs.

The handle is anodized aluminum. I think you have to click on the photo and look at the larger image to see the texture on the handle. The texture is done with a file.

This pick I did not sell. I have sold almost every pick I have made. I wanted to keep this one for myself.