I'm still working on my scale necklace. I don't want to be working on it, but I am hoping to get it done in time to enter in the Cheongju competition. I have a couple other ideas for bracelets using a similar construction method, one of them is the enamel piece I am thinking about. I would much rather start on the bracelets, but I need to keep working on the necklace. Sometimes it's hard for me to stay focused on these things when I have so many other ideas. I think my attention span is shorter now than when I was younger.
Having a deadline for a competition or exhibition is good for motivating me to finish things I have been dragging out. When I enter a competition or juried exhibition I try not to think about the outcome, I just enter and try to forget about it till I hear the results. It's not too hard when I already have finished pieces to enter. But it is hard not to think about the outcome when I am working hard to try to meet a deadline. The hope that rushing to meet the deadline will pay off is what keeps me going when a deadline is coming up. But the more I think about getting into a show or competition, the harder it is when I am rejected. So sometimes when I am working hard on something like this scale necklace, I am wondering if I am just setting myself up for a big disappointment.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
summer teaching
I wanted to wait till it was confirmed that I would be teaching this summer before I posted any details. Since it was confirmed yesterday, here are the details:
My friend, Colin McDonald, teaches jewelry making classes at The Art Center Highland Park. Next week he is moving to Korea for a year to teach English, so I am going to finish teaching his classes this session, and teach some of the classes he was scheduled to teach this summer. I am going to be teaching all of his Thursday classes this summer:
10:00 - 12:30pm Metalsmithing and Jewelry: Intermediate/Advanced
1:30 - 4:00pm Precious Objects: Jewelry, Metal, Miniature Sculpture
4:15 - 6:15pm Beginning Jewelry
7:00 - 9:30pm Metal Jewelry: All Levels
These are 8 week classes, and will run from June 25 - August 13, 2009.
My friend, Colin McDonald, teaches jewelry making classes at The Art Center Highland Park. Next week he is moving to Korea for a year to teach English, so I am going to finish teaching his classes this session, and teach some of the classes he was scheduled to teach this summer. I am going to be teaching all of his Thursday classes this summer:
10:00 - 12:30pm Metalsmithing and Jewelry: Intermediate/Advanced
1:30 - 4:00pm Precious Objects: Jewelry, Metal, Miniature Sculpture
4:15 - 6:15pm Beginning Jewelry
7:00 - 9:30pm Metal Jewelry: All Levels
These are 8 week classes, and will run from June 25 - August 13, 2009.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
enameling
I got some vitreous enamels last week for a certain piece I have had in the back of my mind for several years. I got the little sample kit from Rio Grande and a couple bigger jars. I have never done any enameled pieces, except for test pieces in grad school, which was a requirement for a class I was taking. Since I have never really done any enameling I also got the book The Art of Enameling: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration by Linda Darty. It seems to be a good book so far. I bought it on Amazon without having looked through it, I almost didn't get it because it has projects, but there's not much space devoted to them.
So far I am just doing test pieces. I like the rough granular texture from underfired enamel, what the enameling book calls sugar fired. That is my main interest in enameling. I am just as interested in the textures as I am the colors.
So far I am just doing test pieces. I like the rough granular texture from underfired enamel, what the enameling book calls sugar fired. That is my main interest in enameling. I am just as interested in the textures as I am the colors.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
teaching
One of my friends teaches jewelry making classes at an art center in the Chicago suburbs. He is going to be moving out of the area soon, so I will probably be taking over the classes he was scheduled to teach this summer. I will post the details soon.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
snakewood pick
I finished this lock pick a few days ago. The handle is snakewood, I really like it. I will definitely be using more snakewood in the future.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Peddinghaus goldsmith's hammer
This is something I have wanted to write about for a while. I wanted to write about this hammer because I hate it. I like the size and weight, I modeled the hammers I made on this hammer, but it has one serious problem, and that is that it has a heavy chrome plating. There's a couple reasons why this is stupid, and I have yet to hear any reason why chrome plating is good.
I don't remember when I got this hammer, but I have had it several years at least. In the beginning it was fine, and I liked it. My friend also had the hammer, one day he told me that the chrome plating started chipping off his hammer. I thought that sucks, but my hammer was still ok so I didn't worry about it too much. A year or two later, the plating on the cross peen of my hammer started to chip off.
The problem with the stupid plating chipping off, other than looking like shit, is it is very thick plating, so it leaves a sharp edge which will mark the metal you are hammering. After this big piece of plating chipped off, the rest of the plating started chipping off. So I just went with it, and decided to try to chip off all the plating. It wasn't so easy, it chipped of easy enough around the corners, but the rest wouldn't come off.
Another problem with the head is the cross peen is too squared off and the edges are too sharp. Most people will want to make the cross peen more rounded. Having a hard chrome plating makes this more difficult and trying to round the edges will probably lead to the plating starting to chip off.
I can't think of any good reason for chrome plating the hammer. Rust prevention? That's stupid. It's a jeweler's hammer, not some tool that's going to be outside exposed to the elements. Did they want the head to look polished, but were too cheap to actually polish it?
No other Peddinghaus hammers I have seen are plated. Their other hammer heads are painted black except for the faces.
This is not the kind of thing I expect from a German tool manufacturer.
I don't remember when I got this hammer, but I have had it several years at least. In the beginning it was fine, and I liked it. My friend also had the hammer, one day he told me that the chrome plating started chipping off his hammer. I thought that sucks, but my hammer was still ok so I didn't worry about it too much. A year or two later, the plating on the cross peen of my hammer started to chip off.
The problem with the stupid plating chipping off, other than looking like shit, is it is very thick plating, so it leaves a sharp edge which will mark the metal you are hammering. After this big piece of plating chipped off, the rest of the plating started chipping off. So I just went with it, and decided to try to chip off all the plating. It wasn't so easy, it chipped of easy enough around the corners, but the rest wouldn't come off.
Another problem with the head is the cross peen is too squared off and the edges are too sharp. Most people will want to make the cross peen more rounded. Having a hard chrome plating makes this more difficult and trying to round the edges will probably lead to the plating starting to chip off.
I can't think of any good reason for chrome plating the hammer. Rust prevention? That's stupid. It's a jeweler's hammer, not some tool that's going to be outside exposed to the elements. Did they want the head to look polished, but were too cheap to actually polish it?
No other Peddinghaus hammers I have seen are plated. Their other hammer heads are painted black except for the faces.
This is not the kind of thing I expect from a German tool manufacturer.
tripods
A while ago I got a new tripod. I got Manfrotto 055XPROB legs and a Manfrotto 488RC0 ball head.
Up till now I had been using a cheap tripod from Walmart. Normally I don't cheap out with something like that and get the absolute cheapest one, but at the time I bought it (2003) I just wanted one to play around with. I had no intention of using it to photograph my work because I didn't know how to photograph my work.
I was getting tired of using a tripod that made me nervous cause it was so unstable. I had been thinking about getting a better tripod for years, but when ever I looked at them I was always overwhelmed by the selection of legs and heads. So finally I spent some time and figured out which looked best for me. If I would have known how much better a good brand name tripod was I would have gotten it years ago. There is such a difference between this one and my old one. This one is stable, it doesn't feel like it could easily be knocked over like my old one. And the head doesn't feel like it might drop my camera. It is also bigger, so I no longer have to do things like put my tripod on cinder blocks when I want to get my camera higher.
With the Manfrotto you can do fancy things like put the center column horizontal to photograph something directly from above. There is a hook near the center of the legs to hang a weight from to make it more stable.
Up till now I had been using a cheap tripod from Walmart. Normally I don't cheap out with something like that and get the absolute cheapest one, but at the time I bought it (2003) I just wanted one to play around with. I had no intention of using it to photograph my work because I didn't know how to photograph my work.
I was getting tired of using a tripod that made me nervous cause it was so unstable. I had been thinking about getting a better tripod for years, but when ever I looked at them I was always overwhelmed by the selection of legs and heads. So finally I spent some time and figured out which looked best for me. If I would have known how much better a good brand name tripod was I would have gotten it years ago. There is such a difference between this one and my old one. This one is stable, it doesn't feel like it could easily be knocked over like my old one. And the head doesn't feel like it might drop my camera. It is also bigger, so I no longer have to do things like put my tripod on cinder blocks when I want to get my camera higher.
With the Manfrotto you can do fancy things like put the center column horizontal to photograph something directly from above. There is a hook near the center of the legs to hang a weight from to make it more stable.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)