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.

my new "studio"

Last weekend I finally started doing some work. I started on the snakewood handle of a carving knife I am making for wood carving. I made the blade while I was still in the US. I also prepared two slices of a wax ring tube.

I need another table. Most of the space on my table is taken up by things unrelated to carving. Its really hard for me to work in this small space on a kitchen table, after working for years in my own well equipped studio.



My old studio, where I had more space than I could ever use:

fuses

A little over a week ago I decided it was time to start working again. My micromotor is 110v, so I have to use it with my 220-110v transformer. Electronics, like digital cameras and computers usually can handle either 110 or 220v. Since that's all I really use, my transformer has been sitting there gathering dust since I got it.

I knew i needed to use my micromotor with the transformer, but I wasn't thinking and put an adapter on the plug and plugged it in to the 220v outlet. Luckily there are two easily replaceable fuses in it so I didn't destroy the micromotor. But since they are 125v fuses I figured they are probably not available in Korea, so I had my parents send me some from the US.

I got those yesterday, so now I am ready to work. I don't really know what to make. I might just start carving a wax, just anything, to get back into working.