Speaking of Work Spaces

Speaking of work spaces, this is my metal smithing space in the basement.  (as opposed to the beading space upstairs).  This one stays relatively clean, mostly because, well, I am playing with fire lol, and I being too messy is not a wise thing around an open flame.  But anyway, this is where the metal work gets done,  the stones are paired to with the metal, the metal is cut out and etched or pounded or stamped and tumbled etc. I am fortunate that my husband doesn't mind the fact that I have taken over at least half of the basement.  I will post a pictures of the space I use to make glass beads in another post.  Also locate in the basement.  The nice thing about working in the basement is that I also get a lot of laundry done lol.

Got My Metal Smithing Table Back!

I have not had access to my meta smithing space for about 9 months.  I had an unexpected "guest" take over my work space. ( My work spaces are divided into separate areas, so there isn't any cross contamination).  My son (who's room is very small) decided he needed to move the cage to the basement.  Unfortunately, my work table was the only flat surface that was big enough and stable enough to put the cage on.  I finally got enough space cleared that I could move the cage and reclaim my space.  I am very excited to be getting back into the metal smithing!

Here is the culprit. Pretty, isn't he?

Why I Like to Play With Fire

Actually there are a lot of reasons why I like to play with fire. I have always had a fascination with flames (feel free to insert pyro here lol), I was the kid who was always adding more sticks to the fire, can I help you light it Daddy, etc.! The play of colors in the fire pit, the way the flames dance and change color are fascinating to me to this day. And I still am the person who tends the fire when we gather around the fire pit in the summer. It also brings people together, we all gather round the fire, watch the flames and socialize, grateful for the warmth as the sun starts to go down.

You can imagine my excitement when I found out about metal work! Wow I can play with fire inside the house (mind you, my husband made it abundantly clear that this was going to take place downstairs with the appropriate safety measured etc. and NOT by the living room curtains!) and I can actually use it to MAKE something beautiful and wearable (instead of a small pile of ashes at the end of a night around the fire pit).

Once I started learning (and you REALLY don't want to know how many pieces I have melted lol) and playing and trying things I only became more fascinated. The fire not only melts things, but it attaches pieces of metal together, and it makes the most beautiful color changes occur when applied to said metal correctly (see the part about melting lol). With the flame I can meld my love of lapidary (rocks) and my love of metal and flame and begin to create a piece from scratch with no purchased components. I am looking forward to many more years of playing with fire and hope that my skill and imagination will continue to grow and make many more beautiful and wearable pieces.

Spring Give Away!

So spring is right around the corner and Ohio got a little taste of it over the weekend (including heavy downpours lol). It was such a nice change from icy winds, lots of snow and gloomy gray skies. In fact it put me in such a good mood I decided to do a give away of my own. I will be giving away my Vintage Glass Sky Blue Cat's Eye Sterling Silver Ring. I will make this in your size if you win. (sizes 4 to 15 available and it will take a week or two for me to mail since it will be custom sized for you).

The rules are simple. Go to either my 1000Markets shop or my Artfire shop and choose the item that you like the best and then leave your pick in the comments along with a way to reach you if you win. Also please leave your ring size in the comments. The winner will be chosen by random.org on Sunday March 15th 2009.

"Lovely vintage blue cats eye glass cabochon set in a fine silver bezel with a sterling silver hammered band. This ring is oxidized to give it a lovely aged finish."

Have fun and good luck! If you decide to make a purchase during this give away simply put Spring Blog Giveaway in the notes to seller and I will refund 10% of the price.

New Shop

So I have opened a new shop on etsy named Silver River Metal (silverrivermetal.etsy.com). I struggled with this a little bit since I already have two shops on etsy, silverriverjewelry.etsy.com and silverriverstitches.etsy.com. I am expanding my skills in the metal smithing area and truth be told I love it! It meshes better with my addiction to lapidary (rocks) than the wire wrapping does and broadens my horizans by leaps and bounds. The lapidary addiction comes from taking and ugly rock out of the ground and turning it into something gorgeous and wearable. It's like a treasure hunt and you never know what you are going to get when you open that rock up, slab it, trim, grind it and polish it. Plus I find the whole process very relaxing. Weird I know lol! The metal work just compliments the stone work. I don't have to stress about finding the perfect setting, I can make my own. (I haven't achieved perfection yet lol, in fact I am perfecting melting bezels into small balls of silver more than I am anything but it is improving.) Plus I really like playing with fire, at least this way I am using that for a useful purpose! While I am not giving up the wire wrapping and beading, I will be shifting my purpose more toward the metal work at this point. As you can see there is a big difference in the two styles. Should be interesting to see where it will go.