PEACE, LOVE AND ABUNDANCE

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I sincerely hope that the anvil wasn't a present for any of my metalsmithing friends or they're going to be a bit disappointed.
I hope the holidays find you all happy and safe and warm. I wish you all peace, love and abundance throughout the coming year!

THE LIFE SO SHORT, THE CRAFT SO LONG TO LEARN

The life so short, the craft so long to learn

I have this quote by Geoffrey Chaucer carved onto the front of a workbench in my workshop. I've always liked the quote. I first saw it years ago carved on a piece of Arts and Crafts Roycroft furniture and it immediately resonated with me. The quote's origins are even older than Chaucer's usage though, as it was widely used by Roman and Greek writers as early as the 3rd Century B.C.  The original Latin quote is translated as "art is long, life is short". I've always thought of it as a kind of 'carpe diem' for crafts people. 

Someone posted this quote on Facebook today and it started me thinking about time. Sometimes I worry that time is flying by and I'll never be able to find the time to learn all of the things and skills that I want to. That's, I suppose a negative interpretation of the thought carved onto my bench. That kind of thinking doesn't really do much (for me anyway) except for paralysing me, as in "why bother, there's not enough time anyway". I prefer to think of it as you can't do anything unless you do something. It's not easy sometimes to feel creative on a schedule, but sitting in your workspace and doing something, even a repetitive task leads to bigger ideas. So, on the days where I don't feel a creative muse, I get my butt in the chair and I do something, after all, life is short and there's a lot to learn.

BRUCEMORE GARDEN AND ART SHOW 2014

Above are photos of just a few of the new things I'll have at the Brucemore Garden and Art Show this  Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Brucemore is a National Trust property whose 26 acre gardens and 19th century mansion house are open to the public. It's really a special place and if you are local and you haven't visited, you really should. The annual Garden and Art Show is this Saturday, August 23rd, from 9am-4pm. There will be over 60 artist vendors (including myself), lots of garden themed educational talks and demonstrations, guided tours of the gardens and the house and lots of great food. I love doing this show. It's a highlight of my year. Please stop by and see me (and my handsome helper, Paul). I'll be located near the visitors center right across from the food vendor (yay!)
For more information and directions to Brucemore, please click here.

HAPPY EASTER TO MY PEEPS! (see what I did there?)

 

Happy Easter to all! I hope you spend it with family and friends. Spring seems to be finally here. There are pretties coming up in the yard. I'm itching to get out there, but I've been working hard in the studio. I think I've earned so time outside next week. Sad that my reward for hard work is more work! Now, hopefully the weather will be fine!

SPRING AND ALL

                                             

It's been a while since I've posted. Not sure how that happened! Anyway, I stopped by to wish you all Happy Spring! Now, I know that today is not the first day of spring. That happened about ten days ago.
Today, for some reason, it finally feels like spring to me. The air smells different, there are things coming up in the yard. Also, today is the day that I start my seeds for my vegetable garden. Some people start them a bit earlier, but I find that the seedlings do better if they aren't left under the artificial lights too long. They get kind of leggy. Funny how they know that the light that they are growing under isn't really the sun. Just like we all hunger for the feeling of the sunlight on our skin so do they.
So today I'm taking a break from making jewelry to get my hands dirty, in a different way than I usually do. Often in the fall, after all of the work is done and the snow begins to fall, I feel like maybe the garden is too much work, that maybe I just wont do it next year. Then spring comes around. This day, April 2nd is the day that was my Dad's birthday. On this day (and on every other) I think about my Dad and my Mom, who loved being outside probably above almost anything else. I know that's why I do too. So, on this early spring day any of those thoughts from November blow away with a gust of spring wind. Strange how that happens.   :-)

TOOLS

I found this little treasure on eBay recently. It arrived today. It's a mallet with what I think is a hickory handle and a cow horn. They've fallen out of favor in the last few decades in favor of rawhide and Delrin mallets that are common on the market. These hammers have been made since Paleolithic times and were probably used much like a chasing hammer in that they were used to strike a tool and not the object being worked. Hammers like the one above are great for getting into small spaces to form annealed metals and to gently form bezels on a mandrel. I was excited to find such a relic on eBay but I really would like to try my hand at making one.  I found these cool instructions on Brian Meek's website. Check out his beautiful jewelry while you're there.
I love antique tools. I have a pair of my Dad's pliers that belonged to my Grandpa and then to Dad, several old jewelry hammers that I've found at actions, an old Archimedes drill found on eBay, some old watch makers tools from a garage sale, an antique awl with pearl handle given to me by my friend Karen, to mention a few. I like to think of the people who owned these tools and the things they made. I like to think about who they might have been and what they thought about while they were working. I wonder if someone will think about me someday when they're using my tools. Not for a long time I hope :-)

BEAD & BUTTON SHOW SIGN UP TIME!

If you'll be attending the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee this June I hope you'll check out the classes that Gail Lannum and I will be teaching. Class signups begin tomorrow (January 7th) at noon central time. If you're a jewelry maker or a jewelry lover and you haven't been to this amazing show it's something I hope you get to do.

Please check out our class listings here.