THANKFUL

It's been a very hard couple of years for my family. Still, I am thankful. I'm thankful for all of the people in my life who I love and count on. I'm thankful that I've had such loving relationships with my parents, and I wish with all of my heart that they were here. I'm grateful that I was lucky enough to have them as my parents. I'm thankful for my sisters and Paul and his family and all of our friends scattered near and far. I'm thankful for my sweet cats. I'm thankful that I live where I do and that I get to make jewelry as my job. I hope all of you have lots to be thankful for too. Happy Thanksgiving all!

DREAMING OF RIVETS

Bronze and copper with brass rivets

German silver and brass.

Jasper, copper and fine silver.

Rivets on a very old Illinois Central engine (in Independence, Iowa)

Rivets from the South end of the Golden Gate Bridge

Lots happening here. Working on new jewelry. I'm on a riveting kick lately. Probably due to the fact that I've had rivets on the brain since Gail and I submitted our Bead and Button classes. There will be a lot of riveting happening in Milwaukee. I swear the other night I dreamed of rivets. Aircraft, bridges, robots, you get the picture. I really enjoy soldering and I'm actually quite good at it. It's a satisfying part of my tool box. Having said that, I like the look of a rivet. Rivets make it clear to the observer what's going on here. They make sure that you understand how a piece was constructed and more importantly that it was constructed by human hands. I never realized how much I employ rivets in my own work until I started to think about it. I spend a lot of time thinking about weird things.

THANK YOU VETERANS

Thank you for your service. All of the freedom that the rest of us enjoy is because of you.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Trunk Show

I'll be taking part in Bead Haven's fall open house and trunk show this weekend. If you are local (eastern Iowa), I'd love to see you there. I have lots of new things to share! Bead Haven will have discounts and treats and I'll be doing a couple of riveting demos on Saturday. The show is Friday (tomorrow) from 4-7 pm and Saturday from 10-5. I hope to see you there!

BEAD AND BUTTON SHOW CLASSES

Some examples of our acid etched, riveted pendant.

More examples.

Still more examples from our all day class.

Riveted Keepsake Pendant.

Acid Etching 101

I had some wonderful news last week. I, along with my wonderful friend Gail Lannum, will be teaching 4 classes at the Bead and Button Show in June. We submitted 3 classes which they accepted and at the moment at least, they'd like us to teach one of them twice! I am so excited and honored. I've always considered this show the best in the country. I've been attending the show for a number of years and have been in awe of how well such a gigantic event is run. I have taken many classes there myself from phenomenal teachers miraculously gathered in one place for a whole week. I'm excited and humbled to be included in their company. We'll be teaching a cute riveted pendant with a silver bail, an acid-etched, riveted, fabricated pendant and a basic acid etching class. We're excited about our classes because we feel that all three offer a lot of solid metalworking skills in one package. Students will learn basic fabrication, hammered textures, acid etching, riveting, bail construction, chemical and heat patinas, wire wrapping, etc. Gail and I are great friends (we met at the Bead and Button Show!) and we always have such a great time together and I think our classes, while very educational will be a whole lot of laughs too. I hope perspective students will be as excited as we are! I will be posting more information about the classes as I get it.

iNSANELY GREAT iCON

Steve Jobs

1955-2011

The world lost an icon today, one who I will personally miss very much. He was part visionary, part Svengali (minus the evil), part salesman. He was brilliant and seemed to revel in what he was doing. He made the world a better place. The world is poorer for his passing, but his legacy will live on.