TOOL MAKING

Before and after

I got a bunch of old 5 1/2 inch square cut nails a while back at a junk sale. I had to buy them because they were cool and pretty cheap. They're so enormous, that I can't even imagine what these were originally used for, fences or barn beams, I suppose. At any rate, they're pretty awesome. I've been interested in tool making for a long time now. A couple of years ago I took a forging workshop with Tim McCreight (who makes a lot of his own tools) and I had the opportunity to sit down with him an ask him a few questions about tool steel and how to harden it, etc. I bought some tool steel but haven't taken the time to work with it. I ran across these nails the other day while I was reorganizing my studio space (still not done, by the way). I was looking for a reason to procrastinate the job, so I had the idea to see if I could make a tool out of one of the nails. It worked really well. It turns out that, at least to my untrained eye, that these old babies are made from really good steel. I thought I'd make a scribe first as the fabrication is pretty straight forward, in that the goal is to make it as pointy as possible. It took a lot of heat and force to make it malleable enough to twist, so I got a good workout. Since I don't know exactly what type of steel it is, I didn't know exactly how to temper it. After I finished the forging, filing and finishing, I heated it back up, not quite as hot as I initially did when forging it. Again, since I'm using an old piece of steel, I wasn't sure whether to quench in oil or in water. From what I could learn from blacksmithing articles on the Internet, it seems like unknown steel is most safely quenched in oil, so that's what I did. I cleaned the scribe back up and used it tonight to mark a sheet of bronze for sawing. It worked great! The tip stayed intact with no chipping, so I'm assuming that I tempered correctly. If anyone reading this has any experience with old steel that they'd be willing to share with me I'd really appreciate it. The nail makes a very nice scribe that's the perfect weight and length, at least for me. I tried to place the twist so that it'd make the tool easy and secure to grip. plus, it's pretty and I think tools should be nice looking if possible. Next, I'm going to try to make a curved burnishing tool, but only AFTER the studio reorganization is done. I got a new piece of equipment for Christmas that I'm dying to try out and I have to make some room for it. More on that later!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I got in my car last night while we were running last minute errands for Christmas. It was so cold that there was frost on the inside of the windows.  As I was waiting impatiently for the defroster to kick in I glanced up and saw this beautiful heart-shaped bit of snow on the outside of my windshield. It gave me pause. It reminded me of how important it is to stop and notice things, because they don't last. There is beauty all around us, all the time. We're all so busy, so focused on what we have to do, on our first-world problems that sometimes it's hard to see it. But it's there, if we choose to see it.
I wish you all, near and far the happiest of holidays. I hope you all will take the time for yourselves to find the beauty in everyday. I know I will.

ORGANIZE

The finished product. Look at all the room I have for more tools!

My lovely drawing. 

 At the lumber store. We chose Poplar for the cart, which the kid working there kept calling "Popular". I had little confidence in his skill set. 

Paul cutting the wood for my project. He may or may not have been afraid that I'd cut my hand off with the circular saw. He was too nice to say so, however.

 One side done.

 The other side.

 All done, ready to be sanded and stained.

 One coat down, one to go!

 One last rub with steel wool and it was ready to load up.

 Finally, a way to organize that's worthy of my collection of hammers!

Organize, a verb, according to Webster that is defined as "to arrange into a structured whole; order".  This is an elusive concept, at least for me in the workshop, that is. I suppose it's an elusive concept for any of us that create for a living. Especially when what you create involves lots of small bits and parts and lots of tools. Lately I have heard lots of chatter on Facebook on this subject of organization. It might be that autumn makes us think of getting organized for the winter months, a nesting of sorts. I always feel a sense of anticipation this time of year that teeters towards anxiety involving getting things ready for winter.
I decided after my last show at the end of August that my next project would be to once and for all figure out a way to better organize my space. I bought some great metal cabinets for organizing stones and beads. Not only are they functional, they're an awesome shade of lime green that matches the light fixtures that hang over my work table. I'll show you those later on after I get them a bit better organized. I'm getting rid of books and magazines that I no longer need (this one is hard for me!).  I'm organizing my bench and tools into a better working state, also a difficult task, but I'm getting there. All of my tools for student use are packed up into a bin so I know where they are when I need them. I have even sorted all of my metals into new bins by type and gauge. The one thing I couldn't buy was some kind of organizer for my hammers. For non-jewelry types I'm sure this sounds funny, as in "why not just toss 'em in a tool box?". Hammers made for metalsmithing have polished faces that need to stay that way if you don't want to transfer dings onto you your work. Plus, many of them are just so pretty that you just can't let them get banged around. I've never found any kind of commercial holder or rack that really served my purpose. I decided the only thing to do was to build my own. I lurked around on Pinterest checking out how other people store their tools and I found a few ideas.
I don't have much experience building things so this was a real challenge for me. I spent some time deciding on size, dimensions and exactly what I wanted to store on it. I did a crude drawing, and I do mean crude! My drafting teacher in college would be so disappointed in me. Paul helped me figure out the dimensions of the lumber I'd need and he also pointed out some flaws in my design that would have made my cart tippy, like the fact that the casters needed to extend beyond the body of the cart. Then off the hardware store we went. Paul cut most of the wood out for me and I built it in about 3 days with applying the finish. I was pretty slow, but at least I didn't make any mistakes. I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's going to make finding the tool I need much easier, plus they look so darn pretty displayed like that!

COLORS OF EARLY FALL

 Oak leaf Hydrangea

 Autumn Joy Sedum

 Miscanthus

Tomatoes

Today the weather was cold and rainy. It felt like fall is really here. Something different in the air.  I love fall, but these early days always make me a little melancholy. I suppose it feels like the end of something instead of the beginning of something.  Soon, the sky will be blue, the air will be crisp and hopefully we'll have  a really long Indian summer. That's fall in the Midwest. I wish everyone could experience fall the way we do in places where the seasonal change is obvious. The smell of the air, sweaters, pumpkins, apples, the gold of harvested fields against a crystal blue sky. All of these things are a beautiful part of the place that I grew up.
Today I picked what may be the last of the produce from the garden. All that was left were lcouple of eggplant, the rest of the basil and a bunch of tomatoes. Maybe it'll stay warm enough for a few more tomatoes. That would be a bonus.

BEAD & BUTTON 2014 PROJECTS

 Carved wood and silver pendant and earrings

 Bronze clay necklace

Metal clay tube bead bracelet

Hot forged twisted bronze bracelet

Metal clay embellished bracelet

 Mixed metal layered acid etched earrings

My great friend and teaching partner, Gail Lannum and I are excited about the classes that we submitted for the 2014 Bead &  Button Show. Now that they have been accepted I thought I'd post the project photos.  We have four brand new classes and two others that were popular from last year. Our classes will be full of hot and cold forging, cold connections, acid etching, metal clay and design. It's going to be a full week and we can't wait!

BRUCEMORE GARDEN AND ART SHOW

BRUCEMORE

I hope all of my eastern Iowa friends will stop by and see me this Saturday from 9-4 at the Brucemore Garden and Art Show. The show is held annually on the grounds of the beautiful National Trust estate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. If you've never visited the estate before Saturday would be a great chance to do so. The weather will be fine, the flowers will be in bloom and the will be plenty of art and great food to enjoy. I hope to see you there. For more information on the show or the estate click here.

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION

SCOUT

Summer has flown by, and wow, has this blog suffered. The Bead and Button Show came and went (and was awesome!) and then teaching partner Gail Lannum and I were on to next years Bead and Button submissions. We are excited about what we came up with and hope the show will be too.
Paul and I added a new kitten to our family this summer. Her name is Scout and she's now 4 months old. She's a real sweetheart too. Best of all Lily gets along well with her, so that's a good thing.
I'm on to designing new work and trying to make that happen in real life. In the days to come I'll post some pics of that as well as images of a couple of new classes I'll be teaching in my studio in Iowa City hopefully in September. For some of you gals that have asked me in the past, yes there will be soldering!
I hope your summer has been great so far!