August 2019 – Ornamento

Home Organizing Tips and My Old Camera

By: ornamento.blog August 29, 2019August 30, 2019

Art, Camera, Memory, Personal History, PhotographyArt, Home Organizing Tips, Photography2 Comments

I spent today cleaning out old paperwork and files that were taking up precious space in my small home. I work fast. I am not one to get sentimental about old tax returns or even the copy of my marriage license that I found buried in a file. And I didn’t find any pictures to take me back to my (not so) wild youth. No cat pictures either (except a blurry Polaroid of my Bridge Kitty Pooky sitting by our old rowing machine. I don’t know why I kept it.)

I have learned some things about home organization in the past few weeks. Tools, boxes and bags that are supposed to help you stay organized are no good if they have nooks and crannies where things can hide. That’s why I spent three years wondering where my miter vise and the wedge to my ring clamp were hiding. They were under my nose the whole time, secreted in one of these. And some things are so big (I tossed this behemoth after I had emptied it) that it’s easer to store the things they contain in a drawer and have done with it. Enough of that.

My cleaning out trip down memory lane didn’t stall due to sentimentality until I stumbled on my first digital camera hidden on a shelf behind some books. (Fortunately for me, I was almost finished purging, so the discovery didn’t derail my good intentions.)

My first digital camera was a Fuji Fine Pix 2800 It only had 2 megapixels but it also had 6X optical zoom which was unheard of for a budget camera in those days (2002). And it took beautiful pictures although the files were small and not really suitable for print media.

Here are some of the pictures I found on the huge Smart Media cards used with the camera:

AfrBeads1

GlassBeads

Afrbeads3

ClaspMaking BeadSwap Barcelona Cat

I took some new pictures of a project I am working out to see if the camera still functioned:

ClothBangle1

I would keep the camera for web-based photography, but I like the flexibility that larger files give. So, I will erase all the media cards, find a spare card reader (the big media cards won’t fit into a standard computer slot) and donate the camera to a thrift shop.

Bye old friend!

What I learned from Susan Lenart Kazmer at Beadfest

By: ornamento.blog August 22, 2019August 21, 2019

Art, Beadfest, Jewelry Making Classes, metalsmithing, Susan Lenart KazmerArt, Beadfest, Jewelry Making Classes, metalsmithing, Susan Lenart KazmerLeave a Comment

Some Yoga breathing and stretching before you start the class sets a good tone for the rest of the day. I love Yoga but it can be tedious torture in the wrong hands. Susan’s warm-up exercises lasted just long enough, and were very effective. The soldering gods were with me the entire day.

I have never before taken a class at Beadfest. I made an exception this year because the prices were attractive, ($165.00 for an all-day metal class with a great teacher like Susan Lenart Kazmer is a bargain) and because I needed to pull myself out of a slump. I knew the class would be great because I took a wonderful class with her a few <ahem> years ago.

AAAmyworkstationandtools — My jumble of tools

There were only 8 people in the class (most people took classes earlier in the week) which meant it was easier to get help if you needed it. But Susan’s demos and explanations were so good that I didn’t need much assistance.

The class was on box making. Only the boxes didn’t open. Instead, you could write on the boxes or leave a hole to slip a message inside the box and only the maker and wearer would know what it was. A kind of talisman or prayer box. I liked that idea.

Oneof Susan's box pendants — Here’s a side view of one of Susan’s boxes.

Here are some process pictures of my box as I assembled it. We could elect to make earrings or a pendant and I went with the pendant although I started on a pair of earrings that I didn’t finish.

I tried hanging the pendant from a silver chain. That didn’t seem right. The pendant demanded something a bit more substantial. It is, after all, a box. Then I remembered the fabric necklaces I have been making. Check my Instagram feed for some pictures.

BlueNecklace

I pulled out three fabric ropes I’d made from silk, fabric I’d screen printed, and part of an old curtain. I think I’ll use the box pendant with these. I am in the process of deciding whether I want to make sterling end caps or fiber end caps. But I think I already have the perfect clasp.

I learned many more things in the class but I don’t want to post them on-line out of respect for the teacher’s work product. But there is something I will share and believe me, if I had learned nothing else from the class, it would have been worth it to learn an incredible bezel-cutting tool. I am not ready to throw out my miter jig, but I will never again use it to cut bezels.

The Whaley Precision 90 Degree Bezel Cutting Shears have a guide attached to one of the blades that insures you cut a straight edge every time. Eurotool makes this incredible tool, and you can buy them here. For a video of the shears in action, press here.

Thank you Susan Lenart Kazmer and Beadfest!!!

Sights of Summer 2019

By: ornamento.blog August 15, 2019August 15, 2019

Art, Polymer Clay tutorialsPolymer Clay tutorialsLeave a Comment

DWe’re getting to the end of the Summer. In the olden days (before I got married) I would camp with friends at the Philadelphia Folk Festival I usually volunteered so I could get in for free and always ended up on a work detail that involved patrolling the campgrounds all night.

Beadfest Philadelphia is a good way to mark the end of Summer these days. I have never taken a class there, but this year I am taking one with Susan Lenart Kazmer. I took a class with her some time ago and it was a wonderful experience. It will be interesting to see what I can do given that I have been having major hand problems and am scheduled for surgery. But I didn’t want to cancel the class. Worse come to worse, I’ll watch.

Here are some late late summer pictures from my recent wanderings in Seaview at the Jersey Shore.

Seaview20193151401 — Boardwalk food is about all that’s bad for you. That’s what makes it so good.

Seaview20190518581 — No shore amusement park is complete without a Ferris Wheel

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Seaview20193143242 — View from the cable car

And last but not least a great polymer video from Fiona Abel-Smith that not only covers construction of kaleidoscope canes, but does it using six different clays. Check it out.

Earrings from the Seashore

By: ornamento.blog August 8, 2019August 7, 2019

Art, Epoxy Resin, Resin Jewelry, ShellsArt, earrings, SeashellsLeave a Comment

When I was a kid, we would challenge one another with tongue twisters. One I remember is “she sells sea shells by the seashore.” I often wondered how anyone could make money selling seashells near a beach. That was then and this is now. Shells are harder to come by on the beach nowadays. Still, a friend did manage to find some seashells which she asked me to make into earrings for her.

The shells looked like small mussels to me and were pretty delicate so I decided to give them a reinforcing coat of epoxy resin after I drilled tiny holes for jump rings. 2DrilledCoatedShells

My new dehydrator came in handy for drying the shells after I coated them because the weather is humid around here. By the way, this dehydrator was $24.99 when I bought it on Amazon a couple of months ago to use with metal clay. Now it’s selling for three times as much and I have no idea why. But there are plenty of dehydrators to be had for under $40.00 if you shop around.

6 Dehyrator

I like to weigh my resin on a gram scale. I put a silicone egg cup on the scale, calibrate to zero, and pour in equal parts resin and hardener. When I am done, I let the remaining resin resin cure in the cup, pop it out and throw it away. Voila! The silicone cup is clean for the next resin project.

3AfterResinMixinginSilicone Easy Cleanup 2

I used real 24 K gold leaf for one pair of shells and fine silver foil for the inside of the second pair. I attached the leaf with sizing and coated the shells with Pebeo varnish. I laid the shells on an old silicone pot holder to dry and sanded off any blobs before I applied the leaf.

And here are the finished earrings: gold filled wire for one pair and sterling wires for the pair with the silver leaf undersides. The earrings are extremely light and a lot more durable because of the resin coating.

Earrings

A Favorite Book and a New(ish) Video

By: ornamento.blog August 1, 2019July 31, 2019

Altered Art, Art, Book Reviews, fabric, videos, YouTube VideosAna Belchi, Art, Books, Jane Dunnewold, videosLeave a Comment

Years of metalsmithing, pot throwing, beading, fabric cutting and general crafting mayhem have have taken their toll on my hand and wrist. I am having surgery in a few weeks. No hitch hiking for me until the bandages are off and the therapy is over. I would like it if Boris could act as my studio assistant, but I am afraid he sleeps too much.

I have been working with fabric lately and have revisited one of the classics of fabric surface design, Complex Cloth by Jane Dunnewold. Complex Cloth covers dyeing, stamping, stenciling, screen printing, and almost any other fabric surface alteration technique you want to know. There are newer books out there covering more techniques, but if you are just getting started and need an intro to the basics, grab a used copy of Complex Cloth and get started. You can get it here.

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Polymer Artist Ana Belchí’s videos never cease to amaze me. This one is not exactly new-it’s seven months old-but her demonstration of six variations on the lentil swirl bead is fascinating and makes me wonder what other polymer techniques I could try, change one small thing, and get a completely surprising result. But that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? The “What If?”