well, just as soon as i made my "indian summer" necklace, it ended. it seems fall/winter has arrived. it is now cold and rainy here; it will snow any day now. when jim remodeled my shop/studio, he removed the crazy old wood stove that i had. he said that he couldn't, in good conscience, put it back in; it wasn't safe. so, it is now very chilly out in my shop, and i have no stove. luckily, good ol' patty has saved the day again. she is giving me a fantastic old stove, that even has a cooking surface on top, for tea, potpourri, etc. hopefully it will get installed tomorrow because it is currently:
in there.
(incidentally, if you click on the above link, notice the temperature! and then i was complaining that i needed an air conditioner...)
i got a delightful compliment yesterday. this is a snippet from an e-mail i received:
I am trying to control myself with your jewelry, but all the pieces I have I just love so much….I get compliments on them all the time. I used to collect a few pieces of Jes Maharry jewelry – are you familiar with her? This was quite a while back when she was somewhat unknown (and MUCH more reasonably priced). I just don’t care much for her jewelry anymore – it seems to be mass marketed, and the prices have gone up so high that it has kind of left a negative feeling with me towards her jewelry… anyway, I have sold several of her pieces on ebay and this has funded my “silver sparrow” collection.
surely you know jes maharry's work? she used to be a HUGE inspiration to me, before i got started silver-smithing. i loved the feel of her work, and the messages her pieces conveyed. i even wrote her a letter when i first decided to get serious about making a living with my jewelry, asking for advice, etc. she never wrote me back. what a wonderful note to get from a beloved customer!
so now, i am all bundled up, even have a hat and fingerless gloves on, and heading out to work. i have a full day out there today and i can't wait! i am going to attempt a hollow form ring today, with this stone...
an absolutely incredible faceted golden prehnite
see how the back is made to be set in prongs? but i don't much care for prongs, so i am going to try a hollow form. i've never done one before and am not exactly sure how to go about it, but i will let you know how it goes, and hopefully have a finished piece to share with you tomorrow. i also have several totem pieces i am working on and hoping to complete today.
have a lovely saturday!
My shop like yours, has no heat so we got this neat little heater that looks like a radiator that you plug in. When I plan on going out there to work, I plug it in a half hour before I go out and then it's nice and toasty. Or, I just do some enameling and that warms the room right up too. I love your stone ! Funny, I was looking at one I have in my stone box and it's cut exactly the same way but mine is rose quartz. Its a huge stone like two quarters together. Not sure what I will make with it since it's so huge. I almost thought of setting it upside down with the point on top. Keep warm, it's been in the 30's here at night for two weeks. It went from summer to winter in a snap !
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