Design Journal

Carmel, henna caked, earrings

Finally made the Thors Hammer pendant from Trueblood. It looked great and seemed fine at first. But after I picked it up it seemed to feel not solid. So I gave it a bend to see how strong it really was. Oops! It snapped with very little force. It wasn’t sintered all the way. The

I helped organize a workshop that brought Barbara Becker Simon to our local guild and after weeks of planning it’s finally the big day. Finally I got chance to actually TAKE a workshop instead of give one. What a treat.  If you are not familiar with her work visit her website at www.bbsimon.com . In the workshop

After 5 years of teaching at the Nova Studio this weekend  was my last class. The Nova Studio has been a wonderful place to teach and a place that is full of creativity. If you are looking for a place to learn about soap making and other bath and beauty products check them out. Here

Spent a couple of days with Steven’s sister Angie and her husband John. Decided to go the Monterey and Carmel by the Sea. It’s been years since I’ve visited there. When I worked as an event co-ordinator  at Macy’s I used visit there at least twice a year so it was nice to be back.

TrueBlood on HBO.  at www.hbo.com/trueblood/season2.  Ok so I love the series. LOVE IT! But only a crazy jewelry people will cut thru all the vampires, blood sucking and sex to use Tivo to pause and rewind to see a piece of jewelry that vampire was wearing. Hmmm still 2 obsessions in one! I had to pause

Well fired a bunch of CopprClay in my kiln and it seems to work fine! Thank goodness I packed the kiln in two boxes plus used copious bubble wrap. Now I can get back to worrying about the Masters Registry, Art Jewelry Article and teaching.

7:45 PM. A knock on the door. I was just about to give up. I looked out the window and saw the package. My kiln was back home. The box looked like it fell off the truck and landed somewhere hard. Inside the box the kiln looked fine, a little tiny dent, but seems to

I assumed right away meant over night. No kiln in sight.

Surprise surprise surprise! UPS called me today and asked about my kiln. I assumed that it was in response to the claim I made. I gave the person on the other end of the line the description and she said thanks. I asked her how long it would take and she said that she didn’t

Filled out the forms today, listing everything about the lost item. I knew I should have saved the paper work. ….serial number! who would even think you’d need to save that…..ORIGINAL RECEIPT!! you gotta be kidding!! I’ll do my best, but “replacement value” seems like the best option. By the way if ever have to

Got an official looking email today from UPS stating yes indeed the package was missing in action. I am now to fill out a form so that they can process the paperwork so I can get compensation. In the mean time I have no kiln to use. Can they compensate me for income lost?

I just got Robert Dancik’s new book and I LOVE IT! . I’m so glad Robert has come out with a book. The book shows us his artistic voice. But, the projects allow us to bring our own personal meaning to the jewelry, making it our own. The techniques in his book are great as

This weekend I spent at The Beading Place in Tustin, CA. Orange County. We had a great group of people there. We learn about BronzClay and CopprClay. However, I shipped a kiln via UPS to the store and they lost it! UGH!   Luckily The Beading Place had one kiln for us to use. So we

I called UPS today and got a standard line of “We need to file a report” blah blah blah. But I need MY KILN! “ It will take a week to be sure that it really is lost because it just might show up. We’ll issue a  tracer” hmm it’s not like it wandered off 

When I’m traveling to different locations to teach I usually don’t have to bring my own kiln. But lately since I’ve been teaching a lot of BronzClay CopprClay workshops we often times need 2 kilns due to the shear volume of things that can be created with 100 grams! I decided to ship my kiln

One of my interests is book binding, box making and letterpress printing. Not that I have ever made any hand-bound books, but I love looking at them. I appreciate the hand made quality that these items have. The Center for the Book in San Francisco’s Design Center District offers such classes. Tonight I took a

I gave a presentation to our local guild. The topic was “Revisiting the Lentil with Copper Clay” I showed 5 ways to deconstruct the basic lentil shape and rework it to get some interesting designs. Kevin Whitmore at Rio was kind enough to supply everyone with samples of the CopprClay. Everyone was thrilled to get

Sun City – Kilaga Springs Lodge http://www.55places.com/california/communities/sun_city_lincoln_hills http://www.lincolnsuncity.org/index.html My camera battery died so no photos! However, the Kilaga Springs Lodge at Sun City in Lincoln is a great venue! It’s suppose to be a “retirement community”  meaning 55 and over.  ( I now hear the clock ticking louder, tick tock, tick, tock) I didn’t really

Katerina’s Treasures www.katerinastreasures.com Traveling to teaching is always fun and exciting, but having a workshop close to home is nice as well. Especially nice not to have to get on a plane! Fair Oaks is right outside of Sacramento. The workshop was held at Katerina’s Treasures (Katerina is in the pink!) Kevin and Rosie are