Jewelry On My Mind

Beads, Brushes, Bronze and Braids

2011-04-17T17:12:00.004-05:00

I haven't written a blog entry in FOREVER -- probably because I was down in the dumps and had nothing positive to write, and I don't want a downer blog! Now it is spring, the grass is growing, the leaves are budding and the cat is going to have kittens. The hills are covered with layer upon layer of green -- in every shade imaginable. Birds are singing, turkeys are gobbling, and baby calves gambol in the fields. Sunshine -- it does wonders for the soul!

Anyhow, after a slump, I have finally gotten back into making jewelry and painting! I even have plans to combine the two. For now, I'll keep them separate though.

My latest joy is that I have two of my bead paintings going to the ANAC (Association of Nebraska Art Clubs) State Show in June. One is based on a fabulous moss agate that appears to have trees, a river, a winter sky and a rocky foreground in it, and the other is based on one of my miniature colored pencil paintings.

The moss agate piece was runner up to Best of Show at the annual member show at the Thedford Art Gallery, which is where I currently show my work in photography, painting and jewelry design.

I am also writing tutorials for www. jewelrylessons.com with the latest ones being:

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/braided-hoop-earrings-posts

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/freeform-bridal-pearlcocktail-cluster-ring

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/curls-and-swirls-ring

http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/bead-encrusted-headband

I am working on three more right now.

Speaking of which, I had better get back to work on those.

Composition, Camouflage and Contests

2010-09-30T10:46:00.004-05:00

It has been a long week, full of sick kids, very little sleep and my own version of the flu bug. Needless to say, I have not accomplished a whole lot.

I have also been preparing to spend the weekend at a Becoming an Outdoors Woman seminar, where I will be teaching a course on outdoor photo composition.

In light of that I have been taking photos and making more survival bracelets -- this time with a color geared more towards women who love the outdoors -- pink camouflage!

I am also working on a new "bead painting" with a fabulous Owyhee Picture Jasper center stone. It is being done in brown, cream and gold tones with a little blue (sky) and green (grass) thrown in. I will post photos when it is completed.

The temperatures are cooling off so the mornings are crisp when I head out to drive the school bus, but by afternoon, when I am painting, I am down to shorts and a tank top.

The cool temperatures and shorter days are triggering the Autumn color change and the prairie grasses covering the Nebraska Sandhills are beginning to turn to the burgundy and gold hues of Fall.

I have the itch to create, but I still have handouts to prepare for my class, bags to pack and laundry to do, so I had better head out.

OOOPS! I almost forgot my newest thing -- a weekly contest! Comment on my blog posts during the week and at the end of the week I will put all posters' names in a hat and draw a winner. The prize this week is a survival bracelet in your choice of colors: pink camo, olive drab, black or hunter green. I am out of antler buttons, so the closure will be a simple knot and loop. This being the end of the week already, I will carry this particular contest through NEXT Saturday, Oct. 9.

Happy Creating!

Dawn

Beads, Bracelets, Buses and Brushes

2010-09-23T13:36:00.008-05:00

It has been a while since I posted a blog entry -- since the day my kids started school, actually! They started school and I started a few jobs. I now drive the morning bus route to the west, which requires that I be up at 6 a.m., and I am also the afternoon overload driver, which means I drive a bus to hold "extra" kids if necessary. During the day I am painting outbuildings on a local ranch.

I have also been learning how to paint landscapes. So far, it is quite obvious that I have a LONG way to go -- my outbuildings look far better than my landscapes! I have done one painting a day for the last four days. I have a lot of trouble making the paintbrush do what it is supposed to do.

Needless to say, with all of that going on, the jewelry creation has been slow.

I did, howover, learn from my nephew in the Army, how to make survival bracelets from parachute cord. They are pretty cool -- I use a slice of deer antler as the clasp. There is around 10 feet of useable paracord in one bracelet -- if you ever find yourself stranded in the wilderness, LOL. The cord can be used as shoelaces, clothesline, strapping cord, a snare, or take off the sheath and inside you have numerous smaller fibers that can be used as fishing line, sewing thread, and more. I wrote a tutorial for the bracelets, which can be found at my website, http://www.dawnebryant.net/ or at www.jewelrylessons.com/dawnebryant.

I have completed two more of my "bead paintings." For those I used my miniature colored pencil paintings as the focal stone, then continued the paintings on out with the beads. These are a lot of fun!

Happy Creating!

Bangles, Beads, Bugs and Buddies

2010-07-20T08:13:00.007-05:00

Finally, the end of a long, long week and the beginning of a new one. Last week was spent nursing sick kids and mourning the death of good Christian man who died much too soon. The kids are feeling better now, the hubby has gotten over his share of the bug and my buddy has been laid to rest, but the sadness lingers.

To help keep the sadness at bay, I joined in a bracelet challenge -- a cuff challenge to be specific. Since I don't wear bracelets much and NEVER wear cuffs, the challenge is an interesting one. We are all working from the same photo of a cuff made by a friend and doing a similar cuff in our own style. Very interesting and quite tough, actually. One friend works in colored wire and is making a bright, happy colored cuff, the other is working in earth tones and I am working, as usual, in two-tones -- gold and silver.

The other project I worked on was based on some lovely mini tapestries one of the local artists here does -- her name is Roberta Barnes and she does these teeny tiny landscape tapestries, and teeny tiny landscape paintings on ceramics. They are breathtaking. I decided I could do something similar, but using the landscape cabochons I have already been incorporating into my jewelry. So, now I am painting with seed beads! My first one was rather rough, as I was flying blind, but since then I have read up a bit on seed beads and hopefully the second one will be much improved. I really like the first one and it is quite a conversation starter. I also plan to use my miniature colored pencil paintings as the focal point of some of these pendants -- which will be lots of fun!

We also got some new "critters" for the acreage -- kitties! We have a mouse problem in the machine shed (including one that crawled up in the pickup's air conditioning shroud and died --peeyew), so a friend gave us some kittens. I went after two -- one for each kid -- but came home with four! Cute little guys though and one has totally adopted me. We now have one black kitten, one yellow kitten and two calico kittens. They are from three different litters, so all at different stages. The calicos are the youngest and the yellow one is the oldest.

Time to feed the calf and the kittens, then off to work at the art gallery for the day. Guess I will take my newest bead painting project with me to work on.

Happy creating!

Doming, Dapping, Daydreams and Danger

2010-06-30T22:51:00.012-05:00

I was trying to work on some tutorials for http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ today and was struggling to get through them. Just one of those days. So, I decided to try my hand at dapping. I bought a dapping set when I set up the shop in the caboose, but I haven't really played with them yet. I also bought a shear. So I played with both today.

First, I made a set of domed and hammered copper earrings. I wanted them to sit properlyon the ear, so I had to make a back for them. First, I took copper discs and dapped them (using the steel block and dapping heads). The challenge was adding the hammered texture AFTER they were dapped, since they loose the texture while they are being dapped if you do it beforehand. I managed though. Then I had to figure out the back. I remembered a pair of earrings I had many, many, many years ago in college -- they were huge-- and I did the back in a similar manner. They work! *Dancing with joy.*

No, I won't share how-- I am going to write a tutorial, so I can't share all my secrets just yet. ;)

Next I used the shear to cut a rough circle out of sterling sheet. I left it somewhat rough, for an organic look. Then I domed it with the dapping set as well. I had a strip of fired bronzclay on my bench, waiting for a use, so I formed it around a ring mandrel, leaving it partially open. I hammered the INSIDE of the circle (not as hard as the outside of one that has already been domed) to represent starlight. Then I placed a small flat circle of fired bronzclay in the ring, off to the side, to represent the moon. I call it "Moon and Stars." The outside of the sterling dome portion is textured to match the texture on the outside of the ring shank. I want it to be something people can stare into and think of a starry, moonlit night when all their dreams came true.

One of my favorite things to do is sit on the hill behind my house, watching the moon and the stars (after the glorious sunsets of course). After all the rain we have been having, I have to load up with bug spray first though -- we are growing a great crop of mosquitoes in the Nebraska Sandhills this year after all of the rain we have been having.

I have a "Sunset Moon" ring in my head now, so I may come up with a design for it soon.

Tomorrow is our annual open show at the local art gallery, so I may enter my "Lakeside Idyll" pendant that went to the state show earlier this year -- and "almost" won an award. It was good to hear it was up for consideration, but an actual award would have been even nicer, LOL.

I am also entering a few photos -- one of a soapweed that I took closeup, another of the handle on the old machine shed on the hill, and one of some used horseshoes hanging on the fence at my in-laws.

We had some tornados the other night, and I got some funnel cloud photos. I was actually driving alongside one -- which was nerve wracking even though I knew it was a ways away. I don't know if I will enter any of them or not. However, later that night I also got some photos of the storm clouds and the sunset, complete with the full moon and our barn. I did a mixed media piece from one of those photos that I also plan to enter. No photos of it yet.

So, wish me luck -- I could use some positive feedback -- it has been a rough few months.

On the other hand we have a new house -- in the country, with lots of space and awesome views! I even have room for my own studio at home -- a far cry from a 40-year-old 2-BR trailer, I am happy to say! :) *Dancing with joy again.*

The Lord is so good to me! :)

Happy Creating!

Camp Comeca, carving and choosing to learn to paint

2010-04-18T21:06:00.007-05:00

I just spent a week at the Great Plains Creative Arts Association's 60th annual craft camp at Camp Comeca south of Cozad. What fun! I was teaching a photo composition workshop, along with helping people decipher the settings on their cameras. When I didn't have students, I also had the chance to learn various things myself.

I started with the precious metal clay area, where I designed a textured fine silver and dichroic glass pendant and earrings set. I also brought home another matching cabochon to make a ring to add to the set.

I also tried my hand at carving wood. I'm a little scary with a knife, but when I switched over to using a dremel tool, it got much easier and I ended up making a surprisingly good looking walleye lure painted up in the fire tiger design. I also learned about using my flex shaft to engrave patterns in the wood stocks on guns. Fun!

Painting walls is something I enjoy and am good at, but the art of wielding a paintbrush to create beautiful pictures has always eluded me. Despite that, I took an oil painting class this week and came home with a rather passable painting of a wooden windmill at sunset. What is even more surprising is that my husband, who doesn't care for paintings in general, and my art in particular, actually LIKES it and wants me to hang it at home!

Now I am interested in learning more about all of those things -- which is exactly what my hubby was afraid of, LOL!

I have also started a beading project -- much harder with these old eyes and I hope to finish it soon.

For now I need to unpack and get rested before the work week begins again tomorrow.

Buckles, Brooches and Bills

2010-03-03T00:49:00.000-06:00

I have spent a busy week making custom order rings, fixing rings that didn't turn out as I hoped, wire wrapping lovely stones, working on the Thedford Commemorative B.R.A.N. belt buckle (and the pins) and freaking out over power bills.

I also had a few really nice sales! Hallelujah!

The B.R.A.N. buckle is finally nearing completion. The hills, windmill and road are on the front, with the lettering as well. The silver trim is fitted and just needs to be soldered. The back apparatus needs to be soldered. Polish the whole thing up and it should be good to go! Whoo hoo! Finally!

I wire wrapped a gorgeous charoite pendant the other day and mixed it with charoite, amethyst and sterling beads. Absolutely yummy!

I finished the leaves and vines custom ring without the CZs -- huge improvement! I also ground off all the ugly little czs from the original ring and then hammered the ring -- also a huge improvement!

Tomorrow I will get a shipment with new silver solder (to finish the buckle) and some fine wire for weaving. I feel the need to weave some awesome new jewelry!

I also hope to make a Viking weave necklace to hang my first handmade bezel project on. The pendant is copper, with a tiger iron cab set in a sterling, plus a sparkly cz at the bottom. I made the bezel by hand, which was not easy for the freeform stone I used. I think a silver Viking weave section, with copper end caps would be nice to go with the pendant.

I have a friend who suggested I turn it into a brooch (pin). She is right, it would make a GREAT pin! However, the stone is already set and if I try to heat the piece, the stone would blow up. So, it won't become a pin.

I have been struggling so hard with high heat bills this winter, but when I received my latest power bill, my heart dropped into my stomach. How could it cost $450 to heat a 10x30 space inside a Burlington Northern caboose for one month?

It didn't. I noticed the bill said estimate, so I called to have them refigure it with the reading I had sent in with my payment. Glad I did -- it is now $235. Still h igh, but certainly better than what it was before. :)

I continue to work on my website -- adding new inventory to store as often as I can.

I had better get to bed.

Happy creating!

custom orders, cold, carts and computers

2010-02-15T23:53:00.000-06:00

I have been busy this week, making custom order rings, which is a nice problem to have. Less than two weeks ago, I made a brushed bronze ring from a scrap of fired bronze. The idea came to me in one of those rare "lightbulb" moments and I came away with a winner.

A friend overseas saw the ring and decided she had to have one. Another friend locally saw it today and also thought she needed one. So, I will make the first one "just like the one in the picture," and the second one will have a synthetic blue topaz.

It is a nice simple ring with clean lines and a great big shiny stone. Classic.

I also have a custom ring order that I am working on -- in silver, which is so much more user friendly than the copper or the bronze. The ring carries on my "In the Garden" series with the leaves and vine motif. This is a fun one to make!

I am continuing to work on my website, and the shopping cart especially. I have added a number of items to the store and I will be adding more each day. It will be several weeks before the search engines pick me up though.

Speaking of things you do with a computer -- mine is on its last legs and I need to find a good used (or refurbished) printer to replace my 8-year-old version of a darned good printer -- the Epson Stylus photo 2200. I hope to find another of the same model. After getting stung twice trying to buy a used one, let's hope the third time is a charm!

It is so cold here! I have the heat set on high, the woodstove burning and a space heater for my feet and it is STILL cold in the caboose! BRRR!

Well, time for bed, I have to run to town for errands tomorrow, and that will probably take all day. Good night and happy creating.

Websites, Workshops and Weaving

2010-02-11T02:11:00.000-06:00

I have spent the last few days recovering from ambulance runs, workshops and an ear infection, but I have kept busy designing my new website.

The home page is done and there are items in my online store, so I went ahead and took the site live. I will continue to revamp the site as I get more "website" savvy.

I love the color scheme, made up of my favorite colors of burgundy, hunter green and parchment tan. I know they are passe, but they will return someday, and for me they are comfort colors.

These colors are also considered to be trustworthy and soothing in website studies, so hey, I may be out of style in home decorating, but I am right in there as far as website design. :)

Now live: http://www.dawnebryant.net/ Check it out! Please. All constructive criticism and advice is welcome!

I taught two fun workshops last weekend, one of beginning wire wrap -- make your own findings, and the other was a beginning jewelry design workshop for basic beaded jewelry.

Several of my students have requested new workshops, so I will soon be lining up a "wire wrapped stones" workshop and a "beginning precious metal clay" workshop. I'm just tickled that anyone would want a repeat workshop from me!

My teaching style is very relaxed, which may not appeal to some folks, but I kind of just go with the flow and let the students decide what they want to work on the most.

So, tentatively planned next is the wire wrapped stones workshop at the Thedford Art Gallery, on Saturday, March 29. I haven't decided whether to do a morning or afternoon class.

I have also been working on something that has eluded me for a while - the Viking Weave. I love the look of necklaces that feature this weave and I have been struggling to learn the weave. With the help of a wonderful tutorial on www.jewelrylessons.com/feelingstone, called the "Something New Viking Weave," I was finally able to complete (but definitely not master) a project using this weave. Hallelujah! I can do something similar with my tube knitter, but when comparing the two, the Viking weave pieces are much more flexible and have a neater appearance, so I will probably end up retiring the tube knitter, except when I want to make something out of yarn.

I ended up making a copper bracelet, but it turned out huge -- too big even for my husband, so I will probably cut the ends off and make earrings out of them, and size the bracelet down to fit myself or someone else with small wrists. That is one of the joys of Viking knit -- its versatility.

Bed is beckoning, so I had better heed its call. Happy creating everyone!

Dawn

Workshops, Websites and Worms

2010-02-07T23:14:00.000-06:00

Despite several days without sleep due to overdue prescriptions, computer failure due to worms (viruses) and late night ambulance runs, I was able to function enough to teach two workshops over the weekend.

Saturday morning, I had a lot of fun teaching a group of women from around the area how to save money and add value to their handmade jewelry by making their own jump rings, chains, clasps and ear wires.

Most of the women were suprised at how easy these things are to make themselves and how inexpensive, compared to buying them ready made.

Several of the women stayed for the afternoon class (and a few new ones arrived) where I taught basic jewelry design. I was fading fast by this point, so it got a bit dry to start, but I think everyone had fun once we got to the hands-on portion of the workshop and most of them went away with some very nice finished pieces, while others took home several "works-in-progress."

In the midst of all of this, I finally got the go-ahead on my website, so I have spent most of the day trying to build my own website, which is difficult, even with templates. I am NOT the most computer/technology savvy person around, and most of this stuff is Greek to me.

I think I finally have a decent looking home page, but I still have four pages and a shopping cart to go. Yikes!

I like the color scheme I picked out -- burgundy, hunter green and tan. These are the colors I had initially intended to use for the caboose, but budget woes put the cabosh on that.

I started out using a red and black template, but after cruising through the "what color works best for a website" info on the web, I found that black is hard for older eyes (like mine) to read from, red is considered jarring and gray, burgundy and brown are considered soothing, solid and elegant.

I looked at the gray generic templates and just couldn't get excited about them, but then I found this gorgeous one with my favorite colors, and I knew I was home. Think cherry wood, hunter green leather and the rich look of expensive parchment and you will have the colors of this site. It took all day, literally, but I finally have my home page set up. I am sure it could be more high tech, but I'll start small and revamp as I learn more. Wish me luck!

Coming Soon: http://www.dawnebryant.net/!

Tired of the cold, dreary weather, I was dreaming of warm sunny summer afternoons when I designed a neckband out of bronze wire and wrapped hammered bronze droplet components around it for a necklace that reflects the light as the wearer moves. I titled it " A Summer's Afternoon Rain."

It is gently snowing right now, so my hubby could get called out early, therefore, I had better be prepared to get up early to take my daughter to school. Her father usually does that, since our son is a night owl and generally gets to bed late, and therefore, so does Mom.

Good night and happy creating!

Wire Wrapping, Workshops and

2010-02-07T23:12:00.000-06:00

Hat Bands, Hearts and the How-tos of Social Networking for Business

2010-01-26T23:28:00.000-06:00

I spent the day at a workshop on social networking and how to make it work for your business. I learned a lot -- about how important social networking is, how to make it work for me, and how to do it more efficiently. The workshop was put on by GROW Nebraska, of which I am a member. It was time well spent. Their site can be found at http://www.grownebraska.org/.

I have been working on custom hat bands this past week, as well as diving into the learning of chainmaille techniques. I have also been preparing all my Valetine's themed items to mail to various GROW Nebraska stores, and to have inventory on hand in my studio. I also wrote a tutorial for the wiggly weave chainmaille weave, which can be found on www.jewelrylessons.com/dawnebryant.

The Valentines stuff is heart-shaped of course, from brushed bronze earrings to delicate, feminine spiraly stuff, to pink and white thulite heart shaped stones strung with the ultimate feminine decoration -- pearls.

The hat bands come in all shapes and sizes, including barbed wire, two-tone links and bars, wire wrapped bands and more. I am developing new designs day by day.

I have a few custom orders to finish and get out the door, but this is a slow time of year customer-wise, so I am catching up on things, trying to find someone to build an e-commerce ready website for me at an affordable price, and prepare for the busy season to come in a few months.

I also pray daily that enough sales will come in to keep the lights on.

That said, I had better finish the wiggly chain weave necklace I am working on, finish posting to the GROW Nebraska e-commerce site, work on a new hatband design, and get some sleep so I can work on rings and belt buckles at the studio tomorrow.

Hopefully my young son, who has been coughing and running a low grade temperature, will feel better tomorrow. His sister, thankfully, has only the cough.

Good night, good sleep and happy creating!

Commissions, mourning, crosses and buckles

2009-11-23T22:11:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, but it has been a very busy, albeit, sad time.

I received a huge commission of 750 Prismacolor pencil paintings pins to be put into the welcome bag for the participants in the Bike Ride Across Nebraska (B.R.A.N.) riders that will stay in our town next June. The pin features a windmill at sunset. I imagine I will be heartily tired of the scene by the time I am finished, but it is a huge honor to get the commission. I have yet to photograph the pin, so it will be posted later.

I was also commissioned to make a triple metal commemorative belt buckle to be raffled off at the same time. It will be made from bronzclay, with a sterling decorative trim and a Sandhills scene done in copprclay. I will post a photo when it is done.

Both are very time consuming projects.

At the same time, I prepared 60 items to go on consignment to a holiday shop in the mall 65 miles from here. Hopefully sales there will be good.

I teach a workshop on my Prismacolor jewelry to 32 high school students next Tuesday -- my first actual "workshop" of the type.

I have been working on several cross designs, with my newest one matching the silver rope bezel wire with gold accents bracelets, rings and earrings I have been making. I already have a commission for a larger version as a Christmas gift.

I received numerous compliments on the sterling and black onyx necklace and earring set I made and wore to the Thedford Area Community Foundation Banquet this Saturday, which was nice to hear. The design is called "Onyx Elegance."

My photography stash is building again, after losing all my photos earlier this year. I was lucky enough to be able to photograph a nice 5x5 mule deer that was near my caboose early last week and I got several nice sunset photos yesterday while helping my husband (unsuccessfully) hunt a buck to fill his deer tag.

This next month will be filled with hunting, making and purchasing gifts and hopefully, lots and lots of sales.

Hopefully it will be happier than this one, as our town has had its share of deaths in the past few weeks. It is time now for the joy of the holiday season and no more sadness, I hope.

Happy creating!

Sales still slow, learning how to work with bronzclay and dealing with children in small spaces

2009-10-30T20:55:00.000-05:00

The last two days have been "flu" days at school, and the schools have been closed -- which means that in addition to my 2-year-old son, who enjoys being at the caboose -- I have had my 6-year-old daughter, who does not. The two of them alternated between hitting/poking/jabbing each other and complaining that the other one touched them. Grrrr! Very hard to concentrate and get anything done in that environment. Luckily Dad got off early today and came to get them. Yeah!

I worked on several projects this week -- a two-tone belt buckle made of bronzclay, PMC and sterling silver; two bronzclay pendant and earring sets; and a bronzclay prototype pin for the B.R.A.N. (Bike Ride Across Nebraska) riders that will be coming through town next June. I also made two pin prototypes in my signature colored pencil mini paintings on plastic.

I am working on a wire pendant in sterling and black onyx as well.

The bronzclay gives me fits as it bubbles when fired, and comes out of the kiln with totally unpredictable patinas. I have also found it shrinks more than PMC3, so I have to figure out how big to make a ring so it is the right size after firing. I can't rely on my regular PMC3 ring sizers, apparently, since my size 6-1/2 ring broke the mold, cracked its shank and became a size 3 in the kiln. Arrrggghhh!

I mended the shank and refired it, but it still needed more work and made a return trip to the kiln tonight. I have a leafy pendant and earrings in the kiln as well, and another leafy pendant and earrings drying on my workbench to be fired tomorrow.

The pin prototype needs some tweaking tomorrow and I will let it dry all day then fire it tomorrow night. Bronzeclay takes so long to fire that I just put it in the kiln as I leave the shop at night -- that way it can fire overnight and be just cool enough to remove from the kiln in the morning, plus it helps keep the caboose warm at night!

I miss my syringe clay when working with bronze and copper clay though! I really rely on my syringe for stems, vines, squiggles, pasting, etc...

The stuff is new, so I am pioneering along with the rest of those using the stuff though. I am a self-taught artisan anyway, so why not teach myself on this stuff too!

The buckle is finally finished, after numerous snafoos while soldering. I like the two-tone look and it is very simple, but showy as well.

My needle texture pendant and earrings will be finished up tomorrow.

I mailed out a special order this morning and another earlier in the week. Now, I just need some actual customers to come to the shop and make some purchases. Business is SSSSLLLOOOOWWWW!

Frustrating!

Oh well, Christmas is coming -- hopefully people will buy local. I will be having my Grand Opening sometime soon. I will know by the end of next week, I suppose.

Lots of work to do and I had better get back to it. Happy creating!

Work benches, slow sales and new fun with clay

2009-10-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

I have spent the last three weeks carefully tending to my back -- despite injuring my neck somehow in my sleep one night - and I am now back up to snuff, as long as I don't overdo things. Good thing, as I go back on ambulance call tomorrow night for a week.

Business has been extremely slow (only one customer in the door in the whole three weeks) so I have been slowly building up inventory in prepration for Christmas.

I ordered some CopprClay and some BronzClay as they are more affordable than PMC (for me and for my customers) and I played with it a bit this week. I made some beads and a belt buckle from the copper version and then made and fired a buckle blank from the bronze version.

The copper came out great! The bronze, however, had some issues. The buckle came out all bubbly and rough. I called my supplier and they told me that even though it was thin, I should have fired it like a thick piece because it is so big. Okay, back to the drawing board on that one. It did come out with beautiful colors though! I love the patina that gets fired onto it, and if you polish it up, it is the color of spun honey -- gold with a hint of autumn.

I can't wait to make some pieces that combine all three types of clay!

After waiting over four months for my neighbor to build a workbench for me (I have been getting by with a sheet over a plastic folding table -- much to rickety to do much with and I can't bolt anything down) -- I decided to design my own. It was going to cost about $100, so the project was on hold.

Today my hubby and his dad surprised me with a workbench! It is shorter, narrower and far less fancy than the one I designed, but since my father-in-law donated all the materials from stuff stored in his barn, the price is more than right!

The formica may be orange, but it is certainly easier to clean a mess up from than that darned sheet!

I can hammer away and not worry about it collapsing either, and I can finally bolt down my vice. Yea!

Now, if the customers will just come!

Better get to work on some more inventory -- Christmas is just around the corner, I need stuff for a storefront in a mall about an hour away and there is a craft show just about a month away.

I also need to work on my prototype for a colored pencil painting pin to commemorate the Bike Ride Across Nebraska stop in Thedford next year. The pin would be given to each of the riders that stays in Thedford when they stay overnight next June.

So much work and so little time! Happy creating!

Bad backs, horse sales and falling leaves

2009-10-04T22:58:00.000-05:00

This past week has been a blur of pain meds, chiropractor appointments and aches and pains mixed in with a frenzy of creation as I have worked feverishly to get ready for my first "show" at a horse sale where the sellers are also holding an "invitation only" vendor show. I was invited and it was of no cost to me, so hey, what was there to lose?

Okay, first the back. Last Saturday I bent over to get something out of my purse and slipped a disc very badly. I saw a chiropractor before attending the funeral of a friend and the chiropractor would barely touch me for fear of making things worse. I could hardly walk. I saw him again two more times last week and now I can walk, but by the end of the day I am still in a lot of pain. Frustrating!

I knew I was going to the horse sale on Sunday, so I spent the week, bad back and all, trying to make as much inventory as I could. I was nearly out of clay so I made what little I had into small earrings, a small leaf pendant and matching earrings, and a new piece for my "In the Garden" series.

I also finished up the grape leaves I have been working on for weeks (painstakingly painting on layer after layer of clay slip to build them up to be heavy enough to wear). I finished the grape leaves just before closing yesterday, and after much prodding from fellow jewelry artists, I tried a patina. For once it came out great! I loved it! The patina came out an awesome coppery color with irridescent blues, greens and purples all through it - - perfect for fall leaves. I had formed "ivy tendrils" with syringe clay and then carried the design through into the bail and ear wires by making them into "tendril" too. I was really happy with how it came out. I planned to run them through the tumbler for a high shine, but didn't have time. I figured I would do that Monday. Not going to happen. They SOLD! So, now I have to get some new grape leaves at my inlaws' house before they freeze so I can make some more of these. I have lots of new ideas for grape leaf jewelry.

Today I worked on a new woven cross, but it is not finished yet. It has a turquoise stone in it and I am making a chain with turquoise stones scattered through it as well.

This next week I need to make two PMC pendant/earring sets for a customer who wants to give them to her granddaughters. I have already made two pendants for another set of granddaughters who don't have pierced ears. I also have a custom order PMC ring to make and about 12 repairs to do.

My PMC cross "In the Garden At Gethsemane" sold yesterday to a teenager who was brought in by her grandfather and told she could pick out "anything in the store." I was surprised (as was the grandfather) when she picked a large showy cross out of all the items in the shop. It only took her two seconds to choose it too. She honed in on it the instant she walked in, so it must have been meant for her.

I am still working on my woven mother's ring design and I had a new design for a woven cross pop into my head today. I also had a design for a very dressy woven necklace begin to take shape, as well as two new PMC necklace ideas. So many designs, so little time!

OOOh, a new PMC cross design just popped in too! A new addition to my "In the Garden" series that is also a "family" piece. OOOh, I can't wait until the PMC order arrives on Tuesday!

I had better close and try to get some sleep despite the design ideas running around in my brain.

Happy creating!

Great Sales Today, funeral tomorrow

2009-09-25T23:18:00.000-05:00

The fact that I had great sales today is tempered by the fact that tomorrow I attend the funeral of a friend. To make matters worse, his wife died two years ago and now their 15-year-old daughter has no parents. My heart just aches for her!

Her Daddy was one of my first friends when I served as a volunteer firefighter in the town where I used to live. He was always supportive and friendly and I was devastated when he had to quit the department for health reasons.

Aside from that sad note, today was good in that I had several really good sales and made some new friends.

I sold a Prismacolor painting pendant yesterday and then today I sold a number of items, including two PMC pieces! I also had the joy of creating a pair of earrings to match a pendant a customer picked out. I think she really enjoyed watching me make her earrings right in front of her.

I almost missed these customers, but some geocachers that showed up to find the geocache that is hidden in the caboose (outside) got to talking with me (I geocache too) and I was late getting out of the shop. Good thing, because I would have missed several good sales and talking with the woman who bought the items.

Now I have to get on the stick and make a bunch of stuff before the horse show I am taking my jewelry to next weekend. I also have a group of women coming in on Thursday. Hopefully I will make some sales there and if not, perhaps they will keep me in mind for Christmas time.

I hope to get my workbench built on Sunday and I plan to pick up a large stone block to put under the woodstove while I am in town tomorrow. It is supposed to freeze next week, so I need to get the woodstove in and get the plumbing insulated and the heat tape installed.

Okay, it is late and I was up very early this morning, so it is time for bed. Happy creating!

Dawn

White Rock, Sidewalks and Western Art

2009-09-19T00:42:00.000-05:00

My wonderful landlord came by last weekend and dozed off all the sandburs out front of my shop (without even being asked) and then dropped a load of white rock on the sand for a parking area.

Earlier this week he talked with some people doing cement work and asked if they would mind dropping any extra off for a sidewalk in front of the caboose. This week he formed up a sidewalk and a cement truck came by and filled in one third of the sidewalk. Hopefully some more will be coming later to fill the rest in. Hey, the price is right, I can wait a bit for completion!

Today he came by with more white rock for the parking area.

Business was quite slow this week, although I did sell one of my Prismacolor painting pendants. I had an off week as far as creating, as nothing seemed to go quite right.

Now I have several special orders and one repair to do, so I had better get started on those.

I also had a woman come in and see the shop after her pickup broke down. She was carting horses to Kansas to a rodeo. She is having a horse sale the first weekend in October and is having a few vendors (invitation only) during the sale. She invited me! No cost to me whatsoever, other than gas to drive 65 miles one way -- and I do believe I will go! :)

I am trying to find a good mother's ring tutorial because I would like to make my sister a mother's ring. She is a single parent and deserves to have the sort of things most mothers would get from their hubby's (guess big sister will have to step in). Anyhow, I'm having a hard time finding something that will accept two facted stones, yet still be wire wrap, and not be too advanced for my limited wire wrapping skills. I found one and bought the tutorial, but it only gave instructions for adding one stone. I don't know if I am good enough to figure out how to add the second stone.

My REAP (Rural Enterprise Assistance Program) representative was here yesterday to take my photo while working inside the caboose and another of me outside the caboose, to put into a book they send to all the state legislators. He is also recommending me for a national video being made about micro business loans. He said they were looking for color and the caboose is definitely colorful!

All the information has been sent to the Omaha World Herald and hopefully they will come to do a story on me for their statewide section. I also hope to join GROW Nebraska soon and have them build me a website. They are a great cooperative marketing group that operates here in Nebraska.

I have created some new copper pieces and some new Prismacolor pendant pieces, as well as two "knitted" pendants.

I'll have to get a lot more made in the next two weeks if I am going to take my stuff to that horse sale! She said she thought my silver and my stone jewelry would both sell just great. She also thought I should take my belt buckle prototype. She said tiny belt buckles (western) as pendants are all the rage right now too.

It is late and I am tired, so I had better close. Happy creating!

Crosses, Tutorials and Tonsils

2009-09-10T01:41:00.001-05:00

This has been a busy week for me. I started a new part time job cleaning my church, I wrote a tutorial and I finished up a few pieces I had started. Yesterday I took my 2-year-old son to have his tonsils and adenoids removed.

I am a high-stress person when it comes to surgery, so it was VERY hard for me to watch them wheel him away without me yesterday morning. It was a short surgery and he did very well, according to the doctor. Doc also told us Aidan had the biggest tonsils and adenoids he had EVER seen. He also cauterized Aidan's uvula (the hangy down thingy) to make it shrink, because it was very long. I had lots of friends praying for him though.

That little stinker worried me to death, then all day yesterday was a real trooper -- eating, drinking, playing, etc... Today he was a bit cranky and by evening he had dark circles under his eyes and had quit eating. Now I am beginning to worry again. I think the after effects of the anaesthesia are wearing off and the pain is setting in. Poor kiddo!

On a brighter note, I finished my PMC cross and it came out great. I call it "In the Garden at Gethsemane.

I wrote a tutorial for my hammered copper bracelet with braided trim and I have sold several, along with a resurrection of two of my older tutorials that suddenly started selling again (no complaints there) on the http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ website.

I am in the process of writing two more -- one for my "Indian Summer" hammered copper set and one for the bezel-topped cabochon like the custom job I did last week. It was made for a man but could be worn by a woman as well.

I continue to work on getting my photo collection built back up after losing ALL of my photos a few weeks ago when my computer crashed. Frustrating! That also means I have to rebuild my business cards and brochures. I am out of notecards in all the venues I sell them in, but can't make new ones until I have new photos. Grrr!

Oh well, time for Aidan's pain meds, so I had better go!

Happy creating!

More repairs and custom jobs -- one for a man this time!

2009-09-03T00:13:00.001-05:00

This week I have gotten all but two repairs out the door and I have three more custom orders. Two I have to find the stones for and the third I finished up today.

This last custom job was a challenge because it was a pendant for a man, so I couldn't do any of the curlicues and geegaws I do on my other pendants.

After much thought, I decided to try making a bezel out of pattern wire and it worked quite well.

I am also working on a PMC cross. I did a two-tone wire wrap one the other day. My wire woven cross sold last week, so I need to make another one.

I am working on some black and white (grayscale) Prismacolor painting pieces for my mother. I am finding it difficult to find a good way to wire wrap the rectangular versions of my work. Hmmm, have to work on that.

Better get to bed -- my daughter has school pictures tomorrow, so I need to get up early and help her shower and get all "pretty."

Tutorials, repairs and custom jobs done! Time to create!

2009-08-30T16:57:00.000-05:00

I had a busy week of repairs and finalizing my first custom ring, as well as writing a tutorial for my "Cold Forged Hammered Copper Cuff with Braided Trim". It has been posted to http://www.jewelrylessons.com/. Now it is time for me to create again! Fun!

I have been playing with some Prismacolor paintings and working on a good way to wire wrap them. I think I saw a wrap today that might be just the ticket -- I hope, as the perfect wrap for rectangular stones has been eluding me.

My mother wants some Prismacolor pieces in black and white so I have been working on those (they are actually in greyscale). I will post photos when I get them finished.

I had a really good day on Monday, when the traffic was stopped for over 30 minutes at a time while they put the beams on the bridge over the highway and I made some sales. Yesterday I had another sale! Yeah! I still need more to make the loan payment, plus pay for the phone, internet and electricity. Yikes!

Time for supper -- fresh corn from the garden and pork chops on the grill! Yum!

Happy Creating!

Lack of supplies spawns creativity with copper wire

2009-08-23T03:47:00.000-05:00

Since I was out of PMC and didn't yet have the supplies needed for the repair jobs I had sitting on my workbench (UPS doesn't come until late afternoon around here) I decided to play around with some copper wire and my anvil.

In the end I came away with two bracelets. I ended up selling one the very next day, to a friend of mine who has a hard time finding jewelry to fit her larger frame. She also bought a hammered copper ring and placed an order for two more custom copper pieces. Woo hoo!

The first piece I made was fabricated from 8g bare copper wire which I braided loosely, then hammered and formed around a bracelet mandrel. The second bracelet was a hammered piece of 6g bare copper wire. I then braided 20g copper wire, which I made into a strip a bit shorter than the bracelet itself. I then wire wrapped the braided piece to the bracelet. This is the one I sold to my friend.

I love metal work! I can be so frustrated with work, family, life in general, and I go to my workbench and hammer on some metal for a while and not only do I release a lot of pent up frustration and tension, but I come away with something useful (and sometimes even beautiful).

I finally got my printer to work again too, which relieved a lot of tension on its own -- I use my printer for almost everything I do!

The electrician comes to finish up on Monday -- meaning I will have power to the mercury vapor security light behind the caboose, and I will have motion lights on both decks. The electrical outlet for the heat tape for the plumbing will also be added and he will look at the two outdoor outlets that keep tripping as well as the bathroom light that flickers and buzzes and sometimes goes out altogether. He will also ground my new aluminum staircase to the caboose to make sure no one gets shocked due to inclement weather or electrical problems.

I am working on a custom PMC ring and a custom PMC belt buckle. They are both about half finished. I have three repair jobs that are in varying stages of repair as well.

Jewelry making and jewelry repair both require working a bit, then letting an item dry or sit in the pickle pot, or have a run through the tumbler. So, I generally have 4-5 projects going at once.

I have several projects that need to be treated with Liver of Sulphur as well, which I have yet to try, as I fear the stench. However, these particular projects would benefit so much from the smelly stuff that I will have overcome my fear and Just Do It! One is a maple leaf and the other is the remains of my first attempt at the custom ring, which met a bad demise after the cz melted into the setting and after set with a new CZ, split in the shank and was resistant to repair. I ended up making a pendant/earring set out of the pieces.

Off to bed now after a wonderful evening alone with my hubby -- yes we went on a real date -- dinner and a movie with no kids! Grandma and Grandpa watched our lovely little ones and we had some time to ourselves for a change. What a treat! We love the kids, but for the second time in six years, we were able to go off by ourselves. Fun! Great movie, great food, great company.

Happy Creating!

Back from vacation and raring to go

2009-08-20T00:42:00.000-05:00

My hubby sprung a surprise vacation on me last week (a week after opening the shop) and we took the kids to the Colorado Rockies to go camping. We camped two nights, then met with his folks who wanted to camp closer to where his dad was planning to pan for gold. Unfortunately, after breaking camp, we were unable to find a campsite that night, so ended up in a motel. It had a pool, for which the kids were thankful. The next night was also spent in a motel, as we had to get up very early and get home because my hubby had to be at work at 6 a.m. Monday.

We saw glorious mountain vistas and drove down some very scenic (and windy) one-lane gravel roads, surviving a near miss when a crazy young man came speeding around one of those hairpin curves and nearly ran us off the road and down into a ravine (if I had been driving we would have been dead, but my dear hubby kept us safe).

The babbling brook full of mossy rocks near our campsite, along with several beautiful waterfalls and mountains covered with the varying greens of pines, cedars and aspens, helped me to create a necklace and pendant set I call "Mossy Streams." The set is made up of moss agate, forest green freshwater pearls and sterling silver. The white reminds me of the splash of the stream and the green of the moss and trees. I have another piece of moss agate I need to utilize too.

We took the kids on the train up to the top of Pike's Peak (glorious scenery) but they both got altitude sickness and ended up throwing up. The next day we took them on a much shorter (and less altitudinous) ride up to the top of the Royal Gorge.

Of course, I took tons of photos, some of which will be used to create PMC pieces. I have all sorts of ideas spilling out of my head right now! Unfortunately, I am out of PMC, so I placed a rush order today, which will hopefully arrive tomorrow or the next day, along with some supplies I needed to have to do the repair jobs I've had come in.

Family vacations -- fun in the beginning, melding into "Family Vacation," towards the end, then morphing back to fun in retrospect.

I'll try to keep up with this thing better and write more tomorrow. Now, if I can just get my printer to work, I'd be so happy -- the darned thing worked when we left, but not when we returned. Grrr!

Happy Creating!

Open nearly a week and business is pretty good

2009-08-08T23:29:00.000-05:00

I officially opened Monday, August 3, after a few months of hard work renovating a beat up rail caboose. The hard work paid off and the caboose actually looks pretty good.

Unfortunately, it is still really HOT, since the donated heat/air combination unit only worked when it was 70 degrees outside and froze up when it hit the 80s. Today we installed a new (used) unit given to us by our neighbors, but it only blows air, it doesn't cool. Bummer!

I had several necklace sales and an earring sale this week, as well as a custom order for a PMC ring. I also sold two watch batteries.

Not enough to make the loan payment due in a week, but not bad business for only being open five days so far!

I have several works in progress, including a hammered copper slide, a silver maple leaf pendant, tiny button earrings for young girls, and hammered copper bracelets, plus the custom ring.

I made a woven wire cross and a wire wrapped bypass onyx ring that I really like too. They are finished.

I have also started a line of jewelry I call "Grandma's Buttons" since they are made from buttons from my grandmother's collection that have been pressed into the PMC. She had some truly beautiful buttons.

The phone was finally installed, a month later. The DSL remains unhooked as of yet, and will probably stay that way for a few weeks as the tech is out of town.

So, I must now find a WORKING AC unit or risk roasting my children, and I must sell like crazy the next few days so I can make my first loan payment.

Still, all in all, I am enjoying the business and the creative juices are flowing.

Happy Creating!

Dawn

Opening for business on Monday August 3 -- finally!

2009-07-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

The day has finally come when I can announce my opening date -- yeah! I will officially open for business on Monday, August 3. FINALLY!!!

I had an open house Saturday night, during our county fair, but it was so HOT in there that no one stayed long. The power had only been turned on the day before and we had not been able to get the combination heat/ac unit installed. It is in now and appears to work, although to be honest it has not been hot enough to really test it yet this week. I tested the heat this morning, as it was actually CHILLY in there!

The display side of things is set up using dressers borrowed from home since the totally awesome display unit my neighbor is building for me is not ready yet. It will have two towers with 16 total shelves, plus a wide area in the middle for displaying lots of art. The towers will have cabinet doors below them and the center section will have drawers. Storage! Yes! Display area! Yes!

The walls are textured and painted, but the decor is not quite what I had planned, as my budget and time constraints, along with prior damage to the caboose did not allow me to go with the original plan of sumptuous dining car design, which would have included refinishing the hardwood oak floors.

A fire under the diesel stove had burned through the floor, up the wall and into the ceiling, plus water pouring through two leaky upper windows had warped a huge chunk of floor and what was left was damaged by the 24-volt battery that leaked all its acid out onto the floor and ate it through. So, I pieced in what I could with plywood and covered it with a nice burbur carpet that is predominantly cream and tan with flecks of blue, hunter green and burgundy. It should mask the dirt well, yet is light enough to keep the room bright.

Since track lighting for that tiny 8x13 room was going to run $800, I decided to chuck the whole dining car theme and go for the ultra bright, commercial gallery look, with bright white walls, flourescent shop lights and exposed wiring -- painted white, of course. It makes the space appear very large and bright -- but cold. The addition of some plants and some touches of hunter green help to soften that appearance, as do the warm tones of the dressers I am using for display. The coming display cabinet will feature posts with hand-carved oak leaves -- made by my neighbor for a customer who decided against them after they were made -- his loss, my gain! Since I love the outdoors, they are right up my alley. So, green accents with an outdoor flair it is, in that totally white space.

On the working side, my jeweler's bench is put together, but it didn't fit behind the door as planned, and due to the setup of the wiring, only fits where the wood stove was to go. So, no woodstove. I sure hope that window unit heats well! I have commandeered a plastic folding table to use as my metalsmithing bench until the real workbench arrives (also being built by my neighbor, but strictly utilitarian).

Last night I used my Foredom drill for the first time ---OOOH! I had forgotten how much I LOVE those things! Tonight I was able to polish my wedding band myself for the first time since I got married. It looks brand new! I started a few new PMC projects that I will probably fire on Thursday, since tomorrow I am off to judge the 4-H photo show at the Lincoln County Fair, followed by a trip to the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad to take down my first one-man show.

This all follows a perfectly HORRENDOUS day which began this morning when I realized that my Passport storage device, which houses ALL of my data - including business data and all of my photos and artwork, had crashed, taking all of that info with it. I store NOTHING on my computer which has been threatening to crash for the last six years. Then this evening we found out that last's two-inch rainfall had flooded our storage unit from above AND below -- everything in it is ruined! Since we moved from a 5BR 3Bath house with a 30x40 shop and four other outbuildings and into a tiny 2BR trailer, nearly 95% of our belongings were stored in that storage unit! The worst thing is the tools and furniture I got from my grandparents' estate as well as all our hunting clothing, my extra art supplies, my Ansel Adams prints that I had no room for in this tiny house, etc... are all totally ruined! I'm so numb I haven't even been able to cry -- two totally catstrophic losses in one day is just too much to take in!

Better go, gotta get up early to drop the kids off and make the 75-mile drive to judge the show before 9:30 a.m. After the judging comes another 60-mile drive to pick up my art show, followed by a 120-mile drive home.

First, I will post some caboose photos -- the ONLY file I had on my hard drive!

Oh yes, I DID design a new ring today in addition to the PMC pieces. It is a wire-wrapped double onyx bead offset ring that I am really quite proud of -- even if the first one DID turn out to be a size 12! Anyone wear a size 12 ring?

Happy creating!

Texture, paint and insulation plus working plumbing and electricians on board

2009-07-12T21:32:00.001-05:00

Following a vacation to see my family -- whom I rarely see as we are scattered from Minnesota to Texas, I came back to complete work on the caboose so I can get my business open.

I have another electrician lined up (this is number 6 -- the one who wouldn't break down his quote for me, but I'm desperate at this point). Hopefully, this one will actually show up instead of letting me wait several weeks before deciding he is too busy to take on such a small job.

I went in search of track lighting and deck lights yesterday, only to come home with no lights and no ceiling fan. The track lights were of highly dubious quality and the ceiling fans only came with those tiny candle flame shaped lights -- which put out NO light at all. I couldn't see spending the money for lights that wouldn't last more than a week, or for a ceiling fan with lights I couldn't see to read by. I'll check out an actual electrical supply outlet later this week, and hopefully I will have better luck.

I did pick up some bright white paint (in a slightly warm version of white) and some drywall mud, which my hubby and I proceeded to mix together and splatter on the walls with a texture gun today. I added some citrus scent additive to help combat the lingering odor of that nasty bathroom, and it smells nice and fresh in the east end of the caboose now.

The paint is blindingly white, but a darn sight better than the previous 1950s institutional green. Tomorrow I plan to texture/paint the west end, and put the floor boards back down.

The floor remains an unknown. If the floor boards go back in well, I will continue with the plan to sand and varnish them. If not, I will patch the holes with plywood and paint the floor with that lovely gray they make floor paint in. Then I will add throw rugs for color and dimension.

Tuesday the gas station is hosting a huge lottery event, so I will paint my sign for the business tomorrow as well. I want everyone who stops in to the station Tuesday to know there will be a jewelry design/repair business nearby soon. I HAD planned to be open by that day, but we all know how the best laid plans of mice and men work out. Bummer!

I DO now have a working bathroom -- with a flushing toilet and running water in the sink (cold only). Hallelujah! My daughter is much happier with that setup, and my son, who is potty training, even used the "new" big boy toilet. :)

I have been "playing" with my new kiln and PMC too. I have made two pendant/earring sets and one set of hoop earrings. Fun! Now I am off to investigate belt buckle designs.

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes -- missing plumbers and electricians -- and my first one-man show

2009-07-01T09:12:00.000-05:00

My inventory has arrived, but the plumber and electrician didn't -- so I now have all the inventory and equipment for my shop, but it is housed at my tiny trailer, because the caboose isn't even close to ready! Frustrating!

The water and sewer lines are in, the septic tank is buried and the plumber was supposed to come Friday and hook up the sink and toilet. He didn't show and didn't come over the weekend or on Monday or Tuesday. He is also supposed to help me with the missing planks in the floor. So, still a gaping hole in the floor and no bathroom. Grrrr!

The electrician was supposed to come Monday. He never showed. He didn't show yesterday either. Grrrr!

What DID show up, was the inventory -- so our tiny 2br trailer is now packed full of boxes. We can barely eat in the kitchen or sit in the living room. Exciting, but frustrating -- I want so badly to begin creating, but I have nowhere to set all this wonderful stuff up so that I can! GRRRR!

On the other hand, I got the green paint around the window covered up, and I started painting the railings on the ends red -- it adds a nice pop of color against the yellow. I'm also going to paint the door frames red. I noticed that coming from the east, you can barely see the caboose, so I have to do EVERYTHING I can to make it catch the eye from that direction.

I DID have some fun yesterday, as I got to hang my first one-man show! Yeah!

I was invited (my first invite as a solo artist) to show at the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad, NE, so I have jewelry displayed in one room and art and photography in another. Fun!

Better go, TONS of stuff to get done today!

Dawn

Trim paint, summer creations and waiting on electricians

2009-06-25T20:27:00.000-05:00

The painting continues, as does the waiting for an electrician so I can prepare the interior of the caboose. I climbed up on the roof and painted the east and west ends of the cupola this weekend. After much debate I decided to paint the aluminum window frames and the old caboose numbers yellow. Good choice! Wow, what a difference that made! The yellow really pops those windows and numbers out and ups the visibility factor 150%!

I am now in the process of trim painting the remainder of the caboose -- all the spots the roller can't reach (which are numerous) and I plan to paint the windows on the ends of the caboose red, since the ends are yellow. Hopefully that will make them pop as well. I may do the doors red as well, but I am undecided on that one. The hand rails on the side of the caboose may go yellow too, and the railings on the ends may go red. Still up in the air about that.

All of my supplies for the interior of the shop will begin arriving Monday, and I have nowhere to put them. The caboose does not lock yet, so I can't store them there, and there really isn't room in our tiny two-bedroom trailer with the leaky roof. Fun!

I am still in dire need of an electrician that will WORK with me -- meaning break down the total bill into parts, so I know what my costs were for what. I have only found one electrician with the time, and he is unwilling to do that one small thing for me, which makes me unable to use him without a bookkeeping nightmare. Also, if he is so unwilling to bend on that one thing, how impossible will he be to work with on other things? He also did not want to do just the interior of the caboose, and the landowner has dug the trench for the electrical himself to save us both money. So, the hunt for the elusive electrician goes on. I am waiting on a bid from a gentleman who seemed both very knowledgeable and very easygoing, but time drags on with no word from him. HELP!

On the other hand, a friend offered me some combination AC/Heat units he has in his barn that came from a hospital remodel many years ago. They worked when they were put in there, and I am welcome to them. So, the heat/AC problem is solved, once the wiring is done so I can plug them in, that is.

I was up until the wee hours last night as PMC design ideas kept pouring through my brain. I scribbled down three pages, front and back, so I have plenty of fodder to work with when the stuff arrives. Fun! I am so excited!

I did manage to make four pieces for the "Summer" Expressions theme event at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ and that was fun too. Two were pieces that fit into my "Prairie Skies" collection and one belongs in my "Sandhills Scenes" collection.

I am trying to get enough jewelry made to put some in my first one-man art show at the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad, NE as well as in my shop, the Thedford Art Gallery and the Wild Rose Gallery in Broken Bow, NE, as they have requested I bring more pieces over. Yikes!

Laundry and dishes are calling, so I had better get them taken care of, then I had better get to work on my entries for our annual open art and photography show, my show in Cozad and to take to my folks. Happy creating!

Quite the weekend -- lots of paint and pleasant surprises -- answered prayer -- elusive electricians

2009-06-22T09:08:00.000-05:00

The bills have been mounting so fast that I fear by the time the caboose is ready to go, it will remain empty, because all of the loan money will have been used up getting it ready and nothing will be left for equipment and supplies.

Electricians with time and reasonable bills continue to be elusive and I have yet to find one. The two local electricians are both booked solid, unfortunately, as I prefer to give my business to the local people whenever possible. One from an hour north had time, but came in $700 over the local guy (who bid before he got socked in) and he wouldn't break down what cost what for me (a deal breaker) and one electrician from an hour south has come up to look, but I don't have his bid or his schedule yet.

My family went camping this weekend, leaving me home alone (without children underfoot) to paint the exterior. I had the west end and most of the south side painted after three solid days of painting.

In church Sunday morning, I was feeling totally overwhelmed with the whole thing and was wondering if I ahd bitten off more than I could chew. God must have heard me, because I went home to change and mow the yard before heading off to paint and after I got 25 feet with the mower, it quit on me! "To heck with it -- I'm going to go paint," I thought and off I went.

I hadn't been at the caboose for 5 minutes when a friend of mine dropped by and told me she had run into a youth group from Oakley, Kansas while she was a the post office. "They are on a mission trip and they are stopping in small towns to do work for people who need it -- I thought you needed it, so I told them about you," she said.

I told her there had to be people who needed help worse than me (such as the elderly) and I called my pastor. He arranged for the kids to sleep at the church, then called around to find someone they could work for. In the meantime, they showed up at the caboose, and insisted on working there until I found someone else with a bigger need. Pastor found no one with a need -- so those kids painted the entire backside of the caboose in two hours! Talk about a blessing!

Now, if an electrician would just show up and wire the interior, I would be in business -- I just need to texture/paint the walls, sand/stain the floor and put everything in and I'll be up and running!

Here electrician, here electrician, where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

The sad thing is -- I am perfectly capable of wiring the crazy thing myself -- but because it is not my primary residence, I am not allowed to. By the time I'm done with this whole thing my hubby may be so sick of it and me that the caboose WILL be my primary residence!

On a down note, I decided to look behind the walls above where the floor got burned under the stove and I found that the wall was totally burned, as well as the ceiling above it. So, quite a bit of repair work to do there -- but one of the sponsors with the kids runs a flooring business, so he quite kindly cut the burned part out for me in the floor and the wall -- leaving just the ceiling portion for my hubby to do. Another blessing!

Got to get the kids dressed and and head out to the caboose to do more work.

Happy creating!

State Art Conference, tornadoes, electricians and paint

2009-06-19T00:41:00.001-05:00

I took our art guild's entries to Kearney for the state show. I got the show hung just before judging began and I never even got a chance to see the show itself. I also don't know how the judging went and if anyone from our guild received any prizes. Bummer!

I raced tornadoes and large hail from all directions on my way home with my 2-year-old son sleeping in his car seat. He was such an angel and even helped me hang the show! I am so proud of him! My daughter and hubby were enjoying a night at the rodeo together -- my little cowgirl at heart. She got to ride a horse all by herself the other day and she is SO proud!

I bought the paint for the caboose this past week and today I began the rather daunting task of painting it refreshing new colors today. With the help of my daughter I chose John Deere Yellow (much brighter than I expected -- but in a good way) and Massey-Ferguson Red (classic stop sign red) in the outdoors implement enamel they sell at ranch supply stores -- it inhibits rust, which is awesome. Actually, the colors look much like those of my Carmex tube! I got the west end of the caboose painted with the yellow this afternoon. I still need to go in with the paintbrush to get the spots the roller can't get into, but wow, what a difference! I'll take more photos tomorrow as I go along. At least I feel like I am DOING something right now. I can't decide though, if I should paint the cupola yellow like the ends or if I should just paint it red. Hmm, perhaps I could paint that portion like a flag!

I met with another electrician today -- he seemed very knowledgeable and was very nice -- I hope he has a nice low bid and an empty calendar (good luck finding both -ha!). I was supposed to meet with another, but he never showed.

The insurance man inspected the caboose today and all is well -- my first quarter of insurance is paid. I would have paid it all, but everything is coming out OVER budget, so I figured I had better just pay the minimum and go from there.

Better get to bed -- another long day of painting awaits me tomorrow!

Happy creating!

Pleasant surprises, and some not so pleasant

2009-06-14T23:52:00.000-05:00

I signed the loan papers Friday evening and will deposit the money in the morning. I am now (gulp) a business owner, along with the joys and the tribulations that come along with that.

On the joy side of things, it turns out I did all my profit and loss projections using numbers from the larger loan amount I went after (purposeful on the part of the REAP people who gave me the loan), so my loan payment turned out to be nearly $240 less than I had projected. THAT kind of suprise I will take any day! :)

Another joy was discovering the hardwood oak floors under all the grime in the caboose. Pretty! I want to sand them down and stain them, but my hubby thinks I am biting off more than I can chew. He thinks I should just paint them. He did, however, work really hard to get all the dirt, grime and old paint off them with the pressure washer this weekend. The look much better, and once they are dry, I'll take some new photos.

I will pick up red/orange/whatever implement paint at the ranch supply store tomorrow, as it is cheaper than regular paint and covers rust well. It is also impervious to the elements, so it is the perfect choice for the exterior of the caboose. Whatever version of red it turns out to be, it will be coupled with John Deere yellow or a similar color of exterior paint on the ends and on the cupola. I had thought I would spray on the paint, but my father-in-law thinks it would be easier to roll it on. I think I will spray the ends (extruded metal on the decks won't take a roller well), then roll the red on the sides (covering any overspray from the yellow).

On the tribulation side of things, when we removed the "boiler" from the corner, it turned out not to be empty, and not to have held water -- it was a diesel tank and it was full of red diesel. So, the owners of the building drained it into 5-gallon buckets, but it leaked all over the floor inside. We got most of it up with the power washer and some degreaser.

Another tribulation was that when we took the old diesel stove out and removed the plywood plank it was sitting on, we found that the plank covered a very large burn hole in the floor. I made sure the caboose owners knew about that one! I sure wouldn't want them to think I did it with the wood stove!

The plumber came to put in the toilet, but the used (hardly used and very clean) one we planned on putting in was too big, and of course, the newer smaller ones, cost approximately $60 more than the older larger style does. So, my $350 bathroom plumbing bill just went through the roof -- because a lot more man hours will now be involved, and I have to buy a brand new toilet.

The local electrician is too busy to take on another job, and there isn't another "local" guy, so I am now going to make the round robin of calls to electricians from neighboring communities to find someone with time on their hands, who can drop everything to help me get this thing wired. I'm already looking at mid July before I can be up and running, and that is IF we can find someone to run the electrical and wire the caboose, and IF we can find someone to run the water line and put in a septic tank (and do it all cheaply -- as the estimates for both are $8000 but I was only awarded $2500 towards that).

Then, to make matters worse, I sit down to make out my orders and I find gold has QUADRUPLED in price since I applied for the loan, so my "gold stock" line item is woefully inadequate.

But, the extranneous items are now out of the caboose -- no more desks, stools, diesel stoves or tanks, and no more iron whatevers soldered to the walls. The floors and walls are clean and we covered over two of the leaking windows with plastic, which should prevent further floor damage due to water.

Next weekend I will paint the exterior while the family goes camping.

This week I have to take the pressure washer back to the rental agency (65 miles away) and buy paint and Father's Day gifts on Monday and hurry back for my daughter's t-ball game in the afternoon; work at the gallery on Tuesday and get my state pieces ready to go; drive the state pieces to the state show in Kearney (120 miles away) on Wednesday and get back in time to take my daughter to the rodeo 65 miles from home (in the other direction) that evening. Thursday will be a momentary chance to breathe. Whew!

Saturday I would like to take a landscape pastel course at the state conference, but it is probably full already, and pick up the state entries (hopefully leaving one or both of mine behind for the traveling show because I received Awards of Excellence). Lofty dreams, since I have never won an award at the state show.

I HAVE, however, been hard at work creating pieces for the upcoming "Summer" challenge at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/.

I have two seraphinite pieces and two lapis lazuli/sodalite pieces so far.

Now I had better work some more on my orders so I can keep my budget in line.

Happy creating!

Getting orders ready, writing tutorials, and waiting some more

2009-06-10T19:39:00.001-05:00

I will have the loan money in hand on Friday. So, I am working on my order for display and packaging materials. I will place it as soon as the check hits my hand. My husband will pick up the power washer on Saturday and we will scour that caboose from top to bottom on the inside. After the floor dries, I will sand it down (after I texture and paint the walls, so I can sand off any spills).

Speaking of the floor -- after removing some of the interior components of the caboose, I had a very pleasant surprise -- under all that dirt and grime hides a beautiful oak hardwood floor! So, it will be lovingly sanded, stained and varnished, or perhaps just sanded and oiled to a beautiful glowing shine.

I'm thinking I will do the interior like an old dining car -- glowing wood, hunter green upholstery and great art and photography on the walls.

The caboose owner helped me by tearing out the desks that were bolted securely to the wall with bolts that were rusted down. The old boiler still has to go, as does the old diesel stove -- which will be replaced with a small woodstove currently stored in the barn at my in-laws. I will use the stove to heat the place during the day, and a small space heater at night or when I am gone.

A friend of mine pointed out to me today that I will be getting the store open just in time for the Sturgis bikers to be coming through, so I would be wise to design some jewelry that might interest them. Good thought and I'll get right on that!

I wrote a tutorial for the "Jewelry for Him" Challenge on http://www.jewelrylessons.com/. The tutorial is called "Totally Handmade Cufflinks" and will hopefully be available within a day or two. I used larvikite cylinder beads and sterling wire to make the cufflinks. Too bad I don't know any men who wear cufflinks! I guess I will put them in the store.

Well, my son is tired and cranky, so it is time to sit with him and snuggle him to sleep, then perhaps I can create something new. :)

The Waiting Game Again

2009-06-08T11:49:00.000-05:00

The loan is approved, but the money won't be in my hand until Thursday. However, I am at a standstill until the caboose is wired. I need to powerwash the interior to get out years of accumulated dust and grease, but those things run on electricity. I want to orange peel the interior, but once again, electricity is an issue and it can't be done until AFTER I use the powerwasher. I want to sand the floors, but need to powerwash and orangepeel BEFORE I can do that. So, I'm waiting.

I sprayed a bunch of recalcitrant bolts yesterday and I hope to be able to remove them today. I need to get the desks, the diesel stove and the boiler out so I can make room for my workbench, work station, my desk, the display area and a safe.

I have hauled a few things out, but more needs to go.

I met with the plumber over the weekend and he will change out the railroad toilet for a regular one and insulate the pipes coming up from the ground to the caboose. I would like to have hot water, but I don't know where I would put the water heater. Hot water on demand is a bit pricey, so I'll probably just make do with cold water, or microwave some when I want some warm or hot water.

It was suggested that I contact Burlington Norther Railroad to see if they would be interested in donating the paint to take the caboose back to its original colors. After perusing caboose photos, it appears that would be a green body with canary or butter yellow ends and white trim and lettering. Not the best colors to grab attention in a world that is covered with green prairie grasses, but it would look nice and would keep the caboose true to its history (not to mention save me a lot of money).

So, the caboose would end up with similar (but brighter) colors to what it has now on the outside. On the inside I think I will emulate the old dining cars, with dark wood, hunter accents and cream colored walls. I want it to look rich but bright enough to work as an art gallery as well.

My neighbor is a master woodworker and he is working me up a bid to build the workstation and the display area. His work is awesome, so I'm sure they will look great!

Better go fix lunch for the kiddos and perhaps make some jewelry!

Happy creating!

A Lot of Work Ahead Of Me

2009-06-06T10:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, the loan money is on the way -- now the work really begins! The caboose is cute from the outside, but it needs a lot of TLC on the inside! I need to scrub, scrub, scrub, years of debris and dirt from everywhere, plus I need to get it plumbed and wired. I also need to paint the interior, paint the exterior, plant a garden, build a deck, build a picnic table, paint the trash cans, build a workbench, build display areas, and make some really big signs.

I am still fine tuning my list of equipment and supplies so I can get the best bang for my buck -- but I am held back by the fact that I don't know what plumbing and electricity are going to cost. I can't find a plumber and the local electrician hasn't called me back yet, despite numerous messages.

So, today I will probably carry a cooler of hot water down there and start cleaning. I really need a power washer to power all the grime out of the interior, but since there is no water nearby I am going to have to just use elbow grease. I think I'll dig out my luggage cart and just cart the cooler back and forth with water. Fun!

I'm waiting on my husband to return so I can leave the kids with him -- the place spooks my daughter and my son would want to "help," which would mean he would end up covered with water and dirt and the caboose would be in worse shape than it started in as he "touched" everything with wet hands, transferring dirt from one place to another. He LOVES that caboose though and we have to go "visit" it every day.

I'm going to have my daughter help paint, so it feels a bit more "hers" and less scary to her.

I'd better get to work!

99.9% Sure I'm A Business Owner!

2009-06-04T04:19:00.000-05:00

I was informed yesterday that my final loan call will be held at 9 a.m. Monday, but that it is basically a formality -- the decision has already been made, essentially -- that I will get the loan. So, as early as next Wednesday or Thursday, I could have a check in hand and be on my way to being a business owner.

So, time to find a plumber and an electrician (and possibly a painter) to do all the necessary work on the caboose.

It is also time to begin cleaning! The place is filthy -- but it will be hard to clean without running water! I wonder if there is a hydrant nearby with a bunch of hose available.

To keep my mind from racing, I have been doing some wire wrapping and I made my daughter a pendant and wrapped a cabochon that was given to me because it was damaged. I was really happy with the way both of them turned out -- which is not generally the case with my wire wrapping.

The first piece was a black onyx briolette teardrop and it turned out okay. I was working with a tutorial from Lisa Barth, and it was awesome. I actually came away with something wearable.

The second piece was a tumbled pink stone my daughter brought home from a field trip -- quite a challenge shape-wise, and I made it rather fancy, because my daughter loves "fancy" things. It also turned out to be reversible, which is cool.

The third was a petrified bog teardrop cabochon with a small crack in the center, given to me by a very nice man named Robert who has a shop called SilverLeaf on Artfire. I wrapped it to hide the flaw and showcase the colorations. He will cut me two more to match for earrings. It will make a pretty set.

Better get to bed -- it is LATE or early, but my restless legs wouldn't let me sleep.

Sales, Smiles, Sunburn and Sighs

2009-06-02T09:01:00.000-05:00

Smiles all around as we had a GREAT week at the gallery with lots of visitors and a large number of sales.

In the past two months I have sold four stone necklaces out of the gallery, as well as a 16x20 framed photo. I also sold out of notecards in the gallery as well as the motel that sells my cards in the lobby. Several other members had large sales too -- so everyone is extremely happy.

My latest sale was a one-of-a-kind Owyhee picture jasper necklace that looks like the Nebraska Sandhills where I live. The focal stone looked like rolling hills, with a soapweed growing in the foreground. It was strung with gold-filled corrugated beads along with desert jasper, cream fossil and black onyx beads with a handmade gold-filled chain and clasp and matching earrings. It was called "Soapweed and Sandhills."

I also sold a pearl bracelet and a pair of earrings through my Etsy shop, so the last two months have been good to me. :)

The caboose has been moved and I realized, while on my way home from serving as an EMT at the 50th Annual High School Rodeo out at the Thomas County Fairgrounds this weekend, that it is almost invisible to people coming from the east and west. I have been wracking my brain to come up with a solution to this problem -- but no luck so far. I think it means the caboose needs to be painted red and yellow, but since the lettering does not show up well on the red, I'll have to change it up a bit.

I think I'll paint the ends of the caboose red but trim it out with yellow on the railings, soffit and landing, as well as on the stairs. The sides will be yellow, with red trim and red lettering outlined heavily in black.

I will also put up HUGE signs -- especially to the east and west, angled so they can be viewed from the overpass as well. I see a big investment in plywood and stencils coming up! I'll use the same paint I use on the caboose to tie it all together.

I need to do another mockup of the caboose with the new paint scheme to see how it looks.

We had a good weekend, with a family fishing trip on Sunday. We didn't catch any fish, but we did catch a lot of sunshine and the sunburns that go along with that -- despite copious amounts of sunscreen. The kids had fun playing in the water in the livewell while hubby and I tried many fishing applications to entice the walleye to bite. We ended up catching three short fish we had to throw back. It was a day of family fun despite the fact that we didn't have fresh fish for supper.

The sighs come in from the waiting portion of this whole process. I am by nature, an impatient person, so this several month long loan process has me tied up in knots. I am still so positive that I can make a go of this business, but the past few days the waiting has gotten to me and despite surprisingly good P/L projections, the doubt has had time to creep in -- not doubt that I can manage the business -- but doubt that the loan will be approved. I can't see why it wouldn't be -- the numbers are good -- but I just want this so badly that it scares me!

My husband was even surprised by the numbers that came from a very conservative P/L projection and is now fully on board with the idea -- after realizing I could actually contribute to the family coffers instead of possibly just putting us into debt with the loan.

I think he was simply humoring me before -- although he was supportive -- and now he is excited about the prospect as well.

The board hopefully will convene this week to consider my loan application further. If they agree the business is viable, we will proceed on. If they don't, I am dead in the water -- which would be SO disappointing -- for me as well as for the owner of the caboose who is really excited about the possibilities with this business as I am.

I guess I will just keep praying, as I have a number of area residents who are also waiting with high hopes and a number of repair jobs for me to do.

I guess for now I will just prepare the 4-cheese lasagna I am taking to the community dinner at noon and try to keep my mind off this whole process for a little while. I will also work on a new picture jasper necklace to replace the one that sold.

So, I'm off to cook and create!

Patience, color schemes and more waiting

2009-05-29T08:02:00.000-05:00

Patience is a virtue I struggle mightily with -- whether it be waiting for something I want right now, or in dealing with my children -- so waiting to hear back about the loan for my business is eating me alive!

I turned in my P/L projections and now all I can do is wait for the board to review it and make their decision. The waiting is killing me -- but not as badly as bad news would. So, no news is good news, no news is good news,... that is my mantra for the moment.

In the meantime, I have distracted myself by working on some mockups of the exterior of the caboose -- trying to help myself decide what color to paint it. I can't use my first choice -- hunter green and tan, because then the caboose would blend right into the Sandhills surrounding it -- and we want this thing to be eye-catching, not fade away. I am definitely NOT an architectural artist -- pretty rough! They get the job done though!

So, my second choice would be butter yellow with hunter green trim. That one looks pretty good -- the lettering shows up well and is easy to read too. It is a pretty combination and would look great with the garden I am planning to put out front.

My third choice, burgundy and hunter green is pretty, but too dark and the lettering is hard to read.

My fourth choice (and the brightest) is very visible, but the lettering is hard to read -- however the red and yellow would certainly stand out. My biggest fear is that the red paint would take five coats because red paint is notoriously "streaky" and hard to work with.

I could switch the colors and make the main body of the caboose yellow and the trim red, but those are Union Pacific colors (the main train here in Nebraska) and this is Burlington Northern country up here. Actually, the caboose is currently Burlington Northern colors, but it blends right into the sky and the grass with those colors, so leaving it as is will not work.

So, it has been narrowed down to the butter yellow with hunter green and the red with yellow. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

I spent yesterday making a tray full of craft wire rings as well, so that families who stop in will have an affordable option for their youngsters who will want some "jewelry" but will promptly lose it after wearing it for a day. I know I would rather pay a $1 for that eventuality than $60 when it comes to my children, at least until they are older and (hopefully) learn to take better care of their belongings.

This work may all be for naught too, as I do not have final loan approval yet and may not know for another week! I will be so CRUSHED if this does not work out!

I am so excited about the opportunity to serve my community with jewelry repairs, watch batteries and custom jewelry, as well as offering an affordable line of quality jewelry of my own design.

Time to get the kids ready so we can work at the gallery again today. The weather is supposed to be nice, so I think they will get to take their bikes today (okay, she can take her bike and he can take his big wheel).

Hopefully my wire order will have arrived and I can "create" happily while they play. :)

Profit and Loss Plans, Moving Cabooses and Name Changes

2009-05-27T18:47:00.000-05:00

I got good news from my hubby today when he called to tell me the caboose has been moved to it's new location. I did some rejoicing, but it was tempered by the knowledge that I still have to get the final approval from the REAP loan board before I am truly in business.

The knowledge was also tempered later when I found out the movers had forgotten to "flip" the caboose, so what is to be the studio end of the caboose would face the parking lot.

So, from the "kitchen" area, I have a wonderful view of the parking lot where customers will be coming from, and from the "working" or "studio" end I have a wonderful view of a grassy field.

Don't get me wrong, I like grass and green and sky, but I really did want to be able to see my customers coming and have them be able to access the business easily from the parking lot.

Now I have to make the access ramp even longer, and I will have to place the signage differently, because the caboose is also not angled as was planned.

The side facing the road is the side that needs paint, so I will not be able to put that large, time-consuming and expensive chore off, unfortunately.

Since the caboose is located about 300 yards further back from the road than I thought it would be, I will have to be sure to paint it to be extra bright -- I am thinking the red with yellow is the requisite color scheme at this point, although I still prefer the thought of hunter green and yellow.

I am also thinking the addition of a picnic table and some trees to the garden out front to make it inviting for people to visit will be helpful.

I talked with the owner of the caboose, who has some old railroad ties and he said I could use those to make the handicap access ramp. That would be fitting, considering the shop IS in a caboose! They would certainly be sturdy too!

I finished my profit and loss projections for the year and got them turned in. I tried to be as conservative as possible, but could only realistically project amounts for items I have already sold via the gallery and I could only guesstimate the other items.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite a large monthly loan payment and other expenses, even with conservative estimates, this is a money-making opportunity -- I was simply hoping to show I could break even. :)

Once I begin working with GROW Nebraska, I expect those numbers to triple through sales via the website I will have them help me build. They also offer numerous other cooperative marketing opportunities and cooperative advertising, as well as "Holiday Shops" at malls across the state, all of which increase sales opportunities and visibility immensely.

Along with the process of doing the P/L estimates, I decided that since this business is getting to be more like a gallery, I should use my name -- for name recognition in the industry purposes -- as part of the business name. So, instead of Sandhills Emporium, I am going with Dawn E. Bryant Designs. I hope I won't regret that decision.

Anyhow, now it is time to hold my breath and pray again, as I wait for the final decision from the loan board. OOOOH, I HATE waiting!

I am so excited (and scared) about the possibility that within a few short weeks I could be a business owner!

I had better go make supper and work on the list of supplies I need to purchase to get everything set up properly.

Happy creating!

Waterlogged, but back from vacation

2009-05-26T08:55:00.001-05:00

I'm back from a week-long vacation with family and friends at Merritt Reservoir near Valentine, NE.

We had fun, but returned totally waterlogged, as it rained nearly every day. We caught lots of fish, enjoyed fresh air and enjoyed camaraderie with friends, but I am glad to be home where there is no sand in my bed, no spiders on the walls, and no threat of ticks in my hair.

The scenery was beautiful and I took a bunch of photographs.

It continues to rain here, so even though we have solid walls and a solid ceiling, the world is still drenched and full of puddles. At least we now have dry clothes.

Today I work at the gallery and continue work on my business plan, which needs refining.

I also plan to do a prismacolor painting from one of the photos I took of the lake.

Off to work I go! :)

pendants, graduations and business plans

2009-05-18T12:01:00.000-05:00

I spent the evening last night making a beautiful necklace from a prismacolor painting I did of a stark tree set against an orange post-storm sky and when I got to the earrings, I found I had punched the hole in one of them too close to the top and there was almost no plastic above the hole. It broke, of course. Grrrr! Now I have to redo those. I used my new toggle clasp style on the necklace and it looks awesome! I'll post photos after I redo the earrings. The photo I was working from can be seen to the left. It is the photo that was selected to go to the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs (ANAC) state show in Kearney this June. I hope it does well -- I've gone to state before, but I have never won an award there.

I worked on my wire wrapping skills last night too, even though I did not have heavy enough wire for the project. I should have used 18-20g dead soft square wire, but all I had was 22g half hard round. The piece can be seen in the photo above. I have GOT to sell something so I can afford to buy some new supplies! Until I get the loan to open up my business, I am broke, broke, broke! Sure hope I get it!

I have finished my business plan (rough draft) and will get it sent to the very nice gentleman at REAP who has been helping me with this whole loan process. He will look at it and make suggestions for improvements before I turn in the formal version. He is out of town today and I leave town tomorrow, so it will be a week before we compare notes. I am so anxious to get this whole process over with and get the business open (if it is meant to be).

My daughter graduates from kindergarten today -- complete with a gap-toothed smile because she lost both of her top front teeth in the past week. She looks so beautiful in a white dress with a lime green sash, white tights and white sandals. Her beautiful caramel brown hair is cut into a bob just above her shoulders and fits her sunny personality perfectly. She is so smart and sweet and she just brings tears to my eyes! :)

I had better go get dressed up for graduation and package the homemade chocolate cookies were are taking for the reception.

Happy creating!

Creative Day Today

2009-05-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

I stayed up all night to finish a necklace I started weeks ago. The painting had turned out so well, but when I baked the plastic, it deformed as it shrank. I decided to try filing the edges and wow, it worked! So, since I am out of the wire I would usually use, I tried something new -- a triple strand of glass e-beads in pastel colors. Even my husband liked it and he is pretty non-commital about anything except my PMC jewelry.

I designed a new kind of toggle clasp to go with it. It really came out pretty and feminine, yet still personifies the Nebraska Sandhills where I live. The tutorial for this pendant can be found here: http://http//www.jewelrylessons.com/jewel/node/19874

I am considering writing a tutorial for the toggle clasp, as it is so easy to customize it to any piece of jewelry I am making and other people might like it for that very reason too. Who knows -- not all things appeal to the people we think they will appeal to. :)

I also made a few bracelets using my tutorial for a wire-wrapped bangle bracelet, thinking "masculine thoughts" because the challenge at http://www.jewelrylessons.com/, where my tutorials reside, is to use existing tutorials to make jewelry for men, since Father's Day is coming up. That tutorial can be found here:http://http//www.jewelrylessons.com/jewel/node/22724

I found that square stones don't work as well as round ones and need something across them to keep them from "flipping."

On the other hand, I found that drum beads look very masculine and they don't "flip." The wrap comes out looking more square than with round beads, and therefore, more masculine.

I'd best be off to write that tutorial while I have peace and quiet (the house is actually empty right now).

Happy creating!

I made it into a treasury on Etsy! Cool!

2009-05-16T17:06:00.000-05:00

I made it into a treasury on Etsy -- one of my mule deer photos is featured here: http://http//www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=58362 thanks to Bellasweetboutique, a fellow Nebraska Etsyan. She also featured my friend Marcia Shelton, how cool is that?

Still working on the business plan -- just about done with the rough draft though. This is a good thing because it definitely makes me look at things to make sure I have thought everything through and I am not just jumping into something I am not ready to handle.

I was able to answer all the questions, so I must be doing okay. Whether I answered them well enough or not remains to be seen!

One of my building possibilities exited the building today. The larger of the two buildings needed to have a power pole put up so power could be restored to the building and the plumbing had all been removed due to pipe breakage under the cement floor. The owner informed me today that it would cost too much to fix those issues and he is going to tear the building down. Since I have been using the building as a storage unit too, this is doubly bad news.

Hopefully the caboose will still work out. It is much smaller and does not have room for storage, so I am now on a quest for suitable space for the stored stuff. Help!

I was weighing the two buildings heavily in my mind and loved the space of the larger one, but the location of the caboose is just too good. I would have still pursued the larger building if the caboose fell through though. Now I have no "fallback" building and may have to put my shop in my teeny tiny trailer, which would cut down on overhead costs, but would seriously curtail space as I would have to fit my shop into my 5x8 ft office that is already full of -- office stuff! Yikes!

It would definitely NOT be an ideal location, although everyone in town knows how to find me. Actually, I could advertise the location easily enough as we live next to the baseball field a block off the highway, but the passerby stop-ins would be seriously curtailed and I could get a lot of business from the tourist trade.

Better think about making supper!

Working on the business plan, planning repair prices and choosing paint colors

2009-05-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

I've been working on the business plan I have to submit as the next step in the process of getting a loan to open up a jewelry repair/design business.

When my eyes began to cross, I started calling area jewelry stores to find out what they charge for various repairs. Crikeys! Prices have more than doubled in the last 10 years! If I charge prices like that I will be run out of town for sure!

So, now, I have to figure out my costs for repairs and figure out a price that is fair to both my customers and myself. I sure hope I can offer lower prices than my competitors -- wow are they high!

I know for sure that I don't need to charge $10 to change a watch battery -- unless it is a specialty battery. Holy moly! I'm thinking more in the $3-5 range.

I've got more figuring to do on the other things. I'm hoping to be able to do half the price of the most expensive place and at least slightly under the others.

My son loves the caboose I am planning to put the shop in, but my daughter thinks it is "creepy." So, I got her involved with the process by letting her help me choose the paint colors.

We ended up deciding on hunter green for the majority of the caboose and a soft yellow called Colonial Cream for the trim.

I did have to remind her that pink, lavendar and purple (as well as fuschia and magenta) were not necessarily good choices for the outside of a business and that the owner of the caboose doesn't want colors like that either.

Inside I will use the same green on the floor, and the walls will be a light cream color (with warm tones).

Perhaps all a bit country, but I am not too keen on what is currently in style. I watch HGTV and just shake my head that they want to take us back to the ugly colors from the 60s and 70s. Ick!

I have to be able to look around myself as I work and be happy with what I see and I like greens and yellows and "woodsy" tones. I also want my customers to feel serene, not all hyper.

Oh Happy Day -- Made it past step one!

2009-05-14T12:02:00.001-05:00

The REAP board met this morning and discussed my loan application. They unanimously agreed that it warranted going to the next step. This is not ultimate approval, just not an instant turndown.

Now I have my work cut out for me as I have to draw up a business plan, which requires coming up with numbers like expected income/expenses (which are unknown as this is a new, not existing business).

I also have to prove that I can develop a webpage for online sales and show what organizations I will participate in to help my business grow.

I could still lose out on this business by not doing a good enough job on this part of the application process. Gulp!

However, it was a major hurdle to get over today and I made it! :)

Now, time to get to work on the hard part!

Oh yes, I took some photos of the caboose to send to the loan board. I haven't decided for sure what color to paint it, but I will cross that bridge if this loan actually goes through!

Loan Board Meets Tomorrow

2009-05-13T17:36:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow will be a "Make It or Break It" day for me. The REAP board meets concerning my loan to open the jewelry repair/design shop. My credit stinks, so I have to get the board to overlook that and see the merits of the business to both myself and the community.

Living as far from major cities as we do, there is not a repair shop within 65 miles to the south and close to 100 to the east. To the north and west we are talking several hours. The nearby shops are so swamped it takes months for repairs to be finished and the cost is high.

I don't know how many places in the state offer the services of custom-designed jewelry, but certainly no one nearby our humble town.

Most of the residents here own more than one watch so if the battery goes bad, they have another one to wear until they get somewhere to buy a battery, so the ability to just stop by the shop to pick up a watch battery would be invaluable, as would the ability to repair broken chains and clasps, size rings up and down or repair a broken mounting.

I would also offer sterling and gold filled jewelry findings, high quality focal stones and cabochons and some better quality stone and gemstone beads, which are not available within hours of here.

That is all in addition to the most fun part of all -- custom jewelry! At my shop I would have the ability to make jewelry to order, from nearly pure silver. People with large fingers who can't find ready made jewelry would be able to order their own custom pieces. Anyone wanting jewelry with their "brand" on it would be able to order just what they wanted. The ability to make custom belt buckles, belt tips and dress spurs exists as well.

Please, please, please, let the loan board see the value in this shop!

I will be praying throughout the night and I would appreciate any prayers from anyone else out there who is so inclined as well. Thanks!

If the loan is not approved, I guess I will offer the artwork, photography and jewelry I can make without electricity and machines, but it will be hard to make the rent that way.

Praying hard until then! :)

Thinking Colored Pencil today

2009-05-13T08:19:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about the colored pencil portrait I did of my son,"Boy With A Rock," and how most of it came out pretty good, but the water in the background didn't turn out as well and detracts from the overall portrait. I have been wracking my brain to come up with a way to make it better and I haven't figured it out. I did another one of my daughter that came out really well, but I left the background out of it.

I know my colored pencil guru, Ann Kullberg, would know what to do. I have been anxiously awaiting her new book that has a colored pencil drawing of mine in it -- "Tomatoes and Old Colander". The book is a critique of various colored pencil paintings, and I know she will have lots of excellent constructive criticism in it. It is slated to come out sometime this month and is titled "Colored Pencil Secrets to Success."

She has a sale going on right now and I wish I had the money to order a bunch of things. She has this sale only twice a year. Bummer! I haven't even been able to order a copy of the book with my own artwork in it! Check out the book and the sale at http://www.annkullberg.com/. She has awesome colored pencil kits that really teach you how to layer the color to get depth and fullness to your drawings.

I really owe Ann a lot, because she is almost solely responsible for any skill I have with colored pencils. I wouldn't be able to do my colored pencil shrink art jewelry if it wasn't for Ann!

I had better eat lunch and head out to do my newspaper story this afternoon.

Happy Designing!

The Waiting Game

2009-05-12T17:46:00.000-05:00

I turned in my information to the loan board, and now I get to wait, which is very hard for an impatient person like me. Of course, the fact that I have never wanted anything so badly in my life makes this whole process exceptionally hard for me.

I've been mulling this idea since last July and have been actively pursuing a loan for three months now, so I guess I have already been pretty patient. OOOhhh, ulcers are growing!

Sigh, I guess all I can do is continue waiting -- no news is good news, I guess. At least it isn't a phone call saying I was turned down (yet). :)

In the meantime, I did some Prismacolor paintings on shrink plastic today while I worked at the art gallery, so tonight I will shrink those and get them ready to use in jewelry. I did one of a stormy sky with a lone tree silhouetted against it, another of a soapweed at sunrise and a third one of a sunset at the lake. Hopefully they will come out okay -- sometimes the shrink plastic comes out a bit cockeyed after it shrinks.

Time to make supper!

Working on Business Plan

2009-05-12T00:22:00.001-05:00

Ugh, not fun, but necessary -- I'm working on my business plan to present to the loan board. Basically, it helps me outline exactly what the business would be and it helps me to see any areas I may have overlooked. So far I hadn't missed much.

The caboose owner is checking into cheaper ways of running electricity and plumbing to the caboose. I sure hope he finds something! Talk about pricey!

Meanwhile, I continue to clean the caboose up (amazing amounts of dust have accumulated in there) in preparation for painting and building.

I researched Burlington Northern cabooses today and found they came in several colors -- hospital green with bright yellow trim, bright green with bright yellow trim, gunmetal gray, and red with yellow trim.

I wish I could paint it burgundy with hunter green trim (or vice-versa) or hunter green with tan trim, but it needs to be bright enough to catch the eye of those driving over the railroad overpass so they can see it before they need to decide which direction to go as they come off the overpass.

So, it may end up being hunter green with bright yellow or butter yellow trim, or red with yellow trim. Inside it will look like an art gallery with cream colored walls and a dark floor. Art and photography will decorate the walls and jewelry will be displayed in cabinets and on shelves.

There will be a flower and rock garden out front and hanging plants on the landings.

I want the place to be noticeable, but very classy.

Mainly, I want it to be functional and full of all the tools I need to repair jewelry and to design and create custom jewelry.

Located at the intersection of highways 2 and 83, anyone passing through the state east/west or north/south will have to pass by this caboose. The possibilities for tourist traffic are high. Cross advertising with the local art gallery will direct people to the "fine arts" offered by a tiny town in the Sandhills of Nebraska and will most likely surprise them immensely.

Okay, enough dreaming, time to finish this business plan!

Loan application updated

2009-05-10T23:45:00.001-05:00

Okay, I've got my loan application updated and sent in. Now, if we can just get this loan to go through, I will be in business (literally). I really hope this goes through, because I have so much time and hope invested already, that it will break my heart to not be able to make a go of this. I have dreamed of this shop for years. I have so much to offer the community through my repairs and custom jewelry (not to mention watch batteries), and perhaps I could even (hope of hopes) make a little money to help the family out.

PMC creations, stone necklace and earring sets, prismacolor painting jewelry, wire wrap jewelry, fine jewelry, metalsmith jewelry, art, photography, etc... oh the possibilities are endless!

I've been praying about this for months already -- I just hope God and I are on the same page -- if not, I may have to put my dreams on hold or give them up altogether.

My new tutorials have not been posted yet, but I do have two tutorials available at www.jewelrylessons.com

Better get the bed made and go to sleep.

Keep those creative juices flowing!

Dawn

A Great Mother's Day Gift

2009-05-10T14:08:00.001-05:00

In addition to the flowers, hugs, kisses, cards and grilled steak for supper, from my family, I was given a great Mother's Day gift today by a friend. He found someone to move the caboose! :) Yeah! There is still a chance to get my business opened up and going. Now I just need more prayers that the loan will be approved (yes, I'm conversing with God regularly) and I will be able to get this thing going! Jewelry repairs, jewelry design, art, photography and more -- a combination jewelry repair/design shop and art gallery. Fun! Wish me luck! Thanks Marvin!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Why I am selling my focals instead of wire wrapping them

2009-05-09T18:56:00.000-05:00

Several people have asked me why I have focal pendants for sale, but still look for damaged cabs to wire wrap -- because I stink at wire wrapping! I can use my focals for my stone necklace sets, where I don't wire wrap them, but then they have to be perfect, because there is no way to hide any blemishes. I look for messed up cabs to practice wrapping with craft wire, so I am not wasting good quality wire and if it comes out pretty good, I can still wear it myself. Gotta practice somehow! :) I want to get as good at wire wrapping as many of the people I admire are -- and I have got a very long ways to go! Yikes!

On that note, I think I'll do a prismacolor painting -- wire wrapping is testing my patience today.

I am, therefore I create.

Dawn

Out of supplies, so writing tutorials

2009-05-09T16:19:00.000-05:00

I can't just sit around and do nothing, so since I am out of wire, I have been playing with craft wire and my camera and working up tutorials. I posted three to be published at www.jewelrylessons.com and changed another from a $4 cost to free (I didn't realize that would put it into pending status, so who knows when it will be back). Tutorials on the way include: Double Spiral Ring -- FREE!; Round and Almond Artisan Ear Wires -- FREE!; and Wire Wrapped Bead Bangle Bracelet -- $5. My Artisan "S" Hook tutorial will be free once it gets released from pending status as well.

I have posted some great new focal stones to my Etsy supply site as well. I have also lowered some prices rather drastically. Check it out at www.sandhillsemporium.etsy.com.

I think I will work on some mini Prismacolor paintings for now (and more laundry and dishes, blech).

Keep creating!

Dawn

Got creative and used up supplies

2009-05-09T11:33:00.000-05:00

I've been creating, creating, creating lately and I used up all my supplies! There are more on order, but I am sort of at a standstill until they arrive.

I had custom orders for two necklaces last week with handmade chains, which used up a lot of wire (they were originally ordered with satin cords instead of chain, so I hadn't ordered wire).

I have some beautiful mini prismacolor paintings that I would like to wire wrap and make into jewelry, but lack of wire precludes that.

Hmmm, need to make some sales so I can place a BULK wire order -- then I wouldn't have this problem!

I've got lots of gorgeous focal beads that I need to do something with too -- where do I start? Guess I'll throw a load of laundry in until my muse hits me.

Have a good day everyone! :)

2009-05-09T02:31:00.000-05:00

I photographed, wrote and posted two jewelry tutorials to http://www.jewelrylessons.com/ today. Hopefully they will be approved and published within a week or two, depending on how backed up they are. They are great for beginners to wire wrapping, but even those with more experience might enjoy them. One is for a double spiral ring and the other is for a wire wrapped bead bangle bracelet. I am stoked about getting those done!

Not so stoked about other things in my life.

Still no word on the shop. The owner of the caboose is having trouble finding someone to move it, and it may end up becoming scrap iron if he has to sell it to the state simply to avoid fines because they need it moved to make way for the overpass.

If only Burlington Northern Railroad would move it for us -- what good PR that would be! To move the caboose and see it get painted up all shiny and pretty and be put to good use again instead of rotting in a field! Anyone from Burlington Northern reading this? If you can get this thing moved for us, please contact me ASAP! Thanks!

I am watching my dreams of a jewelry repair/design shop fade away as each day goes by and we can't get this caboose moved. Such a perfect location, such a perfect shop size, what cute factor and what a draw! Not to mention the service I would be offering my tiny community way out in the country and so far away from any jewelry repair shops.

I am getting so bummed!

Jewelry On My Mind

2009-05-07T13:10:00.000-05:00

Want it so bad I can taste it!

I recently attended Camp Comeca, the GPCAA creative arts camp. I was an instructor, teaching basic photographic composition. Fun! I was also able to take some classes myself, and I chose to hone my skills in an area I already work in (jewelry design). So, I took the Metals workshop and the Precious Metal Clay workshop. Cool! I came away knowing where my future lay -- and it is in PMC! I loved the metals class and I will be incorporating many things learned there into my jewelry design. However, I think my true talent lies in the PMC, with which I have so many design options, and the custom jewelry aspect of it is never ending! I made some glorious jewelry that I am very proud of and I hope to make much more of it.

Many of you know that I have been working to get a brick and mortar business open and have been in the process of applying for a loan. Today is a bleak day for me, as I have run into some glitches that may be a deal breaker, whether I can get the loan or not. I was planning to put my jewelry repair/design shop/art gallery in a cute little caboose located at the intersection of two major highways near where I live.

The problem is the cost of running utilities to that cute little caboose. Running a power line to within 100 feet is going to cost $2800 and running water and a septic tank costs another $5000, before any of this is even hooked to the caboose!

The loan board does not want to loan that kind of money for a building I don't own (can't blame them for that). I can't afford to do it myself, and the owner of the caboose doesn't want to put out that kind of money either (very understandably) after paying to move the caboose from one side of his building to the other so they can put in a new railroad overpass.

Beyond all of this, I still have to get the loan, which also won't be easy. So, right now everything is kind of on hold. I've been in this process for almost three months now (seven if you count the first building I was looking at) and it is such a letdown to be ground to a halt.

All I can do is pray, pray, pray, I guess. Any other prayers are welcome as well.

My soul is crying out to work with PMC! This would help the family finances as well. My hopes and dreams are all wrapped up in this project! I want it so badly I can taste it!