Websites, Workshops and Weaving

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

Lack of supplies spawns creativity with copper wire

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!

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!