by lorigreenberg on July 8, 2010
If you’re a facebook friend and caught some recent posts and pictures you might already know that I’ve picked the jewelers torch up once again. I went to the Bead & Button show early this year to hang out with my buddy Chris Mode and to ‘help’ her in one of the the metal smithing classes she was teaching. I learned how to make a ring from a strip of metal sheet and how to set a bezel and stone. This was the result:
After that, we had some time to hang around in her 100 year old, red brick school house and she showed me how she solders bezels. This is the second time that someone has shown me and for some reason, this time it clicked. Maybe it is because I’ve tried on my own since the first time and failed. Maybe it’s because Chris has the magic touch. I don’t know. But I’m glad. Here is one of the first pieces I made upon returning home:
It’s a pendant that has a cab set into it that was once a glass bead. So, along with the silver work in this piece, there was a bead made in a torch and then fused in a kiln. If you think about it, that’s lots of hours that went into this piece.
Below is a rind with the same process. The difference is the organic shape of the bezel plate. I am surprised to find that I love sawing and filing and shaping. Chris loves soldering. I tell you, if we would be more near each other, we could really get some stuff done! in collaboration! I think I might just like to take that up with her.
And last, for this post, some links I’m working on. All made with beads that I’ve fused flat. My desire is to have lots of these and to link them together in bracelets and necklaces or to be used as clasps. I’m still working on honing my bezel setting technique and also the loop portion of these. I’m not fully happy with them yet but in a way I do like the primitive look of the metal. I think they would be interesting if they were antiqued also…exploiting the roughness of the silver from working it too much.
So, there you have it. My second (third?) foray into silver work. Now, I must head up to the UPS store to pick up my order from Rio with all of my new silver and a couple new tools that have been sitting and waiting for me while I was away on vacation. Next, I will receive the necessary die and crucibles that I ordered so that I can pour my own silver ingots and make my own bezel strips and wire sheet. That should be interesting!
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Don’t forget to vote to help Beads of Courage to win a grant from Pepsi for $25,000! Vote every day in July and please pass the link to everyone you can think of. Beads of Courage is currently in 39th place and needs to get into the top 10 to win the grant.
by lorigreenberg on January 25, 2010
Lately I’ve been reading books about people. I guess you could call them biographies. I don’t know why I don’t call them biographies. I prefer “books about people.” People interest me. All kinds. They always have. You’ve heard of people that love to people watch and I love that too but more than that, I like to know what goes on inside their heads, behind the scenes. I guess I’m a version of a voyeur.
Last week I read a book by Carrie Fisher and one about Sarah Palin. This week I have one about John Edward of Crossing Over, one about an art dealer who struggled/s with bipolar disorder and has undergone many electroshock treatments, and a memoir of an anorexic/bulimic. Remember…I have a masters in counseling and disorders and the brain fascinate me.
I’ve dug the deepest into the John Edward book so far and something in it struck me today. Once again I was in a place where I didn’t know what to make. The big Tucson show is less than a week away and I haven’t gotten it together. I’ve had ideas here and there of what I want to show, how I want to show it, what I hope sells, etc. But I haven’t really focused.
So, with six torching days left for me what did I do? I sat down and started making purple hearts for Beads of Courage. WHAT? I haven’t made purple hearts in forever, it seems. And regardless of what I SHOULD be doing, purple hearts it was. At least I had a purpose and knew they would be useful. I had fun messing around with a Zoozii press that I hadn’t used before.
As I was on my sixth purple heart I thought to myself, “This is crazy. I can make purple hearts any time. I need to be making inventory for my show!”
Then it hit me. Something that John Edward said in his book. ”It’s about the work.” And the second you stray from that you’ll get kicked in the teeth, or something to that effect. It’s not about the money. It’s not about the show. It’s not even about survival. If you focus on the work and do what you know you should be doing, it all works out.
Hm.
For me, it really has worked out that way. If I feel like I’m in the flow, in every aspect of my life, good things happen. Sure, bad things happen too, but they’re easier to deal with when the majority of other things seem to be going well.
It’s about the work.
I can hear some of you saying, “but what about the heat bill, and groceries and gas?” I used to worry about that. One day something changed though and I just had faith. I knew it would all work out. And it has. As long as I focused on what I was SUPPOSED to be doing. Sometimes it was my business, sometimes it was kids and family, other times it was church, etc. It changes but I’ve become sensitive to where I’m feeling drawn and I try my best to listen to that.
So, today I did the same with my bead making. The scary thing? I went back to a favorite color combination that has been under-appreciated. People don’t see the richness. The depth. The soul in it. And I don’t know why. I wish I had a whole bathtub of them that I could roll around in. Gray and Orange. I hear ya. But that’s where I was called and I had to go with it. Nothing else would have felt right.
Throughout this post are old pieces in gray and orange. They started out as my Cirque du Soleil beads. I will show you the new, smaller beads when they’re out of the kiln.
by lorigreenberg on January 8, 2010
It is ONE. OF. THOSE. DAYS.
Whew. You know, one of those days where you feel like you have two left feet and you’re all thumbs? I don’t know where they come from but today is my turn to have one. And it’s only 10:30 a.m. so in reality, there is still plenty of time for that to change. In the meantime, something interesting happened on the way to the studio yesterday…
Actually, it’s been a-brewin’ for a while. Since my November studio show I’ve been busy with custom orders and requests. When I do take a custom order I usually provide a few choices. This is what is left from one of the bead requests:
The request was for one of my raku focal beads, made larger and with a “little more” white. It was an interesting request because I never thought that white would go with with my black and raku beads. I believe it was being purchased for someone who wore a lot of black and white. The third bead shown here did have white however, it turned yellow which is kind of interesting.
On top of those types of orders I’ve been pumping out some simple but bread & butter production work.
Which led me to start to become a little stressed about the upcoming big Tucson show. I haven’t had time to design a new line for this year and I’m tired of the older ones. I’ve been kicking around the idea, again, of providing spacers or production items this year. But somehow that doesn’t feel like the right thing to do in Tucson. (although, as I type that, I realize that Tucson is the IDEAL place to sell that kind of work). So then I started kicking around the idea of doing both with the inventory I already have in stock.
And then I wanted to scream because I just couldn’t steady my thoughts.
Then, I threw the new-series-for-this-year idea out the window because I just didn’t have time. That was a hard pill to swallow. My next strategy was to come up with something affordable for buyers. Without having design time available (that is the most time consuming for me) I decided to go the play route…what I sit down to make, that is what you get. I started out bright:
The shape is a manageable amount of glass so it doesn’t take forever to get on the mandrel and I did like the playfulness of the glass. However, something was telling me that I needed to tone it down a bit.
So I did. A little bit. In the process I thought about the customers that I had possibly left behind when I went into this bright color phase a couple/few years ago. I felt called to go more earthy for them too.
And that was good. I do enjoy working with grays and silvered ivory. I reached deep into my brain and mulled colors over in my head and briefly consulted Pantone (not like that ever helps me). We needed just a little bit more color, a little reaction and this was the result:
I like. I like a lot. I have no idea if the colors are in, out or even desirable to others but this is where I’m headed. At least, it’s where I’m going to start out today when I hit the torch in a few minutes.
Now. Pricing. Affordable was the goal. I need to be able to sell them wholesale and not lose my shirt. That wouldn’t be pretty. So I’m thinking $26 retail. And now I’m going through the same thing I go through every year around this time. Do I list them for sale on my web site, etsy or ebay or do I hoard them for Tucson, like I should be doing?
How about this…if you like any of them for $26 tell me and you can buy them. Otherwise, I’ll hold them for Tucson. I have to or I’ll be sorry!
And for the record, wholesale is 50% of retail. If you would like to buy wholesale you must SPEND $250 total and can also buy anything on my web site to get to that amount. That means that retail pricing must reach $500 and you will get 50% off.
So there you go. Enjoy the journey and eye candy or go shop!
