A Little Inspiration, Because We All Need It Now and Again

I saw this today and I have to say, I needed it.
If you watch it, I think I'm in the "Waiting Place". Waiting to get well. Waiting for my next gluten free flour to come in. Waiting to get the energy to make a new piece of jewelry. I can't say I like it.
But I thought, as I watched, that at least I now know. I thought, as I watched, of the places I'll go, of the people I'll meet now that I know what I know. (A little Dr. Seuss got in me there, sorry).

I thought, as I watched, that I really needed the positive encouragement, and maybe you do too.

So here you are. With much care and love as only Dr. Seuss can give, and with a great reading by John Lithgow, though the audio isn't the best :)

New Cuff Bracelet in the Works!

 I've been very busy this last little bit with the Farmers' Market in Merrickville and with my lessons at Rain's Art in Metal for my metalsmithing courses. This is the last piece I did at her studio, and it is still in progress as I have quite a bit of work to do. I took a piece of 16 gauge copper sheet, sawed it into a 6" x 1" length, sanded the surfaces and filed the edges. I then took a piece of beautiful antique lace and wrapped it around the cuff blank and put it through the rolling mill, which exerts high pressure on the metal (and the lace, in this case), to imprint the lace pattern onto the surface of the metal.

 Here is the pattern close up! It doesn't look much like lace, to me it looks a bit like snake scales, but I love it either way. Now I need to get a rolling mill for my own workshop!! The only issue is that, with my being so busy with my baking, I kind of forgot about the cuff bracelet in my bag and when I took it out I noticed that it needed some cleaning on one side. Not a big deal, I just took a scrub brush and warm water with dish soap and started scrubbing. The only problem came when I turned it over to do the other side...

Alas! It has apparently been resting against a piece of copper that I had recently etched, and the etching solution mustn't have been properly rinsed off. Now I'll have to sand that part down, leaving that part potentially with a reduced image on that area. Oh well, live and learn. Now I know NOT to put anything that has been etched anywhere near any other pieces I'm working on!
See you all soon,

Baking Brought to You By - My New Oven!

I love baking first thing in the morning as the sun rises over my dining room table...

 I am sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have had a few small difficulties at home which, combined, have made things pretty hectic. First, I had a pipe start to leak in my basement, which only leaked when I did laundry, but needed a pro to fix. That meant that for the last month I've been doing laundry by hand, in our bathtubs. Fun. Second, our dishwasher started dying a very slow, noisy, agonizing death. It didn't clean properly, it was getting louder by the day, and I ended up doing most of our dishes by hand in the last month. Also fun *snort*. Third, and most distressing to me, our oven died. Well, not exactly died... more the computer board used internally to keep the temperature accurate and even decided to do a salsa dance and make everything very unpredictable, meaning that I ended up ruining a few batches of baked goods for the farmers' markets, ruined a few dinners for Brennan and I, and then caused me to stop baking altogether for the last 3 weeks for fear of ruining more food and wasting more money.

But, just as things were looking so down, the pipe was fixed, and Brennan, being so wonderful (and probably wanting to eat) bought us a new stove AND dishwasher. I love Sears. We got Kenmore appliances on sale and I LOVE THEM! I am now baking bread, my first batch of bread in the new oven, I hope it turns out ok. Our last oven heated a little colder than what it said on the temp gauge, but this one actually heats warmer. I've never had that happen before so I am sort of learning my recipes all over again. I got some great PB cookies last night, and some pretty good oatmeal ones too. Off to bake, I hope to be back here more now that I am starting to catch up on the loads of laundry, dishes and baking that I have to do :)
Have a great day!