Office Cleaning Progress

 Since I last posted about my disaster of an office, I have made some progress. The weather here has been so hot that I haven't really been able to do as much baking as usual - even with the a/c on it is still warm in the house - so I have tried valiantly to make some headway into the scary world that is my office space when I'm not fighting the weeds, exhaustion and house mess. Oh my gosh, can I tell you how much the Wonder Dog is shedding right now?? CHUNKS of fur are falling off this dog every time I look at her, and despite attacking her with the Fur Buster brush every day, at least once per day. I still end up with little fur balls tumbling over my floors. Thank God I have hardwood floors and not carpet, or I would have a black carpet now! I am feeling better day by day so I am starting to have more energy to get things done. Slowly, but they are getting done :)

Anyway... I vacuumed the areas that I could see to get rid of dust and debris (I start my plants in here in the winter and had some dried leaves stuck behind the shelving), and have now started setting up what will be my torching station. You can see the white firebricks next to the mini torch and the quenching bowl. Beside that I have my safety glasses in their case and my breathing mask. Even if you're just doing a little bit of torching, you NEED breathing protection, especially if you have ventilation set up, which I don't (yet). I will also put an oscillating fan in front of the open window to draw out any noxious fumes when I torch. Underneath that shelf is a collection of some of my other necessities - my bracelet measuring tool, paintbrushes for applying various solutions to metals, chalk for keeping metal files working properly, an extra bench pin, my copper sheets and some of my inspiration photos and drawings for new pieces. Eventually, the paper will go on to my bookshelf or my desk, as I don't want anything flammable near my torch.
I still have to get a few more pieces of equipment (not the least important will be a fire extinguisher - safety first!), and then that should be set. I still need to tidy the shelves beside these ones so that I can find and reach everything easily and quickly. That should take another half hour or so.

And, well, the workbench is coming along. I can now actually see the desk, so that is good! I have a few works in progress (WIP's) that will have to get boxed and organized so that I can finish them in a timely manner, reorganize my bead and findings cabinets so that I can see what I need to reorder, what I should destash, etc, and then I'll have everything clear to do my sawing, filing and general beading and jewellery-making. My regular desk is almost clear too, which is great, as I've been using my laptop in the living room and it is killing my neck and shoulders, crunched up all the time. I'm hoping to move my laptop back onto my desk today or tomorrow.

Whew! Finally things are coming together. I really have to thank you all for giving me the inspiration and kick that I really needed to get this moving. I feel so much better about my office already!

We are now getting some much needed rain and it is so much cooler now that I think I'll go and bake some cookies. On today's agenda: peanut butter cookies, some plain and some with chocolate chips, and then oatmeal cookies, some plain, some with raisins, and some with chocolate chips. Yum!

Until next time,

New Project in Progress

I thought I'd show you a bit of a work in progress. I was asked to do a custom bib-style necklace that I had to order some shell beads for, but while I'm waiting for those to arrive, I was inspired by that order to create something a little bit similar, but very different. Above is my little tray that I use quite a bit now - my husband has stolen my good desk chair from my office and is using it for his second desk (yeah, he has two "offices" in our house, don't get me started, lol). So I am stuck beading and making most of my jewelry here on my living room couch. Not that I totally mind - I can watch movies while tweeting to you all or making jewelry, so it isn't too bad.
Here are some of the tools I'm using for this necklace. It will be a bib-style, and in the bib part will start off with a chain mail type chain (a very simple chain mail weave though). To do this, I need my bent chain nose pliers - both pairs! I also need my jump ring opening ring - the little round silver thing in between two pairs of pliers. This little ring is a Godsend for chain mailers everywhere! Pop it on your finger with the correct-sized slot facing out to fit your jump rings and voila! your rings open SO quickly! I also have round nose pliers and my cutters for adding the beads after the chain part is done. In addition, I have some files just in case I need to smooth edges.
Here are my beads! Well, some of them I have also already added some onyx and lapis lazuli chips to the chain for dimension. Above are chips of amethyst, citrine and cherry quartz (which, incidentally, cherry quartz is NOT a gemstone, it is color-impregnated glass. Very pretty and colorfast, but NOT a gemstone!). I also have my headpins. When I start my metals mithing course next month, one of the things I absolutely HAVE to learn is to make my own headpins so that I never, ever, ever run out of these little buggers ever again!
Here is where you can see the stages of the necklace in progress, though I am deliberately keeping you fuzzy (pun intended) on the final necklace's details. Gotta leave something to your imaginations, right?? At the top of the photo above you can see the individual rings which I link one by one to create the simple double linked chain you see in the middle of the above photo. At the bottom you can (hazily) see the chain now has all sorts of bead chips added to it - what fun!! By the end, you'll have a hard time seeing the silver of the rings - it will be almost covered with gemstone chips, so pretty :)

Hope you are all doing well, and once again, thank you to everyone who reads this, even if you don't want to leave comments, or are just an occasional visitor, thank you. I really appreciate you visiting me here, and I hope you'll find the time to stop by my Etsy shop one day soon :)

Have a great day!

Tuesday's Treasures and Arwednesday with Arwen

Well, oops! I was so busy yesterday getting ready for my first ever cooking class that I didn't have time to post the update on my latest project. Sorry about that, but here it is! You can see that I have started adding beads in a cross-weave-type motion to add stability, weight and strength (though you may have to click on the photo to enlarge it). I am now done this layer and will be starting the next layer today. I am very excited, though it does mean it is almost finished, and that makes me sort of sad - I love making these bracelets even though they are very labor intensive.
Here is the view from the top - you can see that I have filled in the whole of the second layer, giving it a more solid, filled-in appearance.
I took this photo this morning, as I am in one of my insomniac bouts right now and 4AM seems to be when my body just cannot stay in bed any longer (despite being awake until at least 1AM, lol). Arwen is, of course, very happy about this as it means that I spend even more time with her. Here she is "Smeyezing", which means smiling with her eyes. If you enlarge the photo, you will see that her eyes are not closed, but making that very happy look with them scrunched up. I thought it was adorable :-)

Tune in tomorrow for the run down on a great cooking class that I did last night with good friend Melody, in conjunction with Nature's Way Select Foods.

That's all for now, have a great "smeyezing" day!
and Arwen

Tuesday's Treasures: Cleopatra's Bangle Progress

Here is the (very Slow) progress I have made on the new bracelet. I keep getting distracted by fall cleaning, doctor's appointments and other things and have to keep putting it down. The good news is that my doctor told me I have acid reflux and not throat cancer (I'd been having a feeling of my throat closing for months so this is a HUGE relief), we got 3 new 2-drawer filing cabinets and FINALLY bought new sofas (on sale, to replace the 18 year old ones that practically sink to the floor!). The bad news is that, or course, my jewelry making has been suffering abysmally.

The base of this bangle is made with right angle weave, which I will be going over afterward in all manner of patterns to build it into a 3-dimensional bangle that feels soft as silk, yet is actually quite hefty. This bracelet uses about 50-60 grams of seed beads, each individually sewn into place with many, many yards of beading thread. This will end up containing AT LEAST 3000 beads!! Yes, I do doubt my sanity at times when doing this, but I must say, with a good TV show or movie on, a good cup of tea and a comfy seat, the time flies and I relax so much it is amazing. I will be covering right angle weave in one of my Method Mondays in the future, if you were wondering what that was :)
Here is the up close - I'm sorry for the bad photos: I took them in my living room window this morning, but as we are still fairly dark at 7AM now, the lighting wasn't so great. It really doesn't show how nice a blue these beads are - sort of an oily, lapis lazuli shade. I'll try to keep you up to date on the progress, and hopefully it won't look so pathetic next time!

Have a great day, tune in tomorrow for another installment of Arwendnesdays with Arwen the Wonder Dog.