Broom Closet Designs

Dreary, Cloudy Day

2007-10-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a bracelet I made out of pewter beads, Chinese crystals, base metal wire, and beading wire. I wanted to make a bracelet that would have fringe hanging down from it. I did make the bracelet, but I haven't made the fringe yet. The bracelet doesn't fit properly and I'm not sure whether I want to take the time to put the extra work into it. I could modify the way it fits and then put fringe on it. Of course, I could put the fringe on it and if it works well, I could modify the fit.

There are so many decisions to make when it comes to artwork and crafts. If you design something yourself, you do have to figure out the design problems. I like doing that with jewelry though, because it does take a certain amount of engineering to get a piece just right, and it's small. I envision making huge big sculptures, but the design problems are magnified by the size. I think it's better to stick with jewelry, at least at this point.

I spent a great deal of time modifying the scans of my etching plates and pencil drawings. Then I formatted about five or six of them into a card format complete with my name, address, etc., so that it would print on the back of the card. I ordered envelopes and cellophane bags to put the cards in. Today I was going to try printing out a few, to see how they look. And would you believe, I can't find the files. Gosh. I'm usually very good about keeping my hard drive organized and tidy, but I cannot find those files. I've looked in every directory and folder. I know I'm getting older, but I didn't expect to lose things on my computer. I lose things in my house, my car, and my studio all the time. But not my computer. Oh, well. I'll do them again I guess.

We had an extra Board Meeting here at Spanish Village this morning, so I have to do the minutes for those. If I wait, I never get them done until the last minute. Then I'll work on my scans again. And the other thing I want to do is get out some of my older sketchbooks at home and do some more scanning. I don't like the idea of printing originals of my etchings and then selling them as greeting cards, but scans of plates and drawings that are modified is different.

Some of the artists in the Village have said that they don't find the greeting cards cost affective, and they may not be, but I don't think art is all about money. It can't be. It has to be about self-expression and then if money comes afterwards that's fine. Gosh, now I don't sound like a very good business woman.

Return Clients

2007-10-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some more of Jon's plants that are blooming. And now we've had some rain, so we may see all kind of blooms soon. The purple plant has little pink flowers on it. I think it's a wandering jew. And the other one with green leaves has a white bud. I don't know what it is. A lotus? I sort of doubt it, but we'll see when it comes out.

I had a particularly nice day today. It was cold and cloudy, and I was cold. The nice thing about the day was that two of my former clients came by wearing necklaces I had made. The one is a women who comes periodically and I recognized her right away and also the necklace. But I had never met the other woman. She purchased my necklace at one of the Village Silent Auctions. It's a necklace that I had worn myself and was very fond of it, I looked at her, and said, "I like your necklace." When she told me she got it at a Silent Auction, I said, "Oh, I made that necklace." And she said one of the other jewelers said she thought I had made it. That made such a nice day for me. It was nice that they also each bought another necklace, but I would have been happy anyway.

Well, this is short this evening, because I couldn't get onto the internet earlier, and now it's late. We have a Board Meeting in the morning, so I want to be alert and rested.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2007-10-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

So once again, I tried to add an image and couldn't. So I went to the Help section of Blogger and there was a suggestion that I turn off my pop-up blocker. I did that and now here is the image I wanted. It's a wonderful, strange looking bloom on the little cactus plant right behind it. The bloom is larger than the stalks of the plant. It looked fuzzy, but I was hesitant to touch it, because I thought it might have spines on it. I took this photo several days ago. I'm sure it's gone now. I've never seen another bloom like it in the Village.

Today it rained in the morning, quite hard. The weather service has been predicting rain every Friday for I don't know how many weeks now. Several weeks ago, we had a few drops and that was it, but last night and this morning we had quite a bit, for us, that is. We get very little rain in San Diego, so really, it wasn't probably more than half an inch, but we desperately need it. We're having a terrible drought.

Because it was raining, I wound up spending the whole day in my studio. I suppose I could have come out in the early afternoon and remained outside, but I spent time trying to straighten up my stuff. I don't know that it looks much better, but I did try to stack all my plastic boxes of beads, enamels, and ceramics at one end of my display table so that there's a little bit of room for a display at one end.

Even though lots of people say an artist's studio should be messy and a jumble of stuff, I still feel embarrassed by mine at times. I'm certainly not the neatest person in the world, but I do like to have everything more or less organized. At this point, I think I can say I know where almost everything is in my studio. I'm not sure I could have said that this morning.

Tomorrow, I'll go on with my projects. I've been working on a black beaded bag. I'm probably more than half way finished with the body of the bag. I'll have to decide what kind of strap I want to put on it and how the fringe will look. And then I want to embellish it. I was going to use it as a Dia de los Murtos piece, but I may reconsider. The matte black beads I'm using would look really nice with some sparkly colored ones embroidered on it. That was my original intent.

Trial and Error

2007-10-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to create a new post. First I couldn't upload the photo I had chosen, and now I've just lost the post that I had written. Such is life with a computer. Sometimes you just can't get the computer to do what you want it to.

I do spend time with the computer, looking up information on the internet. I must say, you certainly can find a whole world of amazing stuff if you look around on the web. I've spent several days now looking at photos of polymer clay beads. Some of them are rather pedestrian and some of them are amazing, beautiful and intricate.

Yes, I'm still looking at and thinking about polymer clay. But I'm determined that I'm not going to just plunge right in with it. I've been doing some reading. I find there are a number of websites that have information about polymer clay and directions for creating various projects. And of course, the thing about looking at polymer clay is that I see various color schemes. That's helpful to me now while I'm working with seed beads and the various colors they come in.

Well, I'm going to go ahead and post this before I lose it, too, and hope to have better luck tomorrow night.

Exchanging Ideas

2007-10-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a plant that grows right near my table. I love the way some succulents have slightly pink edges, as though they're blushing, maybe at all the attention they get. But I don't begrudge them the attention. Although the plants in Spanish Village belong to and are maintained by the artists, with a few exceptions, the whole of Balboa Park is known for its botanical specimens. At one time the San Diego Zoo, part of the Park, advertised itself as having the largest collection of plants in the world, as well as the largest collection of animals. I don't know if that's still true about the plants or the animals, but certainly it gives us the opportunity of observing a great variety of interesting plants.

I'm continuing to work on beadweaving although today I did spend some time on a bracelet of a slightly different style. I made a prototype out of inexpensive beads and wire to see how the design would work. As I make different kinds of bracelets, I see what some of the design issues are. Over the weekend, I made a bracelet that I thought would be just the right length, but without adding an extra ring, the clasp wasn't right. When I added another ring, the bracelet was too long. At this point, I've got several bracelets that are too long. Because the beadweaving consists of "weaving" the beads altogether, it's much harder to undo them than it is with wire components which can be cut off individually. I'm still learning.

If I make a bracelet with a single strand of wire and beads, or strung or knotted beads, there's no problem with the clasp. However, if I make a wide bracelet, I have a choice of putting one clasp in the middle of the end or two clasps, one at the top and one at the bottom. But the wrist is narrower near the hand and wider as it progresses towards the elbow. Or at least mine is. Most of the examples of bracelets in books and magazines have one or two buttons or beads with loops to fasten the bracelet, but I don't like that solution. I want something more professional looking. And, of course, ideally I'd like to make my own clasps. I'm working on it and my unconscious mind is working on it, too, I hope.

Today a friend came to sit next to me at my table and work on some jewelry. I enjoy having her company. I like my work, and I don't mind working alone, but it's nice to have company at times. And it's nice to discuss ideas and projects. That's one of the most valuable things about being where we are: having interaction with other artists. I know that when I worked in the computer field, I always spent time talking to other people who were knowledgeable about computers. I still do that. Thank goodness I can talk to Philip about computers, and there are lots of artists to talk to as well.

There weren't many visitors in the Village today, but one woman spent time watching us work and commented that she found it so interesting to see how each artist organizes their space and their materials as well as doing their work. She asked me about whether all beads were strung with a thread and needle. So I explained that it is only for some types of jewelry making, specifically beadwork or beadweaving. Those are the kinds of things we take for granted, but visitors frequently have questions. I enjoy explaining my work to visitors.

Patterns and Their Variations

2007-10-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of a succulent that grows in front of Jon's studio. I love the pattern of the leaves. Of course, there are lots of patterns in nature. They have a nice, comfortable feel about them. I think we try to find patterns in events that occur around us and that involve us.

Patterns are nice in art. I favor them myself. But it's also nice to get away from them, too, or to show variations that are not so obvious. Variations are one of the interesting aspects of classical music, the mind playing with an idea. I find myself doing that when I'm thinking about a project. I start with one idea and then carry it through to a variation or a new twist until I'm in a completely different spot than when I started. But of course, that means I now have five, seven, ten ideas for projects and I can never do them all. Well, I suppose I could if I turned off my thinking, if I took off my thinking cap for awhile.

A good place to use a thinking cap is doing cardio at the gym or driving in the car, anywhere where you don't have to pay too much attention to what you're actually doing. I can also think when I'm working on my jewelry because lots of that is repetitious for the most part. I can't do that though if I'm working on variations in a necklace, for example.

When I'm feeling kind of lazy, I make a necklace with a set pattern. When I'm pushing myself, I do variations on a pattern, something asymetrical. The asymetrical is much more interesting but it takes a whole lot more work, a whole lot of thought. The seed beads are really good for patterns and lack of patterns because there are lots of colors to choose from.

When I have a nice strand of green garnets or tourmaline or pearls, I don't really want to do much with them besides show them off in a plain necklace. But if the stones are not so high quality, it is nice to combine them and even make them asymetrical. I like using small pearls with various stones such as garnets or lapis lazulia. That gives the piece a classic look which I don't think you can beat very easily.

Deciding Not To Start A New Medium

2007-10-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago. It shows the golden rain tree outside my studio. You can see there are some yellow blossoms, but I don't think there are very many. It's been a very dry year and so there may not be many. And some of the ones that have appeared have already changed into the orange seed pods.

We had some cold weather last weekend, but now it seems to be back to the normal fall weather. When it seemed we were going to have a strong storm, I put both my umbrellas away, but we never got much rain. I thought since the sun is dropping in the sky to the south that I could get away with leaving my umbrellas inside until spring, but I'm not sure now. I've spent several afternoons feeling extremely warm.

In the last week or so, I've been spending time working on modifying my scanned etching plates and drawings with PaintShop Pro. I'm getting better at working with the program. I use to use it about 10 years ago and it's nice I can still remember. I need to refresh my memory when it comes to layers, though. I was just learning about that before.

I've mostly finished my amulet purse, except for the fringe and the closure. I'll have to work on it some more. I'm a little bit unsure about the fringe. I don't want it to be too overpowering which seems to be a common failing with many of the examples I've looked at. And the other problem is that the bottom row of beads is not quite straight, so the fringe may be hard to apply just right. I may have to kind of "eyeball" the whole thing.

Today was my day off, but I spent time working with PaintShop Pro and then later investigating polymer clay. It's a medium I've been curious about for quite awhile. But it would be a whole new skill, of course, and I'm not sure I want to go in that direction right now. Later, maybe, but not now. I'm still engrossed in the beadwork.

Fourth Thursday - Art At Night

2007-09-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took this evening during Fourth Thursday. The studios stay open until about 8:00 p.m. or thereabouts. Philip and I were there and shared a bottle of wine. He had lemon pound cake, too, but I told him not to give me any food. I said I was yearning for a filet mignon and some potato chips. But neither of those were forthcoming, and anyway they're not on my diet.

Today was my day off, but I spent time this morning working on the scanned images that I created yesterday. I took all my etching plates that have ground on them and scanned them into my computer. It was very easy and went quite quickly. I'll try doing some more scanning, maybe tomorrow. I thought I might scan in my drawings. I've got dozens of sketchbooks with drawings in them. And I have a group that I used colored felt tip pens on. Those could be scanned, too. I like the idea of scanning in my drawings and using them on my blog or website, so that they don't remain unseen in my bookcase.

I'm still working on the amulet purse I started on September 15. The purse itself is now mostly done unless I want to add to the front flap. The strap is almost done. I believe I can get it done by tomorrow unless I have a large number of distractions. Then I want to add fringe. I've been looking at examples of amulet purses. Many of them seem to have fringe that's rather overpowering. I'd like to avoid that. It may not be possible if there are so many created in the same fashion. I just have to try and see.

After I finish this purse, I'd like to start another one. I know that if I do, I'll want to work on it until it's finished. That's what I've been doing with the current one. But then I think about some of the other items I should be working on, like necklaces to display my enamel pendants and the ceramic ones. Also, I'd like to make some pearl necklaces and maybe bracelets. Everyone seems to love pearls. And my delicate necklaces and bracelets made with gold-filled wire are almost gone as well. There's a great deal I could do to increase my inventory for the fall and winter seasons.

Besides making amulet purses, I'd like to make one or several bracelets or necklaces that have cabochons set in them with beads. I have a number of stone cabochons that Jon made and now I also have one that is made from a piece of glass he blew that cracked or broke. He cuts up his broken pieces and turns them into wonderful cabochons and even some faceted shaped "gems." What I really would like to find are some very large faceted glass "gems" to incorporate into a beaded bracelet, but I don't know where to find them. I'll have to hunt around some more.

Website In the Sky

2007-09-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took on Saturday. No, actually it was on Friday when the weather was still nice. It is sky writing and it says; "Shop Zappos.com." It turns out that Zappos sells athletic shoes among other things. I assumed that it had something to do with the Red Bull air races that were taking place in San Diego Harbor. But I suppose it may not have unless they thought the folks at the races would be in their target audience. I don't know whether they would be. Seeing the sky writing is kind of like the pair of shoes I saw that had a website written on the insole. The internet seems to be here to stay. I don't anybody can argue with that.

Philip and I talked about my website, about updating it. I need to start watching the tutorials online so I can learn to use Web Expressions. I thought that I would be able to give up the computer by now, but technology is sucking me back in. And I admit, I do enjoy it on a certain level. There's certainly a great deal more that we can do these days compared to the days when the PC had a text-based interface. Now everything is so pretty and decorative.

Today is one of my days off from the studio, so I went visiting. My cousin, who is about 12 years older than me, was showing me some artwork she had found on the internet. She purchased a very interesting original linoleum print at the swap meet and then proceeded to research it online. And she spent time talking about how wonderful the internet is for doing research. She's right, of course, but I couldn't help thinking that those of us who are older aren't as likely to feel very comfortable or knowledgeable about the computer. So she's doing very well, I'd say. I was fortunate to learn myself when I worked for the military.

The reason I went to visit my cousin originally was to pick up some beads that she found when she was doing some cleaning out of things. I'm happy to have them because they're not my typical style. It's always nice to work with something that you might not have picked out for yourself. I use to enjoy going shopping with a friend of mine who always managed to direct my attention to something that I wouldn't have noticed on my own. For an artist, I feel remarkably unobservant at times.

Besides going to get beads from my cousin, I suppose this was a day when I spent almost no time on my artwork or shopping for supplies. It was nice, actually. I really feel like I had a day off for a change.

Recognizing the Omphalos

2007-09-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took when I first arrived at Spanish Village on Saturday morning. It had rained some in the night, and it rained about 10:30 that morning as well, for about half an hour. I spent the day inside my studio, partly because it rained early, but also because I forgot to take my chair in and it was wet. I had taken it in on Wednesday when I took down both umbrellas, but then I brought it out.

By the time I was ready to leave on Saturday, it was dry. Then there was talk of more rain Saturday night, but there wasn't any, and so yesterday I could sit in it with no problem. It's been cool, though. Now they're predicting that we might have some more warmer weather, but my table is now in the shade almost all day. Several people have asked me about my umbrellas, but I think I might leave them inside until next year.

One idea I had today was that I should get Jon to put a post on my table, so I could hang a lamp from it. I could use it on cloudy days and it might make me more noticeable. Certainly, I can bring a lamp out from inside, but it might be nice to have one already there that I could just plug into my extension cord that reaches the table. Normally I use it for my computer and printer, but there's no reason why I couldn't have a lamp as well. It might add a cozy feeling to a dreary day. But the fact remains that it's getting cooler and the days are getting shorter. This is the third or fourth day in a row when I sat outside and thought about getting my sweatshirt to put on.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on my amulet purse. I've mostly finished the purse itself, and this weekend was spent working on the strap. However, I didn't work as many hours on it as I did last weekend. For one thing, when I sat inside on Saturday, I was distracted by the computer. I spent time looking for bead and cross-stitch patterns. I wasn't very successful, but I always feel as though I need to look anyway.

On Saturday a friend of mine was looking at my etchings and drawings and said she say all kinds of things in them. Later she wrote me an email that said some of the structures reminded her of open-pit diamond mines and also of an omphalos. Omphalos is the Greek word for navel. Delphi was located on the center or navel of the earth, and there are photographs of the omphalos that was located at Delphi. It's the center of the earth, of life, the beginning.

In any case, her comments inspired me to bring them out and work on them some more. I'd like to incorporate the omphalos in my enameling and beadwork as well as the etching. So much to do, so many directions to explore.

Working Away

2007-09-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo that I changed the color of. It is a photo of one of my etching plates with the ground still on it, before I etched it. I used PhotoShop to change the colors. I admit I'm partial to pink and green. I guess I'm really a girl at heart, no matter how much I want to think I'm a liberated woman.

Anyway, my idea is to take some of my etching photos like this one and turn them into greeting cards and include my poems on them, or maybe just portions of my poems. I know that everyone here at Spanish Village who has had greeting cards has ultimately stopped carrying them. Some of the artists have said that people will buy a card rather than a painting. And some say it takes too long to assemble them. But my purpose for making and selling them would be to look at them as a vehicle for my poetry and my etchings which almost never sell in my studio anyway.

I started another blog called mgEspe in which I'm using my poetry and some of the photographs. I'll go on with it. I really like blogging even if it's not the best way to publish my writing. But I like having a presence on the web and it's certainly easier than having a website at this point. Well, that is, it's easier than creating a new website for my poetry, an idea I had quite a long time ago but never put into practice.

I tried to get online last night, but for some reason I couldn't connect. However, Philip pointed out to me the other day that there was a little open spot on the side of my computer. It was for the little anntenae on the side. I found it in the bottom of my carrying case this morning. So it may have affected my ability to connect at home. Maybe not though because I connected at work and also at my parents' house. So I don't know what the problem is.

I spent yesterday morning buying beads. I went three different places to find everything that I needed. I'm still working on my amulet purse. I have sewn the sides up and added a flap although I want to make the flap longer. Then I'm thinking of adding a rivoli for embellishment. Rivolis are crystals that are essentially one sided and round with facetting like a gemstone, sort of. I have been seeing them in some of the magazines and books and wanted to try attaching some to a project using a peyote bead bezel. Then I also want to add fringe to my bag and make a strap to hang it from. I've put 25 hours into it already, and I can't say how much longer it will take to finish it. It's for me, but I'd like to make more of them. They're not cost effective, but I'd still like to make them.

Catching Up

2007-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago out in front of one of the studios. When I saw it, I wondered how a plant could have grown up and been in full bloom seemingly overnight. But it's not a plant. It's just some flowers that someone put there. It's lovely though. Too bad we don't have more plants like it around. Mostly we have succulents which are very interesting, but they're not large and exuberant like this. They tend to be small and subtle. Sometimes you have to look very closely at them to see their colors and blooms. They do attract a lot of attention though.

Yesterday I was off, but I still wound up going to one of the bead suppliers that I like. I just went to get some Fire Line, a steel "string" that I use for beadweaving. They were out of it, but I still wound up buying a variety of beads including some crystals for my amulet bag. However, I realize that I really need to take the bag with me so that I can get the color I like best.

I was also looking for some large fake jewels that I could embroider onto a bracelet. They didn't have what I was looking for exactly, but I did get some big crystal beads. Anyway, they say on the label that they're crystal, but I'm not sure. They have a slight aqua tint to them, but I think I can change the color if I put them against various colored seed beads.

And I got some strands of pearls. I can't ever seem to resist buying a few strands. Recently I've been trying to find small ones. Most everything is large now because of the way they're produced. Freshwater pearls are produced in mussles, not oysters. And they live on farms. They have a nice life. They don't lose their lives when the pearls are harvested. They can make more than one pearl at a time and they are implanted with pieces of shells, so they can wind up being very large pearls if the pieces of shell that are implanted are large.

But I want little pearls that I can use in my beadweaving. I made one bracelet with some pearls on it and sold it already. I think I have to be careful not to use white pearls, but I think the colored ones are nice. Some of them have an aurorea borealis look to them that is like some of the beads and crystals. Of course, sometimes it's good to have a contrast, like matte finish beads with some sparkly ones. My next project is going to be a bead embroidered necklace on a background of black matte beads.

Enjoying Tedium

2007-09-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took this afternoon. I uploaded it to my service provider's site and then downloaded it to my computer. I prefer downloading it from my memory card, but it seems to be malfunctioning, so this is the second best option. It worked pretty well. Sometimes the site is really slow, but I didn't feel as though I had to wait very long tonight.

Anyway, this is a project I've been working on all weekend. It now has approximately 20 hours worth of work in it. It will be an amulet purse when it's finished. I plan to wear it myself and keep my drivers license and credit card in it. Unfortunately we've experienced some thefts at Spanish Village and so I don't like to leave my wallet in my studio or even lying unattended in a bag on my worktable. So this is the solution. Or, it will be.

I'm finally getting so that I can do peyote stitch pretty well. There are several mistakes near the top of the piece, but it gets better as I worked on it. And I find that I really enjoy making it. It's very repetitious, but I find it meditative. And I'm looking forward to putting some embellishments on the piece. I'll add some fringe at the bottom and make a strap of some sort to hang it around my neck. I'd like to put a piece of my enamel or etching on the outside of it with some other beads.

I spent a great deal of time this morning looking at and downloading photos of bead embroidery. I love the look of it, but I'm uncomfortable with the idea of making jewelry that includes some kind of fabric or leather backing to it. I would rather make the foundation out of beads and then embroider on top of it. In fact, I think that's what I'll try after I've made several more bags. Well, actually I can embroider the next bag I make.

The piece in the photo is about 5 inches by 6 inches or 30 square inches. I've worked on it for 20 hours, so that means I can make about 1.5 square inches per hour. That would be something good to keep in mind. Anyway, the embroidery has appeal for me, because it would be more free flowing than the plain stitching is. I have some patterns for pieces made with peyote and straight stitch that I could use, and I like the idea of doing a piece in which all the beads are counted and of certain colors depending on the pattern, I'd like to create the pattern myself, from my own artwork, but I think I may find it hard to concentrate on counting when there are people around, especially on the weekends. I guess I'll just have to try it and see. In the meantime, I enjoy making up patterns as I go along. And it's easier to work in a striped pattern than on a piece that's all one color.

What Happened To My Time

2007-09-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several weeks ago. I'm glad I did, because this necklace was sold last weekend. I remember that when I made it, I followed a pattern I had developed and used to make another necklace, I had used larger beads. So when I made this necklace, it came out a little shorter and wouldn't have fit just anyone. In fact I considered it a little too tight to wear myself. But I let one of my friends wear it to a party. The woman who bought it said she had a skinny neck. I told her I thought she'd make a good model. She had a nice long neck, very elegant and pretty.

Today, I spent some time working on a beaded bead, something I've been trying on and off for awhile. Recently I had the idea of using very thin wire instead of thread so that they would retain their shapes better than the ones made with thread. So I did manage to make a bead, but I realized that I can't use the size 11 seed beads. The holes in them are not large enough to pass the wire through more than two times at the most. Fortunately, I just purchased some larger seed beads yesterday that I was able to use. They are size 6 and 8. The higher then number, the smaller the bead in this case.

I took a photo of the bead, but unfortunately the memory card in my phone isn't functioning properly,so I couldn't upload it to my computer to use here. That might be a good thing though because it will force me to start using the camera that Philip loaned me quite some time ago. Then I'll have better photos to use on my website as well as here and for other promotional material.

Yesterday, I bought a portable laminator. Well, maybe it was day before yesterday. I would like to laminate some of my drawings, stamps, maybe etchings, and use them to make jewelry. It would be more of a fun jewelry or it could be serious jewelry that has a message to it. I've been wanting to incorporate text into my work, but I haven't been able to find a very satisfactory way to do so. This might be a good one.

The other idea that I had was to apply paint to some of my handcarved stamps and then stamp them on copper and etch the copper. Then I've thought that I could back copper pieces with beads so the green oxidation doesn't rub off on your skin. Gosh, there's so much to try, so much to do. When will I find time?

Still Learning

2007-09-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago. It was made from some of the same pearls that compose the beaded bead that I mentioned several days ago. They're green stick pearls. I like them. Lots of people seem to.

I'm feeling a little frustrated because I spent time last night writing in my blog and then the wireless network went down, I guess, and I lost my post. I'm sure I should probably compose it in my word processor first so that I don't lose it. But I should back up my hard drive, too, and I don't. And having lost my hard drive several times, I know better. I even have a very large external hard drive that I could use. It would be easy. The computer is so nice when it works, and when it doesn't it's such a drag. I admit I don't have much patience for broken or malfunctioning equipment.

Yesterday at work some of the artists were laughing and teasing me. I had my laptop, my cellphone, my bluetooth charger, my MP3 player, and my printer all spread out on my worktable in a big jumble that included strings and tubes of beads all mixed in with wire and scissors and who knows what else. I couldn't get my bluetooth to work, I couldn't pull up a photo I had taken with my cellphone. The bluetooth problem was operator error. I haven't used it enough to really know what to do all the time. But the cellphone isn't working very well. I admit I've dropped it several times and that doesn't help. I need to take it and get it replaced. I just haven't made the time recently.

I spent some of my time today searching for beads. I still feel as though I don't have enough different colors of seed beads. I guess I'll always feel that way. I fall in love with the way they look, and I buy them. The seed beads especially are so seductive that way. They're such beautiful colors. But I'm still having a problem with some colors like fushia and lavendar.

I've been working on the bracelet that I started Sunday afternoon. The pattern is almost complete, but it's getting too long. It's nice though, and I've considered making it into a purse by adding more rows on the side, or . . . . I don't know. The thing is that I enjoy it so much that it doesn't seem to matter. I'll just make another one. Or I should say, I'll just keep making more until I get some that are satisfactory. I thought of an idea for a clasp for the other bracelet that I think would work. I'll try that tomorrow. I really like it. It's one of those pieces that I tell myself I'm going to keep. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't.

Lines Of Beads

2007-09-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a bracelet I made this weekend. It took me about 12 hours to make. In this shot, it's only about three quarters done, maybe somewhat more. It has several design problems. I wound up making it a little too long. I could shorten it, or just keep it for myself. And the clasp arrangement isn't quite right.

Clasps are a problem. I don't want to spend so much money on clasps that I tie up all my capital in clasps, but I also don't want them to be cheap ones that make the jewelry look as though it were made by a hobbyist. I want it to look professional. So I spend a great deal of time thinking about and attempting to design clasps.

The idea I had for this bracelet didn't work very well, because the wire was too thin. But it couldn't have been thicker and fit through the beads. However, I found another idea for a clasp in one of the books I have. I'll try it on the next bracelet. Actually, the second one is getting close to being done. It's not as wide as this one, so it goes faster, and I think I'm getting better and faster as time progresses.

Today was my day off, but I did spend some time looking at bead books in one of the bookstores near me, hoping to find something to really inspire me. I wasn't terribly successful, but I got one that seems interesting. And I've been spending time in the evening looking through the bead books. There are so many and each time I look I see something new and different that I didn't register before.

Using Computers To Help

2007-09-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took the other day. It's a cabachon that Jon made. The photo isn't very good, because you can see all the heavenly colors it has in it. What I did was cover the back and part of the front with a bead woven bezel. Since the cabachon has no hole in it, there's no way to attach it to anything except with a bezel or with prongs in a setting. This way, the beaded covering can now be attached to a necklace or other object. My plan is to attach it to an amulet bag that I've been working on. But making a little beaded bag is a time consuming proposition.

I'm trying to create a pattern on the beaded bag that echoes the pattern in the stone itself. An idea that I have is to take a clear photograph of it and then translate it using a graphing program. I could plot it out by hand on graph paper I suppose, but the program would certainly make it very easy. I spent time this afternoon looking at bead and counted cross stitch programs that enable you to take a photo or a scan and import it into the program. Then the program automatically translates it into a chart that you can follow.

One thing that's nice about the charting programs is that they also allow you to "draw" on the digital graph paper and then "color" in the shapes. In that respect, it's like one of those old Paint programs on Windows. Well, I suppose the Paint program is still part of Windows, but I haven't used it for ten or twelve years. And the Paint program didn't create the graphs.

The charting program is an obvious use of the computer. And I've known about them for about ten years as well. I worked in an office where several of my co-workers use that kind of program to create counted cross stitch patterns. I wish I'd had a program like that in the days when I was doing counted cross stitch. It certain would have made life easier. I think about getting back to some counted cross stitch, but I don't have time. Anyway, I can achieve the same kind of affect with beads and that fits in with what I'm doing now. The question is whether I want to spend enough time going in that direction to warrant spending the money for the software program. I'll have to think about it.

Recently, I gathered together all my jewelry photos from various folders on my computer and copied them into a folder that I point the Windows screensaver to. That way, when I don't type on the computer for awhile, I get a stream of photos of my own and other people's jewelry. I've also included fabric samples to use as color schemes. And I find that I'm really enjoying the jewelry. The photos that come up on the screen are larger than the ones that I look at as icons in the folders and so I can see more detail. The other thing is that I'm a firm believer in catching a glimpse of something. I'll glance at a photo just as it fades away and get an impression that I wouldn't get if I look straight ahead at it and study it. Sometimes a glimpse like that will give a good suggestion that you wouldn't get otherwise. I try to take advantage of those moments in life.

Making Jewelry I Like

2007-09-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of a necklace I made several weeks ago. It's a contrast between the black and the yellow green with the dark blue and the yellow as a contrast to the other two colors. Contrast is important, especially with this kind of necklace. Of course, the whole length could be one color or two similar colors, but then it wouldn't be so eye-catching.

Of course, eye-catching is not what everyone wants. I personally like to wear accessories that are eye-catching, that stand out, that people make remarks about. But I don't think everyone feels that way. And I know there are times when I'm not in the mood to spend a lot of time talking to people about an eye-catching piece of jewelry that I'm wearing. Because that is what happens. If you wear something eye-catching, people will comment. Sometimes I stop to talk about my jewelry, and sometimes I just say "thank you" when they compliment me and don't bother to tell them that I made it myself.

I know that some of my jewelry is the type that not many women chose to wear. They don't want to wear something dramatic. And a lot of women think, mistakenly or not, that they can't wear a large and/or dramatic piece of jewelry. I hear women say that all the time when they see the enamel pendants that I've made, that they can't wear something that big or they won't wear something like that and do I have something smaller.

The choice I have to make is: do I make enough different kinds of jewelry that everyone will find one they love or do I stick to the dramatic pieces? I tend to prefer the dramatic myself although a fair number of my pieces aren't so dramatic. There is one thing however that I do know about making jewelry. I have to make what I like myself. As soon as I try to make a piece in a color scheme that I don't like, or a style I don't like, I can't finish the piece or I can't get it to look right. So I'm forced to make things I like myself and would wear. Otherwise, the piece just doesn't work out. And then people don't respond the way they would if they can sense that I love the colors and the materials.

Today I spent most of the day on one necklace made with various colors of green seed beads as well as pearls and yellow-green Chinese crystals. I got the pearls yesterday and started to make what I thought was a bracelet last night. Today, it turned into a necklace. The idea I had for the bracelet didn't work out. The necklace is coming along pretty well, but I think I will reserve final judgement until I see the finished piece.

Always Working On Some Idea

2007-09-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago. It shows my new umbrella, the green one on the right. It gives me a great deal of shade. This photo was taken late in the day, so you can see the sun is shining on the table. That doesn't happen until about 6:00 p.m. these days. Later in the year, I'll be glad to have the sun but right now it makes me very warm. Well, really. . . VERY HOT. The weather has been in the high 80's these last few days, much warmer than our usual 72 to 75 degree weather. We're so use to temperate weather that we complain if it gets more than a few degrees warmer or cooler. And in several months we'll wish we had this warm weather and long days back again.

Today was my day off, but I went to one of the bead suppliers that I frequent. After making the bead pictured in my previous post, I realized that I wanted to get some smaller pearls that I could use with the seed beads. Most of the pearls I have now are larger, really too big for what I want to make. So I found some, but the smaller ones are harder to find nowadays. Beads are like everything else: they go in and out of fashion.

Our eye changes. I had occasion to use my father's old laptop which he got in about 1995 if I remember correctly. So it's at least ten to twelve years old. It's a laptop, but it has a different look and proportion to it than the ones we have nowadays. The screen is more square, not the wide screen like we have now. And it is thicker. Of course that's the technology. Everything is getting smaller and lighter. Wires can be thinner and circuitboards smaller with all the components closer together. I like little gadgets. I like little things. I suppose that's why the seed beads are so appealing to me.

One of the problems with the seed beads is their size. I have no trouble working with them during the day. But recently I've been bringing my beads home with me and working on them before and after dinner which my housemate and I usually eat out in the patio. We have light out there, but I find myself struggling at times with the beads and also threading the needle. Sometimes it's hard to see what I'm doing. I find that I'm most likely to have a problem when I'm starting something new. If I stick to my regular stuff, I'm okay.

I've thought about not bringing my work home at all. I wasn't for a long time, but I'm trying to make headway with the seed beads and that's why I'm working ovetime. I'm hoping that will change soon, that things will begin to come together more. And I see some evidence of that. I'm getting the hang of it. When I went to the bead supplier today, they asked me to teach a class. They've asked me before, but I'm shy at this point. I'll give it some thought. I can see that it could supplement my income.

Slow Labor Day

2007-09-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took last night. It's a beaded bead that I made yesterday. I like making them and plan to make some more. Eventually I'll make a necklace with a lot of beads on it. I'm really beginning to get the idea of adding other beads in with the seed beads to make necklaces that I like. And the advantage of using the larger beads is that I make some pieces that are more substantial. I want to avoid ones that are insipid. It's easy to do with seed beads.

I was going to write an entry in my blog last night, but sometimes I can't get on the free neighborhood network at home. Really, we're very lucky having the network available, and I love being able to sit in my patio or my bedroom and use it. I can use it here at the Village because Philip set up a wireless router, and I can get on the network at my parents retirement complex. My father is now so use to his wireless connection that he is surprised when he finds himself unable to access it. Who would have thought we'd get so spoiled so fast.

I spent time today organizing my photos on my computer. I've downloaded a number of photos of jewelry that I like to look at, and I've photographed various pieces of my own. I put them all together in one directory and set my screensaver to point to that directory. Now when I stop working on my computer so that the screensaver is activated, I see photos of jewelry. I see one photo and I get three ideas. I try to write them down, so I don't forget.

This weekend my enamel teacher is going to be in the Enamel Guild, so I need to spend time this week cutting more pieces in preparation for Saturday. I want to make some new pieces to put out. I created a whole group of enamel pendants earlier in the year and sold a great many of them. I haven't sold any for awhile, but I'll get back to it. I brought them outside yesterday and attracted some attention. That's always good. At least people are responding to them.

In addition to the jewelry in my screensaver, I added some of my etchings that I scanned into my computer awhile back. I have a printer now that scans, and I've thought of making some greeting cards with some of my work. I think people would like having them. When I've worked in other studios where there were greeting cards, they've always been popular. I could incorporate my poetry with the etchings and drawings. I have so many ideas. I just wish I had time.

Trying New Skills

2007-09-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago, in the early morning. It looks nice and cool, especially right now when the Vista weather gadget on my computer screen says the temperature is 84 degrees. Fortunately I have a breeze here, so I've been relatively comfortable all day, but soon the sun will drop down below the edge of my umbrella, and then I'll be quite warm.

I spent the entire day working on a bead bezel to surround one of Jon's cabcahons. I have seen a number of necklaces done that way and I admit there are many of them that I don't care for, but I've been intrigued just the same. It turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I started at about 10:00 this morning and it took me until about 4:00. Six hours is a long time, but I'm definitely getting faster and more skilled. By creating the bezel, I also did some peyote stitch, a skill I hadn't mastered until today. Now I have. Of course, each time I learned a new skill, it opens a door to more possibilities.

I have a tendency to think of spending my time at Spanish Village coming up with ideas, being creative, but of course there's also the time spent learning and practicing new skills. If I had been at home today, I doubt I would have spent six hours working on the same project. I probably would have played with my dogs and taken a nap. This was better. I like making things, and I like being productive.

I admit that I like to lie around, napping and eating. However, I'm trying to lose weight and so I've taken up exercising again as well as eating less. My favorite form of exercise is swimming. Actually, I walk back and forth in the water. Frequently when I am there, I'm alone in the pool or maybe there will be one or two other people. When that's the case, I find myself thinking about jewelry projects and solving various problems like making a new type of clasp or bracelet. I enjoy that. Frequently I plan what I'm going to do once I get to the studio. That's a big help to me.

I brought my computer to work today, because Philip said he would help me with a web site program, so I can update my website. So that's a new project for me. I'll watch the videos first and see what I can learn. If I have the computer here on my work table, I can work on it until I get bored and then switch to bead work for awhile. That sounds like a good plan.

Summer Ending

2007-08-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago. It's of one of my enamel pendants. I've worn it and gotten compliments for it. I like the green. In fact, I've always loved green, but I go through periods when I can't seem to make anything unless it has green in it. My current passion is electric yellow green. I love it with black or fushia or blue or purple or anything almost.

I made this enamel pendant several months ago. I usually enamel on the second Saturday of the month, but this last month I didn't do anything. I was tired and kind of burned out. But I'll get back to it. The enamel pendants have been very popular. One problem I had though was that when they sat in the sun in the hot weather, they got too hot. Now I have an umbrella though, so it's not a problem. But on the other hand, when I put them out under the umbrella, they don't sparkle in the sun as much. Well, of course, everything has a trade off.

I spent today on a beaded bead. It was the fourth one I've made and I'm happy with it. I'll make some more as time goes on. I like combining the various different colors and coming up with something small and relatively simple but eye catching. The one I made today is royal blue, green, of course, and fushia. I like the bright colors. I've finally found a way to add some bright shiny objects to my artwork. Enamels fit that category to some degree, but the glass beads help as well, Eventually I'll combine them.

My other plan is to "set" a cabachon in a bead bezel. Jon's been creating some wonderful looking cabachons in the lapidary class he takes. So he gave me a group of them to work with, to try with the beads I have to come up with some good combinations. So many ideas. If I work 18 hours a day, I still wouldn't get everything done.

Tomorrow is the start of the Labor Day Weekend and the official end of summer. However, we're in the middle of a heat wave and will have nice weather for another two months or more. Today we did get a little rain, but it was a tropical storm from the Gulf of California and only lasted a few minutes.

A Day Off

2007-08-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took of a bead I made yesterday. I made szeveral attempts to construct it according to the directions in the book, but I couldn't make it work that way, so I devised my own method of making it. I have found that trying to follow directions for various beadwork projects doesn't seem to work very well for me. I have to just do it my own way. And actually I like the challenge of doing that.

Today was a day off for me, but I was still thinking about work. I went to a 99 cent store and bought some plastic containers for storing beads in. That's something I haven't really figured out yet: exactly how to store all the beads. They come packaged in several different ways. Some are strung on strings, usually 10 to 12 strands per hank. Some come in plastic bags. Some come in tubes. So far the beads I've gotten in tubes are in three different size tubes. The ones in bags have to be put in boxes when they are opened. And the strung ones either need to remain on their strands or put in little boxes if a project doesn't take a whole strand.

I've gone back and started reading early entries in my blog. I find it interesting. I need to make some notes to bring up certain subjects again or to report my progress. And I'm also doing it to attempt to maintain continuity. I don't actually know how many people read my blog, and I don't know if anyone has read it from beginning to end, although one artist at Spanish Village did tell me she had read it, most of it maybe.

Nowadays there are so many computer related things I can do to help me with my business. I mean there are a great many things I can do besides the obvious ones of having a website and blog and getting business information. Of course, there's ordering, something I'm doing more of. And there's research, looking at other artists' jewelry to get some inspiration. I spent time recently looking at crochet, tatting, and counted cross stitch patterns to get ideas for beadwork. And I looked at striped upholstery fabric to get ideas for patterns and color combinations.

Another possibility is to create an album of my jewelry photos that can serve as a screen saver. Right now I have a great many travel photos that I have combined to play when I walk away from the computer, but if I had jewelry photos that could be a way to display my work and if I had samples of other artists' work they could work on my subconscious mind to give me ideas. So many ideas. So much fun.

Learning About Seed Beads

2007-08-29T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of a bracelet I made recently. I have been struggling with the seed beads for various reasons, and this was one of the first pieces that I felt was really successful. I made it several weeks ago, and today I noticed that the beads are fading. At the bottom is a striped "bead" made with several colors of some beads called Delica. As far as I know, they are from Japan. They're beautiful, but I'm disappointed that the dark blue ones at the bottom have faded.

I like to wear my jewelry even when I take a shower or go for a swim. That way I can tell prospective clients that the pieces are durable. I still have the belief, maybe old-fashioned, that jewelry should be lasting, have a certain permanence to it. Certainly there's lots of jewelry, specifically costume jewelry, that doesn't have that attribute, but I don't want my work to fall into that category.

I read in a bead book that some beads will fade so I guess I'll just have to assume that any and all of them might be likely to do so. I am bothered by that though. It makes me feel unsure about selling pieces and wondering if they might fade. I'm not sure if that's something to mention to people. Of course, the other option is to just keep trying the different beads to see what happens.

I find it hard to manipulate the seed beads because they're so tiny, but I'm getting better at it. The other thing that's tricky is the fact that the beads are different sizes even those that are marked a certain size. And some of them are more regular in size and shaped than others. Regularity is important when I'm trying to create an even pattern. If the beads aren't the same size, it makes it harder to get everything lined up properly.

I have now managed to collect a pretty good supply of different colored beads. But the other thing I've discovered is that I like the matte beads the best, the ones that aren't shiny or transparent. Or I should say that for some projects I like the matte finish. They seem more chic to me than the shiny ones do. However, I've been making beaded beads and rosettes out of a combination of matte, shiny, and crystal beads. The crystal ones are larger, but they make a nice combination. That's one of my goals, to eventually combine other beads with the seed beads. I think that will creat much more interest in the long run.

Creating Color Schemes

2007-08-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

The children's summer art program is going on now and here are some the pieces the children have created. I love them. The one is a figure of a scribe with a scroll, particularly appropriate right now because of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit going on at the San Diego Natural History Museum across the way. As you can see, there is also an orange and dark brown dragon and another animal which I think is a frog, but I'm not certain.

This morning when I arrived Elizabeth, the artist who teaches the pottery classes, asked me to take some photos with my phone camera. I got a bunch of good ones, I think. The phone isn't the best camera; it only has 1.3 megapixels, but certainly for little things we print up on the computer to use in the studio and for blog photos it's fine. And what I love about it is that I always have it with me. That's so handy. I'm in favor of convenience. It's very important to me. If I can accomplish a task with the minimum of hassle, I'm very happy.

I've been trying to make some beaded jewelry pieces, but I haven't been very successful so far. I'm getting more use to doing it, but I'm still struggling. One of the things I've noticed is that the beads don't come in every single color imaginable. Certainly there is a wider range of colors than there are in natural stones, but there still isn't every single color. I'll have an idea for some color scheme and then I'll find that I can't locate the colors I want. I have to either see if there are manufacturers who make more colors that aren't available locally or I just have to create color schemes with the colors I have, not try to do it the other way around.

I suppose that being use to having access to millions of colors in a computer program makes me fussy. However, I do think I've always been very particular to color. I know that when I paint a room in my house, I spend hours choosing exactly the right color. I wish beads came in as many colors as paints do. That would give me lots of options. I can imagine a time when that could happen. If we artists imagine things, the technologists will catch up and make it actually happen. I wish they'd hurry.

It was a quiet day here at Spanish Village. The President is on vacation for two weeks, so I've been designated the Acting President. So far nothing happened today, but that doesn't mean it will be quiet for two weeks. But the weekends will be worse probably. Oh, well, we'll survive without our Pres.

Computer Heaven

2007-07-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

I think I've died and gone to computer heaven. I have a laptop that I can use outside at my worktable, and there's a wireless network that I can use here in Spanish Village so I can surf the internet and do my Spanish Village work. It's so wonderful. I love sitting outside and working. And here in Southern California, we can really sit out almost all year round. There are really only a few days when we have to be in because of rain.

I've been spending the last few days setting up my new computer. It's small enough to carry around really easily, and I have a little bag to carry it in. It weighs less than my purse does at times. Who would have imagined such a concept when I first started using the computer in 1984. Well, actually I dreamed of such a thing, but it's taken awhile. And my dream hasn't come true 100%. Maybe just 90%. But we're very close.

Recently, I've been working on beaded jewelry. Without leaving my worktable, I can look up patterns for beadwork, shop for beads online, look at things such as fabrics to get ideas for color schemes, design a color scheme online by changing the numeric values of the colors. I can research the history of beads, I casn write in my blog as I'm doing right now, and with my new printer that also scans, I can scan in all the photos of jewelry that I've been collecting for awhile. That will be relative time consuming, but I'm going to do at least some of that.

I spend quite a lot of time looking at jewelry online and in magazines and books. I don't ever try to copy anything, but I get ideas and I "develop" my eye.That's very important, I think.

Today I'm off to spend the evening with my special friend, but now with my new setup, I have no excuse for not msking entries here in my blog. And I've even figured out a way to upload my photos directly from my cellphone to my computer, in case I can't get on my provider's site.

Doing Paperwork

2007-07-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Here's an array of my seed beads, some that I've collected so far. It's hard to know what to choose, so I just pick ones I like the colors of and go from there.

One thing I've been wanting to do is make some beads out of seed beads. I have seen some photos of some that I think are so attractive. So yesterday, I spent time working on a bead. In hindsight, I think I didn't follow the directions quite right, but I'll try making another one. The one I made is really very pretty though and I put it on a strand of beads so that I can wear it as a necklace.

Today was spent working on Spanish Village business. We had a board meeting this morning to deal with various issues that have come up, and so I spent the day after the meeting writing the minutes and also writing an email to send to all the members about various items. Eventually we'll get it all put on the website, and I won't be sending out as many emails. Philip as recently updated our website. It's http://www.spanishvillageart.com. I'm currently working on some photos and some text to add to my separate page.

Tomorrow I'm off to spend some time with my parents. They live about 35 miles north of me. Almost always when I go up there, I stop and look at the bead stores and look for books in their bookstores around there. Even though the bookstores are chains, they still frequently have a different selection of items.

I'll probably take some of my seed beads home with me to work on tomorrow or tonight maybe. I don't like to take things home, but I'm working in a new area with the seed beads right now, and I'm anxious to develop an adequate skill level.

Learning and Growing

2007-07-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of what I've been up too recently. I've been making jewelry with seed beads. It's called beadwork or beadweaving. How did I get myself to this point? I'm actually not sure. I did buy a bunch of seed beads to make into multi-strand necklaces for my enamel pendants, but then somehow I've progressed to beadwork.

Well, I do know that I've always wanted to try beadwork. Unfortunately in the past, a number of books and magazines showed rather uninspired pieces. But I thought I could make some pieces that would be striking looking. That's what I've been working on. I did find one book that has lovely pieces in it, ones I would aspire to in some cases. In the meantime, I'm learning the various "stitches." I'm making progress, becoming more proficient, but it will take time.

When I first started, a couple of weeks ago, I felt so clumsy and awkward. I spilled beads everywhere, and they're too tiny to pick up. I can scoop them up off my worktable, but I certainly can't see them very well on the ground. In addition, my knees are not good enough to tolerate crawling around on the ground.

I found that if I dumped some beads onto a paper plate, that made it easy to pick them up with a needle. That was fine until a breeze came along, lifting the edge of the plate and scattering beads everywhere. Now I have a small but sturdy plastic storage container with a snap on lid to hold beads. I've been dumping little piles of beads in it, the colors all mixed together. Then I pick out the beads I need for the patterns I've established. And having all the colors together in one container gives me ideas for new color combinations.

It will be a matter of finding the colors of beads I want, learning the techniques, creating some new ones, and then putting everything together. It will take time, but when I learned wirework, it took time as well. I'm prepared to follow the process through until I'm happy with the results and I can see myself growing in the discipline.

Getting Along With People and Understanding Computers

2007-07-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

Even when the Spanish Village members are in disagreement about something or other, there's always some happy plant busy blooming. This succulent lives near my outside worktable and has the most beautiful but odd flowers on it. I think the colors are so delicate and subtle. The blossoms themselves look as though they might have been designed to be accessed by hummingbirds. Can't you just picture a hummingbird stationed below the flower taking a drink?

The rest of us grumble about various business issues and then go back to our studios to pursue our artwork. And even though we have our disagreements, like the members of any community, we're still just as happy as our plants when we pursue or discuss our art. I know I certainly am. I've spent the day typing up minutes of this morning's meeting, sending out several emails to members, and now I'm going to move outside and work on my jewelry.

This weekend, I spent time working on two necklaces and three bracelets made with seed beads. One of the narrower bracelets I made has approximately 500 beads in it. A great many pieces of jewelry made with seed beads tend to be rather weak in design or color choice or both. I'm working towards making some pieces that make stronger aesthetic statements. I think it will take a combination of the right colors, the right shapes and the right size to make the pieces a success.

I've never done any beadwork before, the term used for making jewelry and other items with lots of tiny beads. Usually when I begin something new, I start by studying some examples in books and on the web, looking at available materials, and then trying to make some pieces. I believe that the only way to really get a feeling for doing anything is by doing it. I like to begin by doing and then keep working until I get stuck and am forced to learn more. I suppose you could say it's kind of a circular process of learning.

Sometimes you can't make sense of instructions until you try and find what you don't know as well as what you do know. It's like that with the computer. You have to just begin and try to do tasks. When you get stuck, you read the help section. If you try to read the help first, you'll never get anywhere. I've wondered whether this attitude comes from that time in computer history when help manuals involved such error messages as: "error 13456." Huh? What error is that again.

Trip To Atlantis

2007-07-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my father and I went computer shopping at a very large computer chain store. I'm sure you probably know which one it was. The theme of the store is Lost Continent of Atlantis. The store is so huge it looks as though it could be a blimp hanger. We laughed the first time we saw it. This photo is a shot of part of the mural on the back wall. Who would have imagined such a place in the days of daisy wheel printers and eWorld?

Happy Fourth of July, Independence Day. On the radio they were talking about a survey in which many of the participants didn't know the significance of July Fourth. Most people around here go to the beach or have a bar-b-que in the backyard. Nowadays I try not to go out in the evening. But we are open at Spanish Village which is where I've been all day.

I'm trying to go in a somewhat different direction with my jewelry. I want to do some more stringing, something I hadn't been doing because it seems to be frowned on. But some necklaces lend themselves better to stringing rather than wire bending. I've spent so little time studying that style of jewelry that now I need to develop an eye. I don't know what I like. I definitely know what I don't like.

Well, enough for now. One of the artists has just come to chat. I'm off to celebrate the holiday.

Slow and Quiet

2007-07-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

I took this photo late yesterday afternoon. You can see the sun shining in through the open door. Back in the back, on the left, you can see the handle of my broom. I think it's appropriate to have a few brooms hanging around, but I certainly think using a graphic of a broom would be too trite, unless it was very stylized.

I want to create a logo, and I've spent some time attempting to. However, I admit I become something of a perfectionist when it comes to my logo, and I've never come up with something I love. And the problem I have right now is that I don't have a graphics program installed on this computer. I've been using Power Point which works pretty well, but it's a little cumbersome.

I've created a flyer for my enamel pendants and one for my clay pendants. I've created business cards, more of which have been eaten than passed out to clients. I've put up a rudimentary website with Philip's help. I've started a short bio to use various places. I'll probably go on with that today.

I'm dressed up because we've been invited to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls tonight at 5:30. And since I'm dressed up, I don't want to do anything like carving clay that will cause me to get dirty. I could make jewelry of course. Really the only things that do make me grubby are clay and etching. Oh, the other thing that really makes me grubby is sanding with steel wool. It gets all over my shirts.

Right now it's very slow and quiet here in the Village. Nobody is blowing glass which is nice because I don't hear the noise of the glory hole, but sometimes I get a little lonely back here by myself in this corner. On the other hand, I like it because I can concentrate. Sometimes when I sit in my studio or outside, I keep getting interrupted by people who come to talk. But that's fine, too, at times.

Speaking One Word Of French

2007-07-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took several weeks ago when I was in the area we call the back patio. Several artists use it as an extension of their studio, the Board of Directors uses it for meetings, and some of the artists give classes back there. It can be a fun place to work in the evenings with lots of folks out there.

It was a relatively quiet day today, not many people around. We're trying to decide whether our fairly regular customers may avoid coming up because they're concerned about the traffic that the Dead Sea Scrolls is causing. However, it seems to me that there isn't a problem. In addition, the museum is providing parking and shuttle rides from a parking lot across the canyon. East Mesa they call it.

I spent the day working on clay pendants. The fish definitely take longer to carve than the other pendants. And I'm fussy. I like the lines to be smooth and deep, as though they are carved in stone. You sometimes can see little bits of clay when people draw or write on a tablet or vessel. I don't want any of those little crumbs to remain, so I spend a fair amount of time smoothing them away. But I like doing it, and I'm not satisfied with it unless it's done that way, all the little bits of clay gone.

Today while I was working a woman came up to me and asked me in French whether she could watch me. My French is very rusty, but I understood her and said, "oui." I told her that I was carving "terra" the word for earth. I think she understood. Then she asked me if I was going to paint it. And I said, "oui." I showed her a fish I had finished and then held it up to me to show her it was going to be a pendant. And she understood that, too.

We don't interact with very many French people, but occasionally I hear people speaking French. Mostly around here we hear Spanish. But in the Park, I do hear a number of people speaking different lanuages that I can't identify, probably Eastern European. Middle Eastern and Oriental ones are easier to identify. I like the idea that we're spreading an appreciation of art to people from all around the world. Like the internet.

Don't Let the Day End

2007-06-30T19:12:00.001-07:00

Here's a photo of what I spent the day doing. There are two more that I've already delivered to the other studio where Beverly, one of the artists, will fire them.

Today was one of those days when I just didn't want to stop working. I worked from 9:00 this morning until asbout 7:00 this evening. And really, I had to force myself to quit. Jon went by and mentioned to me that I was sitting in the only spot of sun shining in the whole patio. Everything else was in shadow. No wonder I like working late. And late afternoon is wonderful light for detail work or so I've found.

Last week, or maybe the one before, I made myself so business card. Unfortunately, there's a large cockroach living in my card holder that is eating the ink off my cards. I remember talking to an exterminator at one time who told me that they will eat ink and glue in the rug. So even if you're very clean and don't leave food around, you may still have them. Of course, we're in these old public buildings near the Zoo. So now I need to devise a way to protect my cards. I can wrap them up every night and unwrap them in the morning. Somehow, I didn't envision those kinds of chores when I decided to have an art studio.

Jon says the plants in front of the studio have bugs in them, so I need to solve that problem as well. He says he may change the plants and put something different there, but I like the ones I have. I hope he doesn't. I have to do some research to convince him that they're okay where they are. Again, not necessarily a job for an artist. Well, at least I have the internet, thanks to Philip.

Yesterday, after work, I went to find a few more beads. However, I was so busy with my clay carving that I didn't even do anything with the beads. I need to work on the clay cutouts before they dry out. And then it will be time to start making copper shapes for enameling again. An artist's work is never done. Thank goodness. Otherwise, it might get boring.

New Beginnings

2007-06-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

This is Zoie. She's the daughter of one of the artists here at Spanish Village. She was born at the begining of March. Her father is a wonderful clay sculptor whose public art projects are all around San Diego and other places as well. When we ask him if she's going to be an artist, he says, "no, a rock star."

I took this photo about 15 minutes ago with my cellphone, uploaded it to the cellphone provider's site and downloaded it to my hard drive of my studio computer through the wireless network that Philip has set up here at the Village. Who would have imagined such a thing when I was working for the military and using that old text based internet connection. That was in the 1980's. It does seem like a long ago now especially by computer standards.

Today the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit opens to the public. There's talk about parking problems, but I think we won't really know until time goes on, and we see what's happening. All of us who participated in the opening gala have received invitations to go and see the exhibit on Monday night. I have tickets for next Friday, July 6, so I'll have a chance to see it twice. Then the exhibit changes again in September or October I think. I'm not sure. But I'm very anxious to see it and maybe get some book on artwork that dates to the period. Right now, I'm trying to do as much research as I can, but I haven't found a whole lot of information.

I like preparing for a special event, because it frequently causes me to stretch artistically. Lots of other artists have said the same thing. If you have a show coming up, you get busy and made pieces that relate or you frame work that's been sitting around. I've been trying for a more ethnic look. It's been fun for me. I don't know what kind of response I'll received.

I always look forward to the weekends, because that's when I concentrate all my effort on artwork. During the week, I take time to read my email and respond to it. As the Recording Secretary of Spanish Village, I have various duties which include forwarding announcements to the general membership. But now I think I'm finished for the week, and it's time for art. One thing I did do this morning was order some enameling supplies.

Dead Sea Scrolls Opening

2007-06-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot I took from my vantage point of the demonstration booths at the Dead Sea Scrolls gala that took place this evening. It was a fun event, people coming around to ask us questions about our work and watching us work. And we of course told them that we could be seen working in our studios across the street in Spanish Village.

There were two camels beautiful dressed in red paisley shawls and they posed with the guests for photos. They seemed very docile and use to being around people. They arrived at the party in a trailer, so they didn't just walk over from the Zoo, if they even came from the Zoo. I think they probably came from Rent-A-Camel. They didn't seem like wild animals. Well, that is, camels aren't really wild, except the ones that were left in Australia after the automobile replaced them. But I think the ones at the Zoo are probably ones that are more unusual, not just the garden variety camel.

I spent time earlier today preparing the clay pendants in preparation for carving them this evening. Usually I do them the day before, but I was very busy yesterday. So this morning I created them and spread them out in the sun on my outside table. That worked just fine. As soon as they no long felt damp to the touch, I wrapped them in a plastic bag and stored them in a box. I hope I'll still be able to work on them Friday and that they won't be too dry. I made about 25 of them and I only worked on three this evening.

I tried a different kind of clay, something called B Mix which is part porcelain and part something else. I like working with it. I had a little trouble in the beginning and broke three pieces, but then I was okay with it. It's very smooth clay, very easy to carve. I could spend hours on one pieces. I mentioned that to one of the other artists, and she said, "go ahead. If you like doing it, just keep going. Spend as much time as you like." So I guess I will. It's so much fun making the lines all smooth and creating different levels of casrving.

Well, I'm ready for my day off tomorrow with out of town family members who are visiting. They want to see my studio, so I'm spending a little time straightening things up, but not enough. On the other hand, I'm getting tired and it's time to go home to get my beauty rest.

So Much To Do

2007-06-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pendants I've made out of clay then fired. I made that large fish in the center into a necklace and I've been wearing it for several days. People have complimented it. I tried a different style of closure on the cord I used for the pendant, so I need to wear if to make sure it holds up. So far it seems fine.

I do try to pay attention to people's comments about my jewelry. Of course it's nice to have the compliments, but some pieces get more compliments than others. I never got any compliments on my first enamel pendant, but fortunately I didn't let that stop me in this case. I did get feedback from one of the artists saying that she thought I should come up with some more interesting shapes, and her advice turned out to be excellent. I now spend a great deal of time on the shapes of my enamel pendants and on my ceramic ones as well.

One of the other clay artists gave me a piece of clay today, some that is very buttery and has very little grit in it. I think it will be good for carving. He said I could carve fine, delicate lines. That would be good, at least to try it. I've tried several different ones and so far the one I like best is called Bruce's White. I don't know if that's a standard type or if it's a name our local store has given it. But this new one is part porcelain, so it should be nice. I hope so because that's what I'm going to use for my demonstration on Wednesday night.

I spent the day attempting to clean up my studio, and actually it looks pretty good, I thnk. Recently I've been getting some new divided boxes to put things in. That way, I can use a lot more of my shelf space. I had gotten some little chests of drawers, but they weren't very efficient. The boxes are better because I can sort through them, looking in each one, and then I can take the ones I want and carry them outside when I'm working out there. It's handy. Then all the boxes can be stacked up on the shelf at the end of the day, if I have the energy.

Tomorrow and Thursday are my days off. My plan is to write in my blog on the days I work, but not on the days I'm off. That way, I'll continue to write, but it won't be so much work to take care of. Sometimes it takes me an hour to write an entry, sometimes less.

Weekend Ends

2007-06-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of lots of necklaces. I've made almost all of them in the last several weeks, in preparation for the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum. I've enjoyed making them, because they're a departure for me from my usual style. For one thing, they are all strung necklaces as opposed to the ones I make using gold-filled or silver wire.

The advantage is that I can use beads that have larger holes in them. They slide down over the bent wire, but when they're all strung together on a "string" it doesn't matter how large the hole is. That is, it doesn't matter unless the holes are so large that they cover smaller beads that are strung next to them. But actually that can be a special effect itself. I mended a necklace that was made that way. It was nice the way the beads moved back and forth on the small ones underneath, runninginto larger beads spaced intermittently along the strand.

Aside from stringing beads, I've been working on the ceramic pendants, painting them and then washing them to see if the paint comes off. And the bad news is that it does. Philip suggested that I cover them with a matte finish spray. I think that's what I may have to do. I don't want someone to wear one of my necklaces in the rain and have the color come off on their clothes. That wouldn't be good for business. Of course, in San Diego we have so little rain. But still, I don't want to take a chance.

It's been a lovely sunny weekend. There weren't a whole lot of visitors in the Village, but everyone who walked by seemed interested in my jewelry. I guess complements are better than nothing, although of course they don't pay the bills. Oh, well. I'm glad people like my work.

Work Is Never Done

2007-06-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took this morning that shows some of the ceramic pendants I've been making. I may not have time to convert them all into necklaces by next week, but it occurs to me that I can still display them. I'm going to be demonstrating how they are made, so it would make sense to have a lot of them.

I spent the day today making five more necklaces like the ones shown in yesterday's entry. I was going to stay and work for another several hours, but I'm out of ideas for now. It's nice though to be "forced" to sit here with strands of beads and come up with various combinations to make necklaces. There are several that I never would have come up with if I had been restricted to certain strands and a sort of ancient, ethnic look. I have created some that are sort of tribal looking and some that are much more polished looking, and some that are fairly contemporary with a suggestion of the Mediterraean.

Some time ago, Jon agreed to construct a vertical tank for my etching plates. It will make the process much easier for me. He finished awhile back and has been testing it by adding water to it, to make sure it doesn't leak. When I was etching copper bracelets, I discovered that as long as the piece is in the ferric chloride in a vertical or slightly more than vertical position, the copper being etched away will drop down into the tank.

In the past, I've been forced to place the copper piece face down in the solution and put little balls of masking tape at various points to keep it from sitting directly on the bottom. That worked well as long as the etched lines had enough open places between them to attach the masking tape. But if I wanted to etch something with an overall pattern, there was no place to put the tape. One person told me she glues styrofoam to the back of the plate and that causes it to float on the surface of the etching solution. I've been saving my foam, but that seem rather complicated as well. I'd have to find some good glue.

After the opening of the museum next week, I'll go back to enameling and etching. One thing I've been doing is putting clear enamel over pieces of etched copper. It drops down into the lines. Also, if I don't sprinkle the enamel on too thickly, some of the copper begins to oxidize, creating patches of gree coloring which I like. So many things to try.

Working Towards Various Goals

2007-06-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of some of the necklaces I've been working on for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Natural History Museum. There are two parties next week, on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The artists here at Spanish Village who can demonstrate art or crafts that date back to the period of the writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been invited to the Museum for the two opening nights. I'm going to take some clay pendants that I will have made the day before and carve them each night. I have also been doing enameling, but that's not a craft I can demonstrate over there.

Anyway, I went to get some stones from Jon to use for carving. Currently I use an agate burnisher which I love, but it's a modern tool, or at least the one I use was made recently. Jon has been taking classes at the Mineral and Gem Society next door, learnng how to make cabachons and now facetting. I thought he might have some large, partially shaped rocks that I could use, ones that look as though they could have been made 2000 years ago or so. And we came up with some from his pile of rocks. I'll get out some clay tomorrow and try to make something, to see if one or some of the stones will work.

I'm starting to get some things done that I've wanted to do for awhile now. I made more business cards, printed flyers to go with my enamel pendants, started my website, worked on additional text for my website, took some photos of my jewelry, and thought about writing a mission statement and designing a logo. I want to make sure I have plenty of brochures/flyers and business cards for the event next week. And I guess I need to keep cards in my studio and outside on my worktable too. People do take them. I don't know if that helps, but maybe a little bit. I suppose it gives me a serious/professional look.

Things Change, But the Seasons Rotate

2007-06-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy recently making jewelry for my new collection. Also, the San Diego Natural History Museum is going to be opening an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls the end of next week, and I'm making some ceramic pendants to celebrate the event.

A great deal has happened in my life, in my business, in Spanish Village. I'll have to update everything gradually. The plants have changed with the seasons, the birds that built a nest in the glassblower's awning have raised their babies and flown away. Or if they haven't, they're just about ready to.

I've taken up ceramics and enameling to make pendants. People seem to like the enamel pendants. And today I got the first page of my website up and running, thanks to the help of Philip, the very good and very kind photographer in the glassblowing studio across the way from me. Now I'm ready to become a real business. Watch out CocaCola.

Getting Started Again

2007-01-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took on January 15. You can see the leaves are mostly gone, but there are a few still left. I think it's pretty the way the late afternoon sun hits them and makes them look golden. Did I hold the camera straight? I'm not sure. The funny thing about Spanish Village is that nothing is really very straight or square. My studio is an odd shape, the outside wall extending at a slight angle. I can tell by the line of my display table and the area rug. For a temporary structure, it's held together really very well.

I've been so busy and so pre-occupied that I haven't had the time or inclination to write in my blogs. But I intend to begin doing so again. The stressful events that I was facing are mostly behind me. The first was preparing a piece for the Small Image Show. I was very happy with the three pieces I submitted. None of them were accepted. However, we also have a Salon Des Refuses that was started by a former member of Spanish Village a number of years ago. I was accepted into that show, one of my pieces was. It occurs to me that I should have taken a photo of it. Well, I will when I get it back.

The second stressful event was cleaning up my studio in preparation for a visit by a family friend. Well, really that was only stressful in that I wasn't sure I would get it done, and I didn't know if I'd have problems finding a place to put everything. But I did manage to complete the task to my satisfaction. There are still areas of the studio that need more organizing, but I have a good start for now. And the other part of the visit involved framing some of the new etchings I've created. I use to buy mats from a framing store, but they no longer carry them. So I had to get mats specially cut. They turned out very well. I'm very happy with the way the pieces look. There are six new pieces, and I have used the center of my display table to show them off.

The third event that created stress for me was the Spanish Village elections. I was re-elected as the Recording Secretary. I had a lot of paperwork to take care of in preparation for the meeting, and I still have more to do. We haven't had a Corresponding Secretary so I've been writing letters as well. Now, though, we have a new Corresponding Secretary and so there won't be as much work in the future, hopefully.

In the meantime, I have managed to get some artwork done. I've made almost no new jewelry except some incorporating brass and copper beads that my metalsmithing teacher showed me. I do have a new hole punch that helps me create holes for rivets, and I have a dapping block for making domes that I can use for beads. And now I have lots of ideas for new pieces and beads of all shapes and sizes.

I've also been fortunate enough to spend more time than usual doing some work in a class in the Enamel Guild. I've been creating woven baskets out of copper and then enameling them. I created two this past Saturday that I'm quite happy with. The disadvantage, as I see it, is that as I get better at making baskets they become more uniform and less interesting. I prefer some of the early ones that are more haphazard looking and have more character.

I've been on break from school. Next week we begin again. I was looking at some of the etchings I have prints of here in the studio. There is a series of three fish that I like. When I first created them, I didn't like them, but now I do. That's seems to be typical for me. Frequently I don't like something until later, whether its art or writing. But anyway, I'm thinking of spending the first few weeks printing the fish. I never printed additions of them in the past. So that's a way I can begin. Then I'll go from there.

Work Is Never Done

2007-01-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took over the weekend when we had all that wind. This is my worktable outside. In the front you can see four of the open seed pods that come off the rain tree. If you look closely, you can see the dark seed in the middle of each one. The pod itself is three petals that are loosely attached. They come apart, especially when they're dry to expose the seed inside. Well, actually, I suppose if the pods fell on the ground in a suitable place for germination, they wouldn't necessarily have to open . The ground moisture would cause the pod to disintegrate. And actually, a number of seeds do fall into the bed under the trees and then begin to sprout as the new leaves grow out later in spring.

Today I was off, and I decided not to go back to the Village. I went to visit my parents and then to the bookstore to look for something different, not work related. However, while I was there I discovered a book called 500 Necklaces. So of course I had to spend some time looking at it. I don't think I've seen it before. But even so, it did give me some new ideas. I made some sketchs while I was in the store. I also had an idea for a toggle clasp. That wasn't related to anything I saw in the book. It was related to something I saw in a jewelry catalog my mother gave me.

When I got home, I spent some time going through some boxes in my home studio/office. I was happy to discover some lengths of silver and gold-filled chain that I had forgotten that I had. I also collected together all the wire I have here in preparation for taking it to the studio. Some of it is picture wire, but some is wire I can use for jewelry and other projects.

Tomorrow I have plans to go to a bead and gem convention here in town. I need more supplies, chain and gold-filled closed jump rings. I've thought of ordering them from the internet, but going to the show is much easier and faster. And the selection and prices are much better than I can get here in town. There always seems to be something else to do. But now I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is another work day.

Considering Different Options

2007-01-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

Look at this succulent. It's not the flower; it's the whole plant. It's so amazing. It grows in front of Beverly's studio at Spanish Village. Jon is one of the partners in her studio now. I use to keep her studio open before my own was ready for occupancy. And I would hear people comment about this plant. There are several others that are similar. Some people thought they weren't real, and almost everyone took photographs of them. Even the man who propagated them was amazed when he saw how well they grow in that particular location.

I spent the day working on my assemblages again. But today I don't feel as though I made much progress, unless I can count all the possibilities that I eliminated. And actually, that is part of the process. In fact, it's more work trying various combinations and rejecting them than it is actually creating the assemblage once the parts are chosen.

Tomorrow is my day off. And I think I'm going to take it, not go into the Village at all. I need a break. I worked yesterday, and right now I'm feeling kind of brain dead. I need a break. One thing I did do late this afternoon was to sort all my pieces of junk into various boxes. I've got large circuit boards in one, large pieces of metal in another, small circuit boards in a third, etc. Anyway, at least I did accomplish that task. I was feeling rather tired and not very inspired though today.

And it was a cold day, more like a typical winter day. It was mostly cloudy, and I had to go inside and get a sweater to put on. Even then I wasn't as warm as I would have liked to be. I could have gotten another one from my car, but I was lazy and absorbed in my work.

Almost all the leaves are gone from the golden rain trees outside my studio and the one over in the children's clay class area. Some of the others still have leaves. Later the jacaranda will lose their leaves as well. However that hasn't happened yet. The one closest to my worktable is turning yellow, but some of the seed pods are still green on that tree, so it's not going to give up for awhile.

Lots Of Work

2007-01-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this afternoon outside my studio. You can see how the trees have lost a great many leaves, at least the two outside my studio. The ones back there in the background still retain theirs. They're the same kind of tree, but they are slower to change. See that little chimney? I guess that's what you'd call it. But it doesn't go to anything, except to provide a vent for the Gallery 21 kitchen which is right behind my studio. I like seeing it up there though. It adds character.

I spent the whole day working on my assemblage. And actually I started a new one as well. They take me a great deal of time to make. I have to try every piece in every possible position. Today I was very happy working though. I took the two large plastic storage boxes of parts and spread them out on my outside worktable. The whole table was covered, but it was so convenient. I could look at everything and then when I had an idea, I could walk around the table picking up pieces in the shape I wanted.

It was a beautiful warm day, probably about 75 degrees, a dry Santa Ana day. I worked outside until about 2:30 when my special friend called and wanted to get together. So I took all my pieces and put them back in their boxes and left the Village. I went back later, but not to do much work. Tomorrow which is an actual work day, I'll take all the pieces and spread them out on the table again. But this time, I'll arrange them better when I put them away.

I think tomorrow I'll probably work a little on the assemblages, but I need to get back to working on my copper cutouts or I'll never get them done in time for the Small Image Show. But I will have my assemblage, one at least. And I've got copper baskets and copper bracelets that are etched. I have the necklace made with brass washers and a pearl one made with brass nuts that's very pretty. So even if I don't get my copper landscape of cutouts done, I'll have pieces to enter. Anyway, I'll be glad when the deadline is passed, so that I won't be so preoccupied with submissions to the show.

After this week, I have lots of Spanish Village business to deal with. It's the end of our terms as officers on the Executive Board. Even if I'm reelected as the Recording Secretary, I want to wind up the books for this term so that I can move on with a fresh start.

Copper For Everyone

2007-01-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the golden rain tree across the patio from my studio. You can see that it has lost most of its upper leaves. The only ones that remain are near the bottom. And the whole patio from my studio all the way across to this tree and beyond is strewn with leaves. Several of us tried to sweep some of them up today, but we gave up after awhile. It takes some younger, more energetic folks to do the job.

I spent the day working on my Small Image projects. I've been taking several of my pieces around and showing them to other artists, getting some feedback. I find that most people are responding to the various pieces more or less the way I do. They like the ones I like.

Tomorrow is my day off, but I plan to go and work at the Village just the same. I plan to spend this week working on my Small Image pieces. Then next week I may take a break and do some other things that need to get done. But the show has to be my first priority this week.

I'm excited because my enamel instructor stopped by to say that he will be working in the Enamel Guild both Friday and Saturday. Most likely we'll work both days on our pieces. There are several artists who will be working with us. Jon wants to do some enameling. He use to do quite a bit, but he hasn't for a number of years, if I remember correctly.

I also talked to my metalsmithing instructor about some deep etching that can then be used in a rolling mill to make the same impression more than once. I have already created one deeply etched zinc plate in my printmaking class. But I want to make a copper one. I told her about my relative who told me how they use copper to print a million copies of a catalog, like the Sears catalog. So she was very interested and asked me to create a copper plate as well. I have some pieces of copper that my enamel instructor gave me. They're thicker, perfect for deep etching.

Leaves Everywhere

2007-01-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took today while I was sitting at my outside worktable. I used a larger format so you can see it better. See all those spots that look like I might have forgotten to wipe of the lens? Those are leaves flying through the air. As the wind blew today, all those leaves fell from the golden rain trees. And today they certainly did provide a golden rain.

If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you'll see the leaves even more clearly. I would have like to have snapped the photo just as a leaf was right on top of me, but the camera and I don't react that quickly. Now the whole area between my studio and Andy's is covered with leaves. I suppose I will sweep them up tomorrow or at least get a start on them. Andy won't be back in until Wednesday. There are two other glassblowers who sometimes sweep up our leaves. Maybe they'll help out.

I've never liked fall and/or winter when the trees lost their leaves. It always seemed so sad and depressing to me to see the bare trees. But now it occurs to me that when the trees are bare, they allow more light to fall to the ground. At a time of year when there's less daylight from shorter days, it's nice to have the extra light.

And certainly today was a beautiful warm day, even though it is winter. I sat at my table in my short sleeved tee-shirt. It was a lovely day, and the days are already getting a little longer. It doesn't seem like dead of winter anymore. Of course, here in California, some of our "worst" weather is ahead, our rainy, windy weather.

Anyway, I spent the whole day, when I wasn't busy watching the tree, working on my copper cutouts for the Small Image Show. The deadline is next Sunday, so I need to keep working if I'm going to get the whole thing done in time. I know that I'll have to spend some of the time working on Spanish Village paperwork.

We have elections coming up soon and there's lots to do. Last night we had a meeting to introduce the candidates and listen to some of their/our ideas about how to improve Spanish Village. I'm running for Recording Secretary, a job I've done for two terms already. It's a great deal of work, but I feel that I make an important contribution to the Village.

New Tools and New Plans For a New Year

2007-01-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

This tree looks about the way I feel: kind of worse for wear. But I was back at work today, and I was feeling really pretty good. It was a fairly warm day for this time of year. There were a few days when it was really cold in my studio, just as cold as it was outside. Now I have lots of extra clothes piled up in my studio to put on if I get cold.

I spent the day preparing my calendar for the new year and generally getting organized. I'm always trying a different version of calendar/journal. The one I have this time makes me feel optimistic. I'm combining two months together, a day on a page, with 100 sheets of lined paper for writing and drawing. On the daily pages themselves, I can write down appointments and other things I want to remember. I can also use those pages for pictures that I save from magazines. Each page will be used in any way it works best for that day. It did occur to me that I could use it for my blog pages, and I might do that, but I'm not sure that's the best solution. I could also use those pages for drawing.

After I finished my calendar and did some organizing, I spent the rest of the day working on my copper cutout idea. Before I got sick, I had drawn a whole group of circles on a piece of copper. I had started to cut them out and make them into little medallions. But today when I looked at the copper with circles on it, I thought I could use a part of it to make a line of trees. I cut out a piece and then began shaping it into trees with open space between the tree trunks, the leaves all joined together in an undulating line above. I'll work on it tomorrow.

I've decided to create a copper "base" on which the trees and other objects will rest. The base will be a flat piece of copper with one of my poems etched onto it and also some suggestion of a landscape features like a canal, bridge, and so forth. Then the cutout trees will stand on the base and can be rearranged to suit the observer. I can see the idea going in a variety of different related directions. There could be all kinds of environments like seascapes, farmyards, interiors of buildings, buildings in a cityscape, groups of people. I think it sounds like lots of fun. I can also see a line of trees superimposed on a bracelet for example or a pin, or individual trees or whatever as "charms" on a necklace or bracelet.

I got a heavy-duty hole punch that I can use for making holes for rivots. I won't have to use a drill press or even a drill. I'm happy about that because I can make holes so quickly and easily. It will give me a way to make bracelets much more quickly and easily. So I'm definitely moving forward in the New Year.

Distinguishing Features

2007-01-02T21:20:00.000-08:00

Here's another facade of one of the buildings in Balboa Park that I took on my walk last week. Seeing it here with the palm trees really does make it look as though it's someplace in Brazil or the Philippines or other tropical country. I like to take photos of some of the less obvious landmarks, sites. After all, everyone who goes to Paris takes a photo of the Eiffel Tower. I did too. But I like to take photos of other buildings, people, and conveyances in other countries, too. I like to ride along and think to myself, "how do I know that I'm in France, or Russia, or India, or California?" What are the distinguishing features.

I suppose you could say that's what art is about, seeing the distinguishing features and presenting them in a new way, helping people see that Paris is more than the Eiffel Tower, that Agra is more than the Taj Mahal, that a woman's eyes may not be the same size or on different sides of the nose, or that the arboretum is always east of the museum. That's my plan with my little copper pop-ups which today have been cutouts, like trees made of two flat pieces with slits in them that join at right angles to create a three dimensional object. I'd like to make a whole series of trees, plants, hills, buildings, all of which can be rearranged continually in an ever-changing landscape.

So tomorrow, I hope I'll feel up to going back to work. I have lots of paperwork to do, but I also have lots of artwork that I want to create. Landscapes of copper and brass, maybe everything fitting together on a copper "carpet" on which I've written one of my poems. I'm really excited about this project, providing I can get the look that I want. I can visualize how I want everything to look. It remains to be seen whether it will turn out the way I picture it.

I love drawing patterns on the copper. I need to do so much of it that I don't mind cutting up the pieces once they're etched, because the etched pieces add so much to anything I construct out of copper. It's so much more meaningful to add a piece that's already etched than one that's plain. So I need to get busy and etch more copper and not be afraid to cut up what I have already etched. I have a million ideas.

Yesterday I was listening to an interview that Terry Gross of NPR did with Leonard Cohen, the composer and musician. She asked him if he ever wished that his songs could come out more positive and not so sarcastic. Well, I'm not sure that's the word she used, but something like that. And he said that yes, he would like his songs to be different, but that when he sits down to write he just has to go with the energy that he has. That's something we all need to remember as artists. I can look at a pop-up book that I love the style of, but when I go to make my own pop-up book, it's going to be in my style, my "voice." And each of us needs to find our own voice in which to express ourselves. We can't copy each other because we each have a different voice.

Copper Pop Ups

2007-01-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

Here's the beginning of a sketch, the type from which I create my etchings. There are hundreds of them here at home and in my studio. This particular one just happens to be drawn on a sheet of paper lying next to my compter. Hence its appearance here before you.

This particular drawing is abot six or seven inches tall. I've got drawings ranging from an inch to probably 12 inches in this particular style. It occurred to me today that I could take some of these drawings and cut out around them in copper, etch them, and stand them up, like parts of a paper pop up book or card.

I've been playing around with the idea of trying to find a way to illustrate my poetry. When I started looking at it again recently, I realize a great deal of it is very similiar in flavor to my drawings. I've taken some of it and written it on pieces of copper and brass that I've etched and made into jewelry. More recently, I've wanted to prepare some entries for the Small Image Show and a local book arts show that is coming up in February, or at least the deadline is. I've been toying around with creating a book of copper pages somehow.

And I've been toying arond with making three-dimensional structures that I could enamel. That has led me to look at paper craft of various sorts. I spent more time today looking at origami which I don't think is going to work. But I've always been intrigued with pop up books. Some of them are amazing feats of engineering. In fact, those folks who create them are called paper engineers. So I spent the entire afternoon studying primarily one book on pop up books and cards. It was then that I came up with the idea of making little cut out "forests" that are etched and stand up like paper cut outs. In the beginning, I'll start with just little cutouts. When I'm a little more familiar with the techniques, I'll try a copper book and incorporate some text into cutouts.

Before I left the bookstore this afternoon, I went to the children's section and looked at the pop up books. Some of them are amazing. Even though they are for children, they are quite fragile and highly detailed. They're really works of art. And of course, just because I'm interested in creating them out of copper, it doesn't mean I can't work with paper as well.

I like the idea of a pop up or accordian folded book because it can be stood up on display and everyone can see it. A regular book is hard to display because it's closed or open to only one spot at a time. That's one problem I've had with book arts all along, displaying the work.

The End of the Beginning

2006-12-31T16:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the California Tower in Balboa Park. Everyday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., we hear the bells ring on the quarter hour. In fact, just this minute, I can hear them as I sit in my office at home. It's a quiet evening and when the wind is right, I can hear the tower bells. But, really, that's a fiction. There isn't anyone in the tower ringing the bells. It's a recording piped in over a loud speaker. The bells play the familiar Westminster chimes. I've forgotten what the words are, but they represent a four line poem, a grace before a meal. Each quarter hour another line is added until on the hour all four lines are played and then followed by one bell for each hour. I just heard five chimes, to represent 5:00 p.m. There is one more set scheduled for this year.

These bells will not chime at midnight. I suppose people who live in the neighborhood have complaimed about them making too much noise. That's too bad. When I was a child, we had a clock at home that played the same lines. If I woke up in the night, I could tell what time it was by listening. Nowadays, all I have to do is glance at my digital clock or open my cellphone. People complain and so adjustments are made. I think if you move to this part of town, you should expect to live with the chimes and the train whistles which people have also complained about. I like hearing the trains, but I haven't heard them now for quite awhile. The clock bells, the train whistle, the ships horns, the fog horn, they all represent life in the city. It's part of the fun of living near downtown.

Here I am at home on New Years Eve again, this year because I'm sick. I've got the "bug" that's going around. It seems to be a sort of cold although now I wonder if I have the stomach flu as well. My special friend has that. Lots of people have been sick. It's that time of year. But I've survived pretty well, and now I'm ready to go on to a new year and business growth.

My plans for this coming year are to find additional markets for my work, to stretch myself as an artist in printmaking, jewelry design, and move into enameling. The jewelry will mostly entail getting my website up and running. And that will involve writing some text to support what I do, my methods, and my artistic and technical beliefs. It will also involve starting to photograph my jewelry and other work. I now have pieces of jewelry that I wish I had photographed before I sold them. I also would like to work on the display in my studio and on my worktable outside my studio. And I need to work on some packaging and business cards. I had created a second design for my card and those are all gone. Almost all of the first design is gone as well. I'm down to just a few cards.

I hsve learned some things about copper and gotten some new tools that will help me work with it more easily than I have in the past. And I suppose that's another goal that I have: to expand my skill with copper, to use it in new ways, learn new skills for using it. Weaving strips of it into baskets has helped me feel more comfortable with it. Knowing that I can cut it with scissors makes it easier to shape than it would be if I were using a jewelers saw. I've learned to etch it and I'll go on with that process. I'll etch it and cut it and enamel it and shape it and weave it and create all kinds of things. I've already cut a piece into the shape of a fish which I can etch and then print on paper as well as use for a piece that stands on its own.

So I suppose that at least a portion of my new year will be spent exploring use of copper. I guess that makes me a coppersmith. A coppersmith. Eventually, I'd like to develop my skillls to the point where I can do the same things in silver, become a silversmith, using cold joins and other techniques to create works of art. And I suppose another goal for this year or in the future is to really learn to solder so that I can do even more. However, for now, I like the idea of restricting myself to cold joins. That forces me to think more creatively, I feel.

This year, I feel I'm now at the end of the first stage of my journey, one on which I have undertaken to begin a fledgling business that someday may become a means of support or it may become another CocaCola. I've come to the end of the beginning of the business. Now it's on to the middle part. In writing the novel, they say you need to make sure you can hold your audience during the middle part of the novel. That's the point at which things can begin to drag or come to such a slow down that it's hard to get up and running again. Hopefully that won't happen to me or to you Dear Reader.

When I sat here in front of my computer this time last year, I had no idea where I was going with my blog. Now I have two of them. I've tried to write in them everyday, but I have, of course, missed some days, mostly because I was sick or out of town or sick and tired of wrestling with the wireless network which is down now as I write. I'd like to say I wrote everyday, but I know I'm not a machine, so I think I've done rather well, keeping it up. There were lots of times when I was so sleepy that I didn't know if I could write, and times when I didn't know if I had anything to say. However, that's one of the things that amazes me about the human mind. If you give it a chance to speak, it will tell you something everytime you ask. And I suppose that's the ultimate goal: record what the mind has to tell you. If you don't, you run the risk of not remembering.

Enjoying My Surroundings

2006-12-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

Here's part of the facade of one of the buildings in Balboa Park. They're really lovely, modeled on ones in Spain I believe. If you want to see what they look like, watch the movie Citizen Kane. It's full of photos of Balboa Park, in the beginning where it they are supposedly showing his house, but they're actually shots of the Museum of Man and other buildings.

Today was a day off for me, but I went to work to do some Spanish Village paperwork. As it turned out, I didn't ever get started on the paperwork. But I did some straightening and organizing in my studio, something I always need to keep ahead of. And then I went to lunch with my cousins at the Prado, a very good restaurant in Balboa Park. On the way back, I took a whole lot of photos. Eventually, I'd like to make some of them into photoetchings. What I need to do is spend time once a week or so and take photos all around the Park and maybe in other parts of San Diego as well.

My cousin gave me a silver pendant set with a large piece of labrodite. I wanted to make a necklace to wear it on. I was in a hurry and I made up something quickly which I think has turned out to be one of my better pieces. I intended to use some small labrodite beads that I had and incoporate them with a piece of silver chain that I had. I used some of my industrial findings that are plated with fine silver. I took apart a necklace I had made but never liked, and started to add the beads. However, most of them had such tiny holes that they wouldn't go through the silver wire I had. And they are quite small, so the proportion wasn't what I would have chosen if I had planned it. So rather than struggle with the beads, I searched around on my work table and found several blue glass beads and several blue chalcedony ones. I combined those, using uneven spacing, and they look wonderful. I should do everything so haphazardly. It certainly worked this time.

Before I left my studio, I had started to cut some circles out of copper. Each one is hand done, so they'll be irregular in size and shape to some degree. I was going to punch two holes in each one and incorporate them into a chain, but I may just hang them from chain instead. I think they'd be pretty with silver chain and maybe some gold-filled wire, too. I'm not sure yet. They're so pretty and delicate. I could use them for all kinds of things, but they're time consuming to make, so I'm not sure how many I'll wind up making. I'll have to see. Of course, they could be made out of brass and aluminum as well. I have thin enough pieces that I can cut them with scissors. That's the only way I can make them at all cost effective. I'm not good at using the jewelers saw.

Now after the holidays, lots of my jewelry is gone. It's very nice, but now I need to put aside some of the fun stuff for awhile and make some new pieces. The pearls seem to be very popular. I'll probably make some more pearl necklaces and bracelets. That's the trick, a balancing act. Make some jewelry, working on new etching plates, experiment with shapes and sizes, do a little enameling, clean up my studio, start all over again. There's never enough time for everything. I suppose I could just stick to one medium, but I like so many. Maybe eventually I'll be able to narrow it down. Maybe not.

Jacaranda Christmas Tree

2006-12-25T23:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a jacaranda tree in the main patio of Spanish Village doing its Christmas duty, sporting some ornaments. You can see the seed pods on it as well. They will stay for quite awhile, maybe only being blown off by the wind or maybe the season will cause them to drop. The leaves will fall off too at some point, but they still look green for the most part.

I spent the morning in my studio preparing a gift for an aquaintance and some family members. Then I spent the middle of the day at Christmas dinner with my family. It was a beautiful warm day, so warm in fact that I wound up wearing something different than I intended. My green Christmas jacket turned out to be too warm.

Late this afternoon I came back to my studio and worked until quite late. My biggest "discovery" right now is that I can cut most of the copper that I have with my scissors. My special friend told me I could use a paper cutter, and I'm sure I can. That would work for straight edges, like bracelets. But for any irregular shapes, the scissors will work.

That opens up a whole new avenue of possibility. I can cut the copper and use it for etching or etch it first and then cut it. Of course, I could use a jewelers saw, but those are kind of tricky and take time, at least for me, because I'm not that skilled using one. I've been wanting to etch a fish for my father, so this evening, I took my scissors and cut a fish out of a sheet of copper. I'll prepare him and then etch him. It will be much nicer than a rectangular plate with fish etched on it. It occured to me that I could even print it first on paper before I give it to him. And then I got to thinking about odd shaped plates for printing. That's something else I've wanted to try: printing a plate that's not just a rectangle or a square. I'm on my way.

All this thought of etching made me realize that I have plates that I need to etch. However, when I went through my stack of plates which are all together now in one spot, I realized that I only had one plate ready to etch. Well, really, that's all I can etch at one time. But it also helps me to see that I need to work on the eight other plates as well, finish them so I can move on.

So I etched the plate that was ready. It turned out fine, even though it was this evening and getting cold. I left it in for two hours. It could have stayed in longer, but it was getting late, so I took it out and cleaned it up. I can cut it with the paper cutter tomorrow.

Christmas Eve

2006-12-24T21:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of some of my baskets and other enameling projects set up on my outside worktable.

Today was a relatively slow day at Spanish Village. I suppose most people were home getting ready for the holiday. We did have some last minute shoppers, some who actually looked pretty frantic, a few men.

I spent time working on a necklace and the copper basket I'm currently working on. I didn't feel very motivated to make either jewelry or baskets. I was feeling kind of worn out from all the recent activity. I have actually sold quite a bit of my jewelry. I will be forced to get very busy soon and make more. This week, however, I'm going to be working on more Spanish Village paperwork. My term as Recording Secretary comes to an end soon, and I have agreed to run for another term. However, there is another candidate and so there is someone besides me to do the job. I might consider stepping aside. I'll have to think about it.

One of the glassblowing students wants to learn etching so that she can make copper pieces for family and friends. So she took two pieces of copper home with her yesterday and brought one back with some writing and drawing on it. We etched, cleaned it up and made it into a very nice keychain medallion. She was very happy with it and so was I. Maybe I will begin a career as a teacher, to teach a few people on the side. But that's a consideration for another year. Tonight I'm off to bed to wait for Santa Claus.

Using Copper For Baskets and Printing

2006-12-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a copper basket I was working on today. It's still not finished, but I've gotten a good start on it.

It was a busy day at Spanish Village, for me at least. Some relatives came by and a number of the glassblowing students were in the studio next door. The furance broke again, so they were working on fixing it. It was going back up in temperature as we left this afternoon. They'll be able to blow glass on Tuesday. The Village is closed Christmas Day.

While my relatives were visiting me, we got into a conversation about the equipment they use to print newspapers and mail order catalogs. Apparently they create a copper plate that goes on a cylinder. Actually, they create four plates, one for each color. And they can print a million copies. I was amazed to hear that. Our printmaking professor always talks about the fact that a zinc plate will last for about 100 prints, maybe 150. I assumed the copper would last for about the same number of copies. But according to my cousin's husband, copper makes a very good, clear lasting print. That's so interesting. Later Philip said he worked at a newspaper in Alabama where they used that kind of a press for printing.

Yesterday and then later last night I was able to do a little enameling with my teacher in the Enamel Guild. I would like to make enough pieces to become a member of the Guild and also to jury into Spanish Village with my enamels. People seem to be responding well to the baskets and plates I've done. I had some of them out on my worktable this afternoon. During the month of December, we can sell any thing we make, in any medium. We don't have to be juried in with it. During the rest of the year, we're not allowed to display or sell any media for which we're not juried in.

In between the visit from my relatives and conversations with glassblowing students and Philip, I was working on the copper basket. Late in the afternoon, a man came up to my table and started looking at the baskets and asking me about my sheet of copper and the spool of copper wire. As it turns out, he is one of the exhibitors in the show currently in Gallery 21. It's a woodturners' show, and his hobby is woodturning, but he works at a salvage yard in Chula Vista, on of the towns south of San Diego.

I took him in my studio and showed him some of the surplus hardware I had collected and the assemblage that I'm working on now. He asked me abot one of the bracelets I had made by rolling a piece of copper and a zinc etching plate through a rolling mill. He told me that I could clean and polish copper with catsup. I'll have to bring home one of my bracelets and try it. So, next week I'll make a trip down to his business to take a look. I'm always looking for "new," neat stuff. It was worth my day just to get that information. I might take Jon with me down there. It sounds like the kind of place he'd like to go.

Happy Winter Solstice - Longer Days Ahead

2006-12-21T18:40:00.000-08:00

This is a photo from my cellphone. That was two cellphones ago, the grandmother of my current model. I did manipulate the photo in PhotoShop. Now it looks like an impressionistic painting. I took this photo in the fall of 2001. I don't remember exactly when in the fall it was taken, but it seems to me it was fairly late, but probably not as late as December.

Today was the last day of printmaking class for the fall semester. And appropriately it's the first day of winter. However, I didn't make it to class. I woke up feeling as though I might be getting sick, and I thought it would be better to stay home in bed, so I did.

However, I did go out briefly to get a newspaper. My special friend told me about an article in the local paper about fractals. He noticed them because the examples in the paper look rather like etchings, like some of my etchings. I've been interested in them for years, and perhaps they're one of the things that has influenced my work over the years. Now it seems you can buy software to create them yourself. You don't have to be a mathematican or computer programmer. If you're interested, go to www.fractalus.com. You can also check out some very nice examples at www.parkenet.org/jp/galleries.html.

It makes me want to look into creating some myself. When I worked in the compter industry, I had a goal of creating a fractal screensaver, one that would continue to change and evolve. I never got far enough into programming in those days to accomplish that task. Now, if you choose the higher end version of the software, the program will automatically automate it for you.

I recently discovered there's a feature in PhotoShop that allows you to create patterns from a photo, by selecting a portion of it. I've played with it a little, but not very extensively. Jon uses it to manipulate the photos he takes of his glass. He gets some wonderful kalideoscope prints that are intriguing and very creative. Are you ready for a little competition, Jon? Just kidding. No artist ever really copies another and remains true to themselves.

A Cold Time Of Year

2006-12-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

Here are two photos, front and back, of the assemblage I'm working on. It measures about 4 inches high and looks fairly convincing, I think. I've been working on it off and on for awhile now. I keep it on my worktable along with some loose pieces of hardware and I keep trying the different pieces together until I find ones that fit. Jon tells me that the round circuit board is part of a hard drive. He wasn't sure about most of the rest of the parts. There's one part that Philip identified as a relay. I think that's what he said, but I'm not sure.

It was a slow day in Spanish Village today, and I spent a great deal of time working on paperwork for the Village. I'm writing a letter to outline a series of events that occured recently. It's the kind of thing that I need to work on and then put down for awhile, then go back and read it again from a relatively fresh prospective. That makes it time consuming to write, unlike writing here in my blogs where I just write what comes out of the end of my fingers, more or less. I almost never do any editing here. In fact, sometimes I don't even re-read what I've written. I know that's probably not good, but that's what I've been doing.

I admit that right now my mind is turning a different direction, toward celebrations of the holidays. And my mind has also been on the weather. It's very cold for us. And in fact, I was looking at the temperatures in New York and they were only an average of 5 degrees cooler than here. My studio is very cold. I've been cold all day, even though I've had on more than my regular layers of clothes. Now I'm going to turn off the computer and go to bed where it's warm.

The Tallest Tree

2006-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a little working Christmas tree. It really is a pine tree, a star pine. This one is about six or seven feet tall. I think they grow to about 60 feet or more as adults. I've been familiar with them since I was a little girl growing up here in Southern California. There aren't as many of them as there are eucalyptus trees, but they are around in some of the older neighborhoods and in the Park.

Today was a quiet one in Spanish Village. I spent almost the whole day on paperwork and on my Small Image submission. On Mondays when there's nobody blowing glass, I can sit and dream up all kinds of ideas. I thought about all the things I've made that would fit in a 10 inch cube: necklaces, copper bracelets, sculptures, baskets, etchings. I'll have to decide what piece or pieces I want to submit for jurying.

When I'm working by myself, I sometimes like to listen to NPR or some music. I now have a telephone with an MP3 player in it. I can download songs and play them through its speaker. Inside the phone is a memory card that holds one gigabyte of information, approximately 700 or more songs. The card is half the size of my pinky fingernail and holds 50,000 times as much information as the first desktop computer I had when I worked for the Navy. That was about 16 years ago, when DOS ruled the computer world and a dot matrix printer was a fancy new item.

Currently the wi-fi network is down at Spanish Village. Philip says that he thinks the repeater isn't working. And the president wasn't able to get onto the DSL network either when he tried earlier today. So even though we're much more advanced than we were 16 years ago, we're still struggling with various computer problems. Really, I suppose we always will.

I'm so happy to have a telephone on which I can store all my most favorite music and listen to it whenever I choose. And when the battery gets low, I can plug it into an outlet in my studio or in my car and charge it up in no time. Now, if it had a radio, too, I'd really be happy. I still have to carry the other phone for the radio and the version of solitaire that I prefer. It proves that small is powerful. You don't have to be the tallest tree on the block.

Preparing For Climate Changes, Including Political Ones

2006-12-17T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took yesterday afternoon. Although the golden rain tree still looks as though it has lots of leaves on it, you can definitely see that there are gaps among the leaves. If you look really closely, you can see that the leaves are beginning to turn yellow. It's a little hard to see. I'm guessing that there will be a definite change in the next few days. We have some cold nights coming up. That will most likely make a difference.

We expected it to rain, so I thought I was going to spend the day inside. However, when I got to work, it was only party cloudy and it continued that way all day. I sat outside and worked on two necklaces. People like pearls, so I worked on a pearl one. I've got lots of pretty pearls of all different sizes and shapes. I also have a variety of colors although the bulk of the ones I bought recently are white or peach or pink. I did get some in colors like gold and amber to use with the industrial hardware that I have.

But anyway, it didn't rain, so I sat outside. However, my table faces north and in the fall and winter when the sun is further to the south, I sit in the shade all day long. Today I was very cold, even though I had on layers of clothes including sweaters and my boots. However, I noticed my neck was cold. I have two turtlenecks to wear. I'll have to make sure those are always clean. Also, I will get out some of my scarves to wear. I can leave them in my studio along with my other warm clothes. I do that so I won't wear them home and then forget to bring them back. And the other thing I did was to buy another hat. I have a hat already but it has a wide brim, and I thought it might make me unapproachable. But this new hat is velvet and only has a small brim. I think it should help keep me warm. I've heard that you can lose as much as 65% of your body heat through your head.

We have elections coming up in January at Spanish Village. Right now there's a great deal of campaigning going on. I'm not a campaigner myself. I don't care much for politics, but I am the Recording Secretary and I'd like to continue that job. I believe I can have an important voice at the the Village. In the past, I haven't had anyone run against me. However, I do have an opponent this time. I know who I think will be the best president, and I've been doing a lot of campaigning for that person. Now I think I have to do some for myself. And, of course, if I don't win re-election, I will have more time for my artwork. That's certainly not all bad.

One thing I did do today was go down to the Enamel Guild, Studio 5, and look at the various pieces they have there. Based on their prices, I figured out how much to price my enamel basket. I also put a price on the brass and copper basket that I made. I really hope it doesn't sell, because I'm thinking of entering it in the Small Image Show and/or enameling it when I have class next month. In the meantime, I'll work on making a few more baskets. I have some more ideas. And I want to create some more three dimensional shapes of various other kinds to work on enameling.

Assembling Information

2006-12-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of that zinc plate I worked on in class on Thursday. I had downloaded it to my computer and then couldn't find it to upload here. Now here it is. In this photo, it still has the asphaltum ground on it. But you can see also that there are a great deal of etched lines and open spaces as well. I'll try printing it again when I go back to class on Tuesday, try it with a stiffer ink and maybe changing the setting on the press to create more pressure. Also, I'll try a relief print.

Today I spent the day inside my studio, but I did have some customers. On weekends, I always try to sit outside, but today it sprinkled a little around noontime and I was afraid to bring my display outside. Besides the fabric cloth I put on my table, my displays are velvet covered, and if they were outside when it began to rain, they would get spots on them. I wanted to avoid that.

I spent the day doing some more organizing. I started to work on a necklace after organizing my worktable enough to find the tools and findings that I needed. But after awhile, I was attracted to the assemblage that I've been working on and I switched gears. That's what happens at times. I work on one thing until my eye is caught by something else and I am distracted. I suppose that's one advantage of working outside on weekends. I don't have so much extra visual stimulation and distraction.

A woman came in my studio this afternoon. She spent a long time looking at the jewelry and then as she was leaving, she said, "oh, you paint too?" I explained that what she was looking at was an etching. She had already said she loved my jewelry. Then she spotted the enameled copper basket, and she asked me how much it was. I didn't know what to say. I told her I had just started making them, and I would have to look at the pieces in the enamel guild and see what they charge for their pieces that are similar.

I admit that's what I hate about being an artist. I never know what price to put on things. I have to ask someone else's advice. I charge for my jewelry based on the cost of the materials plus my time, so it's pretty cut and dried. When it comes to my etchings, I charge by the size of the piece, except in several cases. I have one that's mor because it's actually four plates printed together and the plates have been altered. There's only one copy of that print. And there's another print for which I no longer have the plate. Unfortunately that's my "best seller."

But when it comes to an individual piece like the basket, I don't have any clue. I suppose I could try to remember how much time I spent on it and figure it that way. But some artists would argue that's not a valid way to figure the cost. I could say it took me eight hours plus 40 years. I should have asked my ename teacher when he came by today, but I didn't think to. I did show him my copper and brass basket. He said there is enamel that's specifically made for brass. That answers that question. But he says he doesn't have any.

Getting Organized, Thinking Differently

2006-12-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this afternoon of one of the golden rain trees, like the ones outside my studio. This one is beginning to turn yellow. Its leaves will turn yellow quickly, and then in a day or two they will be gone, the branches bare. The trees outside my studio haven't started to turn yet, but they will soon, I'm sure.

I spent today working on organizing my studio. It seems to be a never ending task. However, I do feel as though I made some major progress, changing some things around. I got some metal baskets to put things in, to consolidate them on the shelves. The problem I have is that if I pile a whole lot of stuff on top of other things, when I want something underneath, everything comes down. So I thought that if I could put all the stuff in the pile into a basket, at least it wouldn't all cascade down onto the floor.

Now I need to make a place to store my copper and my etching plates. I've tried stacking all the plates together, but I still come across more of them as I search through my things. And now I have a great deal of copper in different weights that I've bought recently. I can always use it for etchings, jewelry or sculpture, but I can't just leave it in piles on the floor of my studio. I think I can fit it in one of the boxes under my display table. Or I might put it in my filing cabinet. I did have my plates stored that way at one point. I thought I could store them in there with my etchings. Once my class is finished next week, I'll take them out of my portfolio that I keep carrying back and forth to school and put them in the cabinet. That will work well.

My other major problem is a whole series of unfinished jewelry projects. I guess I just need to get busy and either put the strands of beads back in my stock pile or finish the projects. Otherwise, I'm going to go on having big caches of beads all over the place. There are probably some strands of beads that I might use for other projects.

And then my immediate task for this weekend is to gather together my jewelry making supplies so I can work at my outside worktable and hope it doesn't rain while I'm out there. Although I think I have more than enough beads, I did buy a half strand yesterday when I was getting copper. I wanted to make it into a choker this afternoon, but I couldn't come up with all the tools and findings I would have needed. It seemed like too much effort. So on one level, I'd say I'm less organized than I think I am. But tomorrow it will all come together. I'll turn my mind that direction.

Today I was working on an assemblage that I started last week. I have various metal hardware and some little circuit boards that I can piece together into an interesting whole. So I tried a variety of different pieces together until I came up with five different pieces that seem to make sense. I glued several of them together and left them for tomorrow. They all fit snuggly together, but I want them to stay if the piece is picked up and examined. I also spent time on a small copper sculpture. I want to make three-dimensional copper pieces that I can enamel, and I think I need to start thinking in terms of ways to create three-dimensional pieces, things besides just baskets, and baskets themselves that are more imaginative.

Thin Copper, Thick Lines

2006-12-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took on Tuesday at school. These are the few remaining leaves on the vine. They're much smaller than the others and hang dowfrom the eaves of the building. You can see what a typical, clear fal day it was. Actually, it does look as though there's a little wisp of clouds behind that tree in the distance.

I was at school today, working on several items I started in the last two class periods. One was a photo etching of a cat, a photo taken by my special friend. We were experimenting with it, because the professor wasn't sure how to remove the photo-sensitive covering from the zinc plate. However, we did figure it out today. We left the plate soaking in developer for half an hour and then it did take the covering off. The plate that I prepared didn't work very well, because it was too pale, but I'll try mixing the ink differently on Tuesday and see if I can get a better print. And I have a second plate that I can work with as well, the same cat photo.

I also was experimenting with sugar lift, an etching technique. You use a mixture of caro syrup, gum arabic, and asphaltum to paint on a plate. When it dries, you cover the rest of the plate with liquid asphaltum and let it dry again. Next you submerge it in warm water. The theory is that the warm water will melt the syryp and gum arabic, removing it from the plate. Then you can aquatint the exposed part of the plate if there are large areas, but the ideal is to paint very thin lines that will act as line etching. But that plate didn't work very well either. I didn't degrease it enough and the asphaltum came up in big chunks. I'll try that again next week, too, if I have time. Anyway, my lines were too thick and globby. But now I understand better what to do.

My third "experiment" was with a zinc plate that I wanted to bite very deepy, creating deep recesses in the plate. The plan is to roll it through a rolling mill with a piece of copper and create bas relief. I left the plate in the nitric acid for a total of three hours, two on Tuesday and one today. It is now covered with quite deep lines. However, the lines are no longer smooth and crisp. They have a sort of dotted look to them. The reason for this is because as the acid bites into the plate, it creates bubbles as the metal is eaten away. You can prevent some of this from happening by taking a feather and running it over the plate, dispersing the bubbes. But I'm not committed enough to spend three hours fanning my plate with a feather. My plan is to try a deep bite with a copper plate which doesn't form bubbles.

After I cleaned the asphaltum off the zinc plate, I printed it. The funny thing was that the lines are so deep that the ink wasn't transferred to the paper properly. If I'm going to print an edition of the plate, I'm going to have to use a stiffer ink, set the press tighter or print a relief print. The etching is normally a print of the lines bitten into the plate by the acid. The lines are dark. A relief print, on the other hand, is a print of the surface of the plate. The lines are white and the background is dark. I might try that. But my main objective is still to use it to emboss copper.

Yesterday, I went to get copper at the supplier, so I could make more baskets. However, the copper I got was too thick. On my way back from the gym this morning, I remembered that I bought copper from them that was on a roll. So I called them to ask if I had in fact done that. They told me that they did have the thin copper on rolls. So this afternoon, I took a large piece from my studio and went back. Now I have just what I want. I also spent a little time at the jewelry supplier where I got some copper wire and chain to use as well. And I have some ideas for enameling pieces of copper and then putting it together afterwards. That could be interesting.

Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Thin Copper

2006-12-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

Here's another basket I made this past weekend. I never enameled it though because it's too tall to fit in the kiln. I can either modify it or just leave it as it is without any enamel.

I spent today working on another basket and also on a brass fish that I started at least a year or two ago. I think I was going to give it as a gift, but I wasn't happy with it at the time, so I put it aside. Now when I look at it, I think it's got a lot of life to it. I added some found objects to it, making it look even more interesting. I haven't finished it yet, but I will. In the meantime, with the idea of making a few more baskets, I tried to go to the supplier and get more thin sheet copper, but what I wound up with is much heavier. I'll have to look elsewhere or maybe go back and see if I can buy a sheet of the thin one, not just count on them having thin scraps. Normally the scraps are fine, but sometimes they're either too small, or in this case, too thick.

One of the things all the artists at Spanish Village begin to talk about this time of year is the Small Image Show that is held in Gallery 21, our rotating gallery. Normally, we rent the gallery out in two week periods to other San Diego artists, giving them a chance to showcase their work at the Village. But in January we take submissions for the Small Image Show which we put on ourselves. It's a juried show that runs for the month of February. The judge is always someone who isn't associated with the Village, someone impartial. It's considered quite prestigious to get into the Small Image Show. Lots of entries are rejected.

Anyway, this time of year, when someone produces a small piece of art, the chorus will go up, "enter it in the Small Image Show." I've entered three or four times and been accepted, although generally some of my pieces are accepted and some are rejected. Last year I had two pieces of jewelry accepted. They were made of electrical components. I also had an enamel piece accepted one year. Several people have already suggested that I enter my enameled basket in the show. However, I have an idea for an assemblage. The problem will be to find all the parts and get it ready before the submission deadline which is in mid-January.

I wouldn't mind entering an etching, but what I'd really like to enter is another piece of jewelry made with industrial findings of one sort or another. I have the necklace I made last weekend with brass washers and hemitite beads, but I'd like to make something more imaginative. I also have ideas for two different books as well. That's my problem: I have so many ideas and not enough time for them all.

Changes In Methods

2006-12-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here's what's left of the vine at school. Almost every leaf has fallen off except a few in protected spots. Now what's left is a bunch of stems that have turned red and these little grape-like "fruit." I guess the vine could be some sort of ornamental grapevine or something related. I know that grapevines lose their leaves in the fall. I've seen the bare vines when we've gone up to Napa Valley in Northern California. And I've seen photos of them with their leaves turning in the fall.

Although fall tends to be one of my less favorite seasons, the red, orange, and yellow leaves I see around town are lovely. I was at the bookstore this morning, and I noticed trees with bright red leaves growing next to some palm trees. In fact I tried to take a photo of them, but it didn't turn out.

I spent time at the bookstore looking for books on book arts and also jewelry making. Despite the fact that I have plenty of books, too many really, I still can't totally resist them. I had a 40% off coupon, and I admit it lured me to the store. I chose a book on Tiffany jewelry that I've been looking at for months. I had decided it was too expensive, but at 40% off it was much more reasonable. I also found several magazines with metalsmithing tips in them. But I also resisted a number of other books that I might have purchased in the past. Anyway, I'm a firm believer in my mind's ability to store images and ideas that I introduce it to.

I went to printmaking this afternoon. I had several zinc plates that I wanted to etch for a long time. One was not finished. In fact, I'm still not finished with it. The other one was sufficiently complete for me to use it to experiment. I left it in the nitric acid for two hours, and I don't think it bit as deeply as I would have liked. I want to put it back in again on Thursday and see what will happen if I leave it in several more hours. I realized that I have two plates in my drawer at school that I tried to do the same thing with. This was when I took the class several years ago. I'll just keep trying. And it occurs to me that I could try to etch a piece of copper very deeply as well. That would probably take overnight. The thing about zinc is that it doesn't etch as cleanly as the copper does. The copper makes such a nice clean line. Of course, I've never tried to etch it really deeply. I will. That will be a goal for this week or next.

Enameling On Brass

2006-12-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

Here are two photos of baskets I've made out of copper and, in the case of the lower one, copper and brass. The copper one above is one I've been working on now for a month, since I started to do a little enameling again. The former president of the Enamel Guild here at Spanish Village gives classes during the day and evening on the second Saturday of the month, the day that he sits in the gallery.

When he told me last month that I could come work with him, I started this basket because I didn't want to enamel one of the typical copper bowls that are available through the enamel catalogs. He had created a basket, and so I copied him. However, I only finished it in the last several days and had it ready for enameling when we worked together this weekend. I like trying new methods when we work together, like turning the kiln up to a higher than normal temperature. That creates enough heat to change the look and/or color of the enamels that I'm using. There was a member of the Guild who did some beautiful pieces using that method. I like the idea of working with the material, allowing it to do what it will in the kiln.

I had so much fun making the previous basket that I decided to work on another one today while I was in my studio. It's at the left. I used pieces of copper and brass that I have already etched. You can't tell from the photo, but the large band at the bottom of the basket is copper and the center band is brass. The enamel won't stick to the brass, so the effect that will be created when I enamel it will be interesting I hope. I talked to my other teacher, a cloisonne teacher, on the phone about the brass. She said there must be a way to get the enamel to stick to the brass because all the Chinese cloisonne is done on brass. I don't know the answer. I'll just have to try it and see what happens.

I enjoy working with enamels because I think there's a great deal of room for creativity in the medium. Not much has been done with it recently to experiment and give it a new look. Or if there has been, it's certainly not something I'm aware of. Most of the work I've seen is fairly traditional. I want to make some pieces that are really extreme, that really push the envelop so to speak.

I certainly don't think of enamel as my medium, but certainly I have more fun in the enameling and cloisonne classes than with any other art form at this point. And it's a medium that certainly brings out my creativity. Remembering that fact, I want to push myself with the medium as far as I possibly can, not follow any of the usual procedures that enamelist normally adhere to. I want to break all the rules. And I gave up all my flat pieces of copper and said I will never do a flat piece of enamel again. I will always "build" something out of copper that I can use to enamel.

After spending most of the day on the brass and copper basket, I took some time to put some asphaltum on some copper and one zinc plate. My cloisonne teacher talked to me about using deeply etched zinc to emboss on copper or silver. I'm very anxious to try doing that. I've always wanted to do a deeply etched plate, so my plan is to take a zinc plate I have into class tomorrow and try etching it for a long time.

If The Day Were Longer I Could Do More

2006-12-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this morning in front of the Atheneum in La Jolla. When I was growing up, it was the La Jolla Public Library, but now it's a music and art museum with a portion set aside for exhibits. I went to it this morning because a client recommended an exhibit there called Uncommon Metal.

I was glad I took some time to do so. The show was interesting, consisting of jewelry and some metal furniture made from street signs and some two dimensional and three dimensional work that included lights that blinked on and off. I enjoyed seeing the jewelry made partly from money, not immediately obvious, and a very long necklace a little reminiscent of some of mine. It definitely further encourages me to pursue some of my "art" jewelry. I have lots of ideas.

After going to the exhibit, I went to an industrial liquidator where I found some wonderful nuts made of stainless steel and plated with silver. They are like some I have already but these new ones are much larger, more in keeping with the proportions that I'm working with now. Later in the day, I went to the bead supplier to find some beads to go with my new pieces. I selected some dyed pearls in golds, bronzes, and titanium to put with the silver, brass, and stainless steel that I have already as well as the new pieces.

Today was my day off. I went to printmaking. I've been helping the professor by working with some photo sensitive zinc plates. They work on the same principle as the photo sensitive polymer plates I've been using for about three or four weeks now. But they have the added advantage of being made of zinc and can therefore be worked further, after they have the photo etched on them. The problem is that we don't have the directions, and we're not sure what to do. We called the supplier, and we thought we had the answer, but after trying today, it seems we don't. But I will try to do some research and go on with it again next week.

The other thing I'm trying in printmaking, something I've never tried before, is sugar lift. You paint with a combination of asphaltum and caro syrup which then washes off in warm water, leaving the painted lines free to be bitten by the acid. I started that process, but I have to wait for it to dry before I can proceed. So that's a project for next week as well. This week wasn't as productive as I'd like, but I'm okay with that. If I could just get one more photo etching done to complete my series, I'd be satisfied for now. And I'm sure I can. I have three more classes in which to accomplish that task.

Is Anything Happening

2006-12-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a little succulent garden sitting up on the bannister to the balcony above Studio 18. Part of it is blooming, on the other side. These plants are so happy. Just give them a swallow or two of water and a sunny spot, and they'll grow happily for years, blooming and prospering. We should all be so contented, or at least on some level.

I suppose I don't want to be too content with my current lot in life. If I were, I wouldn't be striving to build a business and create my artwork. So even though spending my life basking in the sun sounds wonderful, I suppose it isn't really.

I spent the day working on jewelry. Before I arrived at Spanish Village this morning, I went to an industrial surplus supplier where I got some nuts, brass washers, and various other items that I can't identify. But I like the way they look, and I spent the day incorporating them into jewelry. Using brass washers could solve the problem I have of finding enough gold-filled rings and chain to intersperse with my stones and pearls. I took some tiny brass nuts and combined them with some button pearls. I love the look.

Tomorrow I'll go back to printmaking class. We only have four more sessions that we can use for printing. Then we have the final session when we clean up the room and get it ready for next semester which starts again in late January.

Everyone is thinking about Christmas presents. I've had customers looking for jewelry today and even my mother called me and asked me to bring some pieces to show her when I see her tomorrow. She wants to buy one. In addition, she's commissioned me to make a particular piece for her in green. Suddenly I feel very busy supplying jewelry. That's nice. Sometimes I feel as though I'm just working away and nothing is happening besides me working.

Trial and Error

2006-12-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

Here's another little plant doing duty as a Christmas tree, decorated with lights. It's a succulent about 20 inches high, maybe less. It seems that these days any plant here in the Village is a candidate for lights. And the succulents for the most part have strong stems with which to support the lights.

I went to printmaking class today. I've been doing a series of photo etchings on polymer plates. However, the professor has some zinc plates that have a photo sensitive film on them. He wasn't sure how to use them, but we did some experimenting. I'll have to figure out what to do next. He has misplaced the directions. But I told him I will try to look for some information on the internet. I'm trying to become more and more dependent on it, using it instead of buying books. I love books, but they're expensive sometimes and after awhile they take up too much room. Certainly I have no more room for them on my worktable. In fact, I was just looking at them today and thinking I should put them elsewhere. I don't refer to most of them very often or at all.

Well, it's been a long, rather frustrating day so I'm off to make it an early night. I would like to have printed an edition of etchings today, but I've printed a total of 12, so I'm in pretty good shape for the semester.

Creating Beauty

2006-12-04T20:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo that I've manipulated in PhotoShop in preparation for printmaking class tomorrow. I tried this photo already but it didn't work out. There were too many dark areas and the process created great big open bites that hold ink and make it very difficult to print. So I've worked on it some more and printed it again. I think it will be better. I hope so. I have others as well if this one doesn't work. I'd like to have a series of four photo etchings of Spanish Village. I have three already, so I'm close. That will give me one series of pieces. I have another started, but the third isn't progressing very well. I just have to keep working at it. And I'll try to have more plates ready by the time the class begins again in late January. In the meantime, we have several more weeks to go before the break.

I spent the day working for about four hours at the computer. I like being able to work with my photos and change them into something usable, but it's so time consuming to take that route. But I guess if I consider how long it takes me to create an etching plate by drawing the whole things, I guess it's not so much time. The problem with the computer is that it's tempting to keep trying different variations on a single photo. But with the ones for class, I'm more or less sticking to the same set of changes and filters. I did discover the poster edge filter which I like a lot. It's particularly conducive to etchings because it creates black lines. I like that look.

The rest of the time today was spent working on a necklace made from hardware parts, some kind of nuts. I have no idea what they're used for. They have little protrusions on each side. Anyway, the ones I have are made of stainless steel and are very attractive. I'm combining them with garnets, hemitite, and pearls. And I'm using gold-filled wire. Some of the pieces I make out of hardware are joined with brass wire. But I think these stainless steel pieces are worth using gold-filled wire with. They will last, not turn color as they would if they were base metal.

Also, my mother has commissioned me to make a necklace for her. She found a photo in the newspaper and she wants one like it. It's a strung bead necklace, not the style that I usually make. I always use wire bending or knotting to join beads together. But this necklace will be strung beads. It will be a good change for me, to try something new. However, like everything new, it will take some time to get going with it. I spent several hours at the bead supplier today assembling the items I will need. That didn't even include the beads which I have here in the studio. I wanted to start it today because I'm going to see her on Thursday, but I'm afraid I'm not going to make it. Maybe I can work on it in the morning before I go to printmaking.

When my mind begins to work in a different direction, I always have so many ideas for projects, and I can't work fast enough to make them all. I find it very frustrating. I suppose I could give up printmaking or jewelry and just concentrate on one medium. However, I've already more or less given up painting for now and enameling as well. But the other idea I have is to make a small assemblage for the Small Image Show that we have here at Spanish Village in February. An assemblage is a piece of sculpture made of a group of assembled objects attached together to create a whole. Picasso create a bull's head from a bicycle seat and handlebars. That's probably the perfect example of an assemblage. I admit I fell in love with the concept after seeing his piece. It's the definition of art as well: taking ordinary objects and making them look beautiful. That's what I try to do with my jewelry made of hardware.

Trying To Get Organized Again

2006-12-03T18:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this afternoon. It's a succulent with a string of holiday lights tossed over it. I'm not sure why they're all in a heap to one side. Last night when I walked by that group of plants they were all nicely lit up with lights. But I guess the occupants of the studio have decided to take them off now that December Nights are over. Aside from this jumble of lights, everything was clean and tidy this morning when I arrived. Last night probably a thousand people passed through our patio, some lingering to look around. But today there was hardly anybody. It was more like a week day than a weekend.

I spent the day working on a necklace made with green and red garnets. But really, I'm not sure where the day went. I spent time talking to some of the artists, but I'm not sure I can account for all my time. It seemed I'd hardly been there for long when Andy, the glassblower in the next studio, said it was 3:00 p.m. We close at 4:00, so the day was nearly gone.

I admit that I have a tendency to dread December Nights because of the long hours that it means for those of us in studios and also for the folks who set up in the main patio. But I enjoyed talking to people last night, ones who came by to look and stopped to talk. One little boy told me about eating a chocolate covered worm. His mother confirmed that they had, in fact, eaten worms, that they were kind of crunchy. Other people talked about how long the lines were to buy food and to park their cars. Jon wound up driving part way here and then going back home and walking to the Village. He said it took him 50 minutes, but he thought it would take him longer if he waited to park. But despite the long lines, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I took three of my lamps outside from my studio to light my outside worktable. As a result, my studio looks like the jumble of Christmas lights on the succulent. I've got piles of electrical cords that I need to wind up and put away. And night before last when I came into my studio to get a bag for a bracelet, I knocked a box of beads on the floor. I need to clean those up tomorrow.

In fact, aside from doing Spanish Village business, tomorrow is going to be a clean up and get organized day. I feel embarrassed when my studio gets too messy, but various people have assured me that I shouldn't feel that way. My student said she thinks my studio is very nice and that the disheveled look adds to its charm. One of the other artists said she thinks people really enjoy seeing work in progress and studios with lots of tools and equipment sitting around. I suppose that's true. I certain enjoy her studio and it looks that way. But I do want to put away my own heaps of cords.

Looking With More Than Your Eyes

2006-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took yesterday morning on my way to Spanish Village. Because of the December Nights festivities, we were asked to park in the San Diego Zoo parking lot and walk over from there. This is a view along the walkway that connects the two. Those palms grow all over San Diego County. Well, really, they grow all over the world, but I think they came to California from Mexico. We're fortunate that our mild climate allows us to import so many interesting and diverse plants from around the world. I know that some of them are a danger to the indigenous plants and we need to take that into consideration, but certain plants that grow in a controlled situation are probably safe, as long as they don't spread or bring bugs with them.

Yesterday I got to Spanish Village around 9:00 a.m. and stayed until nearly 10:30 p.m. And it will be the same today as well. It's a long day for those of us who are here five days a week, but we have lots of visitors and that helps us in the long run, because they come back again on more "normal" days. Events like this also bring out our members who aren't here all the time. It's nice to see them, talk to them, and see what they've been doing with their artwork. And they in turn have exposure to lots of visitors.

I spent the day working on jewelry. The problem I ran into when it got dark was the light. I brought two of my lamps outside from my studio, and they helped. But I still had to stop working on the little tiny wire and work on something a little easier to see. I'm very fortunate because I don't need glasses to work. I was always very nearsighted when I was younger. When I turned 40, I started to get farsighted, the way everyone does. But what happened was that one remained relatively nearsighted while the other became farsighted. So I can see well up close and at a distance. I'm sure as I get older still, I'll have a problem, but right now I take advantage of my eyesight to work on my art.

One of the artists who is set up on the patio is a plein air painter. He goes out in his motor home to various locations in the back country and paints, sometimes for days at a time. I admit it makes me yearn to paint again. And maybe at some point I will. I'm sure that my eyesight would affect what I see and what I paint. There's talk about the fact that Monet may have painted the way he did, because of his eyesight. He was most likely very nearsighted.

But whether Monet was nearsighted or not, the fact remains that everyone's eye is different. Everyone sees the world in a different way, and we each have a contribution to make in our own "voice," seeing with our unique "eye." That's what I learned from all the writing I did. And I see that it applies to any art form.

Getting Ready For December Nights

2006-11-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this evening of the wizard with green gloves. He's featured in one of my earlier entries. Now he's been glazed and he sits beside his large treasure box on the shelf in the pottery studio across the main patio from me. His creator says he has a very serious expression on his face although she didn't say why. I hope he's not distressed by any of the happenings around Spanish Village. I wonder if he has something in his box that will help us out. Maybe he's just feeling the weight of the responsibility for December Nights which is the two-day event starting tomorrow here in Balboa Park.

Lots of preparation is occuring around the Village and throughout the Park in preparation for the event. The large pottery kiln is going, lights fill the trees, ornaments and wreaths hang everywhere. Booths and tents are being erected. The whole main plaza of the Park is filled with blue and purple lights. There's a huge Christmas tree on the stage at the Organ Pavillion and it's covered with red lights. I don't remember seeing the sleigh and reindeer, but I'm sure they're there.

My favorite bakery booth is in place. I suppose I have to say my all time favorite food is Christmas butter cookies. I'm definitely planning to eat some tomorrow night. Or before. Actually, we have to be here early to get a place to park. I'm going to try to come over around 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. We can't park in our usual parking lot, so we need to get here early to get a place that's reasonably close. I've brought everything I'm going to need over here this evening so that I don't have to carry a lot tomorrow.

There will be streams of people walking through the Village. As a result, I plan to sit out at my worktable outside. The event goes on until 10:00 p.m. both nights. I've already brought extra sweaters and boots over to help keep me warm. Actually, I plan to leave some warm clothing in my studio so that I can still sit outside on winter days and remain warm. Now that the sun is further to the south, my table is in the shade all day. I've been very cold the last few days. The thing is, it's just as cold inside as it is outside. But with boots instead of sandals, sweaters instead of tee-shirts, I should be fine.

Today I was at school, attempting to create another photo etching. Unfortunately, the transparency was too dark and the plate will be too difficult to wipe. So I agreed with my professor that I will make it a little lighter and then try again next week. Also, I have another photo that he likes, but it has a scratch on it. So I'll print it over as well. Hopefully, I can create two editions next week. In the meantime, when my plans today didn't work out, I printed a small edition of another plate that I had with me at school. So my day was not entirely wasted.

Photo Manipulation

2006-11-29T17:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took late this afternoon. I took it at about 4:00 p.m. You can see that the sun is shining on the tree above the studio, but it's beginning to get dark, or I should say that it's close to sunset which is not readily apparent from this photo.

I tried to get the wireless network running again, and I thought I had succeeded, but when I got back to my studio, it was still not working. I realized that the repeater had been unplugged in the gallery near me, and I thought plugging it back in would solve the problem. I also had to reconfigure the connection in the Spanish Village Board office, because that was disconnected. But there's still a problem between the two parts. Or maybe I haven't reconnected it properly. I'll ask Phillip to help me when I see him on Friday.

I spent the day working on a composite photo that I'm going to use to create a photo etching. I want to do a piece in memory of my late husband. I had previously scanned some photos of him into my computer, and I'd like to combine on of them with photos of some of the places we traveled to. I envisioned the idea after seeing some of the photographs Phillip has been creating in which he has combined part of the Paris Musee d'Orsay with a valley on the Napali Coast of Kauai. It's most effective. He also created one that is a combination of a statue from the Fountain of Four Winds in Rome, I think, and the coastline of Maui. Phillip, correct me if I'm wrong. But anyway, I like the statue and it gave me the idea of doing one with a photo of my husband against the landscape. I also thought I might use an old map as the background layer.

Nowadays there is so much that can be done using a combination of regular or digital photographs and a program like PhotoShop. When I left the business world, I thought I might get away from the computer, but I find myself being drawn back to it. It's certainly a useful skill to have: knowing how to use the various kinds of programs. I feel myself being drawn back into it. The disadvantage is that it's very easy to spend whole days working on something like manipulating a photograph. There is an infinite range of possibilities. Phillip mentioned that his photo collages take him ten or more hours to create.

One of the discussions we've had here at Spanish Village has to do with using the computer in our studios. We've also had discussions about creating our works of art here in our studios as opposed to at home. Certainly using a computer to manipulate photos is a legitimate creative process that can be done here in the Village.

Short Days Signal Holiday Season

2006-11-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took several evenings ago, looking up what we refer to as the "alley" although it's really a narrow walkway between the buildings. There are studios on the right hand side and on the left is the Mineral and Gem Society building. I use to be one of the sub-lessees of the second studio on the right. That was where I was when I first came to Spanish Village in 2001. The tower at the end is part of one of the smallest studios. It use to be occupied by a paper arts artist who was my high school art teacher. We found out by mistake one day when we were talking. It had been so many years since we had seen each other and we had both married, so our names were different. But we enjoyed many pleasant conversations together while she was still here.

Today I spent working at my table outside. There weren't as many people in the Park as there were yesterday or Friday. We always blame the Chargers, our football team, if the Village is slow on a Sunday afternoon. And certain this was a day to watch them. They're in first place right now.

I worked on some plates for etching and also finished my 200+ pearl necklace. Or I should say that I've finished putting on the 200+ pearls. I'm not sure what else I'm going to do with it. I've cut the chain so that it's now 36 inches long. I want to wear it for awhile though because some of the pearls are drilled in a way that they could fall off. I want to make sure any that are going to fall off will do so before I sell it to someone. Because of the value of the pearls, it will probably be my most expensive piece.

I had several people come to visit after closing this evening. Even though we close at 4:00 p.m., there are usually at least two or three people working in their studios or around the Village. On Friday and Saturday nights we will be hosting December Nights, a Park-wide event which traditionally brings thousand of people to the Park. It's always very crowded and very festive. It's a little hard for the artists, though, because it lasts until 10:00 p.m. We keep the studios open that late. The key, I've found, is to make sure I'm prepared with warm clothes, something to eat, and lots of Christmas lights. Most people who come to the Park are not shopping for artwork. But they like to come through the studios anyway, and we try to make them feel welcome.

This week will be spent getting ready. And I need to get back to the task of working on Spanish Village business again. I made some progress, but there's a great deal more for me to do. I'm hoping that when we have elections next year, I can have an assistant to help me if I'm re-elected. There's so much more to do nowadays.

Taking Extra Care Of Details

2006-11-25T17:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this morning. It turned out fairly well, except for the blur at the bottom which, I'm guessing, is part of my finger. But anyway, you can finally see the studio across from me. It's Studio 19, and it belongs to Andy, the glassblower. You can see part of the glassblowing platform, too, with the awning over it. I got here so early this morning that she hadn't arrived yet. But I put out all my stands of jewelry and a variety of other items as well. Even though I have my own studio, I still have to do a lot of carrying back and forth to get everything I need outside. And I almost always forget one or two things and have to go back. But it's better than leaving them at home. That's one of the really nice features of having my own studio. I leave almost everything here. I don't try to take stuff back and forth.

There were lots of people in the Park again today, mostly just looking. I spent the time working on some pearl bracelets and then went back to working on my 200+ pearl necklace. It's still not finished. But I'm going to wear it when I go out this evening for dinner. Hopefully I can get it finished tomorrow. Even in it's unfinished state I've gotten lots of compliments for it. The pearls are so beautiful, extremely lusuturous. Of course that the nice thing about making jewelry. I can wear it myself. And actually, I try to, so that I know whether it functions properly. One of the pearls fell off yesterday. When I put it on, I was skeptical, the hole was drilled so close to the edge. It's lucky I discovered the problem and could replace it. I would feel terrible if it came off after someone purchased it.

I suppose that's one of my biggest worries, that someone will buy something that's somehow defective. I like to make sure everything is working properly and is well made. It makes me nervous sometimes when someone inspects my work. I feel they might find it wanting. So, I suppose, that's why I'm so conscious of wearing all the jewelry. I've had a few pieces that have developed problems. Some of my hand-made clasps have been properly bent and the piece has come off. Also, several times the manufactured clasp that I've purchased has given up or not closed properly. I don't like that to happen. When someone buys one of my pieces, I want them to wear it and enjoy it, not wind up being frustrated.

Learning and Teaching

2006-11-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago, down where they teach the children's clay classes. I think it's pretty down there under that tree. And you can see the golden rain tree with the orange lantern pods on it. I do know now that the name is correct. I looked it up on the internet and found a variety of web pages about the tree and it's accompanying pest the red shouldered bug. We've been noticing those bugs all over the glass platform railing. And it seems they feed off the golden rain tree. According to what I read they are not destructive in any way. But they are all over the place. I have lived in San Diego since 1950, and I had never seen them until I got my studio. I've insert a photo of them that I got off one of the websites.

These bugs are about half an inch long. They start out all red as youngsters and then their body turns charcoal gray. This bug is an adolescent with small wings. Eventually its wings will cover its whole back and you won't see the red underbelly, just the shoulders. They've gone through their breeding cycle now, so there don't seem to be very many of them around, not like there were about a month ago. I don't know if they die out in the winter. I'll have to pay attention as the days get colder.

Anyway, there might not be as many bugs, but there were certainly lots of people in the Park today, more than we've seen in a great while. Everyone who wanted to avoid the malls and entertain their children came over to the Village and the Park as well. It looked like the "old days" of several years ago when there were streams of people walking through the Village all day long on the weekends. I hope we'll start to see more people enjoying themselves. I think it's very important that we talk to people, and that children have a chance to watch the artists at work. The schools no longer have art programs and so we remain a way to help people enjoy art.

I spent the day working on a pearl necklace that I started two days ago. It will have several hundred pearls on it when I finish. It's taken me a long time, but I want to keep going and not put it aside without finishing it. That was my sole task today. Except that my student and I went to the bead supplier after we closed up at 4:00 so that she could get some beads, wire, and tools to begin making necklaces. That was pleasant. I enjoyed teaching her. It makes me think about possibly teaching some classes eventually. I haven't wanted to, but maybe I should try it.

I have been so busy making pearl necklaces, that I forgot about making bracelets as well until I had a customer today come and look for one. So after I finish my current necklace, I'll work on some bracelets. I haven't made any bracelets for awhile, and I think my display of bracelets needs to be freshened. I like to do that with all my displays, add new pieces. I think that gives new energy that helps attract people. And frequently I will sell pieces I've just made. It's the energy.

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving - Internet Recipes

2006-11-22T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago of the view from my worktable. I have to kind of laugh because if I point the camera to the right of where this photo was taken, I can never get a shot that doesn't look like it's crooked. Spanish Village was built for the Pacific Exposition in 1935, a temporary group of buildings that would be torn down at the end of the exposition. But a group of artists asked the City if they could rent it, and it has survived. The construction is casual and nothing is a very straight angle. If you sit in the main patio and try to sketch the buildings as you see them, your sketch will look like you don't understand the rules of perspective. For that reason, it's usually best to concentrate on a small area rather than a panorama, even in a photograph.

The wireless network has been down here in Spanish Village for several days. I'm not sure why, but anyway it seems okay now. If it's working, I don't question it. When it's not, I have the choice of going to troubleshoot it or taking the lazy way out and give up. One problem I run into is that if I wait until after 4:00 p.m. when the studios are closed, I don't have access to the one where the repeater is. I have no idea whether they have unplugged it, something they do upon occasion.

I was watching Good Morning America at the gym this morning. One of their reporters was visiting Plymouth, Massachussets, where the "residents" were preparing for Thanksgiving. There were various dishes on the wooden table in the thatched cottage. And the residents were dressed in 1620's costumes, attempting to show visitors exactly what life was like in those days. Even the conversation of the one of the residents reflected that she thought of herself as living in that time. But when they talked about the various food dishes they had prepared, the reporter said the recipes for the food could be downloaded from the ABC website. What did we do before the internet?

I've written some poetry that deals with the internet. I'd like to combine them with some of my etchings, a task that I'm currently working on. I have two large copper plates that I'm thinking I'll combine with a photo etched one to create some text in my artwork. Originally I talked to my professor about printing an etching and then putting the paper through the computer printer to print the text, but using a photo etched plate might be better. Then I could do the whole process myself. I don't know for sure at this point what I'm going to do. I have to think more about it.

I spent yesterday in printmaking working on a small edition of prints taken from one of the photo etched plates I created last week. Unfortunately they were over exposed, and a lot of detail was lost. But I mixed up some printing ink that was stiffer and used that, wiping carefully so that I didn't wipe off too much ink. Rembrandt use to print his etchings like that. Sometimes each etching was different from the next even though the plate was the same. He achieved differences by wiping more of less ink off the plate before he printed it. Nowadays, the acceptable way to create an edition is to print 5, 10, 25, 100, or however many prints, that all look more or less the same. But there's no reason why I can't make 10 prints all of which are different.

Working and Talking, Talking and Working

2006-11-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took early this morning, looking towards the back parking lot. You can see that already the day was clear and the sun shining. It turned out to be quite warm today, unseasonably so. I think it was about 78 degrees. When we get air flowing from the desert this time of year, it can be very warm. I think the air/light in this photo even looks like the desert, a sort of dry crispness. Usually if we have air flowing from the water, everything is sort of misty and out of focus. I was looking at the weather forecast on my cellphone and the prediction is 64 degrees on Thanksgiving. That's much more typical. If it's foggy that day, maybe I'll get up early and come over to the Village to take more photos.

Today was a pleasant day in the Village although there were very few people here. I did explain the etching process to two women who were here before 11:00, the hour at which we're required to be open. And this afternoon I explained how freshwater pearls are cultivated, and how I use gold wire to join them together. A woman pointed out the fact when they're strung on silk, you have to get them re-strung every few years. She said she thought the wire is better in that regard. Yes, she's right, but really there's nothing like a beautiful strand of pearls neatly knotted.

My student was here again working on another necklace. She claims that her small motor skills aren't very good, but she's doing fine. I see an improvement in just one day. Yesterday she was confused by all the steps and all the tools required to bend and cut the wire, but today she was fine working on her own, and I didn't need to answer any questions. I'm happy to see her succeeding. Now she's made two necklaces. I told her to go home and compare the workmanship. I'm sure she'll see a difference, and that will be encouraging for her.

So today was a day for working. I made three necklaces. But mostly it was a day for interacting with others, visitors and artists alike. And that's one of the real benefits of being here at Spanish Village: interacting with people. I would much rather be here working on my artwork than at home by myself. I just have to discipline myself a little bit not to spend too much time talking without working. And usually it's not a problem.

Succulents and Pearls

2006-11-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took several days ago, one of Jon's dish gardens. You can see he has combined succulents with geraniums and daisies. Well, I'm not sure they're actually daisies, but they have a daisy look about them, including their foliage. However, they have dark blue centers rather than yellow or even black. Anyway, they're not the kind of plant usually combined with succulents. That's one thing I like about Jon's gardens. They're very imaginative. And certainly we all try to aim for that quality around here.

I spent the day working on pearl necklaces. I brought a whole pile of pearls out of my studio and put them on my work table. I'm not sure how many necklaces I actually thought I was going to get made. It turned out to be two. I'm satisfied with them, but I would be happier if I had made six or eight, an impossible goal. I never get as much done as I think I'm going to.

One of the things I've been doing is adding pieces of gold-filled chain to my necklaces, to give them a richer look. However, in order to do so, I have to cut the chain, thus wasting some of it. Recently I went to a bead show where I found closed jump rings. Normally jump rings have a slit in them so that they can be opened to add something and then closed again and in some cases soldered. The problem with the open jump rings is that the thin wire I use can slip out through the slit. So I had the idea of buying closed jump rings instead of chain. I don't have to cut them, which saves time and material.

I bought as many jump rings as I could afford at the time. Also, I wanted to actually try them. I'm very happy with how they look. Now I wish I had gotten more of them. Fortunately, I saved one of the bags and they have a website. So I'll order some, from them or maybe from the place where I ordered the clasps last week. Ahhhhh, the twenty-first century is very nice, in some ways at least.

I wanted to work on my etching. I have two large plates that I want to put in the etching solution at school because there's a larger dish there. The plates won't fit in the etching dishes I have here in my studio. So, ideally, I need to get one done by Tuesday so I can have it ready to print the following week. I did get a start on one of them, but it will take time to really do the whole drawing as I envision it.

This afternoon, I had a student. I have a friend, a fellow artist from the Village, who has been asking me to show her how to do wire bending. So today, finally, we got together, after talking about it for at least a couple of years. She really enjoyed it and says she'll be back tomorrow. I hope so. I enjoyed having her, and she made a good start. It takes time and practice to perfect the technique. But by the time she left, she had a green glass bead necklace created with copper wire. The copper is easy to work with because it's soft, and it's inexpensive. If she makes a mistake, she can just cut it off and start over. I did the same thing when I first started. Now I have two other artists who want to try as well. Suddenly I've become a teacher with a waiting list. How nice. I'll practice on them and then maybe teach a class. Who knows what the future will bring.

Product Testing

2006-11-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

Here's another photo I took yesterday morning when it was foggy. This shows a group of trees behind the Village and some of the track of the minature railroad as well. It might make a nice etching. One of the rules of composition is to show a road or any kind of line leading your eye into the picture. Certainly it does that.

I spent the day working on Spanish Village business again. However, I did spend a little time making myself a bracelet. I order some clasps from a website and before I actually use them on jewelry, I want to test them to make sure they are durable and the gold doesn't rub off. Theoritically, the gold-filled wire, chain, and clasps should retain their gold coating, but a few times I've bought what was said to be gold-filled, only to find later that it was actually gold-plated. The gold-plated clasps lose their gold covering. It wears off quickly. So anyway, I made myself a bracelet which I will wear for at least a few weeks and see how it stands up. I'll wear it in the shower, too, to test it. I'm not doing any swimming right now or it would get the pool test as well.

Now I'm off to one of the bead suppliers to look at their pearls. Pearls seem to be very popular right now. And I'm going to one of the major department stores which has just opened a branch here. Or maybe I should say, they've taken over from another chain. I'm not sure how that works. Anyway, my mother suggested I go see what they have. She says they have very nice items and the prices are reasonable. So I'm off to see.

Cellphone Photography

2006-11-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this morning when I went to my parents' for breakfast. This tree is much smaller than the ones that grow outside my studio and so I was able to get a closer shot of the lanterns. They look kind of like bougainvillea flowers, but they're actually the seed pods. And you can see they're beginning to fade on this tree as well. The ones on the trees at school look the same, too.

I had the day off, and I spent the morning with my parents. Then on my way to school, I stopped at one of the bookstore chains to get myself a calendar for next year. I have one now that I use to record what I do each day. Usually the entries are about the jewelry I make. I write down the price I paid for the stones and the findings, add a percentage, and then add in the labor hours. That's how I figure the price of each piece. I try to keep them reasonable especially when I've gotten a good value on the stones particularly.

So I have a new calendar for keeping track of what I make. I'm thinking of creating another one in which I write down what I've sold and what I've spent each time I go to the bead supplier. I keep track of this information in a different way, but I think writing it down in a calendar might help show me trends. And anyway, I like having journals and calendars in which I record information. It helps me feel organized on some level, even if it's just an illusion.

After choosing a calendar for my studio, I went to printmaking class. I have two large copper plates that I want to etch on and then print and add text to the prints, probably using the computer. However, the photo etching process might be a possibility, now that I'm learning more about how to do that. I created two new plates today from some photos I took with my cellphone. Unfortunately, I'm afraid they're over exposed. They didn't print very well. However, I'll try again next week, using a darker ink and less easy wipe so that the ink is stiffer. I may be able to get more of an impression than I did today. I left the plates in the sun for five minutes. When the professor saw them afterwards, he said he thought they probably should have been in the sun for only three minutes, to get the most from them. Well, it's still a learning process for me. But I enjoy doing it, and I see lots of possibilities.

I was talking to Jon and one of the other artists at the Village about clasps. I mentioned that I wanted to find large spring rings. The ones I bought here in town are all gone, and they haven't ordered any more of them. I did order some from the internet that seemed to be a good price, but they're still not large enough. However, Jon suggested a watch supplier, that he has a watch chain with a large clasp on it. So that will be my next area of research, along with all the other things I need to do.

Getting Back Online and On Track

2006-11-15T14:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took early this morning. It's of the back of Spanish Village. Those two black spots near the middle of the photo are my studio windows. In the foreground, you can see the track of the minature railroad that runs on the track behind the Village. It's very popular with children of all ages, as they say. It only runs on the weekends. There's also a carousel back there. We can hear their music in our studios.

It was a foggy morning, and I was up early to go to the gym. Afterwards, I drove around taking photos with my cellphone. That was how I happened to take this photo of the back of my studio. I actually had been intending to do so for quite awhile, and today seemed to be the perfect opportunity. What I need to do next is use the camera that Philip loaned me. It is specifically for photographing my jewelry, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind my using it for landscapes as well. I do enjoy taking photos, and certainly I can take them easily with my cellphone. And of course I always have it with me.

Today was spent working on the wireless network. The DSL service provider claims there's incompatibility between it and the DSL line, so we have ongoing network "wars." First it works, then it gets unplugged, then there's some other problem. Someday we'll look back on this and laugh. It will seem so old-fashioned in a few years.

Speaking of old-fashioned, I had three CD's of fonts that I thought I might use to create some text in a script-looking style. But I had to laugh when I read that the CD's were compatible with Windows 3.1. They were dated 1995. Philip told me to get rid of them, and Jon said he'd take them to the thrift store for me. That's better than just throwing them away.

Aside from computer problems, which Philip solved, I spent time cleaning off the top of my inside worktable. It seems to be an ongoing battle to keep it reasonably presentable. I still don't have a place for everything. But for now, at least if I can keep everything piled up in organized, neat piles, that helps. All the etching plates in one stack, all the little plastic bags in another, etc. And this afternoon, when Andy, the glassblower next door asked me for super glue, I knew just where to find it. I guess I'd say I'm organized in patches.

While I was exercising in the gym this morning, I was watching Good Morning America on television. They've had a series going for several weeks that shows what they consider to be the seven wonders of the modern world. Today's featured wonder was the internet. It certainly has changed our lives in a number of ways. I remember using it in the late 1980's, when I worked for the government. In those days there were no graphics, just text that was maddeningly hard to edit. Now everything has URL's printed. I mentioned seeing one inside a shoe recently. Certainly they're in all the magazines, on the radio, on my cellphone. Who said the internet was a passing phase? Not me.

Learning More Lessons

2006-11-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took at school of the vine that clings to the side of the building. You can see that more leaves have turned and some have fallen off. When I walked past the wall, my impression was that the whole had completely turned, but there are still green leaves mixed in with the others.

I spent most of the day taking care of personal business. However, I did go to school, to the printmaking class that I'm taking. I was able to print an edition from one of the photoetched plates that I created recently. It's a nice one, taken from a photo of Spanish Village, down in the sub-patio where they hold the children's clay classes, down where the towels hang on the window bars in the summer. I had prepared six more transparencies with the idea of creating at least one more plate today. However, it rained all day, a relatively unusual event for us in Southern California. Of course, we need the rain, but it did interfer with my plans. It's funny how we take our weather, and our sun, for granted.

One thing that was very interesting to me was a favor I did for the man who teachs enameling classes. He was interested in creating some etched copper to use for enameling. So I prepared a plate for him and he drew on it one day when he was at the Village. Then I put it in the etching solution for him and created the etched plate. Last week when he was in the Enamel Guild, I took it to him, and he immediately asked me if I had printed it. Well, I hadn't, but I told him I would. So I did that today. And it was a learning experience. He had removed the resist in large areas so that they would be recessed and he could eventually fill them with enamel. It's a process called champleve. But the interesting thing was that the recessed areas are not as deep as they would be if the plate were a zinc one. So the ink that was held in those large areas printed as dark brown rather than remaining relatively colorless. In addition, some of his lines were much wider than ones I normally draw. I can see from printing his plate how I can improve my own work, how I can add another dimension.

After school, I stopped at one of the bead suppliers to get pearls. They seem to be very popular right now, and I want to make up several strands. The mistake I made was not getting another strand from the supplier in Los Angeles when I was there. That place had some particularly large ones. I sold a strand of them, and now I can't find any more around here. Oh, well, live and learn.

A Handsome Jar

2006-11-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of the pottery jar I bought yesterday. It has my tea bags and artificial sweetner in it. And it's very handy. And I like the look of it. It's very pretty, I think. Handsome, my grandmother would have called it.

Today was a day for Spanish Village meetings. They were time consuming, but we accomplished a great deal in some respects. The Village is like any other small community with its ups and downs. There are always differences of opinions, but I think we all get along remarkably well, everything considered. And I find it a wonderful place to interact with other artists and to come and work. Anyone who works at home faces the inevitable distractions of their living space. Philip says he spends time thinking about taking a nap. I did, too, when I was working at home. And there are always things to attract your attention, like dust under the table, and the crooked picture on the wall. There's the laundry pile that beckons and the dogs who want to "talk" to you. Getting away to a separate studio, and being required to be here five days a week, is very good for concentration and generating new ideas.

Now I want to spend some time preparing a photo in PhotoShop that I can use to make an etching in class tomorrow. I will try working with some of the photos of the Village that I've taken with my cellphone. The camera in my new one turns out quite a good photo, as long as I remember to hold the camera steady. I try to brace my arms against my body and that helps.

Pottery Sale Sunday

2006-11-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took early this morning of the tables of pottery in the main patio at Spanish Village. There was a great deal of beautiful work. I admit I succumbed to it myself, buying two pieces made by a potter whose work I've admired for four or five years. I'm very happy to have it. Both pieces are a bluish green color reminiscent of the green that was popular in during the Arts and Crafts movement. I suppose that's why I like it. My own house dates back to around that time period. One piece is going home with me. The other piece, a covered jar, is staying here in my studio. It now holds tea bags and artificial sweetner. It looks much nicer than the cardboard boxes. I'm gradually adding a few pieces that I enjoy. I have the vase Jon made and some clay pieces made by some of the children in the clay classes. Now I also have a mug their teacher made this summer. It's blue, yellow, and green. It's perfect for my tea. And now that the weather is turning cooler, I enjoy having a mug or two when I sit in my studio.

Today there were a large number of people in the Village. They were all interested in pottery and glass. Not many people were interested in my jewelry. But I don't mind. I enjoy seeing all the people, and I always spend my time working while I'm here, so I'm never wasting my time. In fact, that's one of the requirements of having a studio: you need to be working in it. Because we're in Balboa Park, which emphasizes education, we are required to provide education at least in an unstructured way. And we're encouraged to teach classes, too, if we want to. Certainly, Andy, the glassblower next door, teaches all the time, usually two students a day, five days a week.

I worked on some jewelry today. Sometimes I make the same style of necklace over and over again, just using different stones with the gold-filled wire. But today I tried a variation on my usual style. And I'd like to continue to push myself to try new styles, different designs.

It's funny though how pieces can sit around for awhile until I think they will never sell and then suddenly they do sell. I've had that experience several times recently. I don't really like pieces to sit around too long. I like to keep updating my work, so that everything is fresh and new. It is true that even though I use the same method of attaching stones together, I do use different sizes. I go through periods when I make small, delicate pieces. Then I go through periods when I make large, chunky pieces. Looking in the magazines for ideas is a big help. That give me ideas for proportions. And as I make more pieces, my standards of excellent go up. My workmanship is at a higher level and the materials I use are nicer. I'm fussier about the stones. I don't want to spend so much time on stones that are not a good quality.

Exchanging Ideas

2006-11-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took in the main patio. You can sort of see the tables of pottery set up for the bi-annual Pottery Guild Show and Sale. It's one of the biggest events in Spanish Village, certainly in terms of the people who attend it. And many people arrive early to get the best selection of pottery. There's one potter who routinely sells all his pieces early in the day. By noontime his table is empty. His work is beautiful; you really have to be an early bird to get it.

The glassblowers across from me always set out tables of glass as well. Some people like both glass and pottery. I have the impression though that for the most part, the die-hard pottery lovers remain loyal to pottery. They don't seem interested in anything else. And certainly you can find beautiful pottery at the show and in the Potters' Guild itself all year round. They maintain a very high standard of craftsmanship and artistry.

I interacted with a number of people myself today, including a couple who remembered seeing my work when I was in a different studio several years ago. They found me by accident, because I happened to hang one of my etchings outside next to my worktable. They thought they recognized my style. I had a nice conversation with them, and I was happy to know that they remembered my work.

I also talked to a jeweler who liked my work and gave me some excellent suggestions for making improvements to pieces I have in my studio now. He liked the pieces that I've made from found objects such as roller bearings and fuses. I've made most of those pieces just for fun, not really to wear. I suppose they could be worn though, as long as a person realizes that they are made of objects that are base metal as opposed to silver or gold-filled wire like the rest of my pieces.

I had hoped to do some enameling this evening, but I'm not sure I will. The enamelist I usually meet with has his work in a show that's opening tonight, so I'm guessing he may not come back in time to work any more this evening. That's okay. I am getting up early in the morning, so I could profit from some extra sleep. But before I call it a night, I'm going to try to make a basket out of woven copper strips that I can enamel at some point.

Working With Photos

2006-11-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

Look! You can see the plant beginning to die. The leaves are brown. I just noticed it this morning when I was coming across the patio after talking to the Spanish Village President. I really need to look this plant up and find out what its blooms really look like, if this is the most they bloom before they die or whether this poor plant is not surviving for some other reason. As I mentioned yesterday, there are aphids. Jon pointed them out. But the aphids are on the plant on the left and the one that seems to be dying is the one on the right. Anyway, I'm not sure aphids can do that much damage right away. Hummm . . . another subject for research.

I spent the day working on Spanish Village paperwork. But I'm getting close to the end of all of it. I still have two more sets of minutes to do, but both meetings were relatively short, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

While I'm working, I've put two copper plates in the etching solution. One belongs to a member of the Enamel Guild. He teaches enameling, and I promised I would etch it for him. He's coming to sit in the Guild tomorrow. And he said that he would give me an enamel lesson after closing. I put one of my plates in the etching solution, too, but I don't think I'm going to enamel on it. I might consider creating something this evening so that I could work on it tomorrow evening.

I originally got into enameling, or rather cloisonne, so that I could use it on my jewelry. The thing I learned about cloisonne jewelry is that you really have to set the cloisonne into a pin or other piece of jewelry in order to wear it. So based on that, I started taking metalsmithing. I need learn cold connections, but I really didn't learn to solder very well. I know I need to learn that to progress further than I am already. It's on my list of things to do, but I haven't gotten there yet. There are lots of things on my list that may never make it to the top. It seems like life is so busy nowadays. I just have to keep working away at everything.

It occured to me today that I need to move forward with my next etching project for school. I've done two photoetchings now. I printed an edition of the one. Now I'll do the other. I'd like to do several more that are just about the same size, so that I have a series. Or at least I want to work some more on photo etching as a way to create a combination of text with image. I thought of a series of photos of Spanish Village, and that might work, but I'd also like to do something that's a little more creative.

I did spend several hours today working on some of my photos, manipulating them in PhotoShop. The problem, as I've mentioned, is that you can be seduced into spend the whole day manipulating the photos this way and that, trying all the different color combinations and filters. It goes on forever. Then in no time, you fill up your harddrive and move onto CD's.

Technology Opens More Options

2006-11-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

Here's another photo of the agave stalks. You can't see from the photo, but the one on the left is covered with aphids according to Jon. I hope the other won't become infected too. However, I suppose that's why both of them haven't grown and bloomed as soon as they might have. On the other hand, I have no idea how long it really takes under normal conditions.

I mentioned to Jon that if I tilt the camera so the building looks straight, then the palm tree is on a slant, and if I tilt the building . . . Jon said, "how can you tilt the building?'' Well, of course, I mean tilt it as it aligns or doesn't align with the edge of the photo. Anyway, everything tilts one way or the other. Of course that's what you learn when you study perspective. But if you painted what you really see, people would think it is wrong. That's why photography can never replace painting or drawing. They're show something different. I learned that when I took a plein air painting class. You really see that what you're painting, what looks right to the eye is not what shows up on the camera screen.

I did take a photo that I took with my phone to my printmaking class. The professor asked me if I had drawn it, and I said no, that I had manipulated it in PhotoShop. I turned it into a photo etching. It turned out well, but I think I need to try a series of them, to really get a feel for the process. I do think that taking photos of Spanish Village and other parts of Balboa Park would be a nice way to do a series of prints.

I showed him the printouts of the photos and scans of my etching plates with the resist still on them. He was interested although he said I should try printing on good rag paper, not photocopy paper. That way, the paper will last. Rag paper, actually made with cotton, is archival and will last. Photocopy paper will not. The ink in my printer is long lasting, but not archival, according to Philip. He has a new printer that prints a much larger size. He'll use it for his photos; it does have archival ink. He said he would print pieces for me. And he also has a printer that prints up to 13 inches by 19 inches which he might consider selling to me at a later time. I think I'd like having it. Then I could print some pieces myself as long as they aren't overly large.

Using PhotoShop On My Photos

2006-11-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this afternoon. It turned gray and cold. This morning was so warm and dry, but our Santa Ana condition is gone. The Santa Ana is created when the wind blows from the desert to the ocean, bringing the dry desert air towards us. I get onshore and offshore mixed up, but anyway, normally the wind blows from the ocean bringing us damp air. But when it blows from the desert, it's dry. Normally we have this kind of condition in the fall.

I don't feel as though I was very productive today. We had a Spanish Village Special Board Meeting to discuss an issue that we've been dealing with for awhile. Then I had a letter to write and minutes of the meeting to transcribe. That kept me busy for part of the day.

The rest of my time was spent working on some photos for my printmaking class. I wanted to prepare another photo to use for photo etching. I spent a great deal of time working with some I've taken with my cellphone camera. They turn out well, and then I can use PhotoShop to make them gray scale and also to change various aspects of them like the contrast and the line quality. Now that I have several done, I'll print them out in preparation for class tomorrow.

Photo Etching

2006-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I look at school. I'm such a warm-weather person that I didn't realize there is such a thing as a desiduous vine. But this vine that grows all over one end of the building, clinging to the sides loses its leaves. I have witnessed this phenomenon when I've taken the class in the past. I suppose it's a kind of ornamental grape, because it does have a little dark berry on it. Anyway, it grows in a very regular pattern up the side of the building. You can't really see the pattern here, but it looks like rows of leaves, as though they have been arranged by a computer, as though they are a canned pattern from PhotoShop or Windows or something.

I did go to printmaking class today. The professor was absent. He was having eye surgery. He'll be back on Thursday. We had a substitute, another instructor who teaches color theory. She was grading papers, and she explained the exercise to one of the students. Many people over the years have recommended the color theory class. Apparently it takes a great deal of work, but the rewards are large as well. I wouldn't mind taking it at some point. I'd also like to take the book arts class. It's just a matter of finding the time. I'm struggling with that right now.

I printed another edition of the photo etched plate I printed week before last. I wanted to print it again because it was difficult to wipe properly and prints didn't look the same. This time around, I was more careful about how I wiped the extra ink from the plate before I printed it each time. They look much better now. I'm hoping I can prepare another one of my photos to etch on Thursday. It depends on how much time I can snatch for myself from the performance of Spanish Village business. We have another special board meeting tomorrow morning, and I'm guess there will be more work for me. Oh, well. Someday I'll catch up, I hope.

Would An Apron Make Me More Efficient?

2006-11-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of my display table in my studio. It has lots of display stands on it. However, when I sit and work outside on weekends, I take most of it outside with me. That leaves the studio rather bare of jewelry at least. So I'm thinking about getting more display stands so that I can keep a number of them inside even when I'm outside. That way if people do walk into the studio, it still looks presentable. I don't get a great deal of traffic inside, but I do get some. And last weekend a woman chose a necklace that she found inside.

Display is, or can be, tricky. When I make a new piece, necklace or bracelet, I wear it. That way I know whether it is constructed properly and the clasp works, etc. And when I wear the various pieces, I always get compliments on them. But frequently, when I put them on the display stands, they aren't really shown off to their best. For example, if I make a necklace out of tourmaline, a stone I particularly like, it turns out rather dark. Against a pale neck, mine or someone else's, it's fine, but displayed on black velvet, it doesn't show up nearly as well. I've considered other colors besides black, but the other color of most displays is white. I think that seems too impractical and would likely get grubby very quickly. There's so much dust around here. So I'm sort of in a quandry about my displays. I've thought of making my own out of papier mache, but I can't see that happening anytime soon.

Anyway, today will most likely be spent on Spanish Village paperwork, meeting minutes and so forth. There's always something more to do. Maybe late in the day I can make one necklace. I always like to try to make at least one item everyday. I like making things. In fact, I never get tired of it. I'd like to work on some etching, too, but I have on good clothes. I don't want to splash etching solution on my nice shirt and pants. I need an apron. I had an old shirt, but it's at home. Gosh, there are so many things I could use to make my life more efficient. Will I ever get there? Sometimes I wonder.

Who's Copying Whom?

2006-11-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this evening of the moon. Can you tell which light it is? It's on the right, but not the far right. I took it from the glassblowing platform. John, the guy who comes around and collects cans, called to me from across the Park to tell me to look at it. Unfortunately by the time I went outside, it had wasn't as large and covered with clouds as it was when he first saw it. I took the photo of the moon at about 5:30. It was dark already.

There weren't very many people in the Park today. But it does seem there are a few more these days than there were during the summer. I spent the day working on jewelry. I wanted to make some pieces with the stones I found on my trip to Los Angeles. I realize that when I buy new strands of beads, I need to make them into necklaces while I still feel inspired and have an idea in my mind. If I wait too long, I'm off in a different direction with a new idea before they're all made. That leads me to believe that I should never buy very many new strands at a time. However, there are certain strands, certain types of beads, that I'm always using. I like small garnets and pearls. They're nice in between larger beads like tourmaline. Actually, pearls and garnets will go with almost any stone. They're so classic.

My mother saves jewelry catalogs and fashion magazines for me, and I spend time looking through them. Sometimes I find a piece that will suggest a new idea to me. Also, I think it's important to keep my eye up-to-date. We all do that by looking at television, magazines, store merchandize. There are new colors, new shapes that look wonderful, that make our belongs seem old and outdated. So it happens automatically, but I think I can increase my level of awareness by looking at magazines and consciously taking note of current colors and styles.

I believe in a cosmic consciousness. Consider in the old days how scientists working in different parts of the world would make the same discovery. It's less surprising nowadays because we're really a global village in terms of our exposure to media. The internet has done that for us.

Today, when I opened one of the catalogs my mother saved for me, I would swear the designers were copying my work. Several necklaces were extremely similiar to ones I made six or eight months ago. But that's impossible, because my work isn't visible on the web at this point. I just think it's because I'm tuned into the universal energy and my creativity, my eye, is moving in the same natural progression that other designers are experiencing. However, it's nice to know that I'm successfully keeping my eye up-to-date. That encourages me.

Celebbrating Life and Death

2006-11-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took this afternoon. I'm not sure how well it shows, but the lantern pods on the tree are beginning to lose their bright orange color. They're turning a pale salmon. I'm sure they'll begin to fall more rapidly now. And it won't be long before the leaves follow. We don't ever have really cold weather here, especially this close to the ocean, but some of the trees turn bright colors and lose their leaves anyway. To tell the truth, I don't remember whether the leaves on this tree turn completely yellow and fall off or whether they just gradually turn and fall. This year I'll pay attention.

Today there seemed to be a fair number of people in the Park, walking around, enjoying the bright fall day. I was cold, because now that the sun is lower in the sky, my outside worktable is in the shade all day, only getting a little sun in late afternoon. Before the days become shortest, I'll lose all my sun. But I'm encouraged by the fact that there are only about another seven weeks before the days begin to lengthen.

I worked on the rosary of skull beads to go with the etched copper cross that I made for my Dia de los Muertos piece. This evening, I went over to the gallery early so that I could add it to my installation. I also added some shawls to give it affect. I took some photos and I'll try to lighten them in PhotoShop and post them.

My piece consists of an old desk drawer that Jon gave me. The orginal plan was to mount it on a camera tripod. That worked really well until I started putting things in the drawer. Then it tipped over. Fortunately, the gallery manager is a good problem solver. She suggested a large pedestal that they have. It was perfect, just the right size. And when I draped the shawls over it, the affect was softened. I filled the drawer with momentos, travel souvenirs and things that represent the events of everyday life. After all, no matter how much traveling you do, no matter how many monumental events occur in your life, in the end it still boils down to the everyday events, living through the day-to-day events of grocery shopping, paying bills, doing laundry, cooking dinner. And it's on those everyday events that you build a life for yourself and hopefully with another person if you're fortunate. That's what I wanted to show.

The opening reception was this evening. The show consists of a great many creative pieces; almost all of them are installations. In other words, the artist takes a number of separate items and arranges them together in a way that makes a statement. But unlike something like a painting that can be carried from one place to another, an installation has to be reinstalled or reassembled each time it is moved. And it very likely won't turn out exactly the same each time. Each one in this exhibit is so different from the next. Some are tributes to a specific person, some represent a rememberance of a class or group of people. And we all put so many candles on our altars that the heat forced many of us outside into the cool evening air.

Ordering Supplies From Websites

2006-11-03T17:37:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo I took a few days ago. You can see how much the "branches" on the main stalk have grown and are beginning to have blossoms on them. Despite the fact that the main stalks seem to have grown so quickly, now it seems to be taking a long time at this point for the flowers to really develop. But, on the other hand, I am not sure what the flowers will look like. I think I imagined a cluster of flowers that are located much closer together. These seem more spread out, but they're not finished blooming yet. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Today was a studio day, but mostly one for catching up on various tasks. And I spent time working on my Dia de los Muertos piece. Jon is attaching a tripod to the desk drawer he gave me awhile back. I've already create a liner for the drawer and some photos that I've printed out. Right now I'm in the process of etching the two pieces of the copper cross that I've made. It still has about another hour to go. It's going to be awhile before the whole project is done and delivered. I'm trying to get everything done tonight, but I suppose I could deliver it tomorrow morning before I come to the studio.

I spent some time this afternoon ordering some jewelry findings from a website. I've been having trouble finding large enough spring rings. The ones I ordered from the internet are not as large as I'd like, but they're better than what I can get here in town. I will eventually get to the place where I can order more items from the internet, because for the most part the prices are lower.

Getting Back In the Groove

2006-11-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo looking across the patio toward Studio 6, the one with the lights on. The studio holder is the artist who teaches pottery class to children in the summer and on Saturdays during the school year. She also teaches adults on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I like to see the lights on in the studios at dusk. Unfortunately this photo doesn't show them as well as I would like.

I've been having problems with my new cellphone. One of the problems, I must admit, were operator error. Anyway, now I understand where to save the photos on my new phone so that they are then uploaded to the website where I can get them.

I spent the day on various personal tasks including my cellphone. I did also work on my Dia de los Muertos piece. Even though yesterday was technically the first day of the show, the reception isn't until Saturday night, and the gallery curator told me I could bring the piece in tomorrow. That gives me time during the day to finish it up.

There's lots to do tomorrow besides working on my piece for the show. I've got minutes to work on for Spanish Village, and the Chairperson of Gallery 21, our rotating gallery, called me to say that she wants me to look at some submissions for next year's shows. Apparently I volunteered to be on the jury committee. I like being on the committee, but of course it will take time, like everything else.

Another strange technological thing happened to me today. When I got to my studio and logged onto the internet via my web browser, I noticed that all the bookmarks seem to have disappeared. I called Philip, thinking he might know the answer, but he's clueless. I'll ask Jon when I see him. He has a key to my studio, but I don't think he was using the computer. So that's a new technological issue, probably one I'll never solve.

Taking Time To Keep In Touch

2006-11-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Who knows when I'll get to the computer again. My special friend told me this morning that my blog posts from my cellphone aren't working out quite right. Apparently, there's a problem when I use an apostrophe. It comes across as nonsense. Happy Halloween, I guess. Actually I noticed it when I sent the first post from my phone.

Anyway, here I am at the hotel in Los Angeles, and they provide computers for the guests to use. I tried to get to my cellphone provider to download the proper photo that shows where we're staying, but it doesn't recognize the password I typed in. I guess I have the wrong one, although I'm surprised at that. Oh, well, I suppose there will always be some technology disconnects in life.

My cousin has gone off to the doctor, and I'm going to sit down and work on some more jewelry when I finish here. It's been nice to have a little vacation, a chance to get away and then return home with a new perspective. Anyway, I hope I'll return home with a new perspective.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T21:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of a pair of ghosts and a dog dressed as a ladybug who mysteriously appeared in the lobby of our hotel this evening. I'm not sure why the dog was so intent on hanging out with those two ghosts, one of them in a wheelchair. Seriously, the dog was so cute and behaved. It was a nice end to a relatively quiet day.

I went back to the bead supplier after thinking about what I bought yesterday and what I remembered seeing as well. The proprietor gave me additional suggestions based on her observation of what other designers are buying and making. I appreciated her suggestions. I
just wish she were in San Diego rather than here in LA. When I got back to the hotel, there was plenty of time to finish the necklace I started earlier this morning. I'm sure there are other places I could go here in LA. I'll have to do some research and plan to come back up here again soon. In the meantime, I found some lovely stones, and I look forward to making them into jewelry. Tomorrow - home.

Photo Lost In Cyberspace

2006-10-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of the place we're staying here in LA. Actually, this part of town is called Westwood, home of UCLA. It's November 2, 2006 as I write this sentence and add the photo to this entry. It was lost in cyberspace, but I have now recovered it and sent it up to the website from which I then downloaded it to the hard drive on my computer.

The bead supplier I particularly like is located nearby. We've been over there already. Tomorrow while my cousin goes to the doctor, I will have enough to keep me busy for hours on end. In fact, I'm good at entertaining myself wherever I go. When I do travel, I make sure I have something to read or write in or draw on or make. And nowadays, all it takes is my telephone. This afternoon I spent four hours playing with my phone, so much time that I ran the battery out.

The woman at the bead supplier admired my workmanship when she looked at my necklace and bracelet. She said she sees lots of jewelry and mine is very fine. She encouraged me to pursue additional markets besides Spanish Village, especially because we don't always get a great deal of traffic. She also told me that photos would be useful. I am heading down the right street or so it would seem.

Ain't Technology Grand?

2006-10-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

I've probably said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again: "technology is great when it works." I took some photos with my new phone camera today, but I must have unadvertently erased them before they made it to the service provider website, because they're not there now. They've disappeared into cyberspace. So when I got ready to create this entry, I selected a different photo, one I took yesterday. However, for some reason I can't get it to upload. And I never could really get the wi-fi at the Village to work either. So here I am at home, typing on my old computer.

Anyway, it was quite a nice day today, a mild, autumn day. It is the first day on standard time, but it didn't bother me a great deal. And of course, it's inevitable. There's nothing we can do to fight it. I suppose the only solution would be to spend six months each year in the southern hemisphere. But I'm not sure that's a good solution. If we never experienced shorter days and colder weather, we wouldn't appreciate longer, warmer ones when they come around again.

Tomorrow I'm off to Los Angeles for several reasons including searching for beads and jewelry findings. I've packed a little carrying case with enough beads and findings to keep me busy for days on end. I know that the trip will include some time that I can use to make some jewelry. And it's likely I'll find something new that I want to make up right away. That's usually what happens to me. I've had that experience in the past.

I will try mobile blogging. I think I know what to do. I've re-read the directions. Well, really it's very easy. It's just a matter of doing it a few times so that it seeps into my long-term memory where it will be safer than in my short-term one. So, dear reader, stay tuned. Ironically it may turn out to be easier to stay in touch from a distance than up close.

So What Is a Megapixel Anyway?

2006-10-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo I took this morning with my new cellphone camera. Last night my old phone turned itself off and didn't come back on when I pushed the "start" button. I knew it wasn't the battery, because that phone has always been really good about holding a charge. However, I knew that it's been long enough since the purchase of my phone that I was eligible for an upgrade with a rebate. So I decided that since I'm going to Los Angeles next week, I'd better take the opportunity to get a new one now. That occupied much of yesterday evening.

Even part of today was taken up with learning about the various features, including taking and uploading photos. This new phone has a camera which produces an image that is 1.3 megapixels. Really, I admit that doesn't make sense to me. I've always understood a pixel to be a little square on the computer screen. My previous camera took photos that were 480 pixels by 640 pixels. If mega means large, does "megapixels" mean large pixels?

Oh, okay, I've done a little research. It seems that 1.3 megapixels is 960 pixels by 1280 pixels. The old camera was 480 by 640 or VGA. Do you remember the term for the VGA monitors? Those were really hot back in the old days. That means the camera on my phone has more pixels on its screen than my old VGA monitor had. Amazing. That really is amazing.

Philip brought in his "old" camera for me to use for taking photos of my jewelry. It's an SLR camera. The pixels on it's screen are 2560 by 1920 pixels. So it has twice as many across and down as my camera does. So it will take a nice photo, very detailed, much better than my phone camera. It has batteries that you can recharge and Philip brought the battery charger that goes with it.

So we're making technological changes and upgrades. The repeater was unplugged so I haven't been able to get on the internet. I find myself getting lazy at times about trying to troubleshoot the problem. There are so many things that can go on. One day the antennea on the router was unplugged. The repeater has been unplugged several times. When the electricity goes out, everything has to be reset. But when it working, it's great, so convenient. I can take photos with my phone, upload them to the my provider's website, download them to my computer, and then upload them to my blog. And I can perform the whole process in a matter of minutes, give or take a little time for internet traffic, etc.

I did work on jewelry a little bit today. I finished a necklace I started during the week, and I started another one. I find that I need to constantly check to make sure I have all the proper materials. I was going to make a necklace from some beads that I bought last weekend, but the holes are very small. I'm out of the really thin wire. So I need to stop and get some tomorrow, especially if I want to take it on my trip. I usually try to take a little something to work on. That's one advantage with making jewelry. I can carry enough materials and supplies to keep me busy for several weeks in a pouch about half the size of a brick, about the size of a small cosmetics purse. It's very convenient.

Trying Something New

2006-10-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm sending this photo from my cellphone in preparation for my trip to LA next week and with the thought of using it as a convenience at times when my schedule gets really hectic. I notice this method allows more characters than a regular text message.