Friday, May 28, 2010

What's been happening????

well lol...not a lot has been happening actually.

I think I'm officially in limbo :(

Still looking for somewhere to move to. We only have 3 weeks left on our lease here and we are still waiting on the lease papers...our Agents suck, so they will get around to it when they can be bothered and will probably back date it anyways. There are a million rentals to choose from at the moment, especially in a certain price bracket. I have been watching the rental market for a couple of months now and many are being reduced again and again, cuz no one is taking them.

There are 2 places in particular that have grabbed our attention. We hope to look them over the weekend if we can get keys, but the sad part is, they are available now. Which is too soon. I am starting to fall for one in particular and am worried that my heart will get attached and then it will go to someone else. I hate that about house hunting. You want the place to grab at you, then you know you will be happy living there, but if you miss out, it's sooo disappointing!

On a diff note, I have placed my first order with Monsterslayer.com and I should hopefully have that next week. And I made an order with my usual supplier yesterday and for once they had everything in stock! W O W!!!! So for now I am stocked up, but have no creative juices flowing. My mind is just too absorbed on this whole moving thing. So much so, I only slept 4 hours last night, cuz I woke up just after 4am and was thinking about it and couldn't shut my mind down.

Good news! I sold a piece from my Incube8r cube! It was a plain piece, but it had a beautiful Labradorite stone. It took 2 weeks, but it covered my rent for 3 weeks! I can only hope that I will start to sell more and make an actual profit. I def still wanna do my Etsy shop too though!

Well that's it folks. The dog is licking my foot......I love it.....is that too much information maybe?????

Sunday, May 16, 2010

A Whistle in My Nose.

well that's what it sounds like when I sniff. And yet again, it would seem like I am getting sick again with allergies, in fact it always seems like that now.

Right now I am just sitting playing on the internet, soon I should have my groceries delivered and will have to put them away. I have some laundry on and then I really should be cleaning the floors, but it will all depend on how I am feeling by then.

My hubby and I spent the weekend in 2 specific areas, looking at houses. Summer spent that time with her grandies. We think we have pretty much decided on where we would like to move to, provided a place that fits our needs is available. We are both ready and excited for a change. So until I have moved, I doubt I will be listing much at Etsy :(

I hardly get any time at the bench. I would like to start making earrings, as I haven't really made many and earrings can be made easily and faster than large pendants/necklaces & rings.
Plus since they are made easily, they can be more affordable.

So though I have my jewllery now in the cube store in Town, I do intend on filling up my Etsy store. Just right now, I can't manage the time to include much being spent at the bench :(

Anyway, here are some pictures of my latest stash of stones:

There are lots of Peachblow Jasper and several Labradorites too.

I did manage to pick up some other stones I haven't worked with yet. I can't wait to get into it all again one day soon! In the meantime I have been trying to take Summer out more, to nice places, since the weather has become nice and comfortable.

This is a picture of Summer at the duck pond last week.

That slice of bread was kinda meant for the duckies, but she wanted to chew on it instead :P

I have made a new chunky PMC3 piece and I fired it last night. I need to solder some jump rings to it, then I can tumble it for a few hours. I'll take pictures when it's all done.

Well that's all for now folks. My bird is making an awful noise outside and it's driving me crazy!!!

Have a great day :)


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Hello you :)

Well it has been a busy time since I last posted.

If you've dropped by my FB Fan Page, you will have seen what I have been up too lately. It's not much, but I don't get much time anymore.

I made a very chunky finger print charm (more like a pendant really) out of my new pack of PMC3 and it turned out fabulously! I am really reallllly pleased with it and wear it every day. I had read that you cannot torch fire over a certain size, so I was very apprehensive when I went to fire my piece. But I proved that theory wrong as my piece is really large and it fired just fine.

It took me about 4 tries to get the fingerprint impression into the clay, Summer wanted to bend her finger when I wanted her to keep her finger straight, so it was hard going. But in the end it all worked out well and I got it okay. It wasn't a perfect impression, but I didn't wanna push my luck!

Here it is anyways:

It weighs a hefty 25gms and I rolled it at 10 cards in thickness, I like weighty pieces and this is definitely that! I put a purple CZ in and scratched out Summer's name into the clay once it was fully dried. I am really loving the whole clay thing, shame it's so expensive :(

My latest news is I am now selling my jewellery in a shop in town. It's called In.cube8r. It's a regular shop, but only for people who make their own things. You rent a glass cube, under a 3 month contract and you don't have to pay commission. I am going to give it a go for the 3 month contract and see where that takes me. I will have to remove everything from Etsy and make new stuff for it, as all my other work is now in the cube shop.

In other news, we are still searching for the right location to move to. We tried today to check out a new area that we haven't ventured out to before, but Summer wasn't going to let us do it peacefully, she was extremely grumpy and making it hard to enjoy the experience, so we hope to go out on the weekend (and have Summer babysat by grandies) and check out the area properly so we can make an informed decision. The thing that worries me most with moving, is moving to somewhere I end up regretting. That would really suck.

Okay well that is all for now. It's getting colder here this week, I can't wait till it's Winter for real.

Friday, May 7, 2010

I Need slippers......stat!


Over the last few nights it's seemed to cool down a lot. Finally. Though during the day time it's still kinda warm....for me anyways. Right now my feet are cold and as we have tiled flooring under the computer desk, it makes for colder feet :(

Today my little sweetie pie turned 2. I've merely blinked and those 2 years have passed. And today I made my big fingerprint pmc thingy of her finger, it's a really big heart with a cz and I might try and inscribe her name on it if I'm game...I possibly have made it too big, but I am going to go ahead and try and make it work anyway, only this time I will take more care to finish it off and then will tumble it when it's done.

I tumbled the other pmc charms I made and they turned out lots better, so I am not scared off trying more pmc...for now.

I also got some Art Clay Copper to play with. It's really hard to find time to do anything now though. Summer is more and more demanding of my time and it means I cannot go to the bench and create. Though I did get a little over an hour out there yesterday afternoon and I have almost finished 1 piece and got to finish off another that was laying round on the bench for a while.

I have some exciting news in regards my jewellery, but I won't share it just yet. I will wait till Wednesday to share :P

I have found a house to look at....I called to get a viewing and they said maybe next week sometime, so I hope that happens and I can either go for it or move on. I have to start getting a hold of moving boxes too. I am going to throw a lot out and give a lot away to charity shops. We have accumulated way too much stuff and we don't need to take it all with us. I am so excited to move...I get itchy 'need something new' feet every few years.

Anyway it's that time of night when I need to make myself a hot cuppa or rather a thermo full of tea (I likes it verrrry hot).

Take care guys :)



Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Stupid PMC3.....

well only kinda.....see, I'm having a problemo with the charms I made..already :(

You saw in my last post how they turned out?? I was pretty pleased with the result.

Well this is how they look now.....


yeah....not so pretty anymore... :(

sob

big (typical) sigh

I have no idea what's gone wrong/what I have done wrong. I allowed charms to dry overnight. Fired them with my torch for 2 mins once they got the 'glow' and then allowed them to air dry. Then polished them up using super fine steel wool. So on paper, it would seem as though I have followed everything correctly. I have posted in a forum for some help, so hopefully I can get some answers soon.

And I already have a new lot of pmc stuff ordered and I am kinda worried that I will ruin it...spesh since I want to make a fingerprint charm of my daughter on Friday her birthday. I have also ordered some ArtClay Copper to try out as I have read you can torch fire that too. I have tried to get some info about pmc classes in my area, but can't seem to get any replies, which is disappointing to say the least.

But I am considering doing a longer silver smithing course .... maybe.... it's a lotta moolah and can't really be splashing the cash just now.....(she says after she has just spent on pmc)!!

Oh well....I know it will get sorted eventually...it's just got me a bit deflated now. I really want to make some normal silver jewelry too, but just seem to have lost my mojo. I think the whole house hunting really has me consumed right now, knowing there is so much to be done etc.

Hope everyone is having a more productive week than I.

:)

Saturday, May 1, 2010

PMC3 What Fun!

I have used pretty much all the PMC3 that I bought last week, about 3 packs of 7gms. And I plan on purchasing more next week, as my daughter turns 2 on Friday, so I hope to make a fingerprint impression charm for myself. Then one day I can pass it on to her. I adore keepsake stuff.

I have hardly touched any other form of silver though :( But again, I do have more cabochons coming :)

Today we spent most of the day driving around different suburbs to look at houses to lease. Still in the same situation (haven't decided where we'd like to go) it's still, nice house, crap area. Or not a good enough house for the money, but great area. Or they have a dog next door that won't stop barking and so on and so forth. We don't have all that long till our lease comes up for renewal here, but I am desperate for a change, I want to meet new people and have a fresh start and I can't wait till we have a good backyard for Summer to play in. Time will tell.

I still want to make jewellery, but right now it's hard to find the time. I guess that's why I love PMC so much. I am an instant gratification kinda person, when I want to make something, I want to be able to make it as soon as possible. And PMC doesn't take a whole lot of time for small projects and it's easy to use and finish up nicely, unlike regular silver, which takes a whole lot more work/effort/time. I definitely would like to incorporate PMC and sterling/cabochons together as I think you could make some very original, unusual pieces.

Anywho, here are some charms I made for myself on Friday using all of my pmc up. They're kinda rough, but it was fun and I learned new things.

Well that's all I have to share for the weekend. I have to have that cuppa now to wind down after a long day of driving here and there.

:)