Long Overdue Monday Missive

It got chilly here last night. I did not want to get out of bed and come downstairs. Our house is one of those houses that doesn’t really get warm when winter cold strikes. My house advice is always wear slippers with a sole and prepare to layer, layer, layer. The entire back of our house is made up of windows and if not careful, the heat could run nonstop. It has finally warmed up to 28° F outside so it’s almost balmy.

We had a great weekend attending a Silveramics®️ workshop at the studios of Molly Sharp and David Voorhees. They are both successful artists, David a potter and Molly a metalsmith. Together they created a unique process of combining porcelain and silver to create beautiful jewelry. It was a full three days of creating marbled porcelain pieces and, after firing, combining those pieces with sterling silver. I will take photos later today and post them on my blog.

David and Molly also take their workshop on the road. They will be teaching at Hacienda Mosaico in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in February and at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC in August. You need not have any experience working with clay or silver to takes these classes. They excel in teaching even rank beginners to make beautiful pieces. And both locations are pretty sweet getaway choices!

As a result of our three-day creative journey, I am woefully behind in reading blogs and getting a few things done around the house. Priorities being what they are, I am putting blog reading at the top of my list. 😊 I will be catching up with you today. I missed JusJoJan yesterday, but I will catch up with a post later today.

I did a reasonable job keeping up with my 37 day writing class but last night I succumbed to going to bed early so I have some catch up to do there as well. I am also on day 45 of recording videos for 100 days. I have managed to keep up with the videos. They help keep me centered and focused on how I am feeling each day. Good therapy for me.

Now, I am going to hit publish and go read some blogs. There is also a second cup of coffee calling my name. Hear it?

 

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Befuddled Day With a Touch of Joy

Image Courtesy of Molly Sharp Voorhees

Day 291

It was a bit of a mixed up busy day. I had a busy morning and a rushed afternoon trying to wrap up a few loose ends. Friday and Saturday I am taking a jewelry workshop with the fabulous Molly Sharp. What a great designer and a wonderful teacher! She teaches in her home studio in North Carolina and at locations throughout the U.S. and Mexico. (I hear rumors there are also possibilities of workshops in the U.K. and in Florence.) I am so excited. When I work on jewelry, I am able to lose myself totally in the process. It’s not easy work; it takes a great deal of focus and good eyesight (thank you magnifiers) and patience.

After I finished my afternoon miscellanea, I had to go out and run a few errands. I was feeling a little discombobulated and rushed. When I turned the corner to head back to the house, I saw a couple of deer on the roadside. I eased up to try and take some photos. I didn’t get too close before they got spooked and ran back into the woods. I checked for traffic (there was none) and stopped to get the photos. Suddenly, all the stress of the day just dissipated.

Here on the side of the road, life simply happens. It was peaceful and relaxing just to watch. I felt bad that I spooked them, but their instincts will serve them well. I am glad they are a little wary of people. This is hunting country.

Hubby went out tonight, so I just had a simple pasta salad for dinner. I sat in front of the TV and watched re-runs of NCIS. It suddenly started pouring rain. It was one of those hard-hitting but somehow relaxing rains. When I took my dishes into the kitchen, I saw this little guy stuck to the window.

 

So, although the day was a little crazy, the tradeoff is well worth it. I will have two days free to immerse myself in creativity. The photo at the top of the blog is a sample of the necklace we are making. Hopefully, I will have a photo of my creation to share later in the weekend.

For now, I am going to treat myself to a dish of frozen yogurt and call it a night.

Short blog posts until Sunday when I play catchup.

 

Workshop Weekend

Day 23

What a beautiful morning to drive around the foothills. The sun was out and there was fog lifting out of the valleys. The morning was cool and the drive was nice because no one was on the road yet. It made me think I should get up and out early more often. It was a nice change from the rainy day we had yesterday.

I always love these drives. The sky is crisp and clear after a day that dropped 3.5 inches of rain in our area. It never got really warm today, but it was dry and clear so that made it a rather perfect kind of day.

Let’s Make Rings!

Today was the first day of my 2 day workshop with Molly. She’s so nice and so patient and so talented. There were five of us in the workshop plus Molly. After getting introductions and housekeeping out of the way, we all set about making a textured ring by hand hammering.

We were finished by lunch time. Everyone brings their own lunch and we sit around her dining room table and have lunch together. It’s a nice way to get to know everyone and just relax for a bit. After lunch it was back to the studio!

Spinner Ring

The rest of the class worked on making a pierced pendant piece which I had already done, so I worked independently in the afternoon making a spinner ring. This is two rings, one large enough to ‘spin’ around the other. I used the rolling mill to texture the outer ring and then hand-hammered the spinner ring. I felt good that I could do 98% of the work on my own.

Tomorrow, I need to flare out the outer ring so the spinner does not fall off. Then, voila! That will be project number two.

Day Two

Class starts a little later tomorrow so I will be able to enjoy two cups of coffee before leaving the house. I really do enjoy the drive and I get lost in the creative aspect of the work. The day flies by.

I am not sure what I want to make tomorrow. I might drill pebbles and stack them in a frame which is cool, or I might try to set one of the cabochons I cut. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Now I am off to relax a little, have some dinner and a glass of wine then take a hot shower and get in bed early.

Jewelry pictures tomorrow!

“Sometimes you can’t see the road ahead but as you keep going, it gets clearer. Stay the course as the fog of life dissipates.”
Sanjo Jendayi