Count Down Fun! Day 8 . . . Seasonal Botanicals Invested [Yesterday's Post Tonight!]

Monday's are always a little off for us.  Once we've both had our wake up coffee-computer time I spend the morning running errands and going to the grocery store.  After we've eaten lunch Pat heads off for Jeannie's shop, The Jeweler's Workbench in Waynesville.  Today was no exception.  I spent another couple of hours on Guild business again before I got busy with our own work in the afternoon.  Once I was back at the office work table it took me a couple of minutes to I realize that something was missing   .   .   .

Sure enough!  I must have left the office door open Sunday night.  Apparently somehow someone knocked all of my ready to sprue waxes onto the floor at some point ~ right into a large previously unknown dust bunny.  I wonder who the culprit could be   .   .   .   ???

I asked Inky.  No.  He's too innocent and cute.

Sammy?  No.  He's obviously on Guard Duty.

(Hmmm.)

I think I said something about importance of thinking and planning ahead yesterday?  Well, um, obviously I wasn't thinking or planing!  If I had I would have reversed yesterday and today's work and be a little further along, instead of half a day behind where I'd like to be right now   .   .   .   .

Today I harvested and cleaned more of the new Seasonal Botanicals that I first test-cast last week.  I was able to match up and sprue eighteen of them; enough for nine pairs of earrings.  (There are some more detailed notes on sprueing here if you are interested.)

Since someone asked, here's more detail about how I invest a sprued flask to get it ready to cast.  I use Kerr's Satin Cast 20 Investment, and have for as far back as I can remember.  It's that good and that dependable a formula.  I use Satin Cast 20 for casting karat Gold, Sterling Silver, Bronze, and Pewter.  The instructions are clear, understandable, and easy to follow.  I don't bake much, but Pat tells me that mixing investment is a lot like mixing a baking recipe.

So how do I do it?  Well   .   .   .

The flask's width and heigth determine the amount of investment and water to use.  Today's flask of Seasonal Botanicals is 3" Wide by 3" Tall (allowing 1/2" extra heigth above the pieces).  So Kerr's chart tells me I need 194 ml of water and 18 oz of investment.

Once my investing area and equipment (more on what I use as we go) is set up and I'm ready (full respirator on and wet paper towels nearby) it's time to turn the active exhaust ventilation on and invest!

Pat always calls to let me know when she is heading home from Waynesville, so I had the house mobile clipped on and ready.  (I even had a grocery store bag nearby in case I had investment on my hands and the phone rang.)

So I measured 194 mil of distilled water and poured it into a stainless mixing bowl.  (I use distilled water for consistency).  Next I weigh out 18 oz, 1 lb 2 oz, of investment and wiped my hands down with a wet paper towel.  Now it gets fun and you have to pay very close attention to time.  I have a clock and Kerr's mixing chart set up at my eye level so I can keep track of everything I'm doing in the next ten minutes.

I mentally note the time and wait for the second hand to hit 12 before quickly and smoothly pouring the investment into the water.  (You don't want to raise a cloud of investment dust.)  Today it was 6:02 PM when I added the investment to the water.  I've found that the easiest way for me to keep track of the time is to yell out each passing minute.  (Hey, I'm wearing a respirator with a large noisy exhaust fan running, I've got to be able to hear myself!)

Mix the investment into the water by hand for 30 seconds.  I use an old Hamilton Beach hand blender that Pat's Mother gave her decades ago, manually moving the beaters around.  At 6:02:30 I turn the mixer on to low and mix for another 3 and a 1/2 minutes.  Back and forth, spinning the bowl as I go counting each passing minute out loud.

I actually stop 15 seconds early, so I have enough time to put the mixing bowl on the vacuum table at the 4 minute mark.  (I forgot to mention that I've already double-checked that my old Vic 9 Vacuum Caster's switch is in the investing position and that I've checked the vacuum pump's oil level gauge before even measuring the water.)  I put the vacuum dome in place and turn the power switch on.

Now the time keeping gets a little tricky.

I keep an eye on the pressure gauge as I take the beaters out of the mixer and put them into the bowl for the scale that I weighted the investment in.  I know that my Vic 9 takes about 20 seconds to draw a vacuum.  Sure enough, this evening it hit 25 psi at 6:06:20.  Time to put the blender away and wipe my hands down again.

Satin Cast 20 needs to be vacuumed for 1 1/2 minutes in the mixing bowl, and should not be vacuumed for more than 2 minutes total.  Keeping an eye on the time I vigorously agitate the investment mixture by rocking the vacuum dome.  (The vacuum table is essentially mounted on springs at each corner.)  I move the flask into place to be ready, then, at 6:07:50 I turn the switch to cast and turn the power off.

Once the vacuum dome has re-pressurized (about ten or so seconds) I can break the seal and lift the dome.  I pull the investment bowl with my right hand and pick up the flask with my left.  I tilt the flask at about 45 degrees and  pour the investment into it quickly and smoothly, aiming for the flask's lower wall.  As the flask fills I gradually tip it back up to it's vertical position.  You do not want to pour the investment directly onto your pieces; investment is heavy and dense enough that it could well collapse them or knock one of them out of place.

The flask goes onto the vacuum table, the dome goes down.  The switch is moved to vacuum and then the power is turned on.  I watch the pressure gauge until it's pulling a vacuum.  6:08:25 PM tonight.  I scrap any extra investment out of the mixing bowl with a silicon spatula on a stainless handle (less to wash up in a few minutes), and agitate the vacuum table ~ basically rocking it back and forth.

At 6:10 PM I moved the switch to cast and turn the power off.  Once the vacuum seal is broken I remove the vacuum dome and began to clean up.  Wet paper towels to wipe my hands down. 

Just as I was finishing washing up all of my equipment Pat called.  Perfect timing!  Time to change out of my investing clothes, wash myself up and get started on dinner.

We ate not long after she came home and caught each other up on our days.

I forgot to ask her about the waxes on the office floor . . .   ;-D

(I wrote this on the laptop late last night while trying to keep our Count Down on track. But I was too done in to finish and post it.  So, hmmm, now I'm a day behind on the countdown.  Photos of The Boyz are from last year just because they look so sweet and innocnet.  Right?)

Can you guess what I did today ???

With luck there may just be a video in tomorrow's post about today.

Day 9  posting on Day 10 that is!

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about investing, casting, or questioning cats about their nocturnal escapades!

Count Down Fun! 9 . . . Production Prep Work

We both woke late this morning, and then loafed a bit before getting a late start.  It's a beautiful day out.  I'm doing some production prep work.  I'm making wax jump rings for our earrings!

In order to make and finish all of the work that we would like to have ready for the October Guild Fair we need to think about what we're doing, communicate and plan carefully.  We make a Good Team and we have a lot to do yet.

The keys to production work is to think ahead, do as many similar steps as quickly at once as you can, all while always maintaining the highest quality standards.  Basically, like so much of our work, it comes down to maintaining a very intense concentrated yet relaxed focus on what you are doing for an extended period of time.  It's, as Deb H. recently reminded me, a Zen Mind thing.

We prefer to cast the jump rings in place on our earrings rather than solder them on later.  Not only do we feel that they are stronger by being integral to the earring, but by now it's faster for me to do them this way than it is for us to make, or buy them, in metal and then solder and pickle them in place.

So lets make "some" wax jump rings!!!

20 gauge wax wire, a 1/16" styrene rod for a mandrel, and a fresh #11 scalpel blade.

Everything else is all hand and finger work.

I cut the wax wire into lengths.

Then wrap one length tightly into coils around the styrene mandrel.

Then I carefully slightly unwrap the coils by twisting them in the opposite direction so they are freed up form the plastic mandrel.

(If you don't do this they'll stick to the plastic mandrel.)

Then they are loosely re-tightened.

Then I used the scalpel to slice straight down into the coils; it is levered down rather than sliced with the tip.  The scalpel has to be perfectly vertical or the coils won't close properly.  If any stick together they can be loosen with a fingernail or a toothpick.

Then I slide one coil away from the others towards the end of the mandrel .

(Here's yet another use for long thumbnails when you're a jeweler!)

Using my thumbnails I gently push the ends of the coil together until they line up.

Then using my right thumb and forefinger I gently roll the ring and mandrel around to seal the ends of the ring together.

I slide the new 20 gauge wax jump ring off and line them up.

Repeat until you have made enough. 

In this case there are 90 wax jump rings on this sheet of molding rubber; enough for 45 pairs of earrings.

Back to work for me.  I want to get another two hundred finished before I stop to make dinner!

Because I'm working wax, which has to be completely clean and uncontaminated, I'm working in the office this afternoon while Pat is in the studio.  Our office and studio are next to each other and we frequently talk with each other about what we're doing.  I'm not sure what she's working on right now, but she just switched from using the buffer to her flex-shaft.  (And it sounds like I need take it apart, put new bushings in and give it a lube job sometime!)

It's our habit for one of us to call out, "I need to consult!"  Which has become our cue to stop and come take a look at what the other one is working on and share some ideas or advice.  It's Fun to work together.  That's why we started our business!

(Oh yeah ~ these photos were taken a couple of weeks ago.  But oddly enough this is the exact spot I got to when I took a break to what we're working on today!)

Edited Monday to add link to the October Guild Fair!

Count Down Fun! 10 . . .

Ten Days and Counting until the October Guild Fair!

We shipped a packet of Labradorites to Deb H. this morning, so she can see if one of them is the Right Stone for her engagement ring!  Unfortunately, because Monday is Columbus Day, she won't get them until Tuesday.  It's a Zen Mind thang . . .

I've gotten out for meetings at the Folk Art Center, but we both had a touch of cabin fever this morning.  So we took a nice sunny wandering drive with the car windows down, just enjoying the fresh clean air and the incredible light.  It worked wonders for us!

So here are some photos of our latest work!



Lapis Lazuli

Sterling and 14K

$375 ~ Now Available

Starry Jasper & Garnet

Sterling & 14K Accent

$250 ~ Now Available

Chrysocolla

$250 ~ Now Available at Allanstand

Jasper

$250 ~ Now Available at Allanstand

Chrysocolla

Sterling & 14K Accents

$275 ~ Now Available

Labadorite

$250 ~ Now Available at Allanstand

Amber

$180 ~ Now Available

Jasper

$225 ~ Now Available at Allanstand

Labradorite

Now Available ~ $175

Mara Mamba (Australian Tiger Eye)

Sterling with 14K Accents

$275 ~ Now Available at Allanstand

As you can see, we delivered a nice body of work to Allanstand, at the Folk Art Center.   As you can also see, I need to re-photograph some of them once I have a chance!  The new lights have helped though.

I almost forgot!  Here are a couple more . . .

Boulder Opal, Sapphire & Diamond
14K & Sterling

$750 ~ Now Available

Tiffany Stone

Sterling & 14K Accents

$225 ~ Now Available

We had a late lunch in the yard.  Pat spent a little time in the sunshine doing some design research.  I got to work getting the office back into shape and clearing the decks for action, got these photos cropped and posted.

Next I'm going to take a little time to update our badly out of date Guild members' web pages, while Pat gets some new earring design play time in the studio.  (This morning we decided that we were working today and taking tomorrow off.  After our drive and lunch we decided that we're working tomorrow and taking today off.  You can see what we both think is a good time on a day off!!!)

Ten Days and Counting . . .

Count Down Fun! 11 . . .

Photos Tomorrow.  No.  Really!!!

So, somehow, we have two weeks of photos, work, and life backlogged.  We haven't posted in how long?!?  Yet here we are and somehow the countdown has already started  .  .  .

We have eleven [ 11 ] working days before Load-In for the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands.  (I said that rather calmly, while I think somewhere deep inside myself I heard, "Eek!")  It's about to get, um, interesting.

It is also going to be very very rewarding.  The reality is that it's going to be physically harder than I would like.  (I'm already afraid that I'll meet "The Wall" again at some point . . . )  But it's going to be worth it!  When the October Guild Fair opens, the morning of Thursday the 21st, we'll be set up and ready.

We delivered a sizable body of work to Allanstand, at the Folk Art Center, today.  (I hope to post those photos tomorrow!)

What still amazes and astounds me is that, despite today's delivery, in the space of a couple of months we have designed, created and literally made real, what the art world might call, "a Major Body of Work".  Most of our larger Ridgelines pendants are finished, a few are still works in progress.  Four major commissioned pieces will be ready to be picked up at the Fair too.  Of course, quite a bit of the supporting production work is patiently waiting! 

It really is going to be Fun.  Being able to concentrate exclusively and so intensely on our work always is Fun!  But it's going to take some serious discipline to make up for all of the time that we have both been devoting to our other Guild responsibilities recently.

I'm looking forward to the point when, in the middle of the night, I look down at the office table and see a collection of finished work that we have made together.  That moment in time still astounds me.  It amazes me.

There's also a sculpture that I've been working on for a very long time.  I am sooo close to having the wax ready to cast in bronze . . .  It will be so personally satisfying to see and hold that piece once it's finished . . .

Oh, I almost forgot!  We'll be unveiling our new, limited edition, Seasonal Botanicals at the October Guild Fair!!!  (And Terry thinks I'm going to show her the photos I haven't taken yet?  HA!)

A Veritable Plethora of Labradorite Ridgelines Pendants!

Here are a few photos of some of the Ridgelines Pendants that we've made in the last few years using Labradorite and Spectrolite.  The best ones have incredible luminous colors.

(Graphic Content Warning!  I took these photos for our own reference and record.  So most of them were taken pretty quickly and really aren't very good photos!)

We know that Deb loves the blues, but we thought it would be Fun to show you the golds and greens too!  (I can't find photos of the rosy and purple ones.)

Talisman

Gateway

Mountain Lake II

Lightning Strikes Twice

Vision

Doorway Into Time

Spring Rain

(This is a Rainbow Moonstone.)

(This is also a Rainbow Moonstone.)

Phoenix Eye

(Another Rainbow Moonstone.)

I guess you can understand why we have a couple of Collectors that call us Mr. and Mrs. Labradorite when they visit us at the Guild Fairs in July and October!

Hope you've enjoyed the trip down Labradorite Memory Lane!





Shipped & Wedding Rings & Still To Come

Now we can post Kathy's new Ridgelines Pendant since we shipped it Tuesday!

This is the Starry Jasper she picked.

The marcasite she wanted accent her new pendant perfectly!

Tuesday we also got to meet Debbie H. for the first time.  We'd exchanged emails about wedding rings and engagement ring designs.  Besides having a great time talking and beginning to get to know each other, it was really helpful to see what type of designs she favours.  (What's not to like about a real horse person!)

I have to invest a couple of flasks this morning, but later today I'll post a number of  pieces we've made using Labadorite, and it's relative Spectrolite.  The range of colors, and their intensity, is amazing.

Until then, here are a few photos of some of our Ridgelines Rings.  (And now I realize that the other Ridgelines rings never got photographed!)

Garnet



Peridot, Oxidized

Peridot

Blue Topaz

Our "V-Swoop" Ring

This style, with a stone nestled into the "V"

was made for Kevin J.'s engagement ring.

She said "Yes!"

I don't know why I didn't before now, but I only began photographing some of our custom work in the last year or so.

These matched bands were based on the happy couples' design ideas

and feature stunning bezel set sapphires.

Heidi and David's Wedding Rings were a lot of Fun to make!

Ridgelines Wedding Rings with cast-in-place 14K Yellow Gold Ridgelines Plaques.

Rings are Fun. 

Creating and making the very real and lasting symbols of two people's love and devotion is the best part of being a jeweler.  Maybe that's why Wedding Rings and Engagement Rings might just be our favorite jewelry to make!

"It's A Question Of Lifestyle . . . . . . . " or Love's Labour Found, Part II.

Red Coleus

Sunday Morning, September 12th, 2010

As I was saying, it's a question of lifestyle.  Fall always seems to be an introspective time for us.  It's also when we suddenly feel the Season's changing, or beginning to change.  And for us we know that Winter is coming and that there is so much to do before we are ready!

Like eating as much fresh local organic lettuce as we can!

Bowl by Sandra Wells Rolland,

purchased at the October 2009 Guild Fair.

A couple of decades ago my Mom gave me a large envelope stuffed with some of her favorite recipe clippings.  My Mother was a phenomenal cook and baker.  She could cook anything and everything, and she cooked it superbly.  I guess, in a way, I grew up in her kitchen.  I don't really remember helping her that much.  But I was with her, watching and talking and learning a lot more than I realized at the time.

We looked and never were able to find the rest of her recipes.  I thought they were gone forever . . .  Last Fall I found them!  They were stuffed in the back of the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet we inherited from her.  A different manila folder for each type of recipe: cakes, breads, main courses, salads, and on and on.  So many recipes that I remember!  So many recipes to cook.  Oh my, so many taste to recreate.

Pat caught me!

Slicing organic Market cukes by hand.

My favorite large bowl by David Grant, from 2009.

I was in the grips of a Fall Compulsion!  Last year was the first time I had ever made pickles and they were wonderful and fun and I am hooked!  And we'd actually been buying pickles for a month!!!  So now, armed with Mom's recipes I was determined to re-make her incredible Bread & Butter pickles.

Sliced onions and garlic added.



I pressed a beautiful bowl by Tom Turnbull into service for the overflow!

Packed back into David's bowl, salted and iced and

into the fridge for 3 hours.

In the meantime I sliced more cukes for dill pickles

as the brine heated.

A few hours later Bread & Butter pickles heating through before hot packing.

I never knew that turmeric gave them their wonderful color and flavour!

Pat's partial to dill pickles.  Mom's Bread and Butter Pickles have always been my favorites.  After checking some other recipes I changed her recipe by slightly reducing the sugar content.  (No wonder I loved them!)

I also learned just how much work they are.  What an incredible Labour of Love Mom did year after year after year.  She supplied us with pickles, cookies (oh the cookies!), cakes and pies, some of the greatest healthiest meals of my life were made by her.

7 half-pints and 1 pint of Almost-Mom's Bread & Butter Pickles!

9 half-pints and 3 pints of Almost-Kosher Deli-Style Dill Pickles for Pat!

As I said, it's all a question of lifestyle.  It's pretty simple.  What's important?  How do you want to live?  What do you want your life to be?  Every choice, large and small, determines who we are and how we live our lives.

And I wanted homemade pickles back in our lives again!

Sure, some choices and decisions take a little longer to grow to fruition.  But isn't it worth it all???  So, these views are for Terry . . .

Inky and I had an idea, May 23rd, 2010.

Planted June 14th, 2010.

Nearing the end of the Season, September 2nd, 2010.

Because, you know, my Dear Sister Terry is right.

It's a question of lifestyle . . .