I've waited 17 years for you...

17 years wishing for a rolling mill. Much too long to wait for something you now can't live without! The stand came in a unbelievable beat up box & the rolling mill in a lightly battered box with "heavy" labels all over it. The UPS guy waited until I opened it to see if all was okay & to take a gander at what it was a was so giddy about!

Well, in a word, BEAUTIFUL! Just steel & some gears, but man, what a gorgeous sight! I am very excited to get it bolted to the floor & stand. I sent my dear hubby to the hardware store for a cement drill bit & bolts within 15 minutes of receiving the mill. It's his project for the next two days. (I hope that it will only take him a day to get me set up. I want to start rolling Fri!)





Here's the beauty herself...aren't you jealous? :) I know you are! I wonder what to name her...

THE FRONT PAGE!

I actually screamed when it happened. Needless to say, I was very excited that I made Etsy's front page! I was up a whopping 52 min! However, in that time the piece on the front page, my hand formed figurative cups, views almost quadrupled! I went from about 200+ to almost 750 in a matter of minutes!

I was just thinking about what goals to accomplish this morning with my Etsy shop & was going to try to promote some more & get my hearts (favorites) up to 200 by the end of the week. Thanks to the front page, I accomplished that & more today! Now to reach 25 sales in my shop by the end of the month...

I took a screen shot of the front page, but failed to get all of the page in my inept attempt.

Back to the beginning

I recently was presented with the challenge of creating a belt buckle for a client. I thought to myself, "I've never made a belt buckle..." But in fact, I had!

My very first "finished " piece of undergrad art jewelry was a metal belt with belt buckle! It was a tribute to the Berlin wall coming down. Boy, that dates me a little. I have no idea where that may have ended up. I am not sure I even have a picture of it. Very sad...I didn't realize at the time that the belt would start a life long career & love for all things metal.

As for the current project on hand, it came out pretty cool.

The client had purchased the Biggs Jasper cab at a gemstone event at my store & wanted a family piece for her husband. She let me "go at it with doing my thing" with two parameters:

1. The family symbol & the kids name had to be included.

2. Something copper as an accent.

A couple of roadblocks came up with drill bits breaking & logistics of setting a stone on a curved surface. Both were solved & the end result pleased the client & myself.

It took two acetylene torches from both sides & lots of patience in hammering to get to the finished result.

All in all, I really enjoyed making the piece. I may even make another belt buckle without a 17 year gap in between!