Me? A Tutorial Writer...hhhmmm

I got some very exciting news the other day. I had posted pictures of some of my jewelry at an great web site "Jewelry Lessons.com" It is a place where artists and people interested in jewelry can share ideas, individual lessons, post pictures, write articles, etc. I was thrilled when I started getting compliments and votes from other members to turn some of my pieces into step by step tutorials. I did apply for teacher status and was accepted !!! Whew, wow, ok... a little bit of panic setting in. I have never done anything like this. I have been working on one tutorial for a ring for a few days now...It is a design of mine that was published several years ago as a step by step tutorial in the "Wire Artist Jeweller"magazine. ( and yes, I did spell it right ) I was the feature artist in that Nov 2004 issue. The magazine was instrumental in bringing wire art to the people...before this it was mostly well guarded secrets. I do have to give more credit to writers and editors, there is a lot that go into something like this. Things I never thought of like layout, lighting, and writing ...oh my!! So far things are comming along and I am feeling a little more comfortable with the process. I am hoping to be able to submit tomorrow. And after it has been checked over we will see just how well I really did..gulp. here is a pic of the ring and a link to my profile page and you can also get to the site itself from there if you would like to check it out. http://www.jewelrylessons.com/pljohnson 35% off sale at my Etsy and Artfire shops. http://www.etsy.com/shop/pljohnsonglassart http://www.artfire.com/users/PatriciaL.JohnsonGlassArt

SHAME ON ME

It has been such a long time since my last post. So much for my New Years resolution. Oh well my list was rather large and with most things I have been pretty good. I have had one big life changing experience so far and that is of my first child graduating High School, and moving out into her first place....really bitter sweet moments. I am so proud of her and at the same time want my little girl back. One thing thats nice is shes still close about 20 blocks or so away...so we still get to see her often. Over the weekend we got our garden all planted. I can't wait till I can have garden fresh veggies again. This is one area of my resolutons I have been doing pretty well at. I have been trying to eat healthier and changing some of my old favorites to healthier versions. I am just trying to adapt a different life style period. I am also really watching where exactly my food and other products I put in or on my body are comming from and how there processed. ( although I continue to smoke cigarettes....but that is an entirely different battle. ) I continue to work on learning new things and improving my jewelry making skills. I have come far enough in my beadmaking that I have started to offer some beads for sale. I have been working with silvered glasses and starting to get some great colors...here's a set I'm pretty proud of ...not the purple and blue hues I was shooting for but they did turn out to be this gorgeous mix of browns and ambers.

Another Hump Day Passes

Today was nice and sunny and even a little warmish in the mid 30's . A small hint of Spring to come for us in Wisconsin. My husband ( the construction worker ) says Tshirt weather, and had the sun burn on his face and forearms to prove it.

I spent the day working on lighting and trying to improve my picture taking skills. I think they are much improved ....and have given me a chance to show off one of my focal beads that I just love. Made with lots of silver foil and silvered specialty glass.

New Year - Continued learning

Well here we are well into a new year, and a whole new list of resolutions...one of which is paying more attention to my blog. :-)

I have decided to continue with my year of learning...I still have many jewelry related things I want to learn, and have added some simple computer skills and taking better photos to that list. Most of my learning in 2009 was spent on lampwork glass beads which I continue to work on and plan to start selling soon.

I have been working with silvered specialty glass, and metal inclusions and really love it...the colors and striations are incredible. Here's a picture of a focal bead I'm very happy with. It has lots of silver foil that gives that sparkly mottled natural look and small colorful swirls of silver glass.

Year of Learning Continues

My learning continues mostly with torchwork. I have definatly been biten by the Lampwork Bug! I have been having a great time with some of the specialty glass I purchased. It has sparked a whole new wish list of supplies and technique tutorials....I can't wait to try even more. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve with reactive glasses and how to bring out there different colors and effects. Still working on my shapes and twist canes and techniques. My focus has shifted alot to color and style. I found the most wonderful site about color...with a great detailed blog on tests and results of different glass rods from different company's It has been a great source of learning and inspiration for me. http://coloraddictionblog.blogspot.com/

Fall is here

Fall has definatly come to Wisconsin....been in the lower 40's here at night and mid 60's during the day. I have been busy canning tomatoes from my garden and have a pot of chili cooking on the stove right now...took forever to cook my tomatoes down....next year I will have to plant meatier tomatoes.

I am still working on beads and improving all the time....I have been playing with reactive glass and still working on twist canes and different shapes.

Here are the results from a full day at the torch....I see bracelets galore!!

Another Day

Not much new here. I have continued to work on "The year of learning" And have been working mostly on making torch beads and am starting to get some decent control when applying stringer ( dots and such ). I am getting better at different shapes, and pulling stringer......although making twist canes is still a long way off.

I'm waiting on an order of sheet metal and some new blades so I can continue practicing sawing and cold connection ..especially tube rivets. I did learn a nice little trick using a draw plate to start the rivets on. Just cut your tube or wire slightly longer than the the width of the draw plate, place it in the plate and hammer one end....it gives it something to hold and does away with all that tap and flip. Insert rivet into the piece and trim leaving enough for another rivet and tap tap tap......done!

Here is a picture of a new design to share ( this piece can be seen in person at "Art and Soul Gallery" in Wauwatosa). I came up with a mock tubular peyote stich using a large core wire and seed beads strung on 28 guage wire. Hand wrought heavy guage copper and one of my multiple layer fused dichroic glass pendants beads...Enjoy!!